Crystal stasis. That prolonged slumber met me with no dreams, no consciousness, and no recognition of time. Eventually I felt myself awakening, the seal of the fal'cie slowly weakening on me; I collapsed to the ground, still mostly unaware of my surroundings. I lay like that for while, groggy, until I felt hands on my back and warmth enveloping me, and before long, I fell into another, though entirely different sleep.

I awoke, this time, in a bed. That grogginess was mostly gone; my eyes managed to focus on the light above me and the people surrounding me - Snow, Sazh, and Serah. After a few moments of confusion, I remembered with a little difficulty what exactly had occurred in the final moments of my previous life. I had completed my focus - I had torn Cocoon from the sky. But one memory also came to mind - that of Vanille and Fang taking on the form of Ragnarok and crystalizing underneath it. They alone prevented the destruction of our world.

Serah meandered pointlessly around, insisting on babying me, and I didn't have the energy nor the will to protest at this point. Now that it was all over and done with, there was nothing to do but lay back and watch. My gaze slowly shifted to my wrist, where my L'Cie brand had been, but it was gone. We were no longer tools of the fal'cie.

"How long ago...?" I asked quietly. Sazh met my eyes first, nodding lightly in understanding.

"Around one-hundred and thirty years," he answered me. It went without saying that there was certainly a reason that my father wasn't here.

I had expected as much, when I opened my eyes to see his absence. It left an ache in my chest, but I sat up regardless; Serah positioned pillows behind me so that I was comfortable. "I'm fine," I told her, but she didn't move from my side.

I met her eyes as well, and my heart thudded quietly in my chest for a moment, as she looked eerily familiar. There was someone else who wasn't here, and slowly, panic began to rise up within me. "Where is Lightning?" I asked, and Serah's expression changed slowly from an apologetic smile to one of worry.

"She still isn't awake," Snow answered for her, though he didn't meet my eyes either. "We're not sure why... but she's still asleep."

-

The next ten years passed with little fanfare. Serah and Snow married, as was expected, and though they wanted to wait for Lightning's awakening, they were also afraid that they would be waiting forever. For a while, I visited her crystal almost daily, even after I managed to salvage what life I had left - I attended school again, living with Sazh and his son, Dajh. They became like a second family to me, and for that I was eternally grateful. But it didn't stop me from going to see her - from waiting, albeit very impatiently, for her return.

No one seemed to know why it was that we all had awoken, but Lightning hadn't. It made a lot of sense that Vanille and Fang hadn't; in a way, they sacrificed themselves to ensure the safety of our world. But Lightning had fallen into crystal stasis just like the rest of us.

I stopped visiting her every day when I began to attend college. Those years passed without much ado, as well, and eventually I graduated, though she wasn't in the audience. I had hoped she would wake before then - but now I was starting to lose hope.

After graduation, I moved close to Serah and Snow for many reasons. One of which was that they were my closest family, and another of which was that they somehow managed to extract Lightning's crystal and move it somewhere close by, though they wouldn't tell me where. They saw how I wasted my social life waiting for her - and they didn't want to see it happen again. Little did they realize that, likely, I wouldn't have visited at that point.

I don't know if they knew how I felt about her. She'd been a guiding light in my life when I needed it the most, and I think, at that point, they simply thought I was looking for that guidance again. That she was like a big sister to me. I didn't argue with those ideas, as it felt a little silly to discuss it, but that was far from the complex way I thought of her.

At first I had hoped the way I thought of Light was a combination of teenage hormones. It wouldn't have been a surprise, anyway - but even after many years without her, I found myself thinking of her at night, wishing she was with me. There was no denying the truth. I was irrevocably in love with her. Even as I went through college, there were girls that voiced interest, but I denied them all, just in case Lightning awoke at some point in my lifetime.

I suppose I could have moved on, but that tiny ray of doubt kept me rooted to the spot. Even as my reflection changed in the mirror - I grew taller, my features matured, my hair flattened, and I became, so to speak, a man - the conflicting emotions underneath were stoic, unfaltering. I missed her so much that I dreamed of her nightly.

