Gohan Roxas: This idea just came to me one day. It's basically how Snow and Serah met, with a little background on my Memoirs of a l'Cie OC, Remus Cole, and how he got to be a member of NORA.

Remus: Thanks for that, by the way.

GR: You're very welcome, Remus.

Why I'd let Snow get me into NORA House was beyond me. The only people I knew were Gadot and Lebreau (who, I must admit, I'd fancied for a while), and the two kids – Maqui and Yuj, apparently – were unfamiliar to me.

Of course, in an attempt to hide the real reason for bringing me here, Snow had told me it was for celebratory purposes.

"Celebrating what?" I'd asked.

"I don't know," Snow had replied. "Being awesome blood brothers?"

That was somehow the weakest excuse I'd ever heard from him.

Anyway, I cradled a drink Lebreau had mixed me in one hand and stared straight ahead, occasionally stealing a glance at the barmaid herself. More importantly, I was ignoring Snow.

"Come on, Remus!" he pleaded.

"I said no, Snow," I muttered. "I don't wanna be in your little boys' club."

"Hey!" Lebreau said, feigning hurt.

I rolled my eyes. "Either way, I'm not joining NORA, alright?"

Gadot put his hand on my shoulder. "Come on, Remus. It's just fighting monsters."

"And risking the ire of the GC. Have you forgotten that part?"

He flinched a tiny bit and walked off.

Lebreau was cleaning glasses when she suddenly stopped, looking like an idea had just crossed her mind. "Would an equivalent exchange interest you?" she asked me.

I tilted my head. "Equivalent exchange?"

"Yeah. Join NORA – even if only for a little while – and you get my number. And one date."

Snow grinned victoriously, knowing full well that I had a thing for her.

I blinked. "You serious?"

"Deadly serious." She gave me an over-exaggerated serious look, to which I laughed.

"Alright, fine. One mission, one date."

The two kids, who were too young to be near the bar, laughed and high-fived one another.

"I knew I could count on you, Remus," Snow beamed.

I chose not to respond to that.

The single date with Lebreau wasn't disastrous. It just…wasn't amazing. As a result, Lebreau kept to her promise to let me have her number, but on the condition that I only use it for friendly, non-date-related calls. I countered with a deal. If neither of us had anyone by the age of forty, we'd marry each other. She laughed and accepted the deal.

The next day, I was getting ready for a day of relaxation, but then…I remembered. No relaxation today.

We only had a few encounters with monsters outside the town's borders, but we took care of them easily. At least that recreational sword training was paying off.

When we came back from the 'mission', I actually felt pretty good. Snow must have seen it on my face, because he laughed.

"I knew you'd like it!" he grinned.

"Don't get too full of yourself, Snow. I can still put you on your ass."

Snow was looking down and chuckling when he ran into someone. I looked down at the duo and saw the girl. She was petite, with pink hair, of all things. She wore a red plaid skirt and a white, sleeveless blouse. She was actually kinda pretty, and I was sure I'd seen her before, and heard her name, but…it never came to me.

Snow stood up and shook his head, as if to clear it. He held out a gloved hand to the girl. "You OK?"

"Yeah," she muttered, her voice a little pained. She took the hand and let him pick her up. When she was on her feet, I saw Snow sizing her up. This was odd. Only once had he shown any interest in a girl, and that was Lebreau when we were maybe fourteen.

She arched an eyebrow at him. "You alright there?"

He flinched and chuckled wryly. I could have sworn there was a blush on his cheeks. "Sorry. It's just…"

She tilted her head. "Just what?"

"I've never seen such a cute girl before."

It was her turn to blush this time.

He held out his hand again, this time to shake. "My name's Snow. Snow Villiers."

She smiled and shook his hand. "Serah Farron."

Farron. So that's where I'd seen her before. Her sister was in the GC, and was always bringing Snow home by the scruff of his neck.

"Tell you what," Snow said then, grinning. "As an apology for knocking you over, how about I take you out somewhere? You know, somewhere nice?"

Serah blinked. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Seems like it, huh?"

She blushed. "I…I'd be okay with that."

Snow beamed. "Well, great!" He turned to me. "Remus, have you got a pen and some paper?"

"Why?"

"So I can write my number down for her."

I sighed. "Our number, you mean." I dug into my pockets for the pen and notebook I carried around habitually and handed them to him. He hurriedly wrote our home number down on one of the pages and tore it off; he handed it to Serah with a grin.

She rolled her eyes when she saw the page, but pocketed it anyway. "So when's a good time?"

Snow shrugged. "Any time's good for me."

Serah giggled a little. "Okay then. I'll see you around." With that, she walked away.

I put a hand on Snow's shoulder. "Only you could turn a disaster into good fortune."

He grinned at me. "Just lucky, I guess."

I chuckled and started the short walk home.

Remus: I understated how terrible that date with Lebby went.

Lebreau: DON'T CALL ME THAT! *chases Remus*

GR: Well…that was weird…