Prologue – The Promise

I'll never forget..

I promised you that.

Even if I stand to lose everything,

I'll preserve your memory for the tomorrows yet to be.

Come what may..

I could breathe my last breath and the world be crumbling into oblivion.

There are ways to keep a thought alive,

and I know one that works for sure.

Indestructible crystal.

Even in the sea of chaos it never loses its shine.

I will become an eternal epitaph.

Your memory will survive an eternity within a crystal tomb.

This shall be my legacy, and my atonement,

but most of all..my final hope.

These thoughts that live on in my heart,

they will endure the passing of eons.

If they can one day be the light that guides Serah's soul back to me..

If we can laugh together just one more time..

Well..then I would have nothing left to wish for.

Lightning took her place upon Etro's throne and crossed her legs, gently resting her gunblade securely across her lap. Her body had begun to radiate a pale blue, signifying that the crystallization process had begun. She felt a warm numbing sensation begin in her feet, rapidly making its way upward into her legs. She had no desire to witness the crystal consume her body, so she decided to close her eyes. It was best to not think about it.

Yeah, right.

Leaning back, she pressed her spine firmly against the cool stone surface of the throne, its coldness contrasting with the warmth that had made its way past her legs and was now settling into her core. She felt the warmth paralyzing her body as it spread, soon making it hard for her to breathe. Even with the creeping warmth of crystal stasis consuming her body, she couldn't shake the all too familiar feelings of coldness..and loneliness. It was a terrifying feeling to be experiencing this again so soon, but unlike last time, this time it had been entirely her choice.

In the not too distant past, she and her friends had been branded l'Cie by the Pulse Fal'Cie, Anima, and given a terrible focus. Once branded, a l'Cie was no different than a slave. Bound to a focus, the l'Cie had only two available options: defy or fail the focus and turn into a monstrous Cie'th, or complete the focus and gain eternal life through crystal stasis. Neither option would truly release the l'Cie from the Fal'Cie's hold. Even if the l'Cie completed their focus and turn to crystal, they had no choice but to wait for their Fal'Cie to reanimate them to serve a new purpose. Either way, to be branded was no different than a death sentence.

Anima had tasked Lightning and the others with taking the form of the dreaded beast, Ragnarok, and to wreak havoc on Cocoon. They had all had the same dream that night in the Pulse Vestige. It had been their common focus to become the beast, remove the floating world of Cocoon from its seat in the sky, and send it crashing into the world of Pulse below. This terrible act would have succeeded in ending millions of innocent lives in a mass sacrifice, but according to the evil Fal'Cie, Barthandelous, it would have also succeeded in summoning the world's maker: the almighty Bhunivelze.

After being branded Pulse l'Cie and declared enemies of Cocoon by the sanctum, Lightning and company had decided to defy their focus, damn the consequences. They instead journeyed to Eden, Cocoon's sanctum seat of power, to defeat Barthandelous, who had been pulling the strings behind their focus all along, while crafting them into the perfect instruments for Cocoons demise. Barthandelous had informed them that it was ultimately their focus to destroy the Fal'Cie, Orphan, who had more or less functioned as a battery, serving as the source of Cocoon's energy, and that this could only be achieved with Ragnarok's power. What they did not anticipate was that Orphan had wanted to die all along, and would not stop torturing humanity and taking new l'Cie until that goal was achieved. In the end they had no choice but to slay Orphan, which as expected, abruptly cut Cocoon's power, sending the planet downward toward Pulse.

Their manufactured world should have ended then and there along with millions of lives, but during the fall Vanille and Fang had sacrificed themselves and taken the form of Ragnarok. Using its power, they were able stop Cocoon from crashing into Pulse by encasing the floating planet within in a crystal shell, suspended in mid-air by a pillar attached to the world below. Their courageous and selfless act had succeeded in saving millions of innocent lives, but at a high personal cost: Vanille and Fang had chosen to remain crystallized, trapped inside the crystal stem in order to protect both of the worlds from destruction.

Lightning, Snow, Hope and Sazh, having completed their demolition focus, had also been crystallized. It had only been the goddess, Etro's, sympathy to their cause and miraculous gift that had allowed them all, with the exception of Vanille and Fang, to return from crystal stasis. When they awoke from their stasis, their brands had been wiped away and a new life awaited them. Etro had given them their lives and their freedom back..or so Lightning had thought.

