Disclaimer: I don't own Square Enix, Final Fantasy or any of its characters. This has been a public service announcement.

A/N: For those that want to read Prelude to Crystarium Reign, check it out on my profile page if you like.

Crystarium Reign

I) Marked, Part 1

- Fort Triumph, 3:05 PM

On a beautiful, sunny day in Cocoon, soldiers of PSICOM are assembling their weaponry for their third sweep of the day. They're looking to retrieve and deport Pulse residents from their world. Unbeknownst to these soldiers, they are being watched by four associates of the resistance group, Team NORA. They are on top of a grassy cliff near a tall, green forest which overlooks the entire base. Standing out of the way and acting as lookouts are Hope Estheim and Oerba Dia Vanille. Holding a small video camera, monitoring the soldiers' activities is Sazh Katzroy. Last, but certainly not least, is a woman viewing the base with her binoculars. She is known only as Lightning.

Lightning touches her earpiece to radio back to Team NORA headquarters. "Are you guys still getting this?"

Someone from base replies, "10-4. Sazh's feed is coming in loud and clear."

"Roger that. We'll be done in a few minutes. Over and out." She ends communication. She tells Sazh, "I hope this footage proves to be helpful."

Sazh tells her, "It's good to know how much firepower they're carrying. Things have changed since we left PSICOM."

Meanwhile, Hope tells Vanille, "I can't believe we've been here for over 2 hours."

Vanille replies, "I know! I didn't even eat breakfast. Snow made me go through target practice drills all morning. Being out here is so boring."

Hope adds, "When can we get out of here?"

Lightning turns to the two youngsters and yells out, "Would you two shut the hell up? You're supposed to be our lookouts."

Vanille and Hope playfully look around, seeing the same bunch of nothing they've seen for the past few hours.

They both look at Lightning as Vanille says to her, "All clear."

Lightning replies, "Don't get smart. If you want a little excitement, I can throw you both off this cliff and see if you can stop yourselves from tumbling downhill. Are either of you interested?"

Vanille and Hope look at each other and then look back at Lightning. Hope tells her, "Our lips are sealed. Sorry, Miss Lightning."

Lightning smirks as she turns her attention back to the base. Sazh laughs at the whole ordeal.

Sazh tells his comrade, "Come on, Lightning. This isn't exactly hanging out at the mall or playing Nintendo Wii. These kids are new to this type of operation."

Lightning simply says, "Whatever." She takes her eyes out of the binoculars as she begins surveying the entire base. She narrates.

I can't believe that used to be me down there. As a soldier in PSICOM, I strived to serve the Holy Government with supreme loyalty and devotion. I eventually made the rank of Sergeant. The military became my entire life. It allowed me to distance myself from some painful moments in my past. I never thought my viewpoint of PSICOM would change. That's when the incidents began occurring. What really got me was their mistreatment of soldiers, including to Sazh. What happened to his son…well, I'd rather not go there right now. After all that, I tried to formally resign, but they wouldn't have any of it. So, I had to do things the hard way…which I certainly didn't mind doing. With Sazh's help, we went AWOL. Now we work together in order to take down the government we once held great esteem for.

As for the two twerps behind me, our paths crossed on one fateful day. It's the day that changed all of our lives forever. Sazh and I were out to rescue a group of Pulse captives in one of Cocoon's underground silos. We made our way through…

FLASHBACK

- The Hanging Edge, 4:35 PM, 2 months prior

Lightning and Sazh are on a moving train trading gunfire with dozens of PSICOM soldiers. While taking cover behind a barrel, Lightning says to Sazh, "We don't have time to this."

Sazh replies, "Well, why don't you help speed things up? I'll draw their fire." Sazh jumps out and runs to his right while firing his two pistols. This diverts the soldiers' attention from Lightning. She emerges from behind the barrel and activates her Gravity Bomb by snapping her fingers. Its power allows her to use vicious, gravity-defying attacks to easily subdue all the soldiers.

Sazh comments, "That's my girl." Lightning smirks as they both head for the control room. Sazh punches out the remaining guard. He and Lightning look over the controls to see how to stop the train. That's when they hear enemy airships approaching them.

Lightning tells Sazh, "You keep searching for the brake. I'll get them off our backs." She looks around for any kind of weapon when she stumbles upon a rocket launcher. She sticks half of her body out of the window with the launcher. She aims at one of the two ships, shoots and blows it to pieces. The other airship starts shooting bullets from its Gatling guns. Lightning throws herself back inside. She runs to the opposite window and climbs through it to get to the top of the train. With the rocket launcher still in hand, she surprises the pilot in the airship and gets off a clean shot on its right wing. The airship plummets to the bottom before exploding.

Lightning re-enters through the window where Sazh is, much to his surprise. "Light, were you just on the top of the train?"

"Yeah", she nonchalantly replies.

