A/N: Hello everyone and Wolfie is back! I decided to rewrite my Golden Feathers fanfic because I felt like it wasn't going anywhere from where I placed my OCs and yes, there are going to be some changes but some things are going to remain the same. I'm not going to say what but you'll just to have find out in Heart of a Soldier! Enjoy~!

Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy Series belongs to Square Enix
Claimer: I only own Heart of a Soldier and its OCs

*Re-edited 5/2/2014


Heart of a Soldier

Chapter I: Children of the Military


Day 2

"Come on, you two." Our mom said as she dragged both my twin sister and I out of the two story house. The bright sun blinded my vision as we stepped out.

"Is it really necessary to bring us along?" My twin sister, Alexis, asked. My twin sister wore an elbow-length red shirt with a black sleeveless coat that went little past her knees, black short-shorts with a white belt, and dark brown military boots. As the wind blew, her shoulder blade-length charcoal hair danced about in the draft.

As for me, my navy blue scarf repeatedly wacked me in the face. I wore a white long-sleeve shirt, a buttoned up black vest, navy blue scarf, dark blue jeans with a white belt, black military boots, and black fingerless gloves. My hair is almost the same as Alexis except way shorter and my bangs sweep to the left.

Our mom just sighed as she locked the front door, Alexis and I followed her past the shore side shops of Bodhum "Of course, sweetie." She replied "Besides, I know for a fact that you two would end up bored and sleeping- like always. But now is a good time to figure out which path you want to follow."

I raised an eyebrow, "You mean join PSICOM or Guardian Corps?" Our mom nodded her head and I scoffed "Forget about PSICOM, I'll join Guardian Corps any day. PSICOM is just a place full of brainwashed dogs."

"Nicholas!" Alexis frowned "How can you say that?! Father was part of PSICOM!"

I looked at my twin sister from the corner of my eye, "Who said I was talking about father too?" Alexis was about to say something but she closed her mouth "It's PSICOM in general. If Sanctum orders them to act, they'll do exactly that."

"Nick…" Our mom stopped walking and turned to face me "I understand that you're angry for what happened all those years ago- but that's in the past. Those soldiers who were assigned to that investigation didn't know what they were walking into. Neither did your father. Don't blame the Sanctum or PSICOM because it was neither of their faults." We continued as our mom lectured us some more "Take Derek for example…" I mentally growled "He joined PSICOM to continue your father's legacy as a great soldier and colonel. Look at him now, he's a Lieutenant Colonel."

I just looked towards the crashing waves of the ocean as the tides rolled onto the beach.


Day 5

I grunted as the blade of my gunblade clashed against Alexis's gunblade, we jumped back to have some distance between us. My twin sister and I were sparring on the beach and for once, our mom allowed us and went to inform the Guardian Corps branch here in Bodhum that we were just sparring- nothing to worry about. Alexis and I agreed to spar in the sand so that it would help us with our footing and balance while fighting.

"Not bad, Nicholas." Alexis told me before charging straight towards me and I scoffed. Once she was close enough to strike me, I sidestepped and swung my gunblade horizontally from my right shoulder but Alexis blocked my attack and fended it off. On instinct, I back flipped away as she swung a full arc. Going back into my fighting pose with my gunblade being held in back-handed fashion, I waited for the next attack. With Alexis not making a move, I placed pressure on my toes before making a swift dash. Closing in, I moved my gunblade in a short arc motion. Reacting quickly, Alexis jumped back but I continued after her while switching my hold on the gunblade.

Alexis stopped and I took my chance to attack while she was open but once I was close enough, she quickly sheathed her gunblade and managed to pin me onto the sand by swiftly sidestepping until she was beside me. My twin sister then took the opportunity to grab my hand that held the gunblade, hit the center of my stomach with her left knee and finally force me onto the sand by grabbing the back of my neck with her right hand.

"Hey!" I said, spitting the sand out of my mouth.

"Another win for me~!" Alexis said in a sing-song voice before helping me back up onto my feet. I dusted the sand from my clothes as my twin sister giggled at the cold glare that I was giving her.

