Final Fantasy XIII 1. Daily Routine

_**Shadow of Cocoon**_

**Hello again, guys! To those of you who haven't read my stories in a while, welcome back! I've been kinda silent over the last few months, but that silence has now reached it's end. This is my latest story, _Shadow of Cocoon_. This story has been in the making since early August, when I got the idea. This is, partially, my story for a possible family for Lightning and Fang, set 17 years after XIII. Now, this will not be based on Final Fantasy XIII-2, but some characters will appear.**

**Another warning: this story is rated M for a good reason. The first few chapters are not too bad, but later on, there will be at least one of the following; death, rape, sex, and torture. This fic is several times darker than anything I've posted before, and it is not meant for the faint of heart. Read at your own discretion.**

**Pairings in this story are, for now, as follows: Fang/Lightning, Snow/Serah, and Hope/Vanille. There will be minor OC pairings as the story progresses, but these are the main ones.**

**Well, that should do it for this A/N. Enjoy _Shadow of Cocoon_!**

**Word Count: 7583**

**Disclaimer: This story is entirely the work of my own mind, and is in now way to be taken as cannon. This world is, likely, too violent and dark to be featured in a Final Fantasy game, anyway.**

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><p>Shadow of Cocoon<p>

The house 3885 Lakeside Plaza was like many other houses in Oerba. It was decorated by only a few lawn ornaments, of what looked like a child's doing. The car outside was practical and simple, nothing more than you'd expect to see on the streets. The grass was unusually well kept for the block, appearing almost blindingly green in the sunlight.

The outside of the house was brick, and so it retained the standard reddish brown color that brick normally has. Thought the sun had yet to rise, there was already activity inside the house. It was the first day of the school year in Oerba, and that meant that students would be living miserable lives for the next nine to ten months.

This particular family was headed by Lightning Yun-Farron. She was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Guardian Corps, and the battalion commander of the 42nd Regional Defense Battalion, a battalion of the 321st Infantry Brigade. Her battalion was one of three that trained new recruits that were entering the Guardian Corps. Hers was one of the best, but also one of the strictest. She never tolerated dissent in her ranks, no matter how small.

The other head of the household was Oerba Yun Fang. The huntress rarely went out on dangerous hunts anymore, instead focusing on her new family. She still worked with PSICOM hunters, teaching them how to live off the land for extended periods of time, and she occasionally went on low key hunts.

Both Lightning and Fang had two daughters. Their oldest, Paine, was starting her sophomore year of high school. She had Lightning's skin pigment, but most of her genetics came from Fang. She shared Fang's multicolored hair, the primary color being a very dark brown. There were shades of red, pink, and blonde in her hair, but they were rarely noticeable. Her eyes were almost red, but were mainly a dark brown.

The younger of the daughters was Averia. She was thirteen years old, three years younger than her sister, and was in the eighth grade. She was more like Lightning than Paine, only lacking Lightning's pale skin. Averia had Fang's skin tone and eyes, but almost everything else about the girl was Lightning's. She normally let her hair grow longer than Lightning, but the pink locks could, if combed the right way, look like her mother's.

Today was different than most other days. Normally, only Lightning and maybe Fang were awake at this time. Lightning usually had to work long hours with the trainees on base, but today she was allowed to come in a few hours later than normal. Fang was normally up in case anything needed to be done around the house, something that the huntress never thought she'd have to do. The girls were usually up before 8 am, but their daily routines varied, like any teenager's did.

Today, though, both girls were up at 5:30. Lightning had gotten up earlier than she normally did, awakening at almost 4:30, to ensure that the girl's would be ready for the day. Paine would need to be in school around 6:30 so she could get her locker and books, while Averia would be arriving at her school at roughly 8:45. Paine was the first of the two to take her shower, taking a little longer than she normally did. The oldest child was definitely not a morning person.

Lightning was sitting at the island counter, sipping her coffee and nibbling on her breakfast. One thing Lightning made sure of was that there was always a warm breakfast. Today, it consisted of eggs, ham, French toast and coffee. Anything that was added after that was either Fang's doing or leftovers. Fang's one request was that there be salt at all times. While Lightning never could understand why her partner liked salt so much, she obliged. Paine also added salt to her meals, but not as much as her mom. Averia never touched salt, claiming not to like the taste.

Paine was already dressed in her outfit for today. Paine was in public schooling, and there was no uniform policy for it's students, though there was a dress code. Lightning had made sure that she knew what was allowed and what wasn't, so her children never wore anything considered "inappropriate". Still, Paine was always one to bend the rules. She wore a black tank top that barely covered her navel region, her usual black arm sleeves that reached her elbows, a studded choker, and shorts just long enough to fit the code. Lightning saw the outfit and sighed.

"Can you wear something normal for once?" Lightning asked her daughter in half annoyance, half amusement. Paine rolled her eyes sarcastically, grabbing a plate and placing her breakfast on it. She sat down at the far end of the island after she did so.

"Don't worry, Light." Fang said, leaning back against the couch and watching the news. "At least she ain't like Snow's kids." Lightning noticeably cringed at the thought. Snow didn't care what his daughters wore, and usually they wore some of the most…interesting articles of clothing. Nothing that was considered inappropriate, though. Obviously Serah had some sense in her.

"She's just trying to look nice for her boyfriend." Averia sang as she exited the bathroom. She was wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans, though she probably wasn't going to wear them to school. The older girl froze slightly, then turned to scowl at her younger sibling.

"Boyfriend, huh?" Lightning asked, raising an eyebrow and sipping on her coffee. Paine turned lightly red at her mother's question, looking down at the plate before her like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"It..it's nothing." Paine stuttered, taking a bite of her food. Fang refrained from laughing at her normally stoic daughter's sudden sheepishness. Lightning nodded once, unconvinced, then turned to Averia.

The girl, who was busy grabbing food for her plate, eagerly answered her mother's unasked question. "He's a boy from downtown. Like's to think he's a bad boy." Averia said, almost as if to spite Paine. Paine tried to look menacing at the youngest Farron, but she couldn't while her face was slowly becoming redder by the second.

"Really, now?" Fang asked from the couch, now turned to look at the kitchen. "And tell me, Avi, how do you know all this?" The younger sibling simply smiled as she set her plate down next to Lightning.

"Well, I heard from Nora and Rayne, who said they heard from Cloud." She explained, digging into her food. Paine's face was still glued on her plate, now as red as an apple.

"Whatever." Lightning said, standing up to put her dishes into the sink. She turned to the clock and saw it read 6:12. Paine was finishing her breakfast as soon as Lightning turned back. The older girl stood almost as tall as Lightning at full height, something that secretly irked the soldier. Paine probably would get a little taller than Lightning before she finished growing. Averia, on the other hand, was already a few inches taller than Paine was at that age.

"Ready to go?" Lightning asked as Paine finished cleaning her former dish. The older child nodded, then went to grab her empty backpack before following her mother out of the house.

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><p>In a house only a few minutes away from the Yun-Farron household (Oerba wasn't the largest city on Gran Pulse) was another house preparing for the school year. Well, not yet, anyway.<p>

The matriarch of this family was a woman named Vanille. Her red hair was, for the longest time, kept up in two pigtails, but she had long since forgone that style, instead letting her hair grow out naturally. It was currently just beyond her neck, stopping about an inch below her shoulder.

She cracked open an eye, still dimmed with sleep, and looked around. Her bedroom was still unlit, the sunlight not yet shining bright enough to pierce through the curtains. Instead, the sheets hanging from the window seemed to glow with an ethereal light. That, combined with the embrace her husband had her in, was enough to lure her back to sleep.

Then the alarm clock went off.

Vanille shrieked at the noise. She was completely startled and had no idea what to do for about three seconds. Then, she realized it was just a clock, and brought her hand down on the device, hard. The persistent ringing died out after she hit it, reverting back to a silent digital clock.

After sighing, Vanille frowned when she heard her husband chuckling behind her. She turned around to see him, wide awake and smiling at her, his face distorted with the occasional laugh.

"Hit that thing any harder and you would've killed it." Hope teased. His silver hair was messy and covering his green eyes. The redhead pouted.

"Shut up." She said simply, her voice filled with faux anger. The two remained in this embrace for a few more minutes before Vanille finally got up. "Guess I'd better get Zack up." She said, stepping away to go to the bathroom.

As she exited the bathroom, she saw Hope getting dressed for work. "Boss just called, said he needed me there ASAP." He said as he finished putting his shirt on. He worked in an office most of the time, but since he also did what higher class workers would consider "dirty work", he never wore his suit to work. "Something about the Phoenix Engine." He finished, grabbing his cell phone and wallet. "See ya later." With one last kiss, he left.

Vanille chuckled silently. Even at his age, Sazh was still going strong. She thought back to the man as she walked down the hallway to her son's room. Zack was the Esthiem's only child. Unlike his father, or his mother for that matter, Zack had brown hair. Likely, it came from his grandparents, on both sides. Vanille's mom had auburn hair, but her dad had dark brown hair. His eyes were green, but sometimes appeared blue if the light hit it just right.

Vanille didn't even finish reaching up to knock when she heard, "Come in, mom." from the other side of the entry. She opened the door to see Zack piling binders, notebooks and pencils into his backpack. Zack had just turned fourteen, and looked exactly like his father did, save for the brown hair. The boy saw his mother and nodded. "Dad leave for work?" He asked.

"Yeah." Vanille said, standing in the doorway. Sometimes she forgot just how young Hope was when she first met him. At first, he acted his age, but as time drew on he matured. Sometimes, when they were still dating, Vanille could forget that Hope was still a few years younger than herself. Seeing Zack at this age brought all those memories back.

Vanille stepped away from the doorway to go make breakfast. The sun had finally cast it's light over Oerba, the orange/red orb casting a similarly colored light over the small town. Vanille stepped into the kitchen as was gathering foodstuffs to make breakfast: Eggs, bread, and some bacon. She was about to turn on the stove when the phone rang.

Zack answered it, but Vanille had barely returned to her task when she heard. "Mom, it's Mrs. Serah." from Zack. Nodding, Vanille took the device from her son and put it to her ear.

"Yeah?" Vanille asked. Why would Serah be calling at this time?

"Hey, Vanille, Hope called a while ago." Serah started. In the background, Vanille could hear the television playing what sounded like cartoons. "Said that Zack needed to be picked up for school?"

Vanille smiled lightly. Leave it to Hope to remember something like that. "Yeah. Sazh has him bounding off to work at all hours of the morning." Vanille joked, her voice full of faux tiredness. Serah laughed on her end.

"Well, at least your's is working." Serah said. "Snow here just sits around all day." Serah's tease was followed by a male voice, most likely Snow's, shouting "hey!" at the woman.

"Doesn't he have that NORA group to run?" Vanille asked as she tried to keep from laughing too much. At the same time, Zack had poured himself some cereal and was eating it at the table. One thing Zack did not have was patience, especially when it came to food.

"He does, but most of the time he stays at home." Serah said. "Sometimes I wonder if he really is working." Again, Snow could be heard in the background, sounding a lot closer this time around. Vanille chuckled. "What is it that Hope's been working on?" Serah asked after a few moments.

"Well, he's been working on something called the 'Phoenix Engine'" Vanille said, leaning against the wall. "He says it should be able to fuel cities like the fal'Cie did on Cocoon." Serah hmm'd in response.

"Sounds important." Serah said. "He must get paid a lot, too." She added. Vanille chuckled.

"Yeah, he does." Vanille teased. Serah huffed again. "Well, how's Snow been?" Vanille asked. Serah sighed.

