Author's Notes: Thank you for reading and sending in reviews! Hope you like the next chapter!


"Let's move out!" I lifted my eyes from the screen and saw one of the commanding soldiers call for his other fellow soldiers to follow his lead and leave. Around me, soldiers and scientists alike were gathering their things and preparing to head back to Academia. Our mission was complete. Instead of camping for the night, everyone just wanted to head back. I had another idea in mind to do before I wanted to leave and as soon as I saw the person I wanted to see, then I would head for home as well. I went back to the main tent where I compiled all of my research. Still there was no sign of the person I wanted to see. I was starting to get worried. Maybe she was gone already.

Director's Notes 07: Coming To Light:

It took some time, but finally I spotted her among the soldiers. I had to get her attention, so I did the first thing that came to mind. I waved my hand up high hoping that she would see it. I didn't have much luck and I didn't want to yell across the field. I stepped up to the group of soldiers and scientists she was with being professional as I could. "Sergeant Farron. May I speak with you?"

The other soldiers and scientists walked away after that. I wasn't sure, but I thought I notice a few of the girls giggle as they walked away. Maybe it was just in my imagination. She placed her hand on her hip with a serious look on her face. "What is it? Is there something wrong?"

I could tell she was still in solider mode so I wanted to assure her that it wasn't serious. I shook my head as I smiled. "There's nothing wrong."

Right away she looked confused. "Then what is it? Aren't you heading back to Academia with the others?"

"Not yet. There's something I wanted to show you. It's something I've been working on."

I could tell I had her attention then. "What?"

I gave a hidden smile toward her. "It's… kind of top secret."

She became uneasy afterwards. "Then should you really be showing me?"

I tilted and nodded my head toward the tent. "I think it will be all right. Come on. I've been waiting to show you all night."

She followed me behind the tent where we were out of sight. There was confusion but mostly a surprise look on her face once we went around. "Wait? Is this yours?"

I climbed on top of the cycle that I had waiting. Proudly I smiled toward her. "Yes."

She walked around a little, observing the vehicle. "When did you get something like this?"

"I've had this for a while now. It's actually fun especially driving out in the open."

She took in a few more seconds, looking at the features of the cycle before she looked at me. "And what convinced you to buy this thing?"

"You kind of did."

She arched her eyebrow toward me. "Me? I didn't tell you to go out and buy this thing."

"What I learned from you is that you shouldn't be afraid so I took a chance and brought one. Anyway this is not what I wanted to show you." She sighed as she shook her head. She was probably still on the fact that I brought a bike. I held my hand out to her. "Want to go for a ride?"

It took a moment, but eventually she took my hand. "I'm not this much of a bad influence," she muttered.

I looked back at her as I smiled. "You're not a bad influence, but you know how to influence people. Also you might need this. It's going to get cold." I brought an extra jacket just in case she had decided to go with me. She grabbed it from my hand and put it on. "Hang on!" I drove out of sight so that no one would see us or know where we were going. Surprisingly the plains were pretty empty for this time of night. I thought we would see lively night life with the creatures that lived there, but I guess that wasn't the case this time. Finally we reached a cliff. I stopped and parked near the edge. "We're here."

When I looked back, she seemed confused. "There's nothing here."

I got off the bike and then held my hand out to help her off. "Look closer."

She walked closer to the edge with me. When we looked over the edge, I saw the confusion disappear from her face and turn into wonder. "What...?" Below her was the lights of a city that was in the process of being built.

"We're building a new city for people to live in. Somewhere safe and somewhere people can live easy."

"You're building an entire city?" she sounded stunned.

"I contributed to the design. Other people are building it."

"It's still..." She looked over at me. "It's still great that you're doing this. Why did you let me see this?"

"If I hadn't met you, I wouldn't have been inspired to do such a thing." My eyes lowered to the ground as I was thinking. "To be honest, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to do this, being Director and helping an entire world like this, but now I want to do better. I want to make this world a better place." I looked over at her. "It's thanks to you. I felt confidence and I found something to fight for so it makes me move forward."

