General Sephiroth Crescent woke up the next day, roused by the sounds of people busy bustling around somewhere in the rooms downstairs.

It was already light outside.

The first thing he noticed was the weight of his lover´s head resting on his chest, the feeling of her steady breath against his skin, the warmth of her body nestled against his side.

They were still lying in the same position they had fallen asleep in the night before.

It was the nicest of wake-up´s the general could remember ever having.

Careful not to wake his lover, the silver haired man slowly raised one of his arms, the one that wasn´t around her back, to remove a strand of pinkish hair that had fallen into the female first class´ face and tucked it behind her ear.

Looking at what he could see of her face for a very long time, he carefully lowered his arm again to cover her hand resting next to her head, began caressing her fingers with his thumb instead.

He didn´t know how long they lay like this as patiently he waited for her to wake up.

He appreciated every second of it.

Every second of feeling her skin on his own. Of having her so close.

He definitely never ever wanted to let go.

But of course time wouldn´t freeze and eventually there was a soft moan and the girl in his arms began to stir.

General Sephiroth Crescent found he couldn´t wait to look into her eyes again.

Those pretty pale bue eyes...

It wasn´t until her sudden outburst, that he realized they actually were not supposed to wake up that day at all.


Claire Farron woke up to warmth and light and the pleasant feeling of safe strong arms around her, the feeling of warm gentle hands caressing her skin. It definitely felt like heaven and she took a few moments to revel in the feeling, her body only reluctantly preparing to get up, to move, until all off a sudden it dawned on her that something there was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Her eyes snapping open with a start, the pink haired female jolted up into a sitting position.

The arms around her letting go only reluctantly, the blanket around her upper body slipped down to expose her naked torso.

The pink haired woman´s breathing hitched in shock as she took in the situation, her surroundings, the company she was in.

The memories of the last night flooding back to her, Lightning shot up from the bed she had shared with the first class general, the renowned war hero and her former mentor, and she instantly grabbed a blanket to shield her body from his view as she realized she was completely undressed.

Oh shit.

'No, no, no, no. NO!'

SHIT!

It was in utmost horror that she ran over to the window and looked up into the treacherous sky, just to realize that the thing that was supposed to crush them - Meteor – was gone.

No.

No, it couldn´t be!

'What in Etro's name -' she gasped in complete lack of understanding as the full extend of the situation she had gotten herself into began to down on her and it was without looking at the man who was making to get up from the bed as well even once, that hurriedly she put on her clothes and ran out of the room.

Her body still sore from the night before she stumbled to the stairs as fast as she could and down to the vast hall where everybody else was gathered around a huge TV flat screen attached to the wall behind the bar.

Arriving panting slightly, to her great dismay, she found her former mentor following only meters behind.

'What happened?!' Claire Farron managed to choke out.

Everybody turned to look at her. At them.

Her clothes all crumpled and her hair a mess, the general coming to stand a few feet behind her, Angeal Hewley threw the both of them a knowing smile. Lightning couldn´t help but notice Genesis´ befuddled stare either as the redhead studied them from head to toe.

Busting in like this and late too, with the general trailing behind her like a lapdog, she might as well write the news on her forehead.

She caught Zack and Cloud exchange whispered words and funny glances.

Yes.

They knew.

There was no use denying anything. All of them had seen them enter the room together. Some might have even seen them leave the night before.

Oh fuck.

What had she done?

What had she gotten herself into?!

And more importantly:

What was going on?

The memories of the past night flooding her mind once more, Lightning felt the walls of the inn slowly closing in on her.

Trying to take deep calming breaths she fought to keep up her composure.

'What happened?' she heard the general´s voice ask into the crowd from somewhere close behind her.

Somehow she didn´t care to listen.

Oh, she so wasn´t ready to cope with this situation. Ready to face what had happened, what she´d done.

She shouldn´t have to in the first place.

She shouldn´t be there anymore! None of them should!

They should all be dead!

DEAD!

But they were not.

Oh, she so wasn´t prepared for any of this...

'It´s gone.' somebody informed them.

Lightning marginally identified Zack´s voice.

The crowd gathered in front of the TV somewhat parting, somebody, she didn´t care to look who, turned up the volume for her to catch the words spoken by the newsreader.

'... large parts of the city apparently destroyed.' she registered the male voice accompanying the pictures that flittered over the screen and it were those pictures that made the blood in her veins run cold.

