Well, well, well. Look who's back with a new story after all this time. I apparently have a habit of writing lengthy stories for mostly-dead fandoms. I told myself again and again that I wouldn't do this, and yet, here we are. In my defense, this was never supposed to become long, but what can I say? When it rains, it pours.

This story is set after the events of the first game, which is a first for me as I generally write in the Lightning Returns canon, but you'll still want to have played all three games in order to fully appreciate it. I wrote this over the course of several months so it's actually finished already. (Yay!) I'll be editing and making revisions chapter by chapter as I post them.

I took a few creative liberties with the setting. I'm pretty sure it's mentioned at some point that there are no seasons or daytime/nighttime on Pulse (I honestly can't remember), but I decided that was silly so I included them. It may be easier on the programmers to have a static world but it's a pain in the bum to write. I doubt many people will care, though, so this message is mainly for the nitpickers. I see you, Brosef.

Welp, that's all from me. Enjoy the story.

Post Ruinam

Gran Pulse

Six months after the fall of Cocoon

Lightning huffed in irritation as she shucked her winter coat and scarf. She could still hear the wind howling just beyond the wooden portal at her back and her body gave an involuntary shiver as melting ice slid from her hair onto the back of her neck. She cursed grumpily under her breath and gave the garments a brief shake to dislodge the snow before hanging them on a peg beside Snow's enormous trench coat. Inside her boots, her frozen toes wiggled in an effort to reestablish circulation. I hate winter, she mentally groused as she left the door behind and trudged toward the living room where light was still shining despite the late hour. It had been another long day of grueling patrols out on the wild Pulse frontier and thanks to a particularly troublesome pack of hungry gorgonopsids her shift had run an hour overtime. Now she was tired, hungry, and freezing and all she wanted in the world was to get some hot food into her belly and go to bed.

Six months, she grumbled in her head as she pushed the door open to the living room. And we're still securing our borders.

They'd known progress would be slow. Gran Pulse was untamed and dangerous and most of cocoon's citizens didn't know the first thing about defending themselves. Between keeping the newly established settlements safe and the push to expand their borders, the Guardian Corps, now combined with what remained of PSICOM after the fall of the Sanctum, had their work cut out for them.

Lightning sighed and closed her eyes as blessed heat from the room's kerosene stove washed over her. She barely noticed when a steaming mug of hot milk was placed in her hands and she only opened her eyes when she felt a heavy blanket being tucked around her shoulders. A mop of silver hair and mint colored irises met her eyes briefly before their owner turned away and padded to the small kitchenette to heap a ladleful of something that smelled heavenly into a bowl from a large pot on the stove.

"Hope," she uttered the name tiredly when her young comrade returned to her side to usher her to the table with a gloved hand on the small of her back. He set the bowl in front of her and handed her a spoon. "You should be in bed." The reprimand was half-hearted at best. She honestly couldn't care less about her young companion's sleep schedule but she figured it counted for something to at least make an effort to play the part of the responsible guardian.

Hope seemed to understand this because he didn't bother defending himself. Instead, he simply said, "You'll be happy to know Serah cooked tonight. She took over for Snow when we heard that you'd be back late. Thought you'd want to come home to something palatable."

Lightning made a grateful noise in the back of her throat as she scooped a generous mouthful of rice and beans onto her spoon and took a bite. The dish was warm and spicy and exactly what she needed. "She's already asleep, I'm guessing. Remind me to thank her tomorrow." She scooped another spoonful into her mouth and chewed contentedly as warmth continued to seep into her from the combination of the heater, blanket, and food. She made a mental note to double up on tights tomorrow.

Hope took a seat across from her and his gloved fingers drummed the table absently as he stared off across the room to the large window where flurries of white flakes were illuminated against the darkness by the glow of the lamp.

"How was school, by the way?" she deigned to speak again after a few moments' comfortable silence. Were her company anyone else, she would've been perfectly content to let the silence persist, but Hope was one of a very short list of people with whom she actually enjoyed conversing.

Hope moved his gaze from the window back to her face. "Fine," he answered plainly. His lips quirked into a small, amused-looking smile and he added, "Serah keeps things interesting. Just about every guy in my class has a crush on her."

Lightning paused in bringing another mouthful of rice to her lips to make a show of rolling her eyes. Serah had begun interning at their local school with the hope of one day becoming a certified teacher. Lightning wasn't at all surprised to hear that her sister was popular with the adolescent boys. "I hope you saved them the heartbreak by telling them she's taken."

