Revised: 5-10-19

Mission 3: Starting Off on the Wrong Foot - The Seaside City of Bodhum

-Cocoon-

-The Seaside City of Bodhum - Outskirts-

"Lightning to 'Daddy Bear.' I found the targets. It's just like we heard. I'm counting at least five," a woman, Lightning, reported to into her earpiece.

"Daddy Bear here. I read you loud and clear. Can you handle them on your own?" came the voice of 'Daddy Bear' on the other end.

Her eyes scanned the targets before her with complete focus. She could hear the monsters, the Bloodfang Bass, growling around her. They had the body of a fish, with silver scales over its torso, pectoral fins on its cheeks, and a dorsal fin on its back. A long tail followed each one as their grey eyes just glared at her. Their limbs, however, were different from the body, as they were red, with webbed claws. Their hind legs were long legs that were used to jump, similar to those of a grasshopper.

She counted three in front of her, and two behind. 'I'm surrounded,' she mused to herself, unbothered by the odds presented before her.

She huffed, deeming the opposition as something she was capable of handling. "Just give me two minutes," she replied before shutting off her communicator.

"Lightning" Farron wore a sleeveless, white overcoat, with a red cape attached behind her left shoulder, and a brown turtleneck shirt underneath with a zipper. A green metallic pauldron with yellow stripes covered her left shoulder, while a long black sleeve covered her left arm. Two blue finger-less gloves, with golden bullet holders on the forehand, were on both of her hands. A pair of brown boots with gray straps was on her feet, while a red ammunition pack was strapped to her left thigh. She wore a brown mini-skirt over high-topped shorts, with a long black weapons case attached to the belt of her skirt. Her skin was very light, which allowed anyone during the day and night to see the pink color of her lips, and the pale aqua hue of her irises. Her most noticeable feature, however, was her rose-colored hair that was combed to the right, with hair draped over her left shoulder.

She reached for the weapons case behind her, and pressed a button on her weapon. Instantly, the weapon slightly popped out of her case. Lightning used her finger to unfold a black handle. When she finally gripped it, she pulled out a gun that was as long as a rifle, with a long, silver, rectangular barrel, with a red guard over the trigger. However, the barrel was different, as it was an extended barrel. The woman pressed a switch on the handle, that made the barrel folded inwards, similar to the handles of a balisong knife. In between both sides of the barrel extended a curved, single-edged blade with three holes extended out. Black and red lines ran along the steel surface.

Swiping her weapon, a gunblade named Blazefire Saber, Lightning's body tensed as she got into a fighting stance.

She listened to her instincts. The five Bloodfang Bass skittered around her slowly. The woman waited patiently; this was not the first time she fought this species of beasts. Every time one jumped to attack, they left themselves open to a strike.

She then saw an opportunity when she heard sound to the right behind her. She then swung her Saber to the right, not even bothering to look over her shoulder. Lightning did not need to, as she felt her gunblade meet resistance with her swing; the Bloodfang Bass was fatally wounded. As quickly as she struck before, she repeated her attack by slashing to the left as fast as her namesake. The Saber sliced through the Bass' vitals, and the sound of it falling to the ground came to her ears.

Lightning then heard a screech approaching from behind. She sighed to herself silently, before making her next move. Quickly turning around, she gripped her blade tightly with both hands, and cut the beast in its stomach. Her attack was executed so quickly, that not one drop of the green fluids of its body got on her person.

'Now the only ones left are the two behind me,' Lightning told herself, planning her next course of action in her mind.

With a deep breath, she turned around to face the last two Bloodfang Bass, but was never given the chance. As soon as her eyes landed on the beasts, a gunshot rang in the air. One of the monsters' side burst open. It was not dead, but its green innards began spilling into the ground.

"We'll help!" shouted the voice of a woman. The sound of an air bike also whistled in the background.

'You're not helping; you're just getting in the way!' Lightning mentally hissed as she lowered her weapon.

"Yuj, go get 'em!" ordered the voice.

"Hang on tight! Here we go!" replied another voice belonging to a young man, Yuj. "Lebreau, to the right!

The next second, a bullet penetrated the other Bass' head, and then another bullet pierced the previous one's stomach, thus ending the threat of the targets.

"Got it!" confirmed the woman, Lebreau.

The rose-haired woman blinked; the last shot was actually a good one, not that she would ever admit it. Her weapon shifted back into a gun, with the blade compressing back into the two halves of the barrel. The barrel extended back to its original form, before Lightning finally sheathed it back into its case, folding the black handle back into place.

Looking up at the new arrivals, the girl realized that the one who had fired the gun was sitting behind the other person, who was driving the air bike. The vehicle descended towards her, before stopping a few feet away.

This gave her a good view of its two occupants. The one driving the vehicle was a young man; Yuj was his name if she heard the other voice right. He had feathery blue hair and hazel eyes. He wore an orange shirt with a subtle yellow gradient, a dark red, long-sleeved shirt underneath, as well as black leather pants and black leather boots. His pants had a bag on the right hip, which Lightning deduced was sewn into place. He had a scarf with feather adornments tucked into his belt, which seemed to be made up of multiple links of metal with a small pattern pressed into them. The young man also wore a necklace with a leather square that had the same patterns as the belt embossed upon it, as well as a metal pendant over his clothing.

The one who had the gun was actually a woman her age, if not a few years younger, with shoulder-length black hair with a bun tied on top of her head, and brown eyes. She wore a white blouse loosely, with the lower part buttoned up, underneath a purple bikini top with a yellow band holding it together, with a silver pendant in the middle. She also wore brown leather bikini bottoms while wearing a purple belt with half a yellow frilled skirt attached to the left side. Dark purple leggings hugged her legs, which were transparent over her knees. Red shoes with a small black heel covered her feet, and a rainbow bracelet was on her left wrist. Lightning realized that the girl showed off a lot of skin, as evident when she saw a light purple-blue tattoo of a butterfly on her right shoulder blade, where she rested the long black rifle.

However, each of the individuals were wearing civilian clothes, and had no gear that would protect them from these beasts if they were attacked head on. Not even their weapons if they overheated or malfunctioned on them.

'They're just amateurs,' she analyzed.

Yuj sighed in relief. "Whew! Clean-up complete!"

Lebreau smiled at her. "Hey there, soldier girl. You were in a really tough spot, weren'tcha?"

The female soldier merely looked at her with a blank expression. "Who are you?" she asked bluntly, trying to come across as cold and hard.

Her demeanor went unnoticed by the other woman. "We're NORA!" she replied.

This made Lightning frown even further.

Lebreau looked at her with an amused expression. "You're with the GC's Bodhum Security Regiment, right? You must've heard a few things about us, right?"

Lightning noticed that the girl's boast was rather confident. Where she got such bravado intrigued her, but not enough that she wanted to get involved with these two.

"Sorry. Never heard of you," she responded curtly, before turning her heel and walking away.

As she walked, she could hear the girl speak in surprise. "Really?"

"What? That's weird... I figured we'd be more famous than that," the boy muttered.

"Well, we're not doing this for fame, Yuj."

"Yeah, I know that. It's just not as fun when people don't know who we are..."

Their voices drowned out as Lightning walked further away from them. She shook her head, and thought about how foolish they were for actually thinking that they had helped her. If anything, they had interfered with her mission. Seeing how proud they looked annoyed her, which was the only reason she had chosen to lie to them.

She had, rather childishly, lied about her not knowing about NORA, which was something she felt upset at herself for. Lightning, in fact, knew a lot about NORA. Specifically, she knew that her younger sister, Serah, spent a lot of free time hanging out with them.

"NORA is an acronym that stands for 'No Obligations, Rules, or Authority,' like a bunch of stray cats. They own a shop here in Bodhum, but it's actually a cafe. Many locals and tourists are attracted to it. They actually grow their own food there! And later, when there's trouble, they go help clean up monster infestations around the city."

Lightning scoffed in disgust. "NORA, huh? You amateurs actually think you're heroes?"

-Rendezvous Point-

The soldier made it to the gathering point. All around her, soldiers, armed and unarmed, walked around after completing their objectives, while others praised her on a job well done as she passed by.

The female operatives wore a light beige overcoat, which was longer than Lightning's, that had a black leather strap across the midriff, with a black holster attached to it. A pistol was inside it. However, they each had gold badge of the Bodhum Security Regiment over their right breast. They wore a short sleeve, gray turtleneck underneath, and had transparent leggings on their legs, with black leather boots on their feet. Green shoulder pauldrons with two light yellow lines were on each shoulder. Their signature black hat was on each of their heads.

