It was the day before the wedding.

Together with the neighbourhood watch Lightning and her comrades had managed to prepare everything that was required for Serah and Snow's big day.

They had shied no trouble and effort to make everything look perfect. Had worked relentlessly thos past few days, had put up the tent for the wedding ceremony, had put up chairs and tables and arranged flowers, had helped with the deco and name cards and all the other million things one didn't even think of before one had to actually prepare a wedding.

Still. The day before the great day they had done a pretty good job and it was to grant themselves some timeout, some welldeserved reward for their efforts, that Snow decided to take them out to sea in his precious sailboat.

The 'amazing Shiva' as he lovingly referred to it, was a luxurious looking sigle master, Lightning couldn't even begin to dream how he had managed to finance it.

It was a pretty good boat too, she had Yuj tell her.

The pink haired female herself was not so fond of boats. No not at all. And she wasn't fond of water either.

The back and forth of the waves always made her neauseaous and the thought of the endless depths of the ocean beneath her filled with tons and tons of dangerous creatures she didn't even know the name of, kept at bay only by a few planks of wood and Snow's sailing skills was not really much of a comfort.

She'd spent half the trip already hanging at the railing, trying to decide whether she should just throw up or leave it for later and if that all wasn't enough to make her feel uncomfortable she could always risk a look over at the sundeck, where her favourite first class was lounging in nothing but his speedo swim pants.

Risking a glance over at the silver haired man in question Lightning couldn't help but shudder.

His body spread out on the sundeck next to Zack and Lebreau, Lightning got a glimpse of his perfect alabaster skin sparkling in the Bodhum summer sun.

They had spent so much time now in the brihgt hot sun, he should have gotten a suntan like all the others, but no. Just like herself, general Sephiorth Crescent hadn't gotten tan by any means. His skin still had the pale otherworldly tint it had had in Midgar, and so did her own. It was probably what came from sharing your genetic information with that of a blood thirsty extra terestrial.

It was so weird. Lightning had always gotten tan when she had been young, when she had been human. The fact that she didn't do so anymore, it was a little scary really, was unnatural. Still, she couldn't seem to keep her eyes off that well definied chest that delicious belly.

She could still remember it, the way his skin had felt beneath her own, the way those tight firm muscles of his abdomen had felt beneath her touch.

The memory of it made her own skin erupt in goosepumps.

'Hey Light, are you cold?' her sister Serah offered, looking at her with concern.

'Maybe you should wear a blouse of something, we can't risk you catching a cold now one day before the wedding.' she said somewhat concernedly.

It made Lightning accept the piece of clothing she was offering quite readlily.

She was spared the torture of having to watch the man from her nightmares any longer when they arrived at an abandoned sheltered bay that seemed to be Snow's final destination.

It was a pretty sight to watch. Perfect turquoise waters and soft white sandy grounds, the seabreeze almost non existent with it's area surrounded by high cliffs, it was probably impossible to reach that place from land.

It was a tiny piece of paradise.

Taking her supposed cold as the perfect excuse to stay behind Lightning confined to the safety of the deck while the others readily jumped into the floods, swimming around, pushing each other under water and diving for shellfish to have for lunch.

'Ahhh! The water it magnificient! It's so marvelously warm!' Zack Fair exclaimed from among the gentle waves, his head a little black dot bobbing up and down.

'Only as long as you're swimming right behind me, pal.' Genesis Rhapsodos informed him, an equally bobbing spot, just crimson instead of black.

'Wait what?!' came Zack's upset reply.

General Sephiroth Crescent didn't stay to listen.

Letting his body glide into the pleasantly cooling waters, the silver haired first class felt as though diving into a dream.

The water was not too deep here maybe 10 or 15 meters, shallow enough that one could reach the cround but deep enough to harbour all the richness of Bodhum's underwater life.

It was in a state of utmost bliss, that he took in his new surroundings, from the corals and other underwater vegetation he'd never heard neither name nor description of, to the almost overwhelming multitude of different fish and crustaceans and over to the occasioanl geosgaeno, which instead of attacking as he would have thought, just floated by quite peacefully.

Diving into the of the oceans of Bodhum was like entering a different world entirely.

