"What do you plan to do now?" Lightning asked the younger boy in a hushed tone. The sun had slowly begun to hide itself behind the swirl of blue and pink clouds, creating long, intimidating shadows from nearby hills and trees.

Hope stared at the group of survivors, who were all reuniting after the long journey. Sazh was spinning around in circles, his son in his arms, who was crunched in unbreakable bear hug. Snow had already made it past the hugs with his fiancé, Serah, and they'd moved onto murmuring sweet things in each others ears, with an occasional kiss.

"I don't know," Hope whispered, suddenly feeling lost. A part of him desperately wanted to go back and see if his dad was still alive and well, but he couldn't leave his friends. They'd been through so much together, the thought of leaving them was unbearable.

"Listen, we practically live in a mansion. If you need a place to crash, come on over to our house," Lightning smiled. Hope stared at her, eyes wide. Was she actually asking him to stay? He felt his cheeks burn bright red, and looked down in embarrassment.

"Er, I don't want to be a burden," Hope tried lamely. The pink haired women scoffed at the teenaged boy's reply. She lightly punched him on the shoulder before pointing a finger with her free hand at the rejoicing group of comrades.

"Listen, they're your family, right?" she questioned, although it came out more as a statement. Hope merely nodded, unsure exactly where Lightning was going with this.

"In a family, no one is ever a burden. Every single one is needed, if one leaves, the family shatters. Besides, how could you ever be bothersome to us? You just helped defeat Ragnarok."

Hope grinned sheepishly, and scratched at the back of his head. He glanced over at Lightning, surprised to see her eyes piercing into his. They stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity before Hope could finally respond.

"I guess if you don't mind then. Don't worry though, I'll do my own laundry."

Lightning chuckled before wrapping a comforting arm around the white haired boy's shoulder, "You bet you are. Trust me, you'll be helping out around the house a lot. Don't worry though, I'll be sure to give the majority of it to Snow."

Hope laughed at the comment, although he felt something odd pull at him from inside his chest. A strange fear filled him up, similar to how he felt just before a battle. For some reason, he just knew that this wasn't over. Cocoon may be safe for now, but how long the tranquility would last was another question.

.

Exactly six months had passed since the battle against Ragnarok, exactly six months since Vanille and Fang gave their lives to save Cocoon, exactly six months since everyone once again thought they were safe. Things were about to go wrong, however. Horribly wrong. Hope had known since that day peace was only temporary. That time had come.

.

"Hey, buddy, Hope. Wake up!"

Hope groaned and whacked his arm around to shoo away the intruder. Snow, who obviously wasn't going to take no for an answer, shook his shoulder roughly. His and Serah's wedding was mere days away now, and Snow, being the OCD guy he was, suddenly believed that the party that had been preplanned was no longer enough to suit him. It was the third night this week he'd came running to Hope's room, begging for help.

"What time is it?" Hope huffed, mustering the most annoyed tone he could through his drowsiness. Snow laughed nervously before muttering the words "a little bit before five." The teenager reached over threw his pillow at Snow before sitting up.

"Let me guess, it's about the wedding."

"Shoot, you got me. You're really smart, maybe you could use that brll-"

"I don't need to be accommodated, just spit it out."

"Oh, feisty."

"Snow!"

"Right. Sorry." Snow rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment, "well, I don't really know what to say for the toast. Do you think you could help me out?"

Hope bit back the urge to point out the fact that Big-Bad-Snow was actually at a loss for words.

"And I'm the first one that came to mind for something like this?"

Snow shrugged feebly, and stared at the half asleep boy with puppy dog eyes. Hope blew a raspberry, and flattened out his bed-head. He already knew what his excuse was, and quite frankly, it was a good one. Sazh's ideas weren't the brightest because he used jokes to make himself heard, and Snow wouldn't dare wake Lightning up. The thought alone sent shivers up the middle aged man's spine. Hope sighed in defeat, suddenly feeling wide awake and stared at Snow in the eye.

"Well, you have to mention to love her of course. I mean, even after everything that's happened, the two of you managed to make it through, but don't get too mushy, just make it something that'll make her swoon. Let her know you'll always be there for her."

Snow clicked his tongue, jotting notes down into a small note pad that he whipped out from his pocket. After finishing, he grabbed Hope and pulled him into a one armed hug, giving him a well deserved noogie.

"Snow!" Hope moaned in protest, pushing him away. Snow grinned maliciously before standing up and making his way back towards the door.

"Er, thanks for the help, kid! Sorry I woke you up."

