Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy XIII

Chapter 7- Partings and Promises

"Outside the dream world, life can be harsh, even cruel, but it is life…"

"The train fell down too. I wonder what else is down here…" I heard the redhead's accented voice as we were now walking on top of the fallen Purge train. We had fought already a few Cie'th along with PSICOM soldiers and Breshan Bass… man those things were ugly. But with this much fighting I've been getting the hang of magic, it sometimes goes all over the place, but it's not as bad as in the beginning.

I was walking behind Lightning when suddenly, she stopped and I heard her gasp quietly. Confused, I tried to follow her gaze, squinting my eyes at the crystal structure. A gasp escaped my lips as I realized who it was.

"Serah." Lightning said as she began to make her way over to her crystallized sister, but Snow beat her to it.

"Serah! I'll get you out of there!" The tall blonde stated, taking a hold of the girl's hand. He moved away from the girl to take a chunk of metal nearby. Kneeling in front of Serah, he started digging her out of her crystal prison. Soon, Sazh and Vanille got down on their knees and picked away at the crystal.

I silently debated with myself whether I should help them out or not. The girl was a crystal now, what was he planning to do after he got her out? Carry her all the way to wherever we were going? I sighed quietly, this whole thing was making me a little too insensible… Finally deciding to help out, I began to look around for something to use, but stopped when I heard Lightning speak, barely audible.

"This is good-bye."

I looked over at her as she turned away and started to walk off. My eyebrows knitted together in confusion and I was about to follow, when I heard Snow's voice from behind me.

"Lightning? You're just gonna leave her?" He asked incredulously.

"PSICOM will be here soon. If they find us, we're all dead. You think Serah would want that? You think you know how she feels?" The pink haired woman replied and started walking again.

"If I leave her, then I'll never know." Snow called after her, making her stop. "We'll be fine. I can handle anything they throw at us. No one will die. I'll protect Serah. And Cocoon!"

I cringed when the woman turned to face him. Her eyes were narrowed dangerously and her lips pursed into a thin line. Stiffening as she walked past me, I turned to see what her next move would be. She stopped in front of the man and glared at him for a moment before, throwing her hand back and knocking the man down with a punch to the face. I flinched slightly when the man hit the ground.

"Does she look protected to you?" The woman glared down at him.

Snow looked at her from the ground, before standing up stubbornly. "I can save her!" But he was thrown back down by another punch from Lightning.

"What can you possibly do?"

"Whatever it takes!" The blonde man stated, about to stand up again. Lightning's fist loosened at the statement, before she faced away from him, crossing her arms across her chest.

"You two are hopeless." The pilot spoke up, putting his hands behind his head as he walked away. I followed after him, remembering that I still had his gun. "You just can't admit it. You want to stay as much as he does." The man said as he looked at Lightning.

"Thank you…" I told him, stretching the hand holding the pistol towards him. He looked at me curiously. "It uh… ran out of ammo..." I told him somewhat embarrassed, a small blush tinting my cheeks. He chuckled as he took a hold of the gun and lightly ruffled my hair.

Suddenly a bright light fell upon the pilot. I blinked and followed where the light was emitting from. I twitched as I caught sight of the first Militarized Unit I had ever fought.

"No… no! No, no, no, not now!" The pilot screamed as he ran back to the others, dragging me behind him.

"Damn, how many times do we have to kill the same freaking machine?!" I hissed as the thing jumped down and turned to face us. Vanille shot me a curious look, before taking her weapon out.

I stepped forward, but stopped when Snow held his arm out. "Stand back!"

AFTER BATTLE

We all stared at where the Militarized Unit used to be, until Lightning turned on her heel and walked away, but Snow stood in her way.

"You're leaving?"

"We want to help Serah too." The old man spoke up sighing. "But without tools… we could be digging for days. The army's on our trail. For now, we've got to keep moving. For now."

"So I just abandon her, and save myself?"

"What about your focus?" Lightning asked him, making him gasp quietly. "What happened to banding together and saving the world? Isn't that what you promised? Now you want to forget it all and die right here? Snow? You're nothing but talk."

Snow kept his gaze on the ground as the woman faced away from him and started walking. He gritted his teeth. "Lightning!" He called after her, tightening his hands into fist. "I'll do whatever it takes. I'll finish this Focus… and keep Serah safe. That's my promise." He said, finally lifting his gaze from the ground, a determined look in his eyes.

