Lightning opened her eyes, "Ugh, my head." She sat up. The room was bright with the morning light. What?! Why didn't anyone wake me up? she sat up and scrambled to get her uniform on. Her gunblade leaned against the door. She grabbed it and darted out the door.

Noctis was awake and staring at the ceiling.

"Where's Serah?" Lightning asked in irritation.

"She hasn't come down yet," Noctis said.

"Is she asleep?"

"I have no idea," Noctis shrugged.

"You didn't ASK?" Lightning screamed.

"I'm sorry but I wasn't going to bother. I think the best thing is to leave her be for now," Noctis shrugged.

Lightning growled, "Fine. That means that I'm making breakfast then."

Noctis sat up and looked at her, "You're making breakfast?"

"Yes," Lightning walked into the kitchen, "It'll be my way of apologizing."

"Okay," Noctis nodded. He laid back down and stared at the ceiling.

Lightning hurried into the kitchen. Uh-oh. Why did I volunteer to make breakfast? I can't cook. Serah cooks. She swallowed, "I'm making breakfast. It'll be my apology for messing things up yesterday." She grabbed a pot and filled it with water. She set it on to boil and grabbed eggs out of the fridge. Once the water was boiling she put the eggs in the pot. "Okay, how do I make hardboiled eggs? Cookbook!" Lightning grabbed it out of the cabinet and found the recipe she was looking for. She set the timer for ten minutes like it told her to.

Serah woke up to the smoke alarms going off and the smell of smoke. She sat up quickly and shot down the stairs.

Lightning was in the kitchen dealing with a burning egg, "Noctis take care of the smoke alarms!"

"I don't know how to do that!" Noctis snapped.

"I got it," Serah grabbed the towel, "Noctis open all the windows and the door."

"Okay."

Lightning sighed once the alarms stopped, "Sorry. I tried to make breakfast because you weren't up."

"It's alright," Serah smiled, "It got me up."

Lightning sighed, "That went splendidly."

Noctis sighed and went back to the couch. He did not say anything.

Lightning rolled her eyes.

Serah smiled and laughed, "It's okay. I'll make pancakes."

"Alright," Lightning sat at the table. She put her hand on her fist and glared at the wall.

Serah made pancakes quickly.

Lightning left for work.

"Snow and I have decided to talk to the fal'cie," Serah told Noctis.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Um, yeah," Serah nodded, "I think it's the best bet for me to get this over with."

"Okay," Noctis shrugged, "Tell Snow that if anything happens and you can't come back he needs to find Lightning."

"Okay," Serah nodded.

"Yell him that if that happens he needs to tell her that I told him to tell her," Noctis smirked, "That leave him with his hide."

"Okay," Serah nodded. She left.

Noctis sighed, "Oh, boy. I don't think this is going to go down well."

Lightning came home livid that day. Serah had not yet returned and Noctis was asleep. She pulled on his hair less than gently, "Get up."

"Ow!" Noctis opened his eyes, "That hurt." He rubbed the back of his head.

Lightning shrugged, "We're going to go find Serah."

"We're—Snow told you she was gone didn't her?"

"You knew?" Lightning glared at him.

"No, I told Serah to tell Snow to tell you first if anything happened to her because she's your sister," Noctis explained quickly.

Lightning sighed, "Fine. Let's go."

"Where are we going? The Vestige?"

"Yes."

"Um, that's not the best—"

"I'm getting my sister back from that fal'cie," Lightning snapped.

"Okay," Noctis nodded. Oh boy. He swallowed.

"We're more than likely going to have to fight our way to her," Lightning said, "If you're uncomfortable with killing people you can back out now."

"I'm good," Noctis shook his head, "If you need me I'm there."

"Good," Lightning turned and walked out the door.

I made someone else…was it someone else? I might not have been able to tell what she looked like but her attitude and her tone. Her voice. I think it was Lightning. But she didn't know me when I got here. if it was time travel then… "Ugh whatever," he muttered. he followed her outside.

Lightning led the way to the vestige.

It was heavily guarded by Psicom as well as Guardian Corps. Lightning smirked, "Well then. If you have any doubts this is your last chance because once this starts there's no going back."

"I know," Noctis nodded, "I told you I'll help you for as long as you need me."

"Alright," Lightning ran forward shooting her gun.

Noctis tossed a small blade at one guy and resisted the urge to teleport to it. he sliced through one of the GC troops and then jumped back as a Psicom soldier swung at him. He shook his head and cut the guy down. I feel like this is gonna make us real popular. Not popular in a good way either.

Lightning made it into the vestige and Noctis was right behind her. The door slammed shut behind them.

"Well looks like we aren't going to get out that way," Noctis muttered.

