~Snow's POV~

"Serah..!"

"No! Just... Give me some time to think, okay!?" My rose haired fiancée rushes toward the door snatching the car keys as she goes. Just listen, Ser!

"Serah, really, you don't need to.."

"I said no, Snow!"

She snaps at me, icy blue eyes colder than their color. That makes me back off. Serah never snaps. I shake my head and start after her again, but she's already in the car and driving away, tear streaked face bringing back my momentary self loathing. Gosh dang it! Need to calm down. Deep breaths, Snow. Sit down and... Gotta punch something! Letting out what sounds more like an angry roar than a frustrated groan, my uncontrolled fist slams into the dry wall of our shared house, a warped circular hole showing clearly.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" I chant at myself, sliding down to the floor with my back to the ruined wall. "It was just a small lie!" Yeah, I lie that might cost you your relationship with Serah.

"Shut up," I snarl to nothing in particular. Gosh dang it, you idiot! Why me?

~|~|~|~|~

It's midnight. Where is she? Maybe she crashed with Lightning for tonight. Possibly even Hope, those two have become good friends. The people here that were forced to move onto Gran Pulse have made a good civilization, some people getting together to build buildings in areas where wildlife is already scarce, and others manufacturing transportation and such. One of these days I'm going to go get a job, I swore it to Serah. I owe it to her anyway. The gil won't last forever, you know.

Now I'm really worried. Couldn't hurt to call my future sister in law, eh? Smirking slightly at old memories of me wanting to crack up at Lightning's false hate toward me, I dial her number and hold the phone to my ear. Please pick up. Pick up. Cmon Light...

"Snow?" Well that's... Different. I swear there's less... Mask in Lightning's voice. It's like she's letting her guard down, or just being vulnerable for once.

"No, this is definitely Vanille," I reply with a grin.

"Listen... I, uh..." I can hear her swearing to herself under breath, making my smile falter. Something's wrong. My Serah senses are tingling.

"Light?"

"It's Serah."

"Thought as much."

"Snow... She's dead." Now my smile's gone. This has to be some sick, sick joke.

"Yeah, nice one Light. Now where'd she drive to, I've been waiting for hours."

"Snow," I hear a sniff over the line. "I'm not kidding you. I'm in a hospital room next to her deceased body right now." My heart stops. She's not kidding. It's like the ground is tilting underneath me. The world rocking to destroy my sense. "Snow?"

I don't answer, only hang up and start running with blind rage. Sprinting to go anywhere away from things that remind me of her. Even the stinking Gorgonopsids know not to bother me, running away and yelping like the pathetic dogs that they are. Pff, more like mutated cats gone wrong. I don't know where I'm going, and I might regret this later, but I can't stop. I need to get away. I need to run. I need to hide. You need to breathe. True that. I stop, panting and looking up at the world in front of me. Directly ahead and nearby is the crystal pillar that contains both Fang and Vanille, two great friends of ours that gave up their lives to become Ragnarock. Yeah, because I need to be thinking about more losses I couldn't stop right now.

I sit down at the base of a tree, finally ready to face reality: if she's gone, she's gone. There's no going back once you're dead. I won't ever be able to apologize for starting that silly fight that got her to drive away in a rage. Maybe then she would be alive. This is all my fault. Bringing my knees to my chest, I bury my face in my hands. This can't be real it's all a dream. This isn't right. That didn't just happen...

~|~|~|~|~

"Snow." Go away. "Snow!" Oh, let me wallow in my pitiful self pity for once.

"Hey! Trenchcoat!" Only one person calls me that. I blink away the fogginess in my eyes, spotting the dark skinned pilot nearby first. He raises his eyebrows and forces one of his uplifting smiles. "There he is!"

"Light told us to come get you," the other voice says. I turn my head to see Hope, silver haired glory and all. And dang, I never noticed how short the kid was. Then again, I'm six foot seven, so everyone is short. The sadness in his greenish eyes brings me back to reality. Serah.

My light expression falls and I turn back to the crystalized form of Cocoon. I can feel his small gloved hand on my shoulder, but I ignore the comforting gesture and clench my jaw. No. Snow does not cry. Snow is a hero! What kind of hero fails his friends as badly as I have? No reply from the handy head voice ensues. But Snow does need to be strong for Hope, so Snow... Wait, why am I narrating myself? Ahem. I stand and give the boy a small, halfhearted smile and pat on the back before turning and heading toward the helicopter Sazh most likely flew over here to get me in. Then I see a shape move in the chopper, the dimness of dawn making it hard to tell who it is.

"Dajh!" I laugh when the tiny boy hugs onto my leg.

"Hey Snow! Daddy look! It's Snow-boy!"

"I see Dajh," Sazh smiles.

"Hurry it up already," a voice snaps at us. I whirl to see a rose haired woman glaring at us all. The similarities between Lightning and Serah make me want to break down and sob to death, but I don't. I force all sadness back and give Light a forced smile.

"Why? Don't you want to..."

"My sister, you fiancée! Just died, and you're going about that with smiles? Am I missing something?!"

"No, Light..."

"Just get in the helicopter," she snarls before hopping in herself. Sazh gives me a weak shake of the head and Hope sighs. Great. We're back to Ms. Stoic.

All of a sudden, the ground begins to tremble. Gently at first, and then harder and harder. Hope yells out and clings to a nearby tree only for it to topple over moments later. Sazh jumps out of the way (poor guy) and grabs his young son. The ground splits in half, and I can literally see down until there's nowhere light can reach. Lighting, on the other side from all of us, makes a mad dash over and leaps just short of the other side. She knew very well that I would grab her forearm and swing her up. The crack splits all the way to the crystal pillar, making my heart leap. No, please don't let them fall in.

The crystal shatters, two figures rising up into the air. Us guys awkwardly look around as clothing very slowly begins to recover the two women in the air. Hope's eyes meet mine for an awkward second before Lightning clears her throat, signifying that it's alright to look without being considered a pervert. The two Oerbaens smile at us, Vanille in a friendly way and Fang as cocky as ever.

"We're awake!" Vanille cheers.

"That we are, missy," Fang grins back at her younger friend. Then she seems to notice the intensifying shaking and sound. "What's going on!?"

"Don't know!" I yell back over the rumbles. That's when everything seems to go wrong. The cliffs explode, rocks rolling toward us at alarming speeds. But that's not the scary part. The scary part is that the ground beneath us just exploded.