For those that are interested in prequel of this series, please read "The Power of Lightning" under "Dissidia - Final Fantasy"
I was thinking that most of the Hoperai stories I read focus more on adventure and romance before they eventually get married, but less stories focus on middle-age life after they get married. I hope to fill in the gap by this story
Please drop reviews so I can improve the story, if any suggestion on what scene you want to incorporate, feel free to message me
[From Lightning's diary]
It feel just yesterday when Dissidia tournament finished. However, it has been 12 years and I have grown older. So do Hope and all of my friends. We have two children, a girl named Valerie and a boy named Conroy. We named them purely based on suggestion from Hope and his parents. I supposed I don't care too much about meaning of name, but Hope insist to name it that way. He said that he wanted Valerie to grow up to be like me, and that Conroy will follow his path to become knowledgeable in all sorts of science.
Other than some snarky remarks about us from Snow and some of Hope's colleagues, we live a very normal life as couple. Following Hope's advice, I decided to retire from Guardian Corps after Valerie and Conroy were born. It was very liberating experience for me and Hope allowed me to explore various places on this New World. He knew that I am not the type that like to do office work like him, 9 to 5 for almost every day of his life. So I tried a couple of things, ranging from fitness instructor, stunt woman of local movie studio, and football coach. I made quite a lot of new friends and it was a refreshing experience for me.
The New World is far better than Cocoon, Gran Pulse, or Nova Chrysalia, without any monsters, major warfare or civil unrest. Having said that, other problems such as poverty, environment pollution, or natural disasters still commonly occurred among population. However, here, people in general have more trust towards their fellow citizens and foreigners. Crimes are rare, and it usually only happened outside city with majority are robbery of trains and vehicles which carried commodities for inter-city trade.
Not long after conclusion of Dissidia tournament, I was pregnant with Valerie and three years later, Conroy come along. It was such a joy to see and hold a living beings with my own hands. When reflecting upon past, I have slaughtered countless living beings as warrior goddess. Although it was needed, I still felt uneasy about it, thinking that I used to enjoy watching my enemy's blood being spilled in front of me. I feel the need to repent and thanks Etro, I am now a mother...responsible for raising new life on this New World.
Valerie has grown to be athletically inclined, extrovert and tall girl. At 12, she has reached 170cm height and tallest on her class. By Hope's initiative, he enrolled her to join U-17 sport academy to be national soccer player. Her academic performance is below average though, and she always went to her boyfriend's house or Conroy's room to do homework. Although Hope has scolded her multiple times, she is quite stubborn and still do so until now. He said that Valerie has very similar temper like me when I was young, and unfortunately he is right. She went through disciplinary issues because fighting with some of her classmates. I told her that she did not need to hit her friends just because they played prank on her and that she need to be more cooperative. Once, I need to wrestle with her and pinned her down because she still want to hangout with her girl friends when she will have exam next day.
Conroy, on the other hands, is introvert and very smart, bookish type of boy. He is always first rank in his class and this cause his popularity among his friends. Like Hope, he displays a lot of curiosity on various fields of science. He like to stay for hours in book stores, reading all kinds of books from cartoons, encyclopedia and even philosophy. However, he is very short. At 9 years old, he is only 130cm height and due to this, he is often bullied by many of his classmates and because I enrolled him and Valerie to the same school, I told Valerie to protect him from his classmates.
Valerie and Conroy somehow formed very close relationship since they are dependent on each others. Conroy always helped Valerie for her homework and Valerie always protected Conroy when going to their school or returning to our home. This reminds me like relationship between me and Hope. I never imagined that our children will grow very similar like us.
All are said, I am grateful for my new life in this world and I enjoy the peace. With my eternal, beloved husband, Hope Estheim.