A.N. "This is normal speak" *This is thought*

First P.O.V.

I opened the doors to the giant building, showing off the lack of people inside. "Hello? Is anybody in here?" I yelled out through the cover I wore over my face. The only sounds I heard in the entire place were the minute clinks coming from my armor plates coming into contact with each other. I ran into the other room, trying to minimize the time I spent in this giant temple. After looking through three rooms, I finally found what I was looking for. I walked up to the giant, crystal rose bloom, looking into the large angular shape. I looked for about a half second, for then I saw the woman inside. "Lightning, in her bottle." I said to myself. I stepped back from the giant rose bloom, and summoned my Gunblade, which had similar features to an older, "Revolver" model, but with improvements, like a barrel hidden within the blade itself. I aimed the giant blade, flipping the safety off, and fired a round at the top of the rose petals. I had already made sure that the bullet was made with a special Magic inside of it, so when the bullet connected, it did as I commanded.

The petal immediately started shifting down, along with the other ones. In a minute, the entire rose bulb and petals had all receded, leaving only the woman inside. I walked over to her, sending my Gunblade away, and lightly touched her shoulder, which caused her to stir. She lifted her head, and looked at me with her blue eyes. "Good. You don't appear harmed." I said, lifting her arms up, enabling her to try to use her legs. She stumbled only once, her naked body colliding into my armor plating, mainly on my chest. "Okay, I'm going to have to let you get used to walking again." I told her, wrapping a blanket that I had found earlier for that reason. "W-who are you?" She asked, her pink hair falling into her face. "My name is Darkanimir. I'm here to help you." I told her.

I let her go around after she was able to walk again, and I told her to get some clothes, then I waited out on a balcony nearby. I watched the view of Valhalla, taking in all of the sights, when I heard a voice behind me say, "Okay. Now, for starters, how did you manage to get me out of the crystal?" I turned around to see Lightning, in ripped jeans, a leather vest, specifically designed for woman's wear, and some strange belt, with a strapped on holster, which held what I believe was a shotgun. "Magic bullet. Enabled me to open your prison." I told her, leaning back on the handrail. She nodded, then pulled out her mysterious device, showing it to be the converted version of an old soldier's Gunblade, in gun mode, and pointed it at me. "Now that's a mouthful." I said to her, holding my hands up. "Shut up. Why did you break me out of there?" She ordered. "What, you liked being in that prison?" I asked her. "In my last few years, I've been screwed over too many times than I can count. Now tell me why the fuck you broke me out of that goddamn rose!" She ordered, pushing the barrel of the gun closer towards my nose. "Alright, I'll tell you." I said, pushing the Gunblade away, "But first, could you please remove this from the vicinity of my face?" She lowered her Gunblade, but kept it out, and at her side.

"Alright. I'm here because the universe needs you. Do you know a man by the name of 'Caius', by any chance?" I asked her. Her eyes widened, then nodded. "Well, he's been on a path to slay the Gods. I was asked by the last one to stop him, at any cost. I had heard that you had put up a good fight against him, and I thought that you could help me out. That is why I freed you. I need your help to end this." I told her. She looked down on the ground, in thought, so I said, "If you don't want to come, that's fine. Just tell me before I head out tomorrow, because I'm not coming back any time soon." I walked away from the balcony after this, into the main atrium. I opened my pack to assemble my large tent when I heard boots running towards me. I stopped putting the poles together, and turned my body, to see Lightning, with her arms crossed. "Alright, I'm in." She said. "Good. Now, there's a spare tent in the bag, but if you want to be able to get up early, then there's enough room in my tent. At first light tomorrow, we head to Rabanastre." I told her. "Why are we going to Rabanastre?" Lightning asked, getting out two cots. "The best pilots are in Rabanastre. Trust me, If I'm right, then we'll need a set of good pilots." I said, finishing erecting the tent.

We made the journey to Rabanastre in a speedier time than I had originally thought, mainly by the added benefit of Lightning's Gestalt Form of her Eidolon, Odin. After the half of a day on it, we finally reached the large city's gate. We got off, and I instructed her to follow me. After a little walking, we had managed to see an old item shop that somehow was still in business. When I walked in, it was amazingly clean, and the shelves were neatly organized. I walked up to the counter, where an old walking lizard came up to me, and said, "What can old Migelo do for you today, son?" "Well sir, I'll take a couple of potions, and if you know of where I can find a daring pilot, then that would be helpful." I told him. He nodded, reaching under the table, and said, "That'll be 160 gil, please." I pulled the required gil from within my armor plating, and placed it into his hands. He handed me the bottles of potion, which I placed into my bag immediately, when he said to me, "If you're looking for pilots, I recommend two of them, currently in the tavern down the street. Look for someone with the ears of a rabbit, you can't miss her. The other one is right beside her." Migelo told us. Lightning and I nodded, then left the shop.