"Same as usual. Being loud, testing Claire's last nerves." She said. "You know, Lightning's still angry at him for the Christmas party you guys threw last year?" Vanille had to put her hand to her mouth to stifle her laughs. Snow, in his never ending quest to gain Lightning's approval, tried to get Lightning and Fang a nice, romantic dinner alone for Christmas. However, before the two left, they came over to Vanille's place for a Christmas party. Snow got drunk with his friends from NORA, and in their stupor, they ended up ruining the only dress that Lightning liked.

Needless to say, she still hadn't let him get over that.

"Well, you know Snow…" Vanille said when her laughs were down enough. Zack had just finished his bowl of cereal and was working on his second. "Well, I gotta go. Zack's gonna starve if I don't make breakfast." She teased.

Serah chuckled on her end. "Okay. See ya later, Vanille." And with that, she hung up.

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><p>"Battalion, a-ten-tion!" A private (PV2) on Staff Duty called, him and his buddy snapping to near perfect attention, as Lightning walked into the Battalion HQ. While there was not a person in the room save for Lightning and the two privates, it was the custom that, whenever the commanding officer walks into the HQ for the first time, that the soldier on staff duty call the battalion (or wherever heshe is assigned at) to attention.

"At ease, privates." Lightning spoke, waiving the soldiers (the private and a specialist(SPC)) back to their duty. They did just that, sitting down and returning to their silent conversation. Lightning walked towards her office, passing several sergeants and officers under her command. They also came to attention, but, like before, she waived them off.

Upon arrival at her office, she walked in, at easing her Command Sergeant Major (CSM) as she entered her office. While Lightning may have spoke with her subordinates on friendly terms, traditions and customs were strictly upheld, no matter what. As she closed the door, she looked at the calendar she had next to her desk. Today she was visiting Bravo Company. One of the eight companies under her command at the 42nd, Bravo Company was particularly strong concerning it's training given to new recruits. A large number of the soldiers who passed through Bravo Company went on to become highly decorated members of service in the Guardian Corps.

At the moment, the Company was about to undergo their first PT test. The PT test involves three different areas of examination- push-ups, sit-ups, and a 2 mile run. This particular test was likely to be extremely separated, with the most failures coming in this phase. Donning her grey and black PT uniform, Lightning exited the HQ and headed out to the training facility.

The training area wasn't a proper facility, but instead an area of grass near the barracks. Platoon sized patches of dead grass marked the area where most of the training was done in the mornings, but today there wasn't any real training. Instead, there was formations awaiting the orders by their Drill Sergeants to begin their 2 mile run.

Lightning approached the Company Commander, Captain (CPT) Ramirez, who went to attention, as did the rest of the platoon, upon her arrival. "At ease." was spoken again as the platoon groggily returned to their resting position. "So, Captain, what's on the roster for today?" Light asked, directing the lower ranked officer away from the platoon.

Ramirez thought for a moment, then turned to his senior Drill Sergeant, Sergeant First Class (SFC) Chavez, and called him over. Upon the sergeant's arrival, Ramirez asked, "What're your private's doing today, Chavez?"

The Drill Sergeant chuckled, almost humorously, as he answered. "They're in the gas chamber today, sir." Ramirez chuckled as well, before dismissing the sergeant to continue the training.

"Well, this should be interesting…" Lightning spoke as the Company began their test.

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><p>The VilliersFarron household was in a complete buzz as the time wound down. The eldest of the children, Cloud, was already at school, and the younger two children, twin girls Rayne and Nora, were preparing for school themselves. They were gathering their supplies and watching the morning cartoons.

"Alright, girls, time to go." Snow called, herding his two daughters out to the family car. The girls spoke their goodbyes to Serah before they exited the small, quaint house. "Be back soon." Snow said to his wife before he followed the two girls out of the house.

There were two cars in the driveway of the house, but the one currently being used was the van. Called the "bus", this vehicle was the primary means of transportation of all of the former l'Cie's children. After the three were inside, Snow pulled the car out onto the streets of Oerba.

"So, first to Aunt Light's, then to Zack's, right?" Snow asked his children. He, of course, knew the answer, as Hope had called asking that Zack be picked up for school, and Snow knew that Lightning was already at work. Still, the large man would occasionally ask questions of this sort to his daughters, particularly Nora.

The girl in question nodded in reply. "Yep. We can't forget Avi, can we?" The (by a minute) younger twin asked back, getting a humorous hum from her father.

"Of course not." He answered, pulling to a stop at a red light. Looking into the rear view mirror, Snow took in how much each girl had grown over the years. Nora was slightly smaller than her older sister, but she was slightly taller. Her hair was a very light pink, so light it was practically blond. Her features were a good mix of Snow's and Serah's, with a rough smoothness to them. Rayne, however, looked almost exactly like her mother, right down to the pink hair. Both girls had the same color blue eyes.

The car pulled up to Lightning's house shortly after they moved from the red light. Snow honked the horn once, waiting for Averia to come out to the car. The girl was out only a few moments after they arrived, bolting towards the car at full speed. Fang followed at a more casual pace, opting for a brisk walk. She was holding a brown bag in her hand as she approached, stopping at the driver side window.

"Make sure the office gets these." Fang spoke, handing Snow the bag. It sounded like there was a baby's rattle inside, the way it shook. Upon further inspection, Snow saw a bottle of pills. "It's for her condition." Fang answered Snow's unasked question. Immediately, Snow understood what these were.

Around eight months ago, Averia fell terribly ill. The doctors had a tough time figuring out just what exactly was wrong with the girl. For three days, Averia was in the hospital, falling into a coma from what was affecting her. Finally, the doctors located the reason for her sudden illness. There was an autoimmune disease that can occur in the children of l'Cie or former l'Cie. The name of the disease was called crystallumortem, and was, in history, a very deadly disease. Every other child of the l'Cie was safe from this disease, but Snow recalled that it was the only time that he ever saw Light of Fang cry.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it." He said, setting the bag in the seat next to him. Averia waved at her mother as Snow pulled out onto the road, heading now to pick up Zack.

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><p>Oerba Senior High School was considered to be the largest high school by attendance on Gran Pulse. With an estimated 3000 students this year, it was no wonder why. But, there was only one student in attendance who could say they were a Yun.<p>

Paine preferred to go by her Pulsian name, Oerba Yun Paine, something Fang seemed keen on encouraging. The eldest Farron child was even enrolled as such. Paine was very interested in Gran Pulse's history, taking greatly to Fang's tales of heroism and adventure of Pulse's lore.

However, not many people were keen to befriend Paine. The only two people who could call themselves Paine's 'friends' were two girls, Yuna and Rikku. These two were quite different from Paine, though. Where Paine was stoic, quiet and serious, Yuna and Rikku were talkative and carefree. Paine sometimes wondered why she continued to hang around the two.

It was lunch time, and Paine was looking for her spot to sit. At her usual table, Cloud, his girlfriend Tifa, Yuna, her boyfriend Tidus, Rikku and her friend/classmate Selphie sat. As soon as Rikku saw Paine, she flagged the older girl towards her, and the Yun sat in the only empty area, across from Cloud.

"Heya, Paine." Cloud spoke, his voice soft for someone of his build. Cloud was named for Snow's favorite uncle, but he was much more like Snow than anyone else. That being said, he didn't have Snow's build, instead having a solid mix of Snow's and Serah's. He was quite tall for his age, but nowhere near as much as Snow. His blond hair was usually kept spiked up, seemingly defying gravity.

"Hey." Paine said, with a mix of what could be taken as annoyance and typical Paine tone. Cloud raised an eyebrow, somewhat amused at Paine's response. Not that Paine showed much in the way of enthusiasm, but that answer was very un-Paine like.

"Something the matter?" He asked his cousin, who was pulling the plastic fork out of it's wrapper to begin eating her food.

"Nothing." Paine answered, grabbing a bite of the spaghetti that was being served. While nowhere near as good as her mother's, it was at least edible. Cloud hmm'd.

"I'm thinking it's because Riku's not here." Cloud remarked as he bit into his hamburger. Again, not as good as it could be, but it would do. Paine nearly chocked on her food, and had to slow her chewing for a moment. As soon as she finished, she glared at Cloud like he had committed some forbidden transgression. Yuna, Rikku, Selphie and Tifa all giggled silently at Paine's overreaction.

"What about me?" a male voice asked from behind Paine. All eyes at the table turned to the source of the voice. It was a boy, maybe Paine's age, tall and lanky, with a messy mop of white hair that covered his green eyes. Currently he was wearing a yellow vest over a white t-shirt and baggy blue jeans.

The entire table was silent as the boy sat next to Paine, his tray of food in front of him. "Miss me?" He spoke to Paine, a goofy smile on his face. For all of two seconds, Paine's jaw was unhinged. When she finally sobered up, she did the first thing that crossed the mind of a Farron.

She punched him in the shoulder, hard.

"Oww!" The boy cried, rubbing the shoulder with his other hand. Paine's face was now contorted into a glare, similar to the one she was giving Cloud moments ago. Everyone else was deathly silent; part of it was due to fear of Paine's spite, but most of it was because, like all teenagers, they were extremely nosey.

"What the hell, Riku!" Paine half-shouted at the boy, her tone taking on a venom similar to her expression. "Why in the hell wouldn't you tell me you were coming back!" If they didn't know Paine well, everyone at the table would think she was a combination of relieved and excited. But, it was hard to tell through her anger.

"Sorry." Riku started, the pain in his shoulder now a dull ache. "My parents had me ready to head to Central, but they backed out yesterday when they got the bill." Riku obviously thought it was funny, but with Paine currently glaring daggers at him.

This went on for about ten full seconds before the situation finally changed. Paine's glare softened up, an almost unnoticeable smile gracing her face. "Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again." She spoke, her voice forcefull enough to emphasize her point, but not as deadly as her previous tone.

Riku smiled openly, nodding once in reply. "Wouldn't even dream about it. Don't want you to hit me again." He joked, getting a silent chuckle from Paine. The rest of the table relaxed with Paine's change of attitude, no longer fearing for their lives. "So, how've you been, Strife?" Riku asked Cloud as he bit into his food. The blond in question smirked.

"Obviously a hell of a lot better than you've been." He joked, leaning back as far as he could without a backrest. Cloud's nickname, Strife, came from his time on the middle school football team, and his rivalry with the quarterback of the rival football team, Sora. The two were constantly trying to beat the other, even going so far as to get into a fight after one game. The two were now good friends on the high school's football team, but the name stuck.

All in all, it was a typical day in high school.

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><p>Machinery was whirling and humming loudly at the PSICOM Mechanical Engineering Depot, Oerba. Foreman Hope Estheim was currently working on his project, the Phoenix Engine. Named after Cocoon's fal'Cie of light, the Phoenix was part of a revolutionary project to develop an alternative to the energy supplied by the fal'Cie. Currently, the cities of Gran Pulse were using generators to produce electricity, but the energy could be unpredictable at times.<p>

However, there was a snag in the engine's system. For some reason, it had stopped producing energy, and since Hope was the only one who knew how the thing worked, he was called in to figure out what had happened.

With a heavy sigh, he pulled himself from inside the engine and wiped his brow. Another worker helping him noted his expression. "So, what's the verdict?" He asked, handing Hope a clean rag to wipe the sweat away.

"Who's working on supply?" Hope asked, annoyed. This was not something he had foreseen, and the problem was getting to the point of being just stupid.

