I'M BACK! :D And I provided you guys with a long chapter to make up for my slow update. Enjoy!

Well remember the rules. No Flaming. Also I do not own Final Fantasy, it belongs to Square. Another thing. This story is completely AU.

Lightning was tired. She couldn't sleep yet again. She couldn't stop thinking about her job that she was to start soon.

"As soon as we get there.."

"We will go to the apartment given to us."

"Then we shop for your dress." Serah beamed. Lightning sighed. She hated the idea of wearing a dress.

"I wonder, what colors would go good on you, a pale pink is nice, or blue, or yello-"

"Serah calm down, before we go shopping I have to go report to my job as soon as possible." She interrupted. She wasn't a workaholic, it was simple, she wanted to get this over with. Lightning sighed. The two hour trip was going to be a long one.

The Royal Palace of Eden

Noctis took a deep breath. Eden was the same as he last remembered it. A beautiful city flowing with life. There was just one thing though, he didn't want to stay at the palace. He had made that clear to his father before his departure. But his father as always didn't listen. He was going to stay in the palace whether he liked it or not. He would not stay at the palace, and that was his final decision.

The palace was just as he had remembered it also. The same elegant place as always, compared to his home. His luggage was taken to the guest room, his friends had left him to explore the palace a little. He also decided to do some exploring of his own.

He walked along the corridors glancing from side to side. Until he reached a room. Curiosity got the best of him so he entered it. It was a study room. The desk was clean and spotless, many books stood along the bookshelves. He examined everything carefully. He got around the bookshelf. Looked it up and down until he saw something that sparked his curiosity.

It was a book about the ancients. Noctis pulled the book out, once he did, a picture and a letter fell out to the ground. He glanced down to pick it up. On the back side of the picture there were words written on it.

"To my Beloved Cloud."

A smile spread on his face. Just but reading this small note, he could already tell how much the King and Queen loved each other. They were lucky, they had a choice to pick who they wanted to marry. He didn't. Noctis sighed, remembering the hell he was going to live for the rest of his life. He turned the picture over, it was a picture of the Queen. The Queen looked very young indeed. She looked seventeen. He smiled and he set down the picture. It must have been nice to use the picture of his wife as a bookmark. It sounded like they were really in love.

He opened up the letter, it didn't matter both the king and queen were gone..

"Dilly Dally Shilly Shally. Cloud, you sure do take a long time to write back. That's okay, I understand you're busy. Cloud, no matter what you do I will always be there to support you. You're doing a great job as a King, and I'm proud of you for that. Try not to overwork yourself, don't skip out on meals, Please eat, will you? Oh and one more thing, I love you. I'll be waiting for your safe return.

xoxox Love Aerith xoxoxo

Noctis smiled at the letter. He wished he could marry someone he loved, but sadly he couldn't, it was all politics for both families. He sighed again . He folded the letter and the picture, and he put it back to w here it was before.

Noctis turned around when he felt a presence behind him.

"Ahh, Lord Noctis, is there something you wish to find?" Noctis shook his head. Eying the man carefully. "Who are you?"

"Ahh, my apologies my Lord, My name is Cid Raines. "

"I see.." He muttered. "Well, Mr. Raines I will be leaving." Cid bowed his head as Noctis made his leave.

"Lord Raines, you have a visitor." He heard from the speaker. "Not now." He spoke in.

"But my Lord, Its Sergeant Lightning!" A smile was brought to his lips. "I will be right there."

As soon as they arrived, Lightning and Searh had parted ways. While Serah went out to check their new apartment, Lightning went to check in at her new job. Stella's new bodyguard. She wanted the day to be over so badly. She didn't want to go shopping yet she promised Serah they would go.

While at the Palace gates she looked around everywhere. The palace hadn't changed one bit, not at all. It was the same as before. She turned around to face away. It was going to be weird, but what choice did she have? She took a deep breath and she let it all out slowly. She did this to relax herself.

