A/N: Hey, this is my first fanfic so please be kind. First, I gotta say I love FFXIII. The story, characters, graphics, the whole shebang. FFXIII-2 really ruined it for me with that terrible ending. Add in the fact there was no HopexLight interaction at all and yeah, I was pretty disappointed. Anyway, enough ranting, this will be kind of my XIII-2. I adore HopexLight very much. I do hope they get some great interaction in XIII-3. In a dream world, I would wish for them to end up canon, but I don't see it happening :( Sucky, but this is how we cope, right? Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or Square Enix. If I did, FFXIII-2 would have been MUCH different.

Revised: June 2014

She was lost in a dream world. A world so much like her own, that she had no way of knowing that it was a dream. Everyone was there. She was with her sister, who she had fought so desperately to get back. She was with Snow, who still got on her nerves frequently, but made Serah happy. 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. She was with Hope and Bartholomew, who had also decided to stay in their town so Hope would remain close with them. She was even with the NORA gang, who she had admittedly grown attached to along with the rest of her family.

She hated to admit it, but she loved this new life she had with this dysfunctional new family. She loved who she had become. The Lightning that had steeled herself and her feelings, had melted away. Serah was all grown up and in good hands now. She didn't want or need that hard shell of a sister Lightning had become. The fighting was over and they lived in utter peace. Every day was beautiful, filled with laughter and joy. Nothing changed and everyone was happy.

Until one day, Lightning couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. 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. 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 passing days had been fake and now she was realizing the mistakes. Nothing changed. They were all the same age, like time stood still.

Lightning curled her hands tightly into fists. Tightly enough that her nails began to draw blood from her palms.

"Claire?"

Lightning turned to see her sister with curious eyes looking at her with worry. "Something's wrong, Serah." I feel like I'm not supposed to be here. Blood started dripping from her palm as the pinkette became more and more agitated.

"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 before her. Within moments, she became cold, freezing in fact. She fell to her knees as she grabbed her sides in an attempt to warm herself up, but it did no good. 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.

She looked to her sister, wondering if she was experiencing the same, but she was gone. Serah was nowhere to be seen. Lightning felt a pang of sorrow hit her. As confused as she had been before, she wasn't ready to give this happiness up.

Focusing on her breathing, Lightning tried to steady it, but to no avail. Her lungs felt like they were shrinking and would soon disappear. Her limbs began to tense as she felt every part of her body stiffening. Heavy, she felt so very heavy.

With a thud, her body collapsed down into the sand. 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 still as the world grew silent around her.

It was only one or two more agonizing moments until the blurry world around her disappeared in a flash.

The world came back into focus a few minutes later. 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 washed over her and she reached out to hold something to steady herself. She gripped something solid and cold until she felt the room stop spinning. She realized then that she had been grasping someone's hand, a crystallized person's hand at that. She looked up to see that it belonged to Snow. The burly man stood there encased in crystal. Lightning looked around the spacious room and saw others crystallized as well. A small, young boy, who she surmised was Dajh since he had an uncanny resemblance to Sazh, was about ten feet away. And Serah was in the center of the room.

"Serah", Lightning gasped as she ran toward her. She was just like the others and, as Lightning deduced, was just 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 just me reentering reality. Lightning growled. She was tired of all the l'Cie business. She thought she had finally been rid of it, only to wake up and find that it was all in her head.

Lightning gasped at a thought. My brand. Pale hands pulled down the zipper of her shirt and saw that the brand was no longer there. The eyesore tattoo had vanished. The one thing that had plagued her existence and endangered herself and her friends, while at the same time connected her to a new family, had finally disappeared. To prove this, the young woman scratched at the brand's previous spot for good measure. It's really gone. But how long have I... At that thought, Lightning surveyed the room.

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 in the right corner a few paces away. Seeing it as her way out, she stepped toward it, but stopped. She turned to look at Snow and Dajh. She then gave a longing look at Serah. I don't want to leave you, but I have to figure out where we are. She turned back to Serah and clasped her hands over her sister's. I'll come back for you. All of you.

With that, she ran to the exit. Lightning looked through the small window in the door and saw nothing but an empty hallway. She grabbed the door handle, expecting it to be locked, and was surprised when it opened with ease. Okay, well I guess we weren't imprisoned. But… It was dead quiet, but Lightning heard footsteps drawing near. By the sound of it, it was only a single person. 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 footsteps were approaching from around a corner. She needed a plan. Do I quickly 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 casually ask them where I am? Gage it from there? No, what if it is a soldier and I end up getting arrested? I could just 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 intently. He was about thirty feet away to her estimation. He hasn't noticed me yet. He has a gun so I assume it's a soldier, but I definitely don't recognize the uniform. Where am I? When am I?

The soldier, who looked rather young, looked up and drew his gun from his side, causing Lightning to grip her gunblade tighter. "Identification please? What is your rank and business?" The man looked her up and down, assessing her. Lightning though, was still struggling with her decision. "I said Identifi-"

"Of course. Sorry I was just a little caught up in my thoughts", stated Lightning. 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 gunblade at his throat. The soldier trembled slightly as the blade pressed deeper into his neck. "Where am I? What is this place", Lightning growled.

The soldier gave her a confused look, but stopped when the blade began to cut into skin. "I-it's t-the... Academy Base. R-Resear-Research and Operations-s.", stuttered the soldier.

"Academy base? Wha-" Well I guess that answers where... sort of. "What's the year?"

At that the young man gave her an incredulous look. "I-It's 6AF. How do you not know the year? Who are you?"

Lightning was far too lost in her thoughts to care about the soldier's questions. 6AF? What the hell does that... wait... it couldn't mean... Shoulders tensing at the thought, the previous l'Cie gave him a hard look. "What is AF?"

The soldier's eyebrows scrunched up immensely at that question. Not knowing where you are, okay. Not knowing the year, weird. But not knowing AF? His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the blade pressing further, yet again into his throat. "It m-mean-ns after fall. As in, after the fall of Cocoon."

Then it is. It's really been six years since I- Blaring alarms began to sound throughout the building, cutting Lightning from her thoughts. "What is that?"

"I think it's about you", the soldier simply stated, a small smile appearing on his face. He tilted his head slightly, gesturing to the camera in the ceiling.

"Damn." Just as the word flew from her mouth, she heard running footsteps and shouting down both sides of the hallway.

"You should really just give up and surrender. You're not going to get out of here alive If you-"

She drew her gunblade back and slammed the hilt down on his head, knocking him unconscious. 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 come up in front of her, three rounding a corner to come up behind. Hmph, not a problem. Lightning smirked, ready for a fight. As she prepared to lunge for her first target, she felt a stinging sensation in her neck. She reached toward it with her left hand and pulled out a miniscule dart. A tranquillizer? You've got to be kidding me.

It hit her like a truck. A giant wave of dizziness and nausea washed over her. Her body became exhausted. Lightning's gaze turned down to the floor as she fell to her knees. She then collapsed to the ground, her gunblade flopping to her side. Lightning's eyelids became far too heavy to keep open, leading her to close her eyes, reluctantly letting sleep take over her again. Why can't it be over? Why can't it ever be over?