So I kept waiting for some sort of solution. For either Lightning to finally awaken or at least for some sort of release, some sort of sign that I could move on. But nothing came for those ten long years.

That is, until my twenty-fourth birthday.

They were late. It didn't necessarily bother me, so much as it was odd; Serah had been so insistent upon this event that she wouldn't hear my pleas against it. I tried to explain to her that birthdays just didn't matter anymore, especially after what we'd been through. But in her eyes, it was all the more reason to celebrate, and I knew that she wanted to cling to some semblance of normalcy, so I complied.

But it was still odd that they were late. I sat in their living room, reading a book that one of them had left on the side table, and while it was interesting, sure, it simply couldn't hold my interest. I felt anxious, on edge; it was as if I knew something was happening at that very moment. They were never late.

As the door opened, I saw Snow first, with Serah cradled in his arms. Worry was written all over his face, but he seemed calm, collected. I stood, blinking at the two of them - but out of the corner of my eye, I saw another figure enter the room.

As I took her in, I realized that the person in the doorway was Serah- and with a quick glance back at Snow, I realized that the woman in his arms was Lightning.

There was no thought for a few moments - only shock. I don't know what my expression looked like at that moment, and I can't imagine to replicate it, as I don't think there has been another moment in my life that I have felt that overjoyed and panicked all at once. For one, she was awake - but she wasn't conscious. I followed the three of them to the couch, where Snow placed her gently down.

I immediately kneeled at her side, my hand finding hers - it was oddly warm and soft, nothing like the crystal hand I'd been holding not so long before. I watched her breathe, her chest rising and falling with the movement, and it was then that I realized how alive she was - how alive we both were. It was hard to deny the rush of excitement in my chest.

"We went to check and... she was on the ground," came Snow's dumbfounded voice. His eyes met Serah's tearful ones for a moment; I felt oddly out of place, suddenly, as I always did when we were traveling together. I was always the youngest, the one who was, in some senses, alone. Snow and Lightning both had a common goal - saving Serah - and Vanille and Fang had some sort of obvious sister relationship going on. Even Sazh was distant, as he thought mostly of Dajh.

I didn't have anyone to fight for - except for Lightning, of course. Perhaps that's what kept me going for so long, or maybe that's why I fell for her in the first place. I needed something to cling onto. Some kind of hope, as Lightning often put it. Little did she realize that I found it in her.

"How long ago?" I asked, staring back down at Lightning. I gazed at her closed eyes, begging them to open; I felt more impatient then than I felt even when holding her crystalized form. She was right here in front of me, so close that I could touch her, and as I moved my hand across her face, I could feel her breath on my palm. It sent shivers up and down my spine.

"We don't know," Serah said quietly. She, too, kneeled down next to me, taking Lightning's other hand. And though I felt a tinge of jealousy, a grateful feeling overwhelmed me, as well. I wouldn't be the only face she saw when she woke up, and somehow that was comforting, considering I was already feeling a bit cowardly.

Ten years had passed. No longer was I a young teenager. I couldn't deny that those wishes ran through my mind just about every night when I thought of her; that someday she would wake up and see me as a man, for once, and maybe things would finally go well for the two of us. But now that moment was here, it was hard not to run for the hills.

My heart jumped in my chest as her eyelids fluttered; I kept my gaze steadily on hers until they opened all the way, her blue eyes focusing on the ceiling above. Like I had, she merely stared at the light for a while, a low groan escaping her throat. Butterflies ran rampant in my stomach.

"Light?" Her sister asked. I leaned back and moved aside so as not to interfere with this little reunion; besides, I had no idea what I'd say to her when she was finally awake, anyway. It took a bit, but her blue eyes flickered over to her sisters', and she smiled.

