A/N: Hello, everyone! Chasing Noerah (formerly known as Chasing Yuffentine) is back with the sequel to the much beloved "Crystalline Memento"!

I was a total lazyass in writing this. It took me more than three months to write the whole thing... So uh yeah... ._.

I just hope every one of you are happy and appreciative that I was so determined to finish this before I went to sleep! I haven't been asleep all. fucking. NIGHT! As a matter of fact, the night is WAY past over! So umm... after I post this, I'm going to bed. And just for the record, it's almost NOON! XD

Reading "Crystalline Memento" isn't exactly necessary to understand what goes on in this oneshot, but it's STRONGLY recommended, especially since this is the sequel.

... Anyway, enjoy! Oh! And please review when your done! Reviews are always much appreciated! This time especially because I stayed up for several hours when I could have been asleep... ^^

I love you all!

Crystalline Photograph

By: Chasing Noerah

A soft moan came forth from Serah's lips as her lover ran his lips down her neck slowly, teasingly, before finally settling on a sensitive spot in the crook of it, sucking, licking. His thumbs swirled against her nipples, creating an unbearable ache between her legs; a torturously delicious throbbing that craved—no—required satisfaction.

She could feel tears pricking at the corners of her tightly shut eyes. It felt so damn good, but it was becoming just far too much to bear...

The feel of the soft, damp grass beneath her buttocks and thighs; the hard, rough tree bark behind her upper back and head. The contrast heightened the wonderful things being done to her that made her thighs quiver...

"Noel, touch me lower... Please...!" she whispered desperately, the sound almost coming off as a quiet sob.

Her lover, Noel, ceased his ministrations upon her neck, then shifted slightly from his position kneeling between Serah's open legs to let his lips brush against her ear. "Not tonight."

"W-what?"

Noel sounded a quiet and mischievous chuckle, and then his voice was gentle and she could feel his lips against her ear again with each syllable he spoke, "Wake up, Serah..." Then his nude form illuminated, vanishing soon after.

"No... No!" Serah cried out, realizing that the events of her lucid slumber were coming to an end once more. "Please don't go! I need you!"

The forest in which they had been performing their intimacies began to glow as well, as did she. The enormous tree on which she leaned also began to fade into light.

"... I love you. I'll be waiting..."

Then Serah began to glow as well and she fell into a panicked confusion at his words.

"Waiting for what? Noel?"

Finally, everything faded into white and then immediately after into all-consuming black.

Serah awoke with a gasp, taking shaky breaths for moments after. "You alright?" Noel asked concernedly from the doorway of N.O.R.A's base.

"Huh...?" Serah asked dazedly.

"You were sweating and moaning my name. You were moving around a lot too."

Serah blushed at the statement, desperately hoping that he wouldn't put two and two together (he was certainly smart enough to), as futile as that hope may have been. She was just thankful that it was still dark enough—despite the rising sun—to hide the rosy color on her cheeks.

"Must've been one hell of a nightmare," he continued, nonchalantly, as though his previous concern had been forgotten... or was never there. Serah could've sworn she even heard him chuckle softly.

"Y-you could say that..." she murmured, her daze renewed by his surprising obliviousness to her situation; if he saw her sweating and writhing about, then surely he must have seen her clenching at the bed and comforter (he'd never made her aware of any such actions in the past, but she'd been seeing indications of such behavior almost every night). Nightmares... yeah... But only because they always end before we really even do anything though... Why can't it be like before?

The dreams she had been having recently were very similar to the ones she had been having prior to meeting Noel in person. They were naughty, passionate, sweat-and-lust-inducing hours of subconscious lucidity. Somehow, Noel and she had at one time actually interacting in each other's dreams. Or was it that he was appearing in her dreams...? She in his dreams?

Oh, it was so confusing!

It didn't matter; the point remained that they were no ordinary dreams. The final time she had met Noel in one of their original dreamtime liaisons, she conjured a small chunk of her l'Cie crystal strung onto a leather cord and instructed him to wear it when he went to meet her so that she would know that everything they had done for months was real.

She didn't quite expect him to be wearing that very same necklace when he rescued her and Lebreau from a Nekoton that had been taken down almost seconds too late. She expected even less for him to wink and smile at her (Goddess, did her heart flutter when he did that).

