AN: Thank you so much for the reviews! Okay so I've taken allenleonardo advice and merged some of the chapters together to make them longer. Hopefully that will help with some of the frustration(^_^)

To answer Toaneo07 Ver2.0, yes it is a Hope/Lightning story, but there won't be much romance until later.

Chapter 4

Found

There are many days in the winter month that are beautiful. Lightning woke to one of those days, sunshine and birds chirping, but instead of embracing the loveliness, she moaned in pain. She couldn't help it. Her body felt as though it had been trampled all over by a Chocobo. A Chocobo with razor blades attached to its feet. She waited until she could open her eyes without squinting and for the pain behind her temples to fade. It took a while.

Turning her head, she could see blood stained grass surrounding her, but not much else. She sat up with a groan, her entire body aching horribly, then something caught her eye. Not even a few steps beside her there lay a dead woman.

The body was a pale, maggot infested horror, resting in the tall grass. She lay on her back, blood had spread like a cloak beneath her, dead hands clutching at her head. Even in this state of decomposition her body was good, probably from weight lifting and combat training. Her head however was another story, well what was left of it.

The skin of her ear was shredded, and only hung on by a small bit of flesh. Her face was a bloody ruin, fragments of white bone shining through muscle. There was something almost entrancing about that writhing heap of flesh. Lightning felt if she blinked the thing would rise and crawl toward her in the crisp morning air. Her salivary glands were working overtime, so she had to swallow back spit and bile repeatedly. Which made her want to throw up.

Suddenly she leaned to the side and gagged and wretched, her throat working through the dry heaves, nothing coming up but air. Sweat broke out on her forehead and all over her body. Head spinning, mouth gaping, she struggled for breath as thoughts of the dead woman circled crazily in her mind's eye.

She sat in the tall grass for a moment, trying to breathe and fight down the urge to vomit again. Logically she knew there was nothing to fear, knew the woman would never rise again, as her head was almost completely combusted and she knew that it was she who killed the woman, but somehow this did not comfort her. Lightning swallowed the fear with a click. It felt as though she were swallowing her heart.

The first thing Lightning had learned in the Guardian Corps was in order to control your emotions was to feel them and understand what had caused that particular feeling. You had to understand your emotions to completely control them. Luckily she was a natural, which meant that her emotions weren't something hard to regulate, but sometimes it sort of sneaks up on you.

She abruptly came aware that the grass was sticking and scratching her exposed arms and legs. She lifted her head and saw that nothing had changed. The nausea had passed and she breathed deep breaths through her mouth as not to inhale the stench in front of her. Hands shaking, lips tight, Lightning stood and hugged herself tightly. Closing her eyes, she forced herself into a semblance of calm and her tension eased marginally as she started walking away from the scene.

Traveling in a slow, but steady pace, she passed the grassland to a rocky outcrop beyond a pool of icy water. Moving slowly, she turned in a semi-circle, searching with her eyes and ears for any animals that might spring out at her while she drank. Her instincts told her that she was alone. Bending on one knee she scooped up handfuls of water and drank gratefully.

Lightning heard a shuffle over to her left and caught a flash of movement, as if someone had ducked out of sight behind the foliage. Snapping to attention, she turned, a cold blast of wind smacking her fully in the face, as if Mother Nature were guiding her in the opposite direction, warning her to stay away. Lightning unclipped the gunblade that hung from her waist and flipped it open. Holding the heavy weight in her right hand she edged toward the sounds, her stolen shoes crackling on the rocky ground.

She watched two men come out from a thick ringlet of vegetation, knowing that they had been spotted. Lightning didn't think twice. She shifted into firing position and aimed the closest target who was advancing quickly, but did not pull the trigger. The man slowed to a walk and raised his hands in surrender. She did not lower the gunblade, only watched him suspiciously.

He didn't seem to be part of Psicom, he was dressed like a civilian and looked about her age. He wore a black knit turtle neck that contrasted wildly with his snowy white hair and faded grey jeans tucked into black steel tipped boots. He stopped in front of Lightning and she could see caution hidden in his light blue-green eyes. There was something very familiar about him. She lowered the weapon.

"Light?" He touched her on the shoulder, she shrank back, staring at him eyes wide. "Hey, easy, it's Hope. You're safe."

"Hope…" Her usually cool and calm voice sounded rough. As Lightning shut her eyes and tried not to cry, she became dimly aware of a crunching sound, of heavy boots slowly coming closer. She lifted her head. Dajh looked just the same as when she had last seen him. He still had that boyish round face and he really hadn't grown much, maybe 5'4 at most. Absently, she noticed his hair was much longer and tied back in a low pony tail.

Lightning figured she must have passed out because she came awake as she was being carried in someone's arms. She heard unfamiliar voices floating around her, they sounded panicked. Before she could get a grip of what was going on, she lost consciousness again. When Lightning came back, it felt like she was floating.

"Can you sit up for me?" A woman asked. Lightning thought it an odd request, why would she need to sit when she was obviously flying? Still, she gave it a shot, pushing with her elbows and found that she was in fact lying on something solid. Soft hands tilted her up and then a glass was put to her lips. When she drank all she could, Lightning fell back, the strength in her arms failing her. Luckily, she collapsed on soft pillows. She was about to pass out again when she heard Hope's hushed voice. "You're going to be fine Light, the doctor said you are just exhausted. Make sure you get lots of rest, okay?" Like a switch everything went dark, and it was better than feeling that she was weak.

A.N : Okay so this chapter is much longer than usual. I really put a lot of effort into it, so please review.