Chapter 1

Saturday,August 20

9:30 a.m.

"Welcome to Etro's Academy. An all girls high school. Where the sports are fierce, the classes are hands-on, and the girls are perfect." Jihl, the headmaster of the academy, so proudly stated to the student body.

"Or so they think," Lightning thought to herself as she sits in the Exceptional Hall with five hundred other girls for the junior entrance ceremony. She has attended this school for 2 years now going on 3 and despised every second of it. It was annoying in her opinion. She was the class president, valedictorian, with a 4.5 gpa, and the star kendou master. She sat with one leg over the other and arms crossed. She was the ideal "perfect" student. She sighed because the part she dreaded most was coming up. She will have to stand up, walk to the podium, and give an inspiring speech to the students about how we expect nothing less than perfect. Like she have done the past years.

"Now a word from your class president/valedictorian, Lightning Farron."

"Here goes nothing," she said under her breath. She stood quickly and glided toward the podium. All eyes were on her. The girls loved her. She actually has her own fan club that her sister, Serah, keeps telling her about but Lighting denies "such audacity." She stood in front of all her peers and looked out on the students. There were murmurs and giggles, and then a Bang!

The doors at the back swung open. Long tanned legs entered the building. "Y'know this place was hard to find," a very deep accented voice rang out. Long arms ran fingers through her wild hair. "Sorry I'm late," she winked to the girl seated next to the door. The girl fainted and her friend next to her fanned her frantically. She swiftly moved to the front row saying hi to a girl now and then, and sat directly in Lightning's seat. "You can continue," she smirked.

Lightning got heated. She gave the most icy glare that could have frozen Jack Frost himself. It got extremely quiet extremely fast. As she glared, the tanned brunette gave a seductive smirk back. It seemed like hours they sat there. Nobody was breathing. Nobody moved. As quick as it started, it ended. Lightning finished her speech and sat directly next to her chair that now housed a goddess.

"You're in my seat," Light seethed without looking at her.

"Nice to meet you to, the names Fang, Oerba Yun Fang" she smoothly retorted.

Lightning glanced at her, "You're from Pulse then."

"Gran Pulse," Fang corrected her.

"Thank you for attending your entrance ceremony. Lets have a great year like always. See you in class on Monday."

"This shall be an interesting year eh?" Fang said to Lightning but she had already left. Lightning left the Exceptional Hall quickly to find her sister. Serah was a freshman this year. Serah had skipped a grade, taking after her sister. Lightning had the opportunity to skip a grade when she was in the 7th grade, but decided against it. So she could keep a close eye on Serah. Lightning was a little over-protective. Their entrance ceremony was in a different building two blocks away. As she strode up to the doors she noticed her little sister talking with a tall cherry blonde bubbly individual.

They hugged and Serah ran up to Lightning, "Hey Claire!"

Lightning hugged her. "What did I tell you about calling me that in public?"

Serah covered her mouth. "Oops I'm sorry."

They walked down the sidewalk toward the dorms. They passed by a tall glass building that contained the cafeteria and library, and went through the park that lead to the beach.

"Who were you talking to?" Lightning finally asked.

"That was Vanille, I think she is from Gran Pulse. She is really cool I hope that we become dorm buddies."

Lightning froze in her step. " Oerba Yun Vanille?"

"Nope, Oerba Dia Vanille."

Lightning felt relieved and thought to herself, "Two different villages. So no way she related to that one."

They reached the beach. There was a few jocks playing beach volleyball, and some girls surfing out at sea. The boys academy was on the other side of the beach. The two schools shared the beach since it was what split them in half. The beach was long with a few outside shops, and the famous Lebreu's burger shack/night club. Of course alcohol wasn't allowed on campus but they talked the director into allowing a teen night club for the juniors and seniors to hang out at on Fridays and Saturdays. They walked up to the outside countertop of Lebreu's shack and sat. Lebreu, a sophomore, came over and said hey. Lightning and Serah knew Lebreu's family since they were crawling in diapers. They took the Farron sisters in when their parents passed away. Lebreu was basically family.

"Did you hear about the people from Pulse?" Lebreu asked. Gossip flew fast around campus and Lebreu always knew what was going on. "Yeah. I met Vanille. She is so sweet." Serah told Lebreu. Serah and Lebreu started to talk about the Pulsians. Lightning zoned out on the conversation and left reality.