"Hmm. Talk to the kid." The worker replied, thumbing to a kid working on what looked to be a velocycle. "He's new, but he seems to know everything else." Hope nodded, and approached the kid.

Hope hadn't even gotten all the way there when his target began talking. "I know this is the Captain's velo, dad." Hope paused. That voice was eerily familiar. "But the entire hover's shot. It'll take at least a week to fix it." Hope chuckled silently.

"Wrong person, Dajh." He said, watching in delight as Dajh almost dropped the wrench in his hand. The afro'd man turned towards Hope, before smiling slightly.

"Ah, sorry, Hope. Dad's got me fixing Captain Lucas's velo for him." Dajh spoke, setting the wrench down. "No way it'll get fixed when he wants it, though. What's up?" Hope nodded. Dajh was quick to the point, just like his father.

"I need to know who's working supply on the Phoenix Engine." Hope said. Dajh thought for a few moments, resembling Sazh almost to the letter, before he finally answered.

"I think it's Michael. He's over there working on the Orion." Dajh said, pointing to a red-headed man working on the broken tilter. "He should be able to help."

Hope nodded in thanks and headed to the man. Mike, as his nametag said, noticed Hope approaching and stopped his work. "What's up, boss?" He asked. PSICOM preferred if it's workers limited the conversations during work hours. They said it made things run smoother.

"You do the supply for the Phoenix?" Hope asked. Mike nodded, standing up. "I need a part for it." Again, Mike nodded, leading Hope to the parts room and pulling out a data pad.

"Whatcha need?" The red head asked, pulling up the search screen.

"I need Grade III Antimatter Particle Converter, 15cm gap. Any in?" Hope asked, waiting as Mike looked through their inventory.

A few moments later and he nodded. "Yep, we got some, but I don't think that'll fix it, sir." Mike said, to which Hope paused.

"What do ya mean?" He asked, intrigued. He was sure that it was just that the Converter had failed.

"The Phoenix uses a Cyclic Pulse AMP Drive, right?" Hope nodded. "Three cylinder or five?" Hope paused for a moment.

"Five." He answered. Mike nodded, a small smile on his face.

"Well, that's the problem. Grade III's aren't compatible with the five cylinder variant of that drive. You need a Grade V at least." He said. He was searching for one when Hope cut him off.

"I already tried a Grade V. The gap on them isn't big enough for the fuel to properly convert, and too much density causes the drive to overheat." Hope explained. He thought that Mike might try to use a Grade V, but that had created nothing but problems. He thought that it just the gap. It was sounding like there was more than just an improper gap now.

"Hmm. Well, guess we'll have to Frankenstein one together." Mike surmised, stopping his search. "It'll take a little longer, but it should work a little better in the long run. Talk to Parks and Montgomery." Mike said, handing Hope the schematics of both a Grade III and a Grade V Converter. "Compare what failed on the last Converter with these, and see if ya'll can't come up with a solution. If we got the parts, I'll put it together for you and we'll see it that works." Mike explained, to which Hope nodded. As he was leaving, the foreman sighed.

* * *

><p>"Welcome to Science, students." the teacher, Mr. Stapleton, said, standing before the 8th Grade Science class he taught. It was the last of 6 periods at Oerba Central Junior High, and as such, most of the students were, to put it mildly, bored. Well, all except Averia, that is.<p>

"My job is to help you understand the vast world that science has to offer." the teacher continued, to which some students were listening, and some were trying to ignore him. "That being said, this class will be fun, and we will do various projects throughout the year."

He had only just paused when he spoke again, this time with a stack of papers in his hand. "Now, I'm going to hand you these worksheets to do." Part of the class groaned, to which the teacher chuckled. "It is not a grade. I will be using these to assess where you are and allow myself to teach you guys a little better." He handed Averia's table five papers, one for each person at the table. To her left, Zack sat, taking the sheet with a small thanks.

"You can work with the students at your table, but keep the noise level at reasonable levels." He said, sitting at his desk and beginning to take the roll for the class. As soon as he sat down, the talking began, but it was, surprisingly, kept within reasonable levels.

"So, what've you been up to?" Zack asked Averia when they began to work on their sheets. While it was the last period, the two were not in any other classes together, so this was the only time they could talk. They both had classes with Nora and/or Rayne earlier in the day, but there was not a single class they all took together.

"Eh, same as usual." Averia answered, quickly working through her assignment. Averia was they "brainiac" of the school, and she constantly had other students asking her for help. She didn't mind most of the time, but occasionally it got irritating. "Mom's been working with the most recent batch of hunters, and mother's been protecting the town from nothing." Zack chucked at the description of Lightning's job, but the others at their table had no idea what Averia was talking about. The Yun-Farron children had taken to calling Fang 'mom' and Lightning either 'mama' or, more recently, 'mother'. Zack knew of the 'code' that was used, but not too many others could decipher it. "How about you?" Averia asked as she reached the end of the assignment.

"Well, dad's been working on that project with PSICOM, and mom's still helping out at the garden." Zack answered, himself not too far behind Averia on the sheet. The 'garden' was the Oerba Open Air Nature Park, a small park built in Oerba shortly after the Fall in honor of Fang and Vanille. Seeing as Vanille was quite the horticulturist, it was a great fit for her after she awoke from crystal sleep.

The rest of the class passed without anything of note occurring. The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day, and a flood of students trying to escape the building.

Serah was picking up the children today, and she was waiting just outside the school's parking lot for them to enter the vehicle. When Averia and Zack arrived, Nora and Rayne were already in the van, waiting for their cousins to enter. A few moments later, Serah pulled out onto the road, heading towards the neighborhood they lived in.

"So, how was school?" Serah asked to her passengers once they were moving. Nora and Rayne shrugged, but Averia spoke up.

"It wasn't too bad. I'm not liking my history teacher, though." She said honestly. The four all had the same core class teachers, just in different orders. The other three seemed to visually cringe.

"You mean Mrs. Hatherly?" Nora asked, obviously sharing Averia's revelation. The younger girl nodded. Nora cringed. "Yeah, she's a real bi-" Nora hadn't even finished her sentence when her mother was glaring at her in the mirror. "Er, witch." Nora corrected, but Serah's gaze was still on her. The pinkette simply sighed as if in defeat.

"I swear, you two give me more trouble than you father at times." She spoke lightly, turning down Zack's street a few moments later. Nora, nor Rayne, had a chance to speak in defense when they were stopping in front of Zack's house.

The boy gathered his stuff and stepped out of the van. "Thanks, Mrs. Serah." he said, closing the sliding door and walking towards his house as the van pulled off.

* * *

><p>Zack wasn't too shocked to see that his father hadn't gotten off work yet. Most of the time, Hope would get home anywhere between thirty minutes to two hours after Zack got home, so it was normal. As he stepped into the house, he could smell the familiar smell of tea in the air. "I'm home." he announced, dropping his backpack into an armchair and collapsing onto the couch.<p>

Vanille walked in a few moments later, holding a cop of what Zack assumed was the tea that he smelled. She had another cup for herself as well. "Hi, honey. How was school?" She asked as she handed him the cup. Vanille's homemade tea was something of a delicacy in the neighborhood. It was able to warm you up on a cold day, but it was also able to cool you off on a hot one too. It wasn't something that was easily mimicked, either.

"Like usual." Zack said, sipping the tea as he relaxed. "Gotta chose an instrument to play in band." he said with obvious displeasure. It wasn't that he didn't like music. He just never though about playing it. Vanille chuckled.

"Have you decided?" She asked, sitting on the couch next to her son. The brunette shrugged, leaning back in his seat.

"Well, the teacher said we could chose guitar, so I think I'm gonna try that." He said. One of Zack's favorite types of music was rock n' roll, something it seemed Fang got him into. But, Vanille would try to get a guitar for Zack if he wanted one.

"Anything else?" Vanille asked. Zack tried to think of anything else of note, but nothing came to him. He shook his head just as he heard the sound of a car pulling up.

"Dad's home." He said simply, finishing his tea and standing to put the cup in the sink. Less than a minute later, Hope entered the house, covered in grease and oil stains. Vanille chuckled.

"Seriously, dear, how do you manage to get so messy?" She asked humorously, to which Hope just shrugged. He kissed her lightly, then stepped to head to change when Zack entered the room.

"Oh, hey. How was your day?" he asked, stopping to talk with his son. Zack shrugged, but Vanille answered for him.

"Zack got put into band and is thinking about playing guitar." She said, amused by her son's lack of enthusiasm. Hope nodded once.

"Think about guitar, huh? Well, I'll see if Sazh knows anyone who might have one you can use." Hope said, to which Zack nodded in reply. The boy grabbed his bag and headed off to his room. Hope, meanwhile, went to change into a clean outfit.

A few moments later, Hope plopped down onto the couch, now dressed in a t-shirt and simple pants. Vanille giggled as she sat next to him. "Rough day?" She asked teasingly. Hope groaned in reply.

"Yes." He said, drawing the word out to emphasize his tiredness. "Gotta build a new part for the engine from scratch, and Sazh said I'll have to oversee the next series of performance tests." From the tone of his voice, it sounded like Hope was not looking forward to the next week of work.

"Sounds like fun." Vanille teased, getting a small chuckle out of Hope.

"It isn't all that bad, though." Hope said, shifting so Vanille could rest her head on his shoulder. "I've got two weeks of vacation saved up. I was thinking maybe we could go take a break for a while. Just the two of us." Hope said. Vanille smiled warmly at him.

"That'd be great." She said, somewhat shocked. Hope was long overdo for a vacation. While he had a great work ethic, which he inherited from Lightning, he also seemed to inherit Lightning's inability to take a break. It was admirable and stubborn all at once. "It's been a while since we had some time to ourselves." She said, returning her head to Hope's shoulder. It would be well worth it.

* * *

><p>Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Farron was known to be quite the motivator when it came to training. It seemed that her presence alone was enough to motivate the privates of Bravo Company. The gas chamber, a room no bigger than a typical living room, was known to be a good estimate as to who had it in them and who was not going to make it through training. The room was used to familiarize recruits with the effects of a biological strike if it ever happened, although, in a real combat situation, more was at stake than just a lost lunch.<p>

Typically, around 20% of the recruits who entered the chamber had to helped out, either due too passing out or having a bad reaction to the chemical. Today, thought, all of the recruits were able to walk out of the chamber on their own, though some of them lost their lunches as they exited. It surprised all of the drill sergeants as well.

"I have to hand it to ya, Chavez," Lightning spoke to the senior Drill Sergeant. "You've been pounding those privates in the head enough it seems like." The sergeant in question laughed in reply.

"Yeah, those privates are a fucked up bunch, I tell ya." He said, herding the recruits to the barracks for lights out. "They'll pass one test one minute, then fuck up something the next." Lightning chuckled in reply.

Lightning was heading back to the HQ when she saw Colonel (COL) Amodar approaching in the distance. Like usual, she snapped to attention at his presence, and he at returned it. "Well, Farron, heading home?" He asked, following the LTC as she headed into her office.

"Yes, sir." She said, sitting at her desk. She had to finish a few reports, but nothing that would take too long. She'd be on her way home within thirty minutes.

"Good, that'll make this easier." Amodar said, pulling a folder out of his bag. Lightning paused her work. Either this was good news or bad news.

"You've done this job here perfectly for the past four years," Amodar started, pulling out a sheet of paper from the folder. "but the Brigade thinks that you'll be better at the Brigade level." He said, handing Lightning the paper.

Lightning took the paper, and read it over. After she did so, she looked up to Amodar. "What is this?"

