A/N: So… this is like my first fic in about a year, and my first chapter fic in a long while. You can thank FF XIII for giving me inspiration to write again, especially out of my normal first person element. ^^; Anywaysssss! I do hope you like this story. I've never really written this style of story before, so let's see if it's a hit! It's primarily Snow x Lightning, but some Snow x Serah stuff will be sprinkled in here and there. Also, as a warning, this story WILL be rated M in the future for sexual content and violence. So, I don't advise you get hooked on this story unless you're comfortble with those topics. Thanks! 8D

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Square Enix or the Final Fantasy series. If I did, Lightning and Snow would have all ready consummated their relationship and making pretty babies. :3

Lux Aeterna

Lightning was never one to bother with foreign language, but yet phrases of Latin always caught her unrelenting eye, and she wasn't exactly sure why. Recently though, she had taken up reading old Latin books she found from old bookstores. She had barely any spare time as it was, so whatever time she had when she wasn't helping restore Oerba or slaughtering animals who were trying to come into the village, she found herself reading books written in the dead language.

Anyone who knew Lightning would tell you she wasn't a big reader at all. Most people would be surprised to see the pink haired beauty reading for leisure. She had her excuses, though; mainly the fact that she didn't want to think about a certain blonde who was playing house with her younger sister. It was bad enough that she saw his infectious smile every night in her dreams – she didn't need to have her mind wander during the little time she had to herself. To be frank, it wasn't like Lightning hated him; she simply wanted to forget. After all, she had to deal with him for God knows how many months when they were trying to fulfill their Focus and save Cocoon at the same time.

In the distance, Lightning heard someone calling her name. A quiet sigh came out of her nose as she hauled herself from her post on the outskirts of Oerba, dutifully and thankfully heeding the call. Lightning often scolded herself after she spent extensive time thinking about him; to her, it was like she was betraying Serah in the worst of ways, and that was not at all what she wanted.

Taking long, swift steps, it wasn't long before Lightning found herself saluting her superior, General Mindra. He smiled easily at her formalities and a deep chuckle emitted from deep in his chest.

"At ease, Lieutenant." Lightning immediately dropped her hand, but her stance was still as stiff and straight as a plank of wood. "I called you here because I'd like to discuss a few things. Take a seat, please," he said calmly. She sat in the chair in front of his rich mahogany desk, staring at the smooth grain of the wood. Her stance was still proper, but she had finally managed to relax a little bit in the luxurious leather chair she was sitting in. Of course the guys in charge had the nice set ups; the rest of them slept in either personal shacks or shared one with a bunch of soldiers. Lightning was able to schmooze her way into a personal one away from everyone else. They didn't need to be in her business.

"Is something wrong, sir?" Mindra smiled knowingly. Leave it to good old Light to immediately assume something is wrong.

"No, of course not. You're one of my best soldiers, Farron, and that's the truth. The main thing I brought you here for was the fact that I've received numerous phone calls regarding your location… from your sister-" Lightning's face suddenly shot up from the intricate wood of his desk to stare right into his cerulean eyes, "I realize you asked to not let anyone know of your presence here, but it's getting a little old. It's a daily thing, and I think your sister may be starting to get a lead on your location." His voice was smooth as he spoke, but it had an edge of unmistakable apprehension. She tensed and looked at her nail beds, exhaling a small sigh from her nose.

Oh Serah… don't you realize I don't want to be found? It pained her to know that her sister was seemingly desperate to try and find her, which made her mind take a 360 degree turn. Was she in trouble, or worse… Snow?

"Forgive me, sir. I… just let me know the next time she calls. I-" As if fate had been listening, the phone residing on Mindra's desk rang, interrupting Lightning. Without any thought whatsoever, she reached across the desk and grabbed the phone from its hilt.

"Hello?" Her voice was tepid - almost scared.

"… Light?" Snow. Her breath hitched in her throat and her lungs didn't want to seem to function properly. Almost painfully, deep in her chest her heart lurched forward, making her swallow hard. Never in a million years did she think of picking up the phone to find him on the other line.

When she didn't respond, Snow continued, "Where the hell are you?" His voice was hushed, "You're going to give Serah a heart attack." Hearing him speak her little sister's name made her stomach drop to her feet. In some sick, small way, she wanted to believe that Snow loved her - not her baby sister.

Lightning attempted to say something, but her mouth suddenly went dry and no words formed. On the other side, she heard the blond sigh loudly and she could only imagine him shaking his head.

"Please, Light… tell me. I worry, too," he pleaded, his tone going desperate. Unconsciously, Lightning bit her bottom lip and ran her free hand through her messy pink hair.