She nodded toward me. "That's good. Not having something to fight for is just a reason to die."

I continued to smile. It sounded like something she would say. "You should write a book of quotes written by Lightning. 'It's not a question of can or can't. There are just some things you just do.' Stuff like that."

She lightly smirked toward me. "Well its true. You're not making fun of me are you Estheim?"

I could feel my smile widened. "Never." I could see her smirk soften into a warm smile. As much as I could stay and watch that smile that love on her so much, I had to remind myself it was getting late and we needed to get back. I didn't want to part from her just yet. I looked back over to the construction. "Things seem to be going well." Then an idea came to mind. "Would you like to celebrate with me?"

"A little early to celebrate isn't it?"

She was right. I knew it was especially when I was unsure if everything would work out in time, but I wasn't worried about that right now. "It's all right. I don't think it would hurt to."

She placed her hand on her hip. "Fine. Where do you want to go?"

I smirked interested. "You can pick the place this time."

"All right."

We walked over to my bike. All of a sudden, another idea came to mind. "Would you like to drive it?" At first, she was silence and stared at me, probably wondering if I was serious. I didn't know if she had any experience driving it, but to me, it was all right. I could show her how to if she wanted. My mind agreed to the idea sincerely, but a part of me had to admit teaching her how to drive would be another way to get closer to her... Mentally I shook the thought from my mind. The idea was out of kindness and I wanted to stick to that, not with some secret intention.

Finally, she went over to the bike and started getting on. "You sure that's all right?"

I laughed. Of course, she got on as she was asking me. I guess I couldn't exactly say no now, not that I was anyway. She was already in my seat. "I guess I don't have a choice now do I?"

She smirked toward me. "I guess not."

I climbed on behind her. Before I could explain anything about driving, she took off. I barely had time to hang on. It was a little scary, but a little exciting at the same time. I grabbed on to her shoulders instead of wrapping my arms around her waist. I wasn't sure but I think out of the corner of her lips, I thought I saw a smirk. Was she actually having fun this way, more than I had expected? "Light?"

Curious she glanced back at me. "What?"

For that second, my question had been answered. I saw the brief excitement on her face. I couldn't help but smile. "Nothing! Proceed!" After that, she kept her eyes forward for the rest of the ride.

After we returned to Academia, the place we went to was crowded with people. Some of them I recognized as soldiers. I noticed their looks when I walked in with Lightning. There were smirks and I was confused as to why. "Why do they keep looking at us like that?"

She shrugged as we found an empty table in the back to sit at. She crossed her arms against her stomach. "Someone told me that there was a rumor going on that there was something going on between us."

I leaned my head against the back of my hands. "Really?" I really wasn't that surprised. My assistant still mentioned it from time to time and what the other scientists were saying. I became used to the rumors and the possible idea. "Why are they saying it?"

She looked off to the side. "I guess apart of it was that gala. They see us talking most of the time. They don't see you spend time with any other women personally. The worse I've heard was that it was just a way for me to rise up in the ranks."

I became concerned. "No one should ever think of you in that way. You're not that kind of person." I stood by that firmly. I knew her at least that well. She kept her eyes toward the table. I smiled to cheer her up even though she didn't need it. She was strong so she wouldn't let anything like that get her down. "Listen. What would you like to have while you're here? It's on me."

She smirked at me. "You haven't stopped asking me that since day one."

I shrugged. "What can I say? Maybe I'll never stop asking." I stood up from the table. She asked for a drink and I decided to have the same. Neither one of us were big drinkers, but there were a few times we went out for one. I went up to the bar. Along the way I still noticed the same soldiers smirk at me. I rolled my eyes and ignored them. My attention was only focused on the order. Interesting... Maybe I am subconsciously picking up Lightning's mannerisms. I noticed that the bartender had a special. When I asked about it, he said it was a good and popular drink. Interested, I ordered that instead. It would be something new for us to try.

I walked back over with two glasses. She gave them a curious look. "What are these?"

