Author's Note: Hi! I'm YGP and I'm putting out another Final Fantasy story! Yay! With this one, it's more of a mix between XIII and XIII-2. Somewhat AU and somewhat sticks with the story line as you'll see later on with some other influences I'll point out later. All I can say is that I hope that you will like this one and thanks for giving it a try!

Chapter 1: The Beginning Of A Beautiful Relationship:

"Hey! Give it back!" From below, the silver haired youth stared up toward the flowerless cherry blossom tree. On one of its branches was the target of which he shot his demand. His emerald eyes glared as he stared to get frustrated. The girl above was ignoring him as she kept her eyes on the boomerang that was in her hands. The boy stomped his foot on the ground as his hands tightened into fists at his sides. "Give it back now!"

The girl above continued to pay no attention to him as she observed the markings that were on the wooden object. The boy let out a loud sigh. "It's brand new so I don't need your stubby little hands breaking it!"

In the tree, the girl remained silent toward him and kept pretending as if he wasn't there. Inside, she was starting to get irritated with his comment. At the same time, she wanted to see how far she could push him. With anger boiling inside of him, the twelve year old shut his eyes tight and yelled again. "Claire! I'm not playing with you anymore! You're-! You're nothing but a…a big meanie stupid head!"

The dark, cerulean eyes of the nine year old cut straight away to the boy underneath her which made him jump. She raised her hand holding onto the boomerang as if she was ready to attack. Instantly, he began to regret what he yelled. "What did you say?!" she hissed toward him. The boy swallowed deeply. There was no escaping the cruel fate that awaited him.

Inside of the mansion, two women were walking in the hallway as they were talking. One woman pressed her hand to her chest as she looked at the woman across from her. "Nora. As always, it's a pleasure to have you here in Eden with us."

Nora smiled as she continued walking along. "Thank you. It's nice of you to have us."

The woman placed her hands together in front of her as she gave a kind smile. "I hope that all of you will feel welcome and that little Hope is having fun here."

Nora nodded. So far, she felt that her family was being warmly welcomed by their family. "I believe so."

Soon, the woman's eyes drifted off toward the side as she seemed a little concerned. "I just hope that the children are getting along with each other. It'll make things easier in the long run." Ahead, the woman glanced over by the window to see a little girl standing on her tip toes with pink, curled hair into two ponytails at the end. Interested, the six year old was staring outside as if she was waiting for something to happen. Gently, the woman smiled and kneeled down to the little girl. "What are you looking at Serah?" Serah pointed to the window as she grinned. "Mommy look!" Curiously, Mrs. Farron lifted her eyes to see what was going on.

Inside of another room within the Farron estate, two men sat in chairs with a table in between them. One of the men smiled with his eyes closed as he set his cup down onto the glass table. "I have to admit Estheim you're not such bad company as they make you Academy guys out to be."

Bartholomew placed his cup down as well. "You too Farron."

Mr. Farron leaned back as he placed his arm over the top of the couch, relaxing. "I'm surprised at everything that's happened. For many years, this war has been going on with no sign of stopping. Then just after one meeting, we finally come to an agreement to work together."

"Well more than one meeting." Bartholomew pointed out. "The bloodshed needed to be stop. Things are going to be very frail for a while in trying to get people to accept this new change."

"Cocoon against Gran Pulse. The Fal'Cie against the Academy." Mr. Farron shook his head as he closed his eyes and rubbed the side of his head. "Makes you wonder why we didn't have peace in the first place."

"You have to remember that we have another thing that depends on this agreement. Not only both worlds working together but-." A smirk appeared on Mr. Farron's face. There was no need for Bartholomew to finish his sentence to know what he was going to say. "I know. I know. Our little marriage agreement in place. Our oldest daughter to your only son. He'll take over the Academy as you planned and when I'm gone, he'll be working with my daughter once she's Primarch so that both of them will function together in harmony."

"Does your daughter understand right now what will happen in the future?"

Mr. Farron held back a laugh in his throat. "Claire? She gets it but…not really sure she's happy about it… for now anyway. I'm sure that she'll get over it eventually. Nothing against your son."

"It's fine. I'm not sure how he feels about it either. Just have to wait and see how things turn out."

Mr. Farron arched his eyebrow as he smirked curiously. "Is it strange that we're putting our children through this? I mean there hasn't been an arranged marriage in Cocoon or Pulse for a very long time."

Bartholomew's eyes traveled down toward the ground. "It is a little." he admitted.

Mr. Farron shrugged his shoulders as he leaned back comfortably against the couch. He was still optimistic that it would all be okay. "Well who knows? Maybe things might work out so well that Claire will want to get married to Hope."

Outside, Hope placed his hands on top of his head as he ducked down and closed his eyes. The boomerang flew inches above his head. Slowly, he opened his eyes as he looked back to see where the boomerang was. Only seconds later did he see the wooden weapon fly back toward him. Instantly, he ducked again to avoid getting hit. The boomerang landed back into Claire's hand with ease. Once Hope opened his eyes, he saw her land gracefully and feet first onto the ground in front of him. His body jolted and fell back onto the hard ground. It took seconds to catch his breath before he stood back up. His annoyed expression returned. "Don't do that!" Hope reached over to grab his boomerang but Claire held her hand back so that he couldn't reach it. "Give it back!"

