A/N: This is my first attempt at fan fiction and my first attempt at creative writing or writing for pleasure period. Honest reviews are welcome.

I have taken some liberties with the ending of Final Fantasy XIII so if things are not in canon that's why.

Thanks to Bebus for helping beta read and proofread this for you all. You're my favorite Brit :)

And finally all characters and such belong to Square Enix.

Lighting Farron could count on one hand the number of times she had cried in recent memory. The first being when her father had died, she was only a little girl then. The second time was when her mother had died when she was fifteen, her mother had raised her to be strong but Claire had felt so helpless then, even abandoned. The third time was Serah's imprisonment in crystal stasis. That was the only time that Lightning had felt like she had failed her sister and herself. The fourth and very, very recent was Fang's crystal stasis. As Lightning watched the Pulsian beauty crystallize and reach out to her with a look of horror upon her face, she suddenly felt like she was a teenager again. Helpless and abandoned.

She looked across the dying fire at Serah, sound asleep in Snow's arms. The Pulsian sun was beginning to rise. Lightning sighed inwardly. Sleep did not visit Lightning this night. It was Snow's watch but no surprise that he had fallen asleep. It had been less than a day since the fall of Cocoon. She had led the party to a suitable campsite, and for the moment that was all she could do.

A few days had passed since the collapse Cocoon, the surviving citizens at first, eked out a meager existence on Pulse immediately after the catastrophe that was Ragnorok. Those days were hard on all them but hardest on Lightning in particular. She was sharing a remodeled Purge train car with Serah which was nice, but she often had to endure Snow's grating presence, as if she did not do enough of that on their l'cie journeys. On a much dourer note her dreams and even her idle waking moments were haunted by one Oerba Yun Fang.

To avoid this new form of torture, Lightning worked from sun up to sun down helping with making their camp livable. She slaved away digging a suitable latrine connecting it by a fairly deep canal to a near by stream. She then tasked Serah with helping her weave together the alien leaves and branches to form a decent cover for their privacy. Lightning ordered Snow to collect wood and to begin erecting a shelter for himself and only himself. Gradually, over the next few days other survivors began showing up, including the old NORA crew much to Lightning's chagrin; she quickly dispatched them into the surrounding wilds in search of game. She assigned unskilled menial tasks to the remainder of the civilians and usually supervised and worked along side them personally. She was extremely pleased to see Sazh, Dajh, and Hope arrive on an old PSICOM transport that Sazh had been able to salvage and repair. She promptly sent the three to the ruins of Cocoon to scavenge for fuel, food, and other necessities. By the end of the first week post Cocoon Lightning smiled and thought to herself, "We just might make it after all."

- Two months later

"Lieutenant Farron reporting sir!" she snapped a crisp salute to her commander.

"At ease, LT." replied General Cid Raines, who saluted in reply. As the highest ranking Guardian Corps officer currently, he beared the heavy burden of supervising reconstruction efforts, defense against creatures of Pulse, and the reintegration or destruction of the remaining PSICOM troops.

"Sir!"

"Farron, I want you to take a platoon and recon the base of the crystal. The civvies have been reporting some behemoth activity."

An almost imperceptible widening of Lightning's pupils declared her anxiety about her assignment but she quickly shot out a "Yes sir."

"I know you've lost your l'cie abilities, Farron, so have I. You're still the best soldier I have and it is vital that the crystal pillar is secure so that supplies can be salvaged from Cocoon."

"Thank you, sir."

The hard look he had been giving her was replaced with a grin.

"Well what's with the shifty eyes, Farron?"

"It's my first real command, sir" she quickly lied, pushing away the thought of seeing Fang again.

"I'm sending you out with some veteran NCO's and team leaders, Farron, you'll be fine."

"Thank you sir."

"Dismissed."

As she turned to leave the general's office he quickly spoke up,humor in his voice, "Oh and if you decide to spar with any of your subordinates don't incapacitate them. The infirmary is a bit overwhelmed right now."

A wry grin spread across the new lieutenant's face, "I wouldn't dream of it sir."

"Good."

"Serah!"

"Jeez Claire you don't have to yell!"

"I was just making sure you were here and not at that idiot's"

"Oh, him and Gadot found a couple of bottles of vodka last night. I don't think he's up yet." Serah said giggling.

Claire merely shook her head.

"Snow and the NORA crew have worked hard with the construction, Claire! You know that!"

"He's still an idiot." The elder Farron mumbled.

Serah directed at her sister a very accurate rendition of Lightning's own signature glare.

"Anyways sis, I have a patrol to go on. I should only be gone a week."

"Be careful, Claire."

"I'll be fine. But, I am leaving you with one rule."

"Oh yeah?" Serah said, arching an eyebrow.

"Snow is not to stay over."

Serah's cheeks reddened visibly, much to her older sister's amusement. "Why not?"

"Because he's an idiot and may burn our home down."

"Claire!"

"Look Serah, I'm not oblivious to you sneaking off at night. I just don't want the spawn of that fool coming into this world before things have improved." Lightning said, balling her fists.

Serah's jaw dropped. This was the first time that her guardian sister had even acknowledged that Snow would even be around in the future.

Claire's eyes softened. "I know you love him, and it's really mature of him to want to postpone the wedding so Fang and Vanille have a chance to emerge from their stasis."

Claire then sighed and admitted to herself as much as Serah. "No matter how much I try I will never be able to keep you two apart."

"Th-thank you, sis." The younger Farron's eyes were now red and visibly misty.

"What I am trying to say is, enjoy those you love while you can, and if you want to have Snow over then fine. Seriously though, no babies. I don't have to like him either."

"What's gotten into you Claire? Is everything ok?"

"Yes." She then indulged her sister with a brief but sad smile before quickly crossing the room to get her gunblade for a quick cleaning before heading out to the wilderness.

Serah waited for her sister to return to the seat across from her. "You want to see Fang too." She said with a sly grin.

It was the elder Farron's turn to drop her jaw.

"What did you just say?" She asked nearly dropping her gunblade.

"You heard me, I know you like Fang."

"How would you know? You've never even met her!"

"So? When we went up to Cocoon after everything settled down I saw the look in your eyes as we passed their crystals."

"You're imagining things." Lightning's grip around her gunblade had visibly tightened, the knuckles turning unnaturally pale. She wanted to tell her sister the truth: that Fang was all she thought of. How she should have indulged her flirtations. How she should have let her in.

"Am not! You couldn't take your eyes off of her. Good thing Sazh was driving the transport or you would've killed us!"

Lightning pretended she was checking her gunblade to avoid responding.

"Besides Snow told me all about her flirting with you."

"Snow is a man child with the IQ of a chocobo!" Claire fumed.

"Annnddddd," Serah said, her voice taking a mocking but playful tone, "he told me all about how you'd casually touch her while sparring and how you'd reject her suggestions to snuggle but you would always grin after turning away from her annnnddddd-"

"It's not fair what happened to her or Vanille!" Claire whispered softly, the regret and longing nearly palpable.

"It isn't fair what happened to any of us, sis." Serah gently replied.

"I know, but..." She said, eyes unable to meet her sister's.

At that, Serah drew her sister into a tight hug and whispered "Fang will be back soon. I know she will."

"Me too." A single tear rolled down not Lightning but Claire Farron's cheek. She didn't count this instance; the wind must have blown some dust in her eye.