The man chuckled in reply. "Well, Farron, their moving you up to the Brigade level. It's better hours, and you'll be promoted to a Full-Bird." He answered. Lightning looked down to the paper. Indeed, it did mention that she'd be promoted to a Colonel, and that she was being moved to the Brigade.

"I'm being restationed?" She asked tentatively. She had gotten a great stroke of luck over the last 17 years; she was never stationed outside of Oerba. She wasn't too keen on moving.

"Not entirely." Amodar said, leaning back in his chair ever so slightly. "You'll still be here in Oerba, you'll just be moving up to the Brigade level. You'll be one of the Brigadier General's (BG) advisors, particularly to this Battalion." he explained, watching Lightning's face express her shock.

To be sure, Lightning enjoyed her job here in the Battalion. But this was quite the move up. It sounded like she'd still be working with this Battalion, but she'd be moving out of the Battalion HQ and to the Brigade HQ. It wasn't too far away, but she'd be working shorter hours for better pay. It was a big decision.

"I…this is…Thank you, sir." Lightning stumbled out. Given the situation, she was likely going to take the job. She had been wanting to spend more time with her kids recently, but her hours were long and tiring. This was something she wanted.

"I'll be giving you some leave as well. You'll be starting at the Brigade next Tuesday, but until then, you can relax. Spend some time with your girls, Light." Amodar said, secretly amused at Lightning's sudden 180 in expressions.

"Th-thank you, sir." Lightning spoke, still processing everything. Amodar nodded, then stood up to leave.

"See you then, Farron." he said as he exited the office.

Lightning sat in awe for the next couple of moments until she finally recollected herself. She began to pack her belongings and organize the room. She could spend the next day cleaning the office so the next Battalion Commander could get settled. She had just finished packing her personal belongings, which were a couple of pictures, when she decided to call home.

She picked up the receiver and pressed '4', which was her house speed dial. The line rang three times before it was answered.

"Yun residence." Paine spoke. Lightning chuckled, barely, at Paine's greeting.

"Paine, is your mom there?" Lightning asked, slightly impatient. It wasn't an annoyed kind of impatience, though. It was an almost excited kind. Paine hmm, called for Fang, and set the phone on the table, from what Light heard.

"Yeah, babe?" Fang asked casually. Lightning sighed, then spoke.

"I'm getting a promotion." She said simply. Fang, from the dull thunk sound, most likely dropped the phone. Less than a second later, the other woman had the phone back to her ear.

"Again!" She asked in disbelief. Lightning hummed in reply. "Son of a bitch…What are you doing over there?" Fang joked. Lightning laughed.

"I've also got some time off." Lightning added. Fang sighed in reply, obviously just as shocked as Light at the revelation.

When Fang gathered herself, she spoke again. "You headed home now?" She asked. The question was innocent enough, but the context was definitely not.

"Slow down there, tiger." Lightning said, pleased with the audible pout from Fang's end. "I've been wanting to spend time with the girls this week." She said.

"Okay, fine. Just hurry home." Fang said. Lightning nodded.

"Always. Love ya." She said, and with that, the conversation ended.

* * *

><p><strong>*Whew* Finally got it cranked out. I tell ya, it's been tough trying to get this worked out. But, it's up, and hopefully I'll get the next chapter up soon.<strong>

**Finally, if anybody is willing to beta this story (I only need you to do this story, none of the others), let me know. I've self-beta-ed for too long now, but that's partially because I don't want to waste time posting stories.**

**Well, see ya later!**


	2. Quality Time

_**Shadow of Cocoon**_

**'Ello! Sorry for the delay in updates, but this chapter was extremely difficult to write. The subject matter was different than what I normally write, so it took longer for me to work through it. However, I got it finished and it's up.**

**So, for this chapter, I tried to tie into the past chapter with what could be taken as a family outing. Now, this is only the first part of that, and there will be more parent/child bonding in the coming chapters, all of which will build up to the first major story arc. What that will be is not to be disclosed, but I do have the idea already in my head.  
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**Finally, this chapter is the first M rated chapter in the story, for scenes of highly sexual nature near the end of the chapter (read: lemon). Also to note: While I normally write femslash/yuri pairings, this one is a hetero pairing, which is the reason for the long update, as well as the likely cheesy style of the encounter in general. You have been warned.  
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**Well, enjoy!  
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**Word Count: 5250  
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**Disclaimer: I do not have any control over what Square does with the Final Fantasy series. I am but a fan writing a fictitious story using their characters and their worlds. So don't take anything you read in these pages as canon.  
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* * *

><p>Shadow of Cocoon<p>

Paine was wholly different than either of her parents, yet she was also the same. She was stoic and serious like Lightning, but she could be rash and stubborn like Fang. That combination was quite unique, and it made raising the child quite a task.

Lightning was amazed by how fast Paine had seemed to grow up. It seemed like only a few days ago that the eldest child was in the phase where she thought boys were "icky". Yet, now, she was a teen of 16 years, and was learning how to drive.

That was the reason that Paine and Lightning were in the family car, Paine in the driver's seat, waiting in the driveway. Paine was able to keep her cool, even when she was nervous or excited. So she was quite straight-faced.

"Alright, we're just going to your Aunt Serah's house." Lightning said, a little nervous herself. She didn't even like it when Fang drove, even though Fang was surprisingly very safe when it came to driving. Lightning just preferred to be the driver and not the driven. Still, Paine had to learn somehow, and Lightning was trying to spend more time with the girls.

"I know, mother." Paine said, as sarcastic as she could muster. Inside, she was nervous. She knew the basics, but she had never actually driven before. So, this was a learning curve for both Farrons involved.

Paine started the car up and put it into reverse. After a quick check of the traffic, Paine pulled out onto the road.

Quite easily, Paine settled into a rhythm that made her look like she had done this before. "So, who's this Riku?" Lightning asked casually as Paine pulled to a red light.

The girl quickly tensed at the mention of her boyfriend. For some reason, she felt something akin to embarrassment when talking about him to her family. There shouldn't be anything wrong with that, though. Still, she was very different around Riku and when talking about him.

"He's just a guy I know from school." She said in what she hoped to be a casual tone. But, damn her mother's keen hearing, she likely caught the slightly airy tone the girl used.

"Right." Lightning said, her voice an unconvinced sarcasm. "What is he, really?" Lightning inquired, her voice the same as before.

As Paine pulled onto the side street to Serah's house, she cracked. "I've been seeing him for a couple of months now, okay?" She said simply, most of her focus on the road. "It hasn't gotten to anything serious yet. Don't worry, I'm not an idiot." Paine said as she pulled onto Serah's street.

Lightning smiled. "Never said you were. I'm just curious, that's all." Part of her was enjoying the way her daughter was flustering over herself about the topic. She understood how high school worked, and how relationships came and went like a passing trend.

They pulled up to Serah's house and Paine parked the vehicle along the curb of the yard. Lightning stepped out of the car, watching as Nora and Rayne came bolting out of the house. The two were going to stay the night with Averia. They were going to see a new movie that was recently released, "The Hunger Games," and this was where they were rendezvousing.

"Hey, Aunt Claire." Nora said. Light immediately looked up to Serah, who was standing on the porch, waving with a kind-but-sinister smile.

"Don't call me that, okay?" Lightning asked calmly, returning to her spot in the passenger seat. Nora giggled in the back seat while Rayne sighed.

"Sorry, Aunt Light. Dad told us to call you that." Rayne said, getting Nora's attention for the moment. Lightning nodded once.

"I'll talk to him about that later." Lightning said as Paine pulled the car back onto the street. Rayne and Nora cringed slightly.

* * *

><p>"What's up, Hope?" Sazh asked, sitting at his desk. The man now had more grey than black in his afro, though he still had his youthful enthusiasm, despite being just over 60 years old.<p>

"Well, you know how I've got all that vacation time stored up?" The younger man asked, sitting in a chair across from Sazh. The older man smiled, a short chuckle leaving his lips.

"You don't need to ask to get time off, Hope. Hell, I was going to force you to take a break soon myself." He said, handing Hope a form. "Besides, it's been how long since you and Vanille have been out?" The older man asked, turning Hope a light shade of pink.

"It's been…a while, yes." Hope said, filling out the form. It was standard for those wanting to take time off to fill out this form, so that the manager (Sazh, in this case) could reschedule workers to fill the missing slot.

The older man just chuckled. "Well, go on, get outta here." He said, taking the finished form from Hope. The young man nodded slightly, then headed out of the Depot and to his car.

He had barely turned the ignition over when his cell phone began to ring. Plugging in his wireless headset, he answered. "Yes?" He said to the caller, pulling out of his parking spot.

"You're headed home?" Vanille asked on the other end of the line. The conversation had yet to really begin, but the tone that Vanille took was already foreshadowing the weekend plans.

"Yeah, I'm just pulling out of the Depot now." He said, his voice even. It was quite difficult to keep an even tone (or an even stance, for that matter) if Vanille began to use 'that' tone. "I'll be a couple minutes." he said. He could've sworn he heard Vanille purr following his reply. Suddenly, it became difficult to focus on the road.

"I'll be waiting." She said before she hung up the phone. Hope had to take a deep breath to clear himself enough to make it home. However, he couldn't help but smile the entire drive home.

Oh yeah, this vacation was going to be well needed.

* * *

><p>There was one advantage to having Nora and Rayne over; usually, it meant that Averia wouldn't bother her sister or parents for long periods of time. However, like all good, there had to be a bad.<p>

In this case, it was that Nora, Rayne, and Averia made Fang's antics over the years look like child's play. And that could scare even Lightning.

That being said, the three girls were outside in the large backyard, with an aquarium, a car battery, and a bag of ice. To any normal passerby, it would look like the three weren't doing something bad. That, of course, would be wrong. The last time it looked like the three weren't doing something bad, they ended up putting a hole in a window. Needless to say, Serah was not happy. Snow didn't care, but he was very lax with his children.

At least there hadn't been any explosions. Yet…

"So, what are we doing again?" Nora asked, slightly tentative. She wasn't an innocent child by any means, but she was less of a thrill seeker than her twin and cousin. Still, she got roped into this, so she had to go through with it.

"Well, I heard Cloud talking about something his teacher said." Rayne said, pouring some dirt and then water into the aquarium. It looked like she had made a small island in the middle of the glass tank. "From what I heard, it was something about creating a small thunderstorm inside of an aquarium. That's what this is for." The younger Villiers twin said, pointing to the battery located next to the tank.

"Yeah." Averia said, sitting cross-legged next to the bag of ice. Also next to her were some copper wire and jumper cables. "We're going to warm the aquarium up, and cool the water that heated up with this ice." She slapped the bag of ice. "After that, we'll hook up the battery and watch it go to work!" The youngest Yun/Farron child was excited about this. She was something of a science nerd, so this seemed almost perfect for her.

Rayne took one of the longer strips of copper and ran into the aquarium, making sure that it was ending inside the small island. Next to where it was propped up, there was a small Lego house for effect. There was even a Lego man inside.

After that was finished, Rayne put a plastic cover on the aquarium, then, with Averia's help, put the ice on the sheet. They had to tape the sheet to the aquarium so it wouldn't fall into the water. After they were satisfied, they waited around twenty minutes for the water to start evaporating.

"Alright, lets hook it up." Rayne said when she was satisfied that enough time had passed. She poked the copper wire through the top of the plastic. She fiddled with it for a good twenty seconds trying to get it 'just right'. When she did, she turned to Nora.

