Hello everyone! This is my first attempt of a fan fiction! I hope you all enjoy what my mind has concocted. Huge thanks to my friend Koharu for proofreading...you're the best! :3

Oh, and I'm not that good at summaries, partly because it barely gives you any room to write.

And I don't own Final Fantasy, Lightning, or anything else really...If I did, I would have made Lightning the star of XIII-2, but that's a discussion for another day. ;)

I hope you enjoy!

She stared uninterestedly out the window. Blurs of green, blue, and brown rushed past her as if she was on the outskirts of a tornado. On the surface, she looked calm, ready to take on anything that dared to challenge her. But in the inside, her mind raced through a storm of problems. Had the senate accepted her idea? Did they understand her motives? What about the capital's defense, did her orders for the extra protection near the river go through? What about her subordinates, were they going to be fine? After all, she did command the entire fleet of the army, or what was left of it after Cocoon's fall. The intercom woke her from the fury of thoughts that plagued her mind.

"We will be arriving to Erebus shortly, please hold on to your luggage cautiously, as the hyper-train may experience unexpected turbulence."

A lot has changed since six years ago when six l'Cie changed the fate of the world. What if they never met on that fateful day, would everything be different? Or would another band of selfless people gathered together to stop Barthandelus, the embodiment of pure evil? What if she believed in her sister when-

A small shove.

"Still day dreaming? We're here."

A man's voice. She watched him carry their luggage out the hyper-train and into the station. She was about to walk out the train, but suddenly, her heart skipped a few beats. She was forgetting someone. She whipped around, eyes darting every direction of the train, scanning. Her breathing started to become ragged as more "what if" scenarios flashed through her mind, each one becoming more sick and extravagant than before. She was about to call out, until-

"Mommy! Mommy! I forgot Blitzy!"

Relief washed over her like a tidal wave, no, like a tsunami. She watched the little girl get bigger and bigger as she was running towards her. Finally in arms grasp, she swooped down and picked up the girl gave her a stern look.

"Maria! How many times do I have to tell you not to run off like that? You scared me to death!"

Maria pouted. She put her daughter on the ground, grasping the tiny fingers as they walked toward the man. She knelt down to eye level as the girl was clutching her stuffed bear tightly. She was about to give her another scolding until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Slightly looking up, she saw the man giving her an exasperated look. She stood back up, glaring at him with the same intensity. He was a little more than half a foot taller than her. Rough looking with very light brown hair almost blonde, the one feature that stood out were his green eyes. They weren't green as emeralds or as a dark forest, but a sort of blue-green that complimented the woman's ice cold eyes. They didn't blink for another few seconds until he spoke first.

"Light, you don't have to tell her that so many times, she's just a kid! But she's a big girl, she can take care of herself, right sweety?"

He gave Maria a lop-sided grin and suddenly picked her up and threw her in the air. Maria's giggles filled their ears as he caught her.

"You're so protective honey! Have some fun, it's not like someone's going to suddenly appear from the depths of the shadows and mysteriously pick her up and take her away forever, she's-"

"That's exactly what will happen if we don't watch her, Leo!" Lightning gave her husband an exasperated look, throwing her hands in the air. She watched him doing his best interpretation of a ghost, "whoooo"-ing and wiggling his fingers while dancing around her and Maria. The smaller one was laughing her guts out as Lightning face palmed, chuckling at the scene. Sometimes she wondered how she married a man so carefree, the complete opposite of her. Before she was swallowed in her thoughts for a third time in less than an hour, she was bear-hugged and lifted off the ground as Leo was twirling her around.

"Stop! Thinking! So! Much!" He practically yelled in her ears. She looked at him for a second until her morbid expression turned into a grin. She was at first shocked at the contact, but quickly regained her composure, because that was a surprise attack after all. Light punched Leo playfully as she picked up Maria and walked out of the station and onto the street. Looking around the city, she stared in wonder at how fast it developed. Highways, streets, buildings, and even skyscrapers filled the horizon. It was only six years ago when she, Snow, Serah, Hope, and Sazh arrived in Oerba, greeted with nothingness. And a few Cie'th. After much hard work, they turned the tiny village into the bustling, economic center of Pulse today. As well as have a minor name change.