Hope laughed. "And give up all the envy points I've scored by being close to her?" He waved a hand in front of his face. "Not a chance. Anyway, they're bound to find out soon enough, the way Snow goes on about her to everyone he meets. And watching them fall all over themselves to impress her is my one source of entertainment."

Lightning set her spoon in the bowl. "I keep saying the coursework is too easy for you."

Hope shrugged and rested his elbows on the table to prop his chin atop his palms. "Yeah, well, apparently Dad agrees because he told me today that he's planning to have the Academy take over my schooling."

This caused Lightning to arch a brow. "Bartholomew came by?"

Hope nodded. His silver hair bobbed with the motion. "He and Rygdea stopped by to talk to Sazh about looking at some old Pulsian airships the Academy happened upon during their last scouting mission—according to their mechanics, the ships might still be functional. I know I don't need to tell you how hurting we are for technology." He shook his head, seeming to realize that he was getting off track. "Anyway, you know how fast the Academy is growing. They've gathered up the best and the brightest from every corner of Cocoon and naturally Dad is going to take advantage of his position as Director to get his son the very best education available. Ah—but don't worry. I'll still be allowed to live here with everyone. He said he thought it would be best not to 'uproot' me."

Lightning considered this bit of news as she finished the last few bites of her meal and nursed her mug of milk. It came as no surprise to her that Bartholomew had finally made the decision to pull Hope from their hastily slapped together public school. The place barely qualified as a learning facility—more like a glorified daycare meant to keep Cocoon's youth out of trouble while the adults figured out how to rebuild society from the ground up. It was never in any way a fit for Hope and Lightning was pleased to hear that her young comrade would soon be getting the education he deserved. Hope was a bright kid. Brighter than any of them had anticipated, to be sure. He had a good head for math and a gift for engineering and as the months passed, it became increasingly apparent to Lightning that he was destined for greatness, one way or another.

The blue-eyed soldier smiled slightly and set her spoon down to lean back in her chair. "It sounds like the change will be a positive one. The Academy will be a much better fit for you. You were just going to end up being recruited by the Guardian Corps after graduation if you stayed at that school."

Hope lifted his head to reposition his chin onto the backs of his knuckles. He regarded her with bright eyes overtop the gloved digits. His pale eyebrows rose a fraction. "Think I couldn't cut it as a soldier?"

Lightning didn't answer right away. She took a long pull from her mug, all the while keeping her eyes on Hope's. He was wearing an expression that had become increasingly common on him of late. Though, to be honest, it wasn't really an expression so much as a particular look in his eyes. He watched her with a gaze that was steady and patient but that also carried an odd kind of intensity that nearly felt like a challenge. Lightning had yet to figure out how to respond to it so she left it unanswered. "I think you could," she said at last. "But I also think it would be a pitiable waste of your talents."

Hope laughed for the second time that night. "Right. Well, if you feel that strongly then I guess a second opinion isn't really needed." He raised a hand to stifle a yawn and stood from his chair. "I'm gonna hit the hay. I really just stayed up to make sure you got some food in you before you collapsed into bed—don't make that face at me, you've done it enough times now that Serah's started to worry." He pushed in his chair and walked around the table toward the stairs, pausing briefly to brush her shoulder with his hand as he passed.

Lightning followed his retreating form with her eyes. Blandly, she wondered just when it was that the role of caretaker had switched from her to him.

She exhaled a sigh as the exposed fingers of her right hand found the spot on her shoulder where Hope had touched her. The flesh there tingled and a frown pulled at her lips. Unbidden, she thought of how he'd looked at her mere moments before. There was intent both in his eyes then and in his touch just now, but it was too subtle…or perhaps too well masked to get a good read on.

Lightning let those thoughts drift away as the exhaustion that had been temporarily held at bay by food came rushing back with a vengeance. She'd have plenty of time to contemplate the curiosities of her comrades later. Now, she needed sleep.

o0o

The days continued to pass without much change. Lightning was kept busy with her patrols. Occasionally, one of the others would join her when she was given a task that required more hands. Usually it was Snow, but sometimes Sazh or Hope would be the one to tag along. The people had a healthy respect for all the ex-l'Cie after what had gone down six months prior and they knew there wasn't a soul alive who knew the Pulse wilderness better.

