Hope
She was standing on a hill, hair flowing over her shoulder. She looked like her sister, tall and beautiful. But there was an aura of sadness around her, almost like she had watched someone die. But then, she did. We all had watched as Fang and Vanille fell below them, and watched them sacrifice themselves to save a planet, our planet. Light was standing on the hill overlooking New Bodhum, away from the dancing that was taking place to the west. She was looking down and smoothed out the front of her dress. She was gowned in silver, a tight formfitting cocktail dress, and was walking around barefoot. She had been in heels during the wedding, but at some point they had disappeared, most likely forever.
I walked over to her, and saw a tear glimmering on her cheek. I gave in, and ran to her. I flung my arms around her waist, clinging to her. "I miss them too, Light. I miss them too." I mumbled into her side. I felt all of her muscles tense and truly feared that she would hit me. She didn't though; instead she wrapped her arms around me, crushing me into her. We didn't speak; we just held each other, Light crying silently.
"I'm sorry." I looked up, seeing Light staring at the Pillar, her sadness palpable.
Sarah
I was so happy. I was finally married to Snow. He had gone into the Vestige for me, fought the whole of Cocoon and Pulse for me, saved me, and finally, married me next the city he had helped build from the ashes of civilization. He was wearing his trenchcoat, and had insisted that all of NORA attend. Not that I minded, they were practically my second family. Clair had been my attended at my side, and Gadot and Lebrue on Snow's all of us practically glowing. Everyone but Clair. She was dead inside. She had always hidden what she felt, but I could always tell what was going on in her head. But now, it was like there was nothing there, like some part of her had died while I was frozen as a crystal.
She had looked stunning in her dress, the only time I had ever seen her in one, of sequined silver, glistening like dew. She had even smiled, but there was no joy there. She had smiled because she was expected to, and because she wanted me to be happy. But she had slipped away after the ceremony, walking up the hill next to the wedding, overlooking New Bodhum. The Pillar was easy to see from there, standing as a testament to the sacrifices made to save Cocoon and end the Fal'cie's rule.
The only time that she showed anything anymore was when she looked at the Pillar. Then there was a sadness that was indescribable, so very sad and forlorn.
"Hey, sweetheart. Let's dance." Snow said, pulling me toward the group of twirling, spinning couples.
Five years later
Vanille
Coming out of Crystal was like waking up from a long dream. Rising up from a haze, an orange mist that clouded you mind and ended your thoughts. The first thing that I saw was a blinding flash of light, and a sound of shattering, and then Fang appeared next to me. After a moment, our clothes formed around our bodies. Fang grabbed her spear and pulled me up. "Hey Vanille, we made it out again, didn't we? Wow, look at what they've done while we slept. It can't have been another five hundred years, they haven't built enough. Good, then we can go and find everybody. Ya know, have a grand old party."
"You think that they're all still here Fang?" I could almost hear the fear in my own voice.
"Well, the only way to find out is to get down there." Fang hefted her spear, and stabbed it into the crystal, using it to swing down almost ten feet, landing like a cat on her fingertips and the balls of her feet. "Come on Vanille." Fang had stepped back and held out her arms. I jumped over the edge and landed in Fang's arms. This was familiar, this made me feel safe.
Sazh
I looked up, hearing a crowd forming around the Pillar. I was in the middle of fine tuning one of my pistols, adjusting it. I had become a bit of a merchant in the aftermath of the Fall. I wondered if this was another stupid child regaling about how we shouldn't have upset the balance of life. But there was no one there, they were all looking up at the Pillar. I couldn't see what they were looking at with the canopy, but I was watching when a crimson spear fly down and bury into the ground. I had seen that spear many times, covered in blood and gleaming in the light. Fang's spear. "No." I leaped over the stall, running towards the Pillar. I got to the base and saw Fang and Vanille, just as they jumped the last twenty feet to the ground. Fang landed lightly, Vanille cradled to her chest, and looked up at me.
"Well hi old man. Been a while has it?"
"Sazh." Vanille squealed jumping up and wrapping her arms around him.
"Hey kid, how've you been the last few years?"
"Like being asleep. Hey were are the rest of the gang?"
"I can go round them up in a bit, but I don't know where Lightning is. Even Sarah doesn't know where she is most of the time.
Sarah
"So Snow, where have you been?" I asked. I was tired of this. I knew that Snow was sleeping with someone else, but I didn't know who, and I was going to find out.
"At work, where else babe?" he pulled me to him, and I could smell perfume on him, sickly floral, almost cloyingly strong. He tried to kiss me, bending down, and I dodged, wincing a bit at the feeling of his stubble scraping across my cheek.
