Heya Guys!

Now don't be mad, okay? I know it has been a month almost since I updated either of my stories, and I know you all reviewed so kindly on them so I feel more guilty : ( I do apologise, however I have had no luck whatsoever with my shoulder, and contracted a bit of an infection, yadayada. So I'm very sorry… :S Also, I've been having a little play on FF13-2 : )

Anyway, here is the next part, enjoy!

XX

Lightning narrowed her baby-blue eyes, focusing on the young girl she had positioned before her blade. She held the weapon steady, a well practiced movement she often used to interrogate enemies.

Taking a small step forward, she ignored the unusual pace of her heartbeat, it's way of alerting her body to the added adrenaline running through her veins.

This was supposed to be a rescue, so just when had everything gone so wrong?

Vanille too, took a small step, but hers was backwards, further away from the pink-haired soldier advancing upon her. She had looked down the barrel of a gun many times on Cocoon, yet none seemed quite so threatening than seeing Lightning do it. Perhaps it was because she had seen first hand, Lightning's power in combat. Yet perhaps it was simply because there was a spark of familiarity in her from her previous meetings with the older woman. Either way, she couldn't help but gulp slightly as her own eyes widened.

Lightning stepped forward again, not faltering in her stance. Something didn't feel quite right, yet the young redhead before her had blatantly admitted what she was.

She was a l'Cie, a Pulse l'Cie.

The very thing Cocoon feared most, especially military trained soldiers. Stood before her was one of the examples her superiors would tell her to 'shoot on sight.' Even though her orders would have stated as such, Lightning felt the need to speak first. Perhaps it was because the younger girl simply looked so scared, or perhaps it was down to the fact that, this far, Vanille had proved to be no threat. Not wanting to do her any harm.

But then again, she could just be pretending, lying to seem innocent.

There were so many questions flying around in the pink-haired soldiers head. She shook them out, whatever she did, she had to do so quickly. It wouldn't be long before more guards were on the way.

"You're a Pulse l'Cie?" Lightning stated the question that had been swirling the most, not just with a questionable tone but one of an unbelieving manner. This girl possessed magic beyond anything she had seen, she had seen magic, away on various missions, but to see the magic of a Pulse born l'Cie, that was entirely new to her.

In a strange way, she found herself impressed by the girls ability.

"Vanille isn't it? You're from Pulse, aren't you?" Lightning asked again, this time her voice was slightly more forceful, after all, it wasn't just a regular citizen she was talking with, Vanille had the power to do her some serious harm should this come to a fight.

Vanille however, looked as if she had no fight to give. Stepping backwards once more, she found her eyes strangely diverted to the floor, as if there was something interesting beneath her feet to watch. Anything was better than the soldiers haunting stare. She would rather be back in the hands of PSICOM. It wasn't as if she could lie to the older woman either, she would never believe that her power came from a Cocoon l'Cie, after all she would be working with the Sanctum, not against them.

She shuffled her feet again, this time more nervously than before. If she answered the question, just what would Lightning do? There would be a very fine line between dying here, and being tormented in some cell by Cocoon's soldiers, either option didn't seem too appealing.

Well, either way, it was that or becoming a Cie'th, so she guessed answering the question and taking a risk didn't seem like too bad an option right now.

"Yes…" she murmured quietly, so the soldier could only just pick up her scared tone. She looked up, her eyes locking with Lightning's once more, another silent plea of forgiveness, this time for the background she came from.

"I'm a l'Cie, from Gran Pulse…" she spoke with a little more confidence, perhaps dying at the hands of Lightning's sword would be the faster and better option of the three she was faced with.

"Tsk…" Lightning answered, feeling her anger flare up, she moved closer still, until Vanille had backed her way against the nearest wall, clearly unable to move away anymore. The glint in her eye however, suggested that she wouldn't try to.

Something that not only shocked, but sent a chill through Lightning.

'She wants to die?' she thought quickly, still meeting the bright green eyes of the younger girl. Behind their colour lay a hidden message, a saddened expression that made Lightning falter for a minute. A pain and suffering she had never seen, tinged with loneliness she knew all too well…

"I'm from Pulse, the planet you hate, I'm the very thing you are trained to look out for… to… to kill." Vanille's small limbs were shaking, and Lightning was surprised to glimpse unshed tears behind her eyes, threatening to spill. She stepped forwards again, leaving only a few metres between the two of them.