As she walked, a male operative walked towards her. He wore the standard men's uniform. The soldier had a gray, short sleeve shirt underneath a black and white overalls, that was underneath a light yellow, sleeveless vest, with black straps around the shoulders and across the waist. He wore a black belt with multiple packs around its length. Brown boots with gray straps were on his feet, while a pair of brown leather gloves were on his hands. On his shoulders were two light green pauldrons with two orange lines across them. The standard black leather cap was on his head.

The soldier addressed her as he caught up to her. "Another successful operation! Well done, Sergeant Farron!"

"Where's Lieutenant Amodar?" she asked as she brushed off the praise.

The male operative pointed over to one of the unmanned vehicles. "He's chatting over there."

She could hear his loud laugh even as she stood fifty feet away. Seeing her superior, she walked over to him. As she got closer, however, she realized that he wasn't alone.

Lieutenant Amodar was a tall man, with an oval face and dark skin. He had short, spiky brown hair and a brown mustache on his face. He wore a white shirt with silver stripes underneath his white and blue jacket. Light brown straps went over his shoulders, and went around his stomach and legs. He had a bracer on his right arm, with two orange fluorescent stripes, which indicated his status as a Lieutenant within the Corps. His black and white pants had orange stripes at the sides. He also wore two green pauldrons with two orange stripes on them, and also wore metal boots on his feet.

The man next to him was also very tall, but was also very younger. He wore a black bandanna on his head, which hid his light blonde hair underneath, and blue eyes. A stubble beard was on his chin, which was light blonde as well. He wore a long, short-sleeved beige trench coat, with a light blue vest under it that also hid a black shirt. On his legs was a pair of dark gray pants, while a blue striped scarf hung off of the belt on his waist. Black gloves were on his hands, and large gray combat boots were on his feet. A small, silver necklace, with two studded jewels was around his neck. It looked like a badge, but it had the picture of a cat around it. Lightning knew it as the logo of NORA, as Serah had explained previously.

Amodar laughed as he listened to the man's tale. "Surrounded by monsters, huh? So what'd ya do after that?"

"Well, they just kept comin' and comin'!" the younger man told with a wide grin. "Then all of our bullets ran out. At that point, all we could do was punch 'em!"

Amodar shook his head. "You dumbass! How many did you get after that?"

"Hehe, there were, like, twenty of them, or more, even. Heck, there were too many to count!"

Lightning's lips dipped into a frown when she saw who the man was. "It's him..."

She approached the two, while the male operative followed her. Amodar was the first to welcome her.

"Ah, if it isn't the Cap! Good work today!" he greeted.

Lightning's rank was actually that of a Sergeant, and she knew that the Lieutenant knew this as well. This told her that Amodar was joking around with her, like always. Raising an eyebrow sternly, she decided to retaliate in her own way. "'Cap?' What sort of joke is this, 'Lieutenant?'" she demanded, while putting emphasis on the word "Lieutenant."

He grinned. "Well, you are our Captain Dangerous, right?"

Lightning shook her head in amusement, before looking at the other man. "So. Who's this?"

The man in the bandanna blinked as she gestured to him. "Huh? Who, me?"

The male soldier addressed him. "Oh, they're NORA, Sergeant. You haven't heard of them before?"

Lightning merely frowned. NORA again.

Right when she'd driven them from her mind, too.

"They're a vigilante group made up of young people here in the city," Amodar explained, as he took her silence as a sign of her not knowing of the group. "This man here's their leader, Snow."

The man in the bandanna, Snow, waved at her. "Hey there!"

The Lieutenant then looked at the man. "This lady here's our Captain Dangerous. She's a little young, but she's got real skill!" He then pointed at Lightning's weapons case, lightly rapping it with his finger. "That weapon she's got there? It's a Blazefire Saber. That thing's a gunblade, which we only adopted recently... Well, you might not know this, 'cuz you're a civilian, but anyone with the Sanctum knows at a glance what this means."

The woman lightly blushed at the Lieutenant's. "Sir, can we please not...?"

"It's a priority provision given only to the best of the best," Amodar continued, ignoring or not hearing her meek dissuasion. "Basically, if they give you one of these babies, you've got an incredible track record, and the talent to show it! Ain't that somethin'?"

"Is that right?" Snow replied.

Though she didn't want him to continue praising her record, she felt happy to hear them coming from Amodar. It pleased her to know that her superior officer held her in such high regard.

"And the Cap's Blazefire Saber's specifically made to order," he continued. "It's even got a special inscription on it! How'd it go again? 'White flash - Take on my name,' or somethin' like that?"

'It's 'Invoke my name - I am Spark,'' she mentally corrected, though she wouldn't embarrass herself say it out loud.

"Anyway, it's pretty much thanks to her that we managed to clean up the monsters here so quickly," Amodar explained.

"Wow! She must be pretty amazing, then!" Snow praised.

The soldier ignored it. "Sir, I think that's all he needs to know."

"Alright, alright, I'll stop gushin' aboutcha," he conceded. "Anyway, your people still disappointed that there wasn't much of a catch for you guys, today?" the older man queried.

The leader of NORA shrugged. "Nah, man. After all, the monsters that get reported aren't the only ones hiding around out there."

"That so?" Amodar asked.

"Yep. We make a little smoke, and more'll just come running outta the woodwork... y'know?"

"Hey, I'm all for smoking 'em out, but just don't make too much of a disturbance," he cautioned.

"Trust me! You guys won't have to worry about that," Snow assured, flinging his arms out in the air as if shocked the Lieutenant would make such a suggestion.

"You kids sure are an energetic bunch, ain'tcha?" Amodar grinned. "You ever thought about joining the army?"

"Nah. Rules and uniforms don't really fit us, y'know?" he dismissed. "Cramps my style."

The Lieutenant chuckled as he shoved the young man playfully. "Hey, watch it, you bastard! We're the ones who gotta work with those rules and uniforms! Haha!"

Snow laughed at the man's antics, before sighing. "Well, since the monsters have been taken care of, we should really get going."

The other male soldier pointed to him jokingly as he walked to his air bike nearby. "Hey, you guys better not get carried away, or anything. PSICOM's not as nice as we are, and they won't overlook you if you get caught doing something like this."

Snow grinned dismissively as he sat on his air bike, and started it. "Don't worry," he assured, before pumping his fist in the air. "The army's no match for NORA!"

The motor came to life, his red air bike's engines turning on. Dust kicked up around it as it got ready to leave.

"Well, I'm off!" he called as he was about to leave.

However, a voice stopped him. "Wait."

Looking to the right, he saw that the rose-haired soldier - Captain Dangerous, she was called - was approaching him.

"Snow, was it?" she asked.

"That's me. What's up?" he asked as he shut off his air bike.

Lightning's eyes narrowed at him. "You're the one that's been following my sister around lately."

Snow blinked. "Uh, your sister?"

She frowned. "Serah Farron."

As soon as she finished talking, Snow's eyes shot open in recognition. "OH!"

He then quickly got off of his bike, and walked towards the soldier. "So you're Serah's sister!" he realized, as he examined her. "Yeah... Serah did say that her sister was a soldier. I see the resemblance now... But, man, you look so different at the same time."

The soldier crossed her arms, looking back at Snow with an unimpressed gaze as he continued to look at her with his hands on his hips.

"You know, when I first saw you, I kinda thought that it might be you. Guess I was right." He then grinned."Well, it's nice to finally meet you! Serah's told me so much about you. I'm Snow Villiers," he greeted. "I'm gonna help you take care of Serah!"

The man then extended his right hand to her. Lightning's frown then dropped into a scowl as she saw his smile.

"Stay away from Serah."

Snow blinked once. He then looked at his hand, and saw that she still had not taken it. His eyes then looked back at hers, which stared back at him with a hardened glare. He then looked back at his hand again, and then to her eyes.

Snow's grin faltered. "Wait... What?"

Her glare didn't budge an inch. "I said stay. Away. From my sister."

With that, she turned her heel, and walked away. Serah had told her that she had hung out with the group, and mostly spoke about a man named Snow Villiers. The man looked almost as old as her, which was two years older than Serah's nineteen-year-old self. And from his conversation with the Lieutenant, she could already tell what kind of man he was. He was brash, arrogant, chummy, brutish, and...

"And if I didn't?"

...Stupid.

Lightning stopped walking, as if wondering if she had actually heard those words come out of his mouth. To her irritation, he actually repeated it.

"And if I don't stay away?... Then what?" he challenged softly.

Turning around, she gave him a hard glare that was only reserved for her enemies.

"Don't," she explained with finality, while cracking her fingers for emphasis.

The leader of NORA, however, only chuckled in response as he put his arms behind his head, making her realize that he was also very stubborn. "Sorry, but even socking me one's not gonna work. I'm kinda durable, y'see."

With that, he walked back to his air bike, and started it again. After a few seconds, dust kicked around him and the vehicle. Finally, the air bike floated off of the ground, and took off into the air.

