The fields of Gran Pulse were as beautiful as usual as Hope Estheim laid out on the grass, trying to absorb as much of the suns rays as he could. Five years ago, he was a simple boy growing up on the now deserted world of Cocoon. Not once did he ever imagine he would be living on the world that once waged war with his former home planet. Everything changed however, when he was branded a l'cie and life as he once knew it ceased to exist. From his mother passing on, to fighting the all powerful fal'cie Orphan, things did not go as he planned. One thing he truly never planned on: falling in love with her.

The town of New Bodhum was as bright and colorful as its predecessor on Cocoon. The town circle was buzzing with happiness and joy. Snow Villiers walked triumphantly around with his daughter following him, giggling. He grabbed her and her twin brother and let them sit on his shoulders,
"Happy birthday, Dia and Yun! Daddy loves you!"
"Aww Daddy!" Dia grabbed her fathers neck, as Yun hid his face from everyone who was looking. Serah Farron-Villiers came close to her husband, lifting her son.
"Snow! Can't you see you're embarrassing Yun? Go ahead sweetie, Auntie Light is by the table."
She put her son down and he quickly dashed to his aunt. Lighting Farron was sitting next to her former ally Sazh Katzroy and his son Dajh. Lightning shook her head, "Yun, I'm sorry your father is an idiot." Yun just hid behind his aunt's leg. Sazh laughed,
"It's funny how he's Snow's son. You could never tell. But you damn well know Dia is his daughter."
Lightning laughed. Over the years, she's gotten used to dealing with Snow. She's accepted him now as her brother, though she'd never tell him that. She also won't tell him how happy she was when four years ago, she found out her sister was going to have a baby. Imagine her shock when she ended up having twins. For days, the three of them sat around thinking of names for them. Her mind wandered to the day Serah came up with their names.

Serah was resting in bed as Snow held his son and Lightning held her niece. They weren't expecting to have to think of two names. They were all in a deadlock.
"I've got an idea!" Serah shouted, even though she was still weak from childbirth.
"Serah, be careful! Don't strain yourself. But, what is your idea?" Her husband was worried about her health.
"What were Vanille's and Fang's surnames?"
Lightning remembered, "Dia and Yun. Why do you ask?"
Serah sat up to explain, "Well think about it: without them I wouldn't be here. Heck, you guys wouldn't be here now too. We owe so much to them. In honor of them, we'll call the girl Dia and the boy Yun. I think it would be nice."
Lightning and Snow were shocked. Serah barely knew them, yet she wanted to pay such a tribute to them. Of course, they didn't object.

Lightning smiled. Sazh looked at her,
"Whatcha thinkin' about up there?"
Lightning shook her head and patted the top of Yun's head. "Oh, nothing." She looked around the circle. The members of NORA were partying and drinking, patting Snow on the back for being the best dad around. Gadot was flirting with Lebreau as usual, Yuj and Maqui were fooling around. She noticed someone was missing.
"Sazh? Have you seen Hope?"
He shook his head, "Maybe he's upstairs?"
Lightning got up and went inside their home. It was incredibly large, with a room for everyone from the group. After defeating Orphan, they still remembered that they were a family, and a family sticks together. So, thanks to Snow and Sazh, they built a mansion like building for everyone to live in. Some people shared rooms like Sazh and his son, Snow and Serah and the twins. Everyone else had their own rooms, including two spare rooms made for Fang and Vanille, just in case. She climbed the staircase and reached Hope's room and knocked,
"Hope, are you okay?"
"Yeah Light, come on in."
She cracked the door open and it squeaked. She cursed Snow, she kept telling him to fix this. "You okay?"
Hope nodded, but Light knew his mind was elsewhere. She sighed and put her hand on his back. She rembered the days when she could put an arm around him. When he was shorter then her, but now he was far taller. His shoulders were more broad and had muscles thanks to training with Snow, his voice dropped quite a bit. He grew his hair out a little bit more, but not to an extreme. After the incident, she did practically everything but adopt him. She became like his second mother, and he was thankful for that, especially because of the relationship he had with his estranged father.
"I know what you're thinking about, Vanille right?"
Hope shuddered. He never really said her name. Every time he did, a pain came up in his throat. He leaned against his window and nodded his head,
"It's been five years. I still can't believe it. I keep thinking that they'll just pop back up and be apologizing for missing the party. But… that's not the case, is it?"
Lightning frowned. She hated to see him like this. She wished that she had the right words to say, but she didn't. She rubbed small circles in his back. She's noticed how he's brought the soft side out in her. It was almost like she really was a mother. Hope stood up, towering over her.
"Hey, thanks Light. For everything. Let's head downstairs, maybe playing with the kids will make me feel better."
Lightning laughed softly and they began to walk downstairs. She was so proud of him; putting on a smile to make everyone else happy. That takes a lot of strength.

They made it down to the circle and Dia made a head rush for Hope. She really loved Hope, so much to say he was her older brother.
"Big Brother Hope! Come on, Daddy is telling jokes! He's so silly!"
Hope began to laugh and picked Dia up and headed for her father. Lightning went back to her spot at the table near Sazh. Dajh left to play with the twins and laugh at Snow. It was something everyone loved to do. Sazh asked,
"How's the kid holding up? Missing you-know-who?"
Lightning nodded her head, "I feel bad, I wish I knew what to say to him. Some kind of magic words."
Sazh stretched his self out, "There are." Lightning gasped and he laughed, "The words that come from your heart. Don't think about it, just say what you gotta say."
Lightning looked at her friend in awe. He was right. Next time, she would remember that.