A/N: Here is chapter 9 of Howling Star: Dance in the Shadow of Light. Sorry for the late update! It's because of school :3

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except my own. Final Fantasy XIII belongs to Square Enix.

Chapter 9: Palumpolum and Yaag Rosch

Let's back track to chapter 6 after the main cast left the ruins. Here is what happened to Snow. He apparently was in the middle of freeing Serah and got attacked by some PSICOM soldiers. That battle triggered his own Eidolon, the Shiva sisters Stiria and Nix. After he had gained their trust, he kicked some soldier ass. He was winning but, he was later apprehended by Oerba Yun Fang and taken aboard the Lindblum along with Serah's crystal form.. There he meets the Cavalry leader Cid Raines and they discussed important matters. Things were going well on Snow's end.

On Vanille's end, she and the old man traveled through Sunleth Waterscape and on to Nautilus. After separating back in chapter 7, Sazh and Vanille had an adventure of their own. Vanille was acting a little depressed and jittery, ever sense Sazh brought up the branding of his son Dajh along their journey.

Seeing Vanille's depressed mood, Sazh decided to take her to some festivities in Nautilus. They had a fun time with all of the rides and Chocobo petting zoo. However Vanille couldn't help face her fears. She was in turmoil about being responsible for Sazh's son Dajh branding back then but, she couldn't confront it.

It was during their travels that Sazh's Eidolon Brynhildr was summoned that Vanille was accused of branding his son by an accident in the past. .

"Shoot me." She actually commanded when she couldn't handle the pressure of guilt anymore.

"Don't you even! You think you die, and that's that? Huh? You think you die an' everything'll be sugar and rainbows?" Sazh roared back at her, surprised that the girl actually suggested that method. Sazh didn't blame her for anything and attempted to take his own life but before he could, Jihl Nabaat swoops in with her troops, captures them both and placed them on the airship Palameciawhere they are held hostage. They started to plan their escape route to get back to the others.

Star's POV.

I awoke from last night's storytelling. As usual Lightning slept next to me, her posture looked peaceful and I felt secure when she's around. I got up and stretched, my wounds are fully healed. I took off the bandages around my stomach and went to put on my usual attire. The sun was up in the sky and everyone was awake. Hope was cooking and Lightning was polishing up her weapon. After breakfast, we made our way to the city of Palumpolum, Hope's hometown.

We arrived at the port city and indulged ourselves to its lively market place, well Hope and I were the only ones indulging ourselves. Lightning on the other hand looks like she was about to kill someone because she did not appreciate sightseeing and other attractions. She wanted to hurry up on the mission to Eden and she didn't want us to waste any more time with bystanders and other "tools".

"Come On we're not wasting any more time." She huffed when I decided to sniff at a pile of apples. I trotted away and looked at her hopefully. Unfortunately she looked away before I could pull off the adorable 'puppy-look' so I decided not to do that.

"Ok Lightning." I said in the sweetest voice possible. She looked back at me, smiled and ruffled my hair. "Teehee" I giggled and held onto Lightning's hand with my own. Anyone who was seeing this adorable action would think of it like a mother- daughter thing. Hope looked a little dejected at the gesture so he took the lead. Well, I didn't let him get too depressed, so sometimes I'll let Lightning take the lead and held hands with him. Both of them were smiling at my gesture and my high spirits.

Since this town was prosperous, PISCOM soldiers started popping up and roamed around the city. Hope was really familiar with the place he grew up with so, he led us through the sewer system to avoid most of the soldiers. The sewer system had a lot of underground pipes and we discovered the fal'Cie Carbuncle. We decided to rest and Lightning described her childhood to us, how she became Lightning in the first place and what it was like in the Guardian Corps. That led to a lot of childhood stories so after awhile, we continued our journey through the pipes.

When we popped out on another side of town, we heard this announcement being broadcast.

"In a recently convened emergency conference, the Sanctum announced that the fugitive I'Cie have been located. The military plans to apprehend the I'Cie and carry out a public execution."

"Yeah right." I snorted as I followed Lightning and Hope to the middle of the Agora, the message continued, "These images coming to you live from the scene in Palumpolum." We looked up at this huge monitor screen and its cameras were zoomed in on us. Huge airships and SICOM soldiers appeared all around, aiming their guns at their target, which was mainly us.

"These are I'Cie. Show no mercy." A voice rang out as the owner was walking out onto the balcony of his ship. "They aren't people. They're targets."