The soldier's feet was rooted to the spot as she glared at the man's back as he flew away. Her fists were clenched tightly, displaying her fury over her failed attempt to dismiss the man. Whether he liked it or not, he was not going to get involved with her sister, or her sister's goals of going to university next year.

She would make sure of that, one way or another.

The voice of the male soldier interrupted her thoughts. "Hey, Sergeant. Do you know that guy?"

Taking in a deep breath, she turned on her heel, and walked past him and Amodar. "No, I don't. Lieutenant, I'm heading back to base."

Lieutenant Amodar only watched her with an amused look. "Well, looks like the Cap's in a bad mood tonight. Guess she doesn't seem to think too highly about the heroic kids."

The female soldier stopped briefly. She said nothing for a moment before speaking. "Lightning to 'Daddy Bear.' Mission Accomplished. Returning to base."

Amodar shook his head before responding. "'Daddy Bear.' Understood."

At that, Lightning walked away, eyes forward, and thoughts to herself as she ran a hand through her hair.

She certainly didn't see a white creature drop a body into the ocean a good distance away from the shore.

-Cocoon Sea-

Nero was at the brink of consciousness as his body fell into the water. Bubbles escaped from his nostrils as he sunk deeper.

However, he stopped sinking after a few meters. Slightly opening his eyes, he could see his silver hair flailing slowly, while beyond that was a blurry white light.

He could feel his body floating upwards. But by then, he was too tired to keep his eyes open. As he ascended to the surface, the light began to glow brighter. Slowly, he raised his Devil Bringer, and reached for the light. It shone brightly, to the point of blinding his vision.

Then, all he could see was darkness.

-Nuova Fortuna - Beach - Two Years Prior-

"Do you ever wonder what it would have been like?"

Nero blinked, as he turned to face her. "Excuse me?"

"Do you ever wonder what it would have been like... if the town hadn't been overrun with demons like it was?"

Nero and Kyrie were sitting down on a beach, finally having found time for themselves. The previous weeks were strenuous, as all of the survivors of Fortuna had found a new island to inhabit. One they christened Nuova Fortuna. Thanks to the remaining knights, they were able to amass enough wood to build new houses. They had actually made significant progress.

This day was the day that the annual Festival of the Blade was held. Since they did not have the proper means to celebrate it, nor the desire or the belief to support it, the community had decided to give all the workers a day to rest and regain the bearings.

Nero had decided to take Kyrie on a picnic to the beach. Even though the sun and his skin did not get along well, he felt that the date would mean a lot to his girlfriend. Fortunately, Kyrie had found some shade by the trees, and decided to set their red plaid blanket there.

He sighed as he looked at her. Today, Kyrie had decided to not tie her hair into a ponytail, and let her hair hang loose. She wore a white sundress, with white slippers on her feet.

"Well... For one thing, we wouldn't have to work as hard as we do now. We'd actually have a solid foundation to start with," he admitted.

She giggled at him. "That's true, I suppose."

The couple then sat silently, listening to the sounds of the waves lapping onto the ground hit the shore. The wind softly blew into their faces, and rustled the trees above them.

"Nero... Have you ever had a dream?"

The former knight blinked as the question registered into his head. "Huh? Where'd that come from?"

She shrugged. "I'm just curious."

The young man rubbed his chin with his right hand. "A dream, huh?" He hummed to himself in thought before shrugging. "Sorry. I've... never really thought about that."

Her brown eyes dipped sadly before looking away. "I see."

Something was up. So he pried further. "What about you? You ever had any dreams?"

The former Songstress was silent for a few moments. "No... At least, not anymore."

Nero's eyes furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"It's just... In my heart, I had dreams. But now... All that's left are regrets."

The man silently frowned.

"No, it's nothing you've done. You've done absolutely nothing wrong," she assured. "Only... The regrets I have are of what happened back in Fortuna."

Nero's eyes dipped sadly. He knew what she was referring to. "You're talking about Credo, right?"

Kyrie nodded. "I just... I wished to live happily with both of you. To live, and spread joy, and to help people with both of you at my side." She paused. "But, it wasn't meant to be..."

Nero frowned. "Kyrie. What happened to Credo and Fortuna wasn't because of anything you did. No one could've foreseen what was gonna happen."

That was funny coming from him, considering he himself didn't fully believe that.

'If only I'd been stronger...'

She smiled faintly. "I know that. But... I suppose I just regret how it all happened."

The former knight looked at her, and said nothing. He knew that she was still shocked about what had happened. But even then, he swore to give her something to keep her going in this time of turmoil.

'Dreams, huh?'

-Day 3-

-Cocoon-

-The Seaside City of Bodhum - Outskirts Beach-

The first thing he could hear was the sound of overlapping waves, and seagulls in the distance.

Nero's eyes opened slowly, squinting as the sun's rays fell to his eyes. He saw a clear blue sky, with clouds above him. He sat up, groaning as he felt sand on his hands, and falling off of his clothes. Rubbing his eyes, he looked out into the stretch of water before him. After a few minutes, the devil hunter finally regained enough willpower to get up to his feet.

The young man rubbed his head in thought as he tried to recall the last thing he could remember. He remembered that he went to the Hell Gate's Seal, and investigated it carefully. The series of events that followed ended up with him finding that large room with the weird machine. Then that big blue crystal fired that beam, and that huge vortex appeared. Before he knew it, he found himself sucked in.

He was flying through the tunnel for a while, before suddenly falling back out. Landing on his back, he had quickly gotten to his feet, and scanned his surroundings. From a first glance, it seemed that he had landed back in the same room he had been. That is, until he saw the contraption in the center. Unlike the one from the other room, there were no other crystals but the one in the center, and the machine looked as if it was permanently fixed on the same position.

Groaning, he then got up, looking over his shoulder to see another mirror, with him looking back at himself. Cursing to himself, he strode towards the door, looking to get back to the others. He was well aware that they were going to chastise him for going ahead without them.

However, as he pulled the doors apart with all of his might, the young hunter was caught off guard when, instead of the dark chamber on the other side, he was bathed in the light of the night sky. More pressuring than that, however, was the sudden vacuum that sent him tumbling forward, and falling down from a very, very grand height.

Nero thought he had screamed, but the wind whipping against his body as he fell had deafened his ears to his cries. The pressure itself was enough to make him feel faint, and start to lose consciousness. The last thing he could remember was seeing a streak of silvery-white coming after him. After that, he blacked out.

Leading him to where he was now.

Audibly groaning, the devil hunter reached for the portable communicator in his coat pocket. If he was lucky, then he was probably somewhere else on the island.

Nero pressed the button and spoke. "Boss, this is Nero. Come in-"

As soon as he pressed it, a spark inside the walkie-talkie went off. After five seconds, smoke came out of it. Nero stared at useless device, noticing that it was wet. The irritated young man threw his arms in the air, realizing that the communicator had short-circuited.

"Great," he hissed, before throwing the communicator onto the sand. "JUST FREAKIN' GREAT!"

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Nero ran his hands through his hair while looking up at the sky. What he saw, though, caused his mind to stop for a brief moment.

"What... in the hell...?"

His arms fell to the sides as he stared at the large structure that reached up to the clouds. The tower was long, with four spires surrounding it, and smaller spires coming out of them. Two larger spires stretched out from both sides near the top, and had large chains underneath them. He could see a smaller structure at the top, with two spires jutting out from beneath it. What astounded him most was that floating in front of it was this blue figure, that seemed to have a pair of blue, transparent, butterfly-esque wings, as well as a tail. Squinting his eyes, it looked like it had a female face with a large headdress. From that figure came out long lines of blue energy, that flailed in front of it like a shield.

Nero blinked twice, with his jaw slacked open. He scratched his head with his Devil Bringer in confusion as he tried to discern his location.

"Okaaay," he mused. "Pretty sure we never had anything like that in Fortu...na..."

His voice trailed off as he looked out into the distance, and was expecting to see the horizon, like he thought he saw earlier. However, he saw no horizon. In fact, he saw no blue sky. Looking up, he saw the sea stretch upwards. And what surprised him, was there was land on the other side of the sea. Looking further, he noticed small lights on the land. Looking directly above him, he finally saw a blue sky and the sun. What was out of place, however, was the white floating object in the sky.

"What... in... the hell...?"

The devil hunter placed his left hand on his face before dragging it down. 'Alright... First thing's first. Gotta find out where I am.'

Nero decided to look to the right, and saw the shoreline end, with a large expanse of water beyond it. Looking to the left, however, gave him a different result. In the distance, he could spot a small city. It was easily visible, due to the large silver building that stood above it.

