Disclaimer- I own NOTHING!

Summary- Lightning and her friends have won. Now they have a new world that they must make their own. Though they know that together they can do anything.

Chapter 5: Moving Forward

…

The rest of the night passes quietly. In the morning everyone wakes up refreshed and ready to get moving. As we gather up what few supplies we have I keep finding myself watching Hope, recalling the events of the previous night. I notice Fang keeps giving me suspicious looks from time to time. She didn't say anything when I returned to camp, but she did give me a knowing smile before turning back to the fire.

Everyone is chatting and laughing and making plans. There is still some tension between Hope and Noel, but I do think our talk helped. They were able to talk without the subtle hostility in Hope's voice I observed before.

I would really like to talk to Serah, but I can't seem to find a minute with her without her oaf of a fiancé. Ever since we were all reunited they haven't been more than five feet from each other. I suppose it's understandable, but it is still really frustrating. I don't want that idiot to know anything's up and I know that if I ask Serah to talk with me alone he will ask questions and in the end Serah will tell him everything. Then my luck turns around and she asks me to show her where the stream is, so she can clean up a bit before we set off for the day.

Vanille starts to make as if she wants to go too, but Fang gives her a look and shakes her head. It's almost as if she knows that I want to speak with Serah alone. She does seem to have a knack for knowing things she really shouldn't. Either way I am grateful to her for running interference for me.

"All right Serah. Let's go." I say as I grab a few apples for us to eat of the way. She gives Snow a hug and a kiss and we set off. We walk in silence for a bit while I try to figure out how to start. Serah seems to notice my unease.

"Hey Sis, what's wrong? You seem tense, more tense than usual anyway. Is something the matter?" She stops walking and gently touches my arm to make sure she has my attention.

"Huh, oh. I just have a lot on my mind right now." I touch my chin in thought, trying to figure out how to bring up what happened with Hope. "Actually maybe you can help me with something." She seems shocked by my admission, which is understandable given how much I've closed off in the past.

"Oh, how so? I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I'll try my best." She smiles at me and we start walking again.

'Well, I'm not really sure where to start. It's kind of… complicated." Then we reach the stream and our conversation is put on hold as we both work to clean ourselves up. For only being in this world for one day we both are covered in dirt, and Serah didn't even get the benefit of falling into the stream yesterday like I had. As we wash ourselves Serah begins to speak again.

"So why don't you start from the beginning. I mean, if you don't know where to start that seems like a good place."

"Right." I take a deep breath and explain everything that happened from my time as Savior, the fight with Bhunivelze, Me saving Hope, Hope saving me, and then everything that happened yesterday. "So that's everything that has happened and now I don't know what to do or what to think. I've never been in any sort of relationship before and I'm not even sure how I feel about any of this. So tell me, what am I supposed to do?" Serah is quite the entire time I am talking. When I finish she takes a deep breath.

"Well that is quite a bit. I can see how you're all confused, but tell me this; when Hope told you that he loves you how did it make you feel?"

"I don't know. I mean I was happy, really happy. I felt like there butterflies in my stomach, and I couldn't stop smiling." Serah smiles.

"And what about when you kissed? How did it feel?" I think about it for a minute.

"It felt nice, it was nice."

"Sis."

"Alright it was really good. And I think I kind of liked it. And I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. And I think I might want to do it again. There happy now?" Serah jumps excitedly.

"YES! Sis you totally love him! You love Hope!" Her words shock me a bit, but at the same time I think I might have already known that.

"I don't know Serah. Isn't it a bit too soon to say that I…" I struggle to say the word, "love him. I mean I only just accepted that I might possibly have feelings for him at all." Serah deflated a bit.

"Oh alright. But you do like him, like a lot. OOO Sis this is so exciting! You two will be so cute together. Oh and if you guys get married, your kids will be just adorable!" She starts getting excited again.

"Calm down Serah. I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself. We're not even officially together yet." Serah calmed down again. "We agreed to put any sort of relationship we might have on hold until we are all settled down. We don't want to take our focus away from trying to survive at the moment."

'Oh fine. Geez ruin all my fun why don't you." Serah says, with a mock pout.

"Serah."

"Fine. I won't say anything, I promise. Come on, why don't we head back. The others are probably starting to wonder what's taking so long, and we have a lot to get done." Serah starts walking back in the direction of our makeshift camp.

"Right. And remember; NOT. A. WORD. To anyone, not even Snow, especially not Snow."

"But he's my fiancé. How can I keep a secret this big from him?" Serah starts pouting again.

"Serah." I say my patience running thin..

"Okay, okay I won't say anything to Snow, or anyone else." Serah says quickly before taking off running and laughing.

"What have I gotten myself into?" I mumble to myself before running to catch up with my pain-in-the-butt little sister.

…

As we reach camp we can see that the others are all ready to go. They are all sitting around the remains of the camp fire waiting for us. Snow is the first one to notice us approach.