"Why did you buy those potions from that old man? We have plenty." Lightning asked me on the walk to the tavern. "Common courtesy. I didn't want to make it look like we didn't have any manners." I explained. She nodded, in understanding, when we made it to the tavern. I opened the door, then said to Lightning, "Ladies first." She walked in, and I walked in immediately after. She and I were scanning the crowd in the tavern when Lightning nudged my arm. "Look." She said, pointing to two people, one of which with large bunny ears, who were on the section of the tavern that was raised. I looked and nodded at Lightning, who nodded at me as well, and we walked up to the two people.

"What do you want?" The guy next to the bunny girl, who I now see was a Viera, asked me, rather arrogantly. "We need a couple of daring pilots to help us out. We heard you two were good." I told them. "We're far better than good. We're the best. Right, Fran?" He said to the Viera, who calmly said, "Right." "Well, we need a pilot who is willing to take us around the world, helping us on our quest by giving us transport. Are you up for the challenge?" I said, producing a large bag of gil and tossing it directly onto the table. The man picked it up, and when he looked inside, his eyes widened. "All of that gil, and more, and in turn you take us wherever we need to go, whenever we need to go. So, are you in?" I asked him. He looked at the Viera, who stared at him, so he looked at me, and said, "Balthier and Fran, at your service. Just let us know when you are going to fly."

We all went to the port where airships docked, when I told them that we had to head to Edge, where we'd be finding another member of our party. "If we're going that far, then we'll need to refuel in Besaid. What kind of quest are you two going on, anyway?" Balthier asked us. "We're trying to save the Gods by defeating Caius." Lightning said. "That's a suicide mission. You'd never be able to get near him." Fran said to us, looking towards us from the pilot's seat. "I'll pay you double. Once we kill Caius, then you get your gil." I told them. "Relax," Said Balthier, "We weren't trying to dissuade you, just voicing our opinions. By the way, why do you wear that?" He pointed to the piece of cloth I kept up to over a bit of my nose, so I covered it up, and said, "A scar from an old burn. I don't like talking about it." It was a bad lie, but it had managed to convince Balthier and Fran. When I looked over to Lightning, she looked at me with doubt in her eyes.

"Hey Balthier, do we have rooms here? Or do we sleep in the cockpit?" I asked him. "You each get your own rooms. I'll show you the way." He said, getting out of his seat. Lightning and I followed him out of the room, leaving Fran to her lonesome. We walked about halfway through the ship when he stopped and turned, facing us. "These next two rooms are unused. You can decide upon who gets which in a second. Firstly, would you mind if I asked for your names?" He asked us. "I'm Darkanimir." I told him. "I'm Lightning." She told him. He laughed, then said, "Light and Dark, traveling together. That is a strange combination." He walked back to the cockpit, and as soon as he was out of earshot, I looked at Lightning, and asked her, "Did he just seriously call me, 'Dark'?" "I like it. Besides, he knew what name I also go by." Lightning told me. I rolled my eyes, then started to go into the room that was closest, when Lightning asked me, "So, Dark, why do you really wear that thing over your face?" I paused for a moment, and I said, "It's to protect my identity. When the time is right, I'll show you my face."

I closed the door immediately when I entered the small room. I turned to see a hammock in the room, as a bed. I walked over and sat in the roped netting, and started to take off my armor.

Lightning's P.O.V.

I walked back over to Dark's room after seeing the sleeping quarters. I opened the door, and started off, "Hey, what's with the-" When I heard him yell, "Get OUT!" I looked at him and saw that he was clutching the chestplate on his front and his facemask, and his lower plates of armor and his armguards were off. "Sorry!" I said, closing the door. I heard an almost immediate click of the lock inside, so I went back to my room as fast as my name. I laid down on the hammock in my room, holding my Gunblade in my arms, when I started to think, *Okay, I need to assess my situation. One, I've been freed from that stupid prison by Dark. Two, He has a lot more mysteries than he lets out. Why won't he let anyone see his face, or his chest, apparently.* I paused my thinking, then resumed, *Come to think of it, his Gunblade has bandages on it, and the chain that you normally see on the end of the handle was within his hand. Normally, Gunblades have a symbol on them, signifying an aspect of your self, so why is he covering that up? I need to keep a close eye on him.*