As Noctis stood in the doorway, he rubbed his eyes.

The room was dark, only illuminated by a few candles. The flames flickered and danced, which gave the room a foreboding feel. It still smelt a bit like Light, which Noctis was thankful for. The warm scent made him feel a little more at ease.

On the floor sat a small girl, no older than ten, playing with a music box. She glanced up at the intruders before fixating her gaze once again on the wooden box spewing out music notes that formed the dismal song. But that glance was more than enough to throw Noctis off-guard.

The girl had pink hair short and spiky on the right side, long and curly on the left side. Her icy, blue eyes held a vacant expression, but Noctis could see a glint of ferocity shining in them. Her hands and bare feet were red, with what Noctis assumed to be dry blood. Although the white dress, tattered and stained with blood, gave Noctis some doubts, they were soon wiped away by all the evidence he saw. The little girl was Lightning.

"You're not a Cie'th?" questioned a man who placed himself between Noctis and small Light. Although it was more of a statement than a question, his tone was still wary. His posture was guarded, ready to attack the men.

The man was of average height. He had silver hair and bright green eyes. He wore was seemed to be a work uniform: grey pants, black boots, a white coat with yellow on the sleeves, a blue tie, and a belt with various storage pouches colored red and black. In his hand, he held a boomerang at ready. He watched Noctis and his friends with trained eyes. The smallest hostile move and Noctis was sure the boomerang would be flying towards them.

"Is that Light?" bellowed Prompto as he stepped closer, gun raised to counter the boomerang. Noctis put his arm to the side as a sign to not pass him. Hope turned his attention to the blonde man and raised his boomerang a little higher.

Noctis had come to the room to look at the book for information, but perhaps this man would be of more use.

"If this is Light, then why is she a child?" inquired Noctis. He gestured to himself. "She should be about my age."

"And about this tall!" added Prompto whilst holding his hand at a height around his shoulder, palm parallel to the ground.

"Boomerang down, kiddo. You heard the desperation in the man's voice. Pretty obvious they ain't here to hurt her," spoke a deep voice from another man.

Noctis looked to his left. A man with dark skin and an afro leaned against the wall, arms crossed. His pose reminded him of Light's seemingly favorite pose: arms crossed while leaning against an object. The man wore a green coat with a symbol on it. He also had boots like the silver haired man. Do they work together?

The first man lowered his boomerang and looked over to the man leaning against the wall. "I'm just being on the safe side. There's no telling what this place will cough up next." The man's voice seemed formal, but fragile at the same time.

The man walked over to his friend and clapped him on the shoulder. The man with the afro was obviously the older of the two. "I know. I want to keep her safe just as much as you. Right now, soldier girl reminds me of Dajh. Just a harmless kid sucked into chaos."

The silver hair man nodded before turning his attention to Noctis, Gladiolus, Ignis, and Prompto. "My name's Hope. I was the Director of the Academy a long time ago." It was his turn to clap the afro man on the shoulder. "This is my friend Sazh."

The older man grinned and pats the pistols in their holsters on the sides of his legs. "I may be old, but I got a little fight left in me."

"Noctis, Ignis, Gladiolus, and I'm Prompto," spoke the blonde. He pointed to each man as he said their name.

"And she is?" Ignis asked, referring to the little girl still playing with the music box, unaffected by the adults' chatter.

Hope stepped aside and kneeled by the girl. Gently, he pet the pink locks on her head. "She'll only respond to 'Claire'."

"Hey, Hope. I'm guessin' they're gonna have more questions than we can answer. If you can handle things here, I'll go find someone who can answer all of their questions," Sazh said, already heading out of the room.

"Yeah, that's a good idea, Sazh."

Sazh left the room to track down his friend. Hope stood up and faced Noctis and his friends. "While we wait, I'll answer whatever I can."

"Is Claire, Light?" Noctis wasted no time asking.

Hope chuckled. "She won't be for a few more years. If we grew older here, that is."

Sighing, Noctis spoke again, "I'm sorry. I really don't understand your answer."

Hope shook his head. "I didn't expect you to. Lightning's real name is Claire. After her parents died, she decided to change her name in order to forget her past."

"Okay, my turn. How did she go from being an adult, to being a little kid?" Prompto raised his hand as he asked, like a school kid. Mentally, I bet she's still more mature than Prompto. Noctis grinned slightly at the thought.

