I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.

Gran Pulse. It was as vibrantly beautiful as it was untamed; trees that painted the ground a rich, luscious green and bodies of water that looked like they could have swallowed Cocoon in its entirety. However, this Pulse was only one that she'd seen from the sky. The Pulse where they had landed was little more than a small grassy alcove surrounded by star-touching mountains, encircled by nauseatingly abysmal fissures.

Nighttime had fallen and Lightning sat before their campfire, running a smooth stone down the length of Blazefire's edge, staring meditatively into the frivolously dancing flames. What was the next move? They had remained locked in this stony nook for three days and with no possible prospect escaping its clutches. While she had fallen into her typical method of thinking (via weapon maintenance), she turned he eyes from the fire to observe her comrades:

Sazh sat several feet away but also stared distractedly into the fire; Snow stood across from her, leaning against the thick trunked tree and his gaze burned holes in his boots. Off to the side sat the two Pulsian women, sitting back-to-back and talking silently with reminiscent looks on their faces. Nearest to her, deep in thought and lying flat on his back with a fist over his eyes was Hope, his lips moving but no sound came out.

Dropping the stone used to sharpen her sword and pulling out a white rag from her medical pouch, Lightning proceeded to run it up and down Blazefire with long, smooth, even strokes. "What's next Farron?" She wondered to herself, they only way out of their present location lead to, what had once been, a grand city but only stood in ruinous shambles, a shadow of its former self. Just from what she'd seen, Lightning truly understood what Fang and Vanille had been telling them: here, there really was no can or can't, you either lived or died by the choices you made. This place was, by design, a massive trial to learn who was most fit to survive!

"Hey Fang, Vanille" said Snow at last breaking the silence "I'm surprised neither of you know how to get us out of here. Haven't either of you been here before?"

"No" replied Vanille flatly "Oerba's a good, long distance to the west and neither one of us have ever been this far away from home."

"General rule of thumb here on Gran Pulse: never stray too far from your village, it might just be the last thing you ever do!" said Fang sardonically.

Lightning sighed "Great, so we are surrounded by nothing but ruins and bloodthirsty wildlife…we've run out of places to search…"

"If only we could get up there…" said Sazh, staring at the mountainous walls of rock that encircled them. Lightning stared upward, silently agreeing with him; unfortunately, without her Grav-Con Unit she was no longer capable of performing such feats. "…who'd have thought: that we'd come this far for it to just end?"

"SO THIS IS HOW IT ENDS?" bellowed Snow loudly

"Just wait" replied Sazh pacifyingly "Now how long has it been since we left Cocoon, hm? Not a single soul for miles around, not a single clue about this l'Cie mess…what I'm saying is, we did well just getting this far." Lightning paused in her stroking: Sazh was absolutely right; if they didn't find anything soon then they wouldn't get another chance.

"Oerba!" said Hope, shooting up with a look of absolute eureka written across his face; "Vanille and Fang's home-the place where it all began; maybe-just maybe-it'll be the place where we find the answers we're looking for!"

Vanille looked positively ecstatic though Fang looked dubious, "Yeah right: if we can get there."

Lightning shot Fang a dark look. It was the best plan that she'd heard in the last three days and she didn't see the bronze-skinned woman coming up with anything better. Seeing the looks on everyone's faces, it appeared quite plainly that the vote was unanimous.

There was a faint but distinct growl from the darkness; Lightning burst to her feet, holding Blazefire at the ready and gaining the attention of her friends. She furrowed her eyebrows: something had found them (attracted by the fire and their voices no doubt) and from the sound of it, whatever it was, there was a lot of and it was hungry!

From out of the shadows emerged a pack of dirt colored, growling and snarling, wolf-like creatures, drool dripping from their jowls. Lightning lifted her gunblade into the air and squeezed the trigger, releasing a burp of fire and an echo of thunder as her warning reverberated throughout the enclosed space. The monsters, however, did not take this as Lightning had intended and instead charged forward with a hungry roar!