There were spots of perfect clear water with white patches of sand, and there were underwaterworlds of giant plushy soft twines rising up at least ten meters from the ground that held the most pecliar kind of wildlife the silver haired man had ever seen.

He didn't know how long he spent there, studying the underwater lifeforms, basking in the beaty of it, the novelty of the experience.

It was only until coming up and back towards the boat that he found the others busy gathering lunch in big grilled grates.

Well... It wasn't exactly a very hard endeavour.

Making his way to the oceanbed yet again he found the sea was full of food, reaching from all kinds of different fish over to some multicoloured scallops hiding in the sand and all kinds of crabs and oder shellfisch hiding under every upturned stone.

All one really had to do was pick them up.

It was a wondurous experience, gathering that food for them, one of the most peculiar he'd ever had.

Baking in the gentle currents a little longer, he couldn't help but feel so carefree, feel so good.

His body almost weightless, he relaxedly lay back to let his body float the waves, his eyes directed at the endless sky.

It was perfect. His life here. Those past few days, that weeks, they easily qualified for the best days of his life.

Never had he felt so carefree felt so free, felt so happy.

Suddenly with Shin-Ra gone, with soldier non existent, with the wutai war over and Midgar so very very far away, he felt like a different person, felt so free. Suddenly all those shackles of his past were gone, all doors in life stood open fore him, all the paths seemed available.

Suddenly he was seeing the world from a whole new different perspective, had time and space for things he'd never thought he ever would.

Yes. Bodhum was doing him good. Was doing wonders for his tortured soul.

What would it be like to live a life like this?

Like Serah's and Snow's?

Their lives seemed like an endless sequence of jolly holidays, a big nice infinite vacation. A life of sunny skies and sandy beaches, of dinners with friends and baths in the sea and walks in the marina.

Suddenly it seemed like the life of dreams. Everbody's dreams really.

If only he could have have that too...

If only he could have what Snow and Serah had. With Lightning.

Lightning...

Looking back towards the boat he found her standing at the railing watching them all from a distance.

Bodhum had changed her too.

That trademark serious expressions, those worried lines from her face he had gotten so used to had gone, had been replaced by happy smiles and cute small dimples. The constant guard she had been keeping up at all times had dropped, had vanished almost completedly. She had become a different person too. Had become more open, more cheerful, more relaxed, was allowing herself to have some fun too.

If only she would join them in the waters. If only she could overcome her fears of the sea and see all the pretty things it had to offer, all those hidden worlds, those galaxies waiting just below the surface. She didn't even know what she was missing out on. If only he could show her...

Lightning...

If only he knew how she felt about him. Somehow he could never quite tell. Never knew what she expected from him either.

They'd been getting on so well lately. She had been letting him in, at least a little bit. Had opened up to him. They'd grown a little closer.

Still. He had gone a little bit too far the day before at the funfair he was aware.

He had hit a nerve there, mentioning that childhood fear, and there was only way to set it straight again.

Helping her to overcome it.


It was around noon that finally the group of eager divers made their way back on deck, fishing grates bursting with their big catch. The lot of them anchoring closer to the shore for lunch, it were Angeal and Lebreau who helped Serah prepare their meal in the boat's small kitchen.

The scent of her favourite kind of food making her stomach at least settle, it did only very little to lift Claire Farrons mood.

It was listening to her friends banter in silence that she made to wolf down her serving.

'I saw a shark!' Cloud eagerly informed.

'It was at least five meters long!'

'I saw a gray whale!' Zack tried to overtrump him.

'You should have seen it's teeth!'

'Gray whales don't have teeth.' Yuj corrected instantly, earning himself withering puppy glances.

'What am I to tell you... It had teeth.' their friend insisted.

'It infact almost got me. I only just escaped!'

Lebreau was throwing him admiring glances.

Genesis, not very happy with the eating arrangements yet again was stabbing at his food reluctantly.

'How can you guys always eat this catfood?' he threw in somewhat grumpily.

It made the Bodhum bunch errupt in laughter.

'You should really give it a try man,' Angeal Hewley pointed out eagerly. The burly first class was already working at his second serving.

'Let's check out the beach next. It looks like we're the first people ever to have set anchor here!' Zack Fair suggested, ignoring his comrade's complains.

'Maybe we will find some natives? Or a whole new species maybe!'

