In this new world, without Gods or Monsters, they'd all had to find new specialties and hobbies. For Lightning, her new hobby had been equestrianism.

Riding had been a large part of her life since she had become a L'cie. Odin, her ever-faithful steed, had been like an extension of herself. To give up riding was something she wasn't willing to do. After all the reunions and hugs and emotional bull shit was over with, she'd strong armed Snow, Noel and Hope (who was an adult again, thankfully) into helping her build a stable in which to keep the horse she had every intention of buying. Now, six months after finishing the stable and fences, she still hadn't found the perfect partner for her.

Oh, sure, the sellers showed her some incredible horses. Tall, strong, and spirited they might have been, but they were missing that all essential spark that she was looking for in her partner. Because this horse wouldn't be a pet, couldn't be. Sighing, Lightning prepared to tell the seller thanks but no thanks when a flash of white caught the corner of her eye. Turning, she found herself looking at a pure white horse, rearing itself on its hind legs and tossing its rider to the ground.

"As, I see Angel has caught your eye. He tends to do that, being such a rare color. Unfortunately, he seemingly can't be tamed as you can well see."

And see she did. The trainer who'd been flung off limped away to the fences and a new one took his place. But Angel, as the horse was deceptively named, wouldn't let him near and bolted away. Something about this horse called to her, called to the piece of her who was just as wild as he was. It was almost as if… Her eyes widened as the thought finished itself. It couldn't be…

Behind her, she could hear the salesman saying something else but it went in one ear and out the other as she went for the door that would lead out to the enclosure and when reaching the fence, immediately hopped it. Angel whipped his head around and stared her right in the eyes and just stopped. Stopped fighting, stopped snorting, and just came to a stand still. And right there in his eyes, she saw it. She saw the echo of her Eidolon as he was when she first met him, heard the wark of the large white chocobo he had turned into so that he might remain at her side. This was her partner, now and forevermore. This was…

"Odin," It was almost like a whisper on the wind but he heard her. And now that she looked at him, she wondered how she ever thought this horse could be anyone but her partner. How she thought that any ordinary horse might suffice to fill the gap that he had left. A pure white thoroughbred that had to be nearly twenty hands tall, no one would ever be able to even hope to tame this horse. But she didn't want to tame him. She just wanted to be whole again.

So when the horse started approaching her, she didn't move despite the panicked voices she could hear behind her, the trainers begging her to get away from him. The whole time, their eyes stayed connected. When he finally entered her personal space, he just snorted at her and pulled her hair as if asking, 'what took you so long?'

She couldn't really say anything to that, so she just laughed. And once she started, she couldn't stop so she threw her arms around the neck of the powerful animal in front of her. And if she cried a bit, well, Odin would never tell and she would never admit it. Behind her, the panicked voices had died down into confused and almost disbelieving but she paid them no mind. Eventually though, she became uncomfortable with how out of character she was acting and moved away from Odin, flicking him on the nose to make him let go of her hair.

Pivoting on her heel, she turned to face the gob smacked face of the salesman while summoning up every ounce of authority she had gained from being a soldier in another life and said, "I'll be taking this horse."

When no one moved, she let some of her irritation slip into her voice as she repeated herself. Behind her, she could hear Odin pawing at the ground in what was probably thought to be, and in fact was, a threatening manner. It almost made her smile, but she'd broken character enough for today. She had a reputation to uphold after all. So when he stammered out for her to follow him, she turned shortly to pet Odin's nose once more before following the scared man.

She wasn't a soldier anymore, or a Goddess, or even a savior of souls. But Odin had come back to her once more and she would fight tooth and nail to make sure he never left her again.

Word Count: 848

Unbetaed, but I'll try and get back to it eventually and go through it.

Fun fact about horse!Odin. He's a Thoroughbred horse, which typically grows between 15 to 17 hands tall, though the largest in the world is a bit more than 19. So I made him slightly larger, because Odin is awesome and he deserves to be unique and frankly thought impossible. This is further exemplified by the fact that he's white, which is an extremely rare color on a Thoroughbred and yes, it is different from gray.

Also: I really seem to hate dialogue, don't I?