'A city!' he thought in joy. 'Maybe someone there can tell me where the hell I am...' The former knight paused as his eyes fell onto his Devil Bringer. '...Right after they freak out over my ugly arm.'

Sighing, he knew that the solution was simple. He merely had to wrap his arm around with the black athletic tape in his pocket, and then wear his red glove. He reached into his left pocket, and reached for his roll of tape.

The boy frowned when he did not feel his roll of black athletic tape.

Pulling his hand out, Nero saw that he held his red finger-less glove. The boy then patted down his entire body, hoping that he had simply misplaced it. Realizing that his clothes were partly wet, as well as the useless communicator malfunctioning due to water damage, he deduced that he had somehow landed into the sea when he was unconscious. Before he washed ashore, the black tape must have floated out of his pocket.

"So I have a glove, with no tape to go with it... Swell," he muttered.

Sighing, Nero then choose to do the next course of action. He put the red glove over his right hand, and then pulled down the right sleeve of his coat to cover his arm. He also rolled up the cuff at the end to cover his forehand. He looked at his arm with satisfaction. So long as he did not attract too much attention to himself, or display his right hand for all to see, he would be fine.

"Alright, Nero," he whispered to himself, "time to go explorin'."

Nero began his trek down to the city, hoping that he could, at least, find a new sling and black athletic tape for a cheap price.

-Farron Residence-

An alarm clock rang across the empty house. A slender hand slapped the snooze button to turn it off.

Lightning sat up on her bed, stretching her arms over her head. She then got off of her bed, and walked out of her room.

When she had went to sleep the previous night, she had taken off most her gear and her overcoat to go to sleep. The woman walked down the corridor, with her arms, shoulders, legs, and feet bare. She only wore her brown mini-skirt and her turtleneck shirt, which only covered the top part of her torso, and exposed her midriff and the navel piercing on her belly button as well.

She walked down into her kitchen, which was very wide. In the middle was a large orange table, with triangular patterns on it, and four round chairs with red leather seats on it. To her right was a counter with a silver, round shelf above it, and a sink on the far end. The ceiling was round, with many windows which were transparent enough to let light in. On the other end of the kitchen was a monitor that was currently reporting the news.

"Serah?" she called out loud. She was met with silence. "...Looks like she left early."

Lightning looked around the room, before spotting something out of place. On the the table was a pot that was covered by a lid. On top of it was a note with "Lightning" written on top of it. Curiously taking it, the woman looked at it, and read it.

Dear Sis,

I left early today, so I made some stew. I left it in the pot right in front of you.

Heat it up, and eat it when you're hungry. Just make sure you don't burn the pan again like last time, okay?

-Serah-

The Farron sister smiled at her little sister's note. "Alright, then. I'll be careful."

Taking the pot in her hands, she took to the counter, and followed the note's instructions. A few minutes later, she was already eating.

Lightning put the spoon in her mouth, savoring the flavor of her sister's dish.

'It's funny,' she thought to herself. 'Whenever I make something, I can never get it to be like your dishes, can I, Serah?'

That was the way it had always been, though. She had always been better with chores and housekeeping, and Serah had been the one to take up cooking, even as child. They both did that while their mother worked.

Her mother...

Suddenly, she recalled one of the last moments she'd had with her mother. Right before her illness took a turn for the worse.

-Bodhum Hospital - Six Years Prior-

"...You'll have lots to do from now on, won't you? Besides cooking."

A younger Lightning, back when she went by her true name, sat on the side of her mother's death bed. The doctor had called them, and said that if she had one more fit, she may not recover from it. Both Farron sisters had visited her, not knowing if it was the last time that they would be able to. Her mother had sent Serah off, asking the younger sister to bring back some fruit. The young twelve-year-old complied, leaving Lightning alone with her mother. Hearing her words, she had realized why.

The older woman, who had rose-colored hair like her daughters, warmly looked at her daughter with her pale aqua eyes. "But you know... you don't have to work so hard by yourself, either. I'm sure there are a lot of things that Serah can help you with, too..." she assured.

"But, Mom..." she started, but stopped as the sick woman reached out with her hand, and stroked her hair softly, as if she were a small child again, and drew her into a hug. She withheld the urge to cry.

"'My precious baby girl,'" her mother said. "Your father and I used to call you that all the time, you know. Right before Serah was born."

Lightning's father had died ten years prior. He was a soldier working for the Sanctum, and was killed in action.

"I don't remember that..."

"You were only three at the time. When Serah came, you became the big sister, so we couldn't just call you a 'baby' anymore," she laughed.

Lightning remained silent. She could hear the pain that was hidden in the laugh.

"After your father died, you were always around to give me a hand with things, weren't you?" she asked. "You were always there watching over Serah, too... You're such a wonderful big sister. That's why I'm not worried about Serah... Because I know you'll be there to care for her when she needs it."

"But, at the same time... Serah will be there for you, too," she continued. "She'll be able to help you when you're hurting, and give you strength when you need it."

She brought Lightning's head closer to her; closer than she had ever been before.

"Don't ever forget that... My baby girl..."

-Present-

'...Don't work so hard all by yourself, huh?'

But how could she not? After her mother passed away, it was just her and Serah. They had no other relatives. No grandparents, uncles, older cousins; no one. She was the only one who could take care of Serah. That day, the day she fell into her mother's embrace like that of a little child, was the day her childhood ended. From then on, she yearned to be an adult, so that Serah could live a safe and happy life. But she was too young then to be legally considered an adult. So instead, she abandoned the name her parents had given her, along with her childhood. She vowed on her mother's grave that she would be Serah's guardian, and told her her new name.

From that day forth, she went by the name 'Lightning.'

So lost in her thoughts, the soldier hadn't realized that she had already finished her meal, and taken a shower. She was currently changing into her uniform, though she realized it was still too early to report for duty.

Sighing to herself, she thought about the last words her mother had given directly to her. "I guess I let her help me with cooking, seeing that all of my dishes almost always burn up. Serah's are always better, for some reason."

But deep down, she knew that the reason why Serah's dishes were always better was because she had practiced by herself when Lightning was off working. The soldier frowned as she wondered how much effort Serah had managed to do on her own these last few years.

Serah cooked on her own, and spent more time with people like her nowadays. She had already finished high school, with straight A's no less. Next year, she was going to attend Eden University in the Capital City of Eden to pursue a degree in History. She was smart. Smarter than most people were led to believe.

Yet somehow... she had found company in the form of Team NORA.

Lightning's scowled at the thought of the man from yesterday, Snow Villiers. She was not blind; judging by how Serah spoke fondly about him, and vice versa, she knew that there was something going on between the two. From first glance, she could already tell that he wasn't the kind of man that she wanted her sister to be with.

She honestly could not fathom why Serah was interested in him. And it was interest. There was no way she could actually like him.

She was not naive woman, nor petty. Lightning knew that Serah would probably have feelings for another person someday. The soldier was not overprotective to the point of chasing off any person interested in hitting on her younger sister. She would be fine with anyone, so long as they were capable of protecting Serah from harm. Be they handsome, smooth, or neither, that person needed to be willing to cherish her sister, as well as lay down their life for her if needed.

Snow Villiers was not that person.

The man was brash, and ran off into danger blindly. He was just rounded a bunch of street punks to form a gang, and went after weak monsters to make himself look cool. He only made decisions on instinct, thinking himself king of the castle. If Serah and him were ever in any danger, he would be the type of man to save himself and leave Serah on her own.

He was not the right man for her, she knew. However, she was not going to tell her sister that. Knowing Serah, she would try to reason with her, until she convinced Lightning to give him a chance. She then wondered if her parents would have given their permission for Snow to see their daughter. Lightning knew that her father was a soldier, but now as an adult, she realized he tended to be as easy-going and good-natured as Snow. The difference, in her eyes, though, was that he put his life down on the line for his family every day, and eventually perished. But it was all for them, his family. As for her mother, she would have probably allowed it if she believed that Serah really did have feelings for him.

After all, her mother had married her father, hadn't she?

But then again, they were both gone, so it wasn't up to them to watch over Serah. It was up to her. She had to make sure that Snow got the message to stay away from her sister. And after a while, she would explain to Serah the truth of the situation. A Grade-A student and an unemployed bum couldn't mix.

'Serah will understand,' she believed as she went to get an early start to her day. She was smart, after all.

Snow would stay away from her sister. Whether he liked it or not.

-Shopping Mall-

"What... in... the... hell...?"

Those words came out Nero's mouth after a few seconds of seeing a group of young individuals riding air bikes.

Because as far as he knew, there were no such things as air bikes, or bikes that could fly.