'I could name it after Lebreau.'

Lightning mentally face palmed herself.

Her eyes gliding over to meet the her first class general's she couldn't help but chuckle on the look she found there on his face.

It was good to see the thought of it sounded just as appaling to him as it did to her.

'Sorry Zack. We've actually been here a gazillion times already.' Snow told him somewhat sympathetically.

'As the neighbourhood watch it's our duty to keep an eye on all the wildlife activity going on on this island. If there were any 'Lebreaurians' we surely would have run into them by now.'

'Maybe you haven't been looking properly...' the little puppy muttered sullenly.

But from the dreamy look on Lebreau's face those tasteless lines had hit target.

Really... What was wrong with this girl?

They spent the next half an hour on the deck resting up a little and enjoying the peaceful athmosphere.

Lightning still couldn't stop savouring how clean the air was in Bodhum.

It was probably what she had missed most all those years trapped in Midgar.

The feeling of some clean fresh air, whooshing through her lungs. It was what she appreciated about home most.

Home.

Suddenly she knew exactly where that was.

How could she ever have been so blinded as to to think that it was Midgar?

Suddenly Lightning had no idea.

It was just after she had finished helping the other girls cleaning away the dishes and clearing up the kitchen that the guys were ready for their next diving trip.

'Okay, okay, round two!' Maqui informed at the top of his lungs as Lightning made her way over to Serah and Lebreau who were already lounging in a pair of deckchairs.

Her Midgar friends all eager for another adventure it seemed, they had already gotten from their seats and gathered over at the plank, where one by one they were following the guys from NORA, jumping into the water.

'Aren't you coming Light?!' came Zack's expectant voice.

'No thanks guy's. I'll pass again.' was all she gave him for an answer.

'What's wrong? Don't you know how to swim?' she heard Genesis teasing from a distance.

'No... It isn't that.' She said feeling somewhat stupid.

It was true. She did know how to swim of course. They all did. Still...

'I just.. I don't know. I'm not exactly fond of water.' she finally setteld on.

It was true too. She wasn't a big fan of the salty oceans. Never really had been.

It wasn't that she had any problems swimming. Not at all. It was rather something about the water itself.

The vasteness, the extent, the force of it.

And the fact that you couldn't breathe it. Of course.

No. She'd rather stick to the safety of the deck.

'Maybe she's on her period.' she heard Cloud say in a muffled voice.

Lightning couldn't help but bristle.

It was feeling slightly irritated that she made her way back over to the girls and their inviting deckchairs.

'Oh my god he is so cute...' Lebreau began instantly the second the guys were out of earshot.

'Did you hear what he mentioned over dinner? He wants to name a species after me.'

Claire Farron felt her serving of seafood making it's way up her throat.

'We all heard,' she said in a somewhat clipped tone.

It made the pretty brunette give her an accusing stare.

'Lightning... You've known Zack for quite some time now, you've worked with him, haven't you?' the woman in question began, huge brown eyes looking up at her.

'What kind of guy is he, I mean... Do you think he likes me? Do you think it's serious?'

Lightning looked up feeling completely flabbergasted.

For half a minute she could only stare at Leabreau.

What was it with people you were attracted to?

Was it normal for everybody to become so insecure, so helpless, blind, completely dumb?

'He definitely likes you.' She heard herself say.

It was the most obvious thing in the world.

Was it that obvious for Serah too when she looked at her and Sephiorth?

Lightning couldn't help but wonder.

'A blind person could see that.'

It made Lebreau blush furiously.

'How was it with him back in soldier?' The brunette wanted to know.

It made Lightning knit her brows.

'Well... Zack was my best friend. He still is I guess.' she replied somewhat honestly.

'He's a nice guy, loyal to his friends. He has his heart in the right place.'

She didn't mention Aerith. Or how they had danced on New Years Eve. Or how they had kissed.

'And he has abs to die for.' Serah threw in somewhat dreamily.

'They all have abbs to die for.' Lebreau agreed readily.

'Especially Zack.'

It made Lightning roll her eyes at them.

What was it with their ridiculous obsession with abs?!

They were talking about her comrades here. Didn't they notice they had heads too. And arms and legs. And maybe personality?