"Sergeant Lightning." She turned her head at the mention of her name. There was a man standing behind her. Taller than her, and he was smiling at her for some strange reason. She looked at him carefully. "Ah, My apologies. I am Cid Raines the one who asked for you to come here."

She had heard of him before. But she couldn't place her finger on it.

"I heard you were quite skilled at combat."

She glanced up to look him directly in the eyes."So they say." She replied back coldly.

"I also heard you were cold and ruthless." He smiled at her. His smile made her feel uncomfortable. "So they say." She replied back once more. "Sergeant Lightning, allow me to show you around."

"Please, just Lightning."

"Of course. Lightning. Allow me to show you around the palace."

"Sir, I would like to check out the area myself if I may." Cid smiled at her. Just like he had heard from those in Bodhum. She was just as they described, a loner. "Well then Lightning, here." He took out a small map from his pocket. "I get lost every now and then also, the place is very big. So here." Lightning took the map from his hands. "Well Lightning, you start the day after the party. I assume you will be attending?" Lightning hesitantly nodded her head. She had no intention of going, yet she was going for Serah. "Yes Of course." Cid smiled at this. "Any questions, feel free to ask them there. I will take my leave now." He saluted her and he left.

Lightning looked down at the map that had been given to her. "Tch." She folded the map and placed it in her pocket. "I don't need this, I know my way inside perfectly fine." She didn't even bother to walk inside. She was done with this appointment. Now it was onwards to the next. Shopping with Serah. Oh she dreaded it.

5:00 In the Afternoon

Serah was oh so delighted to go shopping with Lightning. It was one of her dreams to see Lightning in a dress. "Hey Sis, can you still walk in a dress?" She leaned in to whisper. Lightning rolled her eyes. "Of course I can. Just because you stop wearing one doesn't mean you forget."

"But its been ten years sis." She giggled. "Yeah but-"

"Oh look! Lets go into this store!" Serah beamed, Lightning rolled her eyes, she followed her sister into the store.

There were different types of dresses. All types of colors. Lightning took one good looked at them and she turned her head away. She didn't want to wear a dress. Serah popped out from behind her. "Look sis! I got some for you to try on!" Lightning rolled her eyes. She was going to wear something to Serah's taste. She wasn't satisfied not one bit. But that at all didn't matter. Not to Serah at least. Lightning sighed. "Go, hurry into the dressing room, and here." She handed her a red dress. It was a ball gown. It wasn't puffy either, the bottom half was made of chiffon, which made it drop down, instead of having it puff up. She sighed again, with no choice but to obey her younger sister.

"Lightning you done yet?" Lightning groaned from behind the door. "Yeah, I'll be right out." Once she was done she stepped out. The dress made her feel uncomfortable. It flowed down elegantly. Serah beamed. "Wow it looks great on you!" Lightning groaned. "I look like I'm pregnant." Serah giggled. "That's fashion for you." Lightning looked at herself in the mirror. "I hate fashion then." She replied back. Serah giggled again and she handed her another dress. This time the dress was a sky blue color. Lightning rolled her eyes again, she took the dress and she went to change again.

She looked down at the color of the dress. It was a strapless dress, that defined her curves very well. The bottom part of the dress flowed down elegantly just as the other one did. It wasn't poofy either. On the left side of the dress, the fabric was made into ripples that flowed down, while on the right side, the fabric wasn't rippled at all, it just flowed straight down. Around her neck went a scarf made of silk, that matched the color of her dress. Lightning somewhat liked it. She walked out of the dressing room. Looking away from Serah.

"Wow! That one is amazing!" Serah clasped her hands. "Turn around Light!" Lightning sighed and she hesitantly did as she was told. "Wow it looks great on you. How do you feel?" Lightning opened her mouth to speak. "You know how I feel about any type of dress."

"But you have no complaints about this one, right sis?" Lightning sighed. Serah was right, she had no complaints whatsoever. "Yeah, its alright." She replied. Serah smiled at her sister. "Okay then, we'll take it. Oh and before you go, I got you some shoes. Try them on while you still have the dress on." Lightning groaned again. The shoes Serah had gotten were some pumps, about the same color of the dress. The heal was only about three to four inches tall. Lightning stared at it for a few seconds. She put them on.

