After the Fall: Rewritten

AN: (Tentative wave) Hey guys. It has literally been years. A lot has happened, and after a month of a simple plot bunny going awry in my head until I actually set my mind to it, I have decided to come back and rewrite the After the Fall series. (I was previously known on here as CTG91295, but I changed my username) Now it's going to be different then last time, because I now know how the story is going to go from start to finish. This story includes other Final Fantasy characters, and I believe you are going to enjoy reading it, just as much as I am going to enjoy writing it.

The world was empty. Barren. Nothing left but the saddening screams of dying souls. From his tower, Chaos was able to see the destruction of the world of Cocoon, Gran Pulse and beyond. He has won. The god of discord's dark red muscular form was sat in his golden throne. Four of his arms crossed in content.

This was it. This was the end. The faces on his knees screamed in agony as he rose from his seat and approached his captured heroes, laying in defeat on his floor. The powers were draining from them. His wings sprouted from behind his back and his tail swished as he walked.

Cosmos layed, motionless in the center of the throne room, and Chaos stepped over her like she was simply part of his decor. Lightning exchanged eye contact with fellow comrade Noel Kreiss.

Perhaps the only comrade she has left, if Snow and the others aren't dead by now. Lightning prayed that they were still alive, but everything seemed bleak. Chaos reached for her neck, a short scream emitting from her mouth.

"Lightning!" Noel croaked out, struggling to stand on his feet, but his wounds were severe. He reached for his crystal inside the palm of his hand and attempted to summon Leviathan. But Chaos shot the hunter down the tower, the crystal clattering to the floor.

"Noe..." Lightning could barely finish her sentence. She could barely see Fang and Vanille from down below heading for the tower to rescue her. She wanted to scream at them to not come up here. Serah was not here! It was a trick!

She had no choice but to look Chaos in the face and accept her fate. He laughed at her surrender and was getting ready for the final blow when suddenly, Cosmos rose to her feet and shot at the beast, and everything was engulfed in white.

Five years prior...

Everything was white...but Lightning could not move.

"Guys!" Lightning heard a familiar voice speak out seemingly beside her.

"Snow?" That was weird, she didn't open her mouth. How was she talking? Where was she?

"Hey what's going on?" Sazh followed. "Where are we?"

A husky chuckle followed Sazh's slight panick. "You're in crystal stasis, you silly old man." Fang responded.

"Crystal stasis?" Hope replied. "How long are we going to stay here?"

"As long as Cocoon stands." Vanille responded.

"Oh..." Snow sighed.

Both the Oerban girls giggled. "That's just for Vani and I."

"The rest of you, need to wake up."

A warm feeling engulfed Lightning, and soon, the whiteness went away and she was greeted by the sight of the Gran Pulse sunset that she loved so much. Lightning felt feeling return to her limbs and realized she could move again. The rest of her comrades were also recovering from their crystal stasis.

She then saw it. Coccoon. It was beautiful yet sad at the same time. It was barely holding on by a crystal pillar, all the power was shut down. "They did it." Lightning confirmed. "They...saved the world."

"No." Snow was coming up behind Lightning. "They gave us a new one."

Sazh smiled, the chocobo chick relaxed snugly in his afro. "That's one gift I would forgive not wrapping." The rest of the party chuckled.

"This is as much as we can do." Vanille's voice echoed in their heads, sounding much further away now and fading. "The rest is up to you."

"Does this mean we completed our focus?" Hope asked.

Lightning in the far distance could see PSICOM approaching the L'Cie. As well as two supposed civilians approaching. A little boy that looked like...Sazh...

Lightning's voice caught in her throat as Serah looked up, meeting eyes with her. She smiled and waved. "Serah." Lightning finally spoke, and Snow's head snapped up.

Serah pointed towards Sazh, "Hey, Dajh. Look there. Look who it is."

Dajh gasped and was already sprinting just as Sazh was. "Daddy! Daddy!"

"Dajh!" Sazh never ran faster in the entirety of the journey, Lightning couldn't help but chuckle. But her heart filled with warmth at the sight. Snow was screaming Serah's name as he too was already barreling over to her.

While they were having their reunions, Lightning glanced over at Hope who was looking down at the grass. "They're gone." He whispered.

Lightning knew he became close to Vanille. And though she never would admit it, she never had a bestfriend growing up...and she would definitely consider Fang one.

Lightning sighed. I think she knows. She rested a hand on Hope's shoulder and pulled him closer to her. "Hey." She whispered reassuredly as the two began walking towards the others.

"I guess they meant for this to be Goodbye." He said, resting his head on Lightning's shoulder, she welcomed the gesture. "Then again, we changed our fates before."

Lightning then spotted the last of the airships landing. "Hope, maybe your father made it out."

Hope glanced up at Lightning with a smile, and she couldn't help but return it. When she looked up Serah was running towards her for an embrace.

She was so warm, not at all like she was crystalized for weeks. Yet again, Lightning was also in crystal stasis. "I missed you." Serah whispered, tears trickling down her shoulder.

Lightning buried her nose in Serah's shoulders. She still smelled like strawberries. "Serah. I'm sorry for everything." She pulled away, and Serah brushed a strand of Lightning's hair behind her ear, while the elder Farron wiped away Serah's tears.

Snow then intervened. "Hey! The apologies can wait! We got a wedding to plan!"

"You don't waste any time." Hope added.

Dajh gasped in excitement. "A wedding. I never went to wedding!"