Chuckling at the ridiculousness of it Lightning could only shake her head.

Really those girls had to get their hormones in check...

'Oh come on Lightning. I mean they do look like a bunch of porn stars. Surely even you must have realized, haven't you?!' Lebreau said somewhat sceptically.

It made Lightning's cheeks flush crimson.

Yes she had. Especially recently. Still. It was not anything she would admit.

Not infront of a bunch of giddy girls like Serah and Lebreau at least.

It was enough to get the pink haired female up from hair chair.

Maybe she should get herself a drink...

Yes. A drink surely would make these things a whole lot easier. And maybe a little more bearable.

Her two female companion's eyes following her back towards the cabin they looked up at her with big dreamy gazes.

'Oh come on please...' Lightning said somewhat pleadingly.

'They're not all that -'

It was the last thing she said before she ran into her favourite silver haired first class general.

The annoying male suddenly leaning against the pole next to the ship plank, he was looking up at her with intent big mako eyes.

He had appeared out of thin air again, it seemed.

Oh, that bastard.

He knew how much she hated it when he crept up on her like that.

Somehow she was getting a feeling he was doing this on purpose.

'We're not all that what?' he asked somewhat innocently, one of his silver brows arching at her challenging.

Claire Farron only stared.

There he was again. Standing right in front of her, those damned swimming pants leaving him practically naked, a warrior god straigth from a fairytale, presenting his perfectly marble skin, those perfectly defined muscles of his chest and his, she had to admit, perfectly carved abs.

They were indeed abs to die for.

'All that gorgeous.' she informed him with a tiny wicked smile.

It was her idea of coming back at him.

Her well deserved revenge on him for sneaking up on her like that.

The man in front her looking at her doubtfully, Claire Farron heard the girl's excited giggles from the deck behind her.

'Well, you weren't all that ill-disposed back at Palumpolum.' the man infront her contered, that self confident half smirk she knew so well by now spreading on his face again.

It made Lightning give him a mighty shove.

That conceited prick of a man...

The silver haired first class spectacularily loosing his balance, there was that split second of triumphant glee where Lightning saw him loose his footing and tumble backwards off the boat.

It would have been perfect. A perfect moment of her long deserved revenge, a beautiful glimpse of triumph, her golden moment, if it weren't for the general's hand closing around her forearm at the very last opportunity.

No!

Her lips forming the word in a silent desperate scream, Claire Farron felt her body get yanked foreward.

There was the short moment of surprised wightlessness, where suddenly, so unexpectedly, her feet left the polished wood planks of the deck of Snows damned boat and her body seemed to hover suspended in midair.

Her wrist caught in the evil bastards iron grip, she had just enough time to make out the annoying first class's triumphant smirk, before a second later her face crashed throught the surface of the water the weight of her former mentor pulling her down under the waves with him.

Claire Farron couldn't help but freeze.

Suddenly the world around her was quiet.

No shouting and yelling from the guys around, no giggles from the girls. No soft cool summer breeze, no rustling of the waves. There was the pressure of the Bodhum ocean, engulfling her from all sides and her former mentor's skin beneath her as recovering from the shock of falling, she found her body pressed against his.

They were floating in the currents, belly on belly, legs entangled in some weird mess, the palms of her hands resting on his chest, not sure whether she should push him away or drag him closer.

Their flimsy soft thin swimming clothes doing only very little to bolster the non existant distance between them, Ligthning could feel eyery curve of his body against her's, felt her comrade's heart racing away under the palm of her right hand, found herself painfully reminded of the night of meteorfall.

Her heart beating significantly faster, her blood flooded with adrenaline from the shock of falling, Lightning felt the jenova cells inside beginning to reach out for him.

Oh, how could she have ever thought she could stay away form him?

She must have been delusional.

The salty water burning her eyes like hell, all she could make out was the turqoise of the ocean, the whitish shimmer of his skin, the silver of his hair, and a pair of big green mako eyes glistening at her mysteriously.

It was like a scene from a dream.

Was as though the fall from the boat had swept her away into an alternate reality.

A place where everything was possible. And nothing was as it seemed.

It was another moment before Lightning realized that he had his arms around her, was pressing her into him in fact, the weight of the both of them making them sink with the speed of a stone, it was sight of the surface above them falling farther and farther away, that made Claire Farron get out of her stupor.

