Chapter Text
Lightning was lost in a dream world. Stuck in world so peaceful that it felt abstract, alien. But real. It felt all too real and the dream ceased to be a dream. Or maybe it never was a dream. Maybe it was reality, too bright and shiny and perfect for her to believe it. If she was in a dream, she never wanted to wake from it.
Everyone was with her. She was with her sister who she had fought so desperately to get back. She was with Snow who never ceased to get on her nerves, but brought Serah a happiness that knew no bounds. She was with Sazh and Dajh who had moved closer to them in Bodhum, unable to separate from them all. She was with Fang and Vanille who decided to stay with their new family and assimilate into life on Cocoon. She was with Hope and Bartholomew who had also decided to stay in Bodhum so Hope would remain in their tight knit circle. She was even with the NORA gang who she had admittedly grown attached to right alongside the rest of them.
She would never voice the sentiment, but she loved this new life that she had with this dysfunctional new family. She loved who she had become. The Lightning that had steeled herself and her feelings, wore the mask of the proud and indestructible soldier, had melted away. Serah was all grown up and in good hands. She didn't want or need that hard shell of a sister that Lightning had become. The fighting was over and they lived in peace. Every day was beautiful, filled with laughter and joy. Nothing changed and everyone was happy.
But peace was always temporary. Lightning should have known that.
It all crumbled, piece by piece, as Lightning awoke to the feeling that something was wrong. Her world felt unbalanced, eerily illusory. It was as if the wool had been pulled from her eyes. This peace and happiness was out of place. They were together, yes. They were happy, yes. But they were on Cocoon. The last thing she had known was that Cocoon had fallen, or was falling, descending on a crash course toward the plains of Pulse. And Vanille and Fang... they had gotten separated from them in the fall. How were they here now? When did they reunite with Hope's father? How did they find Serah and Dajh? Something was wrong. It was as if all of the previous days had been fake and now she was realizing the inaccuracies. Nothing changed. They were all the same age, like time stood still.
Lightning curled her hands tightly into fists from where she stood out on a pier, facing the continuously calm, lifeless waves. She clenched them tightly enough that her nails cut into her palms, a thin red seeping out from her painlessly.
"Claire?"
Lightning turned to see her sister, her small, delicate features scrunched with worry. "Something's wrong, Serah." I feel like I'm not supposed to be here. Blood began dripping onto the planks as Lightning's agitation grew, her nails stabbing deeper and deeper.
"Claire, stop. You're hurting yourself."
Lightning looked down at her hands and only then did she start to feel the stabbing pain of the cuts. She looked up at Serah, about to speak when the world blurred, colors blending together, a haze cottoning Lightning's sight. Within moments she became cold, freezing down to her toes. Her knees gave as she grabbed her sides in an attempt to warm herself, but the cold seemed to seep into her bones. Her breathing quickened as her lungs struggled for air. It was like her body was freezing up, seizing into nothing but ice.
She looked to her sister, wondering if she was experiencing the same, but Serah was gone. She was nowhere to be seen. Pangs of sorrow clawed into her chest. As confused as she had been before she wasn't ready to give this happiness up. Not for anything.
Focusing on her breathing, Lightning tried to steady herself, but to no avail. Her lungs were shrinking, tinier and tinier, as if disappearing. Her limbs weighed her down, brought her to the pier with stiff muscles and lead-like bones. Heavy, she felt so very heavy.
With a thud her body collapsed down into the wood. A cry died out in her throat as it too appeared to freeze over. And there Lightning laid as Bodhum began to melt out of existence. She couldn't move, couldn't speak, she couldn't even bat an eyelash. She had been rendered completely immobile as the world grew silent around her.
Once again, she was rendered powerless against fate.
It didn't last. Lightning sent one last goodbye out to this life she had claimed, and then the blurry world around her disappeared in a flash.
It was quiet when she awoke. She blinked against stiff, swollen eyelids. Stood on legs that threatened to buckle beneath her.
The world came into focus after a handful of disoriented blinks. The world she woke up in, however, was not the bright, seaside town she was expecting, but a dimly lit room. As Lightning stood, dizziness struck and she reached out to steady herself. She gripped something solid and cold until the room settled beneath her. She realized then that she had been grasping someone's hand, a crystallized person's hand. She looked up to see that it belonged to Snow. The burly man stood there encased in crystal, for once silent as a stunningly blue statue. Lightning looked to find others crystallized as well. A small, young boy. And Serah.
"Serah," Lightning gasped as she ran to her sister's side. She was just like the others and, as Lightning deduced, was like she had been moments ago, crystallized and dreaming. So that's what it was. I was in crystal stasis. Dreaming away as time passed by. So the hazy vision, frozen feeling, and loss of breath was me reentering reality. Lightning growled. She was tired of all of the l'Cie bullshit. She thought that she had finally been rid of it, only to wake up and find that she had been tricked by a delusion.
