Disclaimer: I do not own FF13 Square Enix does.

-Chapter II-

Against The Clock

Normal POV

Hope wavering or the borderline of consciousness, was slowly recovering from his flying dive roll. Eyes squeezed shut as he raised his hand to his dust covered head to his discomfort had whacked. Releasing dry coughs followed by a quite moan escaping his chapped lips, cracked his eyes slightly to slits 'At least its quieted down a little, that's good', widening his eyes to get a better view of where he was led the dust stinging his eyes. 'I wonder where that guy went with the gun' realization struck him "Light!" turning and getting on to one knee in one movement before another wave of vertigo washed over him.

Raising his head, color drained from his face when his eyes landed on his target. "Light" he whimpered. She lay there unmoving at arms length. 'The gunshot, it got Light… she saved me' crawling the distance between them to her empty side "Light? Can you here me?" Raising his hand to feel for a pulse, but couldn't tell from his trembling fingers. 'Her skins so cold', he didn't relies that a set of olive eyes were constantly upon him, watching his every move.

"We need to move her if we have an chance of saving her, were currently in the center of a danger zone"

Jumping for the sudden voice. Only now did Hope notice he wasn't alone, his eyes shot to the origin of the voice strangely enough the voice came from above Lightning. The stranger was knelt over her right side dressing a wound to her temple. Moving on to other areas of injury, he had already packed the wound to stop the mass of blood free flowing from her body. Hope continued to stare stuck in a state of shock, at the wound.

The man glanced at the young boy noticing that he was trembling, "hey kid you ok?" his voice full of concern, at this Hope snapped out of his trance, biting back tears "she's gunna be ok…right?" his voice breaking on the second word. "If we move now there's a good chance, as long as we don't run into any trouble" wiping his sweat-covered face on his shoulder 'I hope so'. Watching as the man took off the folded bandana he was wearing and wrapped it around her left bicep creating a tourniquet to reduce the bleeding coming from a gash located on her forearm. Nodding in agreement, Hope took in what the man was wearing. Even though the ash filled sky had turned everything it touched, a shade of grey. Couldn't get a good look at his face he noticed he wore a sort of uniform bits seemed familiar like the shoulder plate he wore, it was similar to Lights. It also illuminated two yellow stripes. 'He must be a soldier as well, not PSICOM so he must be Guardian Corps'

"You ok to move?" the mysterious man spoke.

The voice snapping him from his thoughts. "Uh yeah do you need help?" shakily standing, once stance began to sway. Stumbling backwards, but catching himself before he fell. Doubling over to catch get his bearings.

"Ok?" the soldier watching Hope with a cautious eye.

"Yeah should be ok now" releasing a shaky breath

The soldier took Lights right arm around his neck, placing his arms under her back and under her legs. He rose onto one knee with a light grunt he was on his feet with the unconscious pinkette in his arms bridal style. Her head resting in the crook of his neck.

Towering above Hope 'this guy must be about 5'10'

"Ready? Cause w…" the soldier said, as an explosion sounded from a nearby building couple with gunfire making them turn in attention, pulling the unconscious woman closer.

"We need to get out of here" Hope said in a rushed tone.

"Sounds like a good plan to me" with a slight smirk on his face at the kid finished his sentence. "The hospital's a couple miles east of here, could you manage that" looking down at the teenager "don't worry bout me worry bout Light" his gaze turning to her worn body. "She's safe with me you can count on it" with a smirk, "lets go then, stay close".

Walking at a quickened pace, senses on high alert for approaching hostiles.

We were making good time we'd now crossed the remaining residential area of Paddra, since the fall of Cocoon the reconstructing of the pre-existing towns and cities started almost immediately. Cocoon was still habitable but the crystal pillar had spread wrapping around its form. A third of the population had perished in the fall, the crystal covering just over half of Cocoons surface. Thankfully the loss of life wasn't a total wipeout of our race. There were no Fal'cie now meaning we had to produce our own food and power, whiched posed difficult at first but we managed to get it up and running in no time. Having lost a large percentage of soldiers overall, recruiting was important to help the running of things but of course PSICOM didn't want to submit they wanted control, the figureheads may have been long gone but that didn't mean others wouldn't fill their shoes. They weren't publicized so they weren't targeted, which was a smart move.