She had to get up to breathe.

It was a few more seconds that Claire Farron allowed herself to drown in those big handsome mako eyes, drown in the waters of the ocean really, before finally she pushed away from the man below her and swam back up to the surface.

She broke through the surface of the waves with a needy gasp for air.

The others busy splashing each other's faces with water a fair distance away from them where the waters were more shallow, Lightning found the silver haired general emerge behind her a few moments later, looking at her mischievously and giving her his smug general asshole trademark smirk.

It instantly made her push him back under the surface again.

That bastard...

There was laughter in his eyes when he came back up again and somehow Claire Farron found she couldn't be angry with him.

Attacking him with a splash of water like her comrades were doing among each other some 20 meters away, she quickly turned and raced away towards them.

Surely they would help her, should he decide to turn this into a full fledged water battle, wouldn't they?

They would.

'Woahh hey Lightning! What a pleasant surprise!' Cloud greeted her from a little distance, waving at her like a madman and earning himself a big fat splash from Gadot.

'You came just in time for a round of Chicken fight!' Maqui announced excitedly.

'What is chicken fight?' Genesis and Zack asked in unision, sounding slightly perplexed.

There were no chicken to be seen for miles.

It was only a second later that Gadhot had snatched up Cloud and pushed him onto his broad tan shoulders.

'This is chicken fight!' He announced in his big booming voice, as Yuj and Maqui got themselves into the same position.

'No... No I will certainly not participate in chicken fight.' Claire Farron said decicively, as she watched Zack's attempts at climbing Angeal and Snow and Genesis eyeing each other awkwardly.

It was a moment later that Lightning found herself up on Sephiroth's shoulders.

'Of course do!' The silver haired nightmare from below her announced, earning himself cheerful faces from around the crowd.

'Awesome!' Snow announced. As awkwardly he began to lift off Genesis.

'The loosers have to set up the remaining wedding deco!'

And so it began.


It had been late already when they had finally anchored the amazing Shiva back in the marina of Bodhum and it was already getting dark, with the sun going down and the first twinkling stars coming up to lead their way that Lightning and Sephiroth walked their way towards the wedding tent.

'It's weird loosing at something for once.' Lightning admitted somewhat pensively, making her companion chuckle.

'We were a horrible team.' he confirmed readily.

It was ture. They had not only lost the chicken fight. They had lost spectacularly. Had barely lasted more than a minute in fact.

'I could get myself used to it.' the man beside her added, making his comrade give a hearty laugh.

The silver haired first class, he had never seen her laugh like that.

Ever.

It was almost carefree.

Bodhum, Serah, the beach, it was doing her good. It was doing them all good, he was aware.

It was upon entering the tent, that the laughter died and an awkward silence settled over them.

Everything seemed to be in perfect order.

There were rows and rows of seats, neatly arranged to both the sides and there was a fluffy red carpet leading up to a slithly raised up platform in the front.

It was with the side of her pink flipflops that Lightning made to brush off some sand that had crept it's way onto the carpet.

She had spent a lot of time helping to prepare that tent, had helped set up the chairs with all the others, had put up the flower arrangements together with Lebreau.

There'd been so many things to do.

And it had been a good thing too.

It had kept her busy, had kept her mind from thinking too much.

Because yes, the truth was, the closer the wedding came, the more anxious she had begun to feel.

The wedding.

It was almost impossibly close now.

That dreaded day.

Where Serah would unite with Snow forever.

Suddenly the thought of it was impossible to bear.

She had left Serah behind all those years ago, it was true. Had left her just like that. Had never found the time to visist. Had abandoned her really.

Still.

Now that the moment had come to leave her to Snow, she felt more than reluctant to let her go.

The truth was she needed Serah.

Needed her more then anything.

Serah had been her reason to live for such a long time.

A precious little star, shining in a void of darkness.

Had been her reason to carry on.

Had been her everything really, even if she didn't know.

Her sweet kind little sister.

Now she was supposed to let her go. Was supposed to make room for Snow.

The idea of her sister getting married and to that oaf of a man too...

Somehow it didn´t sit well with Lightning. Not at all.

Well, then again she had never exactly been very fond of that guy in the first place.

