Author's Note: It's been about seven years since I came back to fanfic. It's changed quite a bit since then. Anyway, here we are. First story in awhile. Let me know what you think. Any and all feedback is welcomed.

Anyway the story is designed as a sort of 'what if' Vaan and Penelo were replaced with Lightning and Serah. Plus a little more romance later on.

"You sure it's this way?" asked Lightning as they jumped off a fallen tree they had used to cross an patch of land inaccessible by conventional means.

"Of course," Chimed Serah as they kept walking further away from New Bodhum. "It's just past this hill. It's so strange that it just appeared last night out of the blue like that."

"Alright. Let's keep going," asserted Lightning as she followed her sister up the hillside.

Serah had been referring to an event she witnessed the previous night. During an evening date with her fiancé Snow the two had allegedly seen a bright golden crystal manifesting itself out of nowhere in the middle of a small crater that laid some distance north of New Bodhum. This wasn't the most unusual story Lightning had heard since they settled in their new home. Living on Gran Pulse, a still foreign land to her, she had encountered many strange events. Like a talking moogle named Mog they had found a few weeks ago wandering the forests to the west. Said moogle had become rather attached to Serah and had begun following her like a pet would.

Lightning might've brushed aside this matter if it wasn't for a few strange occurrences of late that timed themselves too well with this new revelation. First were the dreams she had been having the past week. Images of a great battle between a dozen powerful beings waging themselves against ghostly figures made of fog. The former eventually losing to the latter and being banished to the lower world. One which Lightning wasn't familiar with.

Among them was a celestial female looking being who brandished six wings on her backs and spoke out as the leader of this assault. Lightning only picked up one line from this deity, saying she would dethrone them from history's future weaver. The words remained cryptic to Lightning, as she felt that there was a large part of the story she was missing. What was more alarming was that two nights prior she had another dream. One more quick and straight forward. The face of this celestial looking straight at her and saying she had found the right candidate. That Lightning had changed the destiny of one world and can do so with her own.

These dreams lingered in Lightning's mind in the past few days. Though there was no proof that these dreams and this supposed crystal were connected there was this gut feeling that made her uneasy. Finding herself at the top of the hill Lightning gazed down at the crater. Like Serah had said, there was a large crystal standing in the middle. Clear as day and glowing brightly so as not to be missed.

"See?" Serah asked as she took a few steps forward before turning to her sister. A triumphant smile was on her face, as if to say I-told-you-so.

"Yes I see," acknowledged Lightning as her eyes never left the crystal. "Perhaps you should stay here for a moment."

Serah wasn't listening however. Before Lightning could finish her suggestion she had already began moving to the crystal. "You worry too much sis. Snow and I went right up to it yesterday and nothing happened."

Lightning rushed down to catch up to her sister, slowing down to walk alongside her at equal speeds. She wanted to tell her why this was a bad idea. But what could she say? Though really, she didn't want to say a thing. Something about this crystal was drawing her towards it. She needed to know why.

Standing in front of the crystal was rather anti-climatic however. It was an impressive crystal to be sure. It stood at a solid ten feet from top to bottom. The tips were as thin as could be could while the middle was much thicker. Truly powered by some form of magic it seemed to defy physics like this. But after Ragnarok saved Cocoon by moving lava and crystalizing it this seemed rather unimpressive.

"Other than it appearing out of thin air it doesn't look that odd," Serah observed as she slowly walked around the crystal.

Lightning was doing her own observation of the crystal. Walking counter to her sister as she eyed the structure. Serah was right. It was strange that it appeared out of nowhere but aside from that there wasn't anything about the crystal that gave reason for concern. Stopping herself halfway around the crystal Lightning let out a small sigh. Perhaps she was over hyping two unrelated incidents together.

"Guess I'll just chalk it down to nerves," Lightning admitted to herself quietly enough not to be overheard by Serah. "If it's not going to do anything other than just stand there we might as well just leave it." Lightning had expected some kind of response from Serah but heard none. In fact she couldn't hear her sisters footprints either. "Serah?"

"Lightning," a softer and more nervous sounding Serah responded. Lightning came to her sisters side to see her hand was stuck against the side of the crystal. "I..I know this looks strange. But I swore I heard this voice and..." finding herself trailing off as her words began to stutter with finding herself in an unusual situation.

Lightning didn't need Serah to finish. She understood why she did it. Now it was just a matter of getting her loose right now. Cursing herself mentally for letting her guard down would have to wait. Lightning grabbed her sisters shoulder to try and pull her away from the crystal. It wouldn't move an inch. As if it was glued on. Lightning thought of getting some help for a second, but the crystal suddenly glowing brighter threw that option out immediately. Whatever was happening just sent more mental alarm bells off.

"Close your eyes," Lightning instructed as she reached behind her to pull out her gunblade. Shifting it's form from a gun into a blade she struck the side of the crystal, inches away from Serah's hand. Nothing. Not even a dent. "Damn." The thought of using bullets occurred to her for a moment, but the risk of them bouncing back and harming Serah was too great.

'She's coming with me,' a voice said. It wasn't out loud. It felt like it was in Lightning's head. 'If you don't want her taken, you'll come along.' It was hard to make out, but it sounded more like a threat than anything.

The crystal began glowing brighter with more intensity. The ground beneath them began pushing them up, as if gravity lost it's effect. It occurred to Lightning that between this, and the crystal suddenly appearing last night, it was safe to say this was a teleporting crystal. Serah's body began glowing the color as the crystal. It was about to take her.

"Lightning!" Pleaded Serah, looking at her big sister for assistance. The call was answered by Lightning stashing away her weapon before slapping her hand on the crystal.

"I won't leave you," Lightning assured her sister. The crystal continued to get brighter. The landscape around them began fading from the intensity of the light. "I don't know who's doing this to us, but I hope to find out on the other side. I'm going to make them regret it."

With one final burst of light the crystal faded away and moved them to a whole new realm. During the transport Lightning could hear that voice, that same voice from the celestial being in her dreams. As the new world began to materialize, Lightning took in the words that being spoke: Welcome to Ivalice.

So far I think I'm off to a decent start. :)