One year later.

It was a warm summer day. The sky was an orange color and the grass was plush and soft. Even when surrounded by tombstones, the mood wasn't a somber one at the cemetery. Vanille who was dressed in a
light yellow sundress approached the single grey tombstone on the ground. Her hair was out of her usual hair ties and flew in the light breeze that met her. In her hands were freshly picked roses decorated with lilies, daises, and other colorful flowers. With a smile, Vanille stepped forward and gently laid the flowers on the base of the tombstone.

She let her eyes linger on them for a while before she began. "I have so much to tell you, I don't even know where to begin..." She smiled then sighed. "So much has happened and even now I still can't
be sure if anything was real or not. I missed you so much." She paused then began again. "Fang helped rebuild the Estate and now with Elmyra as head Matron, we were able to turn it into a big orphanage."

-xiii-

True to Vanille's words, the Estate was a whole new place. New flowers were planted and the ground that was once burnt black ashes had been rejuvenated with color. Children from the orphanage ran in the garden, laughing gleefully as they chased one another.

Fang, despite Vanille and Elmyra's disapproval, had brought Caius and Noel on a hunting trip. The three of them originated from the same village and said hunting was their rite of passage. With their spoils in toll, Fang announced their arrival. Yuel who wore a crown of flowers in her hair hurried over to hug them. "You're back!"

"We're going to eat well tonight!" Fang grinned. "Keep this a secret from your sis though, okay?"

Yuel smiled then put her finger to her lips.

Inside the Estate, Elmyra taught a class of children. They had turned the library into a small classroom. Once they heard Fang was back however, the kids all closed their books and rushed outside. Elmyra

sighed. After everything that had happened, Elmyra felt like she had adopted more kids than she could handle... especially with the stubborn Fang. Turning, she proceeded to erase the chalk board. Just

when she thought all the children had left, a young girl with a pink ribbon in her hair came up to Elmyra and tugged on her skirt.

"Matron... matron!"

Turning, Elmyra bent down to the young brown haired girl. "Yes, Marlene?"

Marlene was new to the orphanage, she had lost her father in a construction accident. Kind and sweet, young Marlene and Elmyra got along especially well. Holding up a bouquet of lilies, Marlene placed them in Elmyra's hands.

"Lilies." Elmyra smiled. "They're my favorite, Marlene. How did you know?"

Rocking back and forth on her heels, she placed her hands behind her back. "A nice lady in the garden told me."

"A nice lady?" Elmyra asked curiously.

"Mmmhmm! She has really pretty green eyes."

Pretty green eyes... Maybe it was Vanille, thought Elmyra, but Vanille was out with Lightning so it couldn't be her. Her thoughts drew her to one conclusion. Could it be...? Her eyes started to tear as she looked at the white lilies in her hands, but Marlene caught them with her little fingers. "Thank you, Marlene." Elmyra smiled.

-xiii-

Smiling, Vanille continued. "Hilda came back to help out as well. Even Lebreau who's busy with her restaurant, would come by sometimes to cook for us." A pause. "And in the end... even Brahne."

-xiii-

It was a calm day, until all of the sudden there was a pounding at the door. When Elmyra and Hilda opened the door, she was met with a blue faced Brahne. Immediately, Brahne bursted into tears. "Bwahahahahhahhaaha!" It was hard to tell whether she was laughing or crying. Brahne went in for a hug, and Elmyra awkwardly patted her back. "I missed everybody sooooooooo much!"

Hilda only rolled her eyes behind her. Apparently, Brahne had a gambling problem... and some debts.

After everything was settled, the three of them helped run the orphanage. Brahne became the children's favorite person to prank. Each morning, Brahne complained about her missing slippers and occasionally bursted into flames when she spotted crude doodles of her on the walls complete with her blue face. At the end of the day though, sometimes the robust woman could be seen with a child in her arms fast asleep. When approached, Brahne would deny it, but everybody knew that Brahne secretly loved the children.

-xiii-

"The look on Brahne's face when the children pull pranks on her..." Vanille laughed gleefully. "It's something else..." She wiped the happy tears from her eyes. Then she paused. "As for me... I..." Vanille looked down, a bit embarrassed. "I..."

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hooves trotting towards her. Turning, her face instantly beamed.

"Did I interrupt something?" Lightning, dressed in a loose white collared shirt, smiled down at Vanille.

Shaking her head, Vanille crossed her arms pretending to be mad. "I was about to tell Matron how mean you are to me!" Turning again, she placed her hands together to do a final prayer to her dear late Matron, Edea Kramer.

"Don't you mean the other way around." Vanille heard the pink hair woman mumble behind her. Turning around, Vanille huffed.

