Prologue; My Mistake

The day the purge was announced, panic erupted throughout the city of Bodhum, I remember because I knew who had been in contact with that fal'cie. The person that had been there was me I was curious about what this Vestige was that had always been there but never explored. I was never what you would call an adventurous type but something about the fal'cie had intrigued me. So I decided one day that I was going to go and see what it was. That was the biggest mistake of my life.

Weeks Earlier…

Chapter 1

"Lightning, do you have to go right now?" I asked my older sister, we were supposed to hang out that day, but as of late she seemed to be avoiding me. I couldn't help but notice that it started the moment Snow and I had announced our relationship to her, she didn't approve she made that clear.

"Serah, you know the demands of my job. It isn't like I can drop an assignment." Or even deny one for that matter, she was in Cocoon's military, if she decided to not take an assignment, she could be demoted or fired. I nodded my head and hugged her; she put one arm around my back. Ever since she changed her name, her personality had been completely transformed. After her brief display of affection for me she turned and walked out the door without so much as a goodbye.

I sighed to myself because I knew tonight could be a very long night. I walked over to the window with the view of the town's Vestige; it had been there ever since the City of Bodhum had been founded a while back. I believe it was when rebels of the war wanted to get away from the bigger cities, Bodhum was now one of those bigger cities, and was heavily guarded. They discovered that civilians had snuck in from pulse though they did no investigation of that, they wanted to be sure there was no rebellious activity that could thwart their government, and construction began making Bodhum into a city of Capitol Interest.

The war between Pulse and Cocoon seemed so nonsensical, now it seemed like it had no real reason for it, all I know is that a monster named Ragnorök came from seemingly nowhere and blew a hole into the outer shell of our small planet. Some people wonder if Pulse was in the right to start the war, our government never released any details to us regarding cause, though obviously we all knew what the effect of that cause was, it was this massive blazing war that was set before the people of the past Cocoon. Snow was now part of a secret rebellion group that only Lightning knew about, Snow wasn't only a part of this group though he was their fearless and great leader.

Lightning did not approve of the group though, which was of course a contributing element to her distaste for our relationship. But I felt for Snow like I had no other person before, and to be honest I felt like I would never feel like that for anyone else. Whenever I would do something as minor as think of him; my heart began thrumming against my chest like the beating of a Humming Bird's wings. When I saw him butterflies sent my stomach into the clouds. His grey eyes are beautiful and the shade of it changes every time I see him. His favorite thing to think of himself is as a hero, I see him as my personal hero.

He was perfect for me; I could go on for hours about him. Lightning could go on for hours as well; about the things she hates about him. She says that he was the worst thing that I could possibly choose for myself, but I knew differently. She was always trying to protect me, after our parents died she had to take the role as mother for me, because I was only twelve, she of course was fifteen, that was six years ago and we are both adults, with a seemingly strained relationship. Sometimes it felt as if she loathed me for the choice of dating Snow. She consistently has me second guessing myself, but I love her with everything I have and would give my life for her if that would be what it took. I know it was the same for her, she just thought I was making a mistake.

Sighing I stood up and opened the door to our small house, a walk on the beach would probably make me feel better. "Serah..!" Hope's voice called from behind me as I was locking the door. Hope was a Fourteen year-old boy that had come here on vacation with his mother from Palumpolum, one of the other bigger cities, only this one had been there since the beginning of Cocoon. It was one of the settlements that had been arched when our people came from Pulse to get away from the hellish creatures that inhabit the land down there. People call Pulse "hell on earth" because of those very creatures.

"Hope, how are you?" I said, he was a sweet kid, better than most kids his age. The way youth acted was absolutely ridiculous, they try to grow up too fast and in turn throw away the precious childhood that many people so wish that they could have back.

"I'm good, and you?" He said with a small smile on his face. Hope is very handsome for his age, though he does have a bit of femininity to him. Just in his features, he is still young so he has a bit to grow still, for his jaw to become more prominent and such.

"I am, okay, Lightning got called on another assignment for the Guardian Corps." I said solemnly.

"Yeah, did you hear about the purge they pulled in a smaller town near Lake Bresha?" He asked curiously I shook my head in confusion. "They found a Pulse Fal'cie there; they had to evacuate over three-thousand people. It was all over the news." He said with a touch of sadness in his features, when he said evacuate, he really meant they were Purged, if they find a Pulse L'cie, or Fal'cie they have to purge anyone within a three-mile radius to live on pulse for the rest of their life, which could be shorter than what they intended on.

I shook my head in disbelief, "That many?" I asked in shock. He nodded his head, which was a bad answer, though maybe with so many gone do Pulse fewer would meet their demise if they worked together that is. A Fal'cie is much like a God, though we don't worship them, they supply elemental things such as water, and sunlight. Here on Cocoon the ground is above us and we have no sky, the center was hollow when they first discovered Cocoon, and the crust keeps us safe from attacks, except for the one area that Ragnorök scarred. That area is now uninhabited, except for Guardian Corps who keep watch for a sign of attack from Pulse, which seems very unlikely, every city that was known to us was destroyed one hundred years ago after the war. In retrospect that was slightly unfair, what of the innocent children and families that were killed by the destruction on the cities, the ones that had no part in any bit of the war?