He had found a road along the beach that had lead to the city. As he approached, he saw that many people were giving him odd looks, to his displeasure. He figured that it was due to the fact that his clothes were different from theirs. He noticed that many of the civilians wore types of clothing that he was unfamiliar with. Some wore shirts, pants, shorts, or other basic attire. Some women also wore clothes that showed off their midriff and skin. What struck him odd, however, was that there were men who did this as well, but that was none of his concern.

As he got deeper into the city, more people began to ignore him and go about their own business. More people walked about, going into restaurants, houses, or other small buildings. He saw that some of the houses were stacked on top of each other, which he thought was curious. He even saw some signs that were written in an odd language he couldn't understand. Overall, the entire town gave off a seaside resort feel, which was odd considering its large size. He saw many pools of clear water along the promenade, which were only meant for show, as well as many empty round tables with chairs around them.

Finally, he had arrived at some outdoor shopping mall. People mingled with each other as they entered random shops. Some stores sold clothing, and were brightly colored on the inside. Others sold accessories, and displayed them in glass cases. He felt lost as he found himself in this large, yet closed down space.

Oddly, he saw two girls walking about the area, looking just as lost as he was. One wore a blue sari with a back halter top underneath, had tan skin, and dark, raven-colored hair. The other one wore a light pink halter top, with multiple bracelets on her wrists, beads lined down her torso, and bright red colored hair that was tied into two pigtails.

Nero was walking in the middle of the cramped space when he saw the air bikes that stopped his brain for a few seconds.

The young man regained his composure, but briefly debated with himself. Finally coming to a conclusion, he merely shook his head while laughing to himself. He reasoned that he was merely seeing things due to being out in the sun for too long.

The devil hunter walked deeper into the shopping mall when he saw another sight that left him in disbelief. A few feet away was a small shop that was displaying monitors. However these were not regular monitors, like T.V. sets, or even plasma T.V.'s. There were no wires connected to them, either. These monitors were floating, while at the same time being slightly transparent.

The boy approached one of the screens, and examined it closely. He slowly reached for it with his left hand, and his jaw slacked in awe as his fingers went through the screen. It caused the image on the screen to become blurry.

A male voice behind him spoke out. "Hey, I'm watchin' that, pal!"

The boy took his hand out of the way, and continued onward silently. After the new development, he had come to the center of the mall, where a large fountain was. He found an empty bench that was near another, larger floating monitor, and sat down to collect his thoughts.

"...Okay, Nero..." he breathed. "Think this through. You're just imagining things... There's no way you could have seen a flying bike, or a holographic T.V. screen. That type of tech doesn't exist yet... The only way you would've been able to see that is if..." the anxious devil hunter breathed heavily, "is if you've somehow ended up in the future... Which is impossible, right?"

Just as he finished that last thought, he heard the screen nearby. A weather forecast was being reported.

"Thanks for the report, Aoede. And now for today's forecast," reported a female weather analyst. "Today's local forecast is gonna be sunny, sunny, sunny! So if any of you Bodhumites are worrying about bad weather for today, don't! We're seeing blue skies, and perfect temperature this weekend, just in time for the Annual Fireworks Festival next week! Worldwide, however, other cities aren't so lucky. We've got a couple of rain showers hitting Nautilus Park this weekend, so anyone travelling there might be out of luck. Euride Gorge will be slightly cloudy tomorrow, but there should be no problems for anyone planning to go this weekend. Both the Capital City of Eden and Palumpolum will be windy tomorrow, so anyone going out should be sure to hold their belongings tightly. This is Nia Ezra, with today's weather forecast, wishing you a safe day here in our wonderful world of Cocoon!"

Nero's eyes shot up as soon as the report finished. "...I hate it when I'm right."

Hearing the phrase "world of Cocoon" started the gears in his head. So he was right about not being in the future. However, after listening to that report list out the names of cities he had never even heard of, he came to an even worse conclusion: Nero was not in his world anymore. He was now in an alternate Earth, or another world entirely. The boy hated the theory, but it seemed plausible.

The young man leaned forward as he placed his hands in his face. "This isn't happening... This can't be fucking happening..."

This was not how things were supposed to go. He was supposed to be back in Fortuna, helping Dante and the others finish their mission. He was supposed to finally get the chance to eliminate him. Not be another world away. Worse, even, he didn't even know how he was going to get back. Many thoughts disturbed Nero all at once as he felt fury, embarrassment, and a sliver of panic. If he had only followed Dante's orders, he would not have found himself in his current predicament.

The lost demon hybrid slumped back into the bench as he let the reality of his dilemma sink in. His eyes looked on as the water coming from the fountain flowed into the pool below. After a couple of minutes, Nero's eyes lazily fell onto his right hand, which he noticed was still exposed.

Coming to a decision, he took a deep breath. "Baby steps..." he encouraged himself. "First thing's first. Gotta get my arm covered up."

Looking around, he tried to see if he could find a medical store nearby. It was difficult, due to many of the signs being written in Cocoon Text. Fortunately, he noticed that there was a little shop a good distance to the right. There was a sign in front that he could not read, but judging by the unicorn mascot wearing a white doctor's coat, the store sold medical supplies.

"Baby step... but I'll take it," he muttered as he got off of the bench, marching towards the store.

Lightning walked along the fountain as she examined the area. She usually wandered around aimlessly before reporting for work, and today she had found herself in the Shopping Mall. The soldier hadn't really meant to go there, but now that she was there, she felt it was a good idea to memorize the area, since she was scheduled to patrol the area during the Fireworks Festival the next week. And since she was off-duty, she had a good amount of time to so.

Lightning examined the stores, keeping an eye on what they sold, and how their security looked. She had even asked some of them if their security systems were up and running, and if they weren't, she advised them to contact the proper people to check on them. After all, as quiet as the city was, there were still thieves every now and then. And the chances of them appearing would increase by the next week.

"Ah! If it isn't Sergeant Farron!" called a voice.

Turning towards the voice as she exited an accessory store, Lightning saw that the male soldier from yesterday was approaching her.

"Doing some shopping, Sergeant?" he inquired.

She shook her head. "No. I'm just running a preliminary security check. This is my assigned patrol area for the Fireworks Festival next week, so I thought it would a good idea to be familiar with it."

The man nodded in understanding. "That makes sense. No offense, Sergeant, but you don't really look like the type of person that'd go out shopping before reporting for duty."

His statement did not sit right with her. "Is that so? And just what kind of person do you think I am, soldier?"

The man only grinned, failing to notice the stern tone of her voice. "Well, that's simple. You're our raid leader, Sergeant. And we're all proud to serve under you, ma'am."

The sergeant let out an amused sigh before responding. "Then as your raid leader, soldier, I'm ordering you to stop wasting time here chatting. Don't you have a post that you need to return to?"

"Yes, Sergeant! Right away!" he saluted, before hurrying off to his post.

The Sergeant waited for him to be out of sight before returning to her walk. She neared a jewelry shop, while thinking about what the man had said. The woman felt that her fellow soldier's claim was mostly right, but sometimes she would window shop when she walked around town on her own. However, she never bought anything that she did not feel she needed.

Looking at the window, a peculiar trinket caught her eye. It was a pendant hanging from a ring with a thin chain, shaped to look like Cocoon with a sharp swirl at the bottom. Despite its unique, even remarkable design, she didn't much care for it. She wasn't much of a jewelry person. Perhaps Serah would be fond of it, she wondered.

She then remembered that shopping was something that Serah was more accustomed to due to her age. In fact, the last time she was at the Shopping Mall, Serah had accompanied her. But that was a long time ago.

...Right before she had enlisted, actually...

Her thoughts then went back to her nineteen-year-old sister, and how much they had drifted apart over the last few years. Serah would probably go out shopping with her friends in her free time, while Lightning was always working. She knew that the time she spent with her sister would become shorter when she joined the Guardian Corps, but a part of her had hoped that she would eventually find time as she rose up the ranks. To her misfortune, the plan backfired, and with a promotion came more responsibilities. She got busier. And before long, she began spending even less time with her sister, and more time working. Soon after, she started talking to Serah less than she would have liked.

Serah was in middle school when she enlisted, and Lightning knew that adolescence was a very trying time in a person's life. To her regret, the younger Farron sister had to go through it alone. The girl had probably worried about high school drama, her relationships with others, and other personal problems. And when she wanted to ask her sister for advice, Lightning was nowhere to be found. Serah's inquiries were left unanswered by the silent void that the soldier left behind when she went off to her duties.

Lightning felt a heavy pang of guilt when she realized how often she had been absent. Serah probably hung out with NORA as a means to satisfy the emotional needs that she had failed to support her with. Serah had ran off to that show-off Snow because Lightning had failed to be there for her.

Her carelessness had brought this about, which made it even more apparent that Lightning needed to be the one to fix this Snow problem.

