AN: Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait, but we are finally back with the next chapter in A Spider's Focus!

[audience applause]

Yeah, I know we're all excited for this, and it has been a while, but as I have stated before, I do have other stories that need to be updated every now and again. I can't always put all of my focus into just one story. Still, nice to see that this one has gotten so much love from all the fans and followers.

Spidey: No kidding. I don't think we really see this much love for some of your other stories like the Code Avengers Series, or Avenging Normandy, and that's saying something.

Hope: Well, maybe not in the case of the latter, but I'm pretty sure that this story has gotten more reviews than the former and stories like say...Avengers Academy, or even one of his earliest stories: Iron Man and the Armored Avengers.

AN: Yeah, I'm honestly thinking of scrapping the Iron Man one. It had a good idea to it, but with how few follows, favorites, and reviews its gotten, which is practically next to none...

Lightning: Can we please just get on with it? This is a very long chapter you know.

AN: Oh, right, right. Sorry. Anyways, first off, to those of you who placed forward challenges in their reviews. Regretfully, I am not taking any challenges at this time, and more to the point, I'm also trying to avoid starting any more new stories at the moment. I've already got like 7, SEVEN, stories in progress that I'm actively working on at the moment, and I'm trying to juggle that with my life outside of fanfictions, so I feel that starting something new right now, even if its just to give you a small look at what to possibly expect in a story might be a little too much for me. I know that some of you are disappointed that this means that the day when my next Gundam&Transformers crossover Transformers 00 will likely be very delayed for a while, but I'm just telling it like it is. All I ask is that you all be a little patient if you are waiting for that, and enjoy what I've got already.

Snow: Well, at least your honest about it.

AN: Since when am I not? Anyways, before we continue out review answering, let's give a big official welcome to the Gran Pulse spear-woman with a ferocity to match Lightning's: Oerba Yun Fang!

[audience applause]

Fang: Finally! I thought it was going to be forever before I got my official introduction. So, do I just pick something from this list of reviews for you to answer?

AN: Yep, pretty much.

Fang: Alright. How about...This one from guest reviewer "Thunder Dragon". The one about suggestions for the possible sequel.

AN: Good choice. Anyways, to answer your question my friend, your second suggestion about bringing Miguel O'Hara, alias Spider-Man 2099, has already been considered and is well-implemented to the story, but that doesn't mean that he'll be the only Spider-Hero fighting with Serah and Noel. As for your first suggestion, I'm afraid that one won't be possible to implement, but I believe that what I do have in mind for Parker will be somewhat similar to it. Like I said before, it will have a Double-Spider twist to it. That's really all I can say at this time without giving away too many details.

Fang: Next is from "Spoodey", or "kcthewwechamp", or whatever he's calling himself.

AN: It's okay, I know who you're talking about. Anyways, thanks for the encouragement dude, and glad to see you're willing to be patient for these updates. Also, to answer your question, the story's titled A Spider's Focus, not because Spidey becomes a l'Cie, but because, in a manner of speaking, it is his Focus to keep the others safe and on the right path. Other than that, it's really just a clever title. And thanks for the praise that you gave last chapter. Don't worry, any spelling errors that I might have made will be corrected ASAP. Trust me, you didn't come off sounding stupid or like a nerd with your review. If anything, you just came off as an excited fan who knew what he was talking about.

Fang: Finally is a review from "Harley Quinn-QueenOfMadness"

AN: Right. I agree with you. If it were Batman instead of Spider-Man, Lightning would likely be in a whole lot of trouble. Also, after seeing some of their most recent videos, yeah, I have to agree with you on the idea that Death Battle tries to purposely tick people off.

Now, before I subject anyone to a rant on why my opinion of Death Battle has changed in recent months, let's head on down to the Gapra Whitewood, and see how our trio of heroes handles things...Right after we get an update on how things are going with Snow. Enjoy the chapter!

I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.


Chapter 9: Planning Ahead

Snow's determination to stay and help Serah may have been admirable, but his determination alone could not keep him out of trouble forever. The fact that it had pushed him even further into Lightning's bad books could attest to that alone, but it was what happened a little while after the others had left him that really made it clear to him that he more than likely had buried himself in a whole mess of problems. He had been digging at the ice around Serah's crystallized form for what had felt like hours, and it likely had been since he was doing it alone ever since the others left, when one of the sweep teams spotted him and promptly sent out several squads to "contain" him. Naturally, Snow had no intention of going quietly, and immediately went on the offensive, not just to save himself, but also to keep the soldiers away from Serah. He had no idea what they would do to his fiancé if they got to her, but given all the anti-Pulse mindsets that everyone had on Cocoon, especially in PSICOM and the Sanctum, Snow was not going to sit back and find out by letting these guys take Serah, so he fought them with all of his strength and heart. It was probably not the best idea, given that no matter how many soldiers he knocked down, another three would just drop from the ships above to try and take him out, and that was without considering what had happened right when the largest wave of soldiers was about to hit him.

Right as Snow was about to pass out from the exhaustion incurred from fighting so many enemies back-to-back at once, the brand on his arm began glowing once again, much brighter than it had before when he first used his magic, until the glow encompassed his body in a bright, shinning sphere. Seeing this seemed to scare the other soldiers away for a minute, and they were all backing into cover when the sphere shattered and released what appeared to be a pair of Eidolons, for what little good it did, considering said Eidolons had blasted them all away with a simple wave a second after fully materializing. The Eidolons in question both appeared to be female, and had a large wheel that hung from an extension on their heads that would qualify as hair, but one had darker skin than the other, with a lighter patch around one eye, while the other had lighter skin and wore a visor that hid both of her eyes from view. If Snow thought that these two were going to help him, he was wrong, because the next thing he knew, he was having to fight them both at once in a battle that was proving to be even tougher than the one he had just been in. Eventually though, Snow managed to come out on top, and to prove it, the Eidolons transformed themselves into a massive motorcycle that Snow was happy to use in fending off whatever soldiers were still left. Of course, that did not stop him from nearly passing out due to exhaustion once the adrenaline had worn off, and that left him open for the small squad of soldiers who came next. The only difference was that they were not wearing the same armor as the ones that Snow had just fought against, and the person who was leading them had also left quite the impression just before helping to knock him out.

That same person was now standing right next to Snow as they flew above the clouds aboard a large airship that was surrounded by a fleet of smaller ships. The fact that he was up here in handcuffs only added further insult to injury in Snow's opinion, but he doubted that this little show of force was really necessary to prove the point this woman was trying to make to him by showing him all of this. Glancing over at her, Snow finally took the chance to get a better profile of her appearance, and noted how she had very dark skin, and was dressed in a fashion that he could only describe as saying that it was similar to Vanille's, except for the fact that it was in much darker colors of blue and black, and was clearly more mature in a sense. She also carried a long, red spear that had a very intricate design to its tips, but the one thing that caught Snow's eye both the first time he saw her and this time, was the fact that she had a l'Cie brand similar to his, except that it was white and almost seemed as if it had been faded out somehow. The fact that this woman was a Pulse l'Cie and was apparently helping the people hunting him and his friends still confused Snow, but before he could ask again, something else caught his attention.

Coming out of a cloud cover from behind their ship, was a massive airship that looked more like a flying fortress than anything else, and given how many of the smaller ships were flying into it, along with the design of the vessel itself, Snow could not help but be impressed, a fact that he had no problem expressing. "Hoo-hoo-hoo! Look at you," Snow whistled as he looked the ship over. "Wonder what's under the hood of that thing?"

"Keep your pants on," the woman teased him, earning an annoyed scoff from Snow. That did not stop her though, as she then added, "You'll get a peek soon enough. Just try and behave."

"I'm not gonna make any promises," Snow cautioned, half-seriously.

That earned a humorous little sound from his current host before she commented, "Cheeky boy, aren't ya? We'll see how long that lasts."

Shortly after, their ship had docked with the flying fortress, and were then escorted aboard, Snow still in cuffs. As he walked through the hangar, Snow started to take better note of how many of the soldiers in the room were wearing the same blue and white armor that he started to recognize as being more suited to the members of the Guardian Corps, namely those who were part of a different, higher-up division than Lightning had been. Just as he had reached this revelation though, another new face appeared before him, and even without the various different troops saluting said individual, Snow could just feel the commanding presence that this man gave off as he walked towards them. The man in question wore an outfit that was mostly white, with some light grey here and there, along with a small tie, white gloves, a large cape, and blue-to-silver pauldrons on his shoulders, with the left one being slightly more ornate than the right. Another thing that Snow had to note was how the man's dark hair was styled so that you could not tell that the sides of his head had been shaved like most other Sanctum officials.

That was just about all that Snow had time to take note of, because the troops escorting him had signaled for their group to come to a halt before said man once they had reached him. "You must be Snow," the man noted as the group came before him. He then extended a hand to Snow and introduced himself, saying, "Cid Raines. Brigadier general of the fleet."

"Hi, Cid. Thanks for the escort," Snow shortly replied, not accepting the handshake for more reasons than just the fact that his hands were literally tied at the moment.

"Apologies," Cid lightly chuckled while Fang came around to stand next to him. "I just had a few questions to ask you." Before he could get said questions out, Cid's attention was brought to the crystallized Serah, who was being brought aboard by a trio of Sanctum drones. "If it works like they tell us, that means she must have fulfilled her Focus," Cid noted partly to himself, though still loud enough to be heard.

"Serah," Snow cried out as he attempted to reach out to his fiancé, only to be stopped by the mystery woman when she slammed her arm against him and shook her head in warning. What neither she nor Cid ever noticed was that Snow had managed to toss something onto Serah during his charge, much to his hidden relief.

"Fulfilled her Focus as a tainted Pulse l'Cie that is," Cid continued.

"You think she was out to hurt Cocoon," Snow demanded as he was pushed back and then restrained by Cid's men.

"I'd hardly be alone if I did. When it comes to Pulse, who could claim to know anything," Cid pointed out, getting right to the point of his questions as he did. "I need the truth, for the sake of Cocoon."

"'The sake of Cocoon,'" Snow repeated in disbelief. "We're from Cocoon! Shipping us out, Purging innocent people…That's how you lend us a hand?!"

"Those are the Sanctum's methods," Cid immediately disputed with barely concealed distaste. "The public fears what it doesn't know. It's grown tired of living in constant terror of these threats from the world below. So, the Sanctum devised a plan for you l'Cie."

"I'll bet," Snow muttered, though on the inside he was panicking a little about what that would mean for his friends. Cid's next words of revelation immediately made that panic sky-rocket.

"A public execution," Cid revealed, almost driving Snow to halt in his attempts to tackle the man out of anger. "The people don't know any better. Strike down the phantoms before their eyes, and they sleep like babes. The Sanctum has intelligence on the other l'Cie already. It's only a matter of time."

If anyone was expecting Snow to react more violently at this, they would have been disappointed. Not only that, but they would have been shocked by what his actual reaction was, almost as much as Cid and his apparent right-hand-woman were, because he actually ended up laughing. "You find that funny," said woman asked in confusion.

"Yeah, because clearly you and the Sanctum both think you have a chance at catching them," Snow chuckled. "Even if they can't get away, whoever is sent after them will still have more to deal with than they can handle."

"And just what makes you say that," Cid asked.

Snow simply smirked as he gave his reply in full confidence. "Spider-Man."

Hearing that earned him a bark of laughter from the woman, who said, "You really think some urban legend can keep them safe? You're not just cheeky; you're also gullible and nuts."