Hope muttered a quiet "you should be" as he laid back down onto his bed, no longer feeling the urge to sleep. He listened to the door shut quietly, and stared at the ceiling of his bedroom, watching the designs swirl into random shapes and images. He thought back to the days where he spent his time running, and fighting for his life. All of the battles that ended in tears and pain. The other battles that ended with a new type of connection that he'd never experienced. He was shocked with himself when he realized a feeling of nostalgia creeping into the depths of his heart.

"Why would I ever miss such a horrible experience?" he murmured to himself, suddenly feeling terrible for ever feeling something so ludicrous.

'Because, everyone you met during those rough times shaped who you are today. You miss fighting along side them, not the loss of your previous life' a quiet voice pointed out from inside his mind.

Hope couldn't contain the smile from dancing upon his lips. He closed his eyes and let the sweet memories of everything non-violent tug him back into the depths of his dreams.

.

"BREAKFAST!" Snow hollered from the kitchen. He was casually flipping eggs, and spreading butter across warm toast. He hummed quietly to himself, earning glances from Serah, who sat at the table, drinking a cup of coffee. Dajh came flying down the stairs, making airplane sounds and running about the kitchen, dodging garbage cans and countertops.

"Look at him go!" Snow announced into a spoon he whipped from the dishwasher, "he goes left, he goes right! Never in all my years have I seen such talent!"

Dajh giggled as Snow lifted him off the ground and ran through the house with the boy hanging over his shoulder. Serah laughed quietly as she heard her fiancé yell from the living room, "watch out for that tree!"

Hope was the next one downstairs, looking slightly distraught. He gave Serah his infamous 'what-the-heck-is-Snow-doing?' look. She merely shrugged as she gestured for him to sit beside her. He snatched a piece of toast and sat down, staring at the cover of the unopened news paper lying on the table. He made a sound of disgust before tossing it into a nearby trash can. Since becoming a l'Cie, Hope had been able to make clear many things in this world that he would've never even dreamed to, had he not been directly in the middle of that war. Ever since, the slightest wrong doing in Cocoon made the young boy at the tender age of fifteen, gag. He knew the higher ups lied about half of what was put into the paper, in order to save themselves from horrible humiliation. The idea of anyone questioning their power was unthinkable, which is only one of the many reasons the purge came to pass. Also, little had the people of Cocoon known, that the leader of their world had actually been a Fal'Cie, the one they all feared in the first place.

Serah watched Hope with worried eyes. That hadn't been the first time he'd reacted like that after seeing a headline in the newspaper, or listening to word on the streets whenever he ran to the store to grab groceries. Having been asleep in the depths of that crystal after completing her focus, she had missed out on many of the events that progressed afterward. There were some things that her friends had refused to speak about, which not only drove her crazy, but also made her worry for them intensify. Not even Snow uttered a word on some parts of their pilgrimage, and he rarely ever hid anything from Serah. Whatever the group of survivors went through during their time together while fighting to complete their focus, and save the world, it was no where near good. Serah was pulled from her thoughts as Lightning made her way into the kitchen, dropping herself into the nearest chair.

"Tired?" Hope grinned, finding amusement in seeing the usually lively women bustling about the house, yelling profanities because someone forgot to dust the floors. She was practically gulping down her coffee, and she didn't even bother to come up with a snide remark towards Hope.

"Oh god, I'm getting too old for this," Sazh whined, finally making it down the stairs. He limped like an old man who lost his cane, groaning as he rubbed furiously at his back, "I can't get out of the damn bed without throwing something out of place."

"Welcome to my life," Light scoffed, "I didn't get a wink of sleep last night."

Hope raised his eyebrows at Light. She was never one to complain about lack of sleep. While on their journey, they were lucky to get three hours of sleep per night, and Lightning sometimes got none all together. He knew it was deeper than that, although he also knew she would never admit it in front of a room full of people. That wasn't going to stop him from trying.

"What's wrong?"

Lightning looked deep in thought, and at first, Hope thought she hadn't heard him, but after a long moment of silence, she opened her mouth to speak.

"I don't know. I've just been getting these weird feelings lately. Like someone is watching us."

Serah frowned at her sister. She didn't normally just share her thoughts and feelings so openly, whatever it was must've really bothered her. No one had a chance to respond before Snow came running back with Dajh, who was laughing hysterically. He immediately caught onto the seriousness of the atmosphere, and quickly handed the young boy his plate.

"Listen, pal. It's really nice out, how about we eat out on the back porch? I'll be right behind you."

