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 6: Ticking Time and Unexpected Gifts

…

The first week after the group got to the waterfall was spent exploring the land and gathering what they could find. Every day they would set out in groups of two to find what they could. Serah did whatever she could to make sure Light and Hope were together during these excursions. They were making decent progress, but without tools it was slow going.

After a few more weeks they decided that they were sufficiently familiar with the nearby terrain and some of them should set off and see what was further. It was decided that Noel, Yuel, Fang, and Vanille would be the ones to go. Yuel mostly went along because she was still uncomfortable being away from Noel too long. Light, Hope, Serah and Snow would stay behind and continue with their efforts at the base camp.

…

The others have been gone about a month now and we're all getting a little anxious. Every day we wonder what they could be finding out there. Hope's suggestions are often times more realistic, but Snow is constantly shooting off all kinds of crazy ideas. I really wonder how Serah can put up with him all the time. I generally choose not to participate in their speculation, as long as this world is better than Nova Chrysalia and not to dangerous I don't really care what they find. I do find myself wondering what happened to Sazh and Dajh though. I hope they woke up together, and I'm curious as to why they didn't wake up closer to the rest of us. If they had then I'm sure we would have found them by now.

Today Serah asked Hope and me to go out and find some more food. Before they left Fang and Noel found some sharp rocks and branches and made spears for us to use. In the time we've been here we have found some wildlife, not like anything we had on Cocoon or Gran Pulse, but somehow we all know their names. One such creature is called a bear, they are ferocious like a Behemoth, though smaller and easier to kill. One time Fang and I took one down and there was enough meat on it to feed the eight of us for a week.

As we walk along the now familiar path, Hope and I spot a heard of deer. They don't have as much meat as the bear, but they taste a lot better and with it only being the four of us we don't need as much. The biggest problem is how fast they are. Silently I motion for Hope to move down wind. I often find myself surprised at how stealthy he is now, back in our days as l'Cie he could be heard from a mile away, now he can even sneak up on me when he wants to.

We move down to get a better view of our prey, careful not to alert then to our presence. Once we are in position we pick out the one we want and Hope moves to a good spot to throw his spear. He takes his time aiming, leans back, and launches his spear at the deer. He manages to hit it right in the neck and it's down instantly. The rest of the herd make a mad dash to get away as we make our way to our prize.

"Good shot at always Hope." He beams at my praise, just like he did when he was a kid. "I guess all those years swinging around that boomerang really paid off."

"It was nothing, just a lucky shot." He scratches the back of his neck.

"Maybe once could be considered a lucky shot, but you consistently hit right on the mark. That's not luck, that's skill." I say to him as I lean down to make sure the deer is dead.

"Whatever you say Light." He is obviously embarrassed. He looks around nervously when something catches his eye. "Hey, what's that?"

"What's what Hope? I don't see anything." I look around trying to see what he's pointing to.

"Over there I though I saw a flash of light or something. Wait here I'm going to check it out." He walks off and I begin to work of pulling out the spear without damaging it. All of the sudden I hear Hope make a surprised noise and call for me. "Hey Light, come here! You will never guess what I just found." I leave the deer, curious about what it is he found.

'What is it Hope?"

"Nuhuh, you have to come see it for yourself." He walks out of some bushes holding something in his hand. He holds it out for me to get a good look at it and I gasp in shock.

"Is that…? Could that really be…?" I look at it more closely and yes it is. "My survival knife." My voice it barely a whisper. A million questions run through my head. What is it doing here? How did it get here?

'Yea, I'd know this knife anywhere, it's definitely the same one." I take the knife from Hope's hand and feel the familiar weight. Thinking back on all it symbolizes I open it. The blade is as sharp as the day Serah gave it to me. "Come on we should take it back and show it to Snow and Serah, see what they think." Hope grabs my hand and gives me that smile that has come to send shivers down my spine. I nod my agreement and we get the deer and head back to the waterfall.

"Hope, what do you think this means? It can't just be a coincidence that my knife, that has meant so much to both of us, just so happened to magically appear right when we were together, where we were, when we were there, and no one else came upon it first. All of us have hunted in that area before and no one has seen it. I just don't know what to make of it."

"I'm not sure what it means, but I'm choosing to take it as a good thing. Like maybe we were supposed to find it together. Like you said, it means so much to both of us, maybe it's a sign."

"A sign for what exactly?"

"I don't know, maybe that we're meant to be together. Please don't give me that look. I don't necessarily mean romantically. Maybe it just means that we are supposed to stay by each other's side, that we work best together, as partners." I think about his words for a moment. We do work better together and quite honestly there is no one I would rather have by my side.

I give him a smile. "Maybe you're right." We finish the walk back in silence, both of us thinking about what all this could mean.

