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Snow once said he would have done anything for her. And he would have. He was. Serah needed someone, needed him, and he was the only one that could provide that security; fold his arms around her when she felt hopeless about her fate, even when she tried to be stronger rather than show it.
He remembered when Serah used to stare at things that were never there, expression beyond that of her own years. He would touch her shoulder and she would return to the present, smile forced, head tilted. Snow never understood it. He hadn’t realized what the life of a l’Cie could have been like, how one would feel if they knew the extent of their existence was to carry out an order they had never wanted, or be turned into a mindless Ci’eth. A monster. Condemned to walk the earth without purpose until they could walk no longer.
Snow did what his instincts told him: protect the one you love. Vow eternal loyalty. Never leave her side, even if she turns to crystal like the legends say, if you can stand to believe that. And even then? Fight until there’s no fight left in you. Because, to him, that’s what love was. Steadfastness, and perseverance, nothing more. Serah was all he had, and he couldn’t afford to lose something that had obviously been a blessing.
That was why he went on the godforsaken mission to sweet talk a fal’Cie and ended up a servant himself, with more power coursing through his veins then he had ever hoped to handle; branded, cursed, and Serah needed him more than ever. There were too many people to save from harm, though, so many lives targeted without reason, terrified deportees, pitiless soldiers and a mother pleading him in her last breath to shelter her son. His fail-safe solution? Protect them all, or die trying.
Serah was the driving purpose behind Snow’s madness. Save Cocoon. That’s what she said, that’s what he had to do, there was only one way to go and it was forward. He failed in his promise to stand by her always, and she was taken from him, but he was going to find her and hold her in his arms again if it meant he had to tear down a thousand fal’Cie.
He hadn’t expected Hope, or his inexplicable reaction to the kid’s presence. A pale, leggy boy with piercing eyes that set off every protective alarm he had; a hidden bravery that rivaled Snow’s own and an introspective gaze that reminded him of Serah. He triggered something in Snow, something that he couldn’t fathom, a sensation that compared to what he felt after finding out about Serah’s blighted future. Something about Hope gave him... well, hope. And an unsettled stomach, but that was beside the point. Snow had another reason to end things, to save whatever he could, another living, breathing incentive that conflicted with everything his universe orbited around: Serah. Hope was that reason.
Was it possible to love two people at once? Snow wasn’t experienced in the matter, but evidently, he was blessed in more ways then one. He had never been good at making crucial life decisions, or even accepting fate as it was tossed callously in his direction, but Serah was still counting on him, and Hope, the only light directing the paths ahead, was his responsibility.
Snow had a duty to them both, a duty to Cocoon, and a duty to his own heart.