Chapter 2

Sunday,August 21

5:58 a.m.

Lightning woke up 2 min. before her alarm went off. She has always been an early bird. Waking hours before the rest of the family. As she stared blankly at the alarm clock, she could feel herself leaving reality again but the alarm screamed into her face telling her its time for a run. Since she was already in her track shorts and a decent beater, Lightning decided to go out like such.

She swung her legs from beneath her sheets and walked towards her closet looking for a pair of decent running shoes. She opened up the doors to the closet. At the bottom laid five pairs of shoes; two pairs of regular tennis shoes (black and white), dress shoes because Lisa said "a lady always need a pair of shoes to flaunt her beautiful toes for those appropriate moments", boots, and her track shoes (that she only wore for track meets). She had packed away her boots, school shoes, and her track shoes. She reached down and pulled out her black tennis shoes. These were by far her favorite practice shoes. They were ultra light with an extra few centimeters of arch support.

She made her way downstairs and out the front door. Grabbing a water on the way out. She made sure to stretch every joint, so that she doesn't pull anything. There was a jump rope hanging off the porch's handle. She grabbed it and preceded to do jump, to get her heart rate speeding. She started to jog down the street and up the hill. She went her usual route, 2 miles every morning as a warmup.

At her half way mark, her count down started. Ichi, ni, ichi, ni. Trying to keep her mind focused. Ichi, ni, ichi, ni. Trying to stay in the moment. Ichi,ni ichi ni. Trying to stay real. Ichi, ni, ichi, ni. But reality was escaping her. Ichi, ni, ichi, ni. Everything was starting to fade. Didn't I just pass that tree. She started to sprint. There's the house. Sprint away from the eternity, away from nothing, and toward everything. But it caught her at the front steps.

Lightning's Alternate Reality

"Crap" she mentally slapped herself. "Two days in a row now" she looked around for nothing yet again. Nothing has changed. Everything is the same. Eternity of nothing. Uneventful and boring. So she sat and pondered. "Might as well use this time to rest" she needed the rest. Always working, always thinking, and always moving. Never having time for herself. Looking after Serah. Serah was now the main reason for your existence. "But does she need me anymore?" Being Lisa's daughter. Lisa always wanted a second child. "And now she has three?" Being the fastest. Kendou would not be the same without you. "Run,sword,run,sword that's all I know." Having the best grades. "It's what my father expected of me." What did your mother expect from you? "All I remember is her smile. Her memories are slowly fading from me. What did she want from me?"

When Lightning came back to earth, she was sitting at breakfast with a plate full of eggs, bacon, and pancakes with smile face syrup on top. Lisa was setting the rest of the plates.

"How long have I've been here?"

"Umm about 10 min. You just came in and sat down."

"Oh"

"They aren't getting worse are they?"

"I can handle it"

"Ok" Lisa came over and kissed her cheek.

"Serah is still in the shower. Could you go wake up Lebreu?"

"Sure."

Lightning went upstairs and was stopped by Larry. "Morning."

"Hey kiddo. What are you up to?"

"Going to wake Lebreu."

"She still not up? She sleeps like a log. I'll handle that for you." He chuckled. Lightning quirked an eyebrow and nodded. Larry crept into the room and slowly made his way to Lebreu's bed. He jumped on top but fell flat. Before he knew it, there was a little body on his back.

"Not today father, if I can even call you that." Lightning watched as they played together. She enjoyed it but it hit something inside of her.

7:30 a.m.

Everybody had ate breakfast and was on there way out the door. Lisa waved them off. It only took them all of 20 min. to arrive at the dorms with Larry driving. Lightning sat in the passenger seat and talked with Larry about kendou and blitzball. Serah and Lebreu continued to talk about the Pulsians. There was a few of them that won a scholarship to attend this school here in Cocoon. Serah wondered if they would be ok so far away from home and Lebreu joked that Serah was basically moving out already.

They arrived at the dorms. There was one separate for each grade level. Chocobo Cottage for the freshmen, Yevon's Teachings for the sophomore, Minerva's Gift for the juniors, and Etro's Grace for the seniors. None of them actually affiliated with the religions that the dorms were named after. They were just names. The dorms were facing each other in a box shaped. The freshmen were opposite of the sophomores and the seniors opposite of the juniors. In the center was a park with a building dead center. It was a good 10 min. walk from one to the other. This was where they would find out there dorm rooms.

Larry landed his car out front and waited for the girls to return for there bags. Lightning took hers with her wanting to settle in as fast as possible. Serah was excited to find out who she will be rooming with. "You won't find out till you actually go to the room" Lightning stated. "Why?" Serah asked. "It's suppose to be a pleasant surprise" Lebreu joked.

