Seven Stars

"We're almost there. Just a few more days." Sazh said from his seat at the front of the ship. He turned around and let the autopilot keep the course as he looked over his fellow passengers. The couple, Serah and Snow, sat in a single seat in the large open common room of the ship. Snows arms were wrapped around her as she sat in his lap. The engagement necklaces around their necks were a reminder of how peaceful life had been not long ago. Now, though, he wasn't sure what they were going to do. Either way they seemed to care about each other a lot – that had to be worth something.

On the side opposite the two sat a young boy, Hope. Poor kid was still struggling to deal with all he had been through. Sazh didn't blame him; he didn't know what he would have done. He barely spoke, though, and seemed to refuse help. Hopefully he could work through some stuff on his own.

Sazh's own son, Dajh, sat nearby, playing with a little baby chocobo. It brought a smile to his face. The little bird had been a great companion to the little boy. Without kids his own age to play with, Sazh wondered if his son would have fared as well without the creature.

The last member of the ship he couldn't see. He didn't have to though, he knew where she was. Looking over at a wall his scanner picked up her energy. Exactly as he thought – the training room. The girl was always in the training room. He wasn't even sure why she kept it up anymore. After all, he didn't think you could get much stronger than she was. If they didn't all have scanners he had upgraded himself, he was sure that they would break just from her being nearby. That was even when she was keeping her power down, not even at her highest. It bothered him too; someone that young shouldn't have that much of a burden.

He didn't have time to think on it though. She was moving now, heading into the common room. He reached up and turned off his scanner just before she walked through the doorway. All eyes followed her as she crossed the room wearing her training gear. Gloves with removable weights attached to the back (he didn't even want to know how much they weighed), a tight sleeveless shirt, and a pair of fairly modest shorts. Despite her old soldier's uniform being her usual choice of attire, this was what most of them were used to seeing. A towel hung around her neck as she reached the large refrigeration unit at the back of the room. As she opened the door, even Sazh felt the chill reach his feet. Despite standing far longer than she needed, all she got out was a bottle of water that she drank half of in a few seconds.

"Hey Lightning," Serah prompted, getting her sister's attention. "Is it going well?" Lightning lowered the water and closed the fridge. She sighed, looking down, before returning her attention to Serah.

"No," she said. "I don't think I'm getting any stronger. Without anyone to train against, or at least better equipment, I can't get any better."

"Well, maybe you could take a break." Serah suggested, "Since you said you can't do anything right now."

"No," Lightning said again firmly. "I can't afford to take a break. If I stop now, I may not be strong enough."

"But you've been training almost non-stop since last time; I'm worried about you." Serah said, standing now. "I don't want you to push yourself too far."

"If I don't push myself I'll never improve. You remember what happened. If I don't get better, I might as well not even try."

"Lightning, please," Serah begged as Lightning tensed. "We've only got a few days left. You need to rest. For me, please." Lightning let her head drop. Serah was all she had left, her only family. That, plus the desperation in Serah's eyes, made it really hard to say no to her. Finally, she looked back and answered.

"Tomorrow. I'll finish out today, and then I'll rest tomorrow." Serah smiled at the answer, it was the best she was going to get. …...

Lightning sat in the copilot's chair with her arms crossed. She was not happy to be here. As much as she wanted to keep Serah from worrying, she still felt like she should be doing something. At the moment she was just sitting here, staring out the window, keeping an eye on the sensors that would tell them if anything was nearby. She didn't even need to be doing this; Sazh was more than capable of doing so on his own. The devices warned them even if they weren't watching, and they hadn't seen anyone or anything for over a week now. Aside from all that Sazh was sitting in the pilot's seat right next to her in case anything did happen.

She sighed and looked at the devices in front of her. Nothing happened. She sighed again and looked out the window. Nothing out there. How the hell did Sazh do this all day? She sat very still, only moving to look in a new direction. She had enough self-discipline to avoid fidgeting, but she really just wanted to go do something, anything else. She was a patient person, she just didn't like sitting around doing nothing.

The sound of footsteps approaching from behind reached her ears. Not loud enough to be Snow, too many to be Serah, too slow to be a child, that meant it had to be the teenager. "Do you need something, Hope?" she asked.

The footsteps stopped as he halted. "Umm, well, I, uh…" he started. Lightning ground her teeth at his stuttering.

"Just say it, Hope." She ordered.

"I was wondering if you could train me." He blurted out.

Now that piqued her interest. Lightning turned the chair around to face him. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"I was wondering," he started off slowly. He had his head bowed down, staring at his feet as he spoke. "If you could, umm, train me." He rubbed the back of his neck now, still refusing to look up at her.

"Why should I do that?" she asked. He refused to so much as look at her, she wasn't sure he was ready for any kind of training.

"Well, I… I want to…" he started, but Lightning cut him off.

"Just say it." Lightning said with an edge in her voice, though she kept herself level.

"I want to get stronger." he said quickly.

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "Why?" she asked, then quickly added, "And don't stutter."