Lightning gasped at a thought. My brand. Trembling hands struggled to pull down the zipper of her shirt to reveal only clear skin. The eyesore tattoo had vanished. The one thing that plagued her existence and endangered herself and her friends had disappeared. It's really gone. But how long have I... At that thought, Lightning surveyed the room. There was nothing but the four of them. Shoved into a space that amounted to nothing but a broom closet.
Where is Hope, Sazh, Vanille, and Fang? Did they already wake up? Wait, where am I? Aqua orbs continued to look over the area. Further observation led her to notice a camera on the ceiling in the left corner. Other than that, it was a bare, metal room.
There was one door that led in and out. Seeing it as her escape, she stepped toward it, but hesitated. She turned to look at Snow and the little boy, Dajh, she assumed. She then gave a longing look at Serah. I don't want to leave you, but I have to figure out where we are. Lightning clasped her hands over her sister's. I'll come back for you. All of you.
With that, she ran to the exit. Lightning peeked through the window in the door and saw no one, not a sign of life. She gripped the door handle, expecting it to be locked, and was surprised when it opened with ease. Okay, I guess we weren't imprisoned. But… It was dead quiet, all atmospheric noise vacuumed into silence, until Lightning heard footsteps drawing near. By the sound of it, it was a single person. Unaccompanied, unhurried. Lightning went for her gunblade and was relieved to have it at her side. It felt like it been ages since she had last used her weapon, but at the same time like it was only yesterday that it was slicing into Orphan. The contradiction was disorienting. Maddening.
She couldn't dwell on that.
The footsteps approached from around a corner. Lightning tried to formulate a plan. Do I grab them and demand answers? No, what if it's a civilian and I only succeed in threatening an innocent person? Do I act like I'm lost and ask where I am? Gauge it from there? No, what if it's a soldier and I end up getting arrested? Or worse. I could go back into the room. No, that solves nothing, I'll come across someone sooner or later. The person rounded the corner as they were wringing their hands, watching them with enough intensity that they failed to detect Lightning's presence. It was a man. His uniform was unfamiliar to her. The gun at his side, however, was not. She knew a military issued weapon when she saw one. He hasn't noticed me yet. He has to be a soldier, but I don't recognize the uniform. Where am I?
When am I?
The soldier, whose face and lack of instincts screamed young and naive, looked up and immediately drew his gun from his side. Lightning gripped her gunblade tighter. "Identification. Now. What is your rank and business?" The man looked her up and down, assessing her, trigger ready. Lightning was still struggling with her decision. "I said Identifi-"
"Of course. Sorry I was a little caught up in my thoughts," Lightning said, running a hand through her hair, affecting the air-headed bimbo. She reached toward her pocket and watched as the soldier started to lower his weapon. In a flash, Lightning drew her gunblade and knocked the gun out of the soldier's hands. She pinned him to the wall with her blade a hair beneath his Adam's apple. The soldier trembled as the blade pressed deeper into his neck.
"Where am I? What is this place?" Lightning growled.
Confusion twisted the soldier's features, but he jumped to speak when the blade nicked his skin. "I-it's t-the... Academy Base. R-Resear-Research and Operations."
"Academy base? What… What's the year?"
His jaw slackened, incredulity bunching his brows. "I-It's 6AF. How do you not know the year? Who are you?"
6AF? What the hell does that... Wait... It can't mean... Body tensing at the thought, Lightning hardened her stare. "What is AF?"
"It m-mean-ns 'After Fall.' As in, a-after the fall of Cocoon."
Then it is. It's really been six years since I-
Blaring alarms began to sound throughout the hallway, disconnecting Lightning from her thoughts. "What is that?"
"I think it's about you," the soldier replied, all traces of fear evaporating from his expression. A grin curved his face. He tilted chin toward the camera in the ceiling.
"Damn." Just as the word flew from her mouth she heard footsteps incoming from both sides of the hallway.
"You should give up and surrender. You're not going to get out of here alive If you-"
Lightning drew her gunblade back and slammed the hilt down on his head. His body sagged down to the floor, grin disappearing with his consciousness. Please. If the rest of the soldiers around here are like you, excuse me for not cowering at their feet. Not a moment later did four soldiers line up in front of her, three rounding a corner to cover her rear. Hmph, not a problem. Lightning smirked, steeling her stance and drawing her gunblade up. As she prepared to lunge for her first target, a haze clouded her senses. A numbness drooped her eyelids, her hearing cottoning over. Her self-preservation instinct grew faint until all she could feel was an unbearable drowsiness. She looked through bleary eyes to see a manadrive glowing in one of the soldier's palms. Sleep? You've got to be kidding me.
It hit her like a truck. A wave of dizziness and nausea crashed over her. Every bone, every cell of her body felt wrought with exhaustion. Lightning's gaze fell to the floor as her body followed. Lightning sunk to her knees before she collapsed to the ground, her gunblade flopping to her side. Lightning was forced to let sleep overtake her again.
Why can't it be over? Why can't it ever be over?