Encircling herself in the trio of bright red and transmuting her weapon, Lightning simply stepped forward and plunged the full length of her sword down the throat of the open mouthed beast. Tearing Blazefire away, the wolf-ish monster fell to the ground, twitched twice, and then became still. Spinning on her heel and dragging her blade upwards, Lightning drove four inches off the tip of her blade into the guts of a second beast. Turning back towards the group, she watched as Sazh felled monsters left and right, Snow and Fang slaying the beasts in, almost, a rehearsed manner. Hope and Vanille moved in a strange dance, each lobbing some form of magic at their attackers; Light turned towards the remaining members of the pack (who'd frozen in their tracks) and shot them the angriest death glare she could muster.

An earsplitting howl cut across the group of battling l'Cie; the remainder of the pack abandoned their easy kill and fallen brothers, then disappeared into the darkness from whence they'd come.

"Yeah, you'd better run!" Sazh laughed victoriously; Fang and Vanille, however, both went extraordinarily pale and gave each other petrified looks.

"I've heard that before…" said Fang as the howl shrieked across the evening again "…and it is not a good sign!" As Lightning opened her mouth to question the ground began to tremble violently. Training her eyes back towards the endless darkness, she saw it: stepping into the light was another wolf-like monster, only this one was colored bright silver and, compared to the others, this one was enormous! Easily matching the size of six Orion-class battle mech's and, judging from two Pulsian's reactions, just as powerful. Forgoing the dismal howl, the mammoth creature roared thunderously and began flexing its leg muscles, quickly and repeated, as it charged forth with an earth shaking crunch!

A hand gripped Lightning's shoulder, and forcing her heavily backward; Fang had shot past her, her spear-arm cocked back, and launched it with all of her strength. The tip of her bladed spear pierced the skin, right at the base of the neck, but did not slow the beast; Lightning watched as Fang stepped back, allowing the tall-warrior, the kids and the pilot to begin an assault of their own. The enraged animal plowed into them, sending the l'Cie flying backwards; the five of them crashed back to the ground and failed to get back up, each moaning in pain and unconsciousness.

Lightning turned back towards the monster, who continued its mad run, Blazefire pointed downward. Moving her blade over her head and swinging it down, the steel scraped harmlessly off the monster's steel-like head. The monster flexed its neck muscles and twitched it violently, throwing Lightning to the ground; the pink-haired warrior, ignoring the pain in her back, pulled out her survival knife (opening the blade with a fluid flick) and sitting it reverse in her hand, rolled out of the way of the beasts massive swipe of its claw. Pushing back onto his feet, Lightning shot her upside-down fist upward and plunging it deeply into the belly of the beast. She rolled out from the monsters underside as it flailed in pain; surrounding herself with the trio of dark blue rings, Light seized a fistful of the silver wolf-monsters hind leg and felt her arm throb as electricity surged from her brand and into the beast.

There was another pain-filled, angry roar when a dull twinge blazed across her torso, beating the wind out of Lightning's lungs as the creature mule kicked her. Soaring through the air, Lightning felt a familiar thud strike her back and a sharp ring met her ears as both she and her Blazefire Saber collided with the ground. Blinking stars out of her eyes and fighting to regain her breath, Lightning stretched her arm to reach her weapon, close enough to touch with her fingers but remained just out of reach. An enormous paw stepped down on Blazefire's blade, pinning it to the ground, and another deep growl reached her ears; turning her eyes upwards, she found the massive wolf standing above her, baring its yellow fangs and breathing rancid breath into her nostrils. She stared into its beady, blood-red eyes in terror, doing her best to wiggle her sword free.

Lightning became vaguely aware of a distant 'Thump' from her beyond her line of sight but was grateful because the monster turned its eyes forward. Whatever it was threw the massive beast backwards with a loud grunt and then charged past her, disappearing into the darkness. She couldn't see the struggle but she could hear distinct sounds of sword swings; a particularly violent slash averted Light's gaze to the starry sky, where a massive silhouette hung in the air along with something glowing a flaming blue. The blue light rocketed around the sky, striking the beast violently and creating a star of blue fire; at once, the edges of the star converged on the monster and there was a deafening explosion, lighting the sky momentarily before all faded back to the darkness. Lightning watched in awe as the massive creature began its decent back into the abyss when a dull thud rang throughout the alcove; then she saw it, the beast rose back into the air, only it flew high, higher than the tops of the surrounding mountains before disappearing from sight.