She turned her head to face Serah. "There." Serah laughed softly. "Now, try to walk in them." Lightning groaned again. She wobbled a bit, as she wasn't used to this type of thing. "Remember how you used to walk, head held high, proud and elegant." Lightning nodded her head. She fixed her postured and she walked on straight. "How's this?" She tried to imitate how she used to walk when she was young. Serah put her hand to her chin and she placed a hand to her waist.

"Hmmm...I think, its great." Lightning sighed in relief. "Okay, let me go take this thing off." She was so glad it was over. I hope its the last dress I ever buy in my life. She thought to herself. She quickly changed out of the dress, and she put her normal clothes on. Once she was done she paid for the dress and shoes.

"Serah, do you have your dress already?"

"Yes, I went with Lebreau to buy it. So I don't have to worry about anything."

Thank god. She thought again.

"Princess Stella Nox Fleuret has some words to say to the people of Cocoon." Lightning and Serah stopped to look at the large screen that hung on one of the buildings.

"My people of Cocoon, I am truly grateful to you for allowing me to stay here. I don't deserve such kindness, after all my family has done here...But I promise, I will be the best governor you will ever have. I will make Cocoon a better place to live. I hope you will treat me kindly, and I hope to see the students tomorrow at the ball. I look forward to meeting you. Another thing I may add, my fiancee Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum will be staying here a while as well. I'm sure you will take a liking to him. Thank you for listening to me." The broadcast was shut off. Lightning was glaring at the TV.

The princess pissed her off to no end. Just as well as Noctis. She bit her lip and gestured for Serah to follow her home. Serah knew Lightning was angry again. She didn't know how her sister was going to handle working for the princess.

Noctis heard the broadcast well. He wasn't happy with it either. He wasn't happy period. As much as Marcus and Laris tried to cheer him up, it wasn't working. As long as he was in Cocoon, not even a smile would appear on his lovely face.

Though the people of Cocoon cheered for the young princess, they of course loved her, and apparently didn't care what happened in the past. Though that wasn't all of the people. Most were really angry.

"Who is she trying to kid? She was lying through her teeth, that little-"

"Yuffie, calm yourself down, we can't do anything about it." Yuffie puffed her cheeks. "Yes we can, lets bring back Eclair and Serah, we'll see then." She grumbled.

Tifa sighed. "Those girls are living their lives freely, as they want, we shouldn't burden them anymore. This is what their parents wanted." Yuffie sighed in defeat.

"Yuffie report to HQ." Came a voice from her walkie talkie. "Alright I'm on my way!" She grinned at Tifa. "Later Teef!" With that she ran off. Tifa sighed and shook her head at the young ninja. As she headed off into her own direction.

"If only...you guys were alive..." She muttered.

9:00 PM Some Bar

"Hey you're new here, what's your name?" The man looked up to see a young woman smiling a him. He said nothing for a while. No words came out of his mouth.

"Cloud." He replied.

"Boy, Cloud, you seem so down in the dumps. Are you drinking to forget something painful?" He looked up at her with his blue eyes. They were about the color of the sky, and they had a beautiful glow to them. Yet again he didn't respond to her. No words came out from him again. It took him about five minutes to respond to her.

. He felt like an empty shell, filled with nothing, filled with no purpose. He was only a delivery boy. That's all he knew. He couldn't remember his past life, what he did, or what he used to do, he knew no family or friends. That was about it. For ten years he had lived like that. Yet the memories that filled inside him didn't suffice. He was missing something but he couldn't recall what it was.

"I'm drinking to remember." An emotionless voice. Cold, and devoid of happiness. That's how he was. That's all he knew.

The last line, I was watching X-Men Origins : Wolverine. It somehow reminded me of Cloud..erm. In a way. Now, If you all recall, I never said Cloud was dead. They just never found him.

I plan to make this story long.30 chapters or so. :] Read and review! Remember no Flaming