Chuckling at the red head, Lightning reached out a hand to her. "Are you ready, Vanille?"

Blushing slightly, Vanille looked up at her brilliant blue eyes and thought of the first time she'd seen them. Then she took her hand and with one swoop, Vanille was lifted up on top of Odin.

"More than one miracle took place that day. Because of Vanille, my curse as Ragnarok was broken and my brand was gone."

Lightning held Vanille from behind as she sat sidesaddle. Lightning sighed as she inhaled the red head's sweet scent. She heard the younger girl let out a chuckle as she relaxed into Lightning's embrace.

-xiii-

"Etro, the divine goddess showed her mercy and the same day I was brought back to life. Serah, Sazh, and his son came back as well."

Lightning was staring out into the rose garden where Vanille and the children were busy watering flowers. In her hand was a letter from Sazh. Sazh and Dajh were somewhere far away from the city. He said it wasn't a forever thing and said he would be bored of the peace and quiet eventually, but for now all he wanted was much needed bonding with his boy. The pink haired woman smiled when she saw Vanille fall over in a bunch of dirt.

"I see that smile on your face."

Hearing the voice behind her, Lightning quickly adjusted herself and turned around. "Serah." She said awkwardly. Serah smiled as she ran up to her and gave her a hug. Lightning placed her hands around Serah slowly and returned the hug. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Claire." Serah backed away and wiped the tears away from her eyes. "Snow is going to take me to see the world with him."

Smiling, Lightning responded. "Congrats." Serah beamed and hugged her again. "Promise you'll write."

Serah backed away from her hug and nodded. "But... then you'll have to promise me something too."

"And what's that?"

Serah smiled and pushed Lightning towards the window. "Don't keep Vanille waiting." Giggling, Serah ran off leaving a red faced Lightning.

"Thanks to Snow, everything that happened was covered up. Rosch was made a hero and I had renounced my title as General. Gadot took my place and the world moves on without ever knowing the danger that threatened it. I live life simply as Lightning Farron now. No titles, nothing."

The pink haired woman continued to look at the unsuspecting Vanille as her hand slipped into her pocket.

-xiii-

"Why are you being so cuddly right now?" Vanille laughed as Lightning held her close as they rode on Odin towards home.

"Is that a bad thing?" Lightning asked.

Shaking her head. "No... I like it." Vanille sighed. "This... this is kind of like how we first met."

Lightning smiled. "I remember."

Gasping, Vanille turned slightly to look back at Lightning. "You do? I- I thought you forgot. How come you've never said anything?"

"How can I forget the stupid girl who decided to wander the forest alone at night." Lightning teased. Vanille huffed and pretended to ignore Lightning. Smiling to herself, Lightning held her closer to stop the girl from pouting. Odin stopped moving and while Vanille was confused, she didn't ask and just relaxed into Lightning's arms.

The sun was just about setting, the wind blew softly against them, and the view was absolutely breathtaking. This was the perfect moment, thought Lightning. Reaching into her pocket, Lightning took out a ring with a rose design in front of Vanille. Even though Vanille rested in front of her and she couldn't see the girl's expression. The quickening of breath and her rapid heartbeat told Lightning that the red head was definitely surprised. Lifting up Vanille's soft hand, Lightning slipped the ring around her finger.

"Marry me?" She whispered into her ear.

Vanille had no answer. She turned to Lightning. Her green eyes glistened from the tears. Her hand flew to Lightning's face caressing it lovingly. She looked into Lightning's clear blue eyes one more time before she slowly closed her own. Gently and slowly, Vanille's lips touched Lightning's.

"When I open my eyes, I see you, Lightning. My happier days are ahead of me now. Our happier days. Together."

-Beauty and the Beast-

-Fin-

And that's the end. It's been a crazy ride guys. I hope you all enjoyed it. I want to thank everyone once again... even though by now I sound like a broken record, I really mean it. Thanks everyone for reading it.

Now that we're at the end, please share with me your final thoughts as they are all very important to me.

Let me know your favorite scene, your favorite character, your favorite chapter. Let me know if you have any questions for me. I love Q&A.

Or even better, let me know what you have in mind for my next story.

For me, my favorite characters were Aerith and Brahne. Hahah... that's why I had to bring her back somehow. My favorite scenes were the past scenes, I think it was really fun building the suspense and mystery.

I really liked interweaving the stories of Beauty and the Beast, FFXIII, and FFVII, I hope everybody caught the little easter eggs and hidden quotes here and there.

So... I also wanted to include some deleted scenes since I did many edits on the story. This may happen very soon, so if you are all interested, I will post them as an afterthought.

Anyways, Thank you all and I hope to hear from you always when I write new fics.

Read, Review, and Junk.