Lightning's POV

I awake to the crackle of embers of the once roaring fire, and the sound of the sea caressing the sand. The sun had still not peaked above the horizon, but it's light had begun to slowly erase the stars from the ever fading night sky. I feel Cloud's dilating chest beneath my head before I sit up, removing myself from his warmth. My eyes quietly survey the sleeping soldier, and my conflicted heart fills with dread. The man in front of me had committed his life to saving me, and for that I did what I didn't think was possible and fell in love with him. Yet with that love came a pain so great that it tainted the very happiness that I secretly yearned for.

I was living on borrowed time, and that clock that loomed above my head terrified me. Not for my own mortality.. Death was something I'd almost come to expect with the life I'd lead; but rather the thought of crushing Cloud's fragile heart when I am taken from him. I had promised myself that I wouldn't waste this year, worrying about my fate, but I find myself wondering if my selfish need for happiness was going to hurt him more in the long run. Feeling like this negativity in my heart would spread to the sleeping blonde like a disease, I climb to my feet and walk towards the calm ocean, before finally coming to a rest at the edge of the wooden pier.

Goosebumps cover my arms as the sea breeze washes over my skin, as I look out onto the horizon. I knew the answer I was looking for did not rest in the sea or the sky, but I find comfort in the familiar feel of my location. I didn't know what awaited me when my time was up. Oblivion, imprisonment, servitude.. it didn't really matter. My only question was what should I do with the time I have left.

A few minutes later, I receive the answer I was looking for, as the golden sun pierces the horizon, casting an amber glow across the sky, that was mirrored perfectly in the sea. Loving arms wrap around my own from behind, and my legs almost give way with the relief that came with his touch.

"You okay?" Cloud asks softly in my ear.

"I am now," I reply, "thank you for last night.."

"Are you sure you want this?" He asks me, catching me off guard.

"Yes," I reply after turning around to face him, "more than I've ever wanted anything.."

I watch as his already glowing eyes light up with hope, and for a moment, I find myself staring at him in awe; at least until the familiar hum of the Shera fills my ears. The pair of us look to the west, and sure enough, Cid's airship was heading directly towards us. Beneath the hull of the giant vessel was three, large shipping containers that must have contained the building materials for our new home. To think that me, the loner, had people flocking from across the world to help me in my pursuit of happiness was quite overwhelming, although for the sake of appearances, I wouldn't be letting Highwind know that.

The containers are carefully lowered a short distance from the building site and detached from the hull. Less than a minute later, the airship was resting next to them, and a small army of men, lead by Cid and Reeve began to walk towards us.

"What's with the pier?" Cid asks as he lights up a cigarette, "didn't take you two as fishermen."

"It's where I'm mooring the Tiny bronco," my razor sharp wit fires back on instinct before I could reign myself back in.

"I forgot all about that.. You still owe me a plane," Cid laughs.

"I'll pick you one up when I go grocery shopping," I reply dryly, happy he saw the humour in my words, "aren't you a day early?"

"The sooner we help you, the sooner you can help us," Reeve answers, "And as beautiful as the view is, I feel it would be more enjoyable to look at from a warm house."

"Thank you.. All of you.." Cloud says, echoing my own thoughts.

"Alright! Let's get this shit done!" Cid barks his orders, causing the small army of men to scatter like ants and quickly pull tools and materials from the containers.

"Whilst they lay down the foundations for your new home, why don't you take a look at some of these designs I've come up with," Reeve tells me as he hands over a thin folder, "pick any you like."

I open the folder and can't believe what I'm looking at. I was expecting a tiny house so that the pair of us could live out our days in relative comfort, but these were bordering on mansions. Handing Cloud the folder, I watch his expression, which seems to imitate my own.

"Reeve, this is too much," I tell the man, who was eager to know which one I had picked.

"Miss Farron.. There are houses like that scattered across the globe. Do you know what they all have in common?" The former Shinra executive asks, to which I shrug, "They were all owned by people undeserving. People who got rich from the suffering of the planet and the people. But that era is over.. You have done more for a planet that was not originally your own than anyone who has ever been born. A comfortable home is a drop in the ocean to what you deserve."

"I don't know what to say.."

"Don't say shit! Just pick one, 'cause once that foundation is done, I'm picking for ya!" Cid barks whilst throwing angry gestures at the work force.

"What do you think, Cloud?" I ask, wanting to hear his opinion.

"My home is anywhere you are. Pick what you like." He answers, somehow managing to be sweet and completely unhelpful at the same time.

"Surprise me." I reply confidently, handing back the folder to Reeve.

"Where do you want us?" Tifa's voice breaks through the construction noise.

With the sound of diggers a herd of builders talking amongst themselves, none of us heard a small fleet of trucks pull up under the shadow of the airship. Tifa, Barret and what looked like half of Edge looked to Reeve for instruction, but not before giving me a warm smile.