"Great job so far." The woman coldly replied and walked off.

Sazh sighed as he stood before Snow, who shot him a smile. "Stay out of trouble." The old man sighed again and placed a hand on the taller man's shoulder. "You too."

Snow turned to face us and pointed behind himself. "Get going." Vanille looked over at Hope slightly, before doing as the man said. "Later." He told her as she passed by him. "Okay."

Hope ran after her but stopped suddenly. He turned back around and moved to stand in front of Snow.

"Snow…" He trailed off.

"Save it for next time, kiddo." He winked at him. "You'll get left behind." Hope instantly reacted and looked at where the others had gone through. "But…"

"It's okay, Hope. Light will take care of you. We'll meet again." The tall blonde told him, grinning down at him.

"Yeah. Count on it…" The boy muttered, before going after the others. Snow looked at me next, questioningly. He was probably wondering why I hadn't gone after my brother. I awkwardly shifted under his gaze and shook my head.

"Aren't you…?" Snow only blinked as I turned away from him and made my way over to Serah. I took a stick of metal from the floor and wordlessly began to pick at the girl's crystal prison. I felt Snow's stare on me a little longer before he too joined me.

"Are you sure? You still have time to catch up with them…" I heard him grunt out as he picked away at the crystal. I stopped for a moment and looked over at him. Feeling my stare, he turned his head slightly to face me.

"I- I don't… uh…" I trailed off unsure of why I didn't want to go with my brother. Some sister I am. I looked down as I racked my brain for an answer, my eyebrows knitted together and I chewed nervously on my bottom lip. 'Is it because… I don't want to face him? Or…' Snow stopped digging when he saw the troubled expression on my face and spoke in a reassuring tone.

"It's okay. You'll see him soon enough! Don't worry, we'll get Serah out of here, and we'll catch up with the others in no time! We'll finish this Focus, and you'll be home in time for dinner." He winked at me and turned to dig again. I felt my lips twitched into a small smile. This guy's attitude was a little contagious I thought as I began to dig as well, a little bit of hope burning in my chest.

I wasn't sure how long we've been digging, but soon my arms gave out. I panted as I sat down to rest and looked over at Snow. The man hadn't even stopped once. My gaze swiveled towards Serah's crystal and I grimaced when it didn't seem like we were doing any progress. Suddenly the zooming of airships reached my ears. I took in a sharp breath as a spotlight fell upon us. Snow barely acknowledge this and kept digging.

'Sweep team to base. L'Cie spotted. I repeat, l'Cie spotted. Pulse l'Cie confirmed.' I heard a voice echoed from the airships and raised a hand to cover my eyes as another spotlight fell upon us.

"You gonna lend me a hand, or what?" Snow asked, when he stood up. Just then, troops of soldiers jumped down from the airships and threw AMPs to soften their falls. 'Commencing cleanup protocol.'

"Cleanup? Let me help!" Snow exclaimed as he threw the chunk of metal he was digging with and killed off two soldiers in the process. "Stand back! I got this!" He told me as I slowly got to my feet. He ran towards the troop of soldiers and jumped on one of them. I gulped when more soldiers jumped down from the ships. 'He's gonna get himself killed at this rate…' A determined look took over my features and I walked up to stand beside Snow.

The soldiers shot at him mercilessly, but the bullets barely did anything to stop him. He attacked the soldiers with his fists, while I shot magic spells to whoever approached me. We had managed to wipe off quite a few, but they were just too many. We were both panting, but Snow had gotten it worse as he was attacked more than I was.

I could only watch as he fell to his knees breathlessly. A confused frown slowly made its way to my face when the man's brand began to glow.

"What's he doing? Watch yourself!" The soldiers exclaimed, backing away as a blue orb with strange symbols began to grow before Snow. "Stay alert!"

The orb kept steadily growing, until it broke and out came… two robotic-like women? What the hell? My eyes widened when they easily disposed of the troops. 'This must be... eidolons?'

"Cool! They're on our side!" I exclaimed as my lips coiled up into a small smile. Spoke too soon. My face fell as the floating, look alike women turned to face us.

