I was actually really confused as to which category this story belonged in. I was unsure of whether it incorporated more of XIII-2 than XIII since it's really 'post game', but I decided to stick with what I knew and go for the same category as always. So if you feel this should have been elsewhere, I apologize in advance. Since it doesn't really cross the line into the world of XIII-2, and carries the same characters from XIII, it's posted here.

Disclaimer:

The worlds I write in and the characters I portray do not belong to me. They belong to Square Enix and affiliates and I just borrow them for your enjoyment and my writing addiction.

I would just like to say many, many thanks to Luxuria De'Voire for editing this story, her work is truly fantastic and I'm honoured to have her working along side me.

I'm looking forward to what the future holds...

Enjoy.

Crystal Skies

Even as Gran Pulse stood in all its glory beneath her feet, a reminder of what they had all been through and the conformation of her journey home, she couldn't help but look longingly skyward.

As her eyes brushed against the bright blue sky of her home planet, something weighed heavily on her heart. A pressure she just couldn't shift no matter how hard she tried. Her emerald green eyes lazily traced a nearby cloud as it circled the mass above her, drawing her attention back to the reason she came here. Upon looking, a small flake of crystal broke free of Cocoon's crystal pillar. Floating steadily downwards, the little light-blue snowflake replica hovered for a moment, a few feet above the top of her head. Then it continued its descent downwards, resting lightly upon her cheek.

She jumped slightly, a sudden cold feeling against her skin. As a sigh escaped her lips, she reached a hand to her face, brushing the little piece of rock into the palm of her hand. Eyes glistening with tears, she closed her fist tightly and mimicked the action with her eyes to brush back her unshed tears, if nothing else.

It had been exactly three weeks now. Three weeks since the end of everything.

"And you're never goin' to let it go huh?"

Vanille sighed once more, opening her eyes; she gazed back upon the Crystal Pillar that now prevented Cocoon from crashing into Pulse. Running her gaze down the massive structure, her eyes settled onto the middle of the Pillar, a point she had stared at many times before. She knew that Fang slumbered in crystal stasis somewhere around there— alone.

An electric current shot through her heart at the thought. She knew, deep down, that she too should be up there. Holding tightly to the woman she made a promise to long ago. A promise that now seemed like a distant whisper carried away on the cold Pulsian breeze.

"It's not me you need to focus on now…"

She knew, if by some miracle, she could hear Fang's voice: that the older Pulsian would be telling her to pull herself together right now. That none of this, none of it was her fault. So why, why couldn't she bring herself to believe in that? Why did so many guilty feelings swirl around her head reminding her every day the betrayal that she had caused?

"It's not betrayal, I understand…"

She knew the reason for it. It was there; clear as day in her heart. She knew that if she could reverse time and live everything that happened again —fight again— that she would be just as torn between the two paths presented to her. No matter how much she wished she could be with Fang right now, and no matter how much she wished they really could be together forever, there was a reason holding her back.

Besides, even she couldn't turn back time…

"Hey…"

She flinched at the sound of a familiar voice behind her, becoming calm when she felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder, a touch she had come to recognize and anticipate over the past few weeks. It was the steady hand of someone who gave her hope, who kept her sane and drove her forward. The touch of someone in her life she would give everything up for, again and again.

Lightning squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, carefully kneeling down next to her, still keeping her contact. She caught Vanille's eyes with her own baby blues', locking them together and reading everything that was going through the other girls mind. Vanille shivered under her soft gaze, recollecting just how easily Lightning could sense and understand her emotions.

"Hey ther' soldier… Back again…? It's about time."

"You alright?" Lightning knew it was a relatively ridiculous question to ask the young red-head. She didn't need an answer to know how Vanille was feeling, to know how much she despised the current situation, how helpless she would be feeling fight now. The truth was she felt the same; she just had to stay strong for the younger girl.

Vanille gave a slight nod. Not an answer by any means, but simply a way of stating that she was holding up.

"I miss her…" she whispered, pulling her knees up to her chest and locking them there. Her eyes found a familiar point on the ground and became fixed to it.

"Sure you do, no one ever said it was goin' to be easy…"

Lightning sighed, taking her hand off Vanille's shoulder and running it lightly through her hair, uncharacteristically brushing back her pink locks. She pulled her knees from underneath her relaxing herself down onto the hard-baked ground as a little cloud of dust rubbed free from the floor underneath her army grade boots. She looked skyward, tracing the same path Vanille's eyes had looked upon a few moments before.

Cocoon was laid out like a painting before her. Its surface covered over by a shining light-blue crystal. She knew all too well what that crystal meant. She thought back to when her own sister had been encased in it only a few weeks ago. The little teardrop left behind had been the only reminder that Serah was still alive—still fighting with them.

Now Fang was doing the same, just protecting more.

"Don't let her blame herself for that…"

Lightning's gaze fell across the crystal pillar; standing in all its glory holding Cocoon above them. An impossibility that shouldn't have happened, yet it did as clear as day; one fragile little structure holding up the planet before them, preventing it from crashing down to the planet alone. She knew, somewhere in the middle of the structure, Fang slumbered endlessly until a time would come where she could be freed from her crystal prison just like Serah.

She would strive to do just that. They had changed their fates before, and there was nothing standing in the way this time. Besides, she had made a promise: a promise to the fragile girl who sat next to her whose heart was torn two ways.

It was a promise she wholeheartedly planned on keeping.

"We all miss her… But it isn't goodbye. It's never goodbye." she whispered, looking over to the girl next to her, her body still slumped dejectedly.

She knew what was the matter, like herself; Vanille had made a promise to someone. A promise that she believed no longer stood. It was something she had promised Fang a long time ago. That they would be together forever, no matter what happened.