'You did a great job on this... You and Lebreau...' Sephiroth's voice suddenly came from somewhere behind her.

It made Lightning look up again.

Giving a tiny grunt to indicate that she had heard, she quickly let her gaze trail over the arangements, making sure everything was in place and ready for the next day.

Making her way over to the the dias, the place where in just a few hours time Snow Villiers and her litte sister would swear each other eternal faithfulness, Claire Farron quickly busied herself with picking at the flower arrangements.

Suddenly he was standing there right next to her, the annoying first class general, penetratig mako eyes glistening in the last few fading rays of sunlight.

Staring his intent killer stare at her. Us usual.

'Lightning... What´s wrong?' he asked, his voice was gentle, soothing.

Reminded her of the night in Palumpolum.

It was impossible how much she had missed it. How much she had yearned to hear that caring voice.

It made her heartbeat spead up instanly, mady her legs feel whobbly, weak.

It was both a blessing and a curse.

'I don´t know...' she admitted truthfully.

For a second she only looked away, giving a frustrated sigh.

'It´s just Serah... The wedding... I... I don´t know... Everything just happened so fast.' she began somewhat frustratedly as her eyes traveled back up to find his somewhat tentative green ones.

She didn´t know what made her tell him, but suddenly she talked. First carefully, shyly, reservedly, then the words just started bubbling from her mouth so freely, that in the end she couldn´t have stopped them even if she wanted to.

'When I left her for Midgar she was just a girl. Now she´s a woman... Going to get married tomorrow.' She explained.

'I can´t believe so much time has passed already. And Snow...'

She gave another mighty sigh at the thought of her sister's future husband.

'I don´t know... He is... Well... I don´t know whether he´s the right guy for her.' she finally admitted.

Her discreetly guarded disapprovement of her sister's fiancé, suddenly it burst out full force.

'I mean he's so... He´s just so... Arrrghhh!' unable to find the accurate words to describe her exact feelings, Lightning set down the vase with the flowers she had forgotten she'd been holding down a little bit more roughly than she had intended.

It was true. She loved her sister. She respected her choice. She trusted her. More than enyone. And although she had never actually voiced her objections, although she loved Serah more than anything in this entire world and never wanted to cause her harm, no matter how she put it, no matter from which angle she looked at it, not in a million years, Lightning couldn't, wouldn't, bring herself to approve of Snow.

Never. Ever. It was impossible.

Snow was an idiot. Was naive. Had never seen anything else than his perfect Bodhum beach and the adjourning forest's wildlife. He knew nothing about responsibilty. Nothing about duty and honor and pride. And he didn't have an ounce of discipline inside his bearlike body. How in the name of Gaia was he supposed to keep Serah safe?!

To Lightning at the least, that guy was all talk.

Her words trailing off into silence, unable to think of something else to say really, the pink haired woman just looked up at the general, her eyes begging for advice.

How in Gaia's name was she going to survive the next day? How?!

'You shouldn´t be so hard on Snow, you know...' Sephiroth said somewhat unexpectedly.

That traitor...

'He really loves your sister. They are happy. Why don´t you give him a chance?'

Unable to think of anything to say, Lightning just gave him an incredulous stare.

That wasn´t exactly the answer she had expected, not from him at least.

Looking away, she slowly shook her head.

He was right. Of course he was. Snow was obsessed with Serah. There was nothing he would not do for her.

Still...

'He cares for her. He only wants the best for her... Just like you.' the general reasoned.

Lightning knew that it was true.

But what was she supposed to do, to feel, to think?

Back when she had left, Serah had been the only family she had had. They had only had each other. They used to be so close. Now that she was back again, she felt stupid, felt dispensable, felt like an intruder inside her own house.

The truth was Serah didn´t need her anymore. Serah had grown up. And she had Snow now.

SNOW!

And Lightning herself... She had nothing. Noone.

Where was she supposed to go from here?

She couldn´t stay with Snow and Serah, could she? Not forever.

No. She couldn´t stay there and watch them live their lives, marry, have children and so on. She´d only be in their way, would be the fifth wheel on the cart.

She had fought all those last years. She had fought for Serah, to protect her, to support her, to make sure she had everything she needed, to make sure she would be happy, and safe, and whole. And she had accomplished all that. She had accomplished this mission. Her ultimate mission.