"Alright, you hook it up." She said, handing the older twin the jumpers. The blond took it tenderly, and hooked it up to the copper wires, careful not to touch them. After that, the three stepped back slightly, watching the tank.

Almost a minute went by and nothing happened. "It's not working…" Averia chimed in, leaning in slightly.

As soon as she said that, the aquarium went, for lack of a better term, kaput.

The spark from the battery caused the plastic on top of the tank to fly off, now ablaze. The sound was very similar to actual thunder, and probably felt like it, too, but the glass was not strong enough to withstand the clap and stay together. So, it broke, small pieces of glass flying from the top edge of the aquarium. As if by some miracle, none of the shards managed to hit the girls, who immediately dropped to the ground, covering their heads.

Less than three seconds later, Lightning shot out the back door, a pistol in her hand, looking ready to shoot whatever made the noise. She scanned the backyard and saw the smoldering pile that was once a sheet of plastic, the shattered remains of the aquarium, a car battery with copper wire hooked up to it, and the three girls face first in the dirt, covering their heads.

Averia was the first to look up. She saw the wreckage before her and cringed. "We'd better clean this up before mother sees it…" She said quietly to her cousins. Nora and Rayne both looked up as well, assessing the damage they had caused.

"Too late." Lightning said from the back porch. She had put her pistol aside and was now looking at the three, her hand on her hip, her face even. Averia tensed, then slowly turned around to see her mother. Her and Rayne both gulped.

Nora pointed at the two girls, her face reflecting her shock. "It was their idea, Aunt Light. I swear." She said. The two girls looked to Nora with aghast faces.

"Inside. Now." Was all that Lightning said on the matter. The three girls trudged into the house, muttering about what they should've done instead.

* * *

><p>Football was a big sport in Oerba. Every middle and high school had a football team. However, Oerba High had perhaps the best of the teams in the district, and perhaps in the area, even.<p>

One thing that made the team so good was the amount of rivalry between the players themselves. Every receiver tried to outdo the other, as did the running backs. The linebackers would try to record as many sacks as they could in the game. However, the biggest rivalry was between the quarterback and the team's primary tight end; Sora Nakamura and Cloud Villiers.

Tonight's game against Lakeside High was already sizing up to be a big game. Of all the teams in Oerba, only Lakeside had a winning record against Oerba High. That, in and of itself, was enough to make Oerba High hungry for a win. Combined with the fact that this was the first game of the season was enough to make this game important.

Snow and Serah were, obviously, at the game. While not to thrilled with the sport, Lightning was also here, with Fang, Paine, Averia, Rayne and Nora. Zack was here, but Hope and Vanille were not (they had already left for their getaway), and the Estheim was staying at Cloud's for the weekend.

While Paine would say that she was only at the game because she was being dragged along, that was not the case. Riku was on the team as well, playing the cornerback position. While nowhere near as prestigious as either Cloud or Sora, Riku was a good player, and had his share of interceptions in the last season.

The first quarter of the game started with a bang: Riku, who also was on the kick-return team, ran the ball within ten yards of the goal. A screen pass to Cloud sealed the score, putting Oerba up 7-0 within the first minute.

"That's it!" Snow was heard yelling from the bleachers. Of course, the entire Oerba bleachers erupted into cheers at the early score. The school colors, red, black and grey, were prominent throughout the bleachers. Several of the team's cheerleaders led the cheers through the first score.

Then came the real game. Lakeside's team was known to have great quarterbacks, something that made them deadly. This was seen in the first couple of plays: after starting on the 33 yard line, they moved forward with an eight-yard pass, then a three yard QB run, and then an 18 yard pass into deep coverage.

Then came Oerba's defense. A cornerback rush, lead by Riku, sacked the QB 9 yards back, once again to the cheers of Oerba's bleachers. Even Paine let out a short "Yes!".

"Nice save." Fang teased as Paine tried to hide the noise behind the large eruption of sound. Paine was a deep shade of red shortly after.

Lakeside was forced to punt the ball away, giving Oerba the ball at the 20 yard line (touchback). Oerba's offense returned to the field, ready to capitalize on the last drive.

The first play was a rush by the halfback, who got only 2 yards. Then came a short pass that fell incomplete, though it was almost a 50+ yard pass. Then, on third down, they got their drive going.

Sora fell back into the pocket, with plenty of coverage. After a few seconds, he found his target: Bartz Klauser, the team's star wide receiver. With a quick throw, the ball was in Bartz's hands, and the team had a 22 yard gain, putting them at the 44.

Sora was known as, perhaps, the best scrambling QB in high school, perhaps throughout all of Gran Pulse. And on the next play, he showed why.

Sora hiked the ball in the shotgun formation, with Cloud to his left and fullback Zell Dincht to his right. Sora faked a handoff to Zell, and then followed Cloud to the right, letting the slightly larger boy block the outside linebacker who blitzed. Then, Sora dodged and juked his way to the 21 yard line, to the uproar of the fans.

However, for all their merit, Oerba was unable to get back into the end zone, and had to settle with a field goal from the 18. Lakeside then scored on the return, putting them behind 10-7 at the end of the first quarter.

During the small break, Fang looked over to Paine. The girl was seemingly enthralled with the way Riku was playing, cheering whenever he made a good play, or cringing when he took a hit (it wasn't often, but he did get slammed a couple of times, especially on the first big pass Lakeside made).

"Swoon any more and you might fall off the bench, Paine." Fang teased just as the Oerba offense was returning to the field. The eldest Farron seemed to break from whatever trance she was in, then turned as red as an apple. Fang laughed.

"Stop, mom." Paine said simply, her voice a mixture of embarrassment and minor annoyance. Still, she knew she'd have to let it out sometime.

"Don't worry." Fang said simply. "I was the same way with your mother, too." Paine instantly cringed; that wasn't a visual she had wanted. Fang laughed again.

* * *

><p>The game had come down to the last quarter, 4 minutes left in play. Oerba was down 42-39 after Lakeside blocked one extra-point and stopped a two-point conversion. Oerba had the ball on their 18 yard line, 82 yards from a touchdown.<p>

The first play was a short pass to Cloud for 7 yards, then a rush by halfback Irvine Kinneas for 3 yards and a first down. Then Sora lobbed the ball to Bartz for a 28 yard gain, but lost 5 of it when he was sacked next play.

The two-minute warning came with Oerba now in enemy territory at the 44. When play resumed, Sora ran, running along the sideline with Cloud behind him. After gaining 12 yards, Sora pitched the ball to Cloud, who ran another 15 yards before being pushed out of bounds. The crowd was now wild as Oerba was on the 17 and well within striking distance. Lakeside called timeout, planning their defense.

It worked. In the first three attempts, Sora couldn't get the ball forward, and lost 2 yards on a sack. So, at 19 yards away, they scored a three-pointer, tying the game with 1:12 left on the clock.

The kick came back 17 yards to the 50, putting Lakeside's star offense on the field with :58 left in play. It looked bad; they got a good run, putting them on the 35. Then, Lakeside pulled their star receivers out, setting up a pass to the end zone.

The ball was snapped, and the blitz was stopped: The receivers went down field, the defensive backs following. The ball went up, and it looked like it was over.

And then Riku came down with the ball.

The entire stadium erupted into cheers when the ball was intercepted, but the play wasn't dead yet. Riku had several other backs with him, and he began to run the ball. Several well timed blocks gave him room to maneuver, and he did so to perfection. With open field ahead of him, he only had to outrun the last man. The clock read 0:00, so this was it. As Riku got closer to the scoring line, the cheers became louder.

The running back finally brought him down, but he got one last push forward, and, arm outstretched, he reached for the end zone. The referee put his arms straight up and the entire stadium erupted into chaos.

With the tip of the football in the end zone, Riku had scored the game winning touchdown. Even Paine was cheering, perhaps the loudest in the crowd, when Riku stood up. The rest of the team rushed to the field, congratulating the boy on his score. This was more than just a big win; it was the first win Oerba had over Lakeside in over 5 years, a total of 15 games lost.

When the score occurred, Lightning heard the cheering coming from Paine and smiled. She was reminded of herself, and how she would only open up after she began dating Fang. At the same time, though, she felt a sorrow in her chest. Paine was growing up; she already had a boyfriend, and she was becoming more independent. It was bound to happen, but it was still difficult to admit.

* * *

><p>The after party for the victory was huge. The rivalry between the two schools made the game so popular that it was televised on local TV every year. The victory was big enough to even get one of the news teams to interview the team, with perhaps the longest and most sought-after interview being with Riku. Almost immediately following the game's end, Paine ran out and squeezed her way through, and was at Riku's side for most of the time, her barrier completely down and acting like a giddy schoolgirl. It was a complete 180 from her usual attitude.<p>

Of course, there were the other players on the team. While it was true that Riku's touchdown won the game, a big turning point came in the third quarter, after halftime, when Lakeside took a 35-10 lead. Back to back scoring drives, led by Sora and Cloud, set the team up for the comeback. In the second drive, Cloud scored his longest receiving touchdown he ever scored, a 95 yard pass on the second play of the drive. This forced Lakeside to extend their lead, causing them to make mistakes.

After the players were released from the locker room following the post-game, the families finally found their kids. Paine approached with Riku behind her.

"Mom, mother, this is Riku." She said, formally introducing her boyfriend to her family. Of course, Snow and Serah were nearby, Snow talking excitedly with Cloud about the game. Riku shook both Fang and Lightning's hands. "Riku, these are my parents, Fang and Lightning."

Riku smiled warmly. "Nice to meet you, ma'ams." He said. He didn't seem as weirded out about Fang and Lightning as some people did. "Paine's told me a little about you."

Fang chuckled. "That's funny, 'cause we didn't know about you till earlier this week." She joked, causing Paine to turn a shade of red. The conversation had grabbed the attention of Snow, Serah, and the rest of the clan, who approached.

Snow chuckled as he approached. "I tell ya, that was one helluva run there, kid." he said, patting the boy on the back. Riku smiled, though he didn't seem fazed by the amount of attention he was receiving recently.

"So this is Paine's boyfriend?" Serah asked, her voice interested. Again, Paine's face turned red, and it showed no signs of disappearing anytime soon. Riku smiled.

"You must be Cloud's parents." He said, to which Serah nodded. "That makes you Paine's aunt and uncle, right?" Again, a nod. "Nice to meet you."

The questions couldn't come though, as what looked like Riku's parents called to him. "Well, gotta go. Nice to meet you again." He spoke as he left. He stopped only to give Paine a quick kiss before he headed to his mother and father, who were congratulating him themselves.

When the three of them were out of hearing distance, Snow turned to Paine. "Not a bad kid." He said, not to anyone specifically. At around that time, Nora, Rayne and Averia let their inner jokesters out.

"Paine and Riku, sitting in a tree!" They chanted. When Paine heard that, she immediately flared, her face no longer red from embarrassment, but anger. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Fortunately, Fang swooped in before any bodily harm could be done. "Why don't we stop teasing Paine and get ready to see Hunger Games?" She said. Paine was able to restrain herself from lunging at her cousins and sister, but that was due to the parents being around.

The three girls immediately stopped their teasing and lit up in excitement. They were now cheering, ready to head out to the theater to watch the movie. Paine lagged behind, irritation being the primary motive. Lightning noticed and moved to her daughter.

"What's wrong?" She asked Paine, who had her arms crossed over her chest.

"I knew I shouldn't have introduced you guys to Riku." She said, though it looked as though her resentment was towards the girls and not the parents.

