Chapter 1

"Wow, five years."

Lightning shook her head slowly, letting the words sink in. It'd been half a decade, but it still felt like yesterday. If she closed her eyes, she could still see the monstrous form of Ragnarok, the huge crystal spire forming beneath Cocoon, the bodies of Fang and Vanille slowly turning into crystal…

She opened her eyes. This was not something she enjoyed thinking about. It brought up emotions that she wasn't used to feeling, at least not on a regular basis.

Snow rubbed Serah on the shoulder. "Doesn't feel like five years, does it? Wouldn't believe it if it weren't coming up on the calendar."

Lightning sighed. Only Snow would write something like that on his calendar. She'd seen it herself, the last time she had been over to their apartment. "5 years!" As if it was someone's birthday or something. Leave it to him to turn it into a happy event.

"A lot has happened since then," Lightning said quietly, staring out at the horizon. "We've all changed so much."

"Do I hear Light getting deep all of a sudden?" Snow said, chuckling to himself. He bent down and whispered in Serah's ear, "Don't usually hear of her thinking too much. Usually it's just kick butt and take names."

Serah punched Snow in the chest playfully, to which he fell over and landed on the ground, pretending to gasp for air. Serah giggled. "She's not the only one who can kick your butt, you know!" While watching them, Lightning had to admit that somewhere deep inside of her, she liked them as a couple. Maybe it had taken over five years for her to realize it, and maybe she still couldn't stand their PDA in public, but it was getting better. It'd been about a full month since the last time she had knocked him out. Definitely progress.

"Snow!" A woman's voice floated from across the sandy beach. All three looked to find Lebreau standing in the doorway of her café, hands on her hips.

"Whoops, looks like my lunch break is over!" Snow said, smirking.

"You know, if you two weren't friends, you'd have been fired by now," Serah said, shaking her head and laughing. Lightning rolled her eyes. You must really be in love to think your husband slacking off his job was cute.

Snow shrugged before leaning down to kiss Serah on the cheek – he knew Lightning's opinion on them fully kissing in her vision. "Love you, babe. Oh, and see ya, Sis!" he added with a smirk, once he was safely halfway across the beach.

Lightning sighed. "How the hell you put up with him on a daily basis, I'll never know."

Serah laughed and put her arm around her sister's shoulder as they turned off the pier and started walking towards their car. "Thanks again for coming with me. I know we had a lunch date, but I really try to make an effort with him. You know, since we're having problems in… that area." She looked at Lightning quickly before turning away. Lightning guessed her eyes were watering – they always seemed to whenever the subject came up.

She patted her sister's shoulder. "Don't worry. You'll get pregnant sooner or later. And Snow loves you way too much to leave you just because you two don't have a baby yet."

"I hope so, but I don't know sometimes," she said thoughtfully, looking at the ground. "He's always been so excited to start a family."

"You have lots of time. You're both still young. And you've only been married for a little over a year now." After they'd all come back from Gran Pulse, Snow and Serah put off their marriage plans in order to get their money and living situation settled. Lightning had badgered him to not marry her sister without being able to provide for her, and Snow was too proud to refuse. It might have not been her business, but she had to admit that it worked – Snow was now a personal trainer by day and bartender by night, as well as part-time on weekends. And true to his word, they set the date the same day he bought his apartment.

Serah looked on silently for a minute before throwing her hand in the air. "Enough about my relationship! It's time for you to spill the beans, Claire. What's going on with you and Noctis?"

Lightning blushed slightly and struggled to hide it from her sister. "Come on, Serah. We've been on a few dates. Hardly a relationship."

"Oh, you like him!" Serah chided, skipping ahead of Lightning and turning around to see her face clearly. "Look at you, you're blushing! Exactly how many dates is a few, hm? Oh… and has he stayed over yet?" She asked, eyes sparkling and laughing more than Lightning liked.

But instead of giving some smart retort like she normally would, Lightning gave in and let a smile escape. "He might have…" Serah let out an exclamation of excitement and wrapped her older sister in a ferocious hug.

"Oh Claire, I'm so happy for you!" Serah said ecstatically. "Before you know it, we'll be planning your wedding!" Lightning cringed at the thought, but realized that she didn't cringe quite so much as she might have a few years ago. She was going to be 26 in a few months… Maybe it was time to settle down?

But the thought was shaken out of her head before another minute passed. What, was she crazy? She knew she'd changed, but obviously a lot more than she had realized…