Epilogue

"-further reports regarding the decision of the council to continue expansion will be reported this evening. In other news, a group of men were injured today following an accident that occurred just outside an archeological dig-site. The dig-site's supervisor-"

"-Hope?"

"Wha-yeah, sorry." Hope snapped out of the daze he was in as he watched the local news updates on one of the screens on the wall, "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"What exactly happened? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine Dad, really." Hope shifted the communicator in his hands, "I'm more concerned about the others and the damage done to the dig-site. I finally reach a breakthrough and then something like this happens... I'm just glad we at least got the one artifact before it all went to hell."

"You have to know the risks of digging that deep into the past."

"And you can't blame me for wanting to know more about the people that gave us this future." Hope countered, rubbing the bridge of his nose and adjusting his glasses, "It's like people have already forgotten that Cocoon and Gran Pulse were once at the brink of war."

"I know, I know, and I admire what you're doing son, I do..." His father's voice was genuine, it relaxed Hope, "And I'm proud of you. I just worry about you. So does your mother."

"Hah." Hope let out a small chuckle, "Speaking of which, I may be late tonight, I'm going to have to clear up this mess."

"She's not going to be happy..." Came a serious, almost concerned statement through the comm. device, "You can't leave it until tomorrow? You know how she gets." Hope chuckled again.

"I'll..." While he'd been eager to get started on examining his team's newest find, he imagined his mother's reaction to missing a family gathering—particularly this one. He immediately cringed, "I'll see what I can do."

"Excuse me, sir?" A third voice caught Hope's attention. He nodded at the officer motioning him over to the desk.

"Hey listen Dad, I gotta go, I'll call you okay?" He said before hurriedly closing the comm. device and making his way over to the desk, "Afternoon officer."

"You're the archeologist, correct?"

"Yes."

"Unfortunate event you had today, huh?" The officer was concentrated on typing something into the console he was sitting at. He threw a brief glance at Hope who merely nodded, "Is digging up the past worth the trouble?"

"Easy there Yuj, it wasn't his fault." Yet another stepped into the conversation.

"Sergeant." Hope greeted the new face with a smile. Still standing at least a head taller than Hope and his twenty six years, stood more or less the face of the Sanctum Force.

"Mr. Estheim." The sergeant offered his hand which Hope took without hesitation to give a firm shake.

"Please, call me Hope." The archeologist insisted, "Mr. Estheim is my father."

"More like Councilman Estheim." The officer chuckled, "But sure, only if you call me Snow though. Sergeant is... still a little too official for me."

"My apologies sir, I didn't realize you were Councilman Estheim's son." The officer Snow had addressed as Yuj bowed his head.

"Please, no apology needed." Hope shook his head. The only thing he disliked more than people unwillingness to remember the past was any special treatment he got because of his father having a seat on the Council.

"We're just going to have you fill in some paperwork and you'll be free to go about your business." Snow cut in, whether or not he picked up on Hope's discomfort or not, the younger man couldn't tell.

"You'll be joining the festivities this evening then?" Yuj inquired as he handed Hope a datapad, "Since it is in honor of the solidification of peace between worlds." Hope smiled as he took the device and began filling in the necessary information. The officer had pretty much used the official explanation of the festival: 'Peace between worlds'. There really was no other way to put it.

"We'll see if I can get this mess cleaned up before then." Hope gave a non-committal answer as he finished up with the datapad and handed it back, "Will there be anything else, officers?"

"Nope, you're good to go." Snow scanned the datapad quickly before handing it to Yuj, "Thanks for coming up here, I realize it's a little out of the way."

"Not particularly." Hope shrugged, adjusting his shoulder bag, "The flow of shuttles between Gran Pulse and Cocoon isn't as chaotic as it used to be."

"Would you like a ride back down? I have to head down there myself actually." Snow offered.

"That's alright, I need to grab a few things before heading back. My assistants are up to who-knows-what down in Oerba so I'll have to go round them up too." The Sergeant gave a laugh before nodding and shaking Hope's hand once more.

"Nice seeing you again, Hope."

"You too, Snow." With a acknowledging nod at Yuj, Hope turned and exited the building.

"You didn't tell me you know the Estheims!" Yuj said, turning from his desk to look up at Snow. The Sergeant gave a lop-sided grin.

"I didn't until a few years ago when I was transferred from the Guardian Corps to the Sanctum Force when they'd started working more closely with the council." He explained, "Amodar needed a representative from the Sanctum Force to attend a few of the official Council events."

"And he picked the newly transferred, former leader of a ragtag band of misfits?"

"Hey! I was young and stupid!" The Sergeant exclaimed defensively, "And I didn't exactly hear you complaining after I suggested we join the Guardian Corps!" Yuj laughed.

"We'd have followed our illustrious leader anywhere." Yuj made a quick flashy gesture with his hands before Snow playfully punched the chuckling officer, he knew that it wasn't a complete lie. He and his friends had been together their whole lives and had found little could separate them.

"Yeah, apparently not quite anywhere." Snow mumbled eventually, thinking about the other half of the old crew.

"You know how stubborn Gadot can be. And Maqui is basically his shadow." Yuj responded seriously, "And it's not like we can just take the 20 minute shuttle-ride to see them whenever we wanted. Or vice versa for that matter." He seemed to think for a moment, "You could ask General Raines to try and convince him."

"And risk him getting arrested for assaulting a ranked officer? Or destruction of SF property?" Snow laughed, "Or both? ...Probably both." He still hadn't figured out why Gadot had an issue with his superior officer. He was a good man, replacing Amodar as General when he became Councilman, "It would take an army to get Gadot to SF HQ." The sergeant added.

"Well, luckily we have one of those." Yuj said with a grin, causing Snow to laugh again, "And tonight's the festival; if we don't see them down there during it, we'll be arresting them after it for drunkenly disturbing the peace up here."

"You're terrible."

"It's the truth and you know it." Snow just shook his head before patting Yuj on the back and checking his watch.

"Well, I'd better run, gotta shuttle to catch." Yuj waved his goodbye as the Sergeant made his way to the side of the Sanctum Force HQ and out onto the shuttle docks. He'd been asked to help with the preparations in the main town under Cocoon where the bulk of the festivities were being held. Sure, each town had their own celebrations—even Cocoon had its own setup—but for the most part, people would travel to Oerba, if only for its link to the reason behind the festival itself.

"Afternoon, Sergeant." A voice knocked him out of his thoughts. He hadn't even noticed his arrival at his platform, nor the shuttle that had just docked at it. He found the pilot of said shuttle in the doorway with his eyebrow raised.

"Sazh." He greeted him with a handshake as he stepped inside, "Right on time as always."

"I know, I take the job way too seriously." The older man sighed, climbing into the pilot's seat while Snow took the front passenger seat next to him, "I should retire already."

"That's what you said last year." Snow chuckled.

"Yeah."

"And the year before that."

"Yeah."

"But what would you do?" Snow inquired as the shuttled pulled away from the dock, "Start a chocobo farm?" The pilot laughed wholeheartedly.

"Perhaps I would. Dajh would love that, that's for sure."

"How is Dajh? You two joining the festivities tonight?" Snow had known the Katzroys for a while. Sazh been a Sanctum Force pilot since long before he'd transferred—probably since before he'd even joined the Guardian Corps down on Gran Pulse. He'd known Dajh as a boy and his own sons once played with him when they were younger but recently had only been seeing Sazh around headquarters and even then only when there was official Council business that required the use of a shuttle.

"Yeah, we'd planned to. But he's been so wrapped up in his apprenticeship down on Gran Pulse, it's hard to meet up with him normally."

"Right, you mentioned he's working on a project down there? For school?"

"Yeah, never figured him for an archeologist-in-the-making." Sazh shrugged, "But hey, as long as he's enjoying what he's doing."

"He wouldn't happen to be working with Hope Estheim, would he?" Snow put two and two together as he listened to his friend. The pilot looked over at him with a raised eyebrow before thinking for a while.

"I'm not sure. He's never mentioned his supervisor by name." He trailed off for a moment, "Bartholomew's son?" Snow confirmed with a nod, "Huh, well no wonder I've never met him—he must spend most of his time digging down into ruins."

"You can't say you haven't been curious about what it was like when Gran Pulse and Cocoon were totally different worlds. At odds with each other no less."

"Honestly I can, I'm too old to be thinking about that kind of stuff."

"You? Old?" Snow scoffed. He received a mock-punch to the shoulder, "But I mean come on, we have a giant festival every year signifying a peace between and the unification of two whole different worlds! You can't say you don't want to know more about the full context behind it."

"I never figured you for a history buff, Villiers."

"I'm not! I'm just saying, you know how the stories go-"

"Yeah, the stories." Sazh cut him off with an amused expression, "How the heroes of Gran Pulse defied both their enemies and their own people in order to prevent an seemingly inevitable war, of course everyone knows the stories."

"You make them sound like fairy tales."

"They don't seem like it to you?" Sazh asked seriously, "How could so few make that big a different in a world that was so vast-" The pilot motioned at the view outside the windows of the shuttle, "-and a world that was so unstable at the time." Snow knew he was referring to Cocoon before the council was formed, "It just seems... a little farfetched."

"I never figured you for a cynic, Katzroy."

"Hey, I know people like the Estheim boy are always uncovering more evidence that says otherwise, I just think that if these... heroes of the past fought so hard for the present we have, we should focus on it."

"...You just don't like parties." Snow stated after another moment of silence.

"You're right. Damn kids and their shenanigans." Sazh said in an equally serious voice. The both of them glanced at each other before bursting out laughing, "What about you and the family? You heading to Oerba tonight?"

"Yeah, Serah's down with her class on a field-trip so I'll be picking up the boys and meeting her and the little one there."

"It's been a while since I've seen the twins, what have the little buggers been up to?" Sazh asked, "Still filling the plaza fountains with bubble-bath?" The pilot grinned at Snow's groan.

"No, thankfully they've grown out of that phase." The Sergeant turned to the pilot with a raised eyebrow, "Though I hate to say it, they were nowhere near as bad as Dajh was." It was Sazh's turn to groan.

"I dunno how you do it." The pilot chuckled, "I could barely handle the one kid."

"I've always wanted a big family." Snow admit, "Serah too, she's always had this thing about being an only child."

"Yeah well, you may be out of the woods with the boys but there's still your little girl you'll need to be worryin' about." Snow laughed at the statement. He knew it was true. His sons may have grown up and were able to take care of themselves but he still had his daughter. He already knew that any experience in raising the boys would help him little with her.

"Guess we both still got our hands full huh?"

"And we love every second of it." The two smiled at each other in understanding just as Sazh's communicator went off, "Speak of the devil." He raised the communicator before flipping it open, "Dajh?"

"Hey Dad-" Dajh swatted the hand that was tugging on his shirt, "-Denzel, cut it out a sec-! Hey, Dad?" He adjusted the comm. device in his hands, "Yeah, no, I'm down in Oerba." He'd scooted away but was still keeping an eye on the friend he was with, "Denzel and I are waiting for our superior to get back. We're at Lebreau's." The young man sitting next to him, obviously wanting his attention reached for him again. Dajh swiftly grabbed his wrist and twisted it, effectively halting any more immediate movement,

"No! Lebreau's a woman." The young Katzroy rolled his eyes and pulled the comm. device away from his head for a second at the response, "No, I meant the restaurant. We're in a restaurant called 'Lebreau's' which is named after the owner, who just so happens to be a woman." Denzel struggled against Dajh's grip but to no avail, "Am I doing what with-No! Dad, jeez! Look, I was just calling to let you know where I was and that I'll probably meet you here for the festival, okay? I'll see you then." With that he hung up.

"Dude!" Denzel whined, motioning to his arm with his chin, "What the hell?"

"Dude yourself." Dajh let go of his friend, who rubbed his wrist. The darker-haired boy waved the comm. device in Denzel's face.

"Your dad couldn't wait five minutes?" Denzel motioned towards the bar where the owner was talking to a few other customers and lowered his voice, "We finally manage to come at a time where she's around!"

"Look, your little school-boy crush is sweet and all but-"

"Crush? Have you SEEN the woman?" Denzel grabbed Dajh's head and turned it to the woman in question, "How could you not have the hots for that?" Dajh struggled out of the hold and sighed heavily. Denzel was not entirely wrong in his... assessment of the owner of the establishment. They'd heard she was more than easy on the eyes and finally able to see her in person, Dajh agreed she was rather gorgeous.

"Isn't she like... twice your age?"