But what absolutely made her jaw drop was when he had the sheer audacity to tell her later on, after all the commotion had settled down, after she had lovingly embraced him... that he had never met her. 'How dare he!' she had thought in the very back of her mind, though she was too busy being completely shocked and bombarding him with demands to explain this and explain that, and questions of 'Don't you remember this or that?'

The questions were all met with a resounding, aggravatingly nonchalant 'sorry, but no'.

xXx

He had easily rattled off explanations for different things that Serah reasoned simply couldn't be possible if they hadn't been carrying on a tryst within each other's dreams.

Dreaming of him? Noel agreed that the dreams were visions, but according to him, her desires for her fiancé morphed her visions of him—Noel—into something erotic instead.

Basically, Serah was supposedly projecting her Snow-related desires onto her dream version of Noel (the notion of which absolutely infuriated Serah: How dare he imply that I was thinking of Snow when I was making love to him!).

But then Serah reasoned that dream-Noel and the real deal were identical, both in looks and personality. "Well, of course," he had said. "The version of myself that you dreamt up was a part of a vision. It's obvious I'm going to be exactly like my vision version."

"Okay, then why did you wink at me when you saved me and Lebreau? And that necklace; where did you get it from? In my last dream about you, I gave you a necklace just like it!" Serah argued. She also took care to notice that all the while that she had been explaining these dreams to him (in full detail), he didn't even show the faintest sign of a blush or discomfort, nor did he even ask her to tone it down with the detail—as a matter of fact, he seemed to lose himself in the description, licking his lips subconsciously at one point; very likely a sign that he was both full of shit and, since they had apparently done just as Serah had been claiming, was completely comfortable with talking about it.

She decided not to call him on his bluff though, and just let him try to rebut the final argument she proposed.

"Oh. The wink? Well honestly, I was just flirting a bit... before I found out you were engaged of course."

Oh, come on! That's a lie, and we both know it. Knowing about my engagement's never stopped either of us, now has it? Serah thought almost bitterly.

"And the necklace is a souvenir from my mother." Noel said this simply; not at all like one would normally regard such a personal treasure.

And thus, Serah (very reluctantly) dropped the issue. She began her adventure with Noel to find Artefacts and Time Gates, resolve Paradoxes, save the future...

xXx

But from the very first night, the dreams started again. Only...

Only... Noel wouldn't satisfy her, not anymore... He wouldn't satisfy himself either, but he would tease her to the point of near insanity, to the point of begging, of shameless pleading, but then he would end the dream, always saying that he would take her some other night, satisfy her—them—some other time.

It was maddening...

Absolutely maddening...

Serah was frustrated and strung out; completely on edge. She blamed her frustration on Noel for leaving her unsatisfied for the last couple of weeks. He keeps teasing me! It's so cruel... It's almost like... he's daring me to call him on his bluff...

"You've been having these nightmares every night, Serah."

"Huh?" Serah was torn from her thoughts.

"I said you've been having a nightmare every night, and they all seem to revolve around me. Is something bothering you? Have I done something to upset you?"

"No!" she blurted, far too quickly. If only you knew... she muttered mentally, then made sure to slap her mental self upside the head for replying so suspiciously quickly.

"I was kidding, Serah." Noel raised his eyebrow at her for a moment—Serah could've sworn he was amused—then closed his eyes, shaking his head slightly and finding himself unable to hold back another soft chuckle. "Alright then. If you say so," he then said, not even sounding the least bit suspicious.

... He knows more than he's letting on... I just know it! Serah thought.

"Let's get ready for the day, shall we? We've still got a lot to do before we've saved the future." Noel said, upbeat.

"Right." Serah said, expertly feigning a smile to hide the mischievous machinations of her mind. That night, she was going to get to the bottom of the issue...

And if she had anything to say about it, she was also going to get what she had been denied for so long...

Not that Noel should have a problem with it, she assured herself.

xXx

That night, they actually had running water (that didn't come from a river) and luxurious, plush beds; the temperature-regulated rooms most certainly didn't hurt either. Having Hope as both a friend and an ally certainly came in handy at the best—and worst—of times.

Noel had definitely taken a liking to the option of a regular supply of hot water in the shower (and the option of a shower, period). It was something never available to him in his time, so he was definitely more than fascinated by the concept of technology that constantly heated water for the use of bathing or showering. He mused on just how blissfully hot the water had been as he walked at a casual pace back to his room, a towel slung around his hips and his hair only slightly more than damp after being giving a shoddy drying in the bathroom. He arrived, then punched in the code he was given to unlock the door and turning the doorknob to his room when the password had been confirmed. Then Noel walked inside and closed the door. "I could get used to thi- AH!"