"Whoa" came an impressed voice from behind; Lightning shifted her head to find her five companions sitting up, all apparently having seen the transpired events. Turning back to the endless black, as heavy footfalls began their approach, when the figure of man emerged; Vanille gasped, Sazh and Snow mumbled (from what Lightning could tell it was something to the effect of "No Way") but it was Lightning that actually acknowledged the man, her voice a mixture of surprise, relief and, most of all, happiness:

"Cloud"

~o Cloud's POV o~

Cloud awakened with a shuddering jolt and his lungs worked overtime, ingesting massive amounts of air into his body. His eyes were all over the place, scanning, but could hardly see anything beyond the painfully blinding orange sunset. Cloud pushed himself onto his back, his breathing becoming steadier, and stared up at the distantly gargantuan sphere, hovering loftily in the sky. How long had he been asleep? The thought rolled throughout his mind, however, a slightly more pressing question gnawed at him: apart from the obvious, where on Earth was he? Cloud racked his brain for a moment, he remembered Palumpolum all too vividly (admittedly, the escape was kind of fuzzy). The events with PSICOM were rather dream-like but he could easily recall the massive fall.

Rolling back onto his stomach and pushing himself up, the throb from a phantom headache agitated his skull. The spikey-haired man ignored this and successfully returned to his feet; awaiting him was a strange sight. Standing before him, lodged tightly into the ground, was all six of Clouds swords, fully fused and awaiting their master. Taking hold of the velvety handle and tensing his bicep, Cloud freed his hefty blade from the earth.

Cloud stared around, casting a glance up towards the sky; he found the sun sinking behind the distant mountains and the sky quickly changing from orange to violet-blue. With nowhere to go and not accomplishing anything by standing still, Cloud shouldered his weapon with a sigh and began to walk.

Soon enough ten minutes had gone by…and then twenty; the sun had long since disappeared and his way was lit by the silvery light of the moon and the billions of sparkling stars. Cloud continued his solitary walk, his mind beginning to wander: he wondered about Shelke, how was she handling her condition? What where his friends doing, Tifa, Vincent, Snow and Hope? But mainly, he thought of Lightning; why did she fascinate him so much? Perhaps it was her strength (one that kept him going) or maybe it was the way she fought? Cloud sighed: why did he care so much? He had come looking to die in peace (in which he had failed most extraordinarily) but lately, all he'd thought of was how to help her and the others.

Suddenly, his boot sank lower than he would have liked but was able to keep himself from plummeting off the end of the road. By whatever powers that be, Cloud inhaled deeply and turned his gaze a complete ninety degrees downward; apart from the mammoth drop into the chasm below, there was nothing between the grassy ledges in at the foot of the sharp mountains except for a length of moss-covered pipe. However, on the opposite ledge, Cloud could make out a jagged crack in the rock wall; though he wasn't entirely sure that it led, the decision to reach it was still the most sensible plan…now all he needed was a way down!

"SO THIS IS HOW IT ENDS?" a voice echoed loudly across the stillness of the wilderness; Cloud turned sharply, his eyes widening in surprise. He knew that voice but it couldn't be! The odds would have been-Cloud refrained from thinking of the astronomical impossibility, as those odds had already been proven wrong since his arrival. He pushed into a run taking off from where the voice had originated.

Moving down the edge of the mountain, a distant smell of smoke suddenly became stronger as he moved, and a faint glow arose from the ground below. Pulling to a halt, Cloud looked down towards the unbelievable sight:

Sitting around a fire was a group of six people, he could immediately recognize the lanky form of Snow, leaned against a tree and the sprawled out young man who he'd traveled with. But sitting immediately below him, slowly stroking her weapon: was Lightning! Cloud let out a combination of a sigh and a laugh. But something caught his eye; straining his eyes towards the darkness off to the side, he found a pack of wolfish beasts inching towards the group. However, Lightning had gotten to her feet, her weapon at the ready, as the monsters stepped into the light; a thunderous 'crack' cut across the air as she fired a warning shot into the air and the wolves charged forward. The six fought bravely and eventually repelled the beasts, banishing them back to the darkness; Cloud chuckled to himself, disappointed in himself for worrying.