Hope didn't answer for a few moments and Lightning began to wonder if he was going to at all. Just when she was about to prompt him again, he started speaking. "I want to get stronger," he started, pausing once more to gather his thoughts while still staring at his feet, "so that if someone attacks again, I can fight back. I won't be just hiding under a rock."

Lightning sat there and thought about the comment for a moment. He wasn't exaggerating; she had been unconscious at the time, but Serah had said they literally found him hiding underneath a rock. According to Serah, his mother had told him to stay there while she went to find his father. It could be pretty well guaranteed that both of them were dead now. Finally she spoke up.

"Why didn't you ask Snow to train you?" she asked. She knew that Snow used the training room whenever he could, and she wouldn't deny that the man had strength.

"Snow's an idiot." he answered. Lightning didn't even bother speaking, she couldn't argue with that. "Besides, you're a lot stronger than he is."

Lightning sat there for a moment considering his request. Her shoulders relaxed as she thought. She didn't know him very well, but she felt for him. He had been through so much already, and handled it surprisingly well. Sazh's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Just help the kid," he said, "Unless you want to stay here with me an' keep an eye on things."

With that Lightning looked out the window at the empty space she knew wasn't going to change anytime soon. "Let's go." she said, walking towards the training room. Hope shot Sazh a 'thank you' look before running after her. Lightning led the way to the room and opened the door. Hope was astonished by what was inside. Even on a ship of this size, he had never expected to see this much equipment. There were basic machines like treadmills and stationary bikes for muscle building, more advanced equipment for working your whole body at once, and even equipment for energy based attacks. The most important thing he noticed was that he immediately had trouble walking the moment he crossed the threshold, as if he had large weights on his back.

"What is this?" he asked. "I can barely move." He lifted his legs one at a time, slowly walking forward with an obvious effort.

"I always keep the training room at a higher gravity level than the rest of the ship. That's part one of the training." Hope looked up at her and she turned around to face him. He did his best to look strong, but it was obvious he was struggling. "First things first, I need to know what you can and can't do. So, can you fly?" she asked.

"Fly?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Right." She began to rise into the air. She stopped halfway to the ceiling, hovering in midair. Hope's jaw dropped; he obviously had never seen a person fly before. That was typical; most untrained people had no idea what a person could do. "If you can't fly, then you will be at a major disadvantage should you get into a fight with someone who can." She landed again before moving on.

The other tests proved about as effective. The kid was physically weak and his attacks were sloppy. She was surprised that he had been able to create an energy sphere, even if it was a small one. In the end she had decided to start from scratch. She spent the day having him do various basic exercises and instructing him on how to use the pieces of equipment around the room. When he needed to rest, she made sure he did so inside the training room, where gravity was greater.

At halfway through the day they got lunch. She knew the kid wasn't very strong, and decided that they would eat lunch in the main room. He was exhausted by the time they left the training room and was obviously happy to be stepping out of the heightened gravity. She made a simple lunch for the both of them and sat down at a table to start eating. Hope took a seat on the other side of the table as he started eating as well.

They had only been there a moment when Serah walked in with Snow. The large man went to get something to eat as Serah sat down at the same table Hope and Light were at. She spared the small boy a glance, her eyes widening at him sitting with her sister, and then turned to Lightning. "Where have you been all day? Don't tell me you were in the training room again. You promised."

"I was." Lightning said as she continued to eat. She then interrupted Serah before she could get upset. "I promised I wouldn't train. So I didn't, he did." She finished with a quick glance at the Hope. He was still sweating and breathing heavily from the workout.

Serah then looked back and forth between her sister and Hope. "Really?" she said. It was now she noticed that he did look exhausted. It just wasn't like her sister to spend time with people if she didn't have to. "Really?" she asked again.

Lightning swallowed her mouthful of food before answering. "It was better than staring out the window all day with Sazh."

Serah then turned to Hope. "So, how was it?" she asked. She had never heard of her sister training with anyone, even back when she had been a regular soldier.

"He needs work, and lots of it." Lightning said. With that she stood up, carrying her now empty dish away. She returned a moment later. "I'll be in the training room when you're ready to continue." she said. She then turned to her sister, gave a quick "Serah." And left.

As Lightning left Snow walked in carrying food for himself and Serah. He sat down next to her and asked, "So what's going on?"

"Light was training Hope." Serah answered.

Snow's jaw dropped. "No way. She doesn't even let me train with her." He then looked at Hope, who was still eating and asked, "How was it?"

Hope looked between the two of them and then let out a sigh. "Hard." he said, "I didn't even know half of what she wants me to do was possible. I could barely even walk out of the training room to the table, and the day's only half over." The kid looked fairly nervous and neither Serah nor Snow was surprised. Lightning could be scary when she was being nice. Her training techniques were probably near torture.

"Yeah, I'll bet it was pretty hard." Serah said. "Light used to train nearly non-stop when she was in the corps. I'd have to bring her food sometimes or she'd skip meals."

"It sure pays off though." Snow said. "I've been on the other side of her hits. They hurt." He rubbed his jaw as he said that, and then added, "And that was even before she was as strong as she is now."

"That's why I asked her to train me. Now though, I don't know if I can do it. Even walking in that room is hard." Hope hung his head as he spoke. It had only been half a day and he was already considering giving up. Serah spoke up when she saw what he was going through.