Monster attacks occurred with less frequency in the cold winter months, so Lightning often found herself stuck on long patrols with nothing to occupy her. It was boring and tedious and generally seemed like more trouble than it was worth, except for the fact that it was absolutely worth it for the rare occasions when a group of Pulse nasties would decide that the human settlements were too tempting a treat to be ignored.

Lightning pulled her scarf more tightly around her face to block the chill as she kept an eye on a pack of wyverns that were soaring just a little too close to the edge of the town to be comfortable. Normally, wyverns were smart enough to stay away, but prey was scarce in the cold season and hunger had a way of making one bold. It was a trait shared by monsters and humans alike.

It was during these long hours of virtually nothing to occupy her when Lightning's mind would inevitably start to wander. This was dangerous, not only because she risked losing focus on her job, but also because, as minds are wont to do, hers would drift to just the sorts of matters she kept herself busy precisely to avoided thinking about. Matters such as her sister's wedding, which would take place in the coming spring, as well as certain emotional—and physical—needs of her own which she'd succeeded in ignoring quite capably for the past six years.

Now that Serah was safe and happy and no longer depended on her for survival, Lightning was finally being forced to look at her own life and at last decide what it was she wanted from it. That meant considering things like her career, her friendships, and, she suppressed a shudder at so much as thinking the word, potential romantic relationships.

Lightning didn't detest the idea of dating, exactly, but that was a scene she'd never properly entered and possessed little knowledge of. The few brushes she'd had with romance, mainly one-sided advances made by coworkers during her training days, had served only to leave her feeling aggravated and objectified. Lightning had never had a large reserve of patience and the list of people she tolerated was only slightly longer than that of those she enjoyed talking to.

You just haven't found the right guy yet, her sister had told her when she'd expressed her reservations about dating several weeks back. Someday, you're going to find a person who you can just be yourself around and it won't be about tolerating them. They'll be someone whose company you enjoy enough that you'll look forward to spending time with them.

Lightning exhaled a short sigh and slipped her freezing fingers out of the fingers of her gloves to curl them against her palms for warmth. It was easy enough for Serah to say that she would eventually find a man she enjoyed being with, but so far, her prospects hadn't seemed so promising. There was certainly no shortage of available men within the ranks of the Guardian Corps, but Lightning preferred to keep a firm separation between her personal life and work and she really wasn't comfortable with the idea of dating a coworker. Then there was the matter of her own prickliness, as Serah put it. Lightning just didn't have much patience for small talk and that made getting to know others tricky. If someone had something meaningful to say, she'd listen. But she had no interest in hearing strangers speak about themselves or answering their polite questions about her own life.

On the one hand, Lightning thought she could be perfectly content to spend her life alone. She had her sister and her friends, and once Snow and Serah got married it likely wouldn't be long before little nieces and nephews started popping up. There would be no shortage of love in her life. But on the other hand, was she really okay with never knowing the love of a partner? Never experiencing the touch of a man? She was twenty-one—nearly twenty-two—and she'd never been kissed; never experienced the kind of love a woman feels for a man. Six months of watching her sister be over-the-moon happy with her fiancé and having witnessed the lengths Snow was willing to go to in order to save Serah from her fate caused Lightning to feel a pang of something like longing to know that kind of devotion. The thought made her scoff. She'd never thought she'd be jealous of Snow.

At her hip, her GC-issue communicator beeped. Lightning pushed her fingers back into her gloves and plucked it from her belt. She hit the flashing green button and lifted the device to her ear. "Lightning reporting. What's up?"

There was a crackle of static and then Snow's voice was relayed through the speaker. "Hey, Sis. The general wants you to come in. There's been a…um…situation."

The hesitation in Snow's delivery was not lost on her. "What kind of a situation?" she asked. Her eyes travelled up to the wyverns she'd been monitoring and her eyebrows furrowed.

"Remember three weeks ago when that scout went missing? You know, the one from the survey team that was setting up an outpost over in the Yaschas Massif?"

Lightning did. The case had been a real head-scratcher. There hadn't been any signs of either attack or accident. The man simply went out to scout as usual and never came back. "What, did they finally find him?"

There was another crackle and Lightning could hear unintelligible fragments of a conversation happening somewhere in the background on Snow's end. "The opposite, actually," her soon-to-be brother-in-law answered. "The whole team's vanished."