"You got off work almost four hours ago." I said, without any inflection. It must have been genetic, I looked just like Clair when I did.
"Well, yeah, I mean, I umm…" He fumbled, not expecting me to know this. He was an idiot. A woman can tell when someone's sleeping with her husband.
"Who is it Snow?"
"I, umm, what? How do you mean?" he stammered, backing away slowly.
"Who are you seeing?"
"I see a lot of people at work, I mean, I do kind of-"
"Cut the shit Snow, who are you fucking?" I had never talked to anyone but Clair like that, and then only when she was at her most irritable.
"I umm, I"
"Are you going to tell me or are you going to try and lie like a pathetic slug? It's Lebrue isn't it?"
"I-yes, yes it is." I had known the answer the whole time at some level, I guess, but his answer still hurt. It was like he had slapped me in the face, like he was saying that I wasn't good enough.
"Get out Snow. Leave. I don't want to see you again. Leave. Now." I was calm. No screaming, no crying, no punching or clawing. I just stood there, arm extended pointing at the door, head down, and tears falling from my swollen eyes. I heard the door open and slowly close. It softly shut, and I let myself break down fully, collapsing and sobbing on the floor. I heard the phone ring, then heard the messenger answer for me.
"Hey Sarah, how are you?" It was Sazh, and he sounded upbeat. "Listen, I was wondering if you and Snow and Lightning could come down to my house for the night. I have a surprise for you. They're back. Fang and Vanille were back."
Fang
"Sazh, this is great!" I was ecstatic. I was out of crystal stasis, and all my friends were here. Well, most of them. Lightning had yet to show herself but everyone else in their old group was here, and Sarah had just walked through the door. Wait, Snow wasn't here either. Oh well, whatever. If Sarah was here, then he would show up. "Sarah, how are you!" I yelled, walking over. "And where's the giant? I thought that he'd be following you like a puppy. How was the wedding? I'm sorry I wasn't able to- Sarah, are you okay?" I interrupted myself, seeing Sarah's eyes fill with tears. I wrapped her in a warm hug. Trying not to crush her tiny body in my arms. "Hush, baby, hush." I lead her up to the second floor, glaring at Sazh when he tried to follow me.
"I'm *hic* I'm sorry Fang, I really shouldn't, impose on you right now." She mumbled out as she collapsed on the small bed in Sazh's room.
"Don't worry about it, just tell me what's wrong." I cradled her against my chest, patting her head into my shoulder.
"It's, Snow, he, he was, sleeping with, other people."
"WHAT!" I shouted. That made no sense. Snow was so fanatically devoted to Sarah, why would he be cheating on her. "I'm going to have a serious talk with that little scumbag."
"N-no, don't I don't want any more trouble, just forget it."
"No, Sarah. He hurt you. And I might have to hurt him back. Wait. Where's Light? Does she know?"
Lightning
I looked down into the glass. The amber fluid swirled in the glass. I threw it back and slammed it down on the bar. The bartender refilled it, not even asking. I had been coming here nightly, for the last five years. I had a running tab, and the bartender knew it. The rabble was talking in the back, they were excited about something. Who cares. I perked an ear as I heard Snow's voice in the background, drunk and loud.
"I can't believe her. She kicked me out. Kicked me out of my own fuckin' house! Little bitch. All 'cause I slept with 'Brue."
I slid off the stool, padding lightly over to Snow. His back was turned, and he was waving his arms around and still shouting. "I mean, I'm a guy right? It's my house and I shouldn't get kicked out of it by a little slu-" The sentence was left unfinished. I grabbed his arm as it sped past, and flipped Snow over my shoulder, slamming him into the table behind me. Snow rose from the pile of kindling, looking around. "Who the hell- what- oh shi" was all he got out before I drove my boot into his gut, and he went flying again. Nobody was going to interrupt us, not the big scary l'Cie, or the soldier. Snow slammed into the bar, a bottle of whiskey, shattering over his head. I walked over and pulled him up, punching him in the chin, feeling the skin on my knuckles split and the burn of the alcohol entering the wound. I pulled him up again, and kicked him out of the way, hearing something snap as he hit the wall.
I stalked over to the bar, slapped a bill on the counter, and then walked out. And slammed right into a little girl. She was way too young to be going into a bar. "Wait a few years, kid." I said, walking past.
"I already had to wait almost half a millennium. Nice to see you too, Light." I froze. I knew that voice, but it was impossible, she couldn't be here.
The next thing I knew, she was crushing my ribs. "I missed you Light, I missed you so much."
