Si's Note: Man. Between computer issues, visiting in-laws, and FanFiction not working I've been unable to post this chapter for the last week and a half. Ah well, I guess it's here now, so…viola?

Also, I've gotten a couple examples of songs that coincide nicely with this story. C-Flare mentioned one by Ayumi Hamasaki called "About You", and another one called "Never Knew I Needed You" by Ne-Yo was brought up by an anonymous user. Check 'em out if you feel like it!

Also-Also: Best review from last time: "am craving the next chapter more than world peace."

So, anyway...yeah. Please enjoy this chapter, and feel free to leave a review! I do love them!

The still air of the night was punctuated occasionally by shrill sirens and automatic weapons firing sporadically, the two sounds following one after the other. No doubt they were the sounds of war: the sirens to warn the people of impending danger and the gunshots to ward said danger away. Occasionally there were roars from beasts, war cries from another world, voices that none, save the six l'Cie, were familiar with. Lightning found that she could identify most of the beasts by their calls, but that brought her no comfort throughout the night. She knew that each fiend was a formidable foe and that, to the untrained citizens that were now being attacked, the monsters would almost certainly be a death sentence.

Her head lifted slightly, peering beyond her shoulder to the area where Sazh still rested near the concrete partition that separated their nook from the highway. She watched Sazh for a minute, noting his shallow breathing and the winces that would occur whenever he took a breath too deep. He was pale still, and colder to the touch than Lightning cared for him to be.

Hope, who was on watch, had been checking on him occasionally throughout the night. Lightning taught him how to feel for a strong pulse, taught him what a dangerously weak pulse felt like, taught him healthy breathing patterns and other such things that were easy to spot medically but could potentially save the life of their weakened ally if he were to succumb to his wounds yet again. Hope, ever diligent, would run down his makeshift checklist every twenty minutes or so, his hands finding the gentle folds of Sazh's neck where the old man's pulse could be found. Lightning watched as he counted slowly, nodded, and then continued down to the man's chest, where he listened for a healthy breath. He, too, must have noticed its weakness, because the boy bit his lip and glanced hesitantly towards Lightning, contemplating, perhaps, if he should wake her.

Strong arms currently held her flush against Snow's body; their bedrolls were hardly indistinguishable from each other. His head was half-hidden beneath tendrils of rosy locks, his nose was tickling the back of Lightning's neck. Her cheeks reddening, Lightning tried her best to shuffle away from the giant, lifting his hand and gently placing it aside so she could escape from his clutches. She found that the task was much harder than it should have been, and after several minutes of silent struggling she was finally free from his hold. She sat up using nothing more than her abdominal muscles and glanced quickly towards Snow when he stirred in his slumber. He mumbled something, rubbed absently at his nose, and then tucked his hand beneath his head and fell back to his dreams.

With a soft sigh she stood, catching Hope's eye as she did so, and met the boy at the far end of their sanctuary, sitting just as a behemoth bellowed in the distance. The two of them listened to the gunshots that followed, seemingly lasting forever, and then the sounds of war ceased yet again.

"Busy night for PSICOM," Lightning commented, "but at least they're not after us at the moment."

Hope smiled wearily. "They would be if they knew where we were," he said, still hovering over Sazh's body. Lightning watched as his hands emitted a soft glow that seeped through the elder man's clothes into his body. "He's not doing as well as I thought he'd be…"

Lightning nodded and continued to watch Hope do his magic. "What's your diagnosis?"

Hope couldn't help but grin. "Well, I'm not a doctor—"

"One of the best that we have," Lightning said with a small sense of pride.

"Well, there are only six of us, and Vanille's the best medic we have so I'm not so sure that's a compliment." He returned his attention to his patient. "But his heartbeat seems to be okay, I think, but his breathing isn't normal. It's not deep enough."

Lightning watched Sazh breathe again—several shallow breaths, followed by a deep inhalation that was accompanied by a wince. "Some of his breaths are deep, just not the majority."

Hope nodded. "Yeah, I know. But whenever he breathes deep, he looks like he's in a lot of pain…"

Lightning nodded again. "You're right. So, whenever he breathes deeply he's in pain, and so he breathes shallowly to spare himself. Occasionally, though, he needs more oxygen than what he's getting, so the deep breath…" She shrugged her shoulders. "Think about it: what happened to him that would cause that reaction?"

Hope looked at her, puzzled, then glanced back to Sazh. "It wouldn't be his wound: that wasn't deep enough to affect his breathing, and it's mostly healed." He pursed his lips in thought.

Lightning hid a small smile: she enjoyed such training exercises. She often was ordered to train younger recruits that needed special attention back when she was a member of the GC. She had always pretended that such tasks annoyed her, but in truth she found them enjoyable. It wasn't that she liked teaching: she just delighted in seeing her trainee grow more confident in their abilities as time went on. Nobody wanted a comrade that didn't believe in themselves, after all…

"You broke his ribs!" Hope said suddenly. "They're probably not completely healed yet—the healing spells might be going to other damaged areas first, so-"

"He's uncomfortable, but probably just fine." She nodded respectfully towards Hope. "You're a better medic than you think. You did good."

He grinned brightly at her, happily, but his joy was interrupted by an unusually loud, terrifyingly close, howl from a beast that Lightning could not place. Her eyes darted to Hope, who was rooted to his spot, listening intently. He seemed paler than normal, and his lips were drawn tight with worry. He, too, looked to Lightning and arched an eyebrow, silently mouthing: what was that?

Lightning ignored his question and listened more closely. She couldn't hear anything, but she felt...

Lowering herself to the ground, Lightning pressed an ear to the cold, unforgiving concrete beneath her. She raised a hand to stop Hope, who had stood, and with furrowed brows she concentrated with all her might.

Sure enough, she felt the reverberations of giant footsteps and heard the vibrations that each step sent through the ground. Whatever made that sound was big: bigger than she was comfortable with. Immediately her thoughts flew to the giant, turtle-like dinosaurs on Pulse. They had never fought one of those: would they be able to handle it here, in the cramped spaces that they were confined to? It would be one thing if they were in the open with a viable escape route, but here…

It gave a second roar, this time coming from about a hundred yards further than the first. It was beyond them now; they had gone unnoticed for the time being. Hope, relieved, slunk back against the wall. Lightning followed suit.

"The hell was that?" Fang whispered harshly from her spot, not more than three feet away. Her head bobbed up from behind Sazh's shoulder, and Lightning could see the alertness in the tribeswoman's eyes.

"No idea," Lightning whispered back. "But it's not our problem anymore."

Fang grunted and adjusted her furry pillow, fluffing it roughly for good measure. "It's not now, but judging by our luck it sure as hell will be tomorrow. Stupid PSICOM bastards will probably piss themselves when they see it, run for cover, and leave us to do all the dirty work of defending the planet that we supposedly came to destroy."

"Somebody's in a bad mood," Hope muttered under his breath.

Fang's head shot back up. "My beauty sleep was interrupted by some obnoxious little monster. Why should I be in a good mood?" With an irritated sigh she lay back down, and