Prologue: Lightning

When I awoke from my dreamless sleep, I was just in time to witness the end of the world.

Claire hadn't always been so strong. Though lately she'd wondered if what she possessed could truly be called "strength". Her mind had long-since been overcome by the grief, fear and doubt of the world and her response was to simply lock it away deep within her heart. To pretend that such matters did not exist.

It had served her well before. You are stronger than this. She would tell herself. You must be stronger than this. For Serah.

Claire shook her head as the rain began to fall. She rested her hand against the enormous golden statue of the God Bhunivelze and surveyed the Palace. Thunder crackled in the distance, or could it perhaps be the fireworks? Yusnaan: The city of fools, reveling in their final moments on this world.

She tried to distract herself from her thoughts of Serah. They would only complicate things in this critical moment. But as she awaited her instructions, her mind continued to wander back to the circumstances that had led her here.

So many centuries before, during the Purge. Back when the inhabitants of Pulse existed upon a false world known as Cocoon. They lived under the protection (or in truth enslavement) of the fal'Cie of Cocoon, the god-like beings who formed the world. It was then that they had all been branded a Pulse l'Cie, servants of the fal'Cie of Pulse. It had begun with Serah, who was the first to discover the Pulse fal'Cie within the city of Bodhum. And then over the course of the Purge, and of being hunted down for the crime of merely having seen such a thing, Claire met many others.

There was, of course, Snow. He was Serah's fiance at the time. She did not approve of this union and did not think much of Snow. He was always so damn reckless. Always having to play the hero in his own little story. Perhaps had she been more understanding of him, things may have gone differently between them, but she had no time to concern herself with this now.

There was Sazh, the pilot who was fighting for his son Dajh. There was Vanille and Fang, residents of Pulse who had been encased within the Pulse fal'Cie, though they did not reveal this part of themselves until much later.

And then there was Hope. A young boy caught up in the confusion of a harsh world that he could not possibly have understood at the time. Claire eventually grew quite close to him; perhaps he reminded her of Serah.

Serah has been encased within crystal, having completed her Focus, the task beset to l'Cie by their fal'Cie masters. Those who failed to complete their Focus were turned into hideous beasts known as the Cie'th. Her final message to them was a simple one: Protect Cocoon.

There was at the moment of her crystallization no hope of her returning to life. But Claire would not give up the search. Even after they themselves were branded as Pulse l'Cie, Claire refused to give up.

You are stronger than this. She would tell herself. You must be stronger than this. For Serah.

Despite impossible odds, they managed to save Serah, save the people of Cocoon and even did the impossible of overcoming their curse of being l'Cie.

Just when Claire thought she would be able to see her beloved sister, Claire was ripped from this world and dragged into the world of Valhalla: realm of the Goddess Etro. The Goddess had named Claire her champion and had set her to the task of protecting the world and the very continuum of time from a man who sought to destroy it, Caius Ballad.

Once more she was placed in an impossible situation, facing off against the man driven to such insanity as to try and end all existence. Caius had been forced to continually guard and protect the seeress Yeul. However the powers that made Yeul a seeress also shortened her lifespan significantly and after mere years on the planet she would pass away, and a new Yeul would be born. One and many, each had the same soul, and yet each was unique.

The thought of being forced to watch her die over and over again was beyond cruel, and Claire did not blame Caius for his grief, but he was a threat, and she handled herself accordingly. Even when she felt herself losing control of the battle that lasted lifetime after lifetime she kept her composure. But when she found herself face to face with the last man on the world: Noel Kreiss, her keen skill at hiding her emotions had failed her.

Seeing that Caius's battle against time would soon lead to the destruction of the entire race, even if it was 700 years after her and Serah's time, she could not abide it. So blessed by Etro she sent Noel to find her sister Serah to try and save the world from the battle in their world. The battle that she could not be a part of.

So again, she remained apart from her sister and from everyone else she had ever known.

You are stronger than this. She would tell herself. You must be stronger than this. For Serah.

But Caius won. Even though the battle between he, Noel and Serah, ended in his demise, it had all been planned. For within him beat the very heart of Etro. The power of the Goddess that allowed him to exist unto eternity, protecting the seeress. Just as the new world that had been created for the human race to exist upon rose into the sky 500 years after Serah and Lightning's time, the end was assured.

Chaos- the unseen force of darkness from whence all manner of calamity occur – flooded the world. And in a final cruel moment, Serah was overcome by the gift of the seeress. Even though she saw a future for the world within the Ark, and the hope that humanity might survive, the curse overtook her, and the last light of her life faded into the world consumed by Chaos.

Deep within Valhalla, with no Goddess to serve and no Serah to protect, Claire slept within the crystal throne of the Goddess. A sleep that might last unto eternity, with the hope of keeping Serah alive if only within her memory.

Yet 500 years later, she returned. For the maker of the world, Bhunivelze, had finally revealed himself to her. He had declared that she would be his Savior. She would guide the souls of this world to the new world that he was creating for them.

And he promised that if she was successful, she would see Serah once more.

The rain beat down heavily now, and the thunder crackled and burst even louder than the fireworks. Claire closed her eyes as the rain beat against her shades and cascaded down her elaborate battle garments. She had almost forgotten. It had been nearly a millenia since she called herself Claire Farron. The harsh protector that her little sister had always needed could not have a name so common, so weak sounding.

An enormous crimson flash streaked across the sky just above the palace, and she was reminded.

My name is Lightning. I am stronger than this. I will be stronger than this. For Serah.