"You!" My eyes bugged out as I recognized the silver-haired man from the Purge train. He looked down and caught my eye. We stared at each other for awhile, clearly surprised at one another. He broke our gaze and continued to issue orders. We were completely surrounded and we stood back to back facing our enemies.

"Start running." Lightning's voice whispered to us. "I'll keep them busy."

"But-" Hope stammered as he tried to think of something else to change her mind.

"You guys survive." That last line was full of courage and determination, worthy of a leader. Hope and I were appalled by her rash decision but we also admire it because, she was putting her life on the line for us. Before we could say anything, an explosion appeared and the figures of Snow and Fang strode into view.

"That's some crowd. Gonna need a plan." Fang says as she looked over at all of the soldiers and robot drones. Snow chuckles and says, "Since when have heroes ever needed plans?" He pulls out his crystal and summoned his Eidolon. The Shiva Sisters entered battle in a dazzling display of ice and sculptures, turning the entire arena into one big ice field. "Fang!" Snow tosses her a gun and leaps over the ledge, joining his Eidolon. Snow had the Shiva Sisters turn into *Gestalt Mode and together with Fang, rode down to the arena on the ice archways and opened fire on the soldiers.

"Why does it have to be THAT guy?" Hope was seeing red as his eyes traced Snow's form on the motorcycle. Back in the pipes, he told us that he wanted to get revenge on Snow for killing his mother. Snow even called his retaliation group NORA which Lightning swore it was a stupid acronym but it was actually the name of Hope's mother, Nora Estheim.

"Let's go." Lightning grabbed Hope's arm and started running, firing bullet rounds at the PISCOM squads in front. I ran behind them, sometimes running ahead and biting a few enemies with my fangs and shredding them with my claws. Snow and Fang were causing havoc on top, firing at the silver-hair man. He glared at them as his soldiers fired, trying the best they could to fire at a motorcycle and its passengers.

Fang managed to get some direct hits causing the airship to tilt, smoke billowing out of the damages.

"Move! Take us up!" He snarls the command and the airship started its retreat. Lightning managed to cut down some of his men and looks up at the fleeing ship. She sighs then quickly ducked as Snow's motorcycle soars overhead. He was whooping and hollering, technically making a fool out of himself.

"Lightning!" He said happily, adding a little wink in there.

The three of us were just standing there, inwardly groaning as Snow and Fang came to greet us. Lightning decided to give Hope to Snow stating, "Take care of him."

"Lightning listen to me." Snow moved Hope out of the way and wanted to talk to her.

"Get moving." Was her response.

Snow wasn't gonna let her go so easily. "No, you don't understand! Serah's all right! She'll turn back!" Apparently Serah's a taboo word for her, I saw how tense she got, trying to relieve herself from that word she so dearly wanted but, she had a focus to complete. She thought for a split second before issuing the final command for him.

"Take care of Hope." She took off, motioning me to follow. I complied after giving Snow a quick glance.

"Wait.."Snow's voice trailed off as he looked at our retreating forms. Fang chuckled and said, "And then there were three." She decided to follow us, leaving Snow with Hope to take care of. He stood there flabbergast and suddenly the enemies started regaining consciousness.

"They're here! Hold it!"

"Gotta go!" Snow grabbed Hope and placed him on the motorcycle. Snow charged up the engine and took off, plowing through the lines.

"Fire! Fire!" Guns blazed to life as they tried to attack. With all of the commotion and the bumpy ride, Hope tumbled off, flat out an open target. The guns were trained on him until Snow came to the rescue. The fight didn't last long and soon every single enemy was taken down.

Snow grinned as he turned back to Hope. "What's up?"

Hope glared at him."Where have you been?"

Snow responded quite seriously, "I got taken in." Hope looked at him, surprised. "Wait-what?"

Snow chuckled as he explained. "Not by enemies. It was the Cavalry, not PSICOM. Leader's name is Raines. He said he'd lend us I'Cie a hand. So now," He got ready for his famous saying, as Hope looked with annoyance. Here it comes. "Your hero is back!" He strikes a heroic pose. That's exactly what I predicted. Hope sighed.

"Why would the army help us? That doesn't make sense."

Snow looked back at the clueless kid after he was done posing. "Military's got all kinds. Not all of 'em like the Sanctum. Don't worry," He placed a hand on Hope's shoulder, "I'll handle the bad guys. Come on."