"Hate to break it to you, but Spidey's real. I've met him, fought with him, and spoken to him. More than that, he's faced odds and enemies far worse than anything that you or the Sanctum could throw at him," Snow replied, not once losing his confidence. "And when he's done with them, he'll be coming here ready to take down anyone who tries to stop him from saving his friends."

While the mystery woman was still in a state of disbelief, Cid was surprisingly calm about everything that Snow just said. "You really have that much faith in him," Cid asked. When Snow just continued to glare up at him with full confidence, Cid could not help but smirk in reply. "I see. It seems that you've peeked my curiosity in regards to the man even more than it was before. More to the point, we'll need your help then, won't we? At least if we're to have any chance of reaching your friends before the Sanctum does."

That confused Snow, but before he could question Cid on it, the man had already turned and started walking away, leaving his men and the mysterious l'Cie woman to guide Snow further into the ship. Though exactly where they were taking him, Snow could not tell you. After a minute of silence though, the woman finally said, "If I were you, I wouldn't go getting his hopes up about some guy who's probably just some big phony."

"Trust me, Lady, Spidey's the real thing, through and through," Snow remarked. He then glanced away for a minute before asking, "So are you finally gonna tell me who the hell you are, or what?"

The woman just remained silent for a minute before she finally said, "The name's Fang, and I'm actually a lot more tied into this than you think."

That sparked Snow's curiosity quite a bit, but at the moment he did not care. All he knew was that he had landed himself into quite a confusing mess. He was just glad that he had made sure that Serah could be found again sooner than Cid thought she would be. Maybe not by Snow, but definitely by the guy who had given him the tracking device that Snow had thrown onto her. 'Guess I'll just have to leave things in your hands for when you finally get here, Spidey,' Snow thought, hoping that the Spider-Tracer would not be discovered or run out of power by the time said superhero found a way here somehow.


"Achoo," Spider-Man sneezed as quietly as he could at the moment.

"Gesundheit," Hope told the wall-crawler.

"Thanks," Spidey nodded while inwardly thanking his luck that nothing disgusting had gotten on the inside of his mask as a result of that random sneeze.

Both boys were shushed into silence by Lightning as she quietly made her way forward before ducking behind cover and then glancing to Spidey to silently ask if he was picking anything up, her gunblade held at the ready in rifle mode. Spider-Man looked forward, reaching out with his Spider-Sense as best as he could, and gave a small nod to say that it was all clear after a minute or so. Lightning then waved for Hope to join up with them as they all quickly made their way forward through the large gate that had appeared before them just moments ago. Once through, they were treated to the sight of what appeared to be massive trees with long, glowing branches and leaves, which left Spidey in slight awe while Lightning and Hope just ignored it in favor of surveying the way ahead just to make sure that there was nothing waiting for them, be it soldiers or monsters. Looking at the branches and leaves, Spidey could also see that there appeared to be circuit lines running through them, proving that they were indeed artificial constructs, though for what purpose such plant life served, Peter was still only guessing. Either way, it all proved that they had finally reached what Peter could assume to be the start of the half-way point.

"So this is the Gapra Whitewood," Spidey commented.

"Yep," Lightning nodded, taking a knee as she ducked behind one of the low-hanging, large branches. "It mainly serves as an experimental facility that the Sanctum uses for research into bioweapons, mostly on various different monsters. This is where a lot of the domesticated monsters like Behemoths, Pantherons, and other such creatures were either created or bread for the purpose that they serve for the Sanctum."

"Mm, pleasant," Peter dryly remarked, already disliking the sounds of this place.

"It also serves as the border zone between the Vile Peaks and Palumpolum," Hope added, thinking that Lightning's explanation needed a more positive spin to it. As he and Spidey knelt down next to or beside Lightning, Hope could not help but admit, "I can't believe we made it."

Spider-Man instantly turned to Hope with a disbelieving look that was obvious even through his mask, and asked, "Really? You're traveling with a top-notched, extremely well-trained and talented soldier, and a guy who has an actual sixth-sense for danger, and you can't believe we actually got here?"

"Well it wasn't exactly easy," Hope reminded him, rubbing his shoulder a bit as he found himself recalling an earlier fight that they had gotten into just shortly after they had woken up that morning and headed out again. It was really more of a phantom pain from where he had been hit by a Thexteron at this point, but it did still hurt a little bit when he thought about it. Of course, his argument was also a way of silently reminding Spidey about his little joyride on the Dreadnaught and the fight they had gotten into with Odin.

"Fair enough," Peter shrugged in admittance. The three then jumped a little when the ground shook a little due to the gate closing behind them, and they were all on their feet once again, knowing that if there was not anything coming at them by now, then they were likely going to be okay if they just stopped to look about for a minute.

"That'll slow down pursuit," Lightning commented as the gate sealed shut.

"Maybe, but we've still gotta worry about whatever's waiting for us on this side. Somehow I doubt anyone's going to be too thrilled about us being here," Spidey pointed out, taking a minute to check if his web-shooters needed to be reloaded.

"Right. We press on," Lightning agreed, dropping into a command mode she had acquired from her time with the Guardian Corp. "I'll take point. Spidey you take the middle. Hope, watch our backs."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Light. Why am I the monkey in the middle," Spider-Man asked. "My Spider-Sense would give us plenty of head's-up about anything that would try to hit us, so it would make more sense if I took point."

"It's because of your Spider-Sense that I'm putting you in the middle. If you're right in the middle of the group, you'll be able to react faster to anything that comes at us, no matter which direction it comes from," Lightning pointed out.

Spider-Man was about to argue further when Hope interrupted. "Actually…Why don't you let me take point?"

Both soldier and superhero looked at the kid in surprise, not expecting that. "You sure about that, Hope? I mean, you'll be right in the line of fire from the start when we run into any bad guys," Spider-Man reminded the kid.

"I know, but…I still want to take point," Hope stated, a bit of confidence shining through the nervousness in his expression.

Spidey was about to question the kid further, thinking that he might be able to warn the kid off of doing that, until Lightning asked, "Can you handle it?"

Hope's response was to just jog to the front of the group before he turned back to face the other two and stated, "It's not a question of can or can't."

"Now you're learning," Lightning noted with a small smile, and she then nodded for Hope to move up, much to Spidey's displeasure. Hope smiled back with a nod and then turned to face forward just the rosette added one last piece of advice. "Keep your eyes front. I'll watch the rear, and Spidey will have both of our backs."

"Got it," Hope nodded once again, and he immediately started forward with both of his two older companions watching his back, one with a small, proud smile on her face, while the other wore a very different expression that was hidden behind his mask. If anyone saw the latter's expression though, they would be seeing a very large, disapproving frown stretching across his features.

"What are you thinking," Spider-Man demanded of Lightning in a soft whisper after moving closer to her, and far enough from Hope so that the kid would not be able to hear him as he did so. "In case you haven't noticed, not only is it a bad idea to let Hope take point, it's the farthest thing from what would qualify as a good idea that even the dumbest person in existence wouldn't think of doing it."

"That's part of the reason why I'm letting him take point: so he can learn," Lightning revealed. "Besides, we're less likely to run into any soldiers while we're in here if we're careful enough, and most of the monsters we'll find here are in smaller groups and less dangerous than the ones in the Vile Peaks."

"That still doesn't excuse the fact that you're practically making the kid a human shield by letting him go out in front like this," Spidey insisted. "Did you not hear what I told him earlier about how he'll be the first one to get noticed and attacked by anything that tries to come at us if he's in front?"

"Weren't you also the one who said that he needs a little positive reinforcement if we want him to gain any confidence in his abilities," Lightning reminded him.

"There's a huge difference between then and now," Spider-Man disputed.

"Hey, it's not like we're leaving him to fend for himself. You're going to be right behind him the entire time, ready to react to anything that would be too much for him to handle. Besides, why are you so against this? You've been Spider-Man since you were fifteen," Lightning pointed out.

"It wasn't entirely a choice I made for myself; it was part of the responsibility that came with my new powers," Spider-Man argued back. "I don't want to force that kind of burden on Hope, especially since he's younger than I was back when I started out as Spider-Man."

"I'd hate to break it to you, but he's already dealing with that. He has been since he became a l'Cie. More to the point, I'm not making him do anything. He volunteered to take point because he wanted to, just like how you chose to keep being Spider-Man even after all that had happened to you, and like how I chose to become who I am after everything that had happened to me," Lightning reminded Peter.

Spider-Man fell silent at that, since he honestly did not have anything to say in dispute of that point, and instead, just returned to his previous position in their little formation. Though he did make a point of standing a bit closer to Hope than was probably necessary so that he could jump in should the boy need him to at any point in the near future. For the next few minutes, the three just carried on in a trek along the walkway that was suspended well above the ground, encountering very few monsters along the way, just like Lightning said they would, and when they did encounter some monsters, they were easily dealt with thanks to a few well-placed fire spells from Hope, some quick slashes of Lightning's gunblade, or a barrage of punches, kicks, and webs from Spidey. As easy as it was though, it did not stop Lightning from calling out more advice on how to proceed every now and again, more for Hope's benefit than anything else. It was a little annoying at first, but given how Hope was soaking it all in like a sponge, and taking it to heart as he improved little by little, Spidey eventually learned to live with it.

Despite that, it did not change his opinions about Hope's current position in their formation. Sure, he was doing alright on point, but Spidey honestly thought that Hope was better suited for a support position. He did not believe that simply because he felt that was safer for Hope, but also because he had taken a minute to really get a read on Hope's abilities in a fight, both before and after he had become a l'Cie, and even without his amazing magic skills, Hope was often putting a lot more focus on keeping his allies safe than he was on the actual fights that they got into. That was an admirable quality for sure, but he knew better than anyone that you would not be able to save anyone if you did not take some time to worry about keeping yourself strong. Spidey had a couple of different scars from fights with guys like Rhino and Venom that served as a reminder of that lesson, but then again, it seemed that Hope was probably learning that lesson pretty quickly. After a couple of different easy fights with what Peter could only describe as overgrown slugs, Hope seemed to start getting the hang of balancing things between watching out for his teammates and keeping himself in one piece while in a fight, and his calls for action became less of a reason for Lightning and Spidey to give him cover for while he bombarded the monsters with fire spells, and more of a chance to give him an opening to strike at them with his own weapon and abilities. Seeing Hope steadily yet quickly improve in how he fought was actually impressive in Peter's opinion, and he could not help but wonder how much of it was really due to his and Lightning's guidance when the kid seemed to make adjustments on his own so quickly.

The only thing that was more impressive than Hope's growing skills and strengths was the fact that they had not gotten lost yet. Sure, the path they needed to take did not really branch off in too many directions, but at the same time, Peter could still tell that it was going to be very easy to get lost in a place like the Gapra Whitewood, and there was no doubt that they would reach the point where it became a labyrinth sooner or later. Thankfully, Lightning already knew about this, and knew of the one surefire way for them to get through without getting too terribly lost. The ex-soldier quickly pointed out a series of light-columns being projected up from the floor, and stated that they would act as guideposts to keep them heading in the right direction. That was definitely good news, but the only downside to that was that if they ever came off of these walkways for whatever reason, the only one of them who would be able to get back to where they were would likely be Spidey, and even then, these guideposts would not likely be everywhere or remain in positions where they could easily spot them forever, so Peter just had to hope that they would be able find their way through on their own, with or without these guideposts.

