Author's Note: Thanks for the review – you learn something new every day. I will ensure my chapters are at least 1000 words in length. This one is longer than 1000 (+1300) words. The next chapter will be longer than this as I have much to write. For this chapter, it can be summed up with the following statement: Before you can climb outta that hole, you gotta hit rock bottom first.

I shall do short briefs in the beginning of each chapter explaining the status of the world in this story.


CHAPTER 2

Several years after Cocoon's 'demise'.

Shortly after the first chapter.

It was not long after the destruction of Cocoon that civilization began anew in its shadow. Due to the local proximity of a large amount of PSICOM and Guardian Corps a good portion of Eden's local population managed to be evacuated from the city, to the surface of Pulse. The other cities – not so lucky. Large groups from the other cities did manage to make it to the surface, but not everyone. The military could move only so many people on short notice from Rosch's final command. Even so, life went on and the survives started to rebuild their lives.

It was not easy, that is for sure. Numerous hardships were encountered, and difficult choices were made. The military assumed the role of the government, with a council of leaders consisting of upper echelon commanders from PSICOM and the Corp.


The young woman made her way back through the light brush and rocky trail. She moved with a fading grace. She could not push the thoughts out of her mind – no matter how hard she tried. She felt as if she failed them, failed all of them. She got them through to the end when they were l'Cies. Everything after that was supposed to be easier.

Wasn't it?

She stopped, suddenly, realizing she was home. If one could call it that. The building was simple – made from metal plates located from the ruins of Cocoon. Many of the buildings the civilians had were similar. It showed signs of age – there were hints of rust at the joints and edges. She entered the main room, which was quite bare: some metal chairs around a table in the center. A make shift kitchen was along the back wall. A small common space to the left of that. A door on the right led to the "bedrooms", which were merely dorm sized rooms with a cot and a table. Life after the destruction of Cocoon was not pleasant for most of the survivors. Rays of sunlight poured in through the windows, highlighting the dust in the air, and making for a paler illumination than normal.

She unbuckled her sheath that held her gun-blade and the pouches around her left leg. Her eyes glanced at the pair of oversized boots near the door way. A thin layer of dust covered them. Her gun-blade and pouch were hung up before she sat down at one of the metal chairs, it creaking under her weight. Lightning's head turned slowly, scanning the room. A small green scarf was idling on the back of another chair. A small orange-brown jacket on the floor, near a small metal table in the common room. A few cups on the table before her. All gathering dust. She dared not to touch them.

Like hundreds of times in the past her eyes closed and she fought back the memories.

"Oh, hey sis." said an obnoxious voice from the bedrooms. She turned her head, annoyed as usual, and saw Snow enter the main room. He had a big grin on his face. What was it always with him?

The chance to know would never come now.

She ignored him, and he sat down at the table, on the other side of her. He grabbed one of the metal cups from the middle of table, looked at it for a moment before pouring him some coffee from a simple metal container. The rich smell of roasted beans filled the air. She was never a fan of coffee – too much dependence on it proved to be a liability.

"I was thinking we'd all go out later today." Snow said, catching onto her annoyance with the world, him or whatever it was. "Serah wants too..." he trailed off as he noticed Lightning was not paying any attention to him.

She shook her head, snapping the memory into pieces. This place seemed so much brighter back then when compared to right now. She stood up and made her way to the seat Snow was sitting in. She sat down and looked in the same direction he did on that day. She looked at the seat she was sitting in – then and now. She looked at it: her eyes piercing the back of the chair, and trying so hard to imagine herself there. She tried to imagine her own outline across the table, sitting there, looking away with a distorted look on her face. A look that displayed annoyance, and maybe even anger.

She continued to look at the empty seat, but seeing herself now...

"I'm busy later." she said curtly, but quickly added. "Be careful." Her head turned and her eyes briefly looked at her, er Snow, and then returned to the previous position.

"Suit yourself sis." she found herself saying...repeating the words that came out of Snow's mouth so long ago.

She felt herself start to spiral into darkness...


How far do you go before you end it? How dark does it have to get before all of the light vanishes from your life? When you look at the world and the only thing you see is darkness, what do you do? What do you have to look forward too? When everything comes to an end and everything you loved and cherished shatters before your eyes in an instant, what do you do? What can you do? What do you want to do? So many questions and all with no answers.

She laid her head on the pillow in the small, plain room. She laid there, quietly, thinking about how she has nothing and is alone.

When you look at your hands and they do not seem like yours anymore – are you really living your life? When you see your face in the reflection and the only thing that stares back at you is a hollow husk – are you really living your life?

Lightning closed her eyes and gripped the pillow tight to her chest. She felt the soft texture rub against her neck and chin reminding her of better days. She could smell...him...on it, but it was faint now. She smiled for a moment, thinking of her past...

What if you lost it all?

Could you go on?

She laid there for hours. Her breathing slowed to a gentle pace – her chest rising and falling. Her slight smile, very rare these days, became a frown.

Her cheeks gradually becoming damp as the minutes wore on...

Should I go on?

...from the tears that left her eyes.

The pain was so deep and it was in the process of ruining her. She missed him so much and there was nothing she could to do bring him back. She wanted to be with him and talk to him. She couldn't. She thought about how much she didn't say to him and it burned her insides.

Her closed eyes shut even tighter. She could see his...hair moving in the wind. His smile when she would return every evening. He loved her? And she did not return it to him? Did he ever know how she felt?

That she...

I l...

Something moved behind her, startling her, she turned quickly, with her old grace...

She saw him?

The hope?