"We did it," she said softly. It was odd to think of what she meant; that felt like ten years ago. It was hard to believe that it felt like such a short time ago to her. She was smiling softly, still staring at her sister.

"Hell yeah, we did," Snow confirmed, fist pumping behind Serah. Lightning's expression flickered as she took in his cocky stature, and she shook her head. She wasn't asking any questions, and I panicked, suddenly aware that her eyes would find mine at any moment.

What would she think when she saw me? Snow and Serah didn't look all that different; obviously Lightning wouldn't realize the difference in our awakening time simply from looking at the two of them. But my age difference was undeniable - fourteen as compared to twenty-four. I was an adult now, with a career. But I never, not once, stopped thinking of her.

Slowly her eyes scanned the room. She wasn't aware that I was there, and I was thankful for it. "Is everyone else awake?" She asked.

Serah nodded quietly. "Except for Fang and Vanille."

Lightning's expression was solemn, but otherwise her demeanor didn't falter. She continued curiously scanning the room, and eventually she sat up, closing her eyes tightly against what I imagined was a hell of a headache.

"How long was I-"

As she asked this question, her eyes met with mine. My cheeks flushed an embarrassing shade of red, and I swallowed hard against the butterflies in my stomach. Everything was silent for a moment, suspended in time-

"Ten years," I answered her, my voice gruff. She seemed surprised by the deep timbre of my voice, and her eyes widened. "Serah, Snow, Sazh, and I have been awake for ten years already."

Her brow furrowed as she took in my face, her eyes darting all around, and I had to look away. I couldn't hold her gaze, not when she was observing me like that...

"How long before that?" She asked now, looking over to Serah and Snow, the moment forgotten. I blinked in shock, simply staring at the ground. Was that it? Was that our reunion? A simple answer to her question? My breath was ragged in my throat.

"One hundred and thirty years," Snow said, shrugging his shoulders. "But what's more important for you now is to meet your family." He was grinning; I immediately felt silly and selfish for having thought myself more important than her sister or even her nieces and nephews. Confusion was etched on her features, as well; I was almost excited for her to meet them, too.

"Family?"

"You just worry about waking up," Serah said, nodding. "Don't overwhelm yourself just yet." With that, she went into the kitchen to get Lightning a glass of water, and Snow sat down on a chair across from us. Realizing I was the only one still kneeling by her, I stood and moved away from the couch.

Slowly, she stood as well; she swayed a little, obviously woozy from such a long sleep. I caught her elbow before she fell back down to the couch, but her eyes met mine with such hostility that I quickly retracted my hand.

"I've got it, Hope," she said. My heart jumped in my chest as she said my name, even with that gruff tone of voice. Swallowing again, I held up my hands and backed away, and she stepped forward.

I still felt fourteen with her around. And, maybe she still saw me that way, regardless of how my body and mind had matured with time. It was a complicated and sad thought, but certainly a possibility with the way she was treating me.

"Hey now, Hope's been waiting for you to wake up for a long time," Snow said, grinning as usual. "We all have. Sit back down before you make yourself pass out again."

Lightning ignored him completely, instead stretching her arms and back, testing out her muscles. She moved across the floor with ease; I was glad to see her back so fast. "How long did it take you guys to adjust?"

"Just an hour or so," Snow said, waving it off as if it was nothing. "Except for Hope here. That kid took a good couple of days."

Again, Lightning's eyes met with mine, and I blushed, though for an entirely different reason. She was smiling slightly, amusement painted over her features. "Naturally," she said quietly, and she turned away from me again, moving across the living room.

I groaned, sitting on the couch and looking down at my feet. Even now, I was still just a kid to her. But I wouldn't let that slide - I'd show her. I wracked my brain for something ingenious to say, and just as I was about to speak, something else entirely happened.

She unzipped the front of her jacket very slightly to look down at the skin there - not enough to be strange or provocative to either Snow or me. What I did see there, however, took my breath away, though not for the reasons you may think.

For what was displayed so clearly on her chest was a Pulse L'Cie brand.