There was just one small problem with that prayer of Spidey's: neither he nor Hope had ever actually been out here in the Gapra Whitewood before, at least as far as Peter knew, but given that Lightning was a member of the Guardian Corp, he figured that she might have been here once or twice, which was only reinforced by how she knew so much about this place. Sadly, that idea was crushed shortly after Hope had actually asked Lightning if she had been there before while on duty. "No, I haven't. This area's covered by the Woodlands Observation Battalion," Lightning revealed.

"Then how do you know so much about this place," Spider-Man asked.

"I do actually study up in a few things regarding Sanctum military branches," Lightning easily informed him. She then looked to Hope, and seeing that he had a slightly worried look, her tone became a little softer and concerned as she asked the kid, "Hey, you scared, Hope?"

"Well…A little, but it's better to be a bit nervous, because otherwise you're just cocky and overconfident, and you make more mistakes that way," Hope replied, repeating the words that his other traveling companion had told him not that long ago.

Hearing said line repeated back to him and Lightning, Peter could not help but smile a little behind his mask as he commented, "Well, looks like Light was right. You are learning now."

Hope grinned a little at Peter's praise, and then added, "Either way, I'm ready to fight if I have to."

Lightning nodded at that, and then reached into her bag before presenting something to Hope. That same item instantly grabbed Spidey's attention, because he immediately recognized it, and there was no reason why he should not. After all, he was there with Lightning when she first received it. "To keep you safe," Lightning explained to Hope as he gently took the survival knife in his hands. Even though she saw him handle it with care, Lightning still felt the need to warn Hope, "I'll want it back."

"I should hope so," Peter muttered softly enough for only Lightning to hear.

Before the rosette could utter a remark in reply to the web-head's comment, Hope suddenly called out to both of them, grabbing their attention completely. "I'm glad I followed you guys," Hope told the two. "By myself, I would've had no chance."

"Now I'm gonna have to call that a load of crap, kid," Spidey disputed, earning surprised and confused looks from Hope and Lightning respectively. "You may not be the strongest out of the three of us, Hope, but you're definitely not helpless. You're a smart kid, and sometimes, that's all it really takes to make it on your own. After all, the mind is one of the strongest muscles human beings have always had, and you've obviously given yours quite the workout, considering what I've seen so far."

"How do you know that," Hope asked.

"Dude, you figured out how to start up one of those Dreadnoughts all on your own, and you've clearly got quite a bit of tactical thinking to you given how well you're able to figure out when and where to throw out a spell that would help us in a fight. And let's not forget about the fact that you yourself told me that you've studied a lot of different scientific areas for a long time not that long ago," Spider-Man pointed out. Hope had the decency to look sheepish at that last part, but it faded away when Spidey added, "Besides, even if you hadn't told me that, I would've been able to figure it out on my own. After all, like the old saying goes, takes one to know one."

Lightning could not help it. Seeing Peter encourage and praise Hope like that just made it seem so much like how a father would act with their child that she just had to smile at the scene. It was pretty obvious from what she had seen in a few news reports back in Bodhum that Peter was good with kids, but this was cementing the fact for her, and he was definitely doing a lot better than she probably could have. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Peter did not have his real parents around when he was growing up, or maybe it was something else, like the fact that he and Hope were both scientists that made it easier for him to really get through to Hope, or maybe it was some other reason that Lightning was not entirely aware of. Whatever the case, it was actually really sweet in her opinion, and that was something that Lightning never really thought in regards to almost anyone, save for one person. It all almost reminded her of Serah in a way. That thought quickly turned Lightning's smile into a small frown, as it reminded her of one of the last conversations she had with her sister, but she put it out of her mind for the moment, knowing it would not do to think about such things right now, and she quickly turned to board the elevator just ahead of them.

"Time to move," Lightning called out to the boys, effectively killing the moment that they were having, much to the chagrin of at least one of them.

"Really, Light? We're having a bromantic moment here, and you're just going to kill it like that? Can you believe her, Hope," Spidey asked.

If it were anyone else, Hope probably would not have gone along with this little joke, mostly out of fear for what Lightning would do in retaliation, but there was just something about Spider-Man that made him want to tag along in the humor of it all. "I know. That does seem a little mean," Hope nodded with a small smile, even though he still gained a small shiver from the look that Lightning gave them in response as they boarded the elevator. "Maybe if we reestablish eye-contact, we'll pick up where we left off."

The two jokers immediately locked gazes with each other while Lightning started up the elevator, and even after she looked back from the controls, they were still doing it. After watching for another minute, Light was started to feel a little creeped out by the sight before her, until Spider-Man finally said, "Hope?"

"Yeah Spidey," Hope asked.

"I'm not feeling anything. You think we lost it?"

"…Yeah, I think so," Hope sighed in false despair.

Spider-Man then took a page out of one of his best friend's books, and decided to be a little dramatic by turning to Lightning and said, "You see what you did? You killed a moment of bromance! Why cruel fate? WHY?!"

Even though she wanted to, Lightning could not have completely stopped the smile from coming to her face as she rolled her eyes at how overdramatic the superhero of the three was being, and she barely kept a chuckle out of her voice as she lightly reprimanded, "Oh grow up, you big baby. We need to keep our heads together to if we want to make it to Palumpolum, remember? We don't have time to fool around."

"Then why is it that you're smiling, Light? And why do you look like you're about to burst out laughing," came the questions, not from Peter, but from Hope, who could not stop a teasing grin from coming to his own face, surprising Spider-Man a little bit, while Lightning turned away.

"Ah-ha! I knew it! You have been at least smiling a little at some of my jokes every now and then! Admit it," Spider-Man excitedly cheered.

"No, I haven't," Lightning denied.

"You have too," Spider-Man quipped.

"Have not."

"Have too."

"Have not!"

"Have too!"

The two just continued to banter back and forth like this, much to Hope's amusement, until they came upon another set of monsters, and the kid had to bring it to an end so that they could focus on the fight, being the one who was taking the lead at the moment. It was a little weird that the youngest member of the trio was telling two, full-grown adults to stop arguing like kids, but none of them were really bothered by that too much, but that was probably because they had some monsters to fight at the moment.


After the little moments that they had shared, and the monster fight that had followed afterwards, they trio was once again making their way through the Gapra Whitewood with Hope still in the lead. Oddly enough, they had not encountered too many monsters after they had taken the elevator up, and even when they did, it was not really anything too serious that they could not handle. In fact, if he were being honest, Spidey felt that it was almost overkill to have both him and Lightning in on the fights most of the time, but that may have been going a little too far. Then again, that also could have been due to how good Hope was getting at leading them in a fight, as every call he made was quick yet still well-thought out most of the time. Sure, the kid made mistakes now and again, but that was mostly because he was still learning, and thankfully, he had two well-seasoned fighters to back him up when mistakes were made. Throughout all of those fights though, one could not help but notice how Hope never once used the survival knife that Lightning had given him.

That was not necessarily a bad thing, seeing as it meant that the knife was still in good condition, but it was a little odd. Still, no one was complaining too much, especially in the case of Lightning. It was the knife that Serah had given her as a birthday gift just a couple short days ago. That seemed like such a long time ago now, but that did not make the value of said gift any less great in Lightning's mind or heart. This was something that Spidey knew since he was there when she first received and unwrapped the gift, but in Hope's case, he was able to see it in how Lightning had handed it to him with hesitance and great care, and in how her eyes seemed to flash with concern for the small knife when she told him that she would want it back later. For that reason alone, Hope was determined to take good care of Lightning's knife, and he made sure to use it as sparingly as possible. Besides, he was not completely weaponless before Light gave him the knife, and while his boomerang was not the most powerful weapon out there, it did still have plenty of uses, and it got the job done for him just like the web-shooters did for Spidey.

All the same, no one was dropping their guard while they were making their way through the border zone/research facility. Hope and Lightning were the most on edge, but that was mostly because unlike Peter, they did not have a sixth sense for danger. That did not mean that Spidey was not keeping his other senses open, or that he was not ready to jump into a fight at any second, because he most definitely was. Even then though, he did not tense up to the same level as the other two unless his Spider-Sense started tingling to the point of being noticeable. The only reason that was the case was because it was tingling ever so slightly ever since they came into the Gapra Whitewood, but Peter chalked that up to the fact that it was a breeding ground for the military controlled monsters that they had been fighting up until this point. It was only when the monsters were right in front of them, or about to attack them that his sixth sense went off at its normal levels or at full blast. Of course, that did not explain why his Spider-Sense was going off at said level right now when there were absolutely no monsters in sight at all.

Despite the fact that there were no visible threats in the area, Peter had long since learned that it was usually a much more favorable idea to trust his Spider-Sense when it was telling him that there was danger, to put it mildly, so he still looked to his two friends and said, "Uh guys, we've got a problem coming in."

"What kind of problem," Lightning asked, tensing up for a fight the minute Peter said that, knowing full-well that he likely said that because of a warning he was getting from his Spider-Sense.

"I don't know," Spidey stated.

"What do you mean 'you don't know,'" Lightning asked.

"Hey, my Spider-Sense just tells me that danger's coming, and from what direction. It doesn't tell me all of the exact details of a threat like who or what," the web-head replied. "All I know at the moment is that it's coming, and it's from somewhere…above us?"

Hope's eyes had already been scanning the area around them the second that Spider-Man had said that he picked up something coming, but the minute that he heard the web-head indicate a direction that they needed to watch, he immediately registered something that the other two had yet to notice, and quickly turned to the other two and cried out, "We need to hide!"

Before anyone could say anything, Hope had grabbed Lightning's hand and pulled her under the cover of a low-hanging branch, with Spider-Man following soon after. Spidey was tempted to give them better cover by using his webs to hide their presence under the branch, but refrained from doing so since it was more likely that such a dense and thick amount of webbing would likely stick out like a sore thumb in this place. It was not even seconds later that a patrol of soldiers suddenly flew overhead on airbikes. Seeing them coming caused Hope to start reaching for his boomerang, while Spider-Man prepared to either start firing webs or throwing out punches, but to their surprise, the soldiers did not stop. Instead, they just kept on flying like they did not have a care in the world, not even slowing down to survey the area, almost as if they did not care whether or not they might be there. While both Spider-Man and Lightning's eyes narrowed, having guessed why that was the case, Hope was still completely baffled as to why the soldiers did not seem to even stop to look around for them.

"They don't seem like they're even looking for us. I mean, we're l'Cie and we're on the loose," Hope questioned as he stepped out from behind their cover, with the other two following soon after.

Realizing why the boy was wondering about this, Light took it upon herself to explain the reasons for why the soldiers appeared so unconcerned about their being here. "PSICOM's keeping it all under wraps. They don't want their failure publicized," Lightning told the kid with a hand on her hip. "Better to lose us than lose their pride."

"In other words, they're pretty much pulling a Nick Fury just so they can save face," Spider-Man summarized, only to draw looks of confusion from the other two.

"Who's Nick Fury," Hope asked.

"A superspy from back in my original universe," Spider-Man shrugged like it was no big deal. "Or to be more accurate, he's the superspy. He's also the director of a world peacekeeping organization, which normally sucks at its job, since it usually ends up relying on guys like me or the Avengers to do it for them, or to clean up their mess."

"Either way, it sounds like you're saying the other soldiers don't know about us. Right," Hope asked, just to make sure he was understanding right.

"Right. They don't know anything about any fugitives," Lightning replied, though it was clear she was not entirely serious in the remark, a fact that someone easily picked up on.

"The sarcasm is really not necessary, Light," Spidey pointed out. He then turned to Hope and said, "They may not know about fugitive l'Cie being on the loose, but they do probably know about some fugitives nonetheless. And besides, try to keep in mind that one person in our little group, that being me, was labeled by the Sanctum as a danger to society, so we should still keep our guard up."