Sazh replies, "I don't even wanna know. Wait, I think I found the brake. Hey look, it's stopping." The speeding train begins slowing down, rumbling before coming to a complete stop. Sazh & Lightning walk a few cars down until they reach a cargo door. Lightning opens it when Sazh asks, "So, how do we get off the train?"

Lightning replies, "We go down there."

"I know that, but how are we…" Before he could finish, Lightning jumps out of the train and starts freefalling head first.

Sazh can't believe it. "Lightning? Lightning!" Lightning snaps her fingers to activate the Gravity Bomb again and lands quietly on her feet. An alarmed Sazh comments, "That girl's gonna give me a heart attack one day. Okay, here we go." Sazh slowly and carefully descends while climbing down one of the support beams of the railings. It is a 200 foot drop, mind you.

About 20 Pulse residents are being held in a heavily guarded cave. All of them are donning ceremonial Purgee robes, one of them being Hope Estheim. He is sitting by himself in the corner, wondering what will happen to them next. Suddenly, a girl with red hair sits down next to him. "Hi! How's it goin'?"

Hope is surprised by the girl with the cheery disposition. "Umm…I've been better."

"No need to worry so much. Oh, I'm Oerba Dia Vanille, but you can just call me Vanille."

"I'm Hope…Hope Estheim." Hope extends his hand to greet her, but Vanille uses both hands to shake his hand vigorously.

Vanille tells him, "Hope; that's such a cute name. So, how did you get dragged into all this?"

Hope replies, "Some of us here accidentally saw a fal'Cie down in Bowdam. We were captured shortly thereafter."

"Ah, how terrible. I kind of got into the same situation. Only I was walking around Cocoon and guards captured me. I guess they could tell I wasn't from here because of my clothes. Oh well."

"You don't look a person that's just been captured against her will."

"That's because we're being rescued soon. Mark my words."

Hope wonders, "You seem pretty sure of yourself. How do you know?"

"Let's just say I believe in destiny. I just met a kid named Hope, didn't I?" Hope raises his eyebrow, wondering how someone could be so lively and optimistic at a time like this.

The rebel group, Team NORA, have finally arrived in the Hanged Edge via an underground tunnel. Amongst them are Snow Villiers (the leader), Gadot, Lebreau, Maqui, Yuj and Norah Estheim (Hope's mother). Snow gives a final briefing to the 19 other members. "Okay, you know the drill, everybody. We'll split into two teams of 10 and come at the guards from both sides. Let's get these people out safely."

Gadot says, "Okay, squad B, let's go…and tread carefully." He, Lebreau and Yuj lead their group to the other side of the cave without being noticed.

After Snow watches the group reach safely, he feels someone tug his coat from behind. He turns to see it was Maqui, who idolizes him.

Maqui asks, "Hey Snow, do you need anything else?"

Snow replies, "No, I'm good, buddy. Just make sure you stay on the backline when the shells start flying." Maqui smiles and nods his head in approval. Snow looks over and sees Norah staring at the floor, looking extremely focused. He walks up to her and asks, "How are you holding up, Norah?"

"I apologize in advance if my judgment gets clouded on this mission. I'm just focused on getting my son back. He better be okay. If they hurt him in any way…"

"He'll be fine", Snow assures her. "I just need you to be here mentally for the overall mission. We all have to give 100 percent to rescue all the captives, not just Hope."

Norah tells him, "Yeah, you got it." She then thinks to herself, "I'm coming for you, Hope; don't you worry."

Lightning is waiting for Sazh to make his slow descent down the support beam. With her arms crossed, she contemplates on her task at hand. She lets out a sigh and says to herself, "Serah." Suddenly, Sazh slips off the support beam, screaming as he begins to freefall. Lightning nonchalantly snaps her fingers as an electromagnetic field forms on the ground. He lands on it, which actually cushions his fall.

Sazh is relieved. "Thanks, Light. I almost died like three times today."

Lightning responds bluntly. "Almost doesn't count, so stop complaining. Now come on, let's get these people. We don't have…" She's interrupted by a big explosion not too far from them.

Sazh says, "That's coming from where the Purgees are."

"That better not be who I think it is", Lightning proclaims in a low breath.

She runs toward the commotion as Sazh asks, "Who?" He follows after her.

Team NORA and the PSICOM soldiers guarding the cave are engaged in a fierce gun battle. After several minutes, Team NORA takes out all the soldiers. They run into the cave to find the captive.

"Relax everyone. We're here to rescue you", Snow declares.

Norah screams for her son. "Hope! Hope!"

"Mom!" Hope sees his mother and runs toward her to give her a big hug.

Norah asks him, "Are you okay?" She caresses his face with her hands.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good. Now take this silly robe off."

Gadot yells out, "Everyone, take your robes off! We're getting you out of here!" All the Purgees follow instructions as they slip out of the ceremonial robes.

Now with his robe off, Hope wonders, "Wait, where's Vanille? Vanille!"

"Over here, Hope!"

He turns to her and is amazed by her attractive appearance…to say the least. "Holy smokes."

