A/N: Ha ha ha. I got you guys right there when I said I wasn't gonna do the giant Cactuar scene, did I? What did you think of my little comment: "I know plants grow, but THIS is ridiculous!" That was good, wasn't it? I do feel bad for Vanille for threatening her back there...of course she did had it coming.

The three of us walk back to camp. Vanille was able to catch up with us. As we walk, Lightning turns to me and asks. "What exactly did you do for Vanille?"

"Don't! Ask!" I say, irritated. After a moment of walking, I stopped and so does Lightning. "So, did Vanille teach you how to use magic?"

Lightning looks at me confused. "Magic? What's a magic?"

I sighed, shaking my head. "I should have known..." Vanille catches up to us, I look back at her disappointed. "Vanille! You said you were teaching Lightning how to use magic!"

Vanille seems surprised, then she gives an innocent smile and a soft giggle. "Uh...yeah...about that. I may have told...a teeny, tiny little lie."

"Why am I not surprised?" I asked, looking up to the sky. I sighed deeply, then look back at Lightning. "Okay. If you're going have to fight, you need to learn how to use magic."

"Okay...how do I do that?" Lightning asks.

That is a good question. How am I gonna teach her how to do magic? I can't do much of teaching Lightning how to do magic since I'm more on the lines of a physical attacker. But every little bit helps. And I don't trust Vanille and Snow to teach her, Fang's just as hopeless at teaching her as I am, I know Hope's going to be too much of a distraction for Lightning, thanks to that idiot Snow...not too sure about Sazh, though I suppose he could teach Lightning how to use Ravager magic.

When we return to camp, I take Lightning not too far out of the campsite. I find us some easy slug plants for us to use as practice dummies. "Okay, Lightning. Here's how it works." I roll up my sleeve, revealing my l'Cie in front of her. "Each of us has one of these brands, and these brands grant us the power to use magic." Lightning looks down my arm, I can tell she's staring at my scars. "Don't ask about my scars." I roll my sleeve down. "Anyways, to use magic, we concentrate and call our magic from our brands."

"Okay...how does that work?" Lightning asks.

"Well, I can only sure you one magic spell. Cause my spells are mostly strengthening allies and weakening our enemies." I say. "Yours is more on the lines of using offensive magic and healing spells. But we do have one common spell, known as 'Ruin'." I turn my direction at the slugs. "Observe."

I move my right hand to my brand on my arm. I concentrate, and a bolt of Ruin appears in my hand, and I launch it at the group of slugs, killing one of them. "Whoa. That's pretty cool." Lightning says.

"I know." The group of slugs were surprised to see one of them fall. I turn to Lightning. "Your turn."

Lightning looks at the visible skin on her left arm, noticing there's nothing, no brand. "I don't have a brand." Lightning says.

"That's because it's on your chest." I tell her. Lightning looks down at her chest, a little surprised. I look ahead, noticing that the plant slugs have spotted us. I can tell from the way they called out they know we're the ones who attacked them. "Might wanna try out your magic right now." I say with warning.

Lightning nods. The slug plants starts crawling towards us. Lightning moves her hand to her chest, concentrating. Lightning attempts to shoot a Ruin spell, but nothing happens. Lightning is surprised. She tries again, still nothing. The creatures are crawling closer.

"It's not working!" Lightning says, panicking. The girl rushes behind me, using me as a shield. "They're coming closer!"

I roll my eyes and sigh. "Oh great..." I make my stand against the slugs. I channel Saboteur magic in my hands. An outlined clock with the hands moving slowly appears, and I clap my hands on it, unleashing Slowga on the little creeps. The slugs move slowly, I repeat the same action, only the magic spell is a shattered shield. Deprotectga.

With the slugs slow and weak armored, I shift into Commando. I take out my throwing stars, my own version of Blitz, and I throw them at the slugs, killing them. I drop my arms and sigh, then I turn to Lightning. "You really need to stop acting like a scaredy cat. If you had your memories back, you'd be embarrassing yourself." I turn away and speak quietly. "I know it's embarrassing me."

Lightning looks down in shame. "Sorry. I know I'm weak and pathetic."

"Whatever, let's just try again." I say.