Before she walked another step, the few military personal that were positioned there quickly saluted. She proudly walked through the line of soldiers, acknowledging them with a nod here and there. In front of her was a black sports car with a chauffeur who took the luggage from Leo's hands while he put his daughter in the car. Lightning opened the door and sat beside them, ready to be taken to their home at the edge of Erebus, near the Lake of Renewed Courage.

After the fall of Cocoon, less than three-fourths of the population survived the fall, most of them civilians. Needing an able leader quickly, the Guardian Corps raised Lightning's rank from Sergeant to Lieutenant Major within a matter of days. With basically the whole of Cocoon, or what was left of it, resting on her shoulders, she had to move fast. But Lightning was never one for politics, and even though she got an "A" in government in high school, that didn't mean that she retained all that "useless information", as she put it. She quickly dissolved the Guardian Corps and PSICOM, fusing them together into one, unified entity that she dubbed "FLASH". She ordered FLASH soldiers to help with the rebuilding of selective cities, placing them in strategic locations such as by rivers, valleys, and mountains. They constructed major roads for easy trading routes to kick start the economy for subsistence farming to commercial within three years. It was no easy task, and all the little innovations and ideas Lightning came up with was credited to her history teacher who made her write a 20 page essay on "what it takes to create the perfect civilization" years ago.

After a few years of the same system of military government, some rebellion groups popped around Gran Pulse, stating that they were being repressed by FLASH. Military governments were no strangers to corruption, and Lightning knew that. She decided that a government based on the people would be better, but she didn't know how to create something like that. Cocoon itself was always run by Fal'Cie, so there was no need for people to get intensely involved in politics. With a group of her most trusted allies, like her former superior Amodar, she created a group of people called the Senate who controlled all state affairs of Gran Pulse. The Senate was unanimously made up of military personal and civilians, which made the rebellions quiet down. To avoid being part of the Senate, since Lightning was sick and tired of all this political mumbo-jumbo, she was promoted to Commander, the leader of the whole military. Even though this position nullified her from being part of the Senate, she did have substantial influence to the point where she could nullify any bill they passed if she didn't agree.

But Lightning was a soldier. As soon as she got the opportunity, she distanced herself as far as possible from politics and solely focused on running the military.

Well, that and getting involved with a family.

The car finally stopped in front the house. Humble in size, it was surrounded by trees, only the entrance trail visible at first. After walking for half a minute or so, a white, one and a half story house with many windows could be seen. The grass was cleanly cut and there were no garden gnomes, swings, pool, or chairs in sight. Pure practicality, which is what Lightning treasured most.

Carefully stepping out of the car while carrying a sleeping Maria in her arms, she followed her husband through the trail and to the front door. There, with a simple scan of her eyes, the front door unlocked and opened, showing a large, one room floor that included the kitchen, living room, and dining room together. She quietly made her way through the living room and into a hallway, and slowly lowered Maria into her bed. She looked at her daughter for a long time, admiring her features.

Maria was a tall girl for her age. She was petite in size, but had the glamorous (as her father put it) eyes of Leo and the trademark pink hair of Lightning. Her face was the same heart shape of her mother's, but she had that same childish (and devilish) face of her father. Sometimes, she acted like Snow, which sometimes annoyed her to no end.

She bent down and kissed her daughter before she felt tight hands grip her arms. She sighed and turned around, quickly returning the embrace to Leo as she pushed away. She hurriedly walked out the room, but Leo followed.

"What was that? We were just having a tender moment with our bundle and joy, like in the movies! You know, how they do it all dramatically and-"

As her husband was babbling about some chick flick that he watched as a kid years ago, Lightning huffed and walked towards the kitchen. There, she grabbed the phone and quickly punched in some numbers. The phone rang a couple of times as Lightning gave Leo a scolding look, signaling him to shut up.

"Hello?" A familiar voice.

"Hey, it's me."

"Light! Oh my goodness, how are you doing! Are you here yet? You arrived sooner, I'm so happy! We need to talk…how's work? Is the Senate giving you a hard time?" Serah's voice happily chirped through the phone to Lightning's ears. She smiled when she heard her sister happy. She was actually expecting to arrive in Erebus late by a few days, but she tried as hard as she could to get there sooner.