…

As we approached we can see Serah and Snow putting together a fire in anticipation of the food we are bringing them. Now that we have my knife things should be a lot easier to cut up the deer, in fact having it should make a lot of things easier. I find myself suddenly filled with an excitement I haven't felt in a long time. I look at Hope and smile at him. He seems to understand what I'm trying to convey and we both set down the deer we had been carrying together. We then take off running towards my sister and her fiancé.

"HHHEEEYYY!" Hope calls out getting their attention. They look up and start running to meet us, obviously wondering what's going on. When we finally meet up Hope and I dissolve into a fit of laughter. Snow and Serah both give us a weird look and we laugh even harder.

"Umm, so what's up you two?" Serah asks cautiously.

"Yea, why are you two laughing so hard, and where's the food? …Sis?" Snow takes half a step back and cocks his head.

"Haaha…I'm…ha…not your…sister…hahahahaha." I try to contain my laughter which works, but I cannot stop smiling. Hope is still unable to control himself, which makes me loose what little control I have. Snow and Serah stand there continuing to watch us during our outburst. Finally after probably around ten minutes we manage to regain control of ourselves. We stand there for an extra minute to catch our breaths.

"Did something happen out there that we should know about?" Serah looks at us curiosity filling her eyes.

"Now like you're thinking, but yes." I answer, knowing what she's thinking.

"Oh then what?" Serah looks a little disappointed, but that is quickly replaced with the curiosity again.

"We found something." Hope says smiling wide.

"What is it?" Serah asks.

"Yea guys, quit being so damn cryptic. Just tell us already" Snow demands impatiently.

"Alright, alright." Hope says putting up his hands. "Light, show 'em." He looks at me and smiles again.

"Right." I take the knife out of my pocket and hold it out for them to see. Near instantly recognition lights up their faces.

"Sis is that what I think it is?" Serah asks me bewildered.

"Yea it really is." I look at my sister and she has tears rimming her eyes. Meanwhile Snow is just standing there in shock. Then all of the sudden he shouts…

"YYEEEAAAHHHH! THIS IS SO FREAKING AWESOME!" We all laugh at his enthusiasm.

"So you said you found it, where?" Serah asks, looking at me, but Hope answers.

"Over in some bushes by the small clearing. It was just lying there."

"Hmm, that's strange. I wonder how it got there." Serah says thoughtfully.

"Who cares? All that matters is that it's here and now our lives are a little easier. Let's not spoil it trying to explain everything. Come on now, let's go eat. I'm starving!"

"Snow, you aren't the least bit curious as to how Light's knife, which should have been lost with the old world, managed to not only get to this world, but also found its way to exactly where she would be?" Hope looks at Snow incredulously.

"Yea, sure I'm curious, but we're not going to get any answers now and I'm hungry. I say we wait, be glad we have it, and let the answers come when they come."

"Whatever you say Snow." Hope just shakes his head and the guy's head back to where we left the deer. We spend the rest of the day relaxing, eating, and talking about what we could do now that we have my knife.

…

Later that night I find myself in a dream. It reminds me of the times Lumina would pull me into myself so we could talk away from Bhunivelze's sight. I begin to panic. I grab for my weapon, only to remember that I no longer have it. So I begin looking for a way out, and trying to wake myself up.

"Do not fear, former champion of Etro. We come only to give you a final message." I look around to find the speaker, recognizing the voice. I then spin to look behind me and there he is. Caius, my former adversary who I'd spend countless millennia battling in Valhalla, the guardian of all the past incarnations of the seeress Yuel.

"What do you mean? I thought you said your piece when we last saw you." I keep my guard up.

"That is true, however this is a message from all of the Yuels." He stands there, stoic as ever.

"What kind of message?" I take a slight step towards him.

"They wish for me to inform you that they have seen your struggle in this new world of yours. They want to help you, for everything you have done for them and the world. So they are sending you and your companions' gifts that will help insure your survival."

"Gifts, what kind of gifts?" I think for a minute and it dawns on me. "You mean they are the ones who sent my knife to Hope and me while we were hunting today."

"Yes that was them. They thought it was fitting for the two of you to find it together. Their ability to help is limited, but they will send what they can. It will not be all at once either. Recreating objects from the old world takes a lot of their strength and they will need to rest."

"I think I understand. Tell them I, no we, say thank you." He merely nods and fads away. Right before he is completely gone I hear him again.

"This will truly be the final time we speak. It was and honor fighting you, you were a worthy opponent." After that the world fades to black and I find myself waking up back in the real world, Serah and Hope both close by my side. I think about Caius' words and wonder what else the Yuel's will be sending.

…

A/N: Hey all! Sorry this took so long to get up. I hope you all liked it. I know the whole Yuel sending them tools and stuff is a bit of a cop-out, but I really needed something to help them make some more progress. Now they should be able to really get moving. Please review and let me know what you think. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter up some time in the next two weeks. For now though, see you all later, and good night (It's 11pm where I'm at right now so I'm posting this and going to bed).