I have tried to teach Lightning the Ruin spell. So far, it's not doing so well. Every enemy we encounter, ends up the sameway: Her hiding behind me and I'm finishing them off. For the Behemoth one, I don't blame her, through it still irritates me cause I can't handle the beast alone. I can't even summon Omega cause he's still recharging from the Cactuar battle. I barely made it out of that battle alive.

We both return to the base camp, Lightning rushes to Hope and gives him a tight hug. The kid feels a bit uncomfortable. I on the other hand is in a bad mood. Training was simply pathetic. "So, how'd the training go?" Sazh asks.

"I don't want to talk about it!" I say, upset. I muttered angrily underneath my breath.

I walk past the group and towards the teleporting Cie'th stone. "Hey, where you're going?" Vanille asks.

"To the Sulyya Springs. I need to cool off." I touch the stone and a list of teleporting areas appeared. I selected Ceiling Sky at Sulyya Springs. I turn back to the work as the stone channels its power. "I do not wish to be disturbed!"

I float a few inches off the ground as I glow in bright light and vanish. The group watches my disappearance then turns back to each other. "What's with him?" Sazh asks.

"He's probably stressed out from teaching Lightning how to fight." Fang says.

"Either that or he's upset about my chat with Lightning." Vanille says.

"Why? What did you say to hear?" Snow asks.

"Oh...nothing I can say. It's a secret...between me and Patrick of course." Vanille says.

Snow, Sazh and Hope wondered what she meant, but Fang does. "So, uh...Lightning. Patrick taught you how to use magic?" Hope asks.

"He did...but I don't really think I'm doing well." Lightning looks down in sorrow. "I just feel so useless."

Hope comforts Lightning. "Oh, no, no. Of course you're not. You just...need a little help." Hope grabs Lightnings hands and drags her. "Come on, I'll teach you a few things about magic."

Hope takes Lightning to a tunnel west of the base camp. Lightning explained the situation she had when she was training with me. Hope decided that he should try to get Lightning to create some offensive magic before he could even get her into using them in combat.

"Okay, this one is easy. I believe this was your first spell." Hope channels his magic from his brand, and unleash a simple Thunder spell. A small lightning bolt strikes from the sky and hits the ground. "There. Should we easy enough. Now you try."

"I'm a little nervous." Lightning admits.

"Don't worry. You're going to do fine." Hope says.

Lightning nods then nods. "Okay." Lightning takes a deep breath, she moves her hand to her brand. Lightning takes the moment to concentrate, then reaches her hand out. Nothing happens. "Nothing..."

"Try again." Hope says.

Lightning sighs in depression. "What's the point? I'm useless."

"Don't say that, Lightning. You can do this. You just need to remember." Lightning looks up at Hope. "Try again."

Lightning hesitates. Then nods. She returns to her previous position, standing straight with her hand in front of her brand, eyes closed. "Think hard. Concentrate deep. Visualize yourself calling the Thunder spell from your brand, and then releasing it."

Lightning concentrates hard. After a minute, she raises out her hand, unleashing a Thunder spell. Lightning saw the lightning bolt strike and smiles. "I did!" She says with a cheer.

"Excellent!" Hope says clapping. "So...did it help?"

"I think so...I think it's all coming back to me." Lightning tries a few other spells. Fire, Water, Aero. She then starts to take it to the next level, then does Fira and Blizzara.

Hope seems a bit worried at all the magic Lightning's unleashing. "Uh, okay Lightning. Take it easy."

Lightning then unleashes a powerful Thunderga spell. Large bolts of lightning strike the ground multiple times. Some of them got too close. To her and Hope. Lightning staggers and falls back, shocked at the unleashed power. One of the lightning bolts hits Hope, electrocuting him.

The Thunderga spell ends. Hope is partly charred and smoking, with his hair standing up. The kid looks very dazed then he falls back, crashing onto the ground. "Hope!" Lightning rushes onto her Hopes side. She kneels down, holding him in her arms. "Hope! Hope! Answer me!"

Hope doesn't answer, for he is unconscious. Lightning panics, she can't believe this is happening. As she looks at Hope, she starts to have a vision. She sees herself in a strange city. Hope hands her the knife and speaks, but is muted. Lightning looked a mix of sad and worry, and she hugs the boy. Her words echo.

"You'll be okay. I'll keep you save."