When Lightning had woken up from her brief period of crystal stasis, the only thing that she could recall feeling was cold and alone..as if she had been trapped in the frozen darkness for what felt like days. It was something that she had never wanted to go through again. This had definitely not been what she had come to expect of the experience, and she had been ripped from her world and thrust into Valhalla to fight a war so quickly that she'd never had the opportunity to compare experiences with the others. The legends, however, had always led her to believe that crystallization was supposed to feel warm, comfortable and full of endless dreams..a reward for completing a challenging focus. Her only experience to pull from had felt the exact opposite, so naturally, she was quite anxious to be readily accepting that fate again so soon..but in her mind, she deserved to feel that way again.

Serah..will I ever be able to make this right?

The pain of her sister's death weighed heavy in her heart. Although Serah would have never admitted it, her fate had been in Lightning's hands all along. It was after all, Lightning, that had sent her on her quest to fix the paradoxes within the broken timeline, and that task had ultimately claimed her young life. Lightning had no way of knowing it at the time, but Serah had been gifted with the power of Etro. She had possessed the ability to see into the future, but it had come with a price. With each paradox she resolved at Lightning's command, Serah was forced to witness a new future. Each new premonition took its toll on her body and her precious life was rapidly drained away.

"No matter what future is waiting for us, I'll have no regrets. No matter what end we see coming, I won't change my mind," her sister had resolved.

Oh, Serah. Did you really foresee this outcome? Did you really know that all of this would happen all along? Couldn't you see that our efforts were in vain? That there was no way that I could defeat Caius without killing the goddess myself? That there was no way for you to truly fix the broken timeline..and that trying would ultimately kill you? This is all my fault. It was my decision to send you on that pointless journey..and now..you're gone..the goddess is gone..and the chaos is unstoppable. Unchecked, it will eventually consume this world and everyone in it. This is the beginning of the end. Serah, there is no way to fix what I've done, but I can promise you one thing: your memory will be the very last thing to vanish from this world. I will take you into the crystal with me, and together, we will await the end of time. I'll never forget..that was my promise, and I'll never let it go.

Taking her last breath, Lightning felt the warmth finally invade her mind, spreading like wildfire, while seizing her thoughts and shutting her body down. In the drowsy haze of semi-consciousness, she began to feel as if she were floating, slowly spiraling upward. Somehow, the sensation felt odd to her. The feeling of falling asleep was all too familiar, but somehow, this felt different. She knew that feeling "detached" was a normal part of falling asleep, but this time it felt as if she were literally separating from her body..as if she were caught in an invisible cyclone that was pulling her upward, away from the crystallized statue that remained seated on Etro's throne.

She had no idea where she was going, but she was all too happy at the prospect of leaving this cursed place behind. She was no longer sitting on Etro's throne, or wearing that ridiculously heavy armor, and for the first time in a long time, she felt light and free. As she levitated higher, it felt as if all of her pain and sorrow were slowly being shed and left behind. She could feel the timeless realm of Valhalla rapidly fading from around her and all of her memories from her time in the cursed city seemed to be disappearing as well. Every memory she tried to recall seemed fuzzy and blurred together until none of them made sense anymore. Soon, she couldn't even recall why she had been in Valhalla in the first place, or what she and Caius had been fighting over in their seemingly never-ending battle. The place and all of its memories no longer seemed real to her as they were slowly erased from her mind. In fact, the only thing that felt real anymore was Serah.

Serah.

Uncertainty kicked in when she realized she could no longer feel the aching void in her heart that Serah had left behind. All of the pain, guilt and responsibility for Serah's death had somehow been absolved, almost as if it had never happened in the first place. The feelings left her confused. Maybe none of it had been real? Maybe it had all been a dream..some sick twisted dream? Struggling to find the truth, Lightning was relieved when the last memory of Serah that she could properly recall was the events directly following the battle in Eden and the fall of Cocoon. The memory of six comrades standing under the crystallized planet jumped to the forefront of her mind, followed by the image of her sister approaching her. She could feel the warmth of Serah's embrace, and the words spoken between them echoed through her mind:

"Serah, I'm sorry."

"It's ok."

Her sister had forgiven her. This was a reality that she was all too willing to accept. Serah was here, and she was okay. They were together once again and given a second chance at happiness. Fate had saw fit to reunite them, and now nothing was going to stand between them ever again. She wouldn't make the same mistakes a second time..she was going to dedicate every second of her life to being the sister that Serah deserved. She would never let her down again. That, she could promise.

This is reality. I've been dreaming all along.

A/N: This is my very first fanfic..ever! Please be nice!

Chapter 1 is already available, and chapter 2 is on the way. I am still getting used to the website, so please bear with me if I make any mistakes. Thanks for reading! R&R please!

-Lady A