The reminder of how Dysley and the Sanctum had labeled Peter a threat to Cocoon honestly made Lightning bristle a little bit, while her hands twitched as if she were resisting to reach for her gunblade and slash or shoot at anything that was within her reach at the moment. It burned her up on the inside at how those people could take someone as noble, honest, and good as Peter, whether he was Spider-Man or Peter Parker, and make him out to be some sort of terrible villain. She was glad to hear that not everyone was buying into that crap, even if it was mostly because they did not believe that the web-head actually existed, but that was still very little comfort on the matter since that also meant that people likely thought he was just some myth that someone made up or something. The urge to destroy something instantly grew a little more at that thought, and Lightning had to take a silent, deep, calming breath in order to get herself under control before she acted on that urge, at least on something that was necessary to their path forward. When she had calmed down though, she could not help but think that if she was getting this upset about the matter, then how did Peter feel about it? He was the one who was being targeted by that pack of lies the Sanctum was trying to sell, and even though he had said that he had dealt with such ridicule before, she knew that there were times when it actually did hurt him. Their little confrontation back in the Vile Peaks was proof enough of that, so she could not help but wonder if he really was able to just shrug the Sanctum's accusations off as easily as he claimed to have.

It took a minute of thinking about this until Lightning finally paused to ask herself why she was even getting worked up about this anyway. Sure, Peter was her friend, and he made it clear that he considered her a friend too, but should that mean that she should be this upset about how other people were treating him, or even thinking of him? Sure, she got upset when others were mean to Serah, and she often kicked their butts when they were younger for doing so, but she did not remember ever feeling as upset about those people picking on her sister as she did now in regards to Peter. After thinking about it for a moment, Lightning finally decided that maybe it was because Peter was the first person who not only wanted be a true friend to her, but that she also considered to be just as good a friend as well. She could not quite remember the last time she had a friend who was there for her like Peter had been ever since he came into her life, and that alone meant that he was something very special to Lightning. Settling on this revelation made Lightning able to put it aside and get her head back in the game in regards to their current objective. Even so, she could not help but wonder, why was it that she felt like she was lying to herself about that, or even why did she feel a strange heat on her face while her heart sped up a little when she thought of Peter as being special?

She was not completely brought out of her musings until they were all on the next elevator that would help them proceed forward, and Spidey suddenly asked the two a question that they were not expecting. "We're heading down? I thought that out was up," Peter questioned.

"If that was the case, then we would've just had to head in a straight line to get to Palumpolum. You didn't really think that was going to be the case, did you," Lightning asked.

"Honestly…I was kinda hoping that it would be for once," Spidey admitted.

"Considering how many destroyed pathways we've seen as we've been going so far, I can't help but think that might've been a little silly think," Hope told the web-head.

Spider-Man shrugged in defeat of this, and then followed after the other two when the elevator came to a stop at the level they were descending to, following Hope as he proceeded down the path forward. From that point on, it was pretty much a lot of the same thing that they had dealt with so far, but thankfully, they did not run afoul of anymore patrols of soldiers. They did come across a behemoth or two along the way, but it was nothing that they could not handle when they were all working together. The only time they had to stop after the moment when they had to take cover and hide from the soldiers was when Spidey needed to take a moment and check on the amount of webbing he had left in his web-shooters. He was not too fond of running out of webbing in the middle of a fight back in New York, and he liked the chance of that happening here even less. His feelings were shared by both Lightning and Hope, because they had seen how much help Spider-Man's webs were to them, and especially to him since he used them for so many different things in his fighting style, almost right to the point where it seemed like they were essential to how he fought, so having him run out of webbing would have been very bad for everyone in their book.

It turned out that Spider-Man's web-shooters were only half empty at the moment, a fact that elicited a sigh of relief from everyone after learning this, and they were on the move once again. This time, there was no stopping until they had reached what Lightning claimed was the half-way point of their journey through the Gapra Whitewood, which was marked by the presence of a bulkhead fal'Cie. Once again, the group had to pause in their trek because of Spider-Man, but only because he could not help but wonder aloud if this fal'Cie was going to be a problem to them, given the fact that it was a fal'Cie that had landed them in this mess to begin with. It was a reasonable concern, but Lightning assured him that this fal'Cie was not really that intelligent beyond what was necessary for it to do its job. That had lead them into a debate on fal'Cie intelligence somehow, but the matter was quickly put on hold when an Alpha Behemoth charged at them, with a pair of Thexterons flanking it on either side.

Seeing this trio of obvious guard dogs was in their way, the three quickly went to work in taking them out. Hope instantly took the lead by tossing his boomerang forward in order to throw the three off balance before they could make it all the way over to their group, giving Lightning and Spider-Man an opening to charge in and attack. Taking advantage of their opening, Spider-Man quickly took down both of the Thexterons before he spun around onto the floor in order to boost Lightning into the air, giving her the chance to strike the Behemoth from above. The ex-soldier easily did so by infusing some lightning magic into her gunblade, adding an extra jolt to her attack that caused the Behemoth to stagger. A barrage of fire spells combined with web-bullets were more than enough to discourage the massive beast from swiping at the rosette in retaliation, and that gave Lightning a chance to hit it instead with a furious combination of sword swipes.

Once she had finished her barrage, Lightning instantly backed off to allow one of the others to attack, and Hope did so with a quick throw of his boomerang, giving Spider-Man ample time to set up a web-slingshot maneuver that would sent him rocketing towards the large beast. The minute he was within range, Spider-Man slammed both feet into the Behemoth's head, using the beast as a springboard in order to flip back before launching himself forward once again so that he could hit it with every ounce of strength that he had. Hope easily made sure that the large monster did not get a chance to hit Spidey back for any blows that the web-head landed, but given his speed and agility, that action really ended up being an extra safety net for Spider-Man to fall back on, at least in his opinion. Granted, fighting this thing was not the same as fighting a human opponent, but given how many times he had fought against this particular monster now, Spider-Man now had a better idea of where its pressure points were and which nerves to hit, giving him better targets to unleash his personal fighting style on. When Spider-Man was done, the Behemoth was unable to even stay standing upright anymore, meaning that all they needed to do now was finish it off. That action was carried out by Hope, as he unleashed a powerful blast of fire magic on the monster, one that was larger and stronger than any the kid had used up until now, disintegrating it the minute that the spell had struck.

Seeing the ashes that the Behemoth had been reduced to, Lightning and Spider-Man could not help but turn an amazed eye towards their young companion, who had fallen back in exhaustion, both due to the fight and how long they had been traveling without much rest. Neither of them were really sure what to say right then, until Spider-Man finally asked, "What was that? That was clearly not just a fire spell."

"I think…that was the spell…Fira," Hope panted. "It's a more powerful version of the Fire spell I'd been using up until now."

"That's putting it mildly," Lightning muttered before she turned her attention towards the bulkhead fal'Cie, waiting for when it opened up and let them through.

"How'd you even use it," Spider-Man asked.

"I'm not sure. It just…came to me," Hope admitted. His face then grew a little dark when he then added on, "I'm glad it did though. I need to get stronger."

Spider-Man really did not like the way that the kid had said that. It reminded him a little of how Hope had confronted Snow back in the Pulse Vestige, and that was a scary sight to behold on its own, given how angry and vengeful the kid had appeared to be as he spoke to the much bigger man. It was especially scary now that he had gotten to know Hope a little better, and looking at Hope now, it made Peter think of someone he had known who had been just like Hope a while back, and of how it had driven that same person to where he was now. Recognizing this prompted Peter to feel like he had to do or at least say something before Hope ended up going down that same path and meeting a similar fate, but at the moment, he was not entirely sure what he could say. Even if he was about to say something, he lost his chance to do so when Hope diverted his attention away from that with a new question of his own.

"I wonder how the others are doing," the boy commented.

"Sazh and Vanille," Lightning asked, thinking that Hope was mainly referring to the two that they had split off from back in the Vile Peaks. When Hope said nothing in reply, she took that as confirmation, and replied, "Who knows? Even if they got away, they'll get caught eventually. Then they'll have to choose: resist or surrender."

Peter could tell that Lightning did not like telling the kid this, given how she did not so much as glance in Hope's direction as she said it, and he could not blame her. It was not a pleasant thing to think about for him or Lightning, and given how close he seemed to have become to Vanille, Hope more than likely did not find the idea any more appealing than them. That made it all the harder for him to say what he did in addition to Lightning's statement. "I can't really see Sazh as the type to resist right now, given his attitude on things as they stood when we last saw him," Spidey admitted. "He might've been okay with taking on the Pulse fal'Cie back in the Vestige with us, but he was only joining in on the fighting with us because he really did not have much of a choice. Well that, and out of an obligation to keep the kids of our little group safe. Maybe he'll try to do something to help Vanille, but other than that, I don't really see him putting up much of a fight. Vanille on the other hand…I really couldn't say. She clearly isn't the type to go quietly, but she also seems like she'd rather run away from a major problem or fight rather than face it."

"How do you figure that," Lightning asked.

"It's just…something in her attitude and mannerisms, or at least what I saw from when we were all together," Spidey shrugged.

"So, it'll likely mean they'll decide to surrender," Hope quietly thought aloud, putting an end to the discussion before it could go any further. His gaze narrowed a bit as he then asked, "Do you think he's still alive?"

Spider-Man knew in an instant who Hope was likely referring to, but Lightning was not entirely sure for a minute, until the one person of their little group of l'Cie that she had yet to mention crossed her mind. "You mean Snow," Lightning asked, her own mood growing a little sour at the mere thought of him. Her last encounter with the self-named hero was still fresh in her mind, along with a few other things from her previous encounters with him, so it was no surprise that he was far from her list of favorite people at the moment. Still, she had to give him credit where it was due, even if it was with a scoff of annoyance and irritation. "He's too stubborn to die, and that's his best quality. He's arrogant and chummy from the get-go. He thinks he's everybody's pal. Never liked him much."

"Yeah, I think you've made that pretty obvious by now," Spidey informed her, his mind already going to the most recent encounters between Lightning and her sister's fiancé. He then thought of something else and said, "Wait. That sounds a bit like what some people would say about me, and you and I get along all right, don't we," the web-head questioned.

"You're an entirely different story, Spidey," Lightning instantly informed him. "Besides, you're the farthest thing from arrogant, even if there are times where you would talk like you are. You've actually got a good reason for doing what you do, while Snow just does his little 'hero' thing because he doesn't want to rely on the Sanctum or something. Plus, Snow doesn't seem to really think about his actions at times, unlike you."

"Okay, Light, I think we get it," Hope told Lightning. He may not have been Snow's biggest fan at the moment himself, but he was at least willing to let Snow have a chance to prove he was not the kind of man Lightning was describing him to be. That was a big reason as to why he did not really want to hear Light's little rant about the tall blonde.

Lightning was not quite finished with her rant just yet, because she had one last thing to add to it before that. "He also leads around a bunch of kids. Gang called 'NORA.'"

That got Hope's attention in a bad way, and Spidey knew it probably would the minute that Lightning brought it up, so he could not help but tense up a little in concern about what Hope's reaction would be. Thankfully, Hope only responded by asking a simple question, albeit with a dark tone of voice. "Where'd they get the name 'Nora'?"