They were pretty early. There was only a few girls chatting in the Crystal Center. They walked up to the counter and was greeted by the Dorm Committee President. "Welcome back Lightning and Lebreu."

"Hey! Stacy" Lebreu said as Lightning nodded. "And this must be Serah. Your sister right. Ooh she's a cutie. Better watch her closely."

"I will." Lightning flatly stated.

"Light!" Serah gently punched Lightning in the arm.

"Can we get our rooms?" Lightning asked.

"Anything for you Lightning" the girl flirtatiously responded. "But there was a problem. Unfortunately you can't have your own room. This year you will have to share. With all of the new students this year, it was just enough."

Stacy handed them their keys along with a piece of paper with the usual information; room, rules, regulations, etc. Lightning took her stuff and waited for the other two. Outside of the building, they went there separate ways. Lebreu and Serah headed for the car to get there things. Larry was surely going to help the girls. Lightning headed for her dorm, Minerva's Gift.

She went into the building and took the elevator to the top floor. Her room was the last on the left. Only one of five. The top athletes and brainiacs of each grade got the best housing of each dorm. There was 5 top grades and 5 top athletes for five of the best sports; track, basketball, kendou, juudou, and kyuudou. It was different for the guys. Their's was; football, swimming, golf, volleyball, and wrestling.

She walked toward her door, inserted the key, and twisted. She was presented with an empty room. She let out a sigh of relief. "I am pretty early." Light placed her bags on her bed. The room was pretty big. The main room had a flat screen tv, gaming system, couch, and table w/chairs. The door on the left led to the bathroom. The bathroom had a shower and tub w/ jacuzzi capabilities. The door on the right led to the bedroom, which had 2 separate beds on separate walls, each with their own closet and desk. There was no need for a kitchen, a whole separate building had the 24 hour cafeteria. They were allowed to order take out and such.

10 a.m.

Lightning had settled in and fixed her side of the room. Clothes were hung appropriately, bed made neatly, and school stuff all perfectly placed in her backpack. Her school uniform sat on her desk, ironed ever so neatly. She looked at her alarm clock. It was getting late for your "dorm buddy". Technically they had till 3 p.m. to get there info and be moved in. Lightning hoped the girl was a no show. Light wasn't mean, according to popular belief, she just liked her privacy and simple way of living.

Seeing as there was nothing else to do, she got ready for the dojo. She put on some shorts and a plain white t-shirt and headed out of the building with her duffle bag. The dojo was behind the school, behind the track. It was secluded and surrounded by bamboo. There stood one sakura tree that overlooked a pond, behind the dojo. Students would come to the tree to meditate, especially the kendouka. Light slid the door open and bowed before entering. The dojo was empty.

Light was ranked san-dan (3-dan). The highest for her age in all of Cocoon. The highest rank you can achieve is hachi-dan (8-dan), and you would have to be at least 45 of age to receive this rank. She has only a year left of training till she reaches yon-dan (4-dan). Light took her shoes off and place them on the rack. She walked to the left, toward the locker room and placed her stuff in her assigned locker. She left the locker room and head toward the back of the dojo that lead outside to the pond. Sliding the door open, she noticed a figure sitting in seiza.

"Sensei!" She called figure raised a finger, gesturing her over. Light went out and sat next to him in seiza also.

"Hey Light!" The hefty man smiled. "How was your summer?"

"The same as always, sensei."

"Hey! What did I tell you? You can call me Amodar now. How's Larry doing?"

"It wouldn't be appropriate inside the dojo, sensei. He's fine."

Larry, Amodar, and Light's father were childhood friends. In high school they all were in kendou. A picture of the three hung high in the main arena. They were undefeated, untouchable, and unscathed by any opponent. they were an unstoppable force meets an unmovable objects meets an unphasable item. They are known as the Bermuda Triangle Brotherhood. It is the reason why Lightning looks up to them all. Even though her father was gone, she still had 2 back-ups.

12 p.m.

After their talk, Amodar waved Light off as she headed for the cafeteria for lunch with Serah and Lebreu. She arrived at the glass building and saw the two with an extra body at a lunch table. She walked in and was greeted.

"Hey Light!" Serah ran up and hugged her. "Hey." Light smiled at Serah. "This is Vanille, I was talking about yesterday." "Hi! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Vanille was basically bouncing. She shook Light's hand with both of her own. They all chatted and ate their lunch. Light thought Vanille was a strangely happy-go-lucky type of individual but she liked her. She approved of Serah's newly developed friendship with this Vanille. Lebreu seemed to take a liking to her also.