There was Midgar, or what was left of it. A big heap of rubble.

The remnants of the city she had once called home...

A blank steel frame skeleton all that was left of the Shin-Ra headquarters' building...

The destruction of all of it was caught on video tape.

And she felt her body go numb as the program switched back to show the events of the past few hours, to show how Meteor had entered the atmosphere.

How Heiegger had used the Sister Ray powered by all the mako reactors surrounding the city together to fend off the catastrophe. And how he had failed.

How seconds before the impact the whole place had erupted in a burst of green light gathering over the city and the adjourning wastelands, creating a shield and lashing out to push the gigantic celestial body away, to devour it, to destroy it.

How in the end the planet had managed to erase that threat itself, using the lifestream as a weapon.

With Midgar at it´s epicenter, the emergence of the planet´s powers had unleashed a local cataclysm of it´s own, leaving the city beneath in ashes.

Serah.

That name pierced the noise of her thoughts like a scream.

That footage was undoubtedly broadcasted continuously all over the globe. Her little sister probably thought she was dead.

Lightning had never actually told her she had left Midgar, had she?

Thinking about it, she hadn´t written to her at all those past few weeks.

Serah.

She needed to find her.

She needed to see her face.

Needed to hear her voice.

To hold her.

Oh, she should have done that ages ago!

Claire Farron didn´t wait for the program to end as turning around on her heels, she faced the silver haired man she so unfortunately had spent the night with standing only a pace behind her.

'I quit.' she told him.

Her voice unwavering, determined, her words, they took the silver haired first class by surprise.

He wasn´t sure what he had expected her to say to him once she´d bring herself to look at him again. It were a great many things. But it certainly wasn´t this.

'I´m going home. I need to see Serah. She must think I´m dead.'

Their gazes locked.

Cold calculated icy blue eyes on crestfallen mako green ones.

She was leaving him.

She was leaving him already.

Why was she leaving him like this?

Why was she treating him like this?

After everthing that had happened between them the night before, she was treating him like a stranger.

Like a colleague.

Like a superior.

Like nothing of it ever happened.

General Sephiroth Crescent felt his heart sink. Felt all of the happyness,the joy, the warmth, he had felt upon awakening seep out ouf his body and into the cool morning air. Felt a terrible chill take it´s place instead, felt it wrap around his heart and squeeze it like a vice.

But it weren´t her words that hit him worst.

It were her eyes.

Those cold calculating eyes, that had looked upon him with love, with care, just hours ago. Suddenly they eyed him like a vile thing. Like a mistake. Like something she wanted to get away from as far and fast as possible.

Why was she doing this to him?!

What had he done wrong?!

Had he hurt her? Had he gone too far? Things certainly hadn´t seemed like any of it the night before.

He had thought she had enjoyed it too. Had thought she had wanted it too. Had hoped that maybe, just maybe, she returned his feelings. That she could love him too.

Of course. He´d gotten carried away there.

Stupid.

It had been stupid to asume such a thing.

Regret.

There was regret written all over her face now. Shame maybe. Embarassment.

Yes. She felt embarassed. Embarassed about the night she´d shared with him.

The silver haired first class general swallowed hard.

Yes. That was exactly what it was. And he had been stupid to think that she´d feel anything else. Had been stupid to think that a night spent in the pinkish sheen of impending doom could change anything between them.

'Take all the time you need.' he replied, forcing his face into that familiar emotionless mask he had perfected by now.

No. He didn´t want to let her go.

Not one tiny bit.

His heart screamed for him to ask her to stay. But his head knew it was no use.

They continued to stare at each other.

As if both of them wanted to say more, but couldn´t find the words.

General Sephiroth Crescent slightly cocked his head, giving a tight nod, to then look up again.

The pink haired female´s gaze lingered for a second longer, hesitated, before suddenly she turned her back to him.

It was without glancing over her shoulder even once that Claire Farron left.

Left SOLDIER. Left Palumpolum. Left him.

The silver haired hero in the slightly wrinkled coat continued to watch her retreating form exit the Inn and make her way down the gravelly road through the high windows until turning one last bend in the street, she was gone.

Fighting the inner turmoil raging in his heart, the first clas general closed his eyes and took a deep long breath to slowly open them again.

Yes. He wished he could make her stay. More than anything. But he knew he needed to let her go.

Trying to recall the feeling of her skin against his own, the warmth, the peace he´d felt, the love, he found it already gone, leaving nothing but a memory.