You could tell the crossover from the new to the old. Now was the ruin of the pre-existing Paddra, which is less developed. The cities of Gran Pulse were gradually being rebuilt to there former glory, o else the architecture would be lost.

The majority of the current settlement in Paddra was flats, construction wasn't too slow. Paddra could hold a lot more people than Oerba. Scouts were going out regularly to look for new locations to rebuild. Another problem that would arise was feral creatures that roamed freely, they didn't think to kindly that there current homes being overrun by foreigners. Defence was more important than food in some words. There were currently around 700 thousand people residing in Paddra.

Shouts caught our attention from around the corner.

Hope POV

Nearly walking straight into him when he came to an abrupt stop. He didn't have to say anything I knew what got his attention. He looked over his shoulder at me, gesturing to a crumbling stonewall that surrounded what looked like some sort of church. Ducking down behind it the soldier settled Lightning against the wall, knelling down beside her. She looked pale, even in the dimly lit street and dirt covered. He had his back against the wall; he stole a glance at the current threat. "Ok so there about five of them, they look pretty pissed. Uhhhh ones holding a bat, another has a crowbar and one has a pitchfork. How cliché" mumbling to himself but still load enough that I could here.

"I haven't seen any in a while I think they've moved on, I'm fed up with this my family don't feel safe walking around this new place. Do they expect us to just follow their orders and be ok with it", "Those dam L'cie almost destroying Cocoon and now its left there, on a dam crystal pillar. I was quite fine with the way things were, now everything's gone to pot there's barely enough food to go round to feed everyone".

Looking down at the ground 'It was our fault that Cocoon is in its current state, but it had to be done we couldn't stay on a Fal'cie leash anymore. If not us they would have made someone else do it'.

The voices started to fade into the distance; a relieved sigh passed my chapped lips. The solider was still tense eyes watching the group's movements he wouldn't move until the threat was completely gone. Looking over his form properly this time he didn't really take in the soldier appearance before except that he wore a uniform and a Sergeants pauldron. He also wore forearm protectors, a sheath running down the right of his back, with a black handle pocking out the top from what I could see.

"Coast is clear, hospital is not to far now, and I'm surprised they were even out this far. It's like their looking for trouble" Knitting his eyebrows together in confusion. Shaking his head as he stood, he knelt besides Light checking her wounds face going through a mix of thoughts I can't really tell. Collecting her back in his arms again. Exiting our hiding spot we continued our previous route, this part of the city was creepy there was little light the breeze causing a whistling sounds. It felt too creepy.

I could feel eyes upon me. From what, I don't know and I didn't want to find out.

Weaving between buildings, until we came out in front of a larger cream structure. Soon enough we came across a couple of armed guards standing an entrance, just glancing at us giving us way into the building. Still on the solders tail I followed as he made haste down a wide corridor, through double doors and into the waiting room filled with cots with wounded lying upon them. Making a dash to the far end to a more closed off area "Lewes you here!" the solder shouted when entering. An black haired man entered, wearing a sort of wrap around blue overall.

"Geez what happened"

"She got shot"

"I can see that"

Lewes got straight to work on her the soldier right with him; I opted to standing against the wall out the way. "I tied off the bleeding to her arm, it's the gunshot wound that's the most severe the bleeding was heavy when I got to her but I applied some salve which slowed the bleeding. I wasn't able to remove the bullet in the field"

"How long ago was she shot?"

"About 15 or so minutes ago" wiping his dirt trodden sleeve across his forehead.

He slowly removed the pack from the wound " It looks deep but I should be able to get it out. Just hope it didn't hit anything major" stepping over to a tray of equipment he snatched up what looked like a cross between tweezers and a clap, in his latex gloved hands and putting on a pair of glasses that were resting on top of his head. Pulling the over head light down over her exposed midriff, left hand around the wound.

A few moments later, "Good news I have the bullet" Lewes announced holding up the bullet " bad news it looks like it done more damage that I thought".

"How much?"

"…"

"Well?"