Lightning sighed as she followed the rest of her family towards the car. "Well, they're still young, Paine." Lightning said, hoping to help her daughter relax. "It's good that you've got a boyfriend, Paine. It's kind of different, but it was bound to happen." They were getting closer now, and the families split off into their cars. "He's a nice boy. If you're happy, then so am I."

The words seemed to work, because Paine's scowl was gone. "Thanks, mother." She said, following Lightning as they headed into the car and pulled out towards the theater.

* * *

><p>xxx Lemon Ahead xxx<p>

* * *

><p>Romantic getaways were either really good or not so good. A lot of it comes from the location; if the area didn't look nice, it wouldn't become popular. Just as important was the service; good restaurants and hotel services made the trip enjoyable. Sometimes, though, what made the trip memorable was the privacy that was available.<p>

Crystal Mirror, a small village built around tourism, was a rare mix of all three. Built near the base of Cocoon's crystal pillar (from which the village is named), Crystal Mirror thrived on tourists. The entire economy was tourism based, though they rarely had to advertise. The views you could get from the rooms spoke for themselves.

As tourism was a big factor in Crystal Mirror's economy, they also had perhaps the most honeymoons per capita of any area on Gran Pulse, combined. Snow and Serah spent their honeymoon here, almost 17 years ago. It hadn't changed much, from what Snow had said about the place.

It took a great, great, _**great**_ amount of willpower to make it to the town. One thing not known about Vanille was her 'kinky' side, something Hope was sure even Fang had no clue about. Not that he was complaining. Vanille's 'urges' were very good to him. Another thing about Vanille: When she wants something, she normally has a way to get it.

That being said, it made the near hour and a half drive to Crystal Mirror that much longer, just because the two had to 'restrain' themselves. They had been able to cope for the first part of their trip, but as they got closer, patience was dropping in supply. Fast.

Crystal Mirror Grand Hotel was, to be sure, a popular hotel. It had several different suites, and that usually meant different types of getaways were serviced here. It was quite large, and there was an unusual form of familiarity within it's walls. It almost felt like home, and it seemed hard to forget the layout.

"Estheim." Hope spoke at the counter. The receptionist checked the computer and pulled up the reservation.

"For two, sir?" She asked. Hope nodded, perhaps a little too eagerly. The woman seemed to take note, probably thinking they were on their honeymoon. She quickly printed out the receipt and handed him two keycards.

"Your room is room 477. Fourth floor, right in the back." She directed, pointing him to where his room was. He nodded thanks, grabbed his bag of clothes, and led Vanille to the room. If you happened to walk past the two as they searched for their room, you would be able to feel the sexual tension oozing off each of them.

It felt like an eternity, but less that a minute later, Hope was opening the door to their room. He stepped inside, waited until Vanille was inside, and closed the door. As soon Hope turned around, Vanille pounced him. For all it was worth, they at least made it to their room.

Almost instantly, the two began to work their way to the bedroom blindly, removing their clothes as they did. By the time they did reach the bed, Hope was shirtless and Vanille had her top unbuttoned and hanging loosely over her shoulders.

Words weren't spoken. They wouldn't need to be. The two were looking each other in the other's eyes, and that was enough to convey hundreds of conversations in the span of a few seconds. Any spoken words would have been pointless.

Vanille was the first one to make a move. She resumed the kiss, repositioning both of them fully onto the bed. This war of tongues was fought for several moments before Vanille broke off. Sitting up nearly straight, she pulled her top off and undid her bra clasp, tossing both articles aside. She leaned over to kiss Hope one last time before she slid her way down.

Wasting no time, she undid Hope's belt, unzipped his pants, and pulled them down, trousers and all. She grabbed his firmness with one hand, slowly stroking it, her tongue teasing the tip ever-so-little. Each movement elicited a low groan from the man.

Once she was sure she had teased enough, she placed her lips around the tip and engulfed his cock, another groan, this one louder, coming from Hope. The redhead slowly worked back to the tip, releasing it with a silent pop, and stroked some more. Less than a second later, she repeated the process, each time taking in more and more of his length.

Her pace was slow, but just fast enough to tease. She continued this for nearly a minute, releasing the shaft and stroking it, until she engulfed the entire length. Hope groaned deeply as Vanille's tongue did gods know what. Once satisfied with the result, Vanille returned to her regular rhythm, but now much faster than before.

The pace quickened, and slowly, Hope felt pressure building down low. His groans became grunts, keeping rhythm with the movements of Vanille's head. Up, down, up, down. All the while, Vanille's tongue was working it's magic, adding that much to the pleasure.

It didn't take long for Hope to release, a deep, throaty grunt exiting his lips. As he did so, Vanille took in as much as she could and held it, collecting every drop that was released. She stayed this way for several seconds, ensuring she collected all that there was to collect, before finally releasing the length and swallowing.

Every time Hope's heart beat, he could feel it, as if the action was shaking his very body. He panted heavily, slowly coming down from his high. But it wasn't over. Not yet, anyway.

Vanille sat back up enough to remove her pants, tossing the articles of clothing somewhere in the room. She then fished a small, square wrapper out of Hope's pants before moving those somewhere else in the room. After removing the rubber, she slid it over Hope's length, and then followed that with her core. Both grunted before Vanille came to rest. For a moment, they stayed like this, frozen in time, before Vanille started her rhythm.

At first it was slow, moving up and down at an almost excruciating pace. As time went by, though, the pace quickened. Slowly, Hope added his own thrusts, meeting Vanille halfway, keeping in rhythm. This lasted for a while, before both of them began to move at a much faster rate. Each movement was accented by Vanille letting out a small, almost squeak-like moan, contrasting to Hope's somewhat controlled groans. As time went by, each one got slightly louder, their movements now faster than ever.

It did not take much after they peaked out in speed for Vanille to release, a long, sustained moan leaving her lips. She shook slightly, buzzing with her high as if she had been hit by a Thunder spell. It took several moments of heavy breathing for her to finally be able to see straight.

When she finally recovered, she nuzzled herself in Hope's shoulder, resting her head on his arm. A content sigh was all she said before she fell asleep. Hope just smiled lightly and kissed his wife's forehead.

"I love you, Vanille."

* * *

><p><strong>Well, there it is. God, that took forever, particularly the last few paragraphs. Hopefully it came out okay. If not, then I guess I'll have to work on that.<br>**

**On another note, I have not yet seen "Hunger Games", and I know that it's been out for a while now. However, when I first wrote this chapter, it had only just came out, so I used that as the movie they were going to see.  
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**R&R!  
><strong>


	3. The Shadow Unveiled

**_Shadow of Cocoon_**

**Hello guys and girls! Consider this my way of making up to you for waiting all that time to post Chapter 2. We are finally on Chapter 3, and we finally get our first glance at the Shadow. Yep, they will be playing a part in this story from now on. But, other than that, we've also got my first OC pairing that will be important to the story. I won't spoil it (although it is just a few lines down if you can't wait to see who it is.) but it likely be a sub-plot that will progress the story.  
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**And, one more thing to warn you about. This Chapter will likely make most of you angry at me. Why? Because someone is going to die. D-I-E. Dead. I won't say who, but they are a main character. Just a warning now.  
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**Well, enough with this. Let's get on with the chapter.  
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**Word Count: 5648  
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**Disclaimer: I don't not profit in any way, shape or form from this fanfiction (unless you count reviews. But I don't think you do). Final Fantasy is the property of Square Enix, and they have more money than I can comprehend.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Shadow of Cocoon<p>

Something to be expected if two children basically grow up together is that they are going to become close, no matter how dysfunctional they are. It is easily seen with brothers and sisters, particularly with Paine and Averia. They are normally getting on the other's nerves, and more often than not, they are yelling at each other. However, if Averia was ever threatened by a boy or another girl, Paine would let all hell loose on them.

However, the relationship changes if they aren't living together. Case in point: Zack and Averia. They were only a few months apart age-wise, and they live close to each other. Their mothers are extremely close, so they naturally see each other quite often. But, unlike with brothers and sisters, these two grew up as close friends.

This was changing slowly during their middle school years. As with all middle schoolers, they are beginning to change, both physically and hormonally. This was easily apparent over the last few months. At first, it was as simple as the two spending more time together at family dinners or other holidays. Slowly, though, it evolved into something more.

What was this something more? As Averia's parents would soon find out, it was something most parents dread: Dating.

Not that it was a surprise to anyone. It was obvious that there was something forming between Averia and Zack, even if they tried to be subtle about it. Hope and Vanille were in full support of it. Vanille found it cute, Hope understood what it was like to be that age.

It didn't make it any easier, though.

The person that was perhaps the most anxious was, unsurprisingly, Zack. He held a great respect for Lightning and Fang. He knew that the two were great warriors, and he also knew that he was putting his neck on the line asking Averia out on a date. Some might say that he was extremely brave for going the more traditional route of picking Averia up at her house. Most others, though, would say that the idea was suicide. There were quite a few guys (and some girls) that had their eyes on a Yun-Farron girl over the years, but they would never attempt to ask her out for fear of Fang or, worse, Lightning.

The brunette Estheim was approaching Averia's house, his gait conveying his colossal anxiety. He had already set the times with Averia, and, barring castration at the hands of her parents, the two were going to a movie and to have dinner after that. He stopped before the walkway to the front door, thinking over what he would say to either Fang or Lightning. He would prefer to get Fang to answer the door. Fang was much more lax when it came to her daughters, particularly Averia. Averia was more like Fang was in regards to energy and excitement, to which Fang took a liking to.

Lightning, though, would be the one that could end this little date before it started. It had been a few weeks since Paine had formally introduced Riku to her family, but that meant very little. Sure, Lightning might have been expecting Paine to have been dating, but she probably didn't think that Averia was going to be dating as well. This, combined with the stories that Zack had heard of how Lightning treated Snow when he was about to marry Serah, pointed towards failure.

But Zack wasn't one to take failure. Sucking in what little courage he had left, the boy marched towards the door and knocked on it five times, the sharp, rapping noises alerting the household to his presence. He heard the shuffling of feet on the hardwood flooring and waited anxiously for the mahogany door to swing open.

When it finally did, there was a small (mental) sigh of relief. Fang had been the one to answer. The huntress looked down at the boy, and she could tell that, whatever it was he was doing here, he was not to thrilled about it. To any normal person, he looked like he always did, but to Fang, he looked scared shitless.

"Hey, Zack, whatcha doing here?" Fang asked. Honestly, she knew that it likely had to do with Averia. She wasn't blind to how close the two were getting. Still, the inner prankster in her was getting the best of her, and she was going to milk this for all it's worth.

"Um, I'm here to, uh, to…" The boy began, but his nerves were starting to get the best of him. "I'm here to take Averia on a date." He forced out in one breath, quickly. Most people would have him repeat the words, but Fang heard him clearly.

Not that she was going to let him know that. "I'm sorry, could you say that again?" She asked, trying her best to feign confusion. Zack sighed heavily, almost exasperated.

"I'm here to take Averia out for a movie." He said, this time more clearly and louder. Likely, though, saying that loud brought the conversation to Lightning's attention. The pink-haired Colonel looked towards the doorway with a blank expression. Zack's heart sank instantly.

"Oh, that explains you being here." Fang said, deciding to let the boy enter the house. While never staring outright, Lightning kept the boy in her sights at all times. "Avi was talking about something she was planning on doing tonight." Fang thought out loud, motioning for Zack to have a seat. He did so, as far away from Lightning as he possibly could.