"Why are you here?" she whispered quickly, lowering her weapon a few inches, so it was pointing straight at the younger girls chest, a less threatening level. She wasn't going to take it away just yet, magic was a much quicker form of attack and Lightning never left an opening where she might be caught unawares.

"I'm not here for Cocoon…" the young girl whispered. Lightning narrowed her eyes quickly, re-raising the blade. Of course a Pulse l'Cie would say that, if ever they were caught. They would deny everything.

"Then why are you here?" Lightning asked quickly. If she was to figure out what to do, she needed an answer. She could go from there… This wasn't perhaps the best place to be having a casual conversation…

"I… I don't know…" Vanille answered truthfully, her heart crying out for Lightning to believe her. She really didn't have any idea why she had woken up on Cocoon. As far as she knew, their last focus was finished, Fang had attacked Cocoon as Ragnarok, something she had kept hidden from her friend. Now she really didn't know what she was doing here. Perhaps it really was to hurt Cocoon, something that she had no intention of doing. She couldn't hurt anymore people, she just couldn't.

It had nearly been too much the first time…

"Tsk." Lightning huffed, unbelieving. Every l'Cie should know what their focus was. She had a feeling the young girl was lying, but why? With a gun held to her, she had no option but to tell the truth, it was the only thing she could perhaps do to avoid such a harsh fate.

"I really don't know… I woke up, here in this room." Vanille nodded to the chamber in which they stood, her eyes falling upon the pillar her crystal had been perched atop of.

"Me and Fang, we woke up…" she half-whispered, staring back at the floor.

"I shouldn't even be here…"

"Wait, what do you mean woke up? Who's Fang? There's more of you?" It was very unlike Lightning to ask many questions, but she had a sudden urge to find out as much about the mysterious young l'Cie as she could.

Vanille blinked up again quickly, Lightning's word striking a chord within her. So she didn't yet know? She didn't know her own sister was a l'Cie…

"I promise, I'm not here for Cocoon. I… I don't even know what my focus is. When we woke up here, neither of us had any memories of what happened before. I was chosen as a tool in the fight against Cocoon, I was made a l'Cie to fight your planet." she paused for a moment, seeing Lightning's eyes flicker with thought. She knew wholeheartedly that these were the exact lies the had spoken to Fang…

"But I don't want to hurt anyone anymore. I made a promise that I wouldn't keep running away, that I would just wait to become a Cie'th, at least that way, no one can judge me on what I might do." she continued quickly, her words spilling fast along with the tears that had now fought their barricades and begun streaming down her cheeks. This was something she had to say, she had to get it off her chest…

"I'm human, just like you…" she reached around to the back of her head, where she knew the PSICOM soldier had hit her. She felt the familiar sting of a cut as she ran her fingers through her already-red locks.

"See, I'm flesh and blood too… If your expecting me to be something different, then you're going to be disappointed…." She raised her hand to the light, highlighting the sticky crimson substance laced across her fingers, the familiar feeling of blood. It made her head spin for a second, realising how hard she must have been hit.

Lightning looked taken aback for a second, glancing the blood that Vanille so openly brandished around. The young l'Cie couldn't possibly have known that it was half shock at her bold actions, and half concern that she was injured at all.

"So if you want to kill me… If I'm a threat… I won't stand in your way…" she whispered the last part, raising her head higher and looking on with haunting eyes. She had no intention of fighting the soldier before her, after all. Her sister, Serah, had shown such kindness to her on a planet that she thought had none.

Lightning took a quick step backwards, aware of the noise her own heartbeat was making in her chest. Vanille's plea seemed a little too personal to be a lie. If she really was here just to spend out her last days, if she was truly just here because a piece of Pulse had been awoken, then it wasn't entirely her fault.

In fact, Lightning didn't see how it was her fault at all.

Lowering her weapon carefully, Lightning held it by her side. Noticing how the young girl had a shocked expression written across her features, her gaze tinged with confusion at her sudden submission.

"I'm not going to kill you…" she whispered, her own voice lower in tone, a half-whisper.

