A/N: 'Kay, so I know it's been a while, but, hey; I've been busy, what can I say? We all know life gets in the way… oh, who am I kidding; I have no life… but I do have school and it does get in the way… Anyway, forgive the delay, here's the fifth chapter.

Pairings: Snow/Hope and a little bit of however-you-want-to-see-it Fang/Vanille.

Warnings: BoyxBoy...you should know this after six chapters of it...

This is for Rain because she's just such an amazing person who happens to love Snow/Hope.

It seemed everything was once again normal; their silences were content, their kisses were loving, their conversations light and Snow felt good to have his past off of his chest, even if Hope didn't speak of his. 'One day, maybe,' Snow self-assured.

It all seemed a bit too good, but they weren't complaining. What was the point of happiness if you couldn't enjoy having it?

Of course, they both knew it would come to an end eventually; nothing like that lasts forever.

The group moved on, still completely oblivious to their… 'advancements.'

While attempting to reach a new area of Oerba, they ran across Barthandelus, who nearly gave them all heart attacks, disguising himself as Serah. Their battle, while being reasonably simple, was filled with tedium. The meeting itself seemed to reveal quite a bit about most of them, to themselves, at least.

Serah was a very important person to Vanille, though she met her only once. Vanille felt guilty, as if it'd been her own fault that Serah had been made l'Cie; as if, had she simply died on her first mission, no one would be harmed.

Of course, none of it was accurate, it only proves her humanity. Barthandelus would have simply found a new way around, the fact that she was still alive to torture once more was just the icing on the cake for him.

Fang had tried to tell her, of course. Several times, in fact; holding her through the nightmares of their sins against Cocoon. She'd felt it was all her own fault. Let's face it though: is it not all her fault? Well, it didn't matter; she's doing good now.

Dysley knew about Lightning's weakness. Her single weakness that she had tried so hard to be rid of. She was so attached to Serah and it was probably blatantly obvious to anyone who would dare look into her life. Some days, she wasn't like that. On occasion, Light felt like she could tear through anything, given the chance, including Serah; 'A target's a target,' they had constantly told her during training.

And Sazh, perhaps he was just so cynical, knew something was up from the beginning. Maybe it was because he'd never really known Serah that the illusion didn't effect him. Maybe, had it been Dajh, he could've fallen for it just as easily as them.

As for Snow, he found that part of him never wanted Serah to awaken. Given, the rational side of his mind kicked in, as it always would, saying that she deserved to live the rest of her life and that he didn't have to marry her if he didn't want to. Barthandelus seemed to know how to take advantage of his thoroughly conflicted mind well.

Hope was glad that she was just an illusion, but what if Serah did come back one day? Who would Snow really choose? He knew he shouldn't really think about it; he is happy now and Snow is happy now. The rest of it was to be figured out later, when it happens. That's how Snow would think, right?

A/N: This is character development, the next chapter should be more exiting. Hope you enjoyed this short, uneventful chapter, readers and, more specifically, Rain. ^_^ Reviews are appreciated, but not required, use them to tell me if I did good or bad.

Have a nice day (: