So hey guys, and thanks for tuning into the next chapter of NR! ;3

Thanks, as always, go to: Lightarcana, GCFarron (awh, thanks!), Zapper90, OscarMerrinoz96, Crystal (and welcome back!), and thewhitespirit! You guys rock (but you already knew that) and much appreciation goes to LadyAlaska as well. (Yay, I'm glad you liked the LightxHope moment! 8D)

Anyways, not much to say this time, enjoy as always! (:

Chapter 41: Setting You Free

Serah opened her eyes to a brilliantly blue white world as sunshine poked through the ice above her head in the cracks that decorated the ceiling of the dark cave that they had stopped in. Slow, steady drips announced the melting of some of the snow and ice that sheathed their cavern, and she rubbed her eyes against the overwhelming brightness, also wiping half-dried droplets of water off her face.

Snow was as oblivious as ever, snoring away beside her, arm draped over her shoulder, and Serah smiled to herself. Even now, he made her feel protected; made her feel loved. A quick glance around their small shelter told her Hope was asleep, leaning against a jutting crevice of the rock, and her sister...

...was nowhere to be seen.

She felt a sigh beginning to rise in her chest again. Why does... Claire always do things like this? Leaning her head against Snow's shoulder again, she moved her small hand to find his. The moment her fingers latched on to his, they twitched out of her grip, and Snow woke with a small sneeze. Serah giggled - with his crumpled bandanna and ocean blue eyes heavy with sleep, he looked cute in a very childish way.

Large, strong arms lifted her up suddenly, and Serah found herself being twirled onto her feet as Snow gently set her down on the slick rock floor of the cavern, grinning devilishly at her. Serah felt warmth flood her, glad that Snow at least didn't seem upset that her sister had snapped at him last night. She would have to talk to Claire about that later, but for the moment, she could let herself enjoy the few moments of their private 'together'.

He leaned down to her ear. "Guess what?" His breath tickled her ear as he delicately moved pink strands of her hair out of the way, fingers lingering on her neck.

"What?" she giggled back, holding a hand up to her mouth to stifle the sound, not wanting to wake up Hope.

"Sis let Hope hug her last night." The monstrous smile on Snow's face was enormous as he grinned down triumphantly at her. For a moment, Serah was unable to comprehend the simple statement, just staring at her husband before the seven words sunk into her brain.

Claire let Hope hug her.

The enormity of that one statement was mind boggling, and in that moment, Serah let the full impact of that thought envelope her, wreath her in its utter incredulity, before a smile reached her lips as she looked back at Snow. The big man was clearly waiting for her to say something, still grinning stupidly at her, but there was only one thing she wanted to know.

"How... do you know?" The warm curiousity in her voice seemed to mollify him as he leaned down again.

"Saw them, duh. Too bad I couldn't hear what they were saying," he cackled. Suppressing the smile she knew she couldn't contain for long, Serah pushed her palm, gently, against his cheek.

"You sneak. Stop spying on them." She cast a glance at the sleeping form of the platinum haired teenager, who, she was glad to see, was still peacefully sleeping. Snow eased her hand off his face, and brought it to his lips, kissing her fingertips, before he clenched it in his own large hand and laughed.

"They asked for it," he crowed triumphantly, unabashed by her demand.

Wrenching her hand out of his grip, Serah put on her best stern face. "She puts up with our... stuff. Don't intrude in hers... okay?" The full toothed grin on Snow's face threatened to crack the frown on her face - that was what she loved best about him. He knew how to make her smile, effortlessly.

Just watching him grinning to himself like that made her want to laugh herself, but Serah pushed down the urge. She wanted Claire to be happy, and if Snow even mentioned it to her, even once, she knew her sister would stop. She deserves happiness more than anyone else... I can't let even Snow's good natured teasing ruin the confidence Hope and I worked so hard to build in her. I know that.

"Just promise me, Snow," she murmured quietly as the big man continued to guffaw to himself. "Please?"

Seeing her now serious face, he stopped, looking down at her. His rough hands scraped the sides of her face and cheeks as he tilted it up towards him.

"I know, baby." The words were sealed with a gentle peck on the lips.

A crunch of boots announced her sister's return, as Serah quickly broke the contact between her and Snow, feeling the blush creep up her cheeks as Snow hummed absentmindedly. Lightning looked okay, and there was nothing on her face to indicate anything emotional had transpired last night: it was its usual impassive mask as her sister rolled her eyes.

"Seriously? You guys are gross," she snapped in their direction. One look at Snow and she knew that they both wanted to laugh, and even in her moment of silent triumph over her sister, Serah had to appreciate how good she was at hiding her feelings and hurt. I don't even want to know what happened last night... But if she let Hope hug her, then she had to be pretty torn.

A small pang of jealousy and regret prickled her heart at the thought. She knew there had been something wrong last night, but she had let herself be lulled to sleep by Snow, pushing thoughts of her sister out of her mind. But clearly Hope hadn't... and somehow, the fact that her sister had told Hope even some of what was bothering made her feel the thorn of envy in her heart. Doesn't she... trust me?

Serah supposed it was her own fault; for going to sleep with Snow and letting only the warmth of their moment together fill her thoughts and consciousness. And maybe that in itself was kind of selfish of her. I do want her to be happy... I really do! But instead, she'd chosen Snow and his unconditional care over the frosty exterior of her sister.

A hand interrupted her thoughts, pulling gently through the tangles in her pink hair. Serah rubbed her face gently, pushing the unhealthy thoughts out of her head. Who am I kidding? If Hope can get her to open up better than me, then who am I to complain? A small smile spread on her lips. I've had my gil on him since the beginning when she brought him home.

"Are you two going to stand there and cuddle all day, or do we have somewhere to be?" The delicate contact between her and Snow was broken by the time her sister had finished the last word in the irritated question. She'd woken up Hope, and Serah was somewhat confused to see that she was making a point of putting at least a foot between herself and the teenager, and she was glaring at them with her usual expression. She felt Snow's large hand meet the small of her back, pushing her forward.

"Alright, alright, Sis... Don't tear out my hair, we're coming."

Watching Lightning and Hope walk ahead of them out into the bright sunshine, Serah wondered just why her sister didn't want to seem to admit, in a sense that whatever had happened between her and Hope last night had happened. It's not like that's something embarrassing or anything... it was just a hug.

And maybe it was just that - hesitancy on her part, acute embarrassment on his. She knew that her sister cared, and it was like before... she didn't know in what way. And the last thing her sister wanted to admit was that she was dependent on someone.

Oh Claire... even if you do love him... It's okay to feel that way. The bonds of interdependence between people are what make this world survive.

The world outside could not have been more different than the blinding blizzard that had buffeted them the previous day, as Hope rubbed his eyes to the bright sunshine that bounced off the pure white snow that covered the expanse of land before them, meeting at the horizon's edge with a brilliant forget me not blue.

"Damn," he heard Lightning curse several steps ahead of him. "This stupid sun isn't making it any easier to see." Casting a glance ahead of him, Hope didn't know how he was supposed to feel. The hug last night had been out of impulse - it was the only method of comfort he'd known how to give. And when she finally returned the embrace, hesitantly, like she wasn't sure how she was supposed to react to it; at first, he'd been glad. She hadn't pried him off, instead, letting him fall asleep in that position, locked together in mutual desperation.

Except their desperation couldn't have been more different. For him, he'd wanted her to understand so badly that things weren't her fault, that they would fight. He didn't even want to touch what had been haunting her: he'd wanted to run from the agonized expression in blue eyes.

And the way she'd reacted this morning confused him even more. Maybe it was childish and selfish for him to expect that she would acknowledge their moment of connection last night, but all he had seen in her eyes this morning was the impassive barrier she'd re-erected around her feelings and thoughts.

His foot scuffed a patch of frozen snow, removing it from the ground, and Hope was surprised to see that under the thick blanket of frozen snowflakes, was ice. Bubbles were trapped in solidified suspension, clinging to the transparent plane underneath their feet. The crunch of shoes sounded behind him as Snow leaned down to take a look.

"Pretty," the big man mused quietly. "Wonder if there's any water underneath all that."

"You want to try?" Hope didn't think it was a good idea, but drinking water was better than eating snow, which was what they'd been doing for the last few days. The big blond gave him a grin as he moved forward, leaving Serah to back away with Hope as the big man readied his fist for a Waterstrike into the ice, before the big man signaled to him to cast a Fira at it.

The blow sent a long, echoing crack that seemed to reverberate endlessly even after Snow's fist had long left the surface of it. What Hope didn't expect was the flame to grow bigger as it ate away at the ice, hissing sounds evident even from where he was standing, several feet away. He rubbed his eyes again in the bright sunlight.

Am I really seeing fire... burning on ice?

Snow had landed backwards on his behind, also watching, mesmerized, as the flames danced in the clear, transparent surface of what Hope could only assume was a lake. There was a moment of silence as the brilliant flames continued to consume the frozen, transparent ground.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Lightning's angry yell made him look up in sudden surprise as Snow quickly picked himself off the ground, brushing snowflakes off his coat.

He seemed to be trying to think of a way to calm her down. "See, Sis, there's water underneath the ice, right? If only we could -"

She didn't even give him the chance to finish.

"So we could what? Snow, do you know why that fire's burning? There's methane trapped in the ice, that's why. As the fire burns it's going to consume more ice, which just leads to more fuel for the fire! You-"

She looked angry enough to hit him.

And Lightning had just raised her fist to shoulder height when several arrows rained down on them, one of them catching Hope in the pant leg. Ripping the cloth free, he whipped around in time to see black figures racing across the white wasteland in their direction.

There was absolutely nowhere to hide.

Her anger evaporated the moment the arrow pinned her cape into the ground, dragging Lightning back several feet as she wrenched the shaft out of the ground, throwing it aside. Her weapon was drawn in the moment it took for the snipers to reload as she started running towards them, hearing the thick crunch of Snow just behind her.

The fire Snow had stupidly set to the surface of the frozen lake had effectively set a timer on them all before the ice melted sufficiently enough to drag them all down into its cold core. And once they were in the water, it was going to be nearly impossible to get out. She thought of all the times the instructors at the military school had emphasized that water, at extremely cold temperatures, was one of the most dangerous things to the human body, l'Cie or not. The exact lesson drummed itself into her brain as she began firing back, hoping to pick off a few before the battle became close range.

"Once your body hits that ice water, you are going to go into shock. And once your body enters the state of shock, everything will slow down: your reaction time, your reflexes, your instincts, your brain functions, everything. There's no getting out once that ice hits your nervous system."

"Shit!" she snarled, hoping Snow could hear her frustration and just how angry she was at the moment. Her gunblade sliced into the arm of one figure, and she dropped a kick into the throat, throwing the body away from her. She'd seen the red eyes the moment she'd made contact with her weapon. Great. One of those clone creeps.

"Aggression!" There was no time to be playing; she could see the blaze already beginning to form a large, spreading pool just a few dozen feet behind her, Serah backing away from the puddle of water. There was Hope, standing a ways back, throwing an Aeroga in the assailants' direction. As confused and frustrated as last night left her, she couldn't...

I can't let any of them die here!

The thought fueled her movements as she buried her boot into the chest of another, and she couldn't see anything else around her except those black outfits, blotting out even the pristine whiteness of the frozen lake and its blanket of snow. Just how many... are there?

Another series of long cracks pushed her actions into something like desperation - the ice was melting fast and if any of them wanted to see the other side of the lake without serious injury then there couldn't be any more time wasted. Slowly moving backwards, Lightning tried to draw the enemies towards her, so that they would at least be moving in the right direction if they needed to bolt.

Her foot sank into something mushy as she took a step back, trying to parry the oncoming blows. Fuck.

It took a lot of self control not to shout every obscene word she knew at Snow - it was going to be a waste of her energy and his brain cells... not that he had many to begin with. But the surface beneath her feet was definitely not becoming any more solid, and she doubted even a Blizzaga at this point would be remotely enough to stop the fire that was beginning to catch, spreading rapidly. Soon it would be a raging flamestorm, one that would consume the frozen gas trapped in the ice faster than Snow could eat steak.

If being trapped literally between fire and ice isn't hell... I don't know what is.

The enemy she was currently exchanging blows with was caught in the face by a Watera, and he stumbled back, allowing her to sink the tip of her omega weapon into his throat. The red that left the ragged wound she tore splattered onto its blade, giving the black metal a sickly crimson sheen, spraying the white snow drifts around them with blood droplets.

And then suddenly, Lightning felt the ground underneath her lurch, and she was thrown to the ice, gripping its surface as it was beginning to crack. The ice floe that she and Hope was now standing on wasn't that big, but she could see the unbroken icy surface beginning to turn into a rapidly shrinking jigsaw puzzle as bluish water rushed up from the frozen lake to fill in the gaps. The fire was still burning as it consumed the ice.

Grabbing Hope by the collar, she shoved him ahead of her onto a bigger floe, hoping that that one would have more stability than the one she was standing on. She had been about to follow when a rough shove sent the lower half of her body into the frozen water. The icy liquid gripped her skin for a few terrifying heartbeats before she kicked free, pulling herself onto the next floe with her arms.

Two Thundagas crashed into the floe they'd been standing on at the same time, breaking up the floating surface and sending her assailant into the water's depths. There was a hoarse cry as the water closed over his head, but Lightning felt absolutely no remorse to the fact that she and Hope had just sent him into a frozen grave at the bottom of a nameless lake.

A grip closed around her arm. "Are you okay, Light?" She found herself staring into Hope's panicked green eyes as she pushed herself upright.

"Yeah... I'm fine." She brushed away the contact; scanning for Serah and Snow, feeling him resist a little when her fingers pried his off her skin. She shook the slight doubt that lodged itself in her heart off; this wasn't the time to be thinking about anything other than getting off of the melting ice before they all met the same end she'd just watched.

The couple was on a bigger floe that was next to theirs: their battle formation had utterly been broken the moment the ice surface split into pieces. She could see Snow punching away at the remaining enemies as Serah was struggling to cast more spells.

"Come on," she hissed to Hope, not bothering to turn around, hearing him dash after her as she began to run again, delicately leaping over the cracks in the fragile transparent ice, in a futile attempt to somehow stop the lake from becoming a melted ice death trap. A shower of arrows blocked the way ahead of them, and she heard Hope shout out something. Burying bullets into the bodies of the snipers was no challenge for her, but Lightning backed hurriedly away from the crevice that the arrows had created - now there was no easy way onto the floe Serah and Snow were on, and the edge of the lake, if one even existed, had never looked so far away.

Shit... shit!

Hope's back was suddenly pressed against hers as the teenager backed into her. She could feel his heaving breath as she looked behind her to see what he was looking at.

There were more.

She couldn't even count how many there were, coming from the far edge of the ice, tiny black dots rapidly becoming larger. She heard Snow yell something out loud, but what it was, she couldn't make out: the blood rushing in her veins was so loud she couldn't hear anything else.

Are we... really going to die here?

Snow bunched his muscles at the sight of the new enemies that were pressing down on them, fast, from the opposite direction. I just took out all of those creeps on this side... and here come more. He cracked his knuckles before taking off at a run towards them, Serah's feet on the snow crunching just behind him. He could hear her breathing as she struggled to keep up with him, and a desperation took over his mind.

He couldn't let her die here.

That much, he knew. He hadn't gone and taken on the world with her sister only to have her slip out of his hands and into the icy waters, too far from his grasp to reach. The thought of it didn't scare him - it fueled his overwhelming desire to win this battle. A sharp glance to his right told him Lightning and Hope were also beginning to run, away from the worst of the places melted by the fire and towards the far reaches of the frozen lake. It was getting harder though; the floes were beginning to rock and sway with the natural waves of the lake and it wasn't exactly the best footing, even with boots on. He could only hope Serah was managing alright with her sneakers as he pulled her forwards with him by the hand. She wasn't resisting, but he knew she was getting tired.

The thought of the black water consuming her made him push himself more, as the black figures drew nearer to them. Serah gasped out, panicking, Snow turned back, once, to see her holding her free hand to her chest, breathing hard. She saw the look on his face before giving him a grimacing smile.

"I'm okay... just out of breath is all." Somewhat relieved that she seemed alright, Snow turned his attention back to the matter at hand.

His fist connected with a jaw and he heard a satisfying crack before he threw the man aside, swinging the next Froststrike into someone's chest, sending them careening into a newly created water hole, as the liquid sloshed up to meet the whiteness of the snow and ice. Her Blizzard created an ice flower a few metres away from him, catching several arms in the cold blossom, trapping them there. The ice creaked under his feet as he moved, trying to take out the rest of the enemies before the entire ice field was sent into the icy water.

It was less dangerous here, but they were tipping back and forth against the gentle rolling waves that pushed the floe like a cradle. Each precarious step had the chance to slip into the icy waters, where even he could see at which point there would be no return.

A blow hit his shoulder, and Snow snarled out a curse, sending a Blizzara into the man's face, freezing the ice cold irises open as he kicked him into the black water that lapped dangerously close to his right foot. Intercepting another blow aimed at Serah, Snow let out a breath of relief when he saw an opening in the circle of enemies.

Exchanging a brief smile of triumph with his wife, Snow pulled her forwards, knocking enemies out of their way as they moved to the next floe, Serah sending an Aero behind her, causing the water to crash even more violently as the waves finally washed over the surface of the ice, staining it a strange shade of green as it left behind traces of small plant life.

The next floe wasn't really another floating iceberg. He knew it the moment his foot made contact with the ground, feeling his boot sink into frozen snow and hitting icy ground. He felt Serah press against him in her moment of relief, before a cry of utter desperation and pain interrupted them.

Fighting back to back with Hope, Lightning had seen the edge of the lake already, piled high with snowbanks that distinguished it from the frozen water. The footing was more steady here, that was true, but she couldn't begin celebrating until her boot actually brushed the surface of the ground.

Snow... when this is over, I'll make sure I give you a lesson you'll never forget.

Her blade sank into the shoulder of one, and she flung him aside, shoving Hope through the opening she'd made before she threw an Thundaga at the ground behind her. The ice cracked into several pieces, none of them thick or big enough to hold a human weight, but she'd jumped clear before she had a chance to follow them into death.

Landing on her knees, Lightning threw one glance behind her - there were really only a few more to go before she could see a safe way to reach the lakeside, when a scythe was swung at her, barely missing her shoulder. She felt it nick her cheek as something warm trickled down it; cursing, she parried the second blow aimed at her before Hope threw a Waterga. Holding the scythe with her weapon, she shot him a glance, hoping he'd take the opportunity to send several magic spells at it while its weapon was occupied.

She wasn't disappointed, as a plethora of magic hit the ground where it stood. The contact left her gunblade as the man tripped backwards, plummeting into the icy black water, and Lightning had been about to say something when the edge of the blade caught the floe in one last attempt to hit them. It missed them by more than a yard, but the misjudged attack had had another effect.

The ice cracked under her feet before she'd had time to yell something, sending her entire body into the freezing water, soaking her hair within seconds as the water closed over her head. She only had a couple of seconds to react before she knew the shock would hit her like a brick; grappling for a hold, any hold at this point, her hands made contact with something hard only slightly warmer than the water that she could have sworn was freezing onto her skin.

A gargled yell sounded somewhere around her, muffled by the silence of the water, but she couldn't open her mouth without getting a lungful of ice water. The grip seemed solid enough, and using the last critical few heartbeats before the temperature took hold of her system, Lightning hauled herself up onto a snowbank, her hands and knees sinking deeply into the snow.

It was only then she realized what, or who, she'd left behind.

There was no familiar silver head of hair next to her, no sign of him anywhere around her. In the few horrified, desperate seconds that it took her brain to realize what she'd done, Lightning found herself gripping the snow beneath her hands like holding it would somehow make that grip into one that held him. The scream worked its way up from her spine, ripping through her lips before her throat had even recovered from the freezing moments of oxygen deprivation.

"Hope!"

I feel... really evil now, did you know that?

This had been meant to happen for awhile because it mirrors a future event, which I will say nothing about in the time being, but... poor Hopekins. I don't think things bode well for Snow... do you?

One more thing. You know that whole "fire on ice" thing? That's actually completely true. I took an Organic Chemistry course way back in my first year for the credit, and that's why everyone's so concerned about the polar ice caps and global warming. Methane, a natural component of permafrost, is frozen in the ice of the ice caps, and as you may (or may not) know, methane is a greenhouse gas. So how the scientists find evidence of methane existence in ice is by burning it. And it actually lights on fire, because methane (and actually, any hydrocarbon) is highly flammable: it can and will spread across an entire lake surface if it's unchecked and there's enough methane. (I would know, burnt myself in a third year Chem lab course before) So yeah...

So anyways, it's Friday, and as usual on my "before the weekend" update, I promise at least one chapter this weekend. Leave love (or maybe hate, depending on how you saw this chapter D:) as always in reviews, and I'll see you guys next time!

Hearts!