Dajh beamed with excitement and nodded, grabbing his plate and nearly swan-dived through the back door. Snow chuckled as he scooped himself up some eggs, glancing warily at the suddenly awkward family.

"Something I need to know?"

"No"

"Nothing."

"Everything's fine."

"Don't worry."

The responses all came out overlapping one another. They all might as well bought a huge neon sign pointing at them reading "obviously something is wrong." Snow sighed and looked from one person to the other. He decided not to push the topic, and instead invited everyone out back for breakfast. It quickly lead to an intense game of hide-and-seek, which took up a large portion of time. After having to hide for their lives at many points in time, their choices in hiding spots were slightly over the edge, though it turned out to take things off everyone's mind, while also pleasing the youngest one of their new family.

No one knew that was the last day they had together before everything changed. (I love foreshadowing. :3)

Later that evening, everyone piled themselves into the living room for the news. Hope had given in, and decided to play a round of Go Fish with Dajh, who was suspiciously on a good roll. Sazh claimed it was his Daddy's "gambling power", although no one bought it. After loosing the fourth match, Hope glanced at the TV to see riots on the streets, PSICOM trying to contain the protestors.

"Probably shot them all after the footage was taken," Lightning hissed under her breath. Luckily, only Snow had heard it, and he shook his head in despair. He had to do something, heroes always did something! However, he knew this was out of his reach. The riots had broken out in far too many areas, and he had a family to take care of now. The feeling of helplessness as he bored into the screen was overwhelming. A reporter was suddenly shown interviewing a person of Cocoon.

"They're back! I swear I saw one!"

"Saw one what?"

"A l'Cie! With my very own eyes!"

It had taken little time for a man dressed in his military suit to intervene, tearing the women away from the camera.

"You've got to believe me! They're going to kill us all!"

The screen suddenly went black, and the room had fallen silent. The sounds of that woman shrieking ringing through everyone's mind. The idea was incomprehensive. They all defeated Ragnarok, Fang and Vanille gave their lives to set Cocoon straight, their brands were gone, the purge had ended. So how could something so awful ever strike more than once?

"That's impossible," Serah whispered, "she must've seen it wrong. There's no way-"

She was abruptly cut off as sobs racked her chest. Snow was by her side instantly, pulling her into a bone shattering hug, letting her know quietly in her ear everything would be okay. Dajh, who didn't fully understand the situation just stared at the situation play out, watching everyone's facial expressions.

"I can't believe it," Sazh breathed in pure astonishment. He held his son tightly against his chest for comfort, feeling as though he were the only thing holding to together. This couldn't be happening, he couldn't loose the only good thing in this world again. He couldn't risk his life, and fight to save ungrateful people again. Terror spiked through his veins, and it took all of his strength to keep from jumping up off the soft rug that had been placed over the beautifully done marble, and book it out of Cocoon. He'd go anywhere to make sure Dajh wasn't used again.

"We can't leave…but we can't stay either," Lighting mused aloud, attempting to look at this situation from a different point of view, though nothing worked. The most atrocious anger bubbled from inside her, and she clenched her fists so tightly that it would've bled had she not been wearing gloves, it was all she could do to keep from breaking things, shattering the walls of their home, punching snow in the face.

"W-we should s-stay h-here. Unless…something h-happens," Serah stuttered, her voice thick with tears. She shivered at the very thought of her brand coming back, the memories were haunting, and it would've consumed her completely had Snow not been embracing her to the point of suffocation.

Hope hadn't uttered a word since the news report was abruptly cut off. He just stared at the floor, in a daze. He felt many emotions. Rage. Sorrow. Horror. And…a little happiness? His head begun shrieking at him for the feeling to dessert him.

You should be screaming! Crying! Giving your family a well needed pep talk. Don't sit here like an idiot, get up and do something!

The little voice in Hope's mind shouted angrily at him, and before he was aware of it, he was on his feet, glancing from one person to the other.

"Whatever happens, I'm sure we'll be o-"

Hope's body suddenly let out a god awful tremor, and a searing pain raced through his entire body. He found himself unable to move, speak, or even breath. He felt his eyes widen with shock before his sight began to blur around the edges. The room spun most horribly, and Hope was suddenly positive he was on a boat in the midst of a hurricane. Every cell in his body screeched in protest, tugging, and pulling from inside him, trying to escape the fire that emitted from his very blood. There was no escape, the pain was overwhelming. Hope heard a blood-curdling cry, and it took a few dreadful moments to figure out the sound came from him. The last thing he remembered before passing out was a collected yell from his friends, calling out to him. The world around him went black.