After awhile they ended up back at the sewer place. Looking around they saw PSICOM soldiers pacing around. Snow smiled and told Hope that they should lay low for now. They continued walking and suddenly Snow's ear piece started ringing. He brought it up to his ear.

"It's me, what's up?" He answered.

"You damn well know what's up!" Fang's outraged voice blew through his eardrums so loud that Snow had to force it away from his head. He made a scrunched up face as he brought it back to his ear.

On our end...

"Why haven't you called in?" Fang was busying herself by yelling at Snow.

"Sorry it slipped my mind." Was Snow's sulky response.

She sighed. What else is new about him? Lightning and I were listening on so that was the through that crossed both our minds.

"Right..." Fang continued, dismissing his stupidity, "What's your status?"

"Great, great! Hope's great too!" He looked at the silver-haired boy as he said that. Hope made no comment.

"Are you all right?" He asked her.

"I'm great, you're great, everybody's great." Fang said then she walked over to us. "Reunion time." She held out the ear piece to Lightning.

"What?" Lightning was as confused as I was.

"Figure out a rendezvous point." Fang said simply. Lightning gave her a look as she put the ear piece close to her ear.

"Don't sweat it. That line's hyper-encrypted." Fang said that with much confidence like she knew what she was talking about. Lightning sighed.

"Hey, Sis. Is that you?" Snow's voice sounded on the other side.

"I'm not your sister." Lightning said bluntly.

Back at the Agora,

"This city's under our jurisdiction. We're the ones defending it! We should have a say in what's done to protect it." A soldier was voicing his opinion to his leader, the silver-haired man named Yaag Rosch.

"Attention all units." Rosch was speaking in an ear piece to his squads. "Ignore all fire zone restrictions. Fire at will." His men looked at each other bewildered.

"Whatever it takes to kill the I'Cie. Over." He cuts off communication.

"'Whatever it takes'?" One of his men pipes up. "You want to start a war in the streets?" His comrades agreed with him. "Civilians are still evacuating! The collateral we're talking about is unacceptable!"

"You don't know what it's like out there!" Another soldier called out.

Rosch drew out a sword and pointed it at his men. "You don't understand why we're here." He stares at them. "Who do you think it is, terrified of Pulse and begging us to kill the I'Cie? It's not the Sanctum. It's not us. It's the people." He cuts off his speech there.

At our end...

Fang and Lightning were leaning against the wall while I decided to stretch myself and catch a quick nap. Fang was kind of looking at me in interest, I felt her eyes on my back but I continued to ignore that. She was a stranger to me so it is probably best to get out of her way. Maybe I'll learn more about her later.

"We'll meet at Hope's place." Lightning was saying still talking to Snow, "Felix Height's 35-A."

"Right. See ya there." Came Snow's reply. "Tell Fang 'hey'."

Lightning looked at her and motioned with her hand what Snow said. She huffed with annoyance.

"Take care of Hope." Lightning turned her attention back to Snow.

"All over it. And I'll tell you more about it when we meet up. I found out she can turn back. There is still hope."

Lightning became absolutely quiet at that piece of news, then she said, "Snow. Listen to me. It's about Hope. His mother was-"

Hope's voice cut in, "Lightning, it's me. I decided-(static)I have to-(static)Operation" His voice trailed off due to static interference.

"Hope? Hope! Answer me." Lightning tried to catch on but the signal and communication went blank.

"Yelling doesn't fix it. It's called interference." Fang said as she walked over, holding out her hand for the device.

"Thank you Captain Obvious." I said as I finished my nap and walked over to them. Fang gave me a sharp look which I completely ignored.

Lightning sighed and handed the mic over. "You can chitchat when we get there." Fang promised and then said, "I've got point, you fall in behind." Lightning and I looked at each other then looked at her.

"And see if you can't cool off that head of yours." Her last statement was directed at Lightning and she walked off. We were forced to trail behind her.

A/N: Done with this chapter. The beginning chunk was a little bit of what had happened to Vanille and Snow after the gang split up. I didn't want to write out the whole thing so I summed it up. As always reviews are much appreciated ! :P

Oh and for those who doesn't know what Gestalt Mode is, it is this aspect where the Eidolon changes shape so that their summoners can ride on them. For example, Odin's Gestalt Mode is a horse that represents his trademark steed Sleipnir . Another example as seen in this chapter is the Shiva Sisters. Their Gestalt Mode is a motorcycle. There are still more to come as you will see each and every Eidolon's Gestalt Mode in later chapters.