"Busy trying to kill each other?" Alexis and I heard our mom's voice, we looked towards her who was being accompanied by a woman with pink-colored hair. The pinkette wore a white vest over a sleeveless brown turtleneck, a brown skirt, knee-high boots, a black sleeve that reached up to her bicep on her left arm, a red cape that's attached to the left side of her back, a red pouch that's strapped around her left thigh, and a Guardian Corps pauldron that shows her ranking as a sergeant. She was also the same height as mom.

Speaking about height, Alexis stood a few centimeters shorter than the pink-haired woman. While I stand an inch taller.

"Actually, we just finished our spar." I told our mom.

"And I happened to take victory!" Alexis piped with a smirk and I glared at her for rubbing it in "You must be Sergeant Farron," Alexis changed the topic and looked at the pink-haired soldier "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Alexis and this is my twin brother, Nicholas." I nodded in acknowledgement.

"Likewise," Sergeant Farron nodded before we noticed her eyes move to our gunblades "You two are gunblade users?" She asked us.

Alexis and I nodded, "They were given to us on our 16th birthday by our father." I told her "Our older brother taught us how to use them since my sister and I insisted that we learn."

"Anyways, head inside you two," Our mom gestured towards the house "It's almost lunchtime."

Alexis huffed "Mom. Nicholas and I aren't little kids anymore, we're 19!"

"19 or not, you're still my little babies. Now get inside." Alexis and I groaned before doing what we were told.

As we headed inside, our mom and Sergeant Farron started walking away. I looked towards their direction before looking away but apparently Alexis caught me and poked my forehead "See something you like, Nicholas?" She asked with a teasing smile.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You were looking at Sergeant Farron!"

"No I wasn't!"

"Yes you were!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Shut up! I was only looking because she has a gunblade too!"

"Liar! You're totally crushing on her!"

"Will you just shut up!"


Day 9

Kids laughed and adults conversed as I strolled about the outdoor mall of Bodhum, it's out-of-character for me to go to the mall but I just wanted some fresh air and some ice cream. Maker, I love ice cream! I went to the nearest ice cream parlor and ordered a single scoop of strawberry ice cream on a plain waffle cone. I said my thanks to the employee after paying and made my way out of the parlor to sit down at one of the outside tables.

Even though in the shade, I can still feel the sun's blasted heat but at least its breezy. Seagulls culled from above as I ate my ice cream in peace…well, almost in peace before a girl with light brown came up to me with a deeply flushed face. She wore a purple tanktop, black knee-length shorts, and white sandals "E-excuse me…" She muttered shyly "My fr-friends and I-I were wondering if you were um…s-single?" Casting a glance to my right, I noticed a group of three girls giggling and telling one another to 'shut up and be quiet'.

"I am single actually…" I told the girl and I think I heard her breath hitched at my answer "But I…" It was then that I noticed a familiar pink-haired Guardian Corps sergeant walking in the distance. I'm such a horrible person.

"Would you like to go get a smoothie?" The brunette asked me and I made a sad smile.

"I would love to…but I'm going to have to decline your offer." The girl frowned "You see, I'm just waiting for a friend and- oh! Sergeant Farron!" The pink-haired woman looked at me before walking by. I immediately stood up from my seat "Gotta go. Sorry!" I placed my left hand on the Sergeant's left shoulder and ushered her forward.

"Nicholas, what are you-?"

"Just go along with it for my sake," I muttered and so, she did. Once we were out of their sights, I removed my hand from her shoulder and let out a breath of relief "Sorry about that, just needed to get away." I turned back to the Sergeant to see her with arms folded over her chest "Last minute plan to make a clean getaway."

"To avoid a girl whose asking you out?" She questioned, skeptically "Sounds like you don't have enough backbone to say 'no'."

I opened my mouth to counter that but I didn't "That's true. I had a few girls come up to me but I just make up excuses just to avoid the question."

"Points for the blunt truth." She said and I groaned "You do realize that you're stalling me from finishing my shift?"

I smiled wryly "Sorry, didn't know that you were on duty. But I would call it perfect timing that you came along, otherwise I would've been stuck."

"Is that so?" Sergeant questioned and I nodded "Actually, my shift ended not too long ago. I was just heading back to Guardian Corps." Geez, that wasn't even funny "How about I treat you to ice cream?" She indicated to my melted strawberry ice cream in my hand. Like a small child, I frowned at my frozen treat. I threw it into the nearest trash can.