"The bartender said it was called 'Baccalaureate Cider'. It's supposed to be the best around." She shrugged in response as a way to say she would try it. She took the first sip. "Have something on your stomach to help." I would do the same so that I would have my wits about me. Surprisingly it had a good taste to it. Something to relief the stress from this mission. It was starting to relax me as well. As we sat there, we got caught up in conversation. I soon realized that I didn't take my own advice and eat something while I was there. While the drink was good, it was strong. I think it became a matter of me keeping up with her. My body had felt relaxed and loose. My boundaries had been let down. I had some sense about me, but the rest was fading.

"We should probably call it a night. Will you be okay getting home?"

When I looked up, I noticed her cheeks were a little flushed. "I could ask you the same. It'll be all right. I can call for a ride." I pulled out my phone and called. Afterwards, I put it back into my pocket and returned my attention back to her. "Thanks for coming out with me."

"No problem. Serah says I should get out more anyway."

I smiled as I looked down. That's right. Lightning's own sister knew of my feelings for her, but not actually Lightning herself. How ironic. I can't tell the woman I cared about more than anyone that I had feelings for her. "I wish we didn't have to separate tonight. Of course I feel like that every time we're like this."

"We'll see each other tomorrow."

I moved in closer toward her, closing in the distance between us. "I guess. Still the way we part ways sometimes… I don't think does it for us just like the night of the gala."

Confusion tried to come on her expression, but it was just her being curious. "What do you mean?" Her eyes searched mine.

I didn't stop myself from talking too much. I felt as if I was lifting a burden off of my shoulders that's been there for months. "I still remember the night of your birthday."

Her eyes widened a little. Had her defenses dropped? She frowned a little but it wasn't enough to be threatening. "Why would you bring that up?" She looked down toward the table. "It was a time that shouldn't have happened and I shouldn't have let it happened."

I wondered if that was how she truly felt. I closed in the distance more until my body was against hers. It was my time to see straight through her. "Then why did you kiss me back?" Her lips opened, but nothing came out. Maybe we're not sure why we do the things we do sometimes. Maybe I was reading into it too much, but it was something I had to understand.

"Really?" She looked off to the side as became serious.

I'm sure she was waiting for me to drop the subject so we could just be done with it. I breathed out. "Yes."

She frowned at me. "You're the one who kissed me."

I closed my eyes. "I did it for my own selfish reasons and it wasn't what I expected." I had gotten her attention and I didn't have to open my eyes to know this. I could feel her move beside me. I lifted my eyes to her. There was hesitation which I usually didn't see in her. "It was better than I expected and I would do it again." I could hear the sharp breath she took in. I enclosed the distance between us until there was none. I reached up toward her face. I wouldn't dare to do so, but I was putting everything on the line at that moment. As soon as I touched her face, she jumped slightly as if she had never been touched there before. This was a new side I was seeing of her, open and vulnerable. Her skin felt soft against my fingertips. My thumb slid down and touched her lips as my eyes followed. "Your skin is soft, but your lips were even softer, sweet even."

Quickly she slapped my hand away. I didn't feel much when she did. Her anger was coming in. "Stop acting like this! This isn't you talking!"

Was she right? It didn't take long to come to the conclusion that she wasn't right. This was the me. I wanted to show to her someone who was confident and not afraid to show my feelings. "On the contrary, this is something that I wanted to say to you for a while now. Now I have the courage to say this to you face to face." I reached out and lightly grabbed onto the few strands of her hair. I had touched the untouchable. Someone I wouldn't dare get close to touch like this. It would have taken me years or never, but now I have. "You really are beautiful Lightning. You should be told more often that you're amazing, strong, and most of all..." I leaned forward toward her face. There was no pushing me away.

Her eyes lifted up to mine. She breathed out. "Most of all what?"

It called out to something deep down inside of me. It was on the rise. "Most of all, I had the great honor of meeting you. I don't know what I would have done without you if I hadn't met you. How can someone so beautiful, kind, and truly beyond belief not have you with them?"