"Vanille here came with her sister on a scholarship," Lebreu added to the conversation. "Really? What scholarship?" Lightning was curious. "Behemoth's Knight. It's specifically for the Oerba village. Only four of us got it," Vanille answered them happily. "How did you find out about it?" Serah wondered out loud. "I was on the web looking for a way to attend a Cocoon school. I've always wanted to live here. My sister doesn't but she wasn't going to let me come up here alone." Vanille replied.

They chatted some more and got to know each other. Lightning was about to leave when Serah stopped her,

"We are planning to see a movie tonight. Want to come?"

"You know I don't like movies. They are too expensive and..."

"The popcorn is terrible I know," Serah finished her sentence. "But I want to hang out with you before you get to busy when school, starts tomorrow."Serah gave her best pouty face she could muster up.

"Fine I'll go. Are you going, Vanille?" Light asked.

"Sure! Let me just tell my sister not to wait up for me."

"If you have other plans that's fine. We can hang out another time" Lebreu added.

"Oh she will be fine. She'll find some cute girl to occupy her time" Vanille said as she texted away on her cell.

8:35 p.m.

"That movie was terrible Serah! Who let you pick?" Lebreu outbursts as they all walk out the movie theatre.

"Well Vanille said she never seen it before and she likes romantic comedies also" Serah defended.

"I'm never going to a movie with you ever again." Lebreu poured the bucket of popcorn onto Serah's head. This lead to a huge popcorn fight between the two as Vanille cheered them on. Light walked behind them slowly until they finally stopped with the popcorn. She helped pluck the kernels out of Serah's head while Vanille did the same for Lebreu. They all walked back to the dorms and went their separate ways. Light found out that Serah and Vanille were indeed dorm buddies. Lebreu had some extremely quiet, creepy, goth looking chick and was thinking about a dorm buddy exchange.

Light stood in the elevator and realized she still didn't know who her dorm buddy was. But she was secretly hoping that they didn't show up. The elevator doors slid open as it had reached it's destination. She stood in front of her door and realized that she had forgotten her key at the dojo earlier. She let out a huge sigh and now she had wished that her dorm buddy was home. Light lifted a fist to the door "here goes nothing" and preceded to knock. No answer. She knocked again but a little could here giggles and shuffling behind the door. Then a clatter like something glass had hit the floor. Light's patience was running thin.

The door finally opened up revealing a half-naked Pulsian with a girl attached to it at the waist. Light eyed the long tanned legged girl from head to toe. She was wearing nothing but fur shorts. Is that a rabbit pelt? "Hey! It's Miss President," the accented women said with a smirk. The chick attached to Fang giggled into her neck. Lightning took the other girl by the ear and threw her out of Her dorm room. "Go to bed and don't come back." Lightning told the girl. Light shoved passed the Pulsian and slammed the door shut.

"Hey now. That wasn't polite." Lightning ignored her with her head down and went to her room and got her sleep wear. Fang followed behind putting on a shirt on the way. "Are ya still not gonna tell'me ya name? We are kinda livin togetha now." Light continued to ignore her as she got dressed in some shorts and a t-shirt in the bathroom. She came out and walked across the room to her bedroom.

"Ok we obviously got off on the wrong toenail or whatever you say. Hi my name is Oerba Yun Fang," she put her hand out just to be ignored. "I'll be living with ya for the next 10 months." Light stopped in her tracks and looked up at the tall Pulsian. Has she always been this tall.

"Look I don't know what you do down in Pulse."

"Gran Pulse."

"Right. But you have to earn respect up here. Don't plan on being my friend. You have a better chance winning the lottery."

"The what?" Fang had confused look on her face.

"Nothing. Call me Lightning."

Fang beamed with joy, "See that wasn't so difficult. Did your parents really name you that?" More difficult than you think. Light ignored the last comment and went straight to bed, turning off the light on her way. "Right then. G'night Lightning"

It took Light longer than usual to finally go to sleep. There was a tanned goddess only a few feet away. She wasn't oblivious to her sexual attraction to the individual but that was all it was. Sexual frustration.

Ugh this is going to be long year.

Author's Note:

I do not own Final Fantasy. Square Enix does. :(

Well I did it. :) The second chapter. Thank you all for the favorites, reviews and follows.

I'm not good with detail and I'm trying to get better at that. Like clothes, scenery, and stuff. I'm more of a drawing artist than a writer but I'm trying my best.

Sorry I didn't say this before but this is AU and I might have a couple of OCs running around.

Tell me what you think. If its too much Japanese just let me know. I'm in my 4th year of studying Japanese and I like to use it all the time.

Please Review and Follow and Favorite and Crap and we shall be SOULMATES :D

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