Vanille runs to Hope and tells him, "I told you we'd be rescued. Let's go!" Team NORA escorts all the Purgees to the entranceway. Before they can make it, they hear brief gunfire coming from outside. Once it stops, Lightning and Sazh run into the cave. Gadot, Lebreau & Yuge pull guns on them.

Snow bellows, "Stop, don't shoot. Lightning!"

Lightning replies, "What the hell are you doing here, Snow?"

Sazh asks her, "You know him?"

"Unfortunately", utters Lightning.

Hope, Norah and Vanille are in the back. They can see Lightning and Sazh, but can't really hear the conversation.

Vanille comments, "Who is that? I like her hair."

Snow tells Lightning, "Come on, don't be like that. Team NORA is here now; heroes to the rescue."

Lightning shakes her head. "You're such a dope. Do you know how many soldiers are out there right now?"

Lebreau tells her, "That's why we brought gifts." Maqui opens the bag, which is filled with guns.

Gadot takes one of them out of the bag and instructs, "Anyone who is willing to fight can take one. Let's show PSICOM that we will not give in! Who's with us?" One by one, the captives that are willing to fight come up and each take a weapon. With everyone armed except for Hope and Vanille, Snow takes the last weapon (a machine gun) and walks up to Hope with it. He offers it to the boy, but he fearfully shutters away and hides behind his mother.

Norah can't believe Snow. "Are you crazy? You're not giving my son a gun."

Snow smiles and comments, "I thought I'd start him out young." Norah is not so happy with the comment.

"Gimme!" A bewildered Norah, Hope and Snow turn to Vanille, who actually requests for the gun.

Norah asks, "Are you serious?"

Vanille says, "You asked for help. I wanna help." With a smile, she extends her hands out to receive the machine gun.

Snow hesitates, but eventually gives it to her. He tells her, "Stay behind us and make sure the kids are protected. I hope you know how to use that."

Vanille points it at him and pretends to shoot. She lets out a "bang!" She smiles, causing Snow to smile too.

Lightning begins to shout out instructions. "Okay everyone! We have to make it past those guards out there in order to get out of here. We need to be firing at their front line of defense together. Take cover at all times until I say move."

Lebreau wonders, "Why are you giving us orders?"

Gadot agrees. "Yeah, we're the heroes here, not you."

With a straight face, Lightning tells both of them, "Because I want us to make it out of here alive."

Sazh adds in, "This is her thing; you should just let her drive this one."

Snow walks up and says to his comrades, "Listen to her, guys. She's the best at this stuff." Lightning looks away, rejecting his kind words. He turns to the group and screams out, "Are you all ready?" The group shouts back in agreement. "Then let's go out there and show them what heroes are made of!"

Everyone rushes out and starts firing at the awaiting PSICOM soldiers. As instructed by Lightning, Team NORA and the Purgees concentrate their fire on PSICOM's frontline. The battle begins favoring Team NORA. That's when PSICOM fires a laser cannon from their backline. The laser doesn't hit any of them, but hits the rock wall to the side of them. This causes rubble to start falling down around them. Most of them manage to get out of the way.

Huge pieces of rubble are about to land on Snow, but Norah pushes him out of the way…

END OF FLASHBACK

"Lightning? Hey, Lighty! Are you in there?" Sazh breaks Lightning out of her daydream.

Lightning gets her mind back on track. "Sorry. What were you saying, Sazh?"

"I said we're done here. I think we got enough footage."

Lightning stands up and puts her stuff away. "Then I guess we're finished here. Now the kiddies can stop complaining."

Hope requests, "Could you make us some of your famous grilled cheese sandwiches, Miss Lightning?"

Lightning thinks about it, then replies, "Sure."

Vanille pumps her fist, loving the idea. "Yes! Now that's thinking with your stomach, Hope. This is gonna be so awesome. I can't wait to sink my teeth into a crisp, moist….AHH!" Suddenly, Vanille steps on a hidden panel, tripping the security alarm for Fort Triumph. A steel wire latches onto her right ankle and pulls her 100 feet into the air.

She dangles in the air by the wire on her ankle from a tree branch. "Help! Somebody get me down!"

An automated voice goes on the loudspeaker for all to hear. "Our perimeter has been breached. I repeat, our perimeter has been breached. Soldiers, move in. Apprehend all intruders." With the soldiers dispatched and headed for them in no time, Lightning, Sazh & Hope are frozen wondering how to get Vanille down and get themselves away from there.

The soldiers are mobilizing to their location. What will they do?

To be continued…

I

One more thing (A/N): First off, I can't believe this is finally out! To avoid the confusion, I call Hope's mother Norah and kept it as Team NORA. The flashback and the group's predicament will continue in the next chapter. There may be three parts to 'Marked', but I'll see how it goes. Thank you to all who read and/or reviewed the prelude. I appreciate it greatly.

What was your favorite part/quote from this chapter?