The more I spoke, the more I notice her face becoming redder. "Hope-." Not wanting to hear her tell me to stop saying what I thought about her, I kissed the lips I had been anxious to feel again, but never thought I would get the chance twice. This kiss was something different. It was more heated, more passionate. It awakened something inside of me that I had never felt before. It was strange. She had seemed somewhat shy about kissing before, but this time we were fighting for dominance. I'm sure the self-control part of me was gone deep in the recesses of my mind. The urge to get out of here was all that was left. When we separated, we were panting. There was meaning to the saying about taking someone's breath away.

"You know this has to be the alcohol talking right?"

"You're probably right, but if it wasn't for tonight, I wouldn't have the courage to say something that I wanted to for a long time." I got up from the booth, tossed some money on the table that would be enough to cover the bill and held out my hand to her. "We should go." Without words, she grabbed my hand and walked out with me. I made my way through the crowd without stopping and as I did, I could still feel her hand in mine.

As expected, the car was waiting outside for us. I opened the door for her, allowing her to climb in first. I climbed in as well and closed the door behind us. "Where to Mr. Estheim?"

I glanced at her. As I told her before, I didn't want her to leave tonight. She noticed my look and then looked at the driver. "To Mr. Estheim's house. I want to make sure that he gets in okay."

I smiled. It wasn't the exact answer I wanted her to say, but close enough. Her eyes met mine. I leaned in and kissed her again. I was focused on only her until I realized where I was. Not wanting anyone to catch us, I reached over without looking and pressed the button to put up the divider between the front seat and the back. We glanced over, seeing that it was fully up before we looked at each other. I leaned over toward her as she leaned back toward the door. Our breathing was heavy enough for both of us to hear. I brushed my fingers against her cheek. "Stay with me tonight. Please." Those were words that I wanted to say to her for a while now. With her eyes locked to mine, she gave a nod as an answer. My body had grown excited at the fact. I leaned down and kissed her. Her eyes closed along with hers.

The rest of the night was a blur after that. I didn't expect my mind to be left behind, but wherever this night would lead me, I would follow as long as if it was with her.

A series of events flashed before me. There we were together, intertwined in each other. All that was in the world right now was me and her. I remember staring down at her from above, the way her eyes would close, the sounds she made, and the look of pleasure on her face. Everything had felt real in the dimly lit room.

Suddenly my eyes blinked opened. Morning light covered the room. I felt myself on something soft. Opening my eyes completely, I became aware that I was back at my house in my bedroom. I didn't remember getting back here last night. I didn't usually sleep on my stomach, but that was just how I was. As I turned on my side, I noticed that underneath the covers I was just in my boxers. Not usual, but I didn't remember removing my clothes. It was strange. As I tried to piece everything together, the images came back into my head. She was here. We were...together...in a way I never expected us to be. I sat up from the bed with a smile on my face. I had no regrets about what happened. She was the woman that I wanted to be with and now my feelings were known to her. It was a burden lifted off my shoulders. Now I would see where we would go from there. I wondered where she was. Did she already leave? An uneasy feeling took over my stomach. Maybe it was too soon. What if she thought this was a mistake? A one night stand she wished that had never happened? I got out of bed and headed out the door. Was she really gone?

I walked out into the living room. When I looked off to the right, I noticed a figure standing in the kitchen with their back turned to me. The only person that would be here was her. Judging by the figure, it had to be. I had to smile. She was still here. She didn't run away after what happened. Quietly I stepped in behind her. She didn't seem to notice as she had a coffee pot in one hand and a cup in the other. I went for it. I jumped in and wrapped my arms around her waist tight so she wouldn't escape. I felt a slight jump from her. I didn't think to be wearily of her reaction which could have been possibly defensive and too instinctively to strike back. I'm glad that wasn't the case. I leaned in toward her ear. "Good morning," I whispered. I leaned in toward her neck and placed a kiss against her skin. There was something very appealing about her standing with just my shirt on.

