A few more days had passed in the Farron household, but it was hardly acknowledged by its residents. To each of them, in entirely different ways, time had no meaning. For one, innocence played a major role in the apathy for each second that passed by. For the other, she drowned in her own despair, unable to escape no matter how hard she tried. For this one, she wanted time to stop altogether.

Lightning tossed and turned in her bed. She cursed at herself for drinking coffee an hour before attempting to sleep. Finally she gave up and lay motionless on her back in defeat. She cautiously let her mind wander, carful not to fall on touchy topics. Lightning found that with extreme supervision, letting her mind wander where it wanted to at night helped her fall asleep. And soon after she started, she fell into an uneasy sleep.

Water surrounded her, filling her ears with its gentle sound. It was a delicate melody that she fell in love with over and over again. She was lying on a lone island that was barely big enough to fit her entire body. The sunlight fell to the earth and kissed her skin softly. She felt peaceful.

"Light?"

Her eyes shot open. She knew that voice.

"Lightning?"

She drew in a sharp breath. It was the voice that she had been trying to forget.

"Where are you, Light?"

Lightning couldn't resist. She jumped to her feet and surveyed the water around her. "I'm here!" she shouted. "I'm right here!" She spun around until she found the owner of the familiar voice. "Serah!"

"Light? Where are you?" Serah's back was to Lightning and she seemed to be walking away. Serah was on land that was only a few feet from Lightning's island.

Lightning became frantic. She started jumping up and down, waving her hands through the air. "I'm right here! Look behind you!" But Serah didn't notice. She kept on moving away.

"Lightning where are you?" Serah asked. Lightning could hardly hear her sister.

Lightning was determined not to lose her, not again. She steadied herself and leaped into the endless sea. She paddled herself hurriedly to the shore that Serah was on, but she seemed to make no progress. The waves in the water started to move faster and harder. Lightning was scarcely able to catch a breath of air because of the violent waves ramming into her. It was as if they wanted her to go back, to be an island.

After minutes of no progress through the water, Lightning gave up. "I'm sorry, Serah," she whispered and let the water pull her under.

Lightning opened her eyes and peeked at her alarm clock. 3:30. She knew there was no hope for more sleep as she got out of bed and made her way downstairs.

Lightning shook her head slightly. She was getting tired of that reoccurring dream. She had even tried Googling how to stop something like that, but came out with no answer. She would just have to suffer through it.

Lightning sighed as she started to make her much needed coffee and went to sit on the couch while she waited. She turned on the TV, not bothering to change the channel from what Claire had been watching the night before.

Not long after Lightning sat down, Claire came downstairs. "Auntie?"

Lightning looked in the girl's direction. "Hm?"

"I had a bad dream again," Claire mumbled.

Lightning looked at the clock on the wall before standing up. 3:50. She walked to Claire's side and put a hand on her back. "Do you need anything?"

Claire looked up at her aunt. She gave a small whimper and wrapped her arms around Lightning. The woman tensed. Lightning was still uncomfortable with things like hugging, but she would have to get used to them soon if she wanted Claire to grow up good.

Lightning hesitated before speaking. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked quietly. She felt Claire shake her head. "Well, it would probably make you feel better if you tell me." Claire didn't make a sound. Lightning moved to the couch with Claire and sat down.

"It's the same one that I've been getting. The one with the…" Claire stopped. Lightning didn't say anything in response. She was letting Claire go at her own pace. "The one with the car crash…"

Lightning gasped quietly. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"And my parents die…" Claire mumbled, clearly upset.

"Claire? Were you in the car with them in the accident? In real life?" Lightning questioned. She felt her niece nod. "I'm… I'm sorry. Do you want to stay home from school today?" Lightning asked, feeling it was the best thing she could offer Claire. Lightning had done her research; she knew how bad the accident had been from the descriptions in local newspapers. She couldn't imagine how Claire might have felt or how she was able to survive. Lightning just knew that she needed to start being there for her niece since she'd been neglecting to do so.

"No, I'll be fine," Claire replied.

Lightning was unsure about how to handle the situation. "Well… You can stay out here with me if you want. The TV's on your channel and I can make you breakfast if you want."

Claire sniffled. "Okay."

"'Kay," Lightning said and made her way to the kitchen. She got to work on a bowl of cereal for Claire and herself, rushing to get it done so the girl wouldn't have to sit alone for too long. Lightning finished about two minutes later and carried the bowls into the living room being careful to not spill anything. She sat back down next to Claire and handed her a bowl. "Cocoa Puffs. I hope you don't mind."

Claire smiled and replied, "I love Cocoa Puffs!" before promptly taking a big bite of the chocolaty goodness. "Thanks, Lightning!"

Lightning gave a small smile. "Call me Light."

A/N – Aaaaaah! It's been so long! Holy crap, I'm sorry. I lost touch with this story and it has taken awhile for me to get back into it. I've actually been having some problems with this one mainly because I didn't start writing it with a plan in mind… *sigh* Anyway, hang tight because I'm still trying to figure out where this will be going and if something doesn't make sense or it feels like something's missing, don't hesitate to ask or point it out. Your support is very much appreciated.