Lightning must have missed the way that Hope had asked his question, because she just crossed her arms as she turned to face the kid, knowing that Spidey was probably wondering about it himself somewhere in the back of his mind. "It's a stupid acronym," Lightning revealed. "Their little code. Stands for 'No Obligations, Rules, or Authority.' Must be nice."

"It's irresponsible," Hope almost snarled as he stood up, seeing that the gateway through the bulkhead had opened up, and practically stomped through, much to Lightning's surprised confusion. Hope was glad that the name had nothing to do with his mom, even though he already knew that it likely did not, but that did not make things any better in his book.

Knowing that what Lightning had said probably had not helped Hope with his opinion of Snow, Spider-Man took it upon himself to try and turn a positive spin on the matter and said, "Well, it's a lot better than some of the acronyms that I've heard. For example: SHIELD and SWORD."

"What are those? A couple of other teams of heroes like the Avengers," Hope asked, his irritation dwindling a little in favor of curiosity about something else from Spider-Man's world. Lightning was also curious as well, having remembered hearing Spidey mention something about SHIELD before back in the Vile Peaks after their little crash-landing.

"Not exactly. Granted there are a couple of different people who are superheroes in the organizations, but they're really more like spy organizations," Spider-Man corrected. "SWORD's basically a group that keeps the peace on Earth, but it mainly focuses on anything related to stuff that comes from outer space. You know, like aliens and such. They're really more of a subdivision of SHIELD, and because of that, I've always figured that they named themselves as such because they wanted their initials to spell 'sword,' showing that they were related to SHIELD in some way. As for SHIELD, it's that world peacekeeping organization that I mentioned Nick Fury being the director of earlier. The one that seems to do a lousy job at protecting the world at times. Though they do pull through on a lot of different matters, so I can't say that they're all bad."

"What does SHIELD even stand for," Lightning asked as they continued walking forward.

"It stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention Espionage and Logistics Division," Spider-Man replied. When he received a pair of blank looks in response, he just shrugged and said, "Yeah, I had a hard time remembering it as anything more than a mouthful too, but that's likely why they shortened the name to SHIELD. That or the founders really just wanted their initials to spell 'shield.' Wouldn't surprise me, given that said founders were old war buddies and allies of Captain America."

"What about SWORD? What does that stand for," Hope asked.

This time, Spider-Man had to pause and think for a minute, until he finally gave up and said, "I actually can't remember, but then again, a lot of people also tend to forget that SWORD even exists unless they've had a lot interactions with them or they're actually members of the organization. You know, like Captain Marvel."

"The original one or the one you mentioned was your friend? Carla, right," Hope asked.

"The latter, and her name's actually Carol," Spider-Man replied, not noticing how Lightning bristled a little at the mention of one of Spidey's old friends. It had not escaped her notice how Spider-Man would brighten up a little when he mentioned some of his old Avengers teammates to them earlier on in their travels, namely the female ones, and Carol was one of those particular teammates. That little reaction was all the indication that she needed to know that Spidey likely had a bit more than feelings of respect and friendship in regards to those particular teammates, and she did not like hearing about it.

Hope must have noticed her reactions, because he then asked, "Uh Light? Are you okay?"

Realizing that Hope had noticed her distressed state, Lightning instantly snapped herself back to the matter at hand, and said, "Yeah. I'm fine." When no one said anything more afterwards, she just gave a silent cough and said, "Well then…let's get going."

"Uh…yeah. Whatever you say, Light," Spider-Man nodded, and he was soon following after her along with Hope as they climbed onto yet another elevator.

As the elevator descended downwards to the ground level of the Gapra Whitewood, Lightning could not help but use the time that they were allowed by the ride to think for a moment. The main topic of concern for her was how Hope had reacted to the information that he had learned about Snow, but aside from that, there was one other thing that was now bothering her. The matter in question was why exactly did she get upset over how Peter was just talking about an old friend of his?


After descending to the ground level of the Gapra Whitewood, Lightning instantly warned her two traveling companions that this was the area where the military kept a lot of the more feral creatures, which were much different from the trained breed that was normally deployed. Hearing this made both boys a little nervous, but they shook it off so that they could continue pushing forward, right to the point where they had landed themselves inside one of the pens that were containing the previously mentioned animals. Knowing that the fences would only be functional if the animals were present, Lightning was quick to suggest dealing with their pen-mates to shut off the gates, but Hope had a better idea; one that allowed Spider-Man more of a chance to shine outside of battle. Hearing that Spidey was involved in the kid's idea immediately set off warning bells for Lightning, and she instantly started to protest against it, having already been through it once already. When Hope argued that it was better than risking any of these animals possibly surviving and then getting out after the gates were shut down, Lightning was quick to point out that the gates would jump back online the minute the security system detected a conscious animal inside the pen. Eventually, Spidey pointed out that going with Hope's idea would save them more time and energy than hers, and Lightning found that she could only sigh in defeat of this. A minute later, Hope had climbed on Spider-Man's back, while Lightning found herself wrapped tightly in one of the web-head's arms while her own were wrapped around his neck as Spidey himself prepared to swing them over the gates and onward in their journey.

The minute that she agreed to travel Spider-style once again, Lightning had instantly warned Peter to make sure he did not drop either one of them unless he wanted to die slowly and painfully, but Peter had just shrugged it off by saying that she and Hope would be fine, since he had never dropped someone he was swinging to safety yet, unless he was attacked by a supervillain. She had to roll her eyes in response to that claim, but once she had her arms around Spidey, and he had her held securely in his arm, Lightning could not help but note a very odd sensation overcoming her. It was hard for her to really describe in words, but if Light really had to, she would say that the feeling was similar to one she had when she was around Serah. Actually, that was not quite accurate either. It was much more powerful than any feeling that she ever got from her sister, and Lightning never remembered feeling this sense of warmth and security from Serah before. If anything, it was actually more similar to that time when they had their little sparring match back at the Guardian Corp Bodhum headquarters, namely around the end of said match. Even after they had finished and gone their separate ways to deal with whatever matters they had to deal with, Lightning had still remembered an odd feeling from that match, and she still had no idea what it was, or why those last occurrences had even happened. Not once could she ever remember teasing someone during a spar in the way that she had Peter, but there was something about him that had just brought that side out of her. Now that she was held in his arms again like this, and feeling his very well-toned body against her own while his powerful arms held her tightly yet still with the gentleness of someone holding onto something that might break if they were not careful, Lightning felt that same sense of comfort washing over her again, and she still had no clue as to why.

She was so busy wondering about those things that she never even registered when Spider-Man had jumped up and started swinging through the air, at least until Hope suddenly let out an excited cry of joy, proving that he was enjoying this a lot more than she had initially been expecting either one of them to. Then again, considering how unwilling she had been the last time that Spider-Man had taken her swinging, she had to admit that this time around, she was actually enjoying herself a little as well, and before she knew it, she was actually nestling her head against Peter's shoulder as she felt the wind blow against her face and through her hair as they swung onward. Navigating the Gapra Whitewood's ground level like this was definitely something that they should have done the minute they had reached this point, but that idea quickly changed when the security gates suddenly sprung to life around them, even extending upward so high that if Spidey had not sensed it and released his hold on his current web-line, they would have swung right into the fence. Of course, that probably would have preferable to fighting the Feral Behemoth that had jumped in with them not two minutes later.

The fight against the Feral Behemoth did not last too terribly long, especially since Hope was still calling most of the shots for them as the team leader, but throughout most of the fight, Lightning could have sworn that the kid was fighting a lot more viciously than he had been before, like he was trying to blow off some anger or something. She recognized this because she had done something similar a few times herself when she was having a bad day or was just in a bad mood, but unlike Hope, she was able to not make it as obvious most of the time. At least, that's what she figured. Even after the beast was defeated, their troubles were not over though, because they had clearly tripped a security alarm, and instead of worrying about it like he had been when it came to things like this, Hope just acted like it was okay and said to let the security teams come, like he was asking for a bigger challenge, and that worried Lightning a little. Looking over to Spider-Man, she could see that the web-head was also concerned about the kid, given how Spidey was watching after him very attentively, and somehow, Lightning just knew that he was sporting a very worried look behind that mask of his.

It was not until after a few more fights with monsters and the point when they had managed to get back up on the walkways that Lightning finally found a chance to confront Hope about what was going on with him. They had just gotten out of a particularly nasty fight, and Lightning had told the kid to take a few minutes to rest, a suggestion that Spidey fully agreed with, especially given how hard Hope was panting in exhaustion while he was bent over with his hands on his knees before he finally just collapsed onto the floor beneath him. The trio then found a large branch to take cover under like the one they had before, and spent the rest of their break recuperating there. At some point, Hope had even gotten out the survival knife that Lightning had loaned to him, and proceeded to check it over while carefully fiddling with it, catching the other two's attention. Seeing this reminded Lightning once again of how the kid had been since their previous talk, and during their last few battles, so she decided that now was as good a time as any to confront him on it.

"What's eating you," Lightning asked. When Hope said nothing in response, she knew that likely meant he was not too willing to open up about it, but that was not going to stop her. "Okay, I can tell you're hung up on something. Is it the l'Cie thing?"

"Somehow I doubt that," Spider-Man told her as he glanced at Hope, already having a pretty good guess as to what it was that was bothering the kid. "It's Snow, isn't it?"

While Lightning was surprised that Spidey would suggest something like that, she was even more surprised to see Hope pause in what he was doing before glaring off to the side a little bit, confirming the web-head's guess. Seeing as she was the only one in their group who was not around when the events that started the animosity that Hope held in regards to Snow had occurred, Lightning could not help but ask, "What happened with him?"

Spider-Man was not about to answer, since it was not his place to say, and instead, just looked to Hope, prompting the boy to speak up and tell Lightning. Hope did no such thing, but instead just replied, "You wouldn't understand."

That got both superhero and ex-soldier to take a knee beside him, while the former said, "You won't really know that for sure until you tell us. Besides, the three of us are a team, Hope. You can trust us to have your back, just like we already trust you to have ours, but part of that includes letting us help you with whatever problems you might be having."

Hope looked between the two for a minute, seeing Lightning nod in agreement with Spider-Man's statement, and even though he could not completely see Spidey's eyes behind the lenses of his mask, he could still somehow see the sincerity in both of the two's gaze, and simply sighed before he did as asked. "My mother was killed…because of him," Hope revealed, startling Lightning a little on the inside. "It's his fault. Well, maybe that's not entirely accurate. Snow just wanted to help get us back home, but he couldn't do that without help. I know that, but I can't just let it go that easily. Snow holds almost as much responsibility for that as the Sanctum does for getting her killed. They both need to pay for it. I'm not ready yet, but I will be. Soon. That's part of the reason why I followed you guys."

"Should I take that to mean you've decided what you're going to do when you finally decide on what Snow's fate will be," Spider-Man asked, remembering the confrontation the two had in the Vestige. When Lightning threw him a confused look, wondering what he was talking about, Spider-Man said, "Hope confronted Snow about this, and the big guy got down on his knees and apologized for what happened. He said that he would accept whatever fate that Hope thought he deserved, so long as Hope let him save Serah and fulfill the promise that he made to Hope's mother first."

"And you agreed to that," Lightning asked.

"Yeah…I thought that he had dragged us all into this. You and me, your sister, Serah…even Spidey in a way. But…after hearing him say all of that…I wasn't really sure what to do. Snow really seemed to regret getting my mom killed, and I didn't know what to do after that," Hope admitted as he pocketed Lightning's knife once again and stood up, showing he was ready to move on again. "I'm not sure I can forgive him, but…I don't know what I should do when the time finally comes. All I know is that someone's gotta pay."