"Yes. I told her earlier today at school." The Estheim said, shifting around nervously in his seat. He was wearing casual-but-not clothes: A clean, plain white t-shirt and a pair of neat jeans. Not that Zack wore overly worn clothing like some people, but this outfit was several times neater than his usual attire.

"I'll go ahead and let her know." Fang said, walking up the staircase and to Averia's room. Zack did his best to appear relaxed, but it was hard to do with Lightning in the same room.

"Are you nervous?" Lightning asked, an almost sinister undertone in her voice. The sound made Zack flinch, shifting even more in his seat.

"A little, ma'am." The boy replied, his voice starting to get the tone of nervousness his body was portraying. His demeanor was not helped any when Lightning chuckled.

"You'd better be." She said, taking a sip from her tea before continuing. "If I find out that you hurt her, it won't make any difference that you are Vanille's son." She motioned to a drawer a couple of feet away from Zack, a small lamp placed on top of it. Zack knew that it was where Lightning kept her pistol, and she always had a few magazines on her person. The warning did it's work, because Zack gulped thickly, a nervous sweat running down his temple.

Before any more mental scarring could be done, the sound of footsteps came down the stairs. It seemed that Averia had also settled for a semi-casual outfit, wearing a t-shirt and a jeans. As soon as she was in sight, Zack stood up, glad for a reason to finally move.

"Well, you ready to go?" Zack asked, his voice faking confidence. Averia looked over to Lightning, who gave a kind smirk, and then nodded.

"Yeah, let's get going." She said, exiting the house with Zack following her.

The two were barely out of the house when Fang spoke. "Did ya really need to do that?" She asked Lightning, who simply took another sip of her tea.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Lightning said evenly, as if nothing had happened. Fang smirked and chuckled.

Outside, Averia had barely gotten to the sidewalk before she began giggling. "Did my mother give you the whole 'overprotective parent' speech?" She asked between her fits of giggles. Almost as if he was relieved of a great weight, he sighed, nodding.

"She threatened to shoot me." He said, joking about it much easier than he could when he was being told. Averia laughed heartily.

* * *

><p>Despite being a Friday, which was usually football night for most high schools, Oerba High had it's bye week this week. That meant that there was no game for the players. Still, Cloud preferred to be in top shape during the season. So, here he was, practicing a few plays with his dad in their backyard.<p>

Snow had played as a middle linebacker in high school. He was the most supportive of Cloud throughout his middle and high school career. It was Cloud's choice, but Snow was quite excited about it. He never had the chance to go pro, as he had NORA to take care of and then he married Serah, but he was hoping that Cloud got a college scholarship to play football.

"Good catch." Snow complemented after Cloud completed his route. While Snow didn't know the team's playbook as well as Cloud did, he knew enough about plays to know how they work. And, since Cloud was the only target, he could watch for the boy to make adjustments easier than a quarterback could. "But you need to move a little faster through your cuts. Take too long and your QB'll be sacked." Snow said as Cloud gave him the ball back.

"I know, dad. I just get so much speed from the line that it's hard to stop." Cloud said, lining up for another play. This time, Cloud cut too deep and almost fell flat on his face. The recovery took long enough that the ball wasn't anywhere near Cloud when Snow fired.

"See? I can't cut back that fast." Cloud told Snow as he jogged to retrieve the stray ball. Snow nodded.

"Well, try not putting so much force off the line. Use that burst when you exit the cut." Snow said as he caught the ball. "If you can do that, you'll get open more." Snow advised as Cloud lined up again. This time, Cloud lagged slightly off the line, but burst quickly out of his cut and was able to get quite the distance in that short distance. "Perfect!"

A slow clap in the distance drew both men's attentions to the source. Riku was standing there, leaning against the fence to the backyard. "Not bad, Strife." He said, jogging over. "Should be able to catch those passes now." The white-haired teen joked.

Cloud chuckled. "Don't worry. At least I do catch passes every now and then." Typical amongst ball players was this back and forth teasing. Most of it was good natured and worked towards building rivalry amongst the players and inciting competition.

"Ouch." Riku said, feigning hurt. "Let's see if you can back that up." He challenged. Cloud smirked, easily accepting the challenge. Snow nodded as well.

The first play was a test of the other's ability. Cloud knew how good Riku was, as did Riku. However, cornerbacks like Riku normally covered wide receivers, not tight ends. Cloud was looking to use that for his advantage.

Riku, however, knew how to cover just about anybody, and was making it difficult for Cloud to come down with the pass. Cloud was able to get a small amount of separation between him and Riku, but it was difficult to lose him enough to have an easy catch. That was one reason Riku was so good at his position.

However, there was one more trick Cloud had up his sleeve. He made his first cut, but he didn't burst out of it like usual. Instead, he waited until Riku was certain that he had made up his mind. Then, he cut back again, putting that burst into his release, and this time, Snow was easily able to get the pass off to Cloud.

"Okay, okay. I surrender." Riku said. "That was one hell of a move there." He continued. Cloud smirked.

"You ain't a slouch yourself, man." Cloud said, sitting at one of the lawn tables. Serah had brought out some tea while the two were practicing.

"Well, at any rate, you both got plenty of guys helping you." Snow commented, leaning back. "Don't forget to work with them." Snow was easily one of the few dads who took an extended effort in the football team. The school was thinking about hiring him as one of the coaches on the team in the next season.

"Of course, Mr. Villiers." Riku said, wiping sweat off of his forehead. Snow nodded with his trademark goofy grin.

"So, where's Paine?" Cloud asked after a few moments of silence. Riku took a sip of his tea before replying.

"That would be none of your business, Cloud." Riku said coolly. "Then again, how're things with you and Tifa?"

Cloud chuckled faintly at the turnaround. "We're fine." He said. "However, her parents aren't trained to kill things. Paine's are." Cloud said. Snow nodded in agreement. Riku smirked.

"We're fine. Haven't gotten any vibes from them regarding me." The white haired teen spoke. Snow snorted slightly, sipping the tea to clear his throat.

"Oh trust me. You'll only get that vibe from Light when she decks you." He said, thinking back to all the times Lightning had punched him over his engagement to Serah. "That's when you'll be able to tell."

The attempts to faze Riku weren't working, though, as he simply laughed it off. "I don't get the feeling that it'll come to that." He said, finishing his tea. Either Riku was extremely certain or extremely stubborn. Snow chuckled.

"Oh yeah, you'll fit right in."

* * *

><p>There were advantages and disadvantages to going on a vacation. On one hand, you get a whole week with you wife, with three of those days alone far, far away from your son. On the other hand, you have to make up that missed work.<p>

Such was the dilemma of Hope Estheim. Being the foreman of an entire warehouse can be a strenuous job. Today was no exception. He hadn't taken his full vacation for this reason. One week was enough time away, and he could take the other week sometime later.

But that was not on his mind right now. The Phoenix Engine was working again, but there were several things keeping it from reaching peak performance. The converter that had been built for the engine was working as well as one could hope, but it seemed that something was putting out less power than before.

"Okay, sir, we've got the test results." a worker said, pulling out a paper with unintelligible numbers scattered across the page. Hope took the paper and looked it over.

"What's the verdict?" Sazh said, looking on from across the room. Hope finished scanning it and groaned.

"The conversion core's input energy is at 110% efficiency from the last test run, but it's output energy is down 23%. Overall output is down 37%." Hope handed the paper to Sazh, who scanned it as well. "What's the status of the converter?" Hope asked a tech.

The lab hand pulled up several screens that looked similar to the page Sazh was reading over. "It's within nominal levels, sir." The tech said. Hope groaned again.

"Wait, what's this?" Sazh asked, pointing to a line of data. Hope looked the line over several times, his face warping with frustration.

"Someone put a sapper on the battery." He said through mostly clenched teeth. "Who's had access to the Phoenix besides me and Sazh?" Hope asked another tech, this one the logger of entries into the Phoenix Engine room.

"Here's the list, sir." She said, handing the foreman a list of everyone who had entered and when they had accessed the Phoenix. Almost immediately, Hope noticed something put of the ordinary.

"Where's Darren Mathers?" Hope asked. Several of the techs shook their heads, not knowing where the person was.

"Wait, Mathers?" Sazh said, pulling the paper from Hope's hands. He looked it over a few times and shook his head. "We don't have an employee named Mathers." Sazh said.

Hope looked at Sazh quizzically. "Are you sure?" He asked. Sazh nodded. Both men turned to the log keeper.

"What's the policy if you want to enter restricted zones?" Sazh asked the tech, who was just as shocked as the other men about this.

"Well, we scan ID's, then check their biometrics against what we have on file. If everything checks out, they can enter. They also have to sign their name on this form." The tech pulled out another form, this one with signatures of all the people who entered the room over the day.

Sazh looked over the list while Hope continued to interrogate the tech. "Can you pull up that file?" He asked. The tech nodded once, then walked over to her computer. He typed in "Mathers, Darren" and pulled the file up.

When nothing came up, the tech looked befuddled. "That's not possible. I am positive that I checked every person who came in here!" She defended. Hope shook his head, frustration now making it hard to focus on the Phoenix.

"What about security cameras?" Hope said. "We can see who came in at that time, and find this idiot." Several techs nodded, and began to work on pulling up the footage from earlier in the day.

"This guy's signature is way to rigid." Sazh commented, pointing out several hiccups in the scrawl. "Did you watch people sign this thing?" He asked the logging tech. She shook her head.

"No, sir." She said, guilt beginning to show in her voice.

"It's not your fault." Sazh said, handing her the logs. "This is way more than just a simple case of sabotage. This took some serious planning."

"Sir, I've got the footage." A tech said from across the room. They looked at the footage from the timestamp on the logs, but they saw nothing happening. No one entered the room at all, nor did anybody leave.

"What the fuck?" The tech said under her breath. "That can't be possible." The lack of visual evidence was disheartening.

"Where is the footage stored?" Sazh asked. This was starting to get serious.

"In our CPU, sir." She said, trying to locate the missing reels. "You need the proper authorization codes to get to them. It's not easy to hack." Hope groaned in frustration.

"Hey, where's Alyssa?" Sazh asked the room. The logging tech was no where to be seen, the only thing left of his position his logs.

Hope shook his head and half-growled. "She's the one. It was her, Sazh." Hope said. "Did Alyssa go inside earlier today?" He asked the room.

"She didn't take a lunch with us, sir." Another tech said. Sazh and Hope turned to him.

"When was that?" Sazh asked urgently. The tech though for a moment.

"Around 2 o'clock. I remember 'cause we were watching the baseball game." One of the techs said. The tech with access to the security footage pulled up the video from that time.

Just as they had suspected, they saw Alyssa forge the signature on the log, fake the entry log, and enter the room with what looked like a small phone in her hand. "Busted." Hope said. "Get me Snow. I need him to look into this for me." A tech nodded, and went to call Snow.

"Kinda glad you took that vacation now, huh?" Sazh joked. Hope nodded in exasperation.

* * *

><p>Zack and Averia had just finished watching the movie they went to see. They were exiting the theater with their next goal clear on their mind: dinner. The sun had just set, so night was quickly coming over Oerba. Oerba could easily be divided into two districts. The Historic District, which was the original Oerba from over 500 years ago, and the Downtown District, which was built as a second town nearby. While the Historic District was restored, it was mostly kept like it was before the War of Transgression. However, the Downtown District was where most of Oerba's populace lived, and was very similar to Bodhum back from Cocoon.<p>

"So, where do you want to eat?" Zack asked Averia as the two rounded the corner to the main street. Averia thought for a moment before she saw a restaurant in the distance.