Among the things in his room were a television, a bookshelf, a bedside table, a lamp on the bedside table, a king-sized bed, and a very scantily clad Serah sitting cross-legged on the edge of the king-sized bed.

"We need to talk."

"S-Serah...?"

"You," she started, "Have been coming into my dreams again."

"I th-thought I already told you that I-"

"Pah, pah, pah! Let me finish." Serah had officially adopted what was commonly known as her 'teacher mode'. "You've been coming into my dreams, and in them you've been toying around with me, playing with my body, kissing me and teasing my breasts until I'm just about ready to go insane, but whenever I beg you to touch me below—and trust me, I beg, and you know it too—you always end the dream." She snapped her fingers. "Just like that." She arose from the edge of the large mattress, and strode slowly towards Noel.

She took a shaky breath (I can't believe I'm actually going to say this...), then continued, her voice a seductive murmur once Noel started backing up towards the door. "And then I'm left so, so horny. I'm left wet and throbbing and unsatisfied, and I can hardly stand it. I end up touching myself when I'm alone, and it only takes the edge off. Noel, I love you, and I need you."

Throughout the whole thing, Noel's breathing had become labored, hoarse and shaky with arousal, and his cock was already hard and throbbing and straining against the terrycloth of the towel that was no longer doing a very good job at concealing it. Considering how touching himself had been doing as much good for him as it had been for Serah when she had been doing it to herself, he too was feeling the frustration of that lack of sexual satisfaction, and it was taking all of his willpower just to not pounce her...But those last three words broke his remaining restraint and resolve.

'I need you.'

... Fuck it, I'm ending this little game; she wins.

"What took you so long?" Noel growled before crushing his lips to Serah's, the strawberry blonde-haired female responding in kind. His lips were insistent against hers, and hers ignited—further fueled—the fire between them. Serah's hands reached behind Noel, grabbing his ass's cheeks and pulling his hips towards hers, grinding herself against his erection. Even with barriers of woven fabric between them, the sensation was heavenly. Serah let out an enraptured sigh; Noel moaned, and his length throbbed in agreement against Serah's barely concealed heat.

Noel broke away but remained close. "Impatient, aren't we?" he teased, a darkly lustful edge to his voice sending shivers down Serah's spine.

"Yes," Serah said, her short, to-the-point betraying a sense of urgency, further emphasized by the way her lips suddenly attacked his neck. Her hands made quick work of Noel's towel below while keeping him sufficiently distracted with her mouth above, kissing and sucking the flesh of his neck, and working her way up to his earlobe. "I want you inside me, Noel. I want you so much..." she whispered, her breath coming in soft pants, "When... When I do things to myself, it's not enough—it's never enough, not even close..." She felt her cheeks heat up in a blush. It was odd to tell him these things, almost nerve-wracking, but the words were spilling forth and—in a way—they just felt right. "I need to feel you inside of me again..." Finally, she touched him, running the tip of her forefinger down the top of Noel's length from the tip of the head to the base, reveled in the way his hands shot to her upper arms and gripped tightly, and in the strangled sound he made expressing his absolute pleasure from that first touch. "For you to make love to me just like we used to..." Then her other fingers gradually joined in caressing his arousal from the base back to the tip. "Except this time..." Her fingers—one by one—slowly wrapped around his cock and she gave it a soft squeeze before pumping with a fairly slow and easy rhythm; Noel's breath hitched audibly in his throat. "It'll be for real. And when we wake up in the morning, we'll be in each other's arms... Now touch me, because if you don't-"

And the rest of her words were lost when Noel roughly brought his lips to hers once more. He surrounded her with his arms in such a way that it would allow him to unclasp her strapless brassiere. Even with hands trembling from the strength of the ecstasy he felt from Serah's smooth, even strokes (Goddess, she still knows just how I like it...), he managed to take it off without too much effort.

Then he kissed her chin, down to her neck then leaned down and kissed the top of her chest before slowly continuing down the center, avoiding her breasts. Serah moaned softly, and the hand that had just been pleasuring Noel fell limp at her side. When he reached the bottom of her ribcage, he moved his head back up so he was staring down at her face. She looked to be in an ecstatic trance, her eyes deeply hooded, her lips slightly parted, her face rosy, and her breaths coming out in small pants. "So beautiful..." Noel whispered.