Lightning turned to gaze sadly after Hope, honestly feeling sorry for him. In a way, she blamed Snow for a lot of the things that had happened to them at first like Hope had, and probably still did, but she was starting to see that it was not entirely Snow's fault. Thinking back to their earlier conversation, Lightning was starting to see that saying the things she did about Snow and his little gang was probably not helping the kid with making a good decision in regards to what he should do the next time he saw Snow. She had most likely given Hope an even lower opinion of the guy than he likely already had. Despite that small mistake, even if it was one made out of ignorance of Hope's feelings regarding Snow, Lightning knew that there was still time to keep Hope from going down the path that he seemed to be traveling along, and she was determined to do just that. There was no way that she was going to let Hope fall down a path of revenge like that. The kid was just too good to taint his spirit like that, and a simple exchange of glances was all that Lightning needed to know that Spider-Man felt the same way.

With their break over for now, Lightning took it upon herself to take over the lead position from Hope, feeling that he had more than enough time on point for now, and that he was likely not going to be able to handle it as well with everything that was now on his mind. No one argued with her, and the trio was soon jumping right back into the fire as they continued onward. Most of the monsters they encountered after that point were swiftly dealt with due to a quick blast or slash from Lightning's gunblade or due to a blast of webbing from Spider-Man's web-shooters, but Hope did contribute a little by blasting larger groups aside with more Fira spells like the one he had used earlier. Lightning actually encouraged the kid to use the spell as often as he could without tiring himself out, because it would be very beneficial in the long run for Hope to get used to using more powerful spells so that he would not feel as drained afterwards in the future. Still, that did not keep Hope from feeling a little envious of the kind of things that the other two were able to do, especially in regards to the weaponry they utilized, because compared to their equipment, he felt like his own was severely lacking in several different fields. After all, how could he really do all that much when the only weapons he had were his boomerang and the survival knife that Lightning had lent him.

After watching Lightning cut through a large, overhanging branches that was blocking their path forward in just one single stroke, Hope finally felt the need to approach the matter, and stepped up to the rosette. "Could I use one of those," Hope tentatively asked.

"Bit too heavy for you," Lightning denied as she spun her gunblade back into its holster.

"Okay," Hope sighed in disappointment.

Spider-Man instantly picked up on this and stepped over to Hope as he said, "Hey, just because we seem to have cool stuff, it doesn't mean that we're better than you are. I don't know if you've noticed, but Lightning isn't really the greatest when it comes to the magic you guys can use. Heck, I don't even have any of said magic, and yet I'm still somehow able to get by alright."

Lightning would have snapped at Peter for his remark on her skills with l'Cie magic had it not been for two things. One, she could see that Peter was trying to lift Hope's spirits and keep the kid from thinking he was not doing enough for the team just because of how he was not doing as much now as he was before, and two, she knew he was technically right. "I just don't know. I mean, how much help have I really been? Sure, I'm good with magic, but the energy I need to use it does run out, and all I'm left with after that is my boomerang and the knife that Light gave me. That's really not all that much, considering," Hope argued.

Somehow, Spidey knew that would be the kid's response and he had a counterpoint of his own all set. "Hope, I'm going to level with you here. Back in my universe, I'm considered the underdog of the superheroes by a lot of people, myself included. There are times when I think that even the guys who don't have powers are better than me for a variety of reasons. More than that, having the proportionate powers of a spider is really not all that impressive when compared to guys who can shoot lightning, get stronger the angrier they get, move things with their mind, change reality with a thought, shoot energy blasts, or are just practically gods. Even the story of how I got my powers isn't that impressive compared to other heroes. And you know something? I'm okay with that. Sure, it bothers me from time to time, but then either I think about what I've been able to do, or someone else reminds me of those accomplishments, along with pointing out that not even teams like the Avengers were able to pull off what I did alone."

"Really," Hope asked. When Spidey nodded in response, Hope could not help but ask, "So what exactly are you trying to say?"

"Just this: it's not about the tools someone uses. It's the person using them," Spidey advised. "You're doing a lot of really good work using what you currently have at your disposal, and I'd bet that a lot of others wouldn't be able to last even a quarter as long as you have, so take pride in that if nothing else." Seeing that his words brought a smile to Hope's face, Spider-Man then reached into his belt and extracted a spare web-shooter, which he then presented to Hope as he said, "But, if you really think you need more of an edge, you can borrow this. It's not as deadly as Light's fancy sword, but it definitely does have a lot of uses. I should know since I came up with a good number of them. And who knows, you might think of a few different ideas for using the webs that I haven't yet."

Hope's smile grew a little more in appreciation, both for Spidey's words and his lending him a spare web-shooter, but he quickly became more concerned when he asked, "Are you sure you won't need this? I mean, you can't possibly have that many spares on you."

"You're right. That's actually the only one I have left, seeing as I gave the other one to Snow before we split up from him," Spider-Man confirmed. That earned him worried looks from both Lightning and Hope, but he quickly reassured them, "Relax. I'll manage with the two I've got on me. Besides, I've lasted this long without carrying spare web-shooters on me at all times, and my current ones are a lot more durable than my previous pairs, so I think I'll be okay." He then paused for a minute before adding, "I'll still want it back later though. Gotta keep the thing in top condition with the usual maintenance that comes with having these things you know."

That earned a small round of laughter from Hope and a small smile from Lightning, and the trio was soon moving onwards once again. Of course, the path forward did mean that they would run into more monsters, but they did not have a hard time dealing with whatever creatures they came across. If she were to be honest, Lightning was a lot more concerned about when they started running into soldiers from the Observation Battalion, and she was not hesitant on expressing that concern. When Spider-Man reassured her that they would not be too much trouble for the three of them, she initially thought that he was starting to become as arrogant as Snow, but after thinking about it, she realized that the web-head was probably right to be confident. After all, this was a man who had fought alongside and against extremely powerful beings for most of his life. Add in the fact that he had helped them to fight the Pulse fal'Cie without any hesitation, along with how he was now well aware of what both she and Hope were capable of, and it would only make sense that Spidey would not be too worried.

This was only proven to be all the more true when they came up on the next grouping of monsters that were in their way. Spidey had paused and from what Lightning could tell, he appeared to be studying them thoroughly, but that did not really turn out to be the case, because the next thing she and Hope knew, the web-head had turned to her and said, "Hey Light, care to have a little contest to see who can take down the most monsters?"

If it were not for her rigid self-control, Lightning would likely have fainted from disbelief at this sudden proposal. "Please tell me you're joking," the ex-soldier deadpanned.

"No, I'm being serious here. Besides, it's fun. I used to do that kind of thing all the time with guys like Wolverine, Iceman, even Shang-Chi and Daredevil on occasion," Spider-Man insisted. "Besides, don't you want to hear the stakes?"

Lightning was about to refuse his offer to make the next fight a competition, but the minute he mentioned that last bit, she could not help but feel a bit curious. "Keep talking."

"If I win…you have to tell me your real name. No little hints, no telling me which of my guesses so far was closest, and no trying to sell me a fake one just to keep it to yourself a little longer. Your actual, real name," Spider-Man stated with finality that was somehow still a bit playful. "And if you win…well, I'll leave that up to you. Go on and pick anything you want."

Lightning could not help but feel like he was trying to cheat his way into learning her real name, since he had stated that he was only going to keep guessing until he got it, but then again, she had to admit that hearing him make random guesses every few hours or so was starting to get a little old. Besides that, hearing that he was willing to let her set the conditions for what would happen if she won made her all the more eager to accept. The only problem was figuring out just what she wanted to gain from winning this. It was really hard to come up with something Peter would not usually do, but she blamed that on the fact that, despite how much she had learned about him, she still knew almost nothing about him at the same time. When that thought crossed her mind, Lightning instantly had what she would consider a stroke of brilliance, and she had to smirk a little at the idea that had formed in her mind.

"Alright," Lightning announced after taking another few minutes of silence, just to keep her challenger on edge for a minute longer. "If I win…You have to answer any question that I want to ask you, with complete honesty, and you can't leave out any details at all."

"What? That's it," Spidey asked in disbelief, having expected a little something more from Lightning than that. He did have to admit though, she had picked quite the interesting condition, and he had a feeling he knew why she did. She wanted to learn more about him, and she knew that there was likely going to be a topic that he would not just tell her without good reason, so she wanted to fast forward through the process of getting that information like he was doing with his condition. All he had to do was hope that she did not pick a topic that was too personal to him, or that he did not like thinking about, let alone talking about. Either way, he did not hesitate to meet her gaze with a confident, albeit hidden one of his own as he said, "You've got a deal." He then looked to Hope and asked, "Hey, you want in on this too, Hope?"

"No thanks," Hope instantly declined. "There's no way I could win a competition like that against you two right now, or any time soon for that matter."

The other two just shrugged in response, neither of them arguing or agreeing with the boy's assessment of his skills, at least not out loud, and they then turned their attention to the monsters ahead of them before they charged in with a pair of battle cries. Even though he was still providing them support with various types of spells, such as defense or strength boosting magic, Hope really ended up spending more of the battle just watching the two go at it. He even went so far as to even keep score for the two at one point in case either of them miscounted. That did not last very long, since he eventually lost count for both of them, but that was a small loss in his book because he was able to watch a spectacle unlike anything he had ever seen up until now.

Hope already knew that both Lightning and Spider-Man were strong fighters on their own, and they were also a great team as well, but he had never really seen just how good a team the two were when it was just the two of them fighting, or at least doing most of the fighting in this case. Even though they were technically having a contest to see which of them would get more monsters than the other, they were still fighting with fluidness, grace, and synchronicity that was suitable for a pair that had fought side-by-side for years, or for two people who just knew each other so well. Every time Lightning slashed at something, Spider-Man was able to spin around over her to finish it off with a hard kick, and when Spidey got something tied down in his webs, Lightning was able to either blast it or cut it down with her gunblade. At one point, Light had even launched a particularly large monster into the air, and that lead Spidey to jump right above it, and the slam it back down to the ground by sling-shooting himself right into it from above. This favor was soon returned when the web-head had ensnared a pair of monsters with some Impact Webbing, and then used a web-line to toss them up into the air, where Light finished them off with either a leaping slash or a blast of thunder magic. In all honesty, it was almost like watching a wondrous yet deadly dance in Hope's eyes, and he was not even sure if they were going all out.

The two continued their combined assault until there was nothing left for them to fight, and if any monsters were still left, they had likely fled the area long ago after seeing the two warriors tearing into the other ones so easily. Seeing that the fight was over, Spider-Man relaxed his battle stance and confidently strode over to Lightning as he declared, "Well, by my count, I've taken down at least eleven of those monsters. How many did you get, Light?"

Lightning said nothing for a minute, until she finally spun her gunblade back into its holster, smirked, and replied, "Thirteen. Looks like I win."

Spidey could not help it. He ended up slack-jawed in surprise when he heard that, and just like that, his respect and admiration for Lightning had grown a little stronger. When he realized this, he was insanely glad that his mask hid his face completely, because otherwise, everyone on Cocoon would have been able to see the crimson blush that had formed on it. Once he was sure that he would be able to speak without his voice hitching at all, Spidey looked to Light, who was still smirking victoriously, surprisingly, and asked, "Alright, a deal's a deal. You can ask me any one question you want and I'll hold nothing back from my pure, honest answer. So, what do you want to know, Carla?"

