A/N: This is my very first fanfiction. If anyone has constructive criticism, positive feedback, or feels like sharing random trivia (an ostrich's brain is the size of its eye), please feel free to comment after reading. I am extremely curious to know what readers are thinking, and I apologize in advance if a few of my notoriously long sentences slipped through my editing process.

Some small creative liberties were taken during the writing process, as there should be. But, hopefully, the characters managed to remain as true to canon as possible. Seeing as the LightningxSnow pairing is non-canonical, a few discrepancies should be expected.

With that out of the way, I can affirm very surely and sadly that I do not own any rights associated with Square Enix, Final Fantasy, or the (once again) fantastic characters devised by Tetsuya Nomura. May he achieve the role of Character Development Demi-God soon.

Thoughts are italicized.


Part One: Beginnings

The soft, ambient glow of the luminescent Gapra Whitewood filled the night as hope might fill the heart. Lightning sighed at the thought. It seemed the only hope to be found in her traveling party was in the namesake of the young teenage boy sleeping an arm's-length away, lost in his dreams. Before he went to sleep, the boy had made her promise to wake him for a turn at watch. He wanted so desperately to share responsibility, trying to prove to her that he wasn't a burden, that he could be of use. She had not woken him, though, since she knew sleep would not come to her tonight.

As if responding to her thoughts, Hope adjusted his sleeping position, rolling towards her and stuffing his hands under his head for support. His breathing slowed again. Lightning reached down without thinking, tracing her fingers lightly down his head in a gesture akin to maternal soothing. She couldn't help but look at him as she did her sister—someone fragile, in need of protection.

Serah.

With the thought, Lightning quickly retracted her hand from the sleeping boy, momentarily pressing her palm over her eyes and physically forcing herself to hold her emotions together. This was no time to be thinking about useless things like regret and guilt. She had a mission, and she'd be damned if anyone, including herself, tried to delay that mission. Focus. She just needed to stay strong. Her expression twisted a little involuntarily at the thought of "Focus." Was the goal given to them by the Pulse Fal'Cie really to save Cocoon? How could that be possible?

This line of thinking unfortunately led to Snow and his loud-mouthed proclamations. First, he had vowed to help Serah complete her Focus, and then, he had sworn to complete his own, no matter what, completely convinced they were meant to save Cocoon. When they had finally found Serah's crystal on the solidified Lake Bresha and he had gone off on another bravado-driven speech, she had decked him so hard and so many times that her fist was still hurting. The idiot didn't know when to stay down and shut up. Lightning snorted, slightly amused at the thought of that idiot staying behind to hack away at Serah's trapped crystal with nothing but his ego to shield him from the Sanctum.

No...Lightning rebuked the thought, It's not amusing...it's...terrible...and sad. That worthless man had stayed behind when Lightning had abandoned the task, accepting the facts. The facts...Her sister, her precious charge, was gone. Forever. On instinct, Lightning's thoughts quickly veered away from the lurking pool of despair.

There was another fact, as well. She would destroy the Sanctum. This whole Fal'Cie bullshit was getting old. Someone was responsible, and someone had to pay. Lightning would make sure of that. Still...she lost control of her thoughts for just a moment and found herself wondering if Snow had been successful. Sure, it was doubtful, but it is unwise to underestimate fools. They can think of things and get out of situations which may seem impossible for other people.

"Idiots always found a way to survive," she muttered.

"Something wrong, then?" Fang asked when she saw Snow rubbing his ear idly. She leaned over the railing of the exposed hangar, looking out into the dark expanse of night sky to observe twinkling lights from the vantage point of the airship. Snow turned his back on the view, pushing his elbows back down to the railing to support his slouching posture.

"My ears were burning," he grinned, "Maybe someone's talking about me?"

"Could be your l'Cie friends, yeah?" Fang offered. Then she smiled slyly and added "maybe one of the girls is pining the loss of their hero." Her comment made Snow smirk.