"Huh...?" Serah jolted a bit as Noel's words suddenly returned her ability to focus on the task at hand.

"I said you're beautiful. You're so beautiful, Serah..." Noel murmured.

Serah then quickly looked up into Noel's gentle eyes. At that moment, for the two of them, time had stopped and their former urgency was immediately forgotten. They looked into each others eyes, seeing what couldn't be seen before. Serah saw love and an unspoken apology hidden within Noel's gaze, and Noel could see a reciprocation of that love along with a playful forgiveness within Serah's. "... Make love to me, Noel... I can't take this anymore..." Serah said softly. Noel had hardly touched her and she felt like she was going to burst into confetti or something completely unrealistic if he didn't take her right then.

Noel nodded absently before picking Serah up and placing her legs around his waist. Serah grasped Noel's shoulders, and then Noel took her over to the bed, laying her down onto it. Serah's arms were splayed out beside her head, and she looked on and Noel quickly and fluidly slid her panties down her slender legs and off of her. Noel then climbed onto the bed and shifted his body so he would be blanketing her. Serah gave him a small nod of affirmation. Noel smiled softly and kissed her again, softly this time, aligning himself with his lover's entrance as their lips and tongues danced delicately together. When they broke apart, Serah mouthed 'I love you' to Noel; his breath hitched in his throat, and he hesitated briefly before pushing inside of her.

They both closed their eyes and moaned at the sensation. Noel remained still for a few moments, just enjoying the feel of finally being one with Serah again, just as Serah reveled in the feel of being one with Noel once more. "It's been a while since we've done this, hasn't it?" Serah asked softly, smiling.

Noel returned the smile. "... Yeah." And with that last word, no others were spoken for the time; nothing else needed to be said. He began to move within her, his length caressing something within Serah that hadn't been touched in so long, a fire that needed to be stoked, and only by him. They both moaned their pleasure as Noel thrust in and out of Serah, Serah rising to meet him midway. He changed his pace occasionally. He would speed up to tantalize Serah, and slow down to tease her. The tactic never failed to garner the desired result.

As they got closer and closer to the edge, Noel sped up accordingly, thrusting harder into Serah when she weakly grasped clutched at his arm, a sign that he came to know long ago meant that she wanted him to be fiercer with his movements. Serah could hardly see clearly let alone speak she was so enraptured. Her moans became breathier and faster when she was close, so close she could feel herself at the very precipice. "Come for me, Serah," Noel said into her ear, his voice a harsh whisper; he was just as close as she was.

Serah cried out wordlessly in response, her eyes shut tight. He sped up and increased the force of his thrusts further. "N-Noel...! Mmmmm..."

Noel intertwined the fingers of his left hand with those of Serah's right and clutched tightly; Serah squeezed back just as tightly. "Come for me, love..." Noel softly encouraged once more.

Serah finally shattered around him—her inner walls fluttering and pulsing strongly—threw her head back into the bed, arched her back upwards, and screamed his name. Noel was hardly able to get in another thrust before he joined her in their personal Heaven spilling his essence within her; he moaned her name, chanting it over and over as though he could say nothing else while he rode out his orgasm inside of her.

When their bodies had finally calmed, they shifted so they were in each other's arms, and they looked at each other with a special kind of awe.

"Hey... Noel..." Serah asked groggily, satisfied yet exhausted.

Noel nodded slightly; a sign for her to continue.

"Why'd... Why'd you pretend to not... remember for all this time...?"

Noel looked at her guiltily and sighed softly. "It was this stupid game I came up with. I wanted to see if you could figure me out. Wasn't easy to keep myself away from you... I'm sorry. It really was a cruel trick to play... I'm so sorry, Serah."

"It's 'kay... I knew the whole time that you were bluffing."

"But you could tell that I love you, right...? Even though I pretended to not remember... I did a lot to at least hint at it... And I knew the whole time you knew I was bluffing. I just wanted to see how long it took for you to take it this far, but it really was too cruel..."

"I always knew that you loved me; I never doubted it..." Serah said groggily, then yawned.

"I'll make love to you again in the morning. Would you like that...?"

"Mm-hmm... But... let's just sleep for now..."

Noel nodded again, this time in agreement. "Night, Serah. I love you..."

Serah nodded and then their eyes fell closed and they fell asleep as such, Noel still inside of her...

Not that their connection could be ever broken even when their bodies separated.