"Who cares?" Dajh face-palmed at his friend's grin, "I wonder if she'll be around for the festival tonight..." If Dajh could've face-palmed twice, he would have.

"She runs a restaurant in the middle of the town where the festival is being held..." He looked at the light-haired young man across the table from him who stared back blankly, "Of course she'll be here you dope!" Dajh sighed, "Look, Hope will probably be on his way back to Oerba by now, we should get back to the station-"

"Just a few more minutes." Denzel's attention had already switched back to the woman at the bar, "Besides, I already sent him a message telling him where we were."

"...Of course you did." Dajh sighed again, "Why wouldn't you do that after he specifically told us to stay at the station to wait for him?"

"Hey, you were the one that wanted out, okay?"

"For some air!" Dajh defended with a groan, "Not to eye-up some bartender-"

"Hey!" Denzel looked at him with an expression so serious Dajh did a double take, "She's not just a bartender." Cue another face-palm, "Maybe I should ask her out."

"...You haven't even met her."

"Now's a good a time as any." Dajh could tell Denzel was being serious. As serious he was about anything that managed to catch his eye during his impossibly short attention span.

"May I remind you of Professor Nabaat?" It was probably less than a week ago when Denzel was chatting up one of their superior's associates and fellow archeologist. To say the hormonal young man had made a fool of himself would have been an understatement. Not to mention he'd sparked quite the heated rivalry with her own research assistant.

"Hey!" Denzel poked a finger towards Dajh's face, "I coulda totally taken Rosch if that Rygdea guy hadn't stepped in."

"Uh huh." Dajh muttered, his voice flat. The military official that had incidentally been around at the time was probably the only reason Denzel hadn't had a few of his bones broken.

"But c'mon, a date during the biggest party of the year? What could be more romantic?" Once again, Denzel's attention span—or rather lack thereof—struck again.

"By 'party', you mean the festival to celebrate the avoidance of a war ensured by the two heroes of Gran Pulse?" Dajh raised an eyebrow at his friend, who thought for a moment.

"You mean the two heroes of Gran Pulse and the savior of Cocoon?"

"Right, of course. The legendary savior." Dajh added. While it was true their latest find could prove otherwise, there really was no solid evidence to the third individual that supposedly helped prevent the war.

"Well, what about the fact that it's said the savior and one of the heroes were supposedly lovers?" Denzel retorted with a smug expression. Dajh's eyebrow only arched further.

"And what about the fact that all three were supposedly women?" Dajh made a jab at a time earlier where Denzel had been dead set on the belief that the heroes of Gran Pulse were male; before it was proven by written accounts stating they were, in fact, female. The statement seemed to stump Denzel for a while. But eventually he broke into a grin. A grin Dajh had learn to be wary of.

"Well that just makes it all the more hotter, doesn't it?" Dajh gave up, "I mean, the fact that they were from opposing sides? Then the fact they were both women? Star-crossed lovers much? You can't deny it must have been a pretty big part of how they managed to accomplish what they did."

"Why Denzel, you're such the romantic." Sarcasm dripped from Dajh's words. Denzel seemed, for the most part, unaffected.

"Take some of our latest finds; They were entries—official, historical entries in the old language of Gran Pulse—containing descriptions of the relationship between two of the people involved. But written as if by someone not actually involved."

"So one of the heroes wrote about the other's relationship with someone else." Dajh waved a hand, staring at his friend quizzically, "I guess it is kinda strange they found it so important to have an official record of it."

"Maybe she was as big a romantic as I was?" Denzel suggested, "Maybe she felt it was that important to be written into history?" Dajh sighed. What do you know, Denzel could actually make a convincing argument when he tried, "Or... maybe she just liked to watch." And... just like that the magic was gone, Dajh thought.

"You're an idiot." The young Katzroy stated, deadpanned.

"What? You know how the saying goes: Good things come in threes?" Still, Dajh remained unamused, "Come on, a little Neapolitan? Who doesn't like ice cream?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response." Dajh looked away, rolling his eyes. He caught something by the bar that replaced his disdain with amusement, "But speaking of ice cream..." He caught Denzel's eye and motioned to the counter and watched with a growing grin at the smirk on his friend's face immediately fell.

Lebreau had moved from the customers she'd been talking to and was on the front side of the bar next to a young boy, probably no older than 10 or 11, handing him a small ice cream bar. The boy had obviously been crying but his face immediately lit up at the sight of the treat and he wasted no time biting into it.