"Don't worry about it." she said. "My sister may be hard on you, but she's always been fair. If she thinks you can't do it yet, she won't make you. As long as you try your hardest, she'll only ask you to do things she thinks you're capable of. She already agreed to train you, and that's something that no one else can say they've had. Keep working with her and you'll be stronger in no time."

Hope looked up at her. "You really think so?" he asked. He didn't know if he could do it, but Serah knew the most about Lightning. If she said he could take the soldier's training, then it must be true.

"Yeah, I do." she said, smiling at him. "Now you go start your training before Light gets upset. I'll take care of your this mess."

"Uh, alright." he said, standing up. "And, um, thanks."

"Go get 'em." Snow said, holding a fist in the air. "You got this."

"Right." Hope said. With that he turned and walked off towards the training room.

As he left Snow leaned down and asked Serah, "How bad do you think it is?" He made sure to whisper in case Hope was still within earshot.

"Oh, he'll be lucky if he can even sit up tomorrow."

...

"I can't." Hope said dejectedly, lying in his bed. Lightning was standing over him. He wasn't sure what time it was, but he knew it was early. He had never been a morning person, but after yesterday he wondered how anyone could be awake now.

"Yes, you can." Lightning replied, "Now up. You said you wanted to be trained and this is how I was trained. You're just lucky I'm going easy on you. Now you have three seconds before I lift you out of that bed and throw you out the door, and you know I'll do it."

"I'm up, I'm up." Hope shot up, every muscle sore. He let out a painful moan. "I'm sore in places I didn't know could get sore."

"That just means you're doing something right. Now get out of that bed and get dressed." Lightning moved towards the door as Hope, moaning with every movement, started to stand. "Meet me in the training room when you're dressed, and make it fast." With that she turned and left.

When Hope arrived in the training room Lightning immediately set him to work. It wasn't as intense as it had been the day before, but she had him go through every exercise. When they finally broke for breakfast he was wondering how anybody could do this day after day. After breakfast Lightning put them back in the room and had him work on strength training until lunch. After lunch she had him work on speed and agility. They finally broke for dinner and Hope was sure he was going to pass out. Then, after they had eaten, she put him back in the room once more and went through the same routine he had done before breakfast. The worst part of it all was the surprises. Occasionally Lightning would test his reflexes by shouting "DODGE!" and attacking him. He had yet to actually avoid being hit. By the time he made it to his bed he was too worn out to bother even changing clothes and simply passed out on his bed.

For the next three days this was the schedule. Lightning would wake him up, he would shower (he was always too tired to do so after training, and Lightning refused to smell him), he would train and eat, and then he would sleep. The next day the process would begin again.

The fourth day started out the same. Lightning woke him, and then left. He got up, showered, and then started for the training room. He was sore and bruised and wasn't sure he could make it through the day, or even to the training room. He was standing outside the door, just about to walk through, when it happened. The intercom fired to life and Sazh's voice came over the speaker.

"Alright everybody, get over here. We have arrived." Sazh announced. Hope just stared at the speaker for a moment before the door in front of him opened. Lightning stood there, looking down at him. Then he realized he was in her way. He stepped to the side and she moved past him.

"Let's go." Lightning said as she walked away. Hope quickly followed. They walked in silence until they got to the largest room on the ship, the main living area and navigation room. Hope moved to stand on one side of Sazh, next to Dajh, while Lightning stood next to Serah on the pilot's other side.

The entire group stood and looked out at the new planet. It was covered in green, much more than any other planet they had seen. It also had many large, blue oceans. There were a few other areas that stood out as well, such as mountain ranges, large islands, and what appeared to be a single tower of massive size jutting out of the ground.

"It's beautiful." Serah remarked. Lightning agreed, though she didn't say so.

"So, what's it called?" Snow asked.

"From what I've been able to pick up, it's called Gran Pulse." Sazh said. He adjusted a few controls as they got closer to the planet.

"Well, find a place to set us down." Lightning said, and then added "I'm getting tired of being cramped up in here." under her breath as she turned and walked away.

"Setting us down. Alright everyone, get ready – this is gonna be our home for little while." Sazh adjusted some controls and they began to descend towards the planet.

A/N: Well, here it is. The first chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to Wings of Avalon for betaing, and to Evelos who took a look at it as well. Both were a big help. Also to all the people who encouraged me to actually get this done Kayani-yun, RoxyRoxas1313, and Naramis especially. Just as a note, I posted it under M just to be safe. Idk yet if i'll include M content (probably will have at least some though). Hoping to make a good sized story out of this, though idk exactly how big. And of course, since its a DBZ themed story, expect big fights. Honestly that's why I picked this prompt, I like writing fight scenes. I did want to add in a bit more here, especially with Lightning's training sessions with Hope, but I just couldn't get it to work. Decided I was tired of waiting and uploaded it now. Hope it turned out well. Please, leave a review, I always enjoy them. Constructive criticism is, of course, always welcome. Well, i don't want to take up any more of your time. So Thank you for reading, and I hope you all have a good day.