sorry for the delay!

[and a bit of a request; please take your shipping wars somewhere else, please. This is simply a fanfiction for fun. Thanks!]


Lightning didn't know what was worse at this point in her life.

The fact that she had to room with Snow, or the the endless amount of bickering between Hope and Snow.

And, it wasn't even bickering, it was more of Hope criticizing Snow's antics and the blond simply replying with a roll of his eyes and an insult under his breath. Of course, she knew they didn't like each other at first while l'cie, however she didn't expect them to be so rocky. Not even three hours into the evening and she could not sleep over their not getting along— and it wasn't as if it were her fault they shared one of the beds in the hotel room, both men agreed to let Light have her own bed and they share one.

Which didn't seem to be working out very well towards the beginning. The constant angry whispers and sounds of Snow being pushed off the bed kept the woman up with the sheets over head trying to drown out the noise, but eventually the sounds died down once both men were sound asleep and as far from each other as possible on opposite sides of the bed they shared. Finally, Light was able to slip into a dreamless sleep, one she had been looking forward to; she didn't need a nightmare or crazy scenario in her head that night.

Snow, however...

The minute he drifted off into a comfortable sleep, his mind was assaulted with different images and memories, each bringing a surge of emotion along with it. Beasts he's never seen before roaming a great plain below a hanging sphere in the sky, brightly colored soldiers attacking people in an all-out war, airships being flown hazardly through the air, a knife coming at him by the hand of a young boy, the most dazzling fireworks he's ever seen being set off on a starry night—

A crystal stone in the shape of a tear glistening and reflecting a bright spectrum of colors, held in— was that his hand? Yes, yes, it was, he remembered now, it was a crystal year that belonged to her...

Lightning held the tear, now, tossing it into the air, knowing he would catch it in time. In the grassy field they were in, she spoke, yet he couldn't make out any phrases. It was just a mishmash of different words, but the ones he did happen to understand clearly were, "Cocoon", "Hero", and the name "Serah". Lightning's sister, he recalled now, the reason she set off to find him and the rest of their friends, his fiancée, yet he could not remember what she looked like, nor her personality itself. It was as if there was a block in the way of those memories, as if a key was needed to access that area of his memories.

How he desperately wanted to unlock that part of his mind and let the memories flow through, now that he's seen everything else, Snow felt that this was the missing piece in the puzzle— if it was completed, he knew things would be different, he'd be different, he felt and knew it. And he didn't mind it. It was as if it was supposed to be, he wasn't a baseball player, he was Snow Villiers, hero of their home, Cocoon.

That morning, Light noticed how groggy Snow seemed once he, quite literally, rolled out of bed. Hope had "accidentally" knocked him off one he woke up, leaving the warm sheets in favor of a warm shower. The soldier herself was looking forward to a hot shower, but when she crawled out of her own bed and stood on the carpeted ground, her blue eyes met a grumbling blond on the floor.

"Rough night?" She asked in a slightly amused tone.

"No kidding," Snow muttered, sitting up and popping his shoulders and back. The images were fresh in his mind from his dreams last night, and despite not remembering everything fully, he decided he should at least tell Lightning, now that he had a better idea of who she was. She wasn't just some crazy girl who tried to kidnap him, Lightning was the person he'd always try to impress and get to know. The block that stood in the way of his memories of Serah was still present, however, it didn't cover the memories of bonding with his sister-in-law. He remembered every joke, snide remark, prank and paintball fight they ever had, and not just with Lightning. A tanned-skin woman named Fang also lingered in his mind, her relationship with him being that of a sarcastic older sister, a bubbly redhead of the name Vanille proved to be a cheerful younger sister, a dark-skinned older man was the father he never had growing up, and the silver-haired teen who pushed him off the bed had been a shy yet intelligent younger brother.

"You were tossing and turning all night." Light added once she was up and moving around, the small kitchen in their hotel room already smelling of coffee being grounded. Three mugs were placed on the counter, ready to be filled with the warm liquid as the woman waited for the coffee machine to be finished.

"Yeah, well... It wasn't just some ordinary dream, exactly," he took a seat at one of the stools at the counter by the kitchen, facing Lightning with a grin, "Do you— do you remember that paintball fight we had for Hope's fifteenth birthday?"

