Disclaimer:

I do not own any rights to Final Fantasy XIII. This fan fiction is based on the characters and events from the video game: Final Fantasy XIII, but everything pertaining to after the ending of the game's story is of my own imagination and storytelling creativity.

Rating disclaimer:

This fan fiction is rated (M) for "Mature" I wanted to rate it (MA) but that rating seems to no longer be available. This story will contain; adult language, strong erotic sexual description and violence. This fan fiction will also be shipping Hope and Snow (not shipping in the sense of them being in a relationship but in the sense of them being sexually involved) .. so if you are easily offended or against homosexual interactions and strongly descriptive male on male sexual interaction, then this fan-fic is most definitely not for you.

I hope you enjoy my little fantasy story, I also hope to give the characters used within my fan fiction the justice they rightfully deserve (I'm a big fan of the franchise, so I should do okay lol) I plan to first publish a short introduction chapter in order to set the overall setting to the story and also create a bit of the characters' development.

I'm sorry for such a long disclaimer, I just want to make sure that I covered all the basics.

Okay.. here we go!

-Prologue-

Our story takes place roughly around a year after the conclusion of Final Fantasy XIII, Vanille and Fang remain in their crystalized state, entombed within the crystal pillar that continues to hold up the enormous, now desolate mini planet that was once the great civilization of Cocoon.

We begin this tale on Gran Pulse, within a growing community know as New Bodhum; the first city created on Gran Pulse by the members of NORA and all the refugees who managed to evacuate Cocoon. New Bodhum was named after a small seaside town know as Bodhum, back on Cocoon. It was given this name partly because that's where all the members of NORA resided; but mainly because this town too is located along a sleepy beach shoreline. With each passing day, it continues to be a symbol of new beginnings and bright dreams forged from nothing but short of a true miracle.

Most of the citizens who survived the catastrophic events of the fall of Cocoon, have now made the peaceful seaside city of New Bodum their new home and it thrives with new districts currently being built, rapidly making the little beach town the central community hub and capital of a growing, bustling metropolis.

We now avert our attention to our heroes;

Lightning, like she had done back on the old Bodhum, now rents a small town house on the beach of New Bodhum, a short walking distance from her younger sister Serah's residence. The military organization, known as the Guardian Corp, which Lightning was once a sergeant for back on Cocoon, has now reassembled itself within New Bodhum, making it the city's official main government establishment.

Lightning was offered the position of head lieutenant, since her mentor and former boss, Amodar, has recently retired from the force. At first Lightning was hesitate but eventually agreed, mainly to honor her former boss but also because the additional income would be a huge help financially, especially during this time of much change and adjustment.

Snow and Serah finally married, surprisingly with Lightning's full support and consent. Lightning was actually her younger sister's braid's maid during the very special and beautiful ceremony, which took place during a warm evening underneath the most breathtaking sunset on the glittering shore of New Bodhum beach. Everyone attended, Sazh, Dajh, Hope, his father, the entire gang of NORA, everyone who lived in New Bodum basically, many of who Lightning and the other five ex-l'Cie helped or saved along their adventure to save Serah and Cocoon.

Most importantly, Vanille and Fang were in attendance, not in person of course but most certainly in spirit, as the massive pillar which holds up Cocoon, towered in the far distance across the sea. The wedding isn't the only thing the newlyweds are glowing from, Serah is six months pregnant and Snow beams with pride and anticipated excitement, holding himself so much taller and emitting a much greater confidence (if that were even humanly possible) do to the jubilation of his little baby daughter's birth in a few months.

Snow continues to lead the citizen protection vigilante organization, NORA; who now mainly focus on independent reconnaissance scouting missions throughout the outskirts of New Bodum and the occasional slaying of any random feral monsters who manage to find themselves within New Bodhum's security borders.

NORA receives funding from the Guardian Corp, so the pay is steady and reasonable, unfortunately the only downside Snow has regarding his job is that he technically works under his sister-in-law, Lightning's command and stern observation; but Lightning has warmed up to Snow much more now that he has married her sister and will soon be the father of her future niece.

Serah became a school teacher, she teaches the third grade learning level at the New Bodum public school, a schooling facility that teaches kindergarten to high school level students. It's a career choice that Serah quickly took to and realized is her true calling and passion in life. Within a month's time she'll take her maternity leave but for the meantime she happily teaches her third grade class of thirteen children.

Hope, is a year older now, fifteen almost sixteen, in a few short weeks. The young man is the one out of everyone else who has changed the most. Still baring a soft baby face but now with slight stronger, more mature features. With the fall of Cocoon, Hope's father; Bartholomew Estheim, safely evacuated and was brought to Gran Pulse where he reunited with his son. Mister Estheim works as the CEO for a high tech engineering company established within the thriving city/business district of New Bodhum. Hope and his father live together in a quaint but modern styled single family home within New Bodhum's downtown district, a few miles away from where Lightning, Snow and Serah live.

Hope attends high school, he's a freshmen at the school that Serah teaches at. Hope nowadays spends most of his days going to school during the week, studying, spending quality time with his dad and visiting his ex-l'Cie comrades who have become more like an extended family, mostly Snow, Serah and Lightning. He sees them often, mostly during the weekends when they all have their most downtime.

Sazh became a full-time pilot for the Guardian Corp's military air force division. He works a lot, very long hours but has surprisingly found a new love in his life, a pretty faced Asain woman with gentle eyes by the name of Lily. They both own a home in New Bodum's suburban district, where Lily is a homemaker and bakes decorative cakes, which she sells out of the home for birthday parties and other festivities.