Serah had been her reason to live, to carry on.

And now, now that she had to let her go, suddenly she had nothing. Nothing to hold on to. Nothing to keep her afloat.

No direction, no compass.

Suddenly she didn´t know where to start, what to do.

Being a SOLDIER it had been her duty to carry out orders.

Just that.

Nothing else.

Back then she had been yearning for freedom. She had wished to be free. Free of orders. Free of compulsion. Free of Shin-Ra. Free of responsibility. Free to go wherever she wanted, do as she pleased.

And now... No that finally she had all that, now that all the opportunities lay open right before her, suddenly she felt unable to cope with it, felt suddenly so small.

Was this freedom? Was this what she had wanted?

Standing there, stranded, lost, without a clue of what to do next?

Because if it was she wasn't sure what she prefered.

'What should I do now, that I don´t have to look after Serah anymore?' she murmured, her voice mirroring that feeling of being stranded, lost, she felt inside.

'Hm...' the general mused.

'Why don´t you look after yourself for once?' he suggested carefully as extending one of his arms he gently made to take her hand.

'Huh?' Claire Farron piped up surprisedly. Somehow she had completely forgotten that he was there.

Looking down at the dias, Lightning found his hand resting now on top of her's.

The feeling of his smooth cool skin against her own, it didn´t make coming up with words any easier.

'You said everything you ever did was for Serah. Why don´t you do something for yourself...?' the general prompted with a tentative little smile.

Shit, she must have thought aloud.

'Something for myself?' she repeated stupidly.

'Yes... I don´t know. You could quit. Quit fighting. Do somthing else. Start anew...' he simply said, his thumb caressing the back of her hand now, it sent tiny shivers up and down her spine.

'Why not?'

Pulling her hand away from his, Ligtning quickly shook her head.

What was he implying?

Somehow she wasn´t sure.

'I can´t quit fighting.' she revealed at last.

It was true.

She couldn´t quit being a soldier. She wasn´t even human anymore. She couldn´t go back to leading a normal life, never again. The beast, it was inside her blood, ran through her veins, to the very core of her being. He had made sure of that, hadn´t he?

Looking up at him again, she could tell he knew exactly what she was thinking, knew that he was thinking just the same thing. It was written all over his face.

What were they doing here anyway?

Pretending that they could live like that. Like them?

Would Serah even accept her, would she have let her into the house, had she known what she had become? If she knew she had become a monster?

Somehow Lightning didn´t think so.

Somehow she wasn´t even able to accept the fact herself.

'Come on let's go.' the general suddenly said ot of the blue.

She looked up at him with curiosity.

'Our work here's done. Everything's in place right?' he asked somewhat impatiently.

Sweaping the area one more time Lightning gave a confirmatory nod.

'Great. Because I know just the thing to do.'


It was half an hour later that the two of them stood at the cliff from Lightning's childhood fears.

'I cannot do it.' she said with somewhat shaky voice, looking up at her fellow fisrst class apologetically.

'We'll do it together.' the general assured.

It only made her shook her head resignedly.

'I can't.'

'Come on. We should do this. You should do this. We both know that you can do it, you're not a child anymore.'

The woman with the windswept pinkish hair, she kept looking at him skeptically.

'This is one of those childhood fears you gotta overcome. You owe it to yourself.'

Claire Farron exhaled a long held breath.

She knew that he was right.

'I'm scared.' she did admit then.

It was true. She was scared shitless.

It was for a long time that the silver haired first class studied her face, was very careful that he finally reached forward to take her hand again, to let his thumb glide over her slightly shaking fingers.

This time Claire Farron did not pull away.

'Why?'

Claire Farron quickly let her gaze drop to her feet.

How was she supposed to explain?

'It's the waves.'

'It's the depth.'

'I don't know.'

It was then that finally she looked up at him again.

'It's stupid, I know. I've survived so many things.' She said shaking her head again.

General Sephiroth Crescent gave her one of his handsome halfsmiles.

'I'm scared I'll dive in too deep. That I'll get caught in the current. That I will not make it back to the surface again.' she admitted in a low soft voice.