However, his concern was not completely unjustified. Another wolf-monster, this one silver and gigantic, roared loudly and barreled towards the group; watching the enormous beast take out five of them like bowling pins and climb atop a collapsed Lightning, Cloud gripped his fully-fused sword tightly, he'd waited long enough! Bravely stepping forward and dropping like a rock, wind rustling through his hair, Cloud landed in front the monstrous beast with a dull 'thump' and an equal pain blaze through his feet. The monster shifted its beady, blood-red eyes towards him and, with a swing of his sword Cloud swatted the monster off of Lightning. Charging into the darkness after the mammoth creature, the spikey-haired soldier lifted the hefty sword above his shoulder (edge upward) and pierced the beast's fleshy gut, launching it and five auxiliary blades upward. Shining with an azure fire, Cloud shot upward and then stared the monster in the face; roaring in anger the beast launched its neck forward, biting down its stiletto-like fangs at his enemy, only for him to disappear in a flash of blue.

Ricocheting around, successfully disorienting his enemy, Cloud rushed forward crashing the Ascalon into the beast's armored head, sending it into a wide stagger. Replacing Ascalon in his harness and taking hold of Vigilante, he stormed the beast once more, ripping through the flesh. Leaving the blade behind and rocketing over to his next sword, Cloud took the Merciless in his hand and moved for another attack. Again…twice... three times; finally, he was high above the behemoth-like wolf, but instead of being in the center of a golden star, it was surrounded by five blue flame-like clones of himself each wielding one of the six swords. Drawing Ascalon and closing his empty hand in a vindictive fashion, the six clones enclosed the enemy, slashing their weapons and disappearing like ghosts; leaning forward, Cloud plummeted headfirst and, his sword above his head, drove five inches of steel into the beast's skull.

The blue aura that surrounded him, lit up the night sky in a blinding flash and Cloud landed stylishly back onto the ground, surrounded by a ring of swords. Howling a wounded cry, the wolfish monster raced back to the ground; taking hold of Ascalon once again, Cloud twirled it around his head and muttered to himself "BATTER UP!"

Swinging the sword with all his might, he caught the monster at the base of the neck and then launched it. Raising high over the mountainside, higher than the expanse of the rock-face, the monster howled at a blood-curling note and disappeared from sight. Cloud breathed a controlled breath, collected his swords, and moved towards the group, stepping into the light of the fire.

"CLOUD!" cheered Vanille, as she and Hope ran over towards him, the red-head curling her arms around his waist in a spine breaking hug. "Oh, Fang this is-"

"-So you're this great hero I've heard so much about," said a bronze-skinned woman, stepping nearer to him "Savior of the continent of Gaia…Champion captain of the Bodhum Guardian Corps …and the guy that can completely annihilate an entire PSICOM unit by himself. Cloud Strife you're reputation precedes you." Cloud nodded towards the woman-called-Fang's greeting, admittedly being made slightly uncomfortable at the knowledge that his (as Captain Matsuki called it) fame still followed him, even under circumstances such as these.

"Hey! Good to see you again kid!" Sazh bellowed, pulling Cloud out of his awkward thoughts as he and Snow tag-teamed patting his shoulders.

"Cloud," started Snow, he took something large from his back and held out its velvety handle; Cloud reclaimed mastery of the Buster Sword with a look of awe. "I promised I'd give that back to you, didn't I?" said Snow with his usual flashy grin; he nodded appreciatively, fastening the sword to his back. It was here, however, that Cloud turned his gaze towards the final member of the group.

Lightning had returned to her feet and was standing near the fire staring at Cloud with a very intense look. Cloud returned the look, connecting orbs of deepest Mako blue with those of pale aqua; the expression she wore would normally have made much braver men cringe but it was her eyes that really sealed the moment. They did not reflect the angry frown that cracked across her beautiful features, instead, they were filled with joy and relief. Stepping out of Vanille's bone-crushing squeeze, Cloud moved slowly over to her.

"Hey Light-" He began slowly but was cut off as Lightning stepped forward and, moving like her namesake, left behind a sharp, biting pain as the back of her left hand collided with Cloud's cheek. The spikey-haired warrior flexed his jaw several times before returning his eyes back to her, however, in an act that surprised Cloud very much, Lightning wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Good of you to join us," she said in a voice so low that only he could hear; Cloud's expression transitioned from surprise to a calm and accepting demeanor, curling his own around her waist and returned her welcome with a tight squeeze.