"Serah, we can catch up later, I'd rather not do it over the phone!" Lightning huffed over the phone. Her ecstatic sister was always too quick to get things done, never thinking about the future.

"I mean, if we chatted right now, what would we talk about when I see you and Snow?"

Right on cue, she heard a huge crash over the phone with a few screams and a magnificent roar of, "SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!" Of course, Snow.

"Sis! How are ya! You gotta get here like right now, we need to catch up! Hope is already here and Sazh is about to…Oh wait, here he is! Hey Sazh, how's it goin' nah, I got sis on the phone, yeah, I'll take to you in…Hey sis, they're all here-"

"I can tell," bluntly stated. "Snow, I'll be there soon ok? I have to settle things with Maria and Leo-"

"Don't forget to bring them too!" Snow exclaimed, a little too excitedly.

"Oh yeah, because I was going to totally leave them alone in the house so I can go see my friends by myself, and also starve them since we have no food. Use your head, Snow," Lightning sarcastically quipped. Years ago, Snow might've taken offence to this kind of talk, but he soon realized that it's Lightning…and that's how Lightning is.

After disconnecting the call, she turned around, leaning on the island counter. Someone was missing. Sighing, she pushed herself off the counter and made her way to another hallway. From there, she made a quick left and walked down a series of steps until she was greeted with a blast of music. Her eyes searched for the source. From her view, she saw Leo magically playing on his violin. Leo was tall, but a little shorter than Snow. Like Lightning, he was very lean but he had toned muscles at the same time. He was wearing fitted slacks, dress shoes, and a red and white striped button-down shirt with the sleeves pulled up at his elbows. He had a rough, but smooth, looking face with his golden locks of hair slightly falling over his left eye. He didn't have any facial hair because Lightning stated that it "made him look like a hag" and because it "reminded her of Snow and Sazh". But, Leo knew that Lightning secretly despised any facial hair. He guess that it probably tickled her if someone kissed her, but he would never say that to her unless he wanted a beautifully sculpted black eye.

"A tune in D minor? Aren't you getting tired of that?" Lightning softly said. Leo looked up and saw her leaning on a wall, arms folded. He ended the melody with a trill and placed the instrument carefully down. His sea-colored eyes met her gaze.

"Well, it's the same tune that made you fawn over me, wasn't it?" He smiled his trademark devilish grin.

"Hah."

"You know it's true sweeeety! Sugar-booger, pumpkin, sweetheart, sugar blossom, pineapple fudge sundae with cherries and-"

"LEO! I get it! I get it!" Lightning yelled at him, genuinely creeped out with his extravagant word choice. "Ok, ok, well let's get ready; it's time to see everyone." Lightning walked back up the stairs, formulating what she was going to wear in her mind. She was currently wearing her military uniform, hence the reason why the soldiers saluted her. It was a crisp outfit that was composed of knee high, very dark brown boots with navy pants. Her top was a formal, fitted navy coat with some insignias on it to signify some of the many accomplishments she did. She had a white belt strap that went across her chest and back that holstered her weapon, something that she would never be without. She didn't wear a pauldron that signified her rank; instead, two lines ran through both her arms that glowed a light teal color. This signified her as The Commander. The sleeves cuffed a little above her wrist, where she wore short, fingerless black gloves with a platinum brawl covering, so that if she were to ever get into a melee fight, she would have "one helluva punch", as Snow put it.

"Do you want me to bring a violin? Or another instrument?" Leo innocently called from his downstairs studio.

"The guitar."

Woo! Chapter one down! I hope you enjoyed...I might get the next chapter up and running if you all left me some feedback and reviews! It's just under that huge button under this A/N! ;D

BTW, I got "Erebus" from Greek/Latin mythology. In the Underworld, there is a reception area called Erebus, where the souls of the dead wait so they can cross the five rivers to get to their final resting place. I have a theory that Oerba (pronounced similarly to Erebus) was based off of this. Oerba (or I guess Ereba) is just the feminine form of Erebus.