I felt the colour drain from my face, as he said those words. Lights face was deathly pale, unmoving, 'she's dead. no she can't be dead. Oh my god its all my fault' my throat tightened I couldn't breath.

"Its nothing I can't fix" A smirk forming.

Lewes quickly rose from where he was sat and in three large strides he was at the open door "I need a team in here now! Within seconds another two similarly dressed individuals entered the room flurrying around the room.

The other two had moved any unnecessary equipment up against the wall.

"I'm going to have to ask you two to stand outside, you can't be in here while I operate there's not enough room, and its more for the sake of boy" giving the soldier a sympathetic look nodding his head towards me.

I was then ushered out the room by the soldier, who followed closely behind the door closing behind him. We both let out a unified huff.

Looking round the room at the wounded soldiers men and women. A hand firmly landed on my shoulder causing me to look up above me shoulder to look the companioning soldier in the eye. "She's in good hands kid, she's gunna make it. I trust him with my life". My eyes landing on the floor.

Trying to keep overflowing urge to break down on the spot. My body visibility trembling "i…i…ittss…mmmmyyy…"

"Stop right there, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have stopped her from pushing you out the way"

"I know but…I can't help but blame myself I did have a gun pointed at me"

"I can say a kid your age has got major guts to stand up to an armed man let alone pissed off armed man"

Walking over to some vacant seats up against the wall next to the door, sitting down shoulders slumped and continued to stare at the floor.

"Well… over half ago I would've been hiding, if it weren't for Light I would still been that person. Saved my life on many occasions. She's like the older sister I always wanted."

"You're an only child then, where's your parents?"

"My dad works for restorations council at the moment he's stationed here in Paddra, the guy who sorts out new developments of reconstruction"

"I know what you mean where's he now, an why were you out in the middle of all the chaos?"

"Sergeant" came woman's voice, which broke me from my thoughts. His head snapped up as well as my own, coming to face an exhausted looking nurse, circles under her eyes hair falling out of her neatly tied blonde hair. He then stood out of courteously "what's the problem?" in a heart-warming tone. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could take a look at a patient for me". "Of course" before he went off he turned around and bent in found of me "I'll be right back. Kay" with a wink. I responded with a nod, which got a smile in return.

He then turned back towards the nurse falling in step behind her. "Sorry to bother you but were really short staffed at the moment and I'm only a student nurse" No I understand its totally fine" He was out of earshot but I could still see him.

Time passed and soon enough my own exhaustion had got the best of me.

What seemed like seconds late, a hand on my shoulder awaked me. "The operation was a success she's going to be ok, however she did lose quite a fair amount of blood. We've just got to wait until she wakes up"

"And when will that be?"

"Sorry but I have no way of telling, we've just got to be patient"

"Can I see her?"

"Of course"

Reentering the room I spotted Light wired up to monitors tracking her pulse. I noted that they had changed her also having the majority of her body bandaged they would have had to. She was now wearing a pastel coloured hospital gown. Hair pushed back away from her face, a white sheet covering her body arms resting on top.

"Any longer in the state she was in and she wouldn't have made it, good job you turned up when you did" taking his glasses off to rub his tired eyes.

"Thank you for saving her, I don't know what I would have done if I lost her"

"You speak fondly of her, you two must be close. But I'm not the only one you should be thanking" putting his glasses back on exiting the room.

"Any longer and she wouldn't have made it"

Pulling a chair over towards the bed, sitting down onto the cold steel of the ridged seat, hunched over eying the minor cuts on my arms. Fatigue washing over me 'hope Snow and the others are ok' eyes wondering back over to Lights covered form watching the small rises and falls of her chest.

You are told or made to believe that when you die you see a white light, and were told to walk towards it and there you would reunite with deceased family members. Meaning I would get to see my parents again. My experience was a little bit different.

Right after I blacked out and thought 'I'm going to die' I woke up.

AN: Its finally up. October was when i posted the first chapter, and I've had this on my computer for months left unfinished. Trying to plan ahead which took a heck of a long and Black OPS and coursework has been eating at my free time. This chapter didn't turn out how i wanted and lacks in detail, i know.

I'm hoping that you nice people could leave my any comments or tips, but please be nice I know my writing sucks.

(been updated 17/07/11)