"Aw…that's nice"

The two, former, soldiers split apart (Cloud twisted his neck slightly); Vanille looked about ready to explode her fists unsuccessfully hiding dinner-plate sized eyes and the Cheshire cat grin on her face. Hope stared at her worriedly. But it was with Sazh, Snow and Fang where the worst of it came from: each wearing the same goofy but teasing expression on their faces. Cloud felt a small pressure on his chest force him backwards (Lightning had done so and crossed her arms stubbornly).

"It's late…" she said firmly, changing the subject as a flash of scarlet cutting across her cheeks "…let's call it a day, we'll figure out our next move tomorrow." She lightly thumped Cloud on the shoulder and moved towards the edge of the firelight, obviously to take the first watch. Not wanting to get the sense slapped out of him again, Cloud planted his back firmly against the wall of rock and slid into a sitting position, enduring the resumed chorus of 'Welcome back' and 'Good job'. He looked up to find Vanille standing over him and offering a folded square of straw-colored tarp.

"You should use this" she said with her typical friendly smile; Cloud accepted the material with a nod. Vanille leaned in close and whispered "Don't worry kid you'll get her next time!" She disappeared with a laugh and left Cloud looking rather dumbfounded, heat slashing across his face. Absentmindedly placing the burlap tarp behind his head and coiling his elbow around the silky handle Cloud returned to the world of slumber.

Cloud's eyelids fluttered open. He had no idea what time it was, other than it was still very late because the moon sat on its perch high in the air. Unsuccessfully blinking the bleariness out of his eyes, he scanned the area: though he couldn't see very far as the dark abyss had reached a suffocating level. However, the fire still shone brightly in the darkness; sitting before him, with his back to him and tiredly lobbing chunks of wood into the fire pit, was Snow. Cloud scanned as far as his line of sight would allow until he found her. Light was sitting only a few inches away, her head turned away and breathing softly.

A cool, gentle night breeze blew through the camp; the pink-haired woman shivered, her arms automatically hugging her chest. Cloud took the burlap cushion from behind his head, unfurled it with a single fluid motion and wrapped it around her shoulders. Lightning shifted in her sleep causing a couple of locks to go rogue and cover her face; Cloud smiled gently and, taking care not to waken her, brushed it way and tucking them behind her ear. As he watched her sleep Cloud realized what it was about her that fascinated him: they were the same on so many levels. Leaders of a rag-tag band of people charged with saving their homes but still needing guidance themselves; smiling softly, Cloud sighed contently before closing his eyes and falling back asleep.

Cloud did not want to open his eyes, not for the third time in less than twenty-four hours, but he could not control the autonomous action and forced them to do so slowly. It was early, the morning birds still chirping flippantly as they searched diligently for their breakfast and the golden flooded sky was beginning to change into its usual blue.

Blinking the bleariness out of his eyes an odd smell wafted into Cloud's nostrils, the very faint but distinct smell of strawberries. Lifting his head, he found the source immediately under his nose; curled under the tarp blanket and using his shoulder as a pillow was Lightning! Cloud stared at her for a moment before leaning her head back onto the wall of stone, where it lolled unawakening, and freed his shoulder. He took to his feet, stretched ostentatiously before making a proper examination of his surroundings. The camp was totally silent; Vanille was curled up in a squashy patch of grass, Fang's arm wrapped comfortably around her. Snow lay spread-eagle near the long-dead fire, snoring violently. Hope rested on his opposite side using Sazh stomach as a pillow (though Cloud found this incredible as the pilot snored more aggressively than Snow).

Cloud breathed deeply, he needed to think and he needed a private place to do it (not counting a silent camp filled with sleeping people). He marched, traipsing silently out of the camp and up the cavern-like path.

"What's the matter with you?" Cloud thought menacingly "You came here to die not start falling in love!" He froze in his walking: had he just admitted what he thought he was admitting? Was he really falling in love with Lightning? He continued on, however forced and awkward, but was able to confess to himself…yes. Despite everything, his constant moaning and self-loathing, he couldn't have been any happier to be able to spend his last amount of time with her.