"Heh," he punched into his palm, looking for all the world like the roguish character a l'Cie was thought to be. "Who wouldn't?" They both chuckled, but Snow slowly turned serious, frowning softly. "Well, I guess there's one of them who's probably happy we're separated." He pushed away from the railing and connected his fingers behind his bandana, beginning a slow pace from one side of the cat-walk to the other.

"What, the one who reset your jaw? Serah's sister?" Fang asked as she turned her back to the railing, enabling her to watch the big man struggle with his thoughts. "Her name is...Lightning? Is that right?" Snow paused his steps at the name, gazing out over the opposite side of the narrow walkway, his eyes distant. He couldn't stop thinking about how they had parted ways. How could Lightning not understand? How could she not fight for the possibility? He snorted under his breath. It was Lightning, after all. She of the iced heart and iron will...and fist. And yet...he began to think, but he stopped himself. And yet what? She couldn't possibly be as distant as she acted? She had to care for people on some level? Is that what he was thinking? True, it was not an impossible idea.

"Lightning," Fang said again, to herself this time, since she realized Snow had left the conversation temporarily. The sound of her name again brought him back, though, and he turned to face Fang, dropping his hands loosely to his sides. "I like that name," Fang declared. "It sounds strong." Her comment made Snow bark a melancholy laugh.

"Yeah, well, strength is something Lightning has in excess," he grumbled, rubbing his jaw.

"You make it sound like a bad thing," Fang joked, punching him in the arm. Snow accepted the first tag but playfully hopped out of the way of another, chuckling as he swatted a half-hearted counter of his own to let Fang jump back in turn.

"It's not bad," he conceded with a smile. "I just think that, you know, she could do with a smile every once and a while. Even before this whole l'Cie thing, she was either working or at home working on other stuff or lecturing Serah," he paused to think. "I'm not sure if I've ever seen her smile, as a matter of fact. But, then again, she's never been a big fan of the big-bad unemployed guy chasing after her little sister, you know?"

"Well, when you put it that way..." Fang started to say.

"Aw, cut me a break, will ya?" Snow groaned dramatically, throwing his hands in the air in mock exasperation. "Having Lightning on my case is more than enough, trust me. Did I mention she was part of the Guardian Corps? And she still wears her rank plate on her shoulder, too." He paused, hung up on a sudden thought. "Does that mean that now she's...impersonating an officer?" he mused, glancing to Fang for her thoughts. He found the dark haired woman staring at him with an unsettling smirk pulling at her lips, her arms folded across her chest, and one eyebrow dubiously raised. "What?" he asked defensively.

"You do go on about her, don't you?" Fang observed, continuing to scrutinize him in her cheeky manner.

"H-...hah?" Snow responded with a vacant and confused countenance.

"This Lightning girl. You seem pretty hung up on her," Fang unfolded her arms and placed one hand on her hip. "So, what, you want both sisters now? Is that it?" She couldn't help but smile wider when Snow's mouth fell open, closed, and then fell open again, vaguely resembling aquatic lifeforms when removed from their natural water habitat.

"No...wait...what?" he began, finally forming a shocked response. "Both? What are you talking about?"

"The Farron girls, you idiot, what else are we talking about? It's clear your mind hasn't strayed far from one of them in particular for several minutes," Fang finally gave in to a small fit of laughter at the sight of Snow going pale enough to rival the real thing and then rapidly flushing as red as Fang's lance. "So it's true? You want both of them?" Fang said with a chuckle.

"No!" Snow managed to yelp a refute after finding his voice again. "Of course I only want one! Are you crazy?"

"So, which one do you want, then?"

"Tch. Isn't in obvious?"

"Yeah, it is to me," she replied with a mischievous grin. "I don't think it is to you, though." She just waved him off when his only reply was a befuddled frown. After a short stretch of her back, she hefted her lance onto her shoulder and jerked her head toward the hangar door. "I'm turning in. Don't stay up to late, you lady killer." Snow watched as she left him in a state of perplexity, all but scratching his head. He sighed after a few moments and put his forearms on the railing, gazing once again out into the vast, dark sky.

"I really don't get women sometimes," Snow confessed to the night.

Back in the Gapra Whitewood, Lightning had been idly rubbing her burning ear for a few minutes now.