Lightning's Alternate Reality

Lightning walked a one way path. Stretching on for eons. She didn't know why she was walking but she kept going. Every now and then she would start jogging, hoping to find something. Anything at all. It was eternity of blackness that surrounded her. The only light that showed was the one that emanated from her being, it was faint and barely visible but she felt it seep out of her pours. She didn't feel lonely even though she was alone. She didn't feel empty even though there wasn't nothing in sight. She didn't feel sad, mad, or happy. She just felt the path that she walked on. The first time she joined this reality, she was lost. At first she thought she needed to find Serah but gave up on that because when she came to, Serah was next to her trying to wake her up. The next time she joined, she looked for her parents thinking this was their way of contacting her from Etro's side. And the next time after that she thought she was looking for Etro herself, but all was false. Now she doesn't know, so she keeps going to find whatever it is that brought her here. There was one thing though that mysteriously appeared. It was a red string tied to her pinky and draped down but at the end it vanished. She tried to tug on it but could barely pull it. And every step she took, it stayed the same. No rope was left behind. It was like it shrank at every step she took.

Back to Reality

Serah poked Lightning cheek. "Hey come back, it's time to go." Lightning looked at the clock behind the counter/bar. It was already 6:30 p.m. Did she really space out that long? Lebreu closed up shop early, because school will start on Monday and she never opens on Sunday the day before the first day of school. Their home was fairly close, so they decided to walk to the train and ride it home. Sunday was the day they would get the information for the dorms and move in for the year. Weekends allowed the students to go home to family if they wanted. Usually freshmen took this time to slowly become independent. They were the ones who often went home on the weekends.

The "siblings" made it home around 7:30. Just in time for supper. Lebreus parents was the nicest people in town. They owned Lebreu's Burger Shack chain line of restaurants. Larry named it after her daughter, wanting to leave something in her name when he and his wife would pass. Larry was a big guy. He used to play professional blitzball. He was mainly the goalie but time to time was an enforcer. It seemed like he was in a good mood all the time which made Lightning uncomfortable until she got to know him better. He was just an all around pleasant guy. His eyes are squinted and he has long black curly hair pulled into a ponytail. Lisa was a tiny women like Lebreu. She had recently cut her hair into a short bob and the ends flipped out. Her hair grew really long really fast, so she cut it often. She was a singer and had 3 albums out and working on her forth. Her personality was just like Larry's.

Those two are truly in love. They would laugh all the time and generally enjoyed each others company. It reminded Lightning too much her parents. It took her a while to warm up to them, but she finally gave in for Serah's sake. Lebreu's dad hugged the girls and asked how it went. Speaking specifically to Serah seeing it was her first entrance exam of high school.

"It's not as boring as Lightning puts it. It's actually exciting. I've already meet a few people that I would like to get to know. And none of the girls made fun of me for being the youngest with the best grades." Serah excitedly told Larry.

"I presume you had fun as well." Lisa came over to Lightning and gave a kiss on the cheek. "I did." Lisa hugged Lightning. "Good," Lisa said with a smile. Lisa made sure to give Lightning extra affection and oddly Lightning didn't mind.

"Can we eat?" Lebreu asked as her stomache growled. Everybody laughed and even Lightning chuckled.

After supper, Serah helped Lisa with the dishes while Lightning, Lebreu and Larry packed the car with the suit cases. "Did Serah pack her entire room." Lebreu joked as she carried a bag, Lightning carried three, and Larry carried four. All were Serah's stuff. "She does know that she have to have something to come back to right?" Larry chuckled at Lebreu's comment. Lightning had all her stuff packed in 3 duffle bags and a suitcase. Lebreu had 4 suitcases and a make up bag. It took them all of a half and hour to get everything situated.

Larry carried Serah up the stairs on his back with Lebreu and Lightning trailing behind. "Sweet dreams ladies," Lisa sang out. Serah asked from the top of the stairs,"Will you sing me to sleep when your finished reading?" "I'll be up in a bit," Lisa responded. Larry walked down the hall toward Serah's and Lebreu's shared room. He tucked Serah into bed and tried to tuck in Lebreu but she had denied on the grounds of "I'm too old for pops to be tucking me in." So he resorted to tickling her till she gave in. Light was leaning on the door frame with her arms crossed watching intently. Larry passed by and patted her on the shoulder. "Goodnight Light," he smiled. "Night," she responded and walked across the hall to her room.

She put on some track shorts and a green beater to sleep in. She heard footsteps come up stairs and a door creeked. Then she heard Lisa's voice sing to Serah and Lebreu. She laid in bed for a while before drifting to sleep. Her last thought of the day.

"I really hope this year will go smoothly."

Author's Note:

I do not own Final Fantasy. Square Enix does :(

This is my first fanfic :) and I've read a ton of fanfics on here, but I'm a horrible writer. I had this story in mind FOREVER.

I would like to continue it and if you do also please let me know. There will be tons of FLight. Pease heavily criticize my writing but not so hard that cry. I have feelings too you know :(

I didn't know what to name it so...I named it after the school.

This seemed really short when I skim it but then long at sometimes. The chapters should get longer and longer but this was just the first chapter so just let me know.

Please Review and Follow and Favorite and Crap and we shall be LOVERS :D and enjoy this journey together.

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