"You… you're not?" Vanille whispered quickly, surprise evident in her voice.

"No, I'm not…" Lightning whispered, confused at her own actions, pity residing somewhere in her chest.

Vanille almost sunk to the floor in relief, but instead placed a shaking hand against the wall, so that she didn't. She had been scared for a moment and she felt slightly guilty that the fear had come out in the form of anger towards the soldier. Yet it seemed her bold actions had struck a chord in the older woman.

Lightning sighed quickly. From the moment she had raised her blade, deep down she knew she wouldn't really have the heart to kill the younger girl. Something about her just screamed out to Lightning, something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Tsk, I'm getting soft…" she whispered to herself. She turned away from Vanille slowly, all of her previous anticipation now gone.

Now she was faced with a bigger dilemma, getting in had been the easy bit, it was going to be harder getting the two of them out….

"Can you fight?" Lightning asked quickly, sure Vanille could use magic, but did she have the confidence to stand up in a real fight?

"If you have to, I mean." she added, nodding towards the door. Vanille looked a little puzzled to start with, before realising that Lightning meant getting out of the Vestige.

"Uhh, I guess so…" she whispered back, her voice losing it's boldness to the quiet sound of relief.

"Your letting me go?" she asked quietly.

"No, we still need to talk, I just don't think here is the best place…" Lightning stated, nodding towards the dead soldier. She did wonder for a brief second why they were leaving at all. Why she felt so drawn to help the younger girl. She shook the thoughts from her head however, that reason she could muse about later.

"More will be here soon, that's why I need you to be able to fight…"

She looked doubtful, but Vanille gave her a reassuring nod that she could indeed fight, if she needed to.

"Good, because I think we are going to have to…" Lightning sighed, she glanced the room for any way that might prove a better option than the direct way. Seeing no other ways out she sighed and looked back towards the door, it was now or never, perhaps it was better to take the soldiers outside by surprise, before guards came in looking for them.

"Wait…" Vanille whispered, she looked behind her quickly, her eyes falling upon Lightning's helmet. She nodded towards it quickly.

"Put that back on." she stated. Walking over to the other dead soldier.

She shuddered quickly as she remembered how easily Lightning seemed to have ended his life. Reaching down towards his body, she attempted to ignore the sight of spilled blood, it was hard to notice against the black armour anyway…

"What are you thinking?" Lightning whispered, noting her actions.

"We go out the same way as you came in." Vanille replied, matter-of-factly.

"Tsk, his armour will drown you." Lightning rolled her eyes impatiently as Vanille carefully peeled the clothing off the soldier. She looked down at herself, at least she was still wearing part of her disguise.

"Here…" she whispered, walking to the man and helping out. She could see that the more Vanille was looking upon him, the paler she was becoming. It was to be expected, she guessed that the younger girl hadn't had quite the same experience with death that she herself had known.

Vanille slipped on the soldier's black boots and dark armoured trousers with ease, her body being considerably smaller than his. Lightning handed her his heavy jacket apologetically. She reached out and immediately groaned under its weight.

How did soldiers fight in these things? She could see why Lightning wore the more revealing attire of the Guardian Corps…

Lightning spun around at the sound of footsteps, there was someone approaching the door…

"Quickly!" she hissed, turning and grabbing her own black helmet off the floor. She jammed it on her head forcefully, tucking her pink-hair neatly into the back. If this was to work, they couldn't have anything unusual as a give away. She felt her muscles twitch, ready to grab the gunblade if she should need it. She looked around quickly, Vanille too quickly tucked her hair into the helmet, its colour more noticeable against the dark armour.

"Come on…" she whispered impatiently, heading towards the exit with a brisk walk. They had to cut the other guards off before they saw the chaos that had ensued in this room.

She reached for the strangely patterned door quickly, turning one last time to make sure Vanille was following and then took a deep breath.

Pushing it outwards, she braced herself for what might be on the other side…

A.N.

Well, that's another chapter done! I'm sorry if this one is perhaps not as good as some of the previous ones, however in all my excitement with the new game I felt it was a little rushed :S , plus my muse seems to have disappeared momentarily! Hmmmm, hope it comes back soon.

Anyway, thanks for reading!