Lightnings mind returns to reality. She gasps she the memory of that moment in Palumpolum returns. "That's right..." Lightning looks back at the unconscious Hope. "I made a promise...to protect you. But instead...I only hurt you." Lightning lifts Hope, she lays her head on his stomach, crying. "I'm...I'm so sorry, Hope."

Lightning realized this isn't the time for moaning. She lifts Hope, standing up, and runs as fast as she could back to the base camp. Everyone else was pretty shocked to see Hope injured, even Vanille. They lay Hope on the ground, Vanille works on her Medic skills to heal him while everyone else keeps Lightning away from Hope. Vanille can use the space.

"I can't believe I did this. This is all my fault." Lightning says, crying.

"Hey, don't sweet it." Sazh says. "These things happened. It's not your fault."

"He probably hates me now." Lightning says.

Snow gives Lightning a pat on the back. "Don't be silly, sis. Hope will always love you, no matter what!"

That doesn't really help her. Lightning walks up to Vanille and Hope. Lightning sits next to Vanille, looking down at the unconscious boy. "How's he doing?" Lightning asks.

Vanille turns to face Lightning, smiling. "It's all right. He's fine. Hope was teaching you how to use magic?" Lightning slowly nodded. "Well, I think it's time you know how to heal."

"How do I do that?" Lightning asks.

"It's simple." Vanille moves her hand to her thigh where her brand rests. "You call for a healing wave from your brand, and..." A small glow of light appears in Vanille's hand. She holds it out in front of her, then rests it on Hope. The healing light waves through Hopes body. Vanille turns to Lightning. "Do you want to try?"

"Uh...I don't know about this. I already hurt him. I don't want to make it any worse." Lightning says.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine." Vanille says. "Just concentrate, visualize yourself healing Hope...and think about a unicorn riding on a rainbow."

Lightning seems confused. "How's that suppose to help?"

"It relaxes your worries. Give it a try." Vanille says.

Lightning nods. She takes a deep breath. She rests her hand on her chest, concentrating. Visualizing herself healing Hope, and then pictured a unicorn riding on a rainbow. She smiles, Vanille's right, that does help. It's certainly helping with her magic, cause a healing light appears in her hand. Lightning rests it on Hopes body. The light heals him.

Hope twitches a little then moans. Lightning and Vanille notices, they gasp and look closely at him. Hope slightly opens his eyes. He sees Vanille and Lightning and smiles. "Hey...girls."

Lightning squeals with joy as she hugs Hope tightly. "YOU'RE ALIVE! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"

Hope groans in pain as Lightning squeezes the life out of him. "Lightning, Light. I can't breath!"

Lightning realizes what she's doing and then releases the boy. "Oh, sorry."

"How are you feeling, Hope?" Vanille asks.

"Still pretty sore, but I'm okay." Hope lays back down. "Just need...to rest for a..." Hope is alway closing his eyes, quickly falling asleep.

"No! Hope! Please don't leave me!" Lightning pleads.

Vanille pulls Lightning back. "Don't worry. He's fine. He just needs some sleep, that's all."

Lightning sighs in relief. The next few hours were quite peaceful. Hope finally awakes, but he's starting to wish he hadn't, cause ever since he awaken, Lightning never left his side, and certainly haven't let him go. It was night time and Fang is cooking her Wilderness Gumbo.

I make my appearance from the Cie'th Stone. I'm much calmer. I yawn and stretch my arms in the air, hearing the sound of my joints and tight muscles cracking. "Ah...boy did I need that." I walk up to the group, joining them by the campfire. "Did I miss anything?"

Everyone told me I didn't miss much. I was however surprised to hear that Lightning's doing well with her magic. I have noticed that Lightning is holding onto Hope for dear life. I take it I missed nothing, since Lightning's still suffering amnesia.

"Okay, so Lightning's doing all right with magic. What about her fighting skills?" I ask.

"We haven't exactly gotten to teaching her how to fight." Snow says.

"We can't even get her to face an enemy without cowering in fear behind someone." Sazh says.

"No surprises there." I say with a sigh. "All right, first thing tomorrow morning, we're going to toughen up Lightning to fight. Hopefully that'll help her get her memories back."

After dinner, we all rest for the night. Lightning and Hope laid together. At first, he didn't mind, then gets uncomfortable when she cuddles with him. We really need to get her memories back, I'm starting to get tired of seeing lovely-dovey Lightning falling for Hope.

Curse you Snow Villiers!