"We'll find another way but right now we need to get Serah out of here," Lightning sheathed her gunblade, "They'll be purging the city."

"There doing what? Purge as in kill everyone in the city even though they did nothing wrong?" Noctis asked.

"We just killed all of those soldiers because they were following orders," Lightning pointed out.

"Good point," Noctis nodded.

"The people here fear l'cie. Serah wasn't just taken by the fal'cie she was discovered as being l'cie," Lightning sighed, "I should have believed her."

"That's in the past," Noctis said.

Lightning led the way up the many flights of stairs.

Noctis looked around, "This place is a maze. We could be destroyed before we reach her." he swallowed. Or she could be destroyed before we reach her.

"We'll find her," Lightning hissed.

Noctis shrugged, "Yeah." But will we find her alive? He reached into his pocket and touched the rock.

Lightning froze.

Noctis stopped and stumbled backwards to keep from running into her. He looked around carefully.

A bloodcurdling inhuman wail sounded from in front of them.

Lightning crouched down and drew her gunblade. She turned it into a blade with a flick of her wrist.

Noctis spun around as the sounds of feet dragging behind them reached his ears. He took a step back, "Those things definitely aren't human."

Lightning looked around, "I'm pretty sure they're cie'th."

"Cie'th?" Noctis asked. I've heard that in legends. "L'cie that fail?"

"Yes," Lightning nodded.

"You're kidding?"

"No I'm not."

"Damn," Noctis looked up. They were completely surrounded. Cie'th with wings for arms circled above them like vultures above a dying animal. Disembodied arms swatted the ground eagerly and thin twisted figures paced ever closer.

"We don't have time for this," Lightning snapped.

"What do we suppose we do?" Noctis retaliated, "Fight and die before we ever reach your sister? I don't think that's the smartest idea ever."

"What do you suggest?" Lightning growled.

"Um," Noctis paused, "We could carve a path through them easily enough if we focus on moving forward instead of fighting."

"Okay then," Lightning said. She looked around, "The thin ones look weak. They're more common to the left."

"Alright, left it is." Noctis turned and leaped forward.

Lightning cut them down quickly and darted up the steps and around to a long hallway.

The cie'th followed them down the hallway.

"We're going to be followed by them for as long as we're here and when we leave we might release them," Lightning sighed as they were backed into a corner. The door refused to open so it was the same as a dead end.

"Okay," Noctis sighed. uh-oh. Oh well. It's really the only choice I've got. "I'll just have to do things my way."

"What do you mean your way?" Lightning snapped.

"Try to open the door," Noctis smiled at her, "I've got the cie'th."

"No," Lightning said, "You aren't going to commit suicide."

"It won't be suicide," Noctis insisted.

"No," Lightning shook her head, "I don't think I can open this stupid door anyway."

"Okay," Noctis sighed, "We can try to fight our way back through the hallway."

Lightning glanced up and at the horde in front of them, "I called it suicide for a reason. There's too many for us to handle alone, even for us."

Noctis glanced at the horde over her shoulder. She's probably right. He growled in frustration, "Why are there so many?"

"Psicom has sent multiple teams in here and none of them have come back," Lightning explained, "I'm assuming this is why. And then there's probably all the people that wandered in here by accident."

Like Serah. Noctis shook his head, "Um, do you have a way of us getting out of here with Serah?"

"Not with Serah," Lightning shook her head, "but the Purge will be the next best chance to get her back."

"The Purge," Noctis whispered, "What is it?"

"They tell everyone that they're moving to Pulse and then kill them somewhere along the way," Lightning shrugged.

"Nice, so you're going to derail the Purge and get your sister back? Two birds with one stone."

"Yep," Lightning nodded, "IF we manage to get out of here in one piece."

"Okay then," Noctis looked around.

The cie'th continued to shamble forward.

"Well we're a lot faster than them."

"We could dodge and weave," Lightning nodded, "Let's go." She shot forward.

Noctis cringed, "That's nuts." He sighed and followed her quickly. And she said I wanted suicide. She's crazy. Noctis smirked, "Sounds like something I would do. I've gotten a lot more cautious since I got here." he ducked under a flying one and jumped over an arm. They managed to make it out with minimal damage.

"I'll wait for the Purge," Lightning sighed as they slipped out of the Vestige. She looked over her shoulder worriedly. Her face hardened with anger, "If that thing hurts her more than it has I will come up with some worse kind of punishment for it."

Noctis turned to walk backwards and watched it disappear, "It won't."

"How do you know?" Lightning snapped.

"She's it's l'cie," Noctis said, "She needs to be able to carry out her focus meaning she's probably got plenty of protection."

Lightning's eyes narrowed, "Speaking from experience?"

"Um, no," Noctis shook his head.

"Okay," Lightning nodded.