The Irony Of It All

Fang and Vanille had clasped hands,staring into each other's eyes as they became Ragnarok. With a mighty roar, Ragnarok burst through the fragile, falling shell of Cocoon, tunneling deep into the Pulse underground as they became human again, then crystallized.

Serah Farron was disoriented, looking around and rubbing her eyes. As she did so, she heard a little boy's giggle.

"Hi, pretty lady! Who are you?" he asked impishly.

She smiled down at him, saying, "I'm Serah. How bout you?"

"Dajh!" he giggled again. "Do you know where my dad is?"

"Uh, um, Dajh, uh..." She was at a loss for words, not knowing him or his dad, or anything that had happened since she'd entered crystal stasis. "Why don't we go join those people over there, see if your dad's in that group?"

"Yeah!"

Excitedly they took off toward the group of people at the base of the...crystal pillar?! Whoa... Serah thought dazedly. Then she got a glint of Light's gunblade, then her cerulean eyes, and took off running. "Light! Lightning! Claire!"

"Oh, Goddess! Serah!" Light cried, and with uncharacteristic excitement, she began running toward Serah.

Serah jumped into Claire's arms with a thump, squeezing as tightly as she could.

"Serah, I-I'm so sorry...I made a huge mistake." Lightning was chastened and heartbroken at once.

Serah felt Lightning's pain keenly, realizing that she was hurting desperately.

"Lightning..." she said, holding her even more tightly, if that was even possible.

"I love you, Claire Rose Farron. You're the only big sis I got, and I wouldn't let this keep us apart. Where's Snow?"

"I don't know," Lightning said thoughtfully, looking towards Hope, who was reconciling with his dad, and Sazh, who was reconciling with Dajh. Then she saw it.

"Oh no!" cried Serah, and she took off at a dead run. "Snow!"

Lightning's gut twisted as she realized the cruel irony of Snow's fate. His beloved wife-to-be has come out of crystal stasis, just in time for him to go into it? Life was so unfair.

Serah's knees buckled at the base of Snow's crystal as she wept.