A finger poked his chest which made his eyes wince in pain. "Ow! Stop it!"

Claire stepped in closer and flicked Hope's forehead with her fingers. "You're too soft." She pressed the boomerang against his chest pushing him back and causing a grunt to leave from his throat. Afterwards, she walked passed him still holding onto his boomerang. "Grow up crybaby." A frown crossed his lips, hearing her. As much as Hope tried to get along with her, it was tough to. It was times like this when it was hard to put up with her.

Through the window, Claire's mother smiled nervously as she watched the scene unfold. Nora noticed her uneasy expression and looked upon her with curiosity. "Is everything…all right?"

Quickly, Claire's mother turned to her as she continued to smile. "Yes…! I believe that they are getting along just fine." As much as she wanted to believe that for herself, it was hard to at this time.

Later that night, Hope and Serah were playing with Serah's toys in her room. Serah let out a laugh which caused Hope to smile. Her eyes traveled up as she kept her big grin displayed. Hope looked at her, confused. "What?"

Quickly, Serah pointed over toward the door. "Sister!"

Hope looked behind him to see Claire standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. What happened earlier was still clear in his mind. A little of his anger showed through his face. Claire remained quiet as she reached behind her back and pulled out his boomerang. She held it out in front of Hope. At first, Hope was surprised and took it as a sign that maybe she was giving it back to him. Then again, he felt uneasy as if she was going to pull some sort of trap. Claire waved her hand up and down slightly as a gesture for him to take it because she wasn't going to hold it in front of him all night. Hope hesitated as he extended his arm out but eventually he grabbed it and took it gently out of her hand. His eyes traveled across it and saw that she didn't leave a scratch on it or changed it in anyway.

Claire continued to stare at him before she turned around and started heading down the hall alone. Hope's eyes went over to her. He felt his heart softened and his anger fade. He wondered why she took it in the first place and why she gave it back. He remembered in his mind that both of them still needed to get along. That was important. "Hey!" Claire stopped as she looked back. "Do you want to play with us?"

Claire stood for a few seconds before she turned and headed back into Serah's room. She sat down in a spot beside Hope as she grabbed one of Serah's toys. Still curious, Hope kept his eyes on her. It took some time before he spoke. "Why did you give it back?"

Claire continued going through the toys. "You said it was brand new right? It's important to you?"

"Yeah…" Hope replied wondering where she was going with this.

"Then you get back the things that are special to you. You just don't let other people take them. Got it?"

Hope nodded. "Yeah." He was about to reach over for a toy that was in his sights but quickly saw that it was taken off of the floor. He looked over to see Claire have it in her hands. Again, he got angry at her. "Hey! I was going to take that one!"

"Well too bad. I grabbed it first. You got to be quicker than that."

Hope growled and lunged for her hands. Claire leaned back as she looked surprised. "Give it back now!"

Claire frowned. "Take it then!" The two continued to struggle until Claire got up and began running around the room which Hope chased after her. Serah watched as they ran around the room knocking some of her stuff over. She pleaded with them to stop but they wouldn't listen. It wasn't long before she wasn't able to stand for it anymore. "Mom!"

In a room within a government restricted area of Eden, there were people walking around working and discussing matters. A few men stood in front of Primarch Farron speaking with him on a few issues that he needed to go over. While they were distracted, a man stepped into the room. A smirk came across his lips as he spotted his target in his sights. Before he could walk over, a government official stepped in and held his hand out in front of the man. He didn't recognize the person nor knew what he was doing there. "Excuse me? If you're here to see the Primarch, then you need to come back another time. He is very busy at the moment."

Annoyed by the official, the man threw out his hand and blew him away with magic. Everyone in the room turned their attention to the mysterious stranger. Some of them were afraid after what they just witnessed. A few rushed over to check on the hit official. They come to realize that he was dead.

Anger grew within Primarch Farron. He stepped forward as he pulled out his gunblade. "Whoever you are, I suggest that you leave right now before I force you to."

The mysterious man just smirked. "I believe that it is you Primarch Farron that should be forced to exit your position. I will present you the opportunity to hand over your supremacy of Primarch to me and your only chance to live."

Primarch Farron pressed his teeth together as he looked determined. Seeing that the man wasn't going to leave, he decided to attack before the man could hurt anyone else. "Call the soldiers to help escort him out!" he ordered the officials before he rushed forward. Before they could call, the man used his magic to exterminate all of them. Primarch Farron's eyes widened, stunned as he stopped. How was it possible for him to use magic? Soon, the man's attention turned to him as his smirk grew bigger. "It will only be a matter of time before this world will be as it should." He cast his magic toward the Primarch. The last thing that Primarch Farron saw was a blast of light.

That's it for the first chapter! I hope that you liked it. So for the first few chapters, I'll be using Lightning's original name and going through different ages with the characters. To recap, in this chapter Hope is twelve, Lightning (Claire) is nine, and Serah is six. Please let me know what you think and this story will continued to be updated. Thanks for reading!