Serah's Bestfriend

Serah sat on the front porch of the NORA Café, reading a book she had gotten from Lebreau a few days earlier.  While her attention was on her book, she slowly used her legs to rock back and forth in her rocking chair.  On her lap was her cat, Snow, who was purring while Serah occasionally pet the back of her ears.

Serah set the book down on the little table that was next to her, and looked out into the sunset, the red and orange colors of the horizon making her feel relaxed.

She took a slow, deep breath and exhaled slowly, moving her ponytail of pink hair over her shoulder, "So majestic, isn't it Snow?"

The cat purred on, looking up at her owner and giving a small meow in a possible response.  Serah adjusted herself in the chair trying to sit up straighter.  Her eyes went from the horizon to the little ball of fur in her lap.  Snow was her cat, a white cat with patches of brown fur on her coat.  She had been a gift from her friends in New Bodhum, not too long after the Fall of Cocoon.  Her sister Lightning had disappeared and Snow, her soon-to-be-husband had gone off to find her, and even with her teaching the kids of the town and the usual interactions with her friends at NORA, Serah had been really lonely.

Many days of loneliness and depression led to Maqui, the technical wizard of NORA, to find her a new pet to help take her mind off everything.  He had found her a cat she and everyone else called Snow, though around town the name of the cat had a wide range of nicknames that were too many to remember.

Despite her lingering despair, Serah had managed to think about taking care of her new pet instead of worrying about her fiancé and older sister.

"Still…I wish they were here," Serah said softly, petting Snow again behind her ears.  She felt her tail graze the skin of her upper legs, which sort of tickled on occasion.  Serah smiled when Snow looked up at her, "But I still have you and the others to look out for me, right?"

The cat tilt her head and gave a light meow.

Serah's eyes went back to the setting sun, and noticed the wooden dock on the beach.  She remembered the day her fiancé left to find Lightning.  It had been a day similar to today, a red-orange setting sun, and Serah had been standing on the dock where Snow came to her.  He had said that he believed her about Lightning, who everyone believed had died in the final moments of Cocoon's fall.  He never told her how he believed her, he just said that he was going off to search for Lightning, leaving his engagement necklace with her, promising to return for it with Lightning by his side.  Then they would get married with Lightning's blessing.

That had been nearly three years ago today, and he had not yet returned.  Still Serah believed he would return with Lightning.  She was confident that she would be reunited with them; all she had to do was wait.
  
And she had been waiting for a long time, and her cat had been by her side for the majority of it.  She had been there to wake Serah up in the morning, cuddled with her whenever she was sitting down in the Café, and then slept at the end of her bed every night.  She followed her almost everywhere in town most of time out of sight, so Serah knew she was always near.  The cat was also the one that Serah would talk to whenever she was bored or alone.  It was almost like a best friend relationship instead of an owner-pet one.

As the little bundle of fur lay in her lap, Serah continued to pet her, content with waiting for the rest of her family to return.  Little Snow would be with her all the way.

And if little Snow was with her, she could wait for eternity for her hero and sister to return.