Author's Note: This story is not written by me, but a friend of mine who wants to share this story anonymously. He may decide to write more if the story is well received, so reviews are greatly appreciated.

Green Lightning

Gran Pulse.

A veritable hell hole filled with the worst monsters imaginable, it was here that a once great civilization lived, of course like all great civilizations it died and left behind nothing but memories, literally in some cases.

Lightning, a young woman and member of the Cocoon Guardian Corps looked out over the expanse of grass and stone, a ruined temple of some kind was sat at the end of a canyon, with only one way leading in and out of it.

As Lightning stared at the ruined temple, she couldn't help but ask herself how she had got herself into this mess, and then she remembered.

Trying to save her sister from a fate worse then death had placed Lightning and several others in a similar situation, they were now L'cie, pawns of the all powerful Fal'Cie and hated by most of the population of Cocoon.

So in a desperate attempt to escape their persecution, and find a way to remove their L'Cie curse, the party had journeyed to the world below the floating Cocoon, Gran Pulse.

With everything that had been happening, Lightning hadn't had a moment to herself, so she volunteered to scout the area around their base camp in order to find anything that might help them in their cause.

Lightning entered the temple and looked around the ruin, cracks zigzagged across the stone walls, and large cobwebs had been spun about the place, really selling the whole "Old ancient ruins" thing.

Lightning continued on into the temple, thinking back on the last few days of her life, particularly the time she'd spent with Hope.

Hope had lost his mother and been turned into a L'Cie all in one day so it wasn't really surprising the kid was pessimistic and sad when she'd first met him, however one thing had kept him going through all the hardships they'd faced up till that point, and that was getting revenge on Snow.

Hope blamed him for his mothers death, and had vowed to kill him, and in order to do that, he'd begged Lightning to take him with her when she decided to journey alone. After some soul searching Lightning decided to bring him along, if anything he would at least keep her company, and besides, she knew what it was like to lose a parent.

Over the next couple of days Hope had learned from her, she taught him basic survival and combat tactics, but he was a fast learner, and deep down inside Lightning was proud of his progress.

Lightning ceased her reminiscing when she found herself in a large chamber, which unlike the rest of the temple, seemed good as new. It was clean, the stone was healthy and crack free and to top it all off there wasn't even a speck of dust in the chamber.

Intrigued Lightning looked around and saw in the centre a pedestal with a wooden mask perched atop it. She walked over to the pedestal and examined the Mask up close, the wood was extremely old, taking on a dark green colour with a metal strip running down the centre of it.

Lightning picked up the mask and felt it's weight in her hands, it was quite light. Suddenly the mask began to glow a lime green colour and shortly after that a similar green light emanated from Lightning's chest. She already knew what was causing the light, on her chest lay her L'Cie brand, the very thing that gave her power, and the thing she and the others were trying to remove before they ran out of time on their focus and became mindless monsters.

Ever since she'd gained that accursed brand on her chest, Lightning had felt a weight placed on her, a dark sense of foreboding had been following her since that day, yet now she felt warmth and freedom, something she hadn't felt in a while.

It was at that moment she decided that she'd have to wear the mask, if just by holding it she felt better what would happen if she put it on?

With that in mind, she slowly raised it up to her face.

Hope was worried, it'd been quite a while since Lightning had gone of exploring and she hadn't checked back in. "It's not like she can't handle herself" He thought to himself for the hundredth time, but still that didn't stop him worrying.

So like the good little protégée he was, Hope set out to find her and make sure she was alright, as such he went off in the same direction she had gone previously and began his search.

Hope travelled down the same canyon Lightning had travelled down earlier, and soon enough he came to the same temple she had come to beforehand.

Hope carefully walked inside "Light?" He said softly "You in here?" but there was no reply.

Summoning up his remaining courage Hope continued on into the ruins in the hope of finding his mentor.

As Hope walked through the ruins, he noticed several things; number one, all the ancient torches that usually lined the walls, had been replaced with scented candles; number 2 the ruins began to look less and less like ruins and more like a brand new temple, and finally number 3, there was a distinct smell of various types of food in the air.

Hope soon entered the same large chamber Lightning had entered previously, and saw in the centre of the room, near a large pedestal, was a table.

Hope was confused; the table was draped in a red table cloth, with candles and empty plates with cutlery placed alongside them.

"What is going on here?" Hope said aloud as he scratched his head in confusion. Hope saw movement in the corner of his eye and swivelled around, weapon drawn, but he froze in place.

Leaning against one of the stone walls was Lightning, but she was...different to say the least. Lightning no longer wore her Guardian Corps uniform, instead she was wearing a dark red dress, which has a sleeve that covered her entire right arm up to her hand, while her left arm and shoulder remained bare.