Frowning, the soldier continued to wander aimlessly as her mind played with scenarios that could rectify said problem. Lightning had to reconnect with Serah, but given how long it had been, she just didn't know how.

What a fool she had been... She had sworn on her mother's grave that she would protect Serah... yet all this time she had driven her to despair and loneliness. The thought alone disheartened her greatly.

Then, a loud voice interrupted her thoughts. "Would you like to buy a Chocobo for your son there, ma'am? Here, have a look."

Blinking, Lightning looked to her left, and saw a wooden Chocobo stand. All around it were small cages. Inside them were little Chocobo Chicks, which were small birds that had round bodies, round heads, little wings, and orange beaks and talons. The feathers covering them varied with color, as some had a red, blue, black, green, purple, silver, or gold color to it. Selling them was man wearing an apron, and a flamboyant Chocobo cap.

The potential customers were a mother and her son. The mother was light-skinned, with light bluish-green eyes and shoulder-length platinum-colored hair. The woman wore a cotton, ivory wraparound sweater with off-shoulder sleeves, and beige capri pants on her legs, while brown leather wedge sandals were on her feet. She wore a simple necklace with a brown braided lace, and a silver pendant hanging from it.

The son was as light-skinned as his mother, and had her platinum hair and bluish-green eyes. He wore a short-sleeve orange and yellow jacket over a black shirt. On his hands were a pair of black gloves with white palms on them. There was a yellow wristband tied around his left wrist, which was right above his left glove. He also wore deep green pants, with a black storage pack hanging from the black leather belt around his waist, while a pair of beige shoes were on his feet. He wore a green neckerchief, with black detailed lines over his neck.

He seemed to be fourteen-years-old, which was not too far from when Lightning had lost her mother. She also noticed that the mother and son were as close as she and her sister used to be.

The salesman continued with his pitch as he gently held a golden Chocobo in his hand. "Well, ma'am? Look at this little Chocobo! Ain't it the best?"

The Chocobo Chick chirped at the woman happily, which made her giggle. "Oh, how cute!"

The boy next to her frowned in slight embarrassment. "You're a fan, too, huh, Mom?"

"Of course!" she responded. "I thought you liked them, too? You'd always go 'Mommy, Mommy! Can you buy a Chocobo for me? Please, please, please?' whenever we saw one!" she laughed.

"And how long ago was that?" he deadpanned.

The woman rubbed her chin in thought. "It wasn't too long ago, actually... I think it was about ten years ago?"

The boy groaned.

"Well, Chocobos weren't as popular back then as they are now," the salesman told. "Nowadays, they're sold out in any place that sells 'em! We even have another shop at Euride getting a new shipment today because they ran out yesterday! I'm still waiting on mine, but just for you two, if you buy one now, I'll give you a discount."

The mother shook her head. "Thank you, but I'm afraid we can't. We're actually on vacation right now, so it wouldn't be a good idea."

It was when she heard the word "vacation" that the idea came to Lightning.

"Right... That's it... Me and Serah could go on a trip..." she whispered.

The plan was a perfect. She could request for some time off, and spend it visiting places with Serah. That way, Lightning would be able to make up for the time that she had not spent with Serah. It would not make up all of the time that was wasted, but would be enough to reconnect with her sister, and get Serah's mind off of Snow. Lightning's birthday was in the following week, so she would tell Serah of her plans then.

She silently thanked the mother and son as she watched them walk away from the stand, wishing them to have a good time the rest of their vacation.

She was about to report to base, but stopped when something else caught her eye. Walking towards a Unicorn Mart outlet was a man with platinum hair, similar to the parent and child, but with lighter tones. He was wearing a long, blue coat, which certainly caught one's attention. What caught her attention the most, though, was the large sword sheathed on his back. It looked suspicious to her. Robberies had been reported before in the Shopping Mall, but most people usually hid their weapons. Letting the man go unsupervised was unwise, especially if the threat of an armed robbery was present.

Deciding to plan her vacation after work, Lightning made her way towards the small shop.

-Unicorn Mart-

A small chime entered his ears before hearing the male clerk cheerfully greeting him with "Hi there! Welcome to Unicorn Mart!"

"Yeah, whatever," Nero greeted, shrugging off a chill down his spine.

The reason why was because of the holographic line/sign-whatever that was in front of the entry frame. It felt weird.

"Listen, do you guys sell arm slings and athletic tape?"

The clerk typed into the monitor, which was actually a computer screen rooted to the counter, and smiled at him. "We actually do! Just go all the way down to the second-to-last aisle to your right. It's at the very end."

"Yeah, thanks."

"Glad to be of service!"

The young man walked away from the counter, unaware of the clerk curiously staring at the sword on his back. Nero made his way down to the second-to-last aisle.

He frowned. "Tch. Unicorn Mart..."

Walking all the way down to the end of the aisle, Nero's eyes scanned through the racks of items. He spotted what seemed to be bandage boxes, judging by the cover. Looking closely, he finally found a box with an arm sling picture on it.

When he grabbed the box, he heard the entrance chime go off again, which told him that someone else had entered the shop.

Scanning the racks, he finally spotted a box of black tape. The young devil hunter examined it closely, and sighed in relief when he saw that there as a picture of a person sticking the tape around his arm, which told him that it was an adhesive tape. Glad that he had what he needed, Nero held both items with his left hand, while sticking his right hand in his pocket to avoid attention. He made it out of the aisle, and visibly frowned. Three people were in the paying line, which meant he could not just leave right away. Groaning, he took his place at the end of the line.

Lightning stood near the doorway, arms crossed as she looked at the man. He had walked out of the aisle and had gotten in line. The soldier examined his body language, and noticed that he was tense. She surmised that he was in a hurry, and wanted to leave as soon as possible. Or perhaps he was mentally preparing himself for his robbery. Internally, she surmised that he was no professional, considering that he was about to make the mistake of robbing a store without concealing his face.

Then his eyes meet hers. He looked away briefly, but then looked back with his blue yes. Lightning had a tendency to stare at others when she was focused enough on something, and the young man must have caught her doing that.

Nero's eyebrow arched quizzically when he spotted her. She had pale aqua eyes that stared at him intently. Her hair, to his surprise, was rose-colored, which he thought was unnatural. He then amended himself when he remembered that his own hair was the unnatural color of platinum.

Nero then saw that the woman staring at him was wearing a uniform that was similar to one he had seen on the way to the mall. It belonged to two individuals who were arresting a man who was drunk in public. This told him that she was part of the local law enforcement. Seeing this, his eyes narrowed to glare at hers. He did not know why she was watching him, but she unnerved him regardless. He was going to make sure she knew he was doing the same.

Lightning's eyes matched his shortly. She was unfazed at his glare. Something about him was off-putting, and the way he glared at her annoyed her. It reminded her of Snow, and began to irritate her. The young man was silently challenging her with his glare, and she would respond to it with one of her own.

The glare-off went on for a good while, with neither taking their eyes off the other.

"Sir? I can help you right here."

Nero blinked, and looked in front of him. The other customers had already left, and there was nobody between him and the counter. He looked back at the woman. His eyes widened slightly when he saw the satisfied look in her eyes. With a final snort in her direction, he then walked towards the counter.

"Just these two, please," Nero requested.

The clerk kindly took it, and ran the items through a scanner. After typing into the computer, he smiled at Nero. "Okay. That'll be 10 gil, please."

Nero nodded. "Sounds about right."

The young hunter then reached into a the pocket inside the left side of his coat. The clerk eyes then widened, when he saw the pistol that was in the holster on his hip. Nero pulled out a $20 bill, and placed it on the counter.

"Can I get the change back, please?" he requested.

The clerk looked at the bill, blinked twice, and then looked back at the customer. "Um, sir? What is this?"

"It's twenty bucks," he replied.

"...Sir, this is paper. It's not gil," the clerk explained with a cheerful, yet wary tone.

"Of course it's paper. It's a dollar bill," was Nero's reply.

The clerk was obviously nervous at this point, as he took a gold coin from the cash register. "Sir, this is gil," he explained. "We only accept this here, sir."

And at that moment, Nero felt like slapping himself in the face. He was in another world. Of course they had a different currency!

"Well, um... Can't you make an exception? It's valuable," he offered meekly.

"I'm sorry but I can't. If you can't pay for this, then I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to return those items to where you found them."

Nero frowned, a frustrated groan escaping his mouth. This made the clerk even more nervous.

"Is there a problem here, gentlemen?"

Nero visibly gritted his teeth when he heard a cool, female voice. Quickly glancing to his left, he saw that the woman was standing next to him with her arms crossed, her eyes still piercingly on him.

Taking a deep breath, Nero tried to sound calm as he spoke. "No, officer. Nothing's wrong."

Lightning did not even blink at the man's frustrated tone, holding her even and stern gaze at the man.