"Man... beaten to it by a little kid-" Dajh let out a laugh even as he felt Denzel kick him under the table. He almost didn't notice another potential customer walk into the restaurant.

"Noel! Thank goodness!"

"Hello..." Denzel immediately muttered as both young men observed the scene at the bar.

A woman, probably in her early to mid twenties had made her way over to the Lebreau and the boy. The restaurant owner may have been gorgeous but the light-haired woman was nothing short of stunning. Fair skin, champagne-colored hair, sky blue eyes and the face of an angel; if Dajh hadn't recognized her, he'd probably have been as mesmerized as Denzel.

"Serah?"

"Serah? Denzel repeated, the name snapping him out of his daze, "-wait, you know that beautiful creature?" Denzel held Dajh gaze as if clutching it with a fist.

"Yeah she's a friend of Hope's-" He could already see the could-you-introduce-us line forming and immediately continued to prevent being cut off, "And her husband is a friend of my dad's." The young Katzroy almost feel pity at the crestfallen look that appeared on his friend's face, "I used to play with her sons when I was younger." Denzel sighed heavily. Dajh found himself actually making a silent apology.

"Thanks, Lebreau." The both of them turned back to the scene across the room, "I swear one of these day Noel, you're going to run off and no one's going to find you." Lebreau laughed as she watched Serah checking to see whether the boy was hurt with the utmost look of concern on her face, despite scolding him.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Villiers." The boy's apology seemed genuine but Lebreau knew it wasn't the same as saying he wouldn't do it again. She pat the boys head.

"Boys will be boys, huh?" She was met with a pained expression.

"Don't remind me."

"Hey, I know the feeling. I was a member of NORA too, remember?" Both women laughed as Serah guided Noel off the bar-stool. He was still rather taken with the ice cream treat to resist much, "We all expect to see you and the kids here tonight by the way."

"Oh, I'm sure we'll make it here eventually." Serah assured with a smile, "Thanks again for calling me and watching him." The pinkette motioned to the boy who'd taken her hand. Lebreau merely nodded, "Come on you, the rest of the class is waiting. You'll have to apologize to them for that, you know this right?"

"Yes Mrs. Villiers." Came a distracted response. With one last silent thank you to Lebreau, Serah led her student out of the restaurant and back down the street towards where she'd left her students with a Guardian Corps officer.

"Ah! See you've found the little adventurer then?" The officer greeted her with a smile. Noel pulled away from her hand to join the other children who were playing amongst themselves in the grassy area of a small public park.

"Yes, thanks again Maqui." Serah smiled at the man, who grinned widely and gave a salute.

"Anything for you, Serah." There was some chatter on the radio the officer had on him, immediately grabbing his attention, "Ooop, gotta run, I'll see you later Serah!" He said, already jogging off down the street. Serah just waved before turning back to her class. Noel had already seemed to be captivating the others with the tale of his little 'adventure'. He always was one to wander. He was almost as bad as her daughter. She was more sneaky about her wanderings.

Her eyes landed on a girl near the edge of the clearing, sitting and watching the other children. She was smaller than most girls her age—probably getting it from her mother. She had her father's blonde hair but with steaks of light pink down the ends. Her eyes were a slightly darker shade of blue than Serah's. She was so different from her sons and as much as she'd like to say it was because she was female, Serah always felt like the reason was something else entirely.

She kept her eyes on her daughter as she led the children back to the museum—an older dig site that had been converted a few years ago. She was glad her daughter had brothers though. Her entire life she'd felt like something was missing, wrong even, being an only child. She'd always wanted an sibling, an older sister perhaps. So while all her children had been—and to a point still are—handfuls, she was thankful for each one.

"Okay now, you all know about the festival tonight-" Her kids cheered as they entered the museum, "-but do any of you know the full story behind it?" Her students' mixed bag of expressions—ranging from thoughtful, to confused, to completely blank—answered for them. She chuckled before guiding them through the large, main room which contained relics and artifacts found in the ruins under the museum. Most of them consisted of images carved into rock.

