Lady Artz: Hey everyone and welcome to my brand new Final Fantasy XIII story called Star of Hope. This is the first time I have done a story with such an established plot line, but I finally found how to add my character but still keep the epicness of the original story line.

This is just a prologue, kind of like a monologue really. The speaker is Vanille. It's like how she sometimes narrates during the cinematic scenes. Call it an ice breaker if you will. Also Chapter One will be a bit odd because I'm trying a new way for an original character to enter the universe. It will seem a little weird and maybe a little choppy, but it was the best way I could think of to add in my OC.

One final piece of business. I do not own Final Fantasy XIII or Final Fantasy XIII-2…or anything Final Fantasy related. Also I do not own anything else I make references to. I only own my OC and my own plot woven into the story line.

Okay, I think that covers everything. Now on with the show!

Prologue: Altered Fate

'It's strange…how far we have all come and how much we have endured on our journey together. There were so many times that we wanted to give up, both as a group and as individuals, but she wouldn't let us. She refused to give up, no matter how hard things got. Even when everything and everyone was against us, she stood strong and fought back.

I wonder if things would have been different if I had had that kind of strength back when Fang and I first became l'Cie. Would anything have changed? Would we not be here now? Would so many terrible things not have happened? Would Fang and I still be inside our crystal stasis, dreaming of the day we would wake again?

I try not to think about what happened in the past. She always scolds me for living in my memories instead of focusing on the here and now. She says that if we focus too much on the past than we will never live in the present. She said that Snow taught her that. I wonder what else she has learned from us. I honestly don't know because she always seems to be teaching us in some way or form.

She is always so kind, always helping us. She guides us through the darkness…the darkness of the uncertain future ahead of us, the darkness of the past that threatens to drown us in sorrow, and of the darkness of our very own hearts that try to sink us into despair. She shines like a star on a moonless night, a beacon of hope…that things will get better if we simply keep forging ahead. That we don't give in to doubts and fears.

Still, I worry about her. The others do too. Throughout our long journey, we learned more about ourselves, our brands, and the fal'Cie, but we haven't learned anything about her brand. It's different from ours. Hers is like an unfinished star. The more time that passes by the more points that are added to the star. Sometimes it glows, particularly when she is around Hope or if she is feeling a very strong emotion.

I know that the others are scared that she'll transform into Cie'th…that we'll lose our guiding star, our dear friend. For some reason, she isn't very worried about it. She says that she's different and that the same rules don't apply to her like they would with a normal l'Cie. We all know she's different, but it doesn't make us any less worried or any less scared of what might happen to her.

She comes from another dimension, a world that is parallel to our own. In that world, we were just characters in an elaborate game, but she never treated us like we were not real. She treated us like people…people with real feelings, real fears, and real dreams.

Dreams…that was how we all knew her…even before she came to our world. Serah, Lightning, Snow, Sazh, and Hope…they all dreamed about her while they slept. Even Fang and I while we were in crystal stasis, we dreamed about her too. We all believed that she was real and that she needed help. She needed to be protected; from PSICOM, from the Sanctum, from the fal'Cie, even from herself sometimes.

She would always become frustrated because she couldn't remember how the story ended, how her memories would unlock over time and only when she truly needed them. It hurt that I couldn't help her remember because it meant so much to her, but secretly, I'm glad she couldn't remember how it all ended. I didn't want her to carry that burden all by herself and she would…just to protect us from what lay in the future.

The end was coming…I could tell. We all could, but we didn't say anything...for her sake. She's becoming more and more quiet as we walk and her eyes are becoming heavier and heavier with sorrow. We're close now…close to the end…the Final Chapter. I wonder what is waiting for us at the end of this long journey. Will we die? Will we become Cie'th? Will we fulfill our focus and turn to crystal? Or will we succeed in defying our cursed fate and build a new dream?

Dreams…one dream shared among many altered fate. Perhaps our combined dream will alter not only our destiny, but the destiny of our Artz as well.'

Lady Artz: That's it for the opening debut for Star of Hope! I know it was weird, but the next chapter will be just as weird…if not weirder. Leave tons and tons of reviews and be on the lookout for Chapter One: Worlds Collide! Stay tuned!