"The Fal'cie was put back onto pulse, you know for safety?" he said, but to me it sounded more or less like he was questionable about the whole thing. Bresha is known for its resources, and it was only a matter of time until the government found an excuse to get all the people who live around it out so they could mine it. My sister may work for them but that doesn't mean she agreed with everything they did, she didn't know all the details about everything, nor does she wish too.

I shook my head and said "Yeah, for our safety." In all actuality there probably was no Fal'cie to begin with and they said that they dropped it back to Pulse to cover that fact up. "Have you seen Snow around anywhere?" I changed the subject suddenly so my mind wouldn't wander so much.

He nodded and pointed the area where he saw him; I hugged him quickly as a goodbye and took off in the direction he pointed toward. Bodhum was always busy this time of year the big celebration of the war victory with the beautiful fireworks that make wishes come true, no other city does that. The celebration begins today and lasts two weeks, it is a huge thing, and everyone gets paid vacation from their work, except for those who are a Guardian, like Lightning. I don't do much celebrating this time of year; I usually stay home and watch the fireworks light off in the dome. This year Snow has insisted that I watch them his way this time, and I reluctantly agreed, though I had no idea what 'his way' was, to be honest I was a little frightened at what it could be.

I knew when I was getting near him because Nora members seemed to be at every turn of the head I made. I loved the members of NORA, they had become my family over the past few months, they were amazing, all of them. As I passed a few waved at me and pointed in the direction of where Snow was; they knew me all too well. When I saw him that familiar feeling came to my stomach and I couldn't control myself from lunging and wrapping my arms in a vice-grip around his neck, and might I say this was a surprise attack… from behind. His blond hair was as always spiked out from under the bandana he wore on his head. His face was shaggy as ever with his seemingly permanent five o'clock shadow, but I loved that bit of shag that was always on his face.

"Guess who?" I said giggling slightly.

"Is it Serah?" He asked playfully, while he unlatched my arms from his neck, and positioned me so I was in front of him, and gently kissed my lips. When he kissed me I saw stars in a white sky, and my stomach went way beyond the clouds this time.

"Of course it's me silly." I said poking his nose gently, and kissed his lips again.

There was a chorus of "Get a room's" and "awe's", which only made us crack up and kiss some more. When we finally released from each other, I had to put my hair back on my shoulder, which was probably my own fault considering I ran and attacked him from behind like I did.

"How are you?" I asked once we were readjusted.

"I'm great, feeling like the hero I am, what about you?" he asked me.

"I'm good, now that I am with my hero." I said making him blush, which honestly was a rare sight when it came to him. The sunlight was giving him a slight burn on his exposed arms, which besides his face was the only part of him that actually was exposed, and that was only because he rolled up the sleeves to his trench coat. Then the realization of my statement hit him.

"What happened?" he asked, the concern had laced throughout his voice and made it almost crack. That is one of the things I love about him, he is completely selfless, he prioritizes what needs to be set as top priority and sets it there.

"Lightning got put on another assignment, it seems like ever since her promotion to Sergeant she is always out on a mission, and she seems to be distancing herself from me ever since we announced us, it's really been getting to me lately." I said. "I know she doesn't hate me, but I'm worried she might stay angry with me, and I don't know if I can handle that right now."

"Why don't you tell her this Serah? I mean if it is really getting to you like this you should tell her, maybe if she knew how much she was hurting you right now she would take a step back and try harder to support you. That is how Light is, she can seem fierce but she has that deep caring side to her, and that side is especially soft to her little sister." He said, and I was actually kind of shocked that he had known what to do in a situation with Light, they never really got along.

I nodded my head and resolved to myself that the next time I had the chance, I would talk to her, it was something that had to be done in this situation, and she had to realize how much her distance was hurting me. "Thank you Snow." I said happily planting one more kiss to his lips before heading out on a walk down the edge of the water. The sea sparkled in the sunlight, while the water reflected bits of multi-colored light in random directions; the Bodhum beach was always a spectacular show of beautiful light.

This place is where Light and I used to spend our summer days, we would be here almost every waking day of the summer to just play in the water and watch the sun on the water, our young lives had an almost dependence on the hope the sea brought to us. Our parents died on a boat crash, their bodies lost at sea without even a trace of them left on the boat, Light and I used to watch the sea in hope that they would one day return to the both of us, but as the years went on we lost our hope, every day that went by demolished that hope until it had disappeared completely. But our sadness had also been shrunk into almost nothing, we were happier now than we were then, I worked my way away from the hurt that the death of our parents caused, because it was an almost unbearable pain. I hold on to the happier memories of them rather than the ones that revolved around the fact that they were dead.

I looked out to the sea and a new hope resonated through my body, a hope that my sister and I would soon be on good terms again, that this pain that all this has caused would soon disappear.

A/N: Hello people that took the time to read this, I thank you for at least making it this far, this is meant for those of you who are reading FFN, Please review, because this is going to be lot like final fantasy, it is actually going to suck you into the world of it all, fighting with weapons and such, I decided since Square decided they were going to give us nothing on any backstory of the cultural and character building process that I would, this is going to be at the very least 20 chapters, for various reasons, I have added some stuff that the game did not clarify, so some of this (if you can't figure out what you can pm me) is all from my imagination. Reviews are awesome so please leave constructive criticism, or whatever, just no flames please.