Dajh took to her extremely quickly and quite naturally, to the point where he now calls her mommy. During the daytime hours Dajh attends the New Bodum public school, he is in the third grade, Serah is his teacher; who he loves very much and she him. Lily picks up little Dajh after school every day and they both go home to await Sazh to return home from work, the family enjoy a nice family dinner every evening together and the three live a perfectly happy, private family life.

-Chapter One-

001 AF

(a year Afterthe Fall of Cocoon)

It's a lazy, warm Sunday afternoon. Hope sits on the edge of the long wooden pier that extends off the shore of New Bodhum beach. His shoes are off and he dangles his legs off the pier, both his feet submerged and gently kicking within the cool, crystal blue water.

He intensively reads an old looking book that lays flat upon his lap, his concentration is broken by a soft female voice. "Hope... it's Sunday, you're not supposed to be wasting your weekend away doing homework."

He quickly turns his attention to behind him, where Serah stands, using her hand as a visor to shade her eyes from the bright afternoon sun. The warm breeze tugs against her loose blouse, outlining her little baby bump.

"Oh hey Serah.." he stands to face her "..it isn't homework actually, I'm reading up on some old Oerba traditions that date back to the ancient civilization that Vanille and Fang originally lived during, traditions they celebrated hundreds of years ago here on Gran Pulse."

Serah intrigued snatches the old book out of Hope's hand and thumbs through some of the weathered, fragile pages. "Oh wow, that's really neat Hope.." sentimental admiration within her voice. "..have you come across anything interesting, anything you'd like to share?" he raises both arms, placing his hands to the back of his head, interlacing his fingers.

"Yeah, I think so..."

Hope bends down to pick up his shoes "..how about we go back into the house, where it's cooler for you and I tell you all about it over a refreshing glass of lemonade." He gives her a warm smile to ease his suggested request for a cold beverage.

Serah extends an arm towards him and lightly taps him on the head with the closed leather bound book. "Sure kiddo, sounds like a plan.." she slides the book underneath his arm "..but first I need to swing by the NORA House, Lebreau has a few things for me that she picked up at the market this morning that I need for tonight's dinner." She turns and starts to make her way off the pier as she continues to say. "Why don't you head on over to the house and wait for me there, I shouldn't be too long."

Hope gathers himself and quickly makes his way up to her. "Is um, is Snow there?.." he asks while trying to mask any sign of strange curiosity, which Serah doesn't notice whatsoever. "...like I mean, is he home right now?"

She continues her walk down the pier onto the sand. "Yeah, I think so. He might have just gotten in from his routine afternoon scouting excursion with Gadot, Maqui and Yuj."

Hope sprints past Serah towards the direction of her and Snow's house. "OKAY, I'LL SEE YOU THERE SERAH!" he shouts as he runs up the beach.

Hope enters the cozy home, stepping into the living room, sliding the glass door behind him shut. He drops his shoes by the door and places the book on the coffee table, as he makes his way into the kitchen, he curiously servals the entire house for any sign of Snow, which he finds none. He walks into the kitchen and makes his way to the refrigerator, opens it and pulls out a large jug of chilled ice water. He rests in on the kitchen island top then heads towards the cabinet doors that are above the microwave. He stretches up on his tippy toes and opens the cabinet, he needs to stretch himself a bit more, elongating his arms and torso as much as possible in order to reach the jumbo sized lemonade mix that is stored in the back of the cabinet.

He struggles a bit, cursing the fact that he's so short; both his father and his late mother are/were relatively short and he bubbles with annoyance over the notion of being plagued with their short genes. There's a step stool by the oven that Serah uses in order to reach the higher cabinets in the kitchen. Serah is a bit shorter than him so he shrugs off the nagging urge to retrieve the stool. At this point he can feel the lemonade mix container with his finger tips and desperately claws at it, inching it closer and closer to the edge of the cabinet. He manages to achieve this task; which seems to be such an unnecessary waste of energy, and in the result of all his ridiculous struggling, the container slides into his grasp but do to the fatigue of his arms, it falls off the cabinet's edge, bonking him on the head and landing on the kitchen floor with a loud slam.

"SERAH, BABY, THAT YOU?!"

Snow's voice yells from the direction of the house where the bathroom is located "..Serah, babe I'm so fuckin' worked up!"— his voice getting closer as he makes his way towards the noise that had came from the kitchen. Hope wants to yell out, to make his presence known but he doesn't, instead he picks up the container off the floor and looks towards the hallway that connects the kitchen to the farther rooms in the opposite side of the house. —"All that monster slaying me and guys did today got me all pumped up, I'm gonna need some of that sweet Serah lovin' to calm your big hunk of a husband down!"

Snow steps into the kitchen in nothing but a white linen towel, he's dripping wet from the shower he was taking, beads of water streaming from his shoulder length blonde hair down the protruding mountain of muscle that is his bare chest and slowly trickling down his rippling washboard abs. The damp towel clinging onto his muscular thighs and the large lump of his 'member' perfectly outlined, showcasing just how well hung in both length and girth he is. He surprisingly but not embarrassed by the very slightest notices that it is Hope in the kitchen and not his young wife. "Oh hey Hope, sorry buddy, thought you were Serah..."

Hope extremely blushing with embarrassment, once again drops the container of lemonade mix, his heart beats rapidly against his chest like a frantic drum. Overwhelmed by the rush of pure adrenaline, embarrassment and an confusing untamable urge of lustful excitement, Hope stands in the kitchen frozen by the feelings and thoughts that are racing through his mind and body.