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Globreim

21:45

Her footsteps echoed loudly in her ears as Simonne hurriedly through the alley, glancing over her shoulder every few seconds. Then, a hand clamped over her mouth, cutting off her scream as she felt herself dragged backwards...

It's very peaceful here, Lightning thought, from where she was leaning on the wall, watching the sunset over the river. So, why do I feel so restless...?

It's been nearly two months since the destruction of Nova Chrysalia and our rebirth in the New World. It was supposed to have been a new beginning for all of us, a chance for a new start.

And it has been, for the others. Sarah and Snow are getting married, Sazh is making up for lost time with Dajh, Hope's been busy setting up his new Academy, Noel's looking out for Yeul and I haven't heard from Fang and Vanille. I thought I'd changed, but I'm still a soldier. Only, there's no war...huh?!

Lightning's head snapped up as she heard the scream and she looked round to see three men dragging a struggling woman towards a van.

'Hey!' Lightning yelled, breaking in a run.

'Get her in,' one of the men barked, sprinting towards the cab of the van and pulling open the door, the engine spluttering to life. Lightning put on another burst of speed, but she only managed to reach the alley mouth before the woman was bundled into the back and the doors slammed shut, the van roaring away with a screech of tires.

Dammit... Lightning thought as the van disappeared from sight, reaching for her phone when she saw something lying on the ground. Reaching down to pick it up, she saw that it was a memory stick. Slipping it into her pocket, she took out her phone and keyed in her speed-dial, pressing it to her ear.

'Yes?'

'Hope, it's me. I'm sorry to call so late, but I need a favour...'

'Is everything okay, Light?'

'...yeah. I'll fill you in when I get there...'

'...okay, Light. I'll see you in a few...

Lightning stopped in front of the building and glanced over her shoulder, before punching in the keycode on the pad next to the door. From outside, it looked just like an ordinary apartment and she knew that Hope had gone to great lengths to ensure that it appeared that way. With a hiss, the door slid open and she stepped inside, heading up the stairs towards the upper balcony where Hope was seated at his terminal.

'Hey, Light,' he said. 'Everything okay?'

'I'm not sure.' Lightning said, dropping into the couch next to his desk, quickly recounting what had happened. 'I couldn't get the van's license plate, but I found this at the scene...'

She pulled the memory stick out of her pocket and handed it to Hope, who took it and inserted it into his terminal.

'Hmmm...that's odd. This is encoded...'

'Can you decode it?'

'Probably. But, it's take some time...'

'Alright. Do you still have access to the city's CCTV?'

'Uh-huh,' Hope said and Lightning grabbed a tablet from the desk, bringing up the screen.

Let's see what we can find out...

A hand roughly shoved her and Simonne fell forward, hitting the cold metal floor hard enough to knock the wind out of her and the door slammed shut, pitching the room into darkness...

Thank you for reading. Any comments, reviews or constructive criticisms very welcome. Chapter two coming soon.