Somehow she wasn't sure she was still referring to the cliffjump and not something else entirely.

But yes, It was true.

She was indeed scared of drowning.

Was scared on every level of her being.

She did know what it felt like now. Had experienced it there in soldier on the very day she'd been made first class.

The memory of it, of having her her lungs fill with water, of having her throat seize up, her diaphragm spasming, her body's urge to take in oxygen without having the means to, that devastating helplessness, all those horrible things she'd experienced in those few torturous minutes, after all this time the thought of it still caused her goosebumps.

Looking up at her silver haired comrade again it was for a few more moments that their gazes locked.

Mako green on icy blue.

A silent understanding passing between the two of them, she felt the man beside her give her hand a tiny squeeze.

'I swear I'll pull you up to the surface again.'


They arrived back at the Farron's beach house about half an hour later, their new clothes drenched in water and their hair a tangled dripping mess.

They were trying to be quiet as it was quite late alreay, but it was hard keeping quiet when you were bursting with fits of laughter.

'Oh my god, I can't believe we did it. We really did it.' Claire Farron exclaimed again and again.

No matter how often she said it, she found she couldn't bring herself to believe it.

They had really done it.

Taking a giant leap of faith Lightning had overcome her childhood fears and sailed into he darkness.

She still remembered the feeling of the air whooshing past her, the sight of the bodhum city lights shining up at her like a whole sky of stars coming from the ground, hurtling up at her, the rushing of the breaking waves below her and the sobering sting of impact when her body came crushing through the waves.

For a few moments time had stood still.

There'd been the darkness of the nightly waters, pressing onto her from eyery side, the rushing of the waves breaking on the rock above her, there was the power of the current tucking at her useless limbs.

It had made her mind go blank and her body very still.

There had been darkness below her. Darkness above her. The only difference was that the darkness atop her had tiny flashes of lights sparkling all above her. Stars. Shining down from above.

This was it.

Her personal ground zero.

Somewhere between the cliff above and the bed of the sea below her a part of her had died.

The part that had been too scared to jump for all her life.

Floating in the deep dark currents of the Bodhum oceans, Claire Farron realized that part of her was still somewhere up there on the cliff, trembling at he thought of actually doing what she had just done.

She had left that part of her behind.

The chains of the past that had shackled her had vanished .

She was ready to rise now.

Ready to rise as a fresh version of herself.

The Lightning 3.0.

There was the soft brush of her comrade's fingers somewhere on her wrist before decisively his hand closed around her's to pull her up towards the light.

And it was only a few moments later that Claire Farron's head broke through the surface and she took a few deep breaths of clean fresh air.

Her first few breaths in a new life, a brandnew experience.

'Are you okay?' came her companion's worried voice.

'I've never felt better.' the pink haired female replied sincerely.

He was still holding on to her hand, was not showing any sign of letting go anytime soon, and it was giving his finger's a reassuring little squeeze that she started to pull him back towards the shore.

She might have overcome her childhood fears. Still. She wasn't really any fonder of the water than she'd been before.

They'd made their way up to the street and back to the Farron's beachhouse with their hands still entwined and it wasn't until they had reached the front porch, that Lightning finally let go.

'Sephiroth...'

There was still something she had to do.

The silver haired first class turning to look at her questioningly, it was staring up into his beautiful green eyes that Lightning felt her heart reach out for him.

Something inside her stirring, she suddenly felt the almost irresistable urge to bring her arms up around his neck, lean up unto her tiptoes, and kiss him on his lips.

That weird giddy feeling that had settled somewhere deep inside her stomach intensifying, it was quite annoying to say the very least. But it was also infinitely nice and soothing. Was bliss, really.

It was taking a tentative tiny step toward the man next to her on the porch that she reached out again to touch his arm.

It immediately made him close the distance between them, made him bring his free arm up to her side in what had to be a couragous act of chivalry.

'Light, I...'

Those pretty mako eyes looking down at her with longing, it was Claire Farron who broke the magic of the moment and finally took a step away from him, made that soothing warm hand that had been resting somewhere at her hip fall back to it's owner's side.

'Thank you.' she said through slightly trembling lips.

'I mean, thanks for everything.'

It was the last thing she said, before she entered throught he front door leaving the silver haired general dripping water on the doormat.