"You're all invited." Snow confirmed. Dajh clapped his hands together in excitment.

Snow looked down seriously at Lightning, holding Serah in his arms. "I swear to you, I will make her happy."

Lightning smiled at the couple. "I believe you."

"Come on," Sazh said. "Let's go see if these PSICOM people or anybody need our help. Know what that is Dajh." He pointed towards Cocoon. "That's our home. Must be your first time seeing it from the outside, huh?"

"Yeah." Dajh nodded, burrowing himself in his father's afro.

"It reminded me of you. And why I had to go on." Snow told his soon to be wife.

Hope and Lightning walked in a companionable silence as the others were talking animatedly with their loved ones. The soldier stopped walking as Hope absentmindedly walked ahead.

She then had a flash.

"It's all your fault!"

"Serah! Let her go you bastard!"

"DADDY!"

"Hope no!"

"Light, I'm sorry."

"It's all over!"

"You failed..."

"Light?" The soldier was knocked out of her reverie. A new focus? "Light? Are you okay?"

The soldier looked over at Hope who seemed concerned. Lightning shook her head. "Um, nothing. Don't worry. I'm fine. I was just...still waking up."

"You sure?" Hope asked as Lightning walked quickly in front of him.

"Yeah. I'm sure."

One of the last ships landed. One of the PSICOM soldiers turned and saw the approaching L'Cie and aimed their guns. "It's them! It's their fault Cocoon fell!"

Many of the PSICOM officers aimed their guns. Sazh put Dajh down and behind him, while Serah did the same with Snow. Lightning instinctively reached a hand out to Hope who was about to draw his boomerang.

"What are you doing! My son is there!" Bartholomew pushed through the soldiers. Bartholomew's slicked back hair was now messy and over his eyes, he had a full beard, and was only wearing a loose button up. He looked like he went through hell.

"Dad." Hope ran to his father and the two embraced.

One of the PSICOM soldiers (surprisingly the only one who did not have his gun raised) took his helmet off revealing a man with long dark hair tied in a ponytail, he looked like he could be around Sazh's age. "Guys, come on. They saved us."

The leader of the PSICOM who gave the order unmasked himself, he had long white hair also in a ponytail and was also a similar age. "Saved us. They took away our homes. Now we are stranded on Gran Pulse, with no fuel in the ships."

"Your ships are out of fuel?" Lightning demanded to know.

Rygdea appeared in the ship that Bartholomew exited from. "Yeah, we only had just enough to get 300 civilians, and a handful of PSICOM and Guardian Corps. Anyone who is not in Bodhum, PalumPolum, or Eden are either dead, lost, or still on Cocoon. But with the Fal'Cies down...looks like we have a new home."

Two hoverbikes arrived from Cocoon's atmosphere, team NORA.

"Guys!" Snow exclaimed, reunited with his team. "Glad you made it out."

"Is there fuel?" One of the PSICOM officers asked.

"Um, well we have just enough to get from here," Maqui pointed to where one of the bikes was. "To there." He pointed to one of the airships.

The officer huffed in annoyance. "What are we supposed to do. Where are all these civilians going to live."

"Don't get your pants in a knot." Sazh argued. "We all happen to know a place where it is safe, we can get food, and there are actual houses."

The dark haired unmasked PSICOM officer rose an eyebrow.

"Oerba." Lightning answered.

"Doesn't matter if there is plumbing." one of the officers argued. "It's still Gran Pulse."

"How far is this place?" The dark haired officer asked.

"A week on foot." Snow informed them.

"Great. We're not going to make it that far. What about food?" The leader officer asked.

"There are plenty of fiends here for us to hunt." Lightning answered.

"So let me get this straight. You expect us to trust you and your L'Cie freaks to take us to a 'safe place', and to provide us food and water." The man got in her face. "I'm afraid I can't trust a woman who quit the Guardian Corps."

Lightning's face scrunched up in annoyance.

"Then trust us." A familiar voice sounded as a round Guardian Corps lieutenant followed by a handful of his soldiers that Lightning was acquainted with came into the conversation.

"Lieutenant Amodar." Lightning saluted.

"At ease, Farron. You're not a soldier anymore. You did quit. Remember?"

Lightning dropped her hand in slight embarassment, but Amodar clapped her back reassuringly. "But I would always trust Sergeant Farron with my life. The Guardian Corps is with you. And if you need any help, just let me know."

Behind Amodar, Snow gave Lightning a goofy thumbs up.

The PSICOM leader sighed. "Very well, it seems we have no other choice. I am Major Light Brody. My men here are Commander Cecil Harvey, Captain Laguna Loire, and Cadet Reks Ratsbane. As Lieutenant Amodar has previously stated...our men are also at your disposal."

"Thank you." Amodar nodded. "Lead, the way Farron."

Lightning suddenly felt the pressure hit as the other civilians overheard that Lightning was the appointed leader. It was different when there were just five other party members...but being in charge of the survival of these people...she swallowed once. "Everyone, we are headed to the village of Oerba. There are houses, places to hunt for food, land to grow vegteables, and fresh water. Believe it or not...we also have plumbing there." She made eye contact with Reks Ratsbane, who she recognized brought up that claim.

"You heard the lady!" Rygdea patted the head of the airship to get everyone else's attention. "Let's see our new home."

Lightning led the people towards the Faultwarrens, and Hope began to chuckle. "What?" She asked curiously.

"The Major's name is Light."