Of course though, the biggest difference and the biggest shock for Hope was her bright green head.

Lightning smirked as she stood up straight and walked over to the table "L-Light?" Hope said nervously. She turned to face him "No I'm the other pink haired, ex-Guardian Corp L'Cie" she said sarcastically.

Hope stared at her "B-but your face" he said even more nervously then before.

Lightning grinned slightly "Flattery will get you nowhere Hope, you'll have to do something more then compliment my face to impress me, now sit, the foods getting cold". As she said this, she pulled one of the chairs out to emphasize her point.

Hope moved for the chair before he realised what he was doing, and when he did notice, he was already sat down at the table. It was at that moment that Hope decided to just roll with it, maybe if he played along he could find out what was wrong with Lightning since direct questioning had failed him.

"So, umm what's for dinner?" he asked, you guessed it, nervously "Whatever you want, just say the word and it's there" Lightning replied. Hope thought for a second "Well I guess Adamanchelid meat would be fine" Lightning glared at him "We have that crap everyday, what do you want to eat more then anything else?"

Hope thought for a second "Well back home, my mom used to make this roasted Chocobo breast for Sunday dinner" and as soon as those words left his mouth, he saw Lightning's arm become a blur, and quick as a flash was the very dish he'd just described "H-how did you do that?" he asked, but she just smirked "We can discuss that after we've eaten" and with that, she started to eat her meal, Hope following her lead.

They ate in silence, though throughout the meal Hope felt a pair of eyes on him, and thanks to deductive reasoning he guessed they were Lightning's, but every time he looked up, she'd moved her gaze back to the food.

A clattering of metal cutlery on porcelain plates told Hope that Lightning had finished, and shortly afterwards, so had he "That was delicious" he mumbled "Thanks" Lightning replied "but I hope you saved room for dessert" she said with a smirk as a chocolate covered pastry with a cream filling appeared on both their empty plates.

Lightning picked hers up "This here is an Éclair, it's not very common in most area's of Cocoon unfortunately, but it doesn't stop it being a tasty dessert". As Lightning ate some of the cream leaked out and coated her fingers, and after she finished, Lightning looked at her hand, and then at Hope with a devilish smirk.

"See the thing about Éclair's is that you have to lick all of the cream away" and with that she cleaned her hand with her tongue. Hope's face went bright red as he tried to avert his eyes "I'm...I'm not hungry" he mumbled.

Suddenly the table vanished and Lightning stood up "So now that the wining and dining is out of the way, onto the fun" She said slyly "What do you mean by that Light?" Hope said.

Lightning chuckled "Please Hope, call me Clair, I think we're close enough to be passed these stupid nicknames don't you?" Before Hope could answer Lightning spoke up once again "Oops I almost forgot, I have to get everything ready for tonight's entertainment" and with that Lightning turned into a miniature pink and green tornado that raced around the temple.

Hope watched the tornado in awe, until it suddenly raced towards him, causing him to close his eyes and brace for an impact, but it never came. He opened his eyes and looked around, but there was no sign of the tornado, nor of Lightning.

Hope was confused, where could something that loud and destructive hide? However when he heard a whistling sound behind him, his question was answered. Hope turned around cautiously and almost fainted at what he saw; there was now a large king sized bed sat behind him, with a scantily clad Lightning sitting on it.

She was wearing nothing more then the mischievous smile on her green face and a red nighty that stopped mid thigh and exposed a fair amount of cleavage. She smirked at him some more, but Hope however was paralysed with shock, seeing someone he respected and adored like that was, shocking to say the least.

Lightning moved her index finger to get her point across, she wanted him to come to her, and that's exactly what the almost petrified boy did, both willingly and unwillingly, because right at that moment, he was waging an inner battle with himself over what he should do, part of him thought that he should be responsible and refuse, run as fast as he could back to the others and get help for his mentor. But another part of him told him to stay and see what happened, the part that was fuelled by hormones unfortunately and as we all know, it's difficult to resist those.

Hope finally reached the bed and sat down next to Lightning, unsure of what to do "You know Hope, you and me, we're not so different, I lost my parents when I was young too, and like you I was forced to grow up faster then normal, and for a time I hated what I had become, I'd almost lost my humanity, I became machine like and only cared for Serah. but then when this whole adventure started and I met you, I think I started to see what it was like to be human again, so thank you Hope, thank you for helping me".

Hope was taken aback by Lightning's sudden declaration, however it ended his internal battle, for the first time since he'd entered that temple he knew what he had to do. Suddenly Hope grabbed Lightning's hand and looked her in the eye and said "Clair..."