"Why not there?" She said, pointing to it's sign. It was a Pizza Hut, if the red roof was any indication. Zack felt into his pocket for his gil, making sure he had enough. Not being able to pay for a meal would be embarrassing to say the least. When he was certain he had enough, he nodded.

"Sure. I like pizza." He said, leading the way to the eatery.

They were seated and had their order taken (A large pepperoni pizza, a Pepsi and a Mountain Dew), and were now waiting for their order. They were not the only ones here, but there weren't many other people eating here. There was a small family eating in the corner and a guy with his laptop either waiting for his order or was killing time.

"Have you learned anything on that guitar of yours yet?" Averia asked after a short silence. Zack shook his head, a smile on his face.

"Not even close." He said, making chord fingerings with his hand. He went through about 3 of them. "That's all I can do. And it sounds like crap." He said, chuckling slightly. "Why does everybody think that I can play Metallica now that I got a guitar?" He joked, to which Averia giggled.

"I think they're trying to tell you something." She said. "But I think you should start with something simpler." She grinned, almost evilly. "Like Killswitch." She said, enjoying the look of horror on Zack's face.

"I ain't anywhere near that good, Averia!" He exclaimed. "Have you heard their guitars?" He asked, almost wearily. Averia chuckled.

"Try one of their softer songs, like 'End of Heartache.'" She said, taking a sip of her Pepsi. "Or just go with Breaking Benjamin." This time, Zack nodded with her.

"Yeah, maybe you're right." He said, almost as if he was trying to play the songs in hi head to assess their difficulty. "Yeah, I'll go with them." He said. Averia nodded.

"That'd be good." She said, as if she was playing the songs in her head too. "I've been thinking about trying an instrument myself." She said after a moment. "Something I could play those kind of songs on."

Zack nodded. "Maybe a violin?" Averia shot him a look of disgust. "Ha, guess not." He joked, leaning back. "Maybe a guitar as well? Or a bass." He suggested, to which Averia nodded.

"Yeah, I was thinking about trying out a bass as well." She said. "But only if you let me learn those songs with you." Zack nodded.

"No problem." He said, just as their pizza arrived.

The rest of the night was mostly silence as they ate, but they did talk about various things revolving around music. Since they had the same taste in music, it was quite easy for them to do this.

* * *

><p>Serah had just begun to clean the dishes from dinner when the phone rang. Rayne, who was helping her do the dishes, walked over to answer it.<p>

"Hello?" She asked into the phone.

"Hey, Rayne, is your dad there?" Sazh said on the other end.

"Yeah, Grampa Sazh." She said, putting the phone on her shoulder for a moment. "Dad! It's Grampa Sazh!"

A few moments later, Snow was picking up the phone from his daughter's hand. "Yeah, Sazh?" Snow asked as he put the phone to his ear.

"Hey, we've got a problem. Someone sabotaged the Phoenix and we need you to follow up on it." Sazh said simply. Snow nodded, falling into business mode.

"Okay, what've you got?" He asked, grabbing a pen and paper to write down what Sazh gave him.

"Her name's Alyssa Zaidelle. She's one of our log keepers." Sazh said, waiting as Snow jotted down the info. "She lives at 2765 Tycoon Lane. She's kind of a loner, from what we've gathered from the shop." Sazh said. Snow nodded.

"So you want me to head over to her place or what?" He asked, setting the info on the counter nearby.

"That'd be nice, but we just need to know who she's working for." Sazh said. "We've got several competitors working on similar projects. Any number of them could've paid her to plant the sapper." He said. Snow nodded again.

"No problem. I'll have some guys dig around, see what they can pull up about her." Snow said. Sazh sighed in the background.

"Thanks, Snow. That should make Hope a little happier." Snow chuckled. He knew how bad Hope could get if he was angry. "See ya later. Oh, and tell your kids to stop calling me Grampa, k?" Sazh said. Snow laughed silently.

"I'll try." Snow said. "I told to call you that once. They just ran with it." Sazh muttered something like 'Yeah right' before the conversation was ended.

Just after that, Snow looked at the notes he took. "Hey, I gotta head to the office for a little bit. I'll be back soon." Snow told Serah, who was finishing the last of the dishes.

"Okay." Serah said. All Snow stopped to do was kiss Serah before he headed out to the NORA office to dig deeper into this situation.

* * *

><p>With all traces of daytime gone from view, the first date of Zack Estheim and Averia Farron had reached it's conclusion. The two were still chatting as they reached Averia's house. The two reached the walkway before they stopped.<p>

"Well, it's been fun, Zack. Thanks." Averia said, a smile on her face. Zack too had a smile, but his was more one of embarrassment.

"Don't mention it. I enjoyed it." He said. Averia nodded.

"Maybe we can do this again sometime?" She suggested, watching as Zack's face, even in the darkness of night.

"Yeah, maybe." He said sheepishly. "If you mother doesn't kill me first." He added, in an attempt to fix his embarrassment.

Averia laughed. "I don't think that she'd do that. I think she likes you." Averia said. Zack smirked slightly, nodding once.

"Well, I am hard to resist." He said. There was a somewhat short silence before both of them burst into laughter. "Okay, that was bad, I'll admit that." He said through his laughs. Averia agreed with him.

"Yeah. That was a little much." She agreed. They continued to just laugh until the humor was lost on them, and another silence fell over them.

"Well, good night, Averia." Zack said. He was about to step away when Averia grabbed his wrist.

"You can call me Avi, Zack." She said, a sweet smile on her lips. Zack smiled in return, giving her an affirmative nod. But, before he could do anything else, Averia brought her lips to his. It was a chaste, slow kiss, but it was enough.

It lasted maybe three seconds, but that was all that was needed. When they broke apart, Averia smiled again. "Good night." She said, running into her house. Zack stood there, unmoving, for almost a minute, before he finally moved.

He brought his fingers up to his lips. "Yeah. Good night, indeed."

* * *

><p>Averia was barely able to get her shoes off before Lightning approached her. "So, how was it?" She asked. Averia shrugged nonchalantly.<p>

"It was alright." She said, her voice even. Averia had inherited Lightning's ability to keep her voice even, even if her emotions were different. Lightning raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you doing it again?" She asked. Averia shrugged again, showing some of her inner emotions.

"Maybe. I had fun with him." Averia said, relaxing in a chair and watching the TV. "I'll let you know if we do decide to go out again, mother. Don't worry."

Lightning sighed, sitting down next to Averia. "It's not that, Avi." She said, leaning back against the cushions. "It's just, we haven't spent a lot of time together. I just want us to spend some time with just the two of us." Lightning said. She was still trying to find something she could do with Averia with her schedule.

"I know, mother." Averia said, stretching her body with a yawn. "I won't blow you off for Zack. He'd understand." Averia gave her mother a small smile. "Well, good night." Averia said before heading up the stairs and to her room.

Lightning stared at the stairs for a few moments after Averia left. They'd have plenty of time together in the next few months. For now, though, she'd let Averia be Averia.

That didn't mean she couldn't still tease Zack until then.

* * *

><p>It was now well past midnight, and, for the most part, Oerba was completely empty. The cover of darkness, though, hid more than just the sunlight.<p>

"Alright, you remember the plan?" A feminine voice said, muffled by a ski mask. Her figure was clad entirely in black, and it was impossible to identify her. The two men she was with nodded.

"Make it look like robbery." One of the men said. He pulled out a sub-machine gun, the safety on for the moment. "Stay quiet and we'll have until tomorrow before the bodies are found." He said. The woman nodded.

"Good, you do have a brain." She said, leading the two up to a quaint house. It was obvious, from their weapons to their plan, that they were here to kill someone. "Okay, you got the key?" She asked the other man. He pulled out a small house key and handed it to her.

Silently, she put it into the lock and turned it. Silently, she crept inside, her two lackeys following her, their weapons drawn.

"Alright, we'll spread out and wait. We'll kill them, then get outta here in case we get a struggle." The woman said, and the two men did that. One headed to the kitchen, probably to ransack the fridge, while the other headed into the living room, admiring the stuff in the house.

Hope was just barely asleep when he heard the door creak open. It would've eluded must people, but Hope had hearing better than just anybody. He heard hushed voices and knew what was going on: He was being robbed. Vanille must've heard it, too, because she stirred.

Hope put his finger over Vanille's lips. "Go to Zack's room, quietly." He said, pulling the only weapon he allowed in his house out of the drawer. He had been robbed before, just after he and Vanille got married. Ever since then, he carried this pistol in his drawer in case something like this was about to happen. "When you get there, call the police." He instructed. Vanille looked terrified for Hope, but she obeyed nonetheless.

Without making a sound, Vanille was able to reach Zack's room. Since the hallway curved before heading to the master bedroom, there was no way to see her from the rest of the house. Hope crept down the hall, pistol at the ready. He looked into the house and saw two intruders. The one in the kitchen was the biggest target, and was facing away from him, raiding his fridge.

Hope aimed and shot once, hitting the man in the back of the neck. He fell over, dead, within seconds, never reaching for his gun. The other burglar brought his gun up and began shooting. Like Hope, he had a pistol, but he wasn't a real good shot. Hope waited for the man to use his entire clip before shooting, hitting his target three times. The man fell over, dead before he hit the ground.

Hope relaxed as soon as the second intruder dropped. He brought his gun down and was turning around when he saw a third intruder. With a gun trained directly on him.

Three shots rang out in close succession. The sound of a body hitting the wall was heard throughout the house, followed by the sounds of men grunting. This lasted maybe thirty seconds before they faded out completely.

Vanille had already called the cops, who were on their way, when she braved stepping out of Zack's room. "Stay here, Zack." She said, her voice full of uncertainty. She didn't see anyone in the hallway, so she silently made her way to the living room.

She rounded the corner when she saw Hope, sitting against the wall, three bullet wounds in his chest. "Hope!" She cried, rushing to his side in a heartbeat. She was able to get a good look at the wound and horror sank in. "Hope, can you hear me? Hope!"

The man groaned, pain coursing throughout his body. "I'm sorry, Vanille…" He said, the pain making it hard to talk and breath. Vanille's panic only got worse.

"No, Hope! Stay with me! Stay with me!" Vanille was shaking Hope, trying to keep him awake. "There's an ambulance on the way! You're going to be fine! Just stay with me!"

Hope swallowed thickly. He could feel his body going cold and numb. "I love you, Vanille. I always will." He said, his words drawn out and hoarse. Vanille's tears flowed without restraint.

"Don't say that! You're going to be fine!" She cried at him. He smiled weakly one last time, before he closed his eyes and went limp.

Vanille sat, her eyes blurred with tears, in disbelief. "Hope..?" She asked softly. Zack was already by his parent's side, his eyes wide in fear as his father did not respond.

Vanille shook Hope once. He didn't respond. "No…You can't do this to me…Not now…" She begged, her voice beyond broken. When Hope still didn't respond, she sobbed. She sobbed as she held her dead husband in her arms. "I love you, too."

* * *

><p><strong>*Does head count* Be honest. You guys probably hate me for killing off poor, innocent Hope, right? I guess that's to be expected. But, don't take it as me hating on Hope. I actually came to like Hope over XIII-2 (Though he was somewhat too philosophical for my taste), but I had to have someone important killed to make an impact. Killing an OC doesn't carry the same weight as killing a loved main character. Well, enough of me trying to save my ass.<strong>

**R&R!  
><strong>


End file.

Final Fantasy XIII, Adventure, Suspense