As she reached over to the phone's holster, she mumbled a weak, "I can't." Quickly, a finger hit the 'Cloak signal' button on his phone. She didn't want to take the chance of Snow possibly tracing her call, but at the same time she wondered if Mindra was suspicious of how she knew that button was even there.

Snow's voice began to verge on desperate. "Light, please. I can't have Serah waking up from nightmares anymore, nor can I deal with the burden I carry on my shoulders with the way we left things." Within an instant, Lightning's eyes turned from worried to cold. She stood slowly out of her chair and turned away from Mindra, instead facing the window.

"The way we left things? If I remember right, you married my sister and went off to Palumpolem to live your joyous life together. What else is there to say? I'm not going to dwell on the past, unlike you. I think you need to stop worrying about me for once in your goddamn life and worry about your wife. Good-bye, Snow." Her finger rudely pressed the end call button and almost threw the phone at the wall, but then she remembered whose phone it was.

She quietly returned the phone back to its holster and looked at Mindra, offering an apologetic smile.

"Forgive me, sir. If you'll excuse me, I'd like to turn in for the night," Lightning requested in a tiny voice. Mindra stood from his chair, slicking back his red hair with a sigh.

"Request granted. Take it easy, Farron," he advised cautiously, offering her a small smile. She returned it the best she could before rushing to her shack.

Why did Snow have to call her now of all times? Why not another two years? Her temper flared when she saw his face flash in her mind, and without thought, she grabbed a stone and chucked at the outside wall of her shack. Fuck Snow, fuck him. She just had to fall in love with a fucking idiot who didn't know who the hell he wanted, but yet apparently wanted the best of both worlds. Lightning wasn't that type of girl though; she wasn't going to let a guy walk all over her just because he can't choose between two people.

Once inside the solitude and complete silence of her room, silent tears began running down her face as she walked over to her bed. Only that dumb blond could make her cry like this, and Serah too. Something solid hit her head when she laid it down on her pillow, and she looked over to find a gift given to her from Fang and Vanille - a parting gift of sorts. She smiled through her tears as she fingered the small charm, which was engraved with the inscription: Lux Aeterna. Lightning vividly remembered the night they gave it to her, mainly because that was when she began her fascination with the Latin language.

"Lightning?" The pink-haired ex-soldier looked up from her weapon to see the two Pulsian women looking down at her, Vanille smiling and Fang with a soft look on her strong face. Lightning stood from her sitting position so she could be eye level with the two.

"What's up, guys?" Lightning naturally was a bit cautious, like she was with nearly everything. The pair looked at each other before Vanille handed Lightning a small box, with a rainbow ribbon adorning the top. A smirk crossed her face and she gave the duo a look, which elicited a giggle from Vanille.

Curiously, she cracked open the box to find a handmade charm in the shape of a lightning bolt laying inside. The back of it had some Latin inscription that she couldn't read.

Fang must have noticed Lightning's difficult time reading the phrase because moments later, she murmured, "Eternal light, that's what it means. We figured it fit because while you might be a hard ass half of the time, you've really been the back bone of the group and given us the hope and light we need to believe we can prevail." A faint smile crossed Lightning's face as she extracted the charm from the box and looked at it under the moonlight.

"Thank you, guys. This is a very thoughtful gift," she said, her voice quiet. Vanille squeaked excitedly and hopped over to Lightning, enveloping the surprised woman in a tight hug. Lightning stood there, eyes enlarged as she awkwardly patted Vanille's back. She was not a hugger. In fact, she probably had a phobia of physical contact that was outside battle or contact that she didn't initiate. But, there were only certain people she'd let hug her and not punch in retaliation, and Vanille was one of them.

With a wave, the two women walked away arm in arm. An uneasy feeling settled at the bottom of Lightning's stomach, and she wondered to herself the motive behind the gift giving. She remembered how Fang previously turned into Ragnarok, but she didn't want think that they would decide to do it a second time.

She retreated back into her tent, sitting on her bed as she held the lightning bolt charm between her index finger and thumb and looked at it again. She securely placed it in the breast pocket of her jacket so the memento would be close to her heart and fell into a deep sleep.

Lightning smiled fondly at the memory, her heart aching in memory of Fang and Vanille, who now sat at the heart of the structure that prevented Cocoon from falling right onto Pulse. She placed the silver charm back in its box, which resided under her pillow now, and laid back on her bed. The only window in her whole shack was a roof window right above her head, so each night before bed, Lightning often found herself staring off into the starry abyss. In a way, it was almost overwhelming calm feeling because in Cocoon, the sky never looked quite like this. It didn't have the power to calm her.