"How could I forget? Vanille and Serah dominated the entire forest we rented and Hope ended up with a broken arm—" her eyes widened and she quickly forgot about the coffee, her tone becoming that of disbelief, "Wait, Snow, you—?"

The laugh from the blond was all that was needed to confirm her implication. "Now, not all of it, I'm sure, but for the most part, I remember who I was, who I am. I just can't remember her, your sister."

Lightning visibly deflated; another chuckle from the blond as she passed him a mug of coffee.

"What's this I hear about a paintball fight for my fifteenth birthday?" Hope decided to emerge from the rather large bathroom then, still drying his semi-soaked hair with a small towel, and (grudgingly) took a seat next to Snow. Light passed him his own cup, and to her surprise, he took a sip of it without any cream or sugar. Even she didn't drink coffee black, she always preferred at least some sugar followed by a little bit of cream, but never completely bitter and black.

Shrugging it off, the rosette answered his question, "When you were fifteen Snow had a bright idea to go paint balling on your fifteenth birthday, and— it was pretty...violent."

It was violent, but it remained as one of Lightning's fondest memories; besides the ones of her and Serah, of course. It might as well have been the destruction of Eden all over again— paint stained every tree, people who had been ambushed lay unmoving on the ground, only offering advice to those still in the game, screams of defeat could be heard in the distance followed by more paintball shots being fired— it was the most fun they've had in a while. Minus the broken arm of Hope.

"But it was pretty fun," Snow chirped— obviously, he remembers winning alongside Serah— and finished his coffee to go take a shower after Hope. Before stepping into the rather large and elegant bathroom, he remembered, "Plane leaves in four hours!"

Lightning was glad she showered last night; all that was remaining to do was repack her clothes and let Anna know how they were. She remembered Anna telling her how to contact her— similar to how Fang kept communications with Snow during their trip in Palumpolum. Except this cellular device actually had a screen to navigate through the endless amounts of applications that the Claire of this world had downloaded. This version of herself had honestly been gradually getting on her nerves the more she found out more things about her, and how Anna put up with her for twenty two years remained a mystery. Ignoring the oncoming annoyance with her alternate self, the rosette pulled out the device from her bag, unlocking the screen and searching for Anna's number. It hadn't taken her very long to adjust to the technologies of this world, especially when Anna had seen her struggling earlier and helped her out back in New York.

While waiting for her guardian to pick up on the other line, Light let her mind wander. Obviously, she was, dare she say it, happy that Snow finally remembered most of his memories. Her theory had been proven right after all, and she did love being right about things— now the tricky part was getting everyone back together. With a tiny sliver of guilt, the soldier was thankful that she had two rich men to help her out with the plane fares and hotels; she had to only worry about convincing the others to join them.

"Lightning!" The woman on the other line finally picked up after moments of ringing with a sigh of relief, and Light couldn't help but smile a bit to herself at her worry. "Finally, you give me a call!"

"Yeah, sorry about that, An—"

"So what's Germany like? Is it big, spacious? Are there little country houses like in the Sound Of Music?" Lightning held the phone away from the bombarding questions, enticing a chuckle from the silver haired man packing his bag, "I've always wanted to visit, just for fun and to try the authentic beer from the bars there— but Claire would never let me, of course! Anyways, what's your hotel like? Is the room big enough, sweetie? Has that Villiers tried anything funny—"

"Anna," The rosette fought off the urge to gag as she glared at the now laughing Hope, "We're fine, and if he did, he wouldn't be breathing right now."

She sighed on the other line, sounding tired all of a sudden. The small burst of excitement had worn off with Lightning's reassurance. "Alright, dear. Just checking up on you; it's dangerous traveling in this time and age!"

Light wasn't sure what she meant exactly, but nodded nonetheless. "Don't worry, I can take care of myself, trust me. We're about to leave for the plane to Australia, but I just called to let you know that we're doing alright."

"Alright, Light. Thanks for calling— oh! And is that Mr. Estheim as cute as he looks? That photo that Snow showed me was absolutely adorable! I could just eat him up! Dear, mind yourself around him, he looks like a keeper—"

"Bye, Anna!"

The abrupt end of the call wasn't enough to end the laughter from the director next to her.


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