For the next few hours, me and Cloud worked side by side with the dozens of men and women who came to help us. Even with such little time past, I could already start to see the foundation of my home take shape. There was not a single wall in sight, never mind a roof to keep us dry. But when I closed my eyes, I could picture myself looking out at the beach from the house at the silhouette of the man I love, standing on the pier with the sunrise on the horizon.

"Cloud! Lightning!" Reeve's panicked voice shouts, dragging me out of my day dream.

The Former Shinra executive looked panicked as he waved us over, whilst listening to his phone on the other. I glance at Cloud who does the same, and the pair of us drop our tools and rush over to him.

"Everything okay, Reeve?" I ask the panicked stricken man, who ignores me for a few seconds as he assures whoever is on the other end of the phone that it will all be okay.

"I'm sorry to have to pull you away from your home, but I have a favour I need to ask of you." Reeve begins, "A Nibel dragon have begun to edge closer to your hometown, Cloud. With the reactor shut down, the heat from the pipework that snaked through the mountain has gone with it. There has already been a report of one death, and the people are scared. We have a small force in the area, but they are no match for the dragons on that mountain. They are currently using the inn as a centre of operations."

"What does the reactor have to do with a dragon?" I ask, unsure of the correlation.

"The dragons like the high ground for spotting prey, but it's much to cold up there normally to build lairs. Their eggs need to be constantly hot. The reactor's pipes acted as heaters, allowing them to nest higher. With the reactor shut down, they've been forced to nest closer to Nibelhiem." Cloud explains concisely.

"We'll take care of it," I tell Reeve firmly, earning a thankful nod.

"Here, take these," He replies, handing me two laminated cards, "your WRO I.D's. They will allow you to use any WRO facility, and as an identifier to the men and women we have in the field that you can take command of their units were required."

"We won't let you down," I promise him, before it suddenly dawns on me that we didn't have our weapons and Cloud didn't have his bike, "CID!"

"I'mma little busy, moody! The hell do ya want?!" The pilot shouts as he barks his orders.

"I need you to swing us by Edge to pick up our weapons and Cloud's bike, then drop us near Nibelhiem," I tell the pilot, "think of it as an extended cigarette break."

"Get your asses on the Shera, I'll be in the air in one minute."

It takes us a couple of hours, but eventually the pair of us are dropped off a couple of miles from Nibelhiem with our weapons and Cloud's bike. The blonde gives Cid a 'thumbs up' as he takes off in the Shera, quickly disappearing into the distance. I jump on the back of the bike, and Cloud quickly sets off towards his home town, which remained eerily quiet, even for the nightmarish place it was. The only sound in the small town came from the rumble of the engine as we came to a stop in front of the well in the middle of the town square.

"Turn that thing off!" A panicked voice shouts from the left.

Cloud kills the engine, and the pair of us quickly locate the voice, which came from a worried looking soldier who stood in the doorway of the inn. I examine the man, who wore a white uniform with a red beret for a moment, noticing his trembling hand on the grip of his rifle. Reeve was right, these were not battle hardened soldiers by any stretch of the imagination.

"Is everyone okay?" Cloud asks the soldier.

"For now. The dragon only hunts at low light. It stops their prey spotting their shadows on the ground," the soldier explains, "you're Cloud Strife, aren't you?"

"That's right. This is Lightning. We're gonna take care of the dragon."

"That's excellent news. Report back to us as soon as you're finished," the soldier smiles.

"Hell no.. You and the rest of your men are coming with me. Consider it day one of our training," I tell the man, who's face turns whiter than his uniform, "You've got 5 minutes to gather your force and line up in front of that well, locked, loaded and ready to go."

"Y-yes, ma'am." The soldier nods, before quickly darting back inside.

"You think that's a good idea? We'd be finished quicker on our own," Cloud tells me.

"I know, but they'll never learn by shooting paper and reading battle manuals. The world is supposed to be able to look up to these men and women for their protection," I reply.

"I guess you're right," the blonde answers.

"I'm always right," I grin as the soldiers begin to pour out of the inn.

Eight male and two female soldiers quickly lined up in front of the inn, all looking as eager as they did unprepared. They were a far cry for Shinra's soldiers; or Psicom for that matter, but I guess that was a good thing. They were just normal people who wanted to do some good and protect their people. If I can make half decent soldiers out of them, the rest will fall into place.

"Listen carefully," I begin. "We're going to make our way up the mountain in a tight formation. Cloud will take point and I'll guard the rear. The chances of the dragon spotting us before we spot it are high, so don't panic and break formation, because that will almost definitely result in your death."

The look on their faces tells me that wasn't the pep talk they were hoping for, but if a little bit of fear and respect for their adversary is always a good thing. With that said, Cloud took the lead and guides us past the Shinra mansion; both of us feeling a sense of foreboding every time we saw it, and up towards the mountain.