Lightning planned on helping her keep that promise.

"It's up to you to be there for her now…"

"I should be there with her." Vanille stated, her gaze never moving from her point on the floor. She believed that. At the end of the world; at the end of everything they had been through together, why couldn't she make the decision to stay with Fang?

Why did she keep running all of the time?

The choice should have been simple for her, after all. Fang meant more to her than anything else, yet when everything mattered, and when it came down to her choice she just couldn't bring herself to take the other Pulsian's hand and let the powers of Ragnarok run through her.

It wasn't as if she was afraid of the magic anymore. Even through its destructive power the abilities of Ragnarok could be controlled. She could see that now. She had made Fang go it alone once again and she wasn't even afraid of what would have happened this time. She knew that by accepting her fate, her 'blessing' to become the beast, there might have been a way to save more of Cocoon. Yet she had made the decision to stay here, un-crystallized with the rest of them.

It wasn't as if she didn't know why either. It was the fact she had to choose at all that was eating away at her. Yet even as she sat here, her emotions running wild, her mind telling her she made the wrong decision; she knew in reality she would do it all again without question.

All for the woman that sat next to her.

"I always knew you liked er'."

Lightning leant backwards, resting her arm casually over her knee in a relaxed stance. Letting her head fall backwards, something couldn't help but make her smile.

"The weird thing is she can see us right now, can't she?" she whispered, narrowing her eyes in thought.

"Huh? What do you mean…?" Vanille looked up from the floor quickly, glancing over at the soldier's lop-sided smile in confusion.

"Didn't you say, when you were asleep for all those years that you could see everything that was going on below?"

"Well… I guess so. So you're trying to say Fang can see us now? Here?" she asked, looking back up at the pillar. It did make sense after all. She imagined Fang's words right now, ringing in her head. She knew the older Pulsian would be telling her to pull it together right now.

"Too right… Everything you need—it's right ther' with you…"

"I bet she's watching over you right now, just like you are over her. Don't you see? You're still together even if you're not physically close your minds are still linked." Lightning smiled over at Vanille, waiting for the younger girl's puzzlement to fade and for her to see just what was happening.

"Until we free her, which I promise you we will, she's right here. She always has been." Lightning placed her hand over her heart for emphasis, her fingers lightly brushing over her lightning pendant.

When she had been so focused on freeing Serah, so caught up in everything that the future seemed hopeless, all she had to do was take a moment and remember that Serah was still with her —still fighting alongside her.

As much as she hated to admit it, Snow had convinced her of that. Now she had to show Vanille the same.

"Right…" Vanille whispered, feeling tears spring up behind her emerald eyes.

What Lightning was saying, it all made sense. She had been searching for a way to connect with Fang and for a way to feel closer. Coming here every day, it felt like she was just a little bit closer to keeping her promise, even so much that leaving to find a way to free the older Pulsian scared her. She just didn't want Fang to be alone, yet now she could look up to Cocoon every time she needed a reminder that Fang was right here with her.

"And I'm never goin' anywhere…"

Yet sometimes even Lightning couldn't help but wonder what would have come to pass if that one little thing had been different.

"She did it for you, Light. Remember that…"

Lightning glanced over to the young red-head, and like her, Vanille had placed her hand over her heart closing her eyes. The soldier smiled to herself before carefully removing hers from her chest and reaching over, placing it on top of Vanille's.

She felt the other girl flinch slightly beneath her touch, the movement making her jump. Vanille's eyes shot back open quickly, an electric current flowing from Lightning's hand through her body. Shivering lightly, she looked over to the older woman, reveling in how soft her expression was. The only other person she had seen Lightning give that look to was Serah.

"It'll turn out okay. You'll see." Lightning whispered, squeezing Vanille's hand lightly. Vanille nodded, her heart feeling slightly lighter. That, however, could have had something to do with the butterflies flowing through her stomach.

"Thank you, Light…. I…"

"Save it. You've got no need to apologize." Lightning whispered, knowing exactly what the younger girl was going to say. "We're in this together now. Fang saved all of us and I'm not one to break a promise. You know that."

"I'm not going anywhere."

Vanille's stomach did a back-flip at her words, the same as it did every time Lightning spoke to her softly. She felt her cheeks flush at the soldier's words. Pulling her hand free of Lightning's, she raised herself slowly to her feet.

Reaching a hand down to Lightning, she offered to help the soldier onto her feet. Lightning stretched before taking her hand and letting herself be pulled off the ground. Swaying for a moment, she flashed Vanille a rare smile, something that seemed to happen more and more these days. Vanille giggled at her actions, a sound Lightning hadn't heard since Fang left.

Seeing her happy again... made everything feel better.

"You ready?" Lightning asked. It wasn't just about leaving Fang behind, it was embracing the future they could build for themselves one way or another.

Vanille nodded, looping her arm through the soldier's and glancing backwards one last time towards the crystal pillar. She was ready to leave the past behind her. This wasn't goodbye; it never would be.

They would find a way to free her again.

Lightning raised an eyebrow at Vanille playfully, secretly enjoying the girl's new found perkiness. She let herself be pulled forwards, Vanille's arm still gripping her tightly. As they walked, the sun had just begun its descent downward, casting a mystical orange glow across Gran Pulse.

Behind them, Cocoon shone brighter, the low sun reflecting off its surface. Somewhere in the middle of the crystal pillar; one point shone brighter, just for a second as Lightning and Vanille walked away. Fang's promise that she would be here when they were ready to face the future…

Together.

A.N.

Okay. So I know some of you wanted to see more one-shots from me, so I embraced the chance to write a few more ideas. I hope you all enjoyed reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it.

For those of you that couldn't guess throughout the story, the italics were indeed Fang's voice.

Thanks for reading.