He came to a halt as the sound of running water reached his ears; stepping out into an clearing, Cloud found several balmy trees surrounding a shallow stream, with a large quantity of crystal clear water running off the edge of the cliff. Crumpling to his knees, shoving his hands into the icy water and splashing some of it over his face, Cloud noticed something in his choppy reflection. The velvety handle of the Buster Sword sticking out from his back, stood out just as much as each of his golden spikes. Taking hold of the weapon, the ex-SOLDIER stared hypnotically into the swirling pattern on the steel; in all honesty, this was one of the things on this continent that Cloud never expected to see again but, once again, his possessions had shown their infallible tendency to return him.

"None of us should travel alone" said a voice from behind, startling Cloud; he returned to his feet, spinning violently, only to hold the tip of the Buster Sword's edge level only with Hope's throat.

"Geez kid, you trying to get yourself killed?" Cloud hissed angrily lowering his weapon "Don't sneak up on anything, especially out in the wild!"

"Sorry" said Hope quietly looking thoroughly ready to wet himself "I just needed to talk to you." Cloud stared at the boy as he placed his sword on his back: something was different about him. It wasn't something that he could name but he seemed as though he'd certainly gotten bolder in their time apart.

"About?"

"Well-and not that I'm ungrateful or anything but-what are you doing here?"

Cloud could feel the blood drain from his face "Why do you ask?"

"Us coming down to Pulse was our only option to escape Cocoon-but you turning up here, and when we needed you no less…why are you here? How did you get here?"

Planting his back against one of the trees the spikey-haired man expelled another sigh, seeing the effects of Light's words and training. Looking Hope dead in the eyes Cloud paused; what was he going to say? How could he explain what had happened without alerting Hope towards his situation? As far as he was considered, the less any of them knew the better; he could feel his shoulders sink in the revelation that as far as he'd come, he hadn't moved anywhere off of square one.

"Well the why…I can't really explain…" Cloud started slowly, choosing his words very carefully, "…the how, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

Cloud chuckled and scratched the back of his head, managing (rather stupidly) "I…er…I fell." Hope snorted, obviously believing that he was joking, but did not pursue the subject any further.

Suddenly the boys gaze turned upward "Hey check it out!" he said; following his eyes, Cloud found what he was looking at: perched atop the trees was a batch of bright green fruit.

"I bet I can get some of those" said Hope unfolding his boomerang but upon seeing Cloud's blank look, "Not a good idea to travel on an empty stomach." Winding up his arm, the silver-haired boy unleashed his weapon; the boomerang swirled higher and higher around the tree but returned to its master unsuccessful in its mission.

"Need to be higher-give me a boost!" cried the boy with restored dynamism; Cloud sighed impatiently but interlaced his fingers into a cup and lifted him onto his shoulders. "Just hold still" said Hope (Cloud grunted in aggravation as the boy used his head for a step-up again). There was a heavy shift and Hope swayed uncontrollably; Cloud widened his legs, straightened his back and gripped Hope's ankles tightly. However their rapid destabilization caused Cloud to fall forward until the two of them hit the ground with a correlated "OOF!" Pushing his face out of the dirt, the spikey-haired warrior found the world to be raining lime-colored fruits, one of them bearing a yellow-and-blue boomerang lodged inside it. Cloud suddenly felt the urge to laugh. He turned towards Hope, expecting for him to be shaking in a fit of it, but found him staring up with quite an unfathomable look in his eyes.

"Hey Cloud," he said softly "I've been thinking about this for a while now…no matter how much Light protests: I want you guys to just leave me behind." Cloud stared at the boy with a look of utmost incredulousness.

"We aren't leaving you behind!" retorted Cloud fiercely, though wishing he hadn't after seeing a seeing a single tear slid down the boy's cheek.

"I'm scared" the boy choked; Cloud felt bad for him, he wasn't like Lightning, himself or even Vanille, he was just an ordinary junior high school student whose life was thrown into a tizzy just because of some summer trip. He didn't have the survival skills that would give him the confidence to stay alive.

"Look," said Cloud soothingly, pulling the boy to his feet, "You're not in this alone; besides, you've got Light and me to keep you safe." His insides seemed to become very tight, he'd only five months (maybe less) left to live and yet he was making promises that he couldn't keep.

