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Summary- Lightning and her friends have won. Now they have a new world that they must make their own. Though they know that together they can do anything.

Chapter 9: Plans for the Future

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After our little reunion we all realized how late it had gotten. We help the rest of the people in the group find places to settle for the night and build enough fires to keep everyone warm. They have their own food so we don't have to worry about anyone going hungry. We don't worry too much about introductions at the moment since everyone is tired and wants to get some sleep. I take note that there are several children though all seem to be with some sort of parent or guardian.

I look over to see Hope with a couple of them. He's talking quietly and his eyes show so much warmth. I walk closer to see what he is talking to them about. When I get close enough I can hear that he is telling them a story. As I listen I realize that he's telling them about our time as l'Cie, though a very watered down, child friendly version and without giving away that it was actually us. I listen as he describes our time in the Vile Peaks and through the Gapra Whitewood.

When he gets to the part about me trying to leave him several of the children get angry on his behalf. What surprises me is what he says to them.

"Yes, the boy was hurt that the soldier tried to leave him, but it ended up being one of the best things to ever happen to them." One of the boys asks why.

"Because that event ended up bringing them closer. After fighting the eidolon the soldier realized that the boy was more like her than she realized. She decided to help him get stronger and they became very close friends." The children seem to calm down with his words. At that point their parents come to collect them. They thank Hope for watching out for their children and he just shakes his head saying that it's no trouble as he rises from his spot on the ground. They all go to their respective campsites when Hope turns around, noticing me.

"Oh, hey Light. I didn't realize you were there." I can see that he's embarrassed about being caught. I walk up and pull him into an embrace.

"So me almost abandoning and getting you killed was once of the best things to ever happen to you?" I look up at him. He kisses me gently.

"Yes." The certainty in his voice as he says this astounds me. I decide to let it go as I pull away to grab his hand. We start heading back to the cave where the others are.

"You know, you're really good with kids."

"Yea, I guess. I really like kids. They're so innocent and full of life. It's refreshing to see after all of the blood and fighting we've gone through." My mind goes back to when Serah was talking about the possibility of Hope and I having kids someday.

"You'd make a good father someday." He jerks for a second, shocked by what I just said, but he soon relaxes.

"Maybe, but I'm not sure if the only woman I would want to have kids with would be willing. And honestly I'm okay with that if it's what she wants." We stop walking near another fire, the light reflecting in our eyes.

"Well maybe she could be convinced. Someday, after everything is settled, if that's what you really want." My cheeks are burning at my confession. I look directly into his eyes as he digests what I said.

"Really? You would do that, for me?" He steps closer to me.

"I don't know, I mean I'm not very good with kids, but if I were to have children someday you're the only person I can imagine having them with." Suddenly he grabs me and pulls me into a passionate kiss. He breaks the kiss only to continue kissing my cheeks, then my jaw, and down my neck. When he reaches my collar bone he stops and looks at me.

"I love you Light. I love you so much." He kisses me again, softer this time.

"I know Hope." I can tell he's a little disappointed that I didn't say it back, but he quickly brushes that aside. He smiles at me and grabs ahold of my hand.

"Come on, if we take too much longer the others are going to start thinking we're off doing stuff." I laugh and we start walking.

"Yeah. I don't even want to know what Snow and Fang will be thinking."

"Yea that could be trouble." He gives me a quick kiss as we continue towards where our family is.

As we get closer we can hear the others talking. Fang and Vanille are telling Snow and Serah about their travels.

"…and that's when Noel fell into the water, losing all the food we'd just collected. Luckily some of the new people are really good swimmers and were able to recover most of it. And the best part of it all, when Noel got out of the water he discovered that a frog had climbed into his pants. He freaked." Vanille is going on, jumping up for emphasis.

"Well, sounds like we missed something interesting." Hope says as we sit down with the others.

"Yea, we were just telling Snow and Serah about this time when Noel tried to show off and ended up with a frog in his pants." Vanille says as she is sitting back down.

"Yea, we caught that last bit." I say grabbing some of the food Serah is passing around. I realize that I had barely eaten anything all day and am starving. "So other than Noel making an ass of himself, is there anything else we need to know?"

"Right down to business as usual. Well we already told you about the mine and tools we found. There's a mountain range not too far from the mine. We figure we'll eventually send a team out there to check for any other areas for mining. For now though they'll stick with the one we already found and work from that until we're all a little more established. The way I see it the first priority should be building enough shelter for everyone." Fang informs us while sharpening her spear.

"That sound good, and I agree that shelter should be top priority. With all of the tools you guys found we should have some temporary huts in place in no time. After that we can work on building more permanent houses." I say as I contemplate our situation.