"Sure, after Guardian Corps.?" I asked.

"You avoided the request of smoothie from the girl but yet, you accepted my offer of ice cream?"

My cheeks and ears grew hot "You got me at 'ice cream'." I cleared my throat and waved my hand dismissively "Anyways, I'll go with you to Guardian Corps. Mom asked me to help her with filing paperwork."


Day 11

"C'mon Nicholas!" Alexis was practically pulling me towards the area where they were holding Bodhum's annual firework festival "It might be starting any minute now!" The bottom of our boots hit the boarded walkway with a 'thud' as we ran.

"Then maybe you shouldn't take so long choosing an outfit!" I told her "Anyways, we'll make it to the fireworks!" There were times where we nearly tripped while running but we caught our footing and continued running. We skidded to a complete stop once a large dome came into view and from what we can tell, the fireworks haven't gone off yet "Told you!" Alexis sent a glare my way before running off again.

Once we got there, tons of people were gathered behind the shoreline while awaiting for the fireworks "There you two are!" Alexis and I turned heads to see our mom walking towards in her GC uniform "About time you made it, the fireworks are about to start." At that moment, the fireworks were then shot into the air exploded in a variety of different colors. Our mom stood between us and placed both of her hands on mine and Alexis's shoulder.

"Aren't you suppose to be on duty, mom?" Alexis asked and our mom sighed.

"Yes, but we were told to lay off." She said "There are PSICOM soldiers around the area and are investigating fal'Cie activities. Keeping it all under wraps." She told us.

Alexis and I looked at each other "Do you know what kind of activities they're investigating?"

Our mom shook her head "Not a clue. But I suggest keeping your noses out of it for the time being until everything clears up. Understood?" Alexis and I nodded in confirmation "Anyways, enough about PSICOM. Have I told you guys that this is where your father and I met?" Our mom changed the subject.

We looked at her with wide eyes "Seriously?"

She nodded, "Your father had just graduated from the academy and came here as a present to himself. He developed a crush on me and asked me out a few weeks later."

I looked back at the fireworks and continued to admire them, "Hm~ reminds me of someone…" Alexis looked at me directly, I groaned "Right, Nicholas?"

I felt mom's grip tightened on my shoulder and I slowly moved my gaze to her from the fireworks "Is that true, Nicholas?" Mom asked with a raised eyebrow "Who's this person that you have a crush on?" I looked away stubbornly.

"I believe it's Sergeant Farron," Alexis said slyly "He was looking at her when you first introduced us and when you guys were walking away."

"Do my ears hear what is true~?" By this point, our mom has this highly amused smile on her face "Does my little Nicholas really have a crush on Farron?" She asked with a smile "I'll have you know that she's a tough cookie…"

"Can we just shut up about this now?!" I growled, adjusting my scarf so that I can hide my flushed face. Both mom and Alexis began laughing and I huffed "I'm going to get a drink, anybody want one?" Mom and Alexis shook their heads "Suit yourselves." Mom removed her hand from my shoulder before I headed towards the nearest cafe. As I entered, I accidentally bumped into a tall woman "Apologies." I said looking over my shoulder.

The woman's gaze met mine and something at the back of my head started buzzing, the woman looked at me with wide eyes before walking away in a hurry. I can only shrug my shoulders. I ordered a soft drink from the woman behind the counter "Here's your drink." The woman placed my drink on the counter and I nodded my thanks before heading out of the cafe.

I sipped my soda and let out a satisfied breath as the liquid went down my throat. I looked up to the fireworks, each one bursting with beautiful colors. I then looked over towards Alexis and our mom "Everything would be fine if father was still around."


A/N: I forgot to say this in the first author's note: the purpose of this rewrite is to see which FFXIII fanfic you guys prefer Golden Feathers or Heart of a Soldier. Rewriting the story has been stuck on my mind for a while now because of the way it was written. I'm not saying that I want to get rid of it because I feel like. I'm just saying that I feel like rewriting it- like add more stuff to it, y'know? Like I sometimes (very rarely) say: "Happy readers make a happy author". Now then, hope you guys enjoyed this new story and until the next time I update! See ya~!

Don't forget to review!