"That's what scares me!" sobbed the boy hysterically "I don't want to see anyone get hurt because of me…it would be better for everyone if I just stayed behind!" The boy cried out in pain, clutching at his wrist; Cloud reached for As Hope began glowing a runic design of brightest lime green, Cloud reached for Ascalon but found nothing but air. It then occurred to him that he'd left camp without any weapon other than the Buster Sword! A small noise achieved his attention and he turned to find the Chocobo chick flutter into his hand, chirping wildly.

"Go get Lightning and the others!" he said to the tiny golden bird, the tiny bird turned towards him and stared with confused eyes. "NOW!" Cloud ordered; the chick jumped, startled, but began flapping its little wings until they moved in a blur and then took off at a speed Cloud wouldn't have thought possible for such a small creature. Turning back towards the boy, he watched in shock as something large and heavy dropped like a sarsen from the heavens.

Cloud stood as a barrier between Hope as he examined their enemy: it was a mammoth humanoid-being (easily ten-feet tall), clad in heavy pearly armor and stared blankly at them with doleful green eyes.

"Looks like we can't avoid this" said Cloud holding his sword aloft and looking sideways towards the silver-haired boy, noting the shocked look on his face.

"HOPE!" thundered Cloud, snapping his companion out of his stupor "Look, I can't do this without you and you've taken one of these down before so you can do it again!" This appeared to be all that the boy needed as he drew his boomerang out of the fruit and stood side-by-side with Cloud.

Snapping his fingers (and ignoring the bright yellow shine in the corner of his eye), he could feel the blazing aura of crimson and gold surround him and his silver-haired partner, making him stronger and faster. However, their pearly armored foe lifted its gargantuan fist; the world trembled alongside a deafening 'BOOM' as the ground beneath them exploded. Cloud hit the ground hard, his temple absorbing most of the blow. Giving himself a good shake, he returned to his feet with a hefty leap, however, an alien but incredible sensation of tickling warmth crept down his back; shifting his gaze, he found Hope enveloping himself in a soft white, healing light.

Lifting the Buster Sword, Cloud charged; skidding to a halt and squaring his legs, he swung the heavy blade upward and then transitioned into a smooth slash down. Twisting the blade so that the edge faced the sky, he dragged the blade in an upward-diagonal and then quickly reversed the flow of the attack and attacked again. Unfortunately, the blade bounced away harmlessly all four times; suddenly, as the massive enemy lifted his hand, it became encased in a large block of ice. Reacting quickly, Cloud barely had enough time to dodge as a group of thunderbolts that rained down from the sky, shattering the ice and spraying the freed summon with shrapnel. However, the Eidolon rocked on its feet and swung its open hand towards its summoner.

Charging without thinking, Cloud moved before the boy, squaring his legs and holding the tip of his sword towards the ground, and his world erupted into pain and entropy as the metallic hand mercilessly smashed into him and sent him crashing into Hope. The duo hit the ground rolling, but Cloud thrust the Buster Sword into the ground and seized the young man around the collar of the boys jacket before either of them toppled over the edge of the cliff. Panting, the duo looked at each other with the same idea in their eyes: they were getting nowhere fast!

"Cloud-do you think you can get that big guy in the air?" Hope wheezed; turning back to examine the stationary summon, Cloud voiced his conclusion that it would be tough but not an impossible feat. Using the boy's idea as a guide, he gripped his sword tightly and lunged forward stabbing the tip of the Buster Sword directly in the opening under the arm. Taking the handle with two hands and straining every muscle in his body Cloud watched the impressive sight of the ten-ton giant soar towards the sky. Spinning on his heel and moving as if rehearsed, Cloud launched his arm upward catapulting Hope upward; turning his neck upward so fast that it cricked, he was in time to watch as the young man slapped his Eidolon's face with two atomic blasts of fire. As he fell back to the ground, Hope flung forth his boomerang and struck the pearly chest-plate with one final ball of flame.

Dropping the Buster Sword and holding out his arms, Cloud caught the young sorcerer and cushioned his fall as they both hit the ground. The both of them heaved air heavily but, turning their eyes towards their enemy's last location, they did not find the massive summon; instead, there was a tiny green light, buoyantly falling back to the ground.

Despite himself, Cloud laughed. "That's some beast you tamed" he said, flourishing his sword before placing it on his back; Hope stared down at the star-shaped crystal (which disappeared in a flash of lime green, a color that the l'Cie brand on his wrist glowed in reciprocation).