"Actually, I'm not sure. Serah only said to take care of her, though I would've anyway. We made a promise, Light and I, to watch each other's back. I finally get to keep that promise." Hope grinned like a little boy.

"Why are there Cie'th here? There haven't been any l'Cie or Fal'Cie in millennia," said Ignis.

Hope looked shocked. "Has it really been that long?"

Ignis nodded. "Wow," Hope started. "I can't believe it."

The silver haired man shook his head, as if he were shaking away thoughts. He cleared his throat. "Anyway, when Serah was alive, I imagine Cie'th terrified her. If that was the case, she probably assumed the Cie'th would scare any trespassers in her domain."

"Why did the Cie'th scare her?" Gladiolus asked.

Prompto looked at Gladiolus with a bemused expression. "Have you seen the Cie'th, man? They're terrifying bastards."

"Yes, but we never saw one until today. How did Serah know they were terrifying enough to guard this place?"

"Well, Serah almost became one. In the end, she actually turned into crystal and the rest of us became l'Cie while attempting to avenge her."

"The rest of us?"

"Yeah," Hope said. "Lightning, Snow, Sazh, and me. Vanille was a l'Cie before that, and Fang was already a l'Cie when we met."

"How long have you been here? How did you get here?" Noctis was becoming more confused every time Hope answered a question.

"Serah died after defeating a man named Caius. After she died, the chaos of Valhalla was unleashed upon the world because with Caius, Etro had died as well. It was horrible, buildings and people disappeared. Everything became so grey and dreary. In the confusion, I was dragged here, along with Sazh and our other friends."

"But we actually saw Fang and Vanille. They sent us here. How did they leave?" Gladiolus scratched the back of his head.

"You did?"

The men nodded.

Hope grinned. "Well, I'm glad some of us escaped this hell. My guess would be that since their bodies still laid dormant in the physical world, their souls were able to return when their crystal sleep was over."

For a moment, no one spoke. They tried to absorb the information Hope had given them. This place is like a house of mirrors, Noctis mused. Can't really see where the exit is. Or where anyone else is, I suppose. Still, an uneasy feeling rested in Noctis's stomach. There were too many questions regarding Light, her past, and her present. He wanted nothing more than to go home and live peacefully with her.


Suddenly, Noctis realized that the music box was no longer playing its sepulchral tune. As much as he was relieved, an alarm went off in Noctis's mind. Why did Claire stop it? He questioned.

He looked around the room. The music box was still on the floor, in the exact same place, but Claire was no longer sitting by it. Hope was talking to his friends about unimportant topics now, mostly just 'getting to know you' things. As they talked, Noctis snooped around the room. Is she playing hide and seek or something? He wondered.

The more he searched the room for her, the more a feeling of panic set in. If she was playing hide and seek, it obviously was not contained to this room alone. She was gone.

"Hey," Noctis interrupted his friends' chatter. Their smiles dropped upon seeing the dread in his face. "Claire isn't here."

"What?" asked Hope, not believing the statement. When he saw himself that Noctis was right, he cursed under his breath. "Where did she go? When did she leave?" He set about pacing around the room like a maniac.

Ignis and Gladiolus looked around the room as well. Prompto looked out into the hallway. No one found even a trace of her.

"Ya miss me?"

At the sound of the voice, everyone's head snapped up to the doorway hoping to see Claire. Instead, Sazh stood scratching the scruff on his chin. He was the disappointed looks on the men's faces. "Uh, guess not," he joked.

"Sazh, Claire left the room. We have no idea where she went!" yelled Hope. "This isn't the time to be joking around!"

"What?" Sazh stepped forward. "I thought you could handle her!"

"I know what I said," snapped a frustrated Hope, clenching his hands into fists. He walked over to the wall and punched the unfeeling, painted structure. "I messed up!"

Sazh was about to say more while pointing his finger at Hope, until a younger man stepped out from behind Sazh and stopped him.

"No need to worry," said the man in a lighthearted tone. He pointed to himself with his thumb and grinned. "I'm the best tracker you'll find around here. We'll have her back in no time."


A/N: This chapter is a bit slow, I understand that. I thank all of you who made it through the chapter and are kind enough to leave reviews. This chapter gives some more answers to all of the questions floating around. We're getting close to the end!