Even after all of this time, the barrenness of the mountain was staggering. The pale ground showed no signs of ever being able to support life, and was more reminiscent of the moon's surface than one on a life sustaining planet. If there was ever an advertisement for the damage Mako reactors do to the environment, this was it..

We walk for almost fifty minutes when Cloud raises his hand, silently stopping everyone in their tracks. Everyone of the rookie soldiers instantly became tense and began to wildly dart their eyes around the mountain. I watch the man in front of me wave his gun around nervously with his finger shaking on the trigger. These 'soldiers' were going to take more work than I was expecting..

"Pull yourself together," I scald the man, who at least stops sweeping the barrel of his gun past his fellow soldiers.

"Good news… We don't need to cross that rope bridge," Cloud says quietly, pointing the highest point of the mountain range we were on.

"I don't see anything," whispers the female soldier who was also shaking uncontrollably.

"Do you see the scorch marks on the ledge near the top of the mountain? Dragons make nests for their eggs out of shattered rocks. Before they leave to hunt, they heat the rocks with their flame breath to keep their eggs warm. The rocks hold in the heat for a few hours," Cloud explains knowledgeably.

"So what's the plan?" Another soldier asks eagerly. He seemed much more calm and aware than the rest, so I make a note of his face.

"Don't look at me, I'm just the tour guide," the blonde jokes, pointing to me.

"If we're smart about this and you all follow instructions, this will be over before you know it. We have the advantage of range with our guns, but their skin is thick across most of their body. Their underside is the softest and their wings. If they're in flight, focus fire on the wings. Blow out enough surface area and it won't be able to fly. Do NOT break formation for any reason and don't cross anyone's line of fire when seeking cover," I explain to the group.

"Ready?" Cloud asks.

I give him a nod and watch as the blonde imbues his sword with energy and launches a blue wave of light towards the mountain. It took almost two seconds to get there it was so far away, but I could feel the impact on the mountain vibrate through my feet slightly. The ledge disappeared under a plume of dust and the only sound for almost thirst seconds was the sound of rock shards tumbling down the mountain's face.

"Maybe momma dragon isn't home?" The second female soldier that stood a few feet away from me said optimistically.

Almost on cue, a bone shaking shriek fills the air from behind the mountain. A second later, the unquestionable silhouette of a dragon appeared from behind the rock face and took flight. Immediately the soldiers began to open fire on the dragon, despite it being far beyond the maximum range of the rifles.

"What are you doing! If you're engaging from so far away, you need to account for the range and elevation!" I shouted in vein over the gunfire. When I see Reeve I'm asking for all WRO soldiers to be issued tracer rounds…

The distinct expression of a person who's gun as just ran out of bullets and doesn't understand why it's stopped firing is plastered on the faces of over half of the soldiers. By now, the dragon was close enough to us that it's emerald scales and deep amethyst underbelly was visible in the sunlight, but everyone's magazines had ran dry.

"Reload!" I roar at them as I take aim at the dragon.

I feel a comforting veil of energy encompass me, and I don't need to look to know it was Cloud using his materia to shield us from any potential dragon's breath that might come our way. I open fire on the dragon's left wing as it flies closer, casting a giant shadow on the ground below. The sound of fumbling magazines besides me don't fill me with confidence, but at least two of the seemingly more seasoned soldiers are back in the fight and taking relatively accurate shots at the emerald beast.

Landing almost a hundred feet away from us, the dragon arcs its long neck back, ready to incinerate us. I know the shield will protect us all, but I know this wont likely be a luxury afforded to them any other time.

"Take cover behind the rocks!" Cloud shouts, seemingly reading my mind.

For the first time, the WRO soldiers do something with relative efficiency. And all ten of them are behind cover as the first wave of fire erupts over our heads. The fire quickly subsides and I stand up from behind cover to take aim, noticing the dragon had a patch of scales that looked slightly deformed.

"Concentrate fire on it's flame sack!" I shout as the dragon straightens its head to get a large intake of air.

"It's what!?" The nearest soldier shouts back.

"The base of it's throat! It's where the dragon produces it's breath!" Cloud answers for me.

I receive a few understanding nods as the dragon takes on more air to attack, before a hail of bullets bombard the dragon. Most hit their target, rupturing the soft, unarmoured hide. Green liquid spills out briefly from the dragon's body, before bursting into flames and engulfing the huge beast. With a violent, gurgling roar, the dragon falls to the cheers of the WRO soldiers.

"We did it!" They cheer, completely unsoldier like.

"Maybe there's hope for you lot after all," I joke. "Come on, lets get back to Nibelhiem."

A/N: there's probably nobody still reading this after such a long time, but I thought id post a short one up to see if there's any interest. I'm sorry for the delay. I started writing these stories when I wasn't happy with things and stopped when I was.. chapter for GMW is nearly done too.

Wolf