Lightning's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "The whole team? You're kidding me."

"I wish I were. I can hardly believe it myself. Anyway, the general's called for a meeting—he'll explain everything then. Just get back here A-sap."

Lightning sighed and mentally prepared to make the long trek back to base. "Roger. I'll be there in forty minutes." She hit the end button on the transceiver and hooked it back onto her belt.

A whole outpost, vanished. Lightning had never heard a story more absurd. How does an entire camp of soldiers go missing?

Well, she thought wryly as she trudged through the snow toward the town, if she was being called in to hear the details, then one thing was for sure: one way or another, she was about to find out.

o0o

The base was packed and abuzz with chatter when Lightning finally arrived thirty-eight minutes later. At the head of the large briefing room, she could see General Caragan speaking with his second in command, Lieutenant-General Rygdea. Rygdea saw her enter and tossed her a smile. Lightning nodded to him before ducking into the crowd to take her place.

Snow was easy enough to spot with his height and recognizable bandana. He was talking with Sazh, who had grease stains on his face and looked like he'd been busy in the hangar when he'd received the order to assemble. Beside them, Hope stood quietly looking like he was half-listening to them as his eyes travelled back and forth over the pages of a large, heavy-looking textbook. Lightning was grateful to see the fifteen-year-old because it meant she wouldn't have to stand next to Snow and inevitably get dragged into conversation.

Hope glanced up as she slipped into position beside him. "Hey, Light. You made it," he greeted somewhat distractedly as he pulled a pencil from behind his ear and circled a word before scribbling a note in the margin.

Lightning watched him with a raised eyebrow. "What's that? Homework?"

It took the silver-haired boy a moment to answer as he crossed out a word and wrote a different word above it. "Hm? Ah, no. This a copy of an old Pulsian encyclopedia of aeronautical engineering Dad's team managed to scrounge up in Oerba." His pencil hovered just over the page, following the path of his eyes down the line of text before it stopped at another word. He tapped the graphite tip twice against the paper thoughtfully before underlining the word and penning a question mark beside it. "R&D has been looking into building ships that can fly using petroleum and other natural fuel sources by reengineering Sanctum aircrafts to be compatible with ancient Pulsian combustion engines. Problem is, while the transition should work in theory, in every test the fuel has burned up too quickly."

Lightning hummed and brought a hand to her chin. "You're saying they're inefficient."

Hope nodded. "Precisely. The question is why? While it's true that Cocoon aircrafts are generally more powerful than their Pulsian cousins, the large disparity in their fuel consumption rates doesn't make any sense. I was hoping I might find something in here that could shed light on the problem."

Lightning crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto her left hip. "Well, any light-shedding is going to have to be put on hold for the moment. It looks like Caragan is ready to get this thing started."

All chatter in the room promptly ceased as the general stood from his chair and cleared his throat. General Caragan was the sort of man who, despite his mild disposition, commanded an immense amount of respect from his subordinates. He was fair and level-headed and it was largely thanks to his leadership that the people's transition from Cocoon to Gran Pulse had gone as smoothly as it did. Everyone in the room listened attentively as he began the meeting.

"I thank you all for gathering on such short notice," he spoke. His voice was clear and even. "As most of you are no doubt aware by now, there's been an incident in the Yaschas Massif involving the team we sent to construct an outpost there. Forty-eight hours ago, we stopped receiving communications from their camp, and just two hours ago, we received word from our recon squad that the camp currently sits empty; not a man or woman to be found anywhere in the vicinity."

An excited murmur swept through the room. It died as quickly as it began, though, as everyone was eager to hear the details. Caragan's eyes travelled over the faces of his subordinates and connected briefly with Lightning's own before he spoke again. "There was no evidence to suggest a struggle and nothing to explain why the entire encampment would suddenly decide to leave all at once without informing headquarters. Moreover, the report I received from the recon squad described the camp as appearing 'in every way operational'. That is to say, nothing had been packed away with the intention of relocating. Personal belongings such as clothing and grooming products were left behind. It is a case that echoes very closely the disappearance of Sgt. Learny three weeks ago."

Another murmur arose at the mention of the vanished sergeant which the general allowed. He paused for several seconds before continuing. "It is neither my belief nor Lieutenant-General Rygdea's that these soldiers merely departed on a whim. There is undoubtedly an outside force at work here. I want each and every one of you to remain alert and on guard at all times, as there is no way of knowing if these vanishing episodes are limited exclusively to the massif. Naturally, we will do everything in our power to locate the missing team and uncover the truth of the matter before whatever it is can become a danger to Cocoon's citizens."