"Hey Baby, hey Sis." He stands up and pulls Serah into his arms. I begin to correct him, but then just let it go. He's going to keep calling me that, why waste my breath. "Now that you two are back we can head out."

The others all stand up and we head in the direction that I sent Fang and Vanille the day before. Those two are in the lead, followed by Serah and Snow, who is talking everyone's ears off, and behind them are Noel and Yuel, with Hope and me bringing up the rear.

We don't talk much at first, mostly sneaking looks at each other when the other isn't looking. The silence, while a little awkward, is not entirely uncomfortable. It gives us both time to think over everything. I think back to my conversation with Serah. I'm still confused, but I do think it helped.

'So did you have a good time with Serah?" Hope's words were unexpected and startled me a bit, but I recovered quickly.

"Yea, it was nice to be able to have a little just, just the two of us. It's been a long time since we've spent any real time together. Not just the last thousand years, but before everything. I was busy with work and didn't have much time to spend with her. I focused so much on providing a good life for her and in the end I just pushed her away. It's no wonder she ended up with Snow." I look away from Hope, ashamed of the way I used to be.

"Hey, don't be upset. Serah understands, and besides you're not the same person you were back then. If you really feel that bad about it just apologize, though I'm near positive that it's not necessary." He smiles at me and I shake my head.

"Maybe you're right. I just don't even know how I would approach a subject like that." I let out a sigh, shake my head again, and run my fingers through my hair.

"Just tell her. She loves you Light. Trust me, everything will be fine." He gives me a soft smile.

"Alright, I'll give it a try. Thanks Hope." I smile at him.

"HEY YOU TWO! HURRY UP!" I look up and notice that the group is pretty far ahead of us and we jog to catch up. When we do Serah smiles brightly, barely able to contain her excitement at whatever she thinks happened between Hope and me just now.

"What happened? We looked up and suddenly you two were nowhere to be found. For a minute there we thought you guys had ditched us."

"Ha ha Snow. Sorry guys, were just got caught up talking and didn't realize how far behind we were." Hope says as we reach the rest of the group. "So how much further do we have to go? We've been walking for a while."

"Not too much farther, it's just past that little grove there." Fang says pointing the direction we are heading.

"Alright then, let's get going." I say moving in the direction Fang had pointed to. Now instead of pairing off, we all walk in a big group. Everyone is talking to one another, I even see Hope chatting away with Noel. Hope looks up at me and I smile at him, then go back to my conversation with Fang. We are discussing what we should do after we get to the waterfall.

"Honestly what we really need to do is find a place to settle permanently, unless of course you plan on us all being nomads the rest of our lives."

"No, you're right Fang, but I think we need to find some more people first. Not that I don't think we could do it on our own, but it would be easier with more people."

"Well look at you Sunshine. When did you become all social?"

'It's not social, it's necessity. With more people we could build shelters fast, gather more food, and still have people to keep look out. We still don't know what kind of creatures live in this world, we need to be careful."

"You're right about all of that, but with more people it also means we need to build more shelters and find more food. And it's a lot easier to keep people safe when there aren't too many to look after. Look I'm not saying that you're wrong, but that we need to think about all points here. My main priority has been and always be Vanille. After her comes the rest of you guys and then it's the rest of the world." Fang glances back to where Vanille is talking animatedly with Serah and Snow.

"I know that. We all have our priorities, but we can't overlook the fact that, as long as everyone does their share, having more people means better chances of survival."

"What if we just settle down somewhere and let the people come to us. I'm sure we're not the only people to end up around here. That way we can work to make sure our lot have someplace to live and as more people come we can expand. That sound good to you?" I consider it for a minute, thinking about how that would work for us all.

"Yea, I think that could work. But first we need to find somewhere that could accommodate everyone, preferably somewhere close to a water source, with plenty of land for us to build and farm as well."

"Okay then, and while we search for this place we can pick up any people we find who want to join us."

"Sound good."

'Alrighty then." She then moves a bit fast, moving over a slight hill. "The waterfall is just over there. We're getting close." I can hear the sound of rushing water and know she's right. We all pick up the pace to catch up, each of us ready for a break from all this walking. By my estimate we have been walking for about 3 or 4 hours and I can see that everyone is getting tired.

As we make it over the hill we are greeted by an absolutely breath taking sight. On one side there is the waterfall that looks to be 50ft tall, followed by an absolutely huge river. The only way I can find to get across is the path that Fang and Vanille say is behind the waterfall. On the other side of the river are vast plains with rolling hills. With the forest behind us this place is perfect. Fang come up beside me.

"Hey Light."

"Yea Fang."

"I think we've found our place."

"Yea."

…

A/N: Hey all! Sorry this took so long to get out. I have massive writer's block. I want to thank everyone who has left a review. Hope you all liked it and will leave a review. I will try to not take so long on the next chapter. Later!