Lightning Audition

"Nugh…"

Aqua eyes opened, slowly, staring at a bland wall to her side. Lightning lifted her heavy eyes, shifting herself up in the bed that lay beneath her, the covers all cocooned around her, her hands moving to rub the sleep out of her eyes as she soon looked around. A blaring light was shining in through a window, nearly blinding her. Looking around the room, it looked like a normal bedroom, it caused her to stop a bit, only to stare that much more. 'Where am I…?' she thought to herself, eyebrows furrowing slightly as she shifted from her bed and got up and onto her feet. This place didn't look a damn thing like Valhalla, it was too bright…too normal, it almost reminded her of Cocoon, of Bodhum.

Moving towards that window that had been exposing the sun to her eyes, Lightning gazed out and nearly hit her jaw on the floor as she was staring at a sandy shore, a few people out and about already, but it wasn't like the dark shores of Valhalla, it was bright…a place where someone could actually live, it was a weird sight to be seeing right now. Quickly running towards one of the dressers in her room and putting on a simple grey top, some jeans, and whatever shoes were in this weird closet of hers. Hopping out of her room as she was tying one laced shoe while trying to quickly get out of here, she noticed this place was quite…new, rebuilt from things that didn't quite look manufactured, but it looked nice and put together, but how strange it was…it nearly replicated Bodhum, but…she couldn't be in Bodhum. Cocoon had fallen out of the sky, it was a crystallized ornament in the sky now, held up by Fang and Vanille, right?

Skirting out of the place that was supposedly her home, a small building near a few shacks just on the beach, Lightning stared at the water, the small pier ahead. This was not Bodhum, but it looked liked…New Bodhum, where Serah had lived with Snow and NORA just after her disappearance. Why was she here of all places? Had Etro sent her back to live a normal life? No, that couldn't be possible…this was…so weird. Lightning's heart began to swell though, this was the future she had wanted, to be able to live normally, to not be bound to a god anymore, she wanted to live without strings attached, she wasn't going to allow herself to be a puppet anymore. But the how and why of her being here was put to a screeching halt when one person entered her mind. Serah. Where was she? Was she even alive?

What was going on here?

"Serah!?" she called out on the shore, looking back towards the shack that looked like the one Lebreau had once ran on Bodhum. It was a nice replica, but it had its differences as well. Moving to head inside the little shack, Lightning gazed inside, waiting to hear some sort of response, what met her ears though, was a high pitched squeak of a greeting. "Good morning! You're finally awake!" the voice of the young Pulsian girl called out to Lightning from behind. Vanille had bounded up to the pinkette with large and cheerful strides, a wide grin on her face as well. "Not that I mind someone getting a good night's sleep, but are you okay? I didn't think you'd leave us all waiting like that! You didn't forget, did you? We're all here to…you know…reunite? Reminisce a bit! We've all been so busy with getting Pulse all saddled up for the Cocoonian folks, it's hard to find time for ourselves! Now stop wasting time, we've got people to see!"

Was this a dream? How was Vanille of all people here, walking, talking, and now starting to drag her out of the shack and back towards the beach, it left Lightning speechless, and she wasn't sure how to feel about it yet. It was throwing her for a giant loop already. What…what had the gods done to her this time?

OF COURSE

1/2 staff approval!

Off course.

2/2.