Lightning's smirk faltered a little for a minute, as she had not quite decided on what to ask Peter just yet. She was not going to let him know that though, but she was not going to waste this little reward on some random thought, so she simply settled on saying, "I'll let you know when I want to collect on that. And by the way, wrong guess, once again."

The grunt of irritation that had followed from Spider-Man was obviously more playful than it was serious, and while Lightning was still smirking both at her victory and out of humor from Spidey's reaction, Hope was now unable to do anything but look on at the two in awe. They had just done something so incredible, and yet to them, it seemed as though it was like nothing more than second nature. Watching them talk with one another now, he could also see something else that the two did not seem to have noticed yet, and he could only smile in response to seeing this. Even after he was brought out of his musings so that they could move on, Hope continued to smile, knowing that these two he had decided to follow, were not only the strongest people he had ever met, but they were also two people that were clearly growing much closer to one another than either of them probably realized. That thought made him chuckle a little bit, because he knew that if she were here, Vanille would likely say something about love being in the air, and he would honestly have had to agree with her on that.


The group encountered very few monsters after the group that Lightning and Spidey had used for their competition, but there were still monsters here and there all the same. Not that surprising though, considering that it would have been strange if they did not encounter any monsters in an area that was being used for bioweapons research and breeding monsters for the military to use, but it was still a relief that they did not encounter too many. What was surprising though was the fact that they still had yet to encounter any soldiers from the Observation Battalion. Light had been sure that they would have encountered at least one patrol by now, and yet they still had not seen so much as one hint of an approaching security force since that one patrol that they had hidden from much earlier. After a rather long elevator ride up to the next section of higher walkways, they quickly found out why they had not encountered the first patrol of soldiers, but at least two of them wished they had not.

Just ahead of them, lying all across the ground, were the bodies of three soldiers, each of which were members of the Observation Battalion judging by the colors of their armor, and given the damage to their armors, namely the massive gashes and tears, they had all been slaughtered by something really big and very dangerous. The sight was nothing new to Lightning or Spider-Man, seeing as they had seen similar states of injury before, but Hope could not help but feel worried and a little sick at the sight of these dead men. Of course, in Spidey's case, he still wished that it was not something he had seen before, because he would never get used to seeing dead bodies of any variety. Every time he did, he always began to feel a great surge of regret, and could not help but think that he could have done something to save them. He knew that it was silly to think like that, and that he could not save everyone, but that did not mean he was ever going to think that it was pointless for him to at least try.

None of that mattered though, as this was affecting Hope a lot more than either of the two more seasoned warriors, as evidenced by how nervous and even slightly sick he sounded when he asked, "What happened here?"

"Bad luck," Lightning replied as she analyzed the bodies of the fallen soldiers. "They came looking for us and found something worse."

"That's an encouraging thought," Spidey muttered, wondering why Lightning had to mention all of that, considering that they were now likely going to run into whatever it was that killed these men.

Hope on the other hand was more concerned about the soldiers lying before them, and quickly started to move towards them thinking he could help. When Lightning noticed this, she reacted instinctively and pushed the kid back as she shouted, "Don't touch anything!" After Hope had fallen back on the ground, he looked up at Lightning in slightly scared confusion as she added, "Control your emotions. If you want to survive, you forget about sympathy."

Hope just looked away, still confused and scared, and Lightning could tell that the kid still wanted to do something to help these fallen soldiers. At the same time though, the kid was now conflicted on what he should do. No doubt because this was the first time that any advice that Lightning or Spidey had given him had conflicted with something he honestly believed in so much, and that meant that Lightning had not quite done the best job of telling the kid why he needed to not mess with anything in regards to the dead soldiers. "How can I explain," Lightning muttered in thought. After a minute or so, she turned back to Hope and took a knee as she laid it out for him. "Think of it like a strategy. Focus on your ultimate goal and shut out everything else. Still your mind. Move on instinct. Let doubt take over, and despair will cripple you."

"Yeah, not gonna lie, Light. You suck at explaining things to kids without giving them dangerous ideas," Spider-Man argued, earning a glare from the ex-soldier. Peter ignored it though, because he could see that Hope was already taking Lightning's words to heart, mainly for a purpose that was anything but noble, and Peter already had a good idea what that purpose was. He then stepped over to Hope and said, "What Light is trying to say is that we can't save everyone, especially when in a situation like ours. It's good that you want to at least try, but sometimes, we have to accept that there's nothing we can do, be it because they're too far gone, because of how it would likely come back to bite us later, or because we just don't have the time."

Hope nodded in understanding, taking both of the two's words to heart, and then stood up again as he nodded. "Good. I'll take anything to help me get through this," Hope informed the two, earning nods from them both. For a moment, Spider-Man thought that maybe he had kept Hope from forming any new ideas about his revenge, but that idea was quickly dashed when the kid declared, "I'll call it Operation Nora."

"NORA," Lightning asked, thinking that Hope was referring to the name of Snow's gang.

"My mother's name," Hope explained, correcting Light's assumption, and telling her why he was calling it that all in one instant.

"…Your revenge?"

"Yes," Hope nodded. He could sense that both of the two adults were about to say something cliché in an attempt to talk him out of it, so he instantly spun around to face them and cut them off preemptively by saying, "Don't tell me. I know getting revenge on Snow or anyone else responsible won't…bring her back. I know that! But 'sorry' won't cut it."

Lightning looked away sadly, knowing that she really did not have much of a place to talk if she were to try and reprimand the kid for thinking like that. She was still hurting from what had happened to Serah, and she blamed the fal'Cie for doing it. Not just the Pulse fal'Cie, but all fal'Cie, be it Pulse or Sanctum. That was why she had determined to destroy Eden and the Sanctum, so she could get some form of revenge for Serah. Lightning knew that getting revenge would not bring Serah back, even if Snow was right and she was still alive in that crystal prison, but right now, she too felt like "sorry" was not going to be enough, and that was really the only thing that was keeping her going at the moment. Well, that might not be entirely accurate. If it were not for Peter, she probably would not have been able to keep going at the rate she had been, and she likely would have gone completely nuts by now. That thought made her gain a slight tinge of pink on her face that she quickly shook away. Though it was mostly because Spidey had something to say in response to Hope's words, and she wanted to hear whatever words of wisdom the web-head had for the kid.

"Snow didn't kill your mother, Hope," Spider-Man informed the kid, gaining Hope's full attention. "If anything, the Sanctum is what was responsible, and they had made Snow the unwilling weapon for the deed."

"Whose side are you on, Spidey," Hope demanded.

"The side of what's right, and more than that, it's as someone who's been where you are now," Spider-Man revealed, startling Hope, while Lightning just watched on in slight surprise, since she had a strong hunch in regards to what he was talking about. "As you already know, my aunt is…was my only living family, and she had raised me as her own son. What you don't know is that she did not do it alone. She had my late uncle to help. He had been like a father to me ever since he and my aunt took me in after my parents died. That was right up until one night when a crook broke in and murdered my uncle all for his lousy car, and like you, I wanted to get revenge. It was easy to track down my uncle's killer since I had just gotten my powers not even long before that, and once I had him cornered it would have been just as easy for me to end him, take from that man what he took from my uncle."

"So…Did you do it," Hope asked. Lightning could not blame the kid for asking that question, because she was curious about this as well. She knew that Peter had found his uncle's killer, but he never told her what he did after discovering said killer's identity. Sure, that was mostly due to the fact that it was more shocking to discover that said killer was someone that Peter had a chance to stop before what had happened, but that did not mean she did not at least want to know how Spider-Man had taken his revenge.

Spider-Man did not answer right away, and from what the other two could tell, he seemed he was struggling to get it out. They could not blame him, since this was likely something he did not really enjoy remembering. Finally, the web-head took a deep breath and replied, "No, I didn't. I wanted to, believe me, but even then, I knew that my uncle would never have approved. He had always tried to teach me that with great power, there must also come great responsibility, and if I had killed that crook, I would've been throwing that lesson back in his face while spitting on my uncle's grave. So, I chose to walk away and be the better man. To be Spider-Man."

Both Hope and Lightning were silent with shock at that response. They both knew that Spidey was a good person that had a very strict no-killing policy that he seemed to almost never break, save for certain situations and circumstances, but they had no idea that he possessed that kind of strength. If anyone else had been in his place, they had to wonder if they would have been able to walk away without someone else's help like Spider-Man had, including themselves. No doubt, both of them had gained a new admiration and respect for the wall crawler as a result of this revelation, but they also gained a bit more concern when they saw that he had seemed to tense up a little, while the rest of his posture indicated that his story had been very draining for him, at least on an emotional level. At that point, it was not just admiration or respect that they felt for Peter, but also sympathy as well, one of them more so than the other since she knew more of the full story behind his uncle's death. It could not have been easy for him to divulge that information to anyone, let alone to friends like them, so it came as little surprise that Lightning was quick to place a comforting hand on his shoulder in response to this, much to Peter's silent gratitude.

After nodding to Lightning in thanks, Peter turned to Hope once again and continued on, still not finished with what he had to say to the kid. "I was one of the lucky ones though, because I've also seen just what kind of damage revenge can do to a person…And I saw it in someone who I once considered my best friend. His name was Harry Osborn, and he blamed me, as Spider-Man for the death of his father."

"Why would he do that," Hope asked.

"Partly because he didn't know the full truth about how his father died, and partly because he saw Spider-Man standing over his father's dead body after the fact," Spidey explained. "You see, Harry's father was a supervillain by the name of Green Goblin, and he was one of my worst enemies. The night he died, he had…done something incredibly terrible, and I did want to make him pay for it, but I didn't. Goblin was incredibly sick, mentally speaking, and I wanted to help him, but in the end, I never got the chance to. In a final attempt to kill me, Goblin ended up killing himself with his own weapon. His last request to me was that I don't tell Harry how he died. I honored that final wish, but sometimes, I feel like things would have been better if I hadn't. Yes, Harry's memory of his father would have been forever tainted, but at the same time, it may have also prevented Harry from taking up his father's mantle as the new Green Goblin in order to kill me once he found out that his best friend and Spider-Man were one and the same."

Hope and Lightning did not know what to make of that. Losing someone who had been like a father to you was one thing, but having your best friend turn on you in the way that Peter's had was truly something else. In all honesty, they were starting to wonder just how much loss Peter had really suffered in his life, and how he was able to deal with all of it after all these years. They put it aside, as Peter finally came to the final point he was trying to make. "So you see, revenge is like a poison. It can take us over, control us, and sooner or later, if you're not careful, it can and will turn you into something ugly. The only way you can stop that from happening is by being the better man."

Hope took all of that in, but he was not quite able to take it to heart just yet. He knew all of what Spidey was saying, but hearing it being said aloud was another matter entirely, and now, he was just more confused than ever on what he should do. This showed in his face and his voice when he looked to Spider-Man and asked, "So then…what should I do?"

He wished he had an answer for the kid, he really did, but sadly, Spidey had no other way to reply other than saying, "I wish I had the answer, Hope. I really do. I've never been able to forgive the man who killed my uncle, even if I have gotten better to the point where I might be able to someday, but unlike that crook that had killed my uncle, Snow did not mean for your mother to die, nor did he want her or anyone else on that bridge to die. In the end though, how you go about things is really up to you. Just promise me that when the time comes…you won't let thoughts of revenge dictate your actions, and that you'll at least think about it."