And then she thought of him.

"God dammit, Lightning," she hissed at herself, lurching off the bed and making a bee line for her dinky bathroom. She turned the faucet on, letting the water heat until it almost scalded her skin at the touch. She splashed some on her face, gasping a little from the temperature of the water, and turned the faucet off. She stared at herself in the mirror - it was starting to become a routine for her. She'd pick out the littlest imperfections she could find and start comparing herself to Serah.

She could never figure out when she started becoming so jealous of her sister. Ever since the rather abrupt death of her parents, Lightning was the mother figure to Serah, causing her to grow up in an instant. She always pushed relationships and friendships for her sister, constantly worried about her, and even spied on the few dates Serah went on as a teenager. Sure, Lightning had a relationship here and there, but most of the time they ended up failing because the guys couldn't take how harsh the older Farron sister was, as well as how much she worried about her little sister over them.

Slowly, Lightning wiped excess water off of her mouth with the back of her hand, staring as a minuscule droplet of water ran down her face and slid down her neck.

"Why do you do this to yourself, Claire?" It was rare that Lightning ever refer to herself by her birth name. She had been spending so much time trying to forget the past, to run away from it, that she never realized all of her running had finally taken a toll. Her sea blue eyes were dull, the corners blood shot. Her pink hair hung limply over her left shoulder, any shine that used to radiate from it now gone. The dark bags under her eyes now seemed as if they were permanent, and day by day they only seemed to be getting worse.

In an instant, a deep growl came from her chest and she flung her fist at the flimsy walls, crying out in pain after the impact. Lightning sunk to the floor, holding her knees tight to her chest for security. How she came to be so weak, she didn't know. She had her theories, main one being Snow marrying her sister and leaving her in the dust, but she didn't even want to think a boy could be the reason for making her finely crafted exterior finally crack. She never wanted to think that; she was Lightning Farron, dammit!

As tears relentlessly rushed down her face, she curled into the fetus position on the cool tile floor of the bathroom. She felt weak; hopeless. It wasn't a feeling she was used to, but all the pressure was becoming too damn hard. She couldn't help but wonder if all of this was worth it anymore. That was the last thought that lingered on her mind before she drifted off into a slumber from pure exhaustion.

Quiet voices surrounded her head in a swirl of words, none of which she understood. She tried to open her eyes, but it felt as if they weighed a ton each. Her mouth was as dry as a cotton ball and she couldn't even try to move her muscles. Everything started to add up; the swirling, inability to move or talk, and the now feeling of a horrible hangover - she was drugged.

"Are you sure this is even her?"

"Positive. She matches the photo exactly, right down to the belly button piercing." This voice was a lot more daunting than the last, which sounded more sadistic than anything. Lightning faintly heard large footsteps coming closer to her, and soon felt the hot breath of the speaker looming over her. One calloused finger grazed over her chapped lips, and she could feel heat rising on her face in anger. If she wasn't drugged, she would kick the living daylights out of both men who were intruding her house.

"I suppose so. It's a shame that such a beauty is going to waste. Maybe she'll think twice next time," the first voice mumbled, his lighter foot steps coming towards her now. Lightning finally managed to groan quietly, alerting the first man. "It seems the drugs are wearing off. Quick, let's move her before she causes any trouble." Before Lightning could even comprehend anything, she heard the sound of duct tape ripping and right as she finally opened her eyes, a large slab of tape was placed over her mouth. She yelled in protest, but anything she said came out jumbled from the constricting tape. She tried to fight off the two men who were now binding her hands and feet together with steel wire, but the one closest to her punched her square in the jaw. Blood sputtered out of her barely open mouth, only a drop or two able to escape from the tape.

A bag of sorts was thrown over her head, blocking her vision, and she was soon lifted and thrown presumably into a vehicle. Her back hit hard metal, causing a sharp jab of pain to rip through her side. With the state she found herself in, Lightning didn't even think before she squirmed and fight out of her restraints. Normally, she would have known better than to resist capture, especially if she didn't have the lower hand, but with her mental state, her normal inhibitions were thrown out of the window. She soon was being kicked multiple times in the gut, tears flowing out of her without remorse from the radiating pain deep in her belly, and the last thing she heard before she blacked out was:

"L'Cie scum."

Dun dun! I love cliffhangers. =) I promise the next chapter will have some of Snow's PoV, but I also do promise some clarity on the Lightning situation. I would be extremely grateful if you would review this, good or bad. I especially love constrictive criticism. ^^ I'm hoping the next chapter to be up by Sunday, but no promises. Hope you enjoyed!

-Mel