Hope
It was so amazing, they were back, they were really back. I had grown since they had last seen me, shooting up like a weed. My dad had died right after we established New Bodhum. In the middle of the night, a King Behemoth had come rampaging through the fledgling city. The Home Guard had attacked the monster, finally harming it. There had been gaping holes in its hide, when the beast had stood. It's bladestaff swung across and cut through half the battalion at once, the rest already unconscious from the Thundara spell. He raised his blade, and cleaving through the nearest building. It was our house, and I watched my father be crushed by the massive weapon.
After that, Light had shown up and killed the monster, and since then I had lived with her. I used to think that I was in love with Light, while we were fighting the Fal'Cie, down on Pulse. Now I knew different, or rather, I still loved her, but I told myself that it was only as a good friend, or maybe as a mother. I knew she had a place in her heart for someone else.
I was taller now, almost as tall as Light was, but I still looked the same, the only other difference was my clothes, I was in a Home Guard uniform. I liked the red and white of the uniform, the pauldron's banded in gold, and the triple stripe signifying my rank as a unit commander. Light was the general, controlling not only the whole of the Home Guard, but the Expedition Team's and the Training Corp. She personally trained the best and brightest of the recruits.
I clinked my glass against Sarah's grinning at her. She had been sullen and depressed when she had arrived, sans Snow, she had been pulled away from the group by Fang. After we had forced a few glasses of the very concentrated alcohol, derived from the fluid you can gather from the frogs found on Pulse. After a glass, if you weren't ready, could knock you on your ass faster than you can blink. After three glasses, Sarah was a different person. She was happy, smiling and was flirting with everyone. Not that I would let her do anything with me. I value many parts of my body, all of which Light would remove if she thought that I was taking advantage of an intoxicated Sarah.
"Hope, you've grown so much! You look like a real man now. So tall and strong, almost like Clair." She bubbled, flinging her head back and downing a fifth shotglass of the purple fluid.
"Okay, Princess, I think that's enough for you." Fang said, coming up and taking the next to her and drinking the glass down from Sarah's hand and shoving a bottle into her hand. "Drink up, our you're going to die in the morning. Hope, I think that it's time for you to go home. And aren't you to young to be drinking?"
"Well, I uhh- Don't tell Light okay?"
"No problem, but you need to tell me where Sarah lives." Fang said, picking Sarah up, and carrying her, bridal style, to the door.
"Here, I'll drop you off there, I'm guessing that you want to stay and keep an eye on her?" At Fang's nod, I opened the door, and stepped out onto the lawn.
After I let Fang out of the car and helped her get Sarah out of the car. Then I hopped back in and went home. I saw Light had gotten home, and splashed some water on my face, trying to remove the flush of the Gurin from my face. I opened the door softly, trying to sneak in. I looked around the door, and I felt my jaw reach somewhere in Mahabarra. Light was standing in the main room, Vanille crushed to her, there embrace filled with more passion than I had ever seen in her.
I felt my face color, and I snuck up the stairs. Great, I'm not getting any sleep tonight.
Snow
I woke up in the bar, more specifically, on the remnants of a table, and when I tried to move, it felt like there was a pantheron ripping into my chest. Damn, what had happened. I was drinking, and then someone asked about Sarah, and then Light came over… oh shit. Light found out, and I'm still alive? What the hell, that made absolutely no sense at all. If Light found out, I should be dead, not lying here with a fee broken bones. Damn that hurts. "Hey, get a medic!" I yelled into the empty room, hoping someone would take pity on me.
"Well, Snow, this is a bit of a predicament that you've landed yourself in isn't it?" I whipped around, and I saw someone there. She was tall, and absolutely gorgeous. Her messy silver hair spiked out around his shoulders, and she wore an emrald in a broach around her throat. She was dressed in the remains of a Guard uniform, artful tears covering the fabric, exposing more of her skin than one would think possible. She bent down, exposing most of her full breasts to me, and cupped my cheek.
"Poor Snow, hurt so badly by that little girl. I almost wonder what it takes to put you down." And she reached behind her. I saw her pull an enormous blade from behind her. It had to have been five feet long and half a foot wide. Along the edges there were intricate designs, almost like a maw opening and flames erupting form it. "Goodbye darling, tell the others I said hi."
She swung the blade down and I felt my arm shear off. Then she angled the blade, and the last thing I saw was that monstrous thing slid into my chest, crushing my ribs, and sinking into the wall. As everything went black, I heard her say "You like Scour? Now for the other l'Cie."
Well, I liked it, but please, I know that I am biased, so tell me how I can improve. And I don't have a real idea for where the story should go. I know where it starts, and even where it ends, but the rest is up in the air, so get out the rifles and blowup the skeets.