I felt her jump in my arms, but then I felt her struggle to push my arms away. I let her go and she turned away to me. I wasn't sure why. "What are you doing?"

I blinked surprised. Had I made this move too soon? "Just saying good morning. Is that not okay?" She looked toward the ground uneasy. Maybe this was her regret setting in now. I wasn't ready to hear that rejecting yet. I gave a brittle smile that still had a little bit of hope left. "Listen. It's all right. Last night was a big step, but we can move on from here. I don't regret anything that happened with us."

A confused look came on her face. "What do you think happened last night?"

I became nervous at saying the words out loud even know the act was already done. "Last night we..."I scratched the back of my head. This was hard to say since I never really talked about it. "Last night we were together...in my bed. We slept together." Right then I saw her eyes open more surprised. "I'm surprised you got up early this morning. You didn't have to get up. I've could've made coffee for us."

Eventually the surprise from her face faded away. "I was making coffee because I didn't know how you would feel this morning."

I smiled because of her caring thought. "I feel fine." I placed my hand on her arm. "How about you? Any pain anywhere?"

She moved her arm away. "I'm fine."

"Should we talk about last night? I know it was sudden-."

She got upset. I wasn't sure why. "Hope, nothing happened between us."

What...? What I remember was vivid. How could this be right? "What do you mean? We-."

She crossed her arms against her chest. "We didn't do anything. Last night I wanted to make sure that you got in okay. You passed out in your room."

That couldn't be right. "Then explain how I woke up like this and you're standing here in my shirt?"

"When we came in, you seemed out of it so I helped you to your room. You said I could borrow this since I had nothing to sleep in. Then I slept out here on the couch."

I looked down. She wouldn't lie to me about this, but...was it really my imagination? A dream? "So what happened before we got here last night...was that real?"

She looked toward the ground. "...yes." It sounded as if she didn't want to answer. We really did get close again last night. She became uneasy again. "This was too much…" I could hear the regret in her voice. Something I was afraid would happen. Finally her eyes had met mine. "I think…we need some time."

I wondered where she was going with this. "What do you mean?"

"This isn't going to work. The way that you…" She shook her head. "I'm not right for you. We're not right. It would just mess everything up."

I wanted to fight and say that everything could work out, but then a thought had dawned on me. What if she's saying this now because she truly didn't have feelings for me? Then it must've been a mistake to let her know this soon. It was now or never to know. "You don't…feel the same way...about me?"

She looked toward the ground concerned before she looked up and answered me. "No. I don't." Breath entered my body quickly. I felt my heart tightened. Maybe this was a mistake letting her know my feelings this soon. The pain was starting to rise inside of me. As much I wanted to say something, the breath of air I took in, I just let it out and looked toward the ground. She stepped toward me. "It's all right. You'll find someone else. It's just not me." As much as I tried to shield and assure myself, the feeling was getting worse. "I'm sorry." She turned around and headed toward the living room. She grabbed onto her clothes that were on the couch. "I'll leave now."

As I watched her, I stood frozen in place. She was leaving and I wanted to fight for her to stay, but what was the point? If she didn't want to be with me, I couldn't stop her. Still, I had to fight for what little we had left. At least I wanted to keep our friendship. I stepped toward her. "Light?"

She turned around toward me with her clothes in hand. "I'll just get dressed. We should…take some time out for a while all right?"I looked down. I had to respect what she wanted. "It's all right…" She slipped passed me without eye contact and headed to my bathroom to change. When she was ready, she headed through the kitchen to avoid the awkwardness while I stood in the living room. Words couldn't come to me. Maybe no more could come to her as well.

She left without saying goodbye.

Was that the end of everything? That I wasn't sure of. All I knew was after that morning, I didn't see much of her again. I thought after that day I could just get over it, but no. It was the exact opposite. It made me realized after one night my feelings were even stronger for her. After she left, it made me realize how much I had truly fallen in love her.


Thank you for reading! I'll be back to update as soon as I can!