"Gran Pulse and Cocoon weren't always at peace with each other. There was a time where the two worlds were headed for war with one another." Serah began the story, using what artifacts were available to provide visual aids, "Both Gran Pulse and Cocoon experienced conflicts within their own people for a long time, it made them fearful of the other world."

It was likely every child raised on either Gran Pulse or Cocoon in the present would have heard stories of the peace made between the two worlds, but never how it came about, and the history that came before it. Serah was one of the people that believed the struggle before the peace should be acknowledged in order to prevent anything like it happening again.

"And then Fang and Vanille came!" Noel suddenly cut in. Serah sighed but smiled at the boy's enthusiasm.

"Yes, Oerba Yun Fang and Oerba Dia Vanille." Serah recited the two names most closely associated with the peace between worlds, "They did something much harder than standing up to their enemies. They stood up to their own people and united them under a banner of peace. They helped the people of Gran Pulse overcome their fear of Cocoon."

"They were heroes!" Noel cut in excitedly once more. Serah chuckled.

"Yes, they were." She'd reached the last sets of artifacts that included visual markings of the story, "But what about Cocoon? What prevented Cocoon from going to war?"

The pinkette could understand the lack of response. The reason behind Cocoon's withdrawal was discovered much later than the actions of Fang and Vanille. And even so, it was still not completely clear of what exactly had happened. What was clear was that a third individual had essentially done the same thing as the heroes of Gran Pulse; only took it a step further and also ensured peace between both worlds. It was this feat paired with the current lack of physical evidence that gave the third character of the story a more legend-like status. Even among those who appreciated what had happened a century ago, there were those who believed the legend and those who didn't.

"The savior of Cocoon." Another student spoke up. Serah's eyes landed on her daughter who was actually standing by a newer display of a stone tablet, partially covered but a red sheet. Next to the display stood a rather hard-to-miss 'Do not touch' sign. The school teacher sighed, suspecting her daughter had again let her avid curiosity get the better of her.

"That's just a legend." Noel spoke up again, "They wasn't actually real."

"She was real." Blue eyes flashed a glare towards the boy.

"Was not!"

"Was too."

"Was not!"

"Alright, that's enough you two." Serah warned, heading over to the other display.

Noel huffed as the girl motioned towards the tablet, "It says it right here." Serah's eyebrows shot up as she reached her daughter.

Upon taking a closer look at it, Serah saw the tablet had script etched into it but it was all in the old language of Gran Pulse. An ancient language that had long since been forgotten over the past century. Even dedicated archeologists that had studied texts for years were only barely scratching the surface in terms of translating. Serah had even attempted to study it herself and while she'd picked up on it faster than most, was far from being able to just pick up any scripted tablet and read it like a book.

"You can read what it says?" Serah knelt down next to her daughter, looking between her and the tablet. Her daughter's eyes didn't leave the tablet, it didn't actually look as if she were reading it, she just seemed to be staring at it—as if almost listening to something.

Serah placed a hand on her daughter's back, "Averia?" At the mention of her name, the girl turned and looked back at her mother, a strange spark in the her deep blue eyes that Serah couldn't quite read.

"Her name was Lightning."

And as a sudden, peculiar wave of nostalgia swept through her; with a sense of pride other than that of her daughter's affinity for ancient Gran Pulsian, Serah smiled.

Okay. So.

Firstly, I apologies. I did not handle the last few chapters as well as I thought. I made a bad call and decided to change the ending at the last second because I was afraid of having the typical boring fairy-tale ending. But apparently whatever I was trying to do kinda... ran off somewhere and left me behind

**W***

Secondly, I will probably end up posting the first version of the ending. Eventually. Also, if I haven't totally alienated the followers of the story, I'll probably post an entirely different fanfic about what happens with Lightning after Chp 44. But we'll see how much hate this chapter gets.

Thirdly, it's been fun, regardless of whatever the hell happened in the last few chapters. And again, there probably will be a continuation for Light-in fact the reason why this chapter took so long was because I couldn't stop thinking about what happens with Light in the alternate time. But I wanted to close this piece and have that as a separate fanfic.

...If I haven't burned to death in flames.

EDIT Continuation 'Final Fantasy Alter XIII' is now in progress, located in the crossover section between FFXIII and XIII-2 /EDIT

Also, leaving this as incomplete for when I upload the alternate ending or some of the other random scenes/chapters I started writing and ended up leaving out.