"Light's right. We need to get everyone shelter and fast. We don't know what the weather's like on this world so we need to prepare for anything. I've noticed that the nights are getting cooler and that makes me think that winter is coming. We had some bad winter's back on Gran Pulse in the early days after the Fall and we managed to survive, but we don't know if the winters here will be the same, better, or worse than those from the old world." Hope explains as he begins writing in the dirt with his finger. I look to see what he's writing, but can't make heads or tails of it. The others seem to take notice of Hope's strange behavior.

"What'cha doing there kid?" Snow asks coming around to look over Hope's shoulder.

"I'm not a kid. And I'm doing some quick calculations to figure out what we would need to get done to prepare for winter, in any severity. Judging by the rate of temperature drop over the last few weeks I'd say we're in late summer, if the seasons work the same here as they did in the old world. So I'd say we have a couple of months before a significant change in the weather. In that time we need to build enough stable shelter to protect everyone from the cold, gather and somehow manage to store enough food to last us all a few months. We don't know how long the winters last either, so we should prepare for a while. I'd say enough to last us five months should do."

"Don't you think that's a lot? The winters in the old world only lasted three, maybe four months." Serah asks curiously.

'That is true Serah, but as I said, we don't know how things are in this world so I'd rather play it safe. If we end up with a surplus then that just means things will be easier for us all when spring comes. I just want to make sure nobody is going to starve to death due to lack of preparing."

"I guess that does make sense. But how will we manage all of this?"

"It'll take a lot of work and making sure everyone helps out, but as long as everyone does their share we should manage. Plus who knows, maybe we'll get luck and they'll find some copper I can use for wiring. If that happens then I can work on building freezers and such to help store it all. We can use the river here to generate electricity, just like we did after the Fall." I can see the cautious optimism in Hope's eyes as he speaks.

"That sounds like a plan. We can divide everyone into teams; one to gather supplies, one or a couple to work on building shelter, one to gather food, and so forth. Tomorrow we can talk to the others and begin sorting everyone based on their skills."

"That sounds great and all, but how do we know that they'll listen to us?" Snow, for once, is the voice of reason. Then Vanille chimes in.

"Oh well, we already talked to them and after hearing that we have the Savior, the Saint, and the Director of the old Academy they agreed to go with whatever plans we come up with."

"Gee great. Just what I wanted, to lead humanity in the new world." I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"We don't have to be their leaders necessarily. We could help them form their own government and then just advise them on what we think is best. For the time being though, we should accept their trust in us to get everyone through this time safe.." Vanille says cheerfully as ever.

"Fine, let's do it then, but first let's get some sleep. I don't know about you guys, but I am exhausted and tomorrow promises to be a long day." I get up and move toward the cave, Hope following close behind.

"Sis is right guys. Let's all get some sleep." Serah states getting up herself.

"Yea, night all." Snow says yawning.

Once inside the cave I go over to where I usually sleep and lay down. It's dark, but I can see Serah and Snow's silhouettes doing the same. From behind me I can feel Hope lay down next to me.

"Is this alright Light?" He asks hesitantly wrapping his arms around me.

"I wouldn't want you anywhere else. Goodnight Hope."

He kisses my hair and gently whispers in my ear. "Goodnight love." From there his gentle breath on my neck lulls me to sleep.

The next morning is spent getting to know everyone and letting them in on the plans we made last night. They agree to go along with our ideas and the teams sort of begin forming themselves. It is decided that each team will choose their own leader and the leaders of the teams will form a council that will govern us all. Our group will help out where we can, advising the council when needed. At first they want to make us the heads of the council, but we decline explaining that we would rather just do our share of the work and live our lives in peace.

By midday everything is pretty much settled and the teams get to work. It amazes me how quickly everyone gets organized and how fast the work gets done. By the end of the day a significant number of temporary huts are build and plans are being made for more permanent housing. Hope spends the day with the leader of the builders, going over what they need and the best way to do it. Snow goes with the wood gatherers to get building material. Fang joins the hunters, while Vanille goes with the others of the food team to show them good places for fruit. I help form a defense team. Training those who wish to help in ways to spot danger. We also set up a watch schedule. Serah and a couple of the mothers watch the children while the others work. She is quickly making friends and I'm glad to see her so happy. Everyone seems to be finding a place.

By the end of the day we are all so tired that we barely say two words to each other before falling right to sleep.

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A/N: Sorry this is taking so long to get out. I hope you all liked it and it wasn't too boring. Things should get a lot more interesting in the next few chapters. Thanks to those who left reviews for the last chapter and I hope you'll leave one for this chapter too.