Lightning knew what Caragan's next words would be before his eyes even had time to travel back to hers. In cases where supernatural forces may be involved, there was only one team he would hand the job of investigating to.

"This brings us to the matter of the investigation. Because there is a high probability that we may be dealing with some form of Pulsian sorcery, I'm putting the investigation in the hands of Special Response Team Lambda. Sergeant Farron," he called on her, drawing the room's eyes to the small band of ex-l'Cie. "You and your team are to remain here after the meeting to receive your briefing. All others are free to go."

Lightning felt a brush on her hand as the room erupted into chatter and the other soldiers began shuffling toward the door. She looked to her side to see Hope looking up at her with a twinkle in his eye. "A field-trip. Lucky us."

Lightning exhaled a short huff of amusement and lifted an arm to cuff him lightly on the shoulder. "Who said you're even going? Something tells me Bartholomew is going to have words with Rygdea about sending his son out to a place where soldiers have been vanishing with no explanation."

Hope shook his head and his eyes became serious. "I'm going," he said firmly. We ex-l'Cie stick together. Dad knows I won't be told to stay behind." The conviction in his wintergreen eyes as he stared levelly into her own caused something inside Lightning to tighten. She wondered if he knew how jarring that gaze of his was.

Regardless, she was glad to hear him say so, because she hadn't been relishing the thought of trekking all the way out to the massif with just Snow and Sazh and whatever small escort of GC soldiers were sent along with them for company. Hope was unquestionably her favorite travelling partner. He didn't grate on her the way Snow did and he didn't try to pick her apart as Sazh was wont to do. He knew when to talk and when to leave her in peace and which buttons he could get away with pressing. Being around him didn't drain her social stamina and that had made him an invaluable asset during their initial journey across Gran Pulse back when they were still l'Cie.

"Right," she allowed. "Well, as long as your dad's okay with it, I won't stop you."

The briefing that followed took about twenty minutes. Rygdea was the one to provide it and the ex-l'Cie listened attentively as he went over the specifics of the mission. They would be escorted by Rygdea himself along with a small squadron of officers of his choosing to the massif where they would rendezvous with the recon squad still at the outpost. The outpost would become their base of operations during their investigation and search for the missing team. Lieutenant Rocher of the recon squad had been instructed to remain at the outpost and maintain regular radio contact with headquarters in order to provide updates on the mission.

"Unfortunately, we don't have anything approaching a timeframe for how long this is going to take," Rygdea said, shaking his head with a sigh. "The goal is to find the missing the team, and that could take anywhere from hours to weeks. You'll want to make certain you're prepared." He nodded to Hope. "Go talk to your dad, yeah? This mission won't be without danger and he'll be havin' some words for you, I'm sure." He turned to Lightning and Snow and Sazh next. "And you three do what you gotta. The GC will keep an eye on Serah and Dajh while you're gone, but know that it'll likely be some time before you see 'em again."

Snow nodded. He looked uncharacteristically solemn. "Of course."

Sazh shook his head and exhaled a long sigh. "Here we go again. The universe always has something in store for us, doesn't it." He looked at Snow and cracked a ghost of a smile. "'Least I know Dajh'll be in good hands."

Snow answered him with a grin. "The best. Serah'll keep him safe. And NORA, too. They'll be having so much fun, he won't even miss you."

Sazh snorted but his smile broadened at Snow's reassurance.

Lightning nudged Hope with her hip. When he looked at her curiously, she said softly, "You should stay with your dad tonight. He'll appreciate it."

Hope hesitated briefly but then he nodded. "Alright. I'll meet you guys back here tomorrow for departure."

Lightning smiled and lifted a hand to ruffle his hair. "Just don't be late or I really will leave you behind."

As the group disbanded to take care of their own personal business in preparation for their trip to the massif, Lightning hung back and looked up at the cloud-choked sky. She let out a long sigh and shook her head. Just what she needed: a wilderness camping adventure in the middle of winter. She prayed to whatever higher power might be listening to give her patience in the days to come. She could sense already that she was going to need it.

oO0Oo

First chapter down. Twelve to go. I swear I didn't plan for this story to come out to thirteen chapters. That was just a happy accident.