"Look Hope, that's the kind of power you've got inside of you!" said Cloud, putting a calming hand on the boys shoulder "It was here to show you that you've got what it takes to get back on your feet and do what needs to be done! Take this as a sign Hope: don't you give up, not yet." He released Hope's shoulder, stifling the feelings of hypocrisy of his statement.

"I-I always thought the Eidolons appeared to free us through death…" Hope admitted, dropping his wrist and looking Cloud straight in the eyes "…But now that I know they're here to snap us out of our slumps, they don't seem as evil to me anymore. Thanks Cloud, for everything." Cloud nodded but turned his gaze away from Hope's, feeling that he didn't deserve any thanks.

The thundering mass of falling footsteps echoed wildly throughout the cavern-like path, when suddenly, Lightning and the others came into view (lead by the chirping chick).

"What's going on?" said Lightning looking slightly harassed but very relieved "What happened?"

"Nothing in particular," said Cloud casually (hearing Hope stifle a snigger) "Went looking for some food (he pointed lazily towards the fruit on the ground), did a little bit of catching up and wiping the floor with an Eidolon…you know, the usual stuff."

Upon seeing the mutually blank look on all of their faces, Cloud folded his arms as Hope took control and explained their fight with his summon.

"ARE YOU BOTH ALRIGHT?" Vanille squealed, beginning a thorough examination of the two men, apparently looking for signs of any serious damage.

"We're fine-stop that!" said Cloud snatching his arm out of the girl's grip "Actually, it was Hope that came up with the idea of how to beat it." He turned to his young friend, who looked abashed with a sheepish grin, and winked confidently; the group grinned impression (Vanille turned her full, doting, attention to him).

As they made their way back towards camp, chomping down on their fruit (which were very rich but very watery) Cloud turned to Lightning. She ate her fruit like the rest but kept casting her gaze towards him; "Hey," said Cloud, drawing Lightning's attention "You okay?"

Lightning nodded; Cloud stared at her disbelievingly. She stared distractedly into her fruit, before admitting "I thought you'd left again."

Cloud bit into his own watery food, staring off into the distance. It wasn't like she was unjustified thinking this: he was notorious for running away (or so he was told). "What changed your mind about that?" he questioned, genuinely curious. He watched in surprise as she (with a flourish) held up Cloud's fully fused sword before flipping the blade reverse and held out the handle.

"You left this behind" she said simply with a tiny smile; Cloud took the weapon, reciprocating her smile, and placed it against his back. The two of them suddenly became very aware of how far they'd lagged very far behind but, seeing as how neither made any move to speed up, neither one cared; it became very apparent to Cloud just how beautiful this morning really was.

As the duo returned to the camp, they found the other five in a circle and in deep discussion (they were able to rejoin the group.

"So how are we supposed to proceed?"

Sazh question was one that had brought them all to silence; Cloud, however, looked at all of them with raised eyebrows.

"What are you talking about? Let's get out of here."

The six of them stared at him incredibly; suddenly it hit Cloud like one of Tifa's punches. They'd been here for three days and had no idea…

"Come on" he said marching past Snow and leading them on. He led them further down the cavern-like trail until they had arrived at his discovery: the long bridge of moss covered pipe, acting as the only barrier between them, the jagged path on the opposite ledge and the bottomless drop. He chuckled privately as he heard Sazh whisper ("How did we miss this?").

Planting his boot firmly onto the rusty pipe Cloud took the first step forward, it creaked and whined (drawing a conjoined gasp from behind) but did not collapse. Continuing the long trapeze act and rejecting the ever nauseating urge to look down as the wind toyed with him, the spikey-haired man finally came to the other ledge. Turning back, he watched as Lightning led the others across.

Sazh laughed "Not so tough now, huh?" He stomped his boot victoriously across the pipe; there was a loud creak and then a deafening screech as the pipe collapsed on itself and disappeared into the chasm below. Cloud and Light stifled laughs as Sazh looked positively mortified, though Snow and Vanille held no such restraints.

Well I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter (even though it was mainly just to reintroduce the characters). Yes, I realize that Lightning's reunion with Cloud was slightly OOC but it was the best I could come up with (if you have anything better I implore you, tell me). I also must apologize for the very sloppy ending; anyway, hope you liked it and don't forget to review :-)