BATTLE COMMENCE

Battle theme: Eidolons

The two women started by casting some kind of spell on Snow. I cringed when one of the women attacked. She threw a glowing blue tire at Snow. The hit lifted him into the air and then he fell, hitting the ground with a loud thud. I quirked a bemused eyebrow when the other one shot him a cure spell. What kind of sick joke is this? Are they trying to kill him or just torture him?

Angered by this, I began to cast any spell that came to my mind. I thanked The Maker when they hit its target, but regretted it when the two turned towards me. The one with the tire lifted said object and began to glow as if she was charging or something. I took the chance and kept performing fire spells. Snow stood up and attacked the woman as well. Suddenly the tire was headed towards me. I tried to dodge, but it was too fast. I let out a cry when the spinning wheel made contact with my stomach. Then the same woman moved forward and lifted the tire, and me in the process. When I fell to the ground she made a spinning gesture and the wheel started spinning. A burning sensation went through my abdomen, but it quickly vanished when the other one shot me a cure spell.

I stood up shakily and watched as Snow got into Sentinel mode and brought the enemies' attention towards himself. When the woman shot him the tire, it bounced off his crossed arms. Since the women's attention were on Snow I shot elemental spells at the aggressive one.

The woman with the wheel attacked Snow with a strong blizzard spell. But he was able to dodge to the side, a big ice structure taking his place. I stared at the towering mountain of ice, before returning my gaze to the fight to see Snow trying to provoke the woman into attacking him. She seemed unfazed by this though, and kept her steady beat of attacks, with Snow lifting his arms up into a Steelguard to prevent the woman from hurting him too much.

Soon, with Snow changing between Commando and Sentinel while I just stayed with Ravager, the women stopped attacking.

BATTLE ENDS

I stared as the two woman transformed into some sort of bike and then vanished into thin air and went back to Snow's crystal. The man's brand glowed as he fell to his knees once again. I sat down beside him, panting out of exhaustion and placing my head on top of my knees as he laid down.

"The Twin Sisters." An accented feminine voice reached my ears, making me lift my head slowly. "I've got to hand it to you for taking 'em down, but don't gloat just yet. Might come a time you wish you'd let 'em end it, and make things easy."

I slowly turned my head to face the owner of the voice, and came face to face with the point of a red spear. I lifted my gaze from the weapon and my light blue-green eyes met jade green ones. The woman with bronze skin tilted her head, raising two amused eyebrows. Behind me, I heard Snow sat up.

"More of you, huh?"

My gaze broke away from the woman with wavy dark brown hair with a braid behind her left ear, to see more soldiers behind her. "They're l'Cie. Take them." One of the men steeped forward and pointed a gun at us.

"Back off." Snow said, as he moved an arm in front of me protectively.

"You want to keep breathing? Shut up and come quiet." The woman said as she lifted Snow's chin up. The tall blonde jerked his head away from the woman and then got knocked out when the woman elbowed him in the face.

She looked at me next and inched closer. Instinctively, I backed away from her. Having the worst idea I could ever have, I lifted a hand to shoot a fire spell at her. It didn't work as I wanted to though. The woman must have anticipated my next move and took a hold of my wrist. She shook her head, her lips coiling into a smirk, and motioned for the soldiers to come at me. Panicking, I tried to kick the woman away, but she only dodged or blocked my attacks sighing.

"Alright, I tried to make things easy, but I guess you want to go like the big oaf over there." I looked once more into her eyes and glared. The last thing I saw was her eyebrows quirking in amusement before everything went black.

Author's note: Well, it's been a while... Man, I- uh... I don't even know what to say... School's being keeping me busy, yeah? Aaaand... I was maybe focusing a little more on my other story... *looks away embarrassed* I'm so sorry! *bows low at the waist*

Oh! I also donated blood recently! I was fine after the first two hours and I ate like a pig for lunch later! But then I got all dizzy and my vision was getting a little dark around the edges, and my paranoid mind started making up things about how I was gonna die of loss of blood or something... And today I had to leave school early cause I was still a little dizzy... But I had time to finish this! I had actually typed it like a week ago, but forgot about it, lol.

Anywho... the chapter is finally out! Snow won! yay! Sorry to those who didn't get who they wanted Faith to go with but I was going with votes, whoever got more votes wins so, yeah... But you will have another chance to vote who you want her to go with since the group splits up again later on! Thank you for those who reviewed, followed and favorited! (Yes, I am well aware that's not a word, lol XD) Feedback is always appreciated! :D Again, Thank you!