After hearing all of this, Hope found he could do nothing more than just nod in reply to Spider-Man, promising that he would at least try to do as the web-swinger asked. With all of that settled, the group headed out once again, now more on the lookout for soldiers than ever before, but one of them still had a few different things on her mind. Lightning was still in the midst of processing everything that she had just learned about Peter, and she had to admit, the man was only continuing to impress her with every new detail she learned. She had long since thought that Peter was one of those types of people who was able to forgive anyone for any injustice they had committed, be it against him or otherwise, but after hearing that he had still not forgiven the man who had killed his uncle, she was beginning to rethink that idea about him. Then again, considering that it was the man who had been like his father ever since he was a small boy who was killed, she could not say that she was too terribly surprised. Add in what she had learned about what had become of his best friend, or his former best friend from her understanding of his story, and it was all she could do to keep herself from walking up and wrapping her arms around him in a comforting hug.

That last thought made her stop in her march forward with the boys for a minute, and she instantly began to think about why she would even have such an urge like that. More importantly, this was now one more time on a long list of times where there came a moment that she wanted to do something for Peter, or just had thoughts or feelings that she was not entirely sure was typical to that of friendship. Even after she resumed her march forward, she continued running those various past moments through her mind, thinking about various reasons as to why she had reacted the way that she did in those moments, and why she had not been upset by them afterwards. Yes, those moments bothered her, but at the same time, they were not unpleasant to her either, and if she were to be honest, part of her actually did kind of want some of those moments to happen again, or at least certain parts of those moments, because other aspects she could certainly do without. Then, it hit her like a ton of bricks, and the shock of it was so surprising that she almost missed the squad of soldiers that was right around the corner looking for them as a result. Yes, Spidey and Hope pulled her back before they spotted her, but that was a small point for her in comparison to what she just realized.

'Could it be that…Am I actually falling for Peter,' Lightning wondered to herself.


For the rest of the trio's trip through the Gapra Whitewood, Hope and Spider-Man had taken up most of the workload when it came to fighting, much to their surprise. It was not that Lightning was not doing anything at all, but she was not doing as much as she had been before, or even in comparison to the two boys. Not only that, but at times when Peter had to jump in and help her in any variety of ways, the rosette would get flustered for some reason and instantly try to put some distance between the two of them. Peter did not have the first clue as to why Lightning was acting so strangely, but until it started to affect how she handled herself to a great extreme, he figured it was better to just leave it alone and let her sort it out. What he did not realize was that he was already heavily involved in the matter troubling Lightning, because he was the very thing that was constantly plaguing her mind.

After her little revelation, Lightning had looked over everything that had happened between her and Peter several times over, and every time she did, she always came back to the same conclusion: she was falling for Peter. The idea actually scared her a little bit, not that she would admit it. Lightning had long since sealed off her heart when it came to those kinds of feelings, at least in regards to anyone other than Serah, or at least she thought she had, but now that she was being bombarded by this sudden influx of strong feelings for Peter, she was not so sure just how sealed off she had made herself. More than that, she did not even know how to handle dealing with these feelings. It was not like she had ever actually dated anyone before; there was never any time for that sort of thing since she was so concerned about taking care of Serah and making sure the two of them had everything they needed growing up. Simply put, Lightning had no idea how to so much as deal with having a crush on a boy, let alone falling for one, and the fact that she could hear Serah teasingly saying "I told you so" in her head so much was not helping either.

Now do not misunderstand; Lightning was not against the idea of developing feelings for Peter. She would be the first to admit that he was a very good guy. He was smart, kind, cared about others (more than himself at times), rather handsome, and not to mention that his eyes were the softest brown she had ever seen while still holding a fire of courage and determination that rivaled that of the most hardened and experienced soldiers, and…that was beside the point! From what she had heard from Serah, or at least the romance novels that her sister read, Peter was likely the type of guy that girls would bring home to meet the parents, and any woman would be lucky to have him. That last idea gave her an unpleasant feeling as equally saddening thoughts entered her mind. Since Peter was such a good guy, both as Peter Parker and as Spider-Man, why on Earth would he ever feel something special for someone like her? She had pretty much sacrificed all of her own happiness for her sister, who was now likely gone forever, and in doing so, she had become a hardened soldier who would not blink at the thought of killing a target. Never mind the fact that some people would say that she could be as cold as ice, while some have described her as unforgiving as the very thing she was named for. It just did not seem likely that a selfless, brave, good man like Peter would ever actually have an interest in her.

These thoughts had left her so distracted that she did not realize they had ended up in the crosshairs of a massive, vicious monster that had been guarding the gate out of the Gapra Whitewood until after Spider-Man had pushed her out of the way of said monster's attacks. Neither of them had been hurt by said strike, but that did not keep Spidey from reprimanding Light for letting her head get into the clouds while they were in such a dangerous situation. Even though his words to her were spoken harshly, she could still sense a great deal of concern in his voice, and something else that she had not expected at all: Fear. He had honestly been afraid of what could have happened to her, probably even more so than Hope, who was now keeping them covered with a barrage of various spells and his boomerang. Realizing that the kid was fighting on his own, Lightning finally managed to take the advice she had tried to give Hope earlier on for herself, and shut out all distractions for the remainder of the fight.

Said battle did not last too terribly long with the three working together, even though the strange plant-like monster was constantly changing its elemental nature and attacks. Despite that one drawback, the three were able to power through and defeat it easily, with Hope declaring that Stage One of Operation Nora was completed afterwards. The kid was definitely taking what Lightning had said earlier about strategy to heart, but given the still uncertain look on his face, it was clear that he was also thinking about what Spider-Man had said earlier as well. Realizing this had drawn Lightning back to what she had been thinking about before, and it also made her have another realization: as long as she continued to let this bother her, it would keep her from focusing on the more important matters they were presently facing. That last fight was proof enough about that, so her solution was easy, even if it was her main fallback answer to many different things that bothered her.

'I can't let this distract me. I need to just put it aside and focus on what's important right now. Letting the possibility of stupid feelings of romance get into my mind will only make things difficult for all three of us,' Lightning mentally decided. She knew that it was for the best if she did not think about any growing attractions she might be having in regards to Peter, and even better if she did not concern herself with how the object of said affections might feel in return, so it just made sense to shut it down before it could cause any more problems for them. That still did not explain why the idea gave her a rather hollow, empty feeling though.

She cast any and all further thoughts on the matter out of her mind as their group's trek finally pulled them off of the metal pathways that were in the Gapra Whitewood and onto soft, yet rocky ground that lead out to an ocean view. That was not what the most important part was though. No, that honor belonged to the city resting in the cliffs along the water bank, which was only reinforced by how Hope's face lit up a little in recognition of the town. "That's it. Palumpolum," Hope declared, a bit of excitement and relief slipping into his otherwise stoic tone.

"That's where you live, right," Lightning asked Hope, thankful for the distraction, even though the man who had caused her confusing thoughts had come to stand just a few feet away from her. Hope just silently nodded in reply to Light's question, prompting her to add, "Well, guess you'll be home before you know it."

That did not seem to raise Hope's spirits any, as he just said, "I still don't think it's a good idea. You and I are l'Cie now, Light, and Spidey's considered a menace. I may not like my dad that much, but I don't want him to get dragged into this."

"We understand, Hope, but you still need to tell him what happened. L'Cie or not, I'm sure he'll be able to rest a little easier if he knows his son is alive," Spider-Man reassured Hope. When the kid still seemed unsure of the fact, Spider-Man decided to let Hope in on something about his old enemy that he had mentioned earlier. "You know, even before he became the original Green Goblin, Norman Osborn was not what I would call the best candidate for Father of the Year. In fact, Harry almost never saw his father outside of work, and even when he did, the man was almost always pushing Harry to be the absolute best while only noticing everything that Harry was failing in, especially when it came to school. There were even a few times when he would drag me into it by saying things that made it seem like he was trying to make Harry think that Norman would have preferred me as his son over him. Even so, Norman cared about Harry more than anything, in his own twisted way. He would have done anything to keep his only son safe, hence the reason why Norman had asked me to not tell Harry how he really died at the end. Despite what you may think your father cares a great deal about you, Hope."

Lightning could see the gears turning Hope's head after hearing that, not that she could blame him. Hearing Spider-Man talk about one of his late enemies like that had gotten her to thinking as well. She had figured that all of Spidey's enemies would have been your typical black-and-white bad guys, but just from hearing about this Green Goblin, she was now able to see that some of them had a bit more complexity to them than that. She had to move that aside for now, because Hope needed to really hear what the web-head was trying to tell him. "Like Spidey said before, Hope…you need to let him know what happened," Lightning gently told the boy.

Hope continued to hang his head in thought for a moment, until he finally nodded in acceptance of this, and then turned to lead the group the rest of the way to his hometown. In their minds, all three of them knew that getting this far was probably the easiest part of their quest. Getting into Palumpolum was likely only going to be a little more difficult, but no matter you sliced it, be it before or after they got into the city, one thing was absolutely certain: things were only going to get worse from here.


AN: Well, that happened. We saw some changes in regards to Snow's first encounter with Cid and The Cavalry, along with hearing Fang's current beliefs in regards to Spidey, and not only that, but Snow put the Spider-Tracer he was given to much better use than calling out for help if he got himself into trouble.

Snow: I feel like that's going to play an important role later on in the story.

AN: Good instinct. Aside from that, we also saw a little bonding time between Hope, Spidey, and Lightning, much like we did in the original storyline for the two actual FFXIII characters of that trio. Not to mention we also learned a little more Spidey history while we were at it.

Hope: Hey, I've gotta ask. What exactly happened to this story's version of Harry Osborn? I mean, I know you said he became the new Green Goblin to get revenge on Spidey, but what happened after that?

AN: Well, I'd like to leave it to everyone's imagination, but I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. If I mention that detail in a future chapter, my apologies in advance for this rare moment of spoilers. After that whole run of drama, Harry got committed to Ravencroft, or whatever the mental institution a lot of Spidey's bad guys get sent to is called, so that he could get some help dealing with the insanity he had ended up falling into.

Fang: Well that's depressing. Still, I guess there is a high point in all of this. Light's starting to realize her feelings for the web-head go a lot deeper than friendship.

AN: Yes she is. Now before anyone gets on me for giving her this revelation so soon, I just want to point out that she's only realized that she's starting to fall for him, not that she's completely in love with him or anything. Not only that, but in typical Lightning Farron fashion, instead of dealing with those feelings and opening herself up, she's decided to push it aside for the moment. Sure, she has a good reason for doing so (they're on the run and need as few distractions as possible if they want to survive), but still, she's also not quite ready to open herself to a romantic relationship just yet, whether she's sure that's what her feelings are leading to or not.

Serah: Seems a little disappointing to me. I mean, we were so close to finally seeing LightxSpidey happen, and then you just pulled out of our grasp! So not fair!

AN: Hey, if I made it start happening now, it wouldn't really be all that great. Besides, these things don't just happen right after such revelations are had. Gotta have some sense of realism in all of this, ya know? So sorry for those of you who thought that the main pairing of this story was finally going to unfold, but rest assured, this is indeed the first step in progressing towards it. In the meantime, there are other matters for the heroes to attend to. Find out a small idea of what I mean by moving...Onto the Preview!...

The trio begin making their way into Palumpolum, continuing what Hope had dubbed as Operation Nora, and as they are making their way through the underground levels of the city, Lightning comes to a startling revelation that will shake both hers and her friends' resolve. Even amidst whatever confusion her revelation brings, the trio are still ready to fight when they are caught in a trap by PSICOM, but they are not quite as ready for the surprises that follow after said trap is sprung. It's back into PSICOM's sights once again while another hero makes a smashing return, next time.

Please read and review, and swing on back for next time fellow true believers!