Nero shook his head, and then looked back at the clerk. "Anyway, I'll just... I'll go put these back now." He then snatched both of the items with his left hand in a harsh manner, and walked back to the aisle. Lightning's eyes never left the back of the man's blue coat as he walked off.

"Um, you're with the Bodhum Security Regiment, right?" The woman didn't look at the clerk as she nodded. "Well, just so you know, that man had a gun hidden in his coat!" he whispered.

The female soldier's eyes narrowed further. She quickly caught the number of the aisle the man went in, before turning towards the clerk.

"Be ready to activate your security system... Just in case," she ordered silently, not bothering to deal with the clerk's reaction as she made her way into the aisle next to it.

Meanwhile, Nero grounded his teeth as he approached the racks where he found the two items. Nothing was going his way that day, it seemed. He was far away from home, he didn't know where he was, and now his money was useless. And they were making a big deal out of tape and an arm sling. He growled at how ridiculous the whole thing was, and over something so insignificant. In fact, if he were to take the items and hide them in his coat, they probably wouldn't even notice...

The former knight looked to the left slowly, and then to the right. The woman had not followed him, and nobody was around. And after an incredibly bad start to his day, he wanted to regain a sense of control over his misfortune.

Reaching for the box with the black tape, he slowly tore the cardboard box. He winced several times when it made small tear sounds. After opening it to a significant length, Nero pulled the black tape out with his left hand, and shoved it into his left pocket. He then repeated the same thing with the arm sling, but placed it inside his coat pocket. Nero then hid the torn boxes behind a row of bandage boxes.

'Now I just gotta get outta here,' he thought to himself. The young man then turned to walk away.

"Going somewhere with that?"

Nero instantly froze, with his eyes widening as far as they could. Slowly turning to the right, he saw that the rose-haired officer was standing behind him with a fierce look in her eyes. It didn't take him long to figure out that she had seen him stealing the black tape and the arm sling.

"Hands behind your back!" she ordered as she gripped a handle on a weapons case that Nero had barely noticed before that moment.

He slowly raised his left hand. "Okay... I know this looks bad, but there's a perfectly logical explanation for this."

"Is that right? Because the only explanation I see here is that you're stealing," she countered.

Nero chuckled anxiously. "Hehe, yeah... See, here's the thing-"

The man quickly grabbed a box of bandages, and threw it at the woman's face, before darting down the aisle.

Lightning swatted the box to the side, and quickly gave chase.

Nero turned around the corner, and ran for the doorway.

"Turn it on!" he heard the cop shout behind him, but he paid it no mind.

He should have, for a few seconds later, right as he crossed the holographic line over the entrance, Nero was instantly bombarded with shocks of electricity coursing through his body.

'Holographic... tasers?!' he balked mentally.

Lightning watched as the thief let out a pained cry, almost slumping to the ground then and there. That was when she knew something was wrong. The taser frames always let out enough voltage to make someone fall to the ground, but this individual didn't. Though pained from the shock, he managed to stop himself to a crouch before he fell fully. She could only watch in stunned surprise as he bore the brunt of the pain he no doubt felt, before recovering from it soon enough. The silver-haired man then glanced back at her, before immediately running off to make his escape.

"Take it down!" she ordered the clerk, making him quickly disable the trap so she could run right after him. "This is Sergeant Farron to all units! Be on the lookout for a male with platinum hair wearing a long blue trench coat! He's committed a theft, and I'm currently in pursuit! Repeat, in pursuit!" she reported to her earpiece.

-Shopping Mall-

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" Nero hissed as he ran away from the Unicorn Mart.

He had made a rookie mistake. The young devil hunter had somehow convinced himself to shoplift, which was something he knew was extremely stupid. However, due to his rising anger, he had gone through with. And now, he had done the exact opposite of what he wanted to do, which was attract attention.

And judging by the sound of harsh footsteps behind him, the woman was already on his tail.

Out of nowhere, a man with similar attire had gotten in his path. He held his hand forward, while reaching for his pistol with the other. "Stop! Bodhum Security RegimAAAA-"

Nero did not let the officer finish, as he slammed against him with his shoulder. The officer stumbled backwards, and fell down to the fountain's pool. The former knight only sprinted towards the nearby street, ignoring his prior obstacle.

The male soldier spotted Lightning running after him. "Hurry, Sergeant! He's getting away!"

"No, he's not!" she hissed to herself.

-Alleyway-

"Did you break it, Fang?!" Vanille asked.

Fang shrugged. "I guess so. Maybe."

Both girls had somehow ended up eating with two boys from some "You-Knee-Verse-City." They had tried their best to act like someone from Cocoon, and made some considerable mistakes, such as Fang covering the food that was served to her with a lot of salt. However, when the men had called their people "barbarians," Fang had quietly led them to the alleyway, where she swiftly knocked them unconscious.

After that, Fang looked through their pockets for items, only for her to find a metal card with a black circle in the middle. Vanille had pressed it, and, to their shock, it activated itself. They showed the image and information of one of the men, which was the card's owner. Shortly after, however, a silver owl had flown around them only to fly away. They then looked at the other man's card, and pressed the button on it as well. However, it caused the card the glow brightly, before subsiding. Fang pressed the button again, but this time the card activated, and all of the metal became transparent.

"Oh good!" Vanille said with relief. "Looks like it still works!" However, when the holographic image revealed itself, there was no image of a head, or information. "...Or maybe it doesn't?" Vanille wondered. "Do you think that we can use it now?"

Fang shrugged. "Maybe. But even if we could, what do we use it for?"

"Beats me," she replied honestly.

After a few seconds of thinking, Fang nodded to herself. "Yeah, let's just keep 'em."

Vanille sighed. "Might as well..."

Fang grabbed the other card, and handed it to her friend. After they put both cards away, they froze. The sound of footsteps came to their ears.

"Fang, we need to hide!" Vanille cried in panic.

With a determined look, Fang looked around the alley, and found a potential hiding space behind a large trash bin.

"There! Behind that thing!" she ordered.

Both women then hid behind the bin, triying to hide from whoever was approaching from around the corner.

From the other side of the alleyway came a man with platinum hair, and a blue coat. He was running hurriedly down the path. It seemed that he was looking over his shoulder, and wasn't watching where he was going, because he soon tripped over the two unconscious men.

Groaning as he quickly got to his feet, his eyes widened in horror at what made him stumble. "Wha- What the hell?!" he muttered.

"FREEZE!"

Another person, a girl in a uniform with rose hair, had appeared from the other end. The man turned around, and took a step backward.

The woman then saw the two men on the ground. "What happened here?!" she demanded.

The man waved his hands in the air. "Hey, hey, look, I DIDN'T DO THIS!"

The woman then pointed her gun at the man. "I said FREEZE!"

Both women saw the man grit his teeth. "Grrr, DAMMIT!"

The man then ran down the alleyway, while the woman followed after him. She fired a warning shot at him, but the bullet passed the man by.

After they were out of their view, Fang and Vanille quickly left their hiding spot, and ran the other way.

Nero sprinted down the closed space, keeping his eyes focused forward as he did so. While turning around a corner, however, he briefly glanced at his right arm. Back when he had tripped over the two unconscious men, his Devil Bringer went off. This told him that something unnatural was nearby.

'What could've set it off?' he wondered.

He shook his head, and focused on evading capture. He came to a skidding halt, however, when he saw that a large grated fence was blocking the path.

"Come on, not now..." he hissed, as he his eyes darted around in search of an opening.

"Hold it right there!"

Nero grimaced in irritation as the woman's voice had finally caught up to him.

Lightning aimed her gunblade at the thief's back, eyeing him carefully. She approached slowly, steadying her aim on him in case the man decided to attack.

The young thief looked left, right, and finally up. He saw that the fence was high. If he tried to climb over it, the woman would be able to apprehend him. To escape from the soldier, he would have to jump over it. And he would have to jump like the superhuman he was; he would need to make another rookie mistake. Thinking to himself in seconds, he made his decision.

If he wanted to evade capture, he would have to cheat.

"Give up!" she demanded harshly. "There's nowhere left for you to run!"

'That's what you think, lady,' he mentally dismissed, and ran towards the fence.

The soldier gritted her teeth and gave chase. She sprinted towards him, and would grab him as he tried climbing up the fence.

However, what happened next seemed impossible to her, even if she saw it first hand. The thief crouched down, and seemingly soared into the air. He flipped forward, and the tip of his feet slid along the fence. Using the slight friction between his feet and the fence, the man then kicked his feet against the fence, and jump upwards. Lightning's eyes widened in surprise as the man landed on the other side of the fence. The soldier was certainly caught off guard by the thief's action, as it bordered on the edge of superhuman.

Lightning was surprised, to be sure, but also undaunted.

Nero got to his feet, dusting off his right shoulder with his left hand. Turning around, he smirked triumphantly at the girl. But the smirk fell when he saw what she was doing.

The girl snapped the fingers of her right hand, and was then enveloped in a purple glow. She then crouched down, pushing herself off of the ground. To his disbelief, the officer soared into the air. His jaw slacked as she made it to the top of the fence with ease.

"C'mon, gimme a break!" he whined as he darted out of the alleyway.

Lightning snapped her right fingers again, and landed down to the ground on the other side of the fence. As soon as she spotted the thief, she was on his heels.

The former knight ran out into the street, and hissed when he saw that there was a lot of people out and about. Pushing past the ones that were in his way, the devil hunter tried to find a place where he could hide. His blue eyes then landed on a path where a lot of people were going. As he got closer, he realized that it was a train station, spotting train cars inside.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw his chaser pushing against people while trying to catch up. In that moment, Nero chose to enact his next plan of action inside the station.

He was going to blend in with the crowd.

-Bodhum Station-

Lightning hastily ran into the station. As she made her way there, many civilians had gotten in her way, which made her lose sight of the thief.

As she ran down to the platforms, she could hear the speakers make announcements overhead. "Train shuttle to Euride Gorge will be departing in five minutes."

She walked to the center of the platform, and many passengers walked all around her. The soldier's eyes furrowed with focus as she tried to find him. Compared to most of the citizens of Bodhum, this thief stuck out like a sore thumb. It would be very easy to hide in plain sight, which meant that he probably wasn't.

Then, she got a break.

A female voice talked through her earpiece. "Attention all units near Bodhum Station. Systems report that security has been breached near the Euride Gorge platform. Any units within the vicinity are ordered to report."

Lightning reached for her earpiece. "This is Sergeant Farron, over. I'm currently in Bodhum Station. Investigating the breach now."

"Copy that."

Heading for the platform, she could hear the intercom report another announcement. "Train shuttle to Euride Gorge will be departing in two minutes."

The female soldier scanned the area. The platform was relatively empty, save for some passengers getting their belongings. Everyone else had already boarded the train.

She was walking past one of the doors, when she paused. Looking over her shoulder, she spotted a red handle that belonged to a sheathed blade. The blade was sheathed to the back of a person with a red hood, who was inside a train car and sitting next to the door.

He was also wearing a blue coat.

The soldier noticed that the individual had not noticed her, which meant that the element of surprise was hers.

She reached for her earpiece, and whispered, "Target spotted. Apprehending now."

Nero sat on the seat of the train. He figured that if he waited on the train long enough, the soldier would eventually give up. As he sat, he actually thought about riding the train, and seeing where it went.

His thoughts were interrupted, however, when someone pulled his hood off of his head. He looked up, only to instantly regret it.

The soldier gave him a harsh, unforgiving glare, gun pointed right at him. "Get up! Now!"

Nero grimaced, but sighed as he gave her a sheepish glance. "Don't s'pose you could let me off with a warning this time?"

"After all the trouble you put me through? Not happening. Points for trying, though. Try not to wear a sword that sticks out next time."

He had forgotten that his sword was on his back. He had made another rookie mistake.

The former knight frowned. "Noted."

The officer then grabbed his left arm and yanked him to his feet, which garnered the attention of all the nearby passengers. "Now turn around! You're under arrest."

Before the thief could respond, however, the door next to them started closing. Reacting quickly, Nero grabbed the muzzle of her gun, and shoved the officer to the ground. The action was so quick and sudden, she hadn't had time to retaliate or react. Jumping forward, he rolled out of train car right as the door closed.

The man quickly got up, and saw the officer had rushed to the door's window as soon as she got to her feet. He smirked as she banged her fist on it furiously. Nero decided to be cheeky, even, and waved at her goodbye.

His smirk fell, unfortunately, when he noticed that she placed her finger on her ear, and spoke.

'She's calling for backup,' he realized. Tensing visibly, Nero then ran down the platform, hoping to get a head start on his chasers.

Lightning struck the window one more time as the train to Euride moved off of the platform slowly. Taking deep breaths, she sat down on the seat that the thief had sat on. Her stomach churned as the train picked up speed.

The Sergeant gritted her teeth in annoyance. She had called for reinforcements to apprehend the thief, but deep down in her mind, she knew that they wouldn't catch him.

Lightning grew frustrated with herself, because she knew that she was going to be late for work. She prided herself with always arriving to base on time. The soldier would have to work overtime, which meant more time away from her sister.

But what infuriated her just as much was that her pride had taken a devastating blow.

The man had both outsmarted and outran her. No one ever outran her, and her speed was something she felt proud of. But this thief was just as fast as her, even with all of the gear he wore.

As soon as she got back, she would make sure that he was caught. Lightning would be the one to bring him to justice.

-Secluded Shore-

The devil hunter looked around the corner, and breathed in relief when he saw no soldiers. He then walked down the steps, and onto the beach. Spotting a tree that offered shade, Nero went over there to sit down. As he sat cross legged, the boy reached for his pockets, and removed the sling and tape that he had stolen.

He immediately went to work, and rolled up his right sleeve, after which he removed the red glove on his hand. He then took the tape, and pulled on the strap, before sticking it to his right bicep. After wrapping it around the length of his Devil Bringer, the hybrid then wrapped the tape around his thumb and fingers. The young hunter padded the cast to test its hardness, before putting his red finger-less glove back on his right hand. He then took out the white sling, and put it on his right hand. Nero then got the lace, and placed it on the left side of his neck near his clavicle, completing the look of a man with an injured arm.

His lips dipped into a frowned as he thought about all of the effort he had put in to get the items for this disguise. Law enforcement was on the lookout for him, which caused him to hide in his current position. He had planned to keep a low profile, and had failed that objective. Not only that, but he seemed to have made an enemy out of that female officer, judging by how furiously she pounded on the door of the train car.

Nero decided to wait for the heat to go down. He noticed that the tower that he had woken up under was not too far from his current position. He would wait until sunset to head back, so that he would not be blinded by the cover of night.

Taking a deep breath, he sat there patiently, waiting for the sun to go down.

-Nuova Fortuna - Beach - Two Years Prior-

"Hey, Kyrie."

The sun had gone down, and the couple had decided to return home. Nero was rolling the blanket up, while the empty basket was on the sand next to him. The former Songstress looked down at her lifelong friend when he spoke.

"Remember what you asked me earlier? About me, and my dreams?" he inquired.

"Why..." The girl's face softened. "Yes. But, you don't have to say anything. It was a silly question."

"It's not silly. It meant a lot to you," he asserted. "And yeah, I don't have to answer, but I want to. And lucky me, I just thought of one."

Kyrie looked at him carefully as he stood up from the ground and walked over to her. She noticed that when he turned to look at her, he had a sincere look in his eyes. She also saw that he was blushing slightly.

"Look," he started. "I don't... I'm not really experienced with this kind of talk, okay? So I'll try to avoid saying anything cheesy. But see, I really don't have any big aspirations that I want to achieve. It kinda happens when the only thing you're good for's fighting."

His hands then gripped her shoulders, which gave him her full attention. "But I do have a dream. I dream about living out the rest of my life peacefully with my family: you. As long as I know you're here, I don't need anything else. I'll always be at your side... To have you with me is my only dream... Okay...?"

The girl's face softened in disbelief, as the sincerity of his words sank in. When they did, she smiled at him with teary eyes.

"Nero... Thank you."

Nero returned the smile as he pulled her into a hug. "Listen to me Kyrie. I'll always protect you. Don't you ever forget that. Alright?"

In a time of despair, he would give her hope.

-Present-

Nero's eyes slowly opened. The boy had fallen asleep, and he was relieved to know that they had not found him. Looking up, he noticed that the color of the sky was a pearl-pink, which meant that it was the afternoon.

Just like the one on that day three years ago, when he had spent the day with his beloved.

Frowning sadly, Nero stood up from his spot, deciding that it was time to head back for the island he had awoken in. The boy had only taken a few steps, before stopping. He turned toward his right, and looked out to the distance. After a short while, Nero reached underneath the collar of his black undershirt with his left hand, and pulled out the golden Angel Pendant around his neck.

Holding the trinket in his hand, his eyes closed in melancholy, as the pendant made him recall joyous, yet painful memories.

The former knight put the Angel Pendant away, and started off towards his destination.

What do you call a dream that never comes true? Simple... A regret.

-to be continued in the next mission-

Mission 4: The Stone in Stagnant Waters

Nero meets a young girl after saving her from peril. As he struggles to discover where he is in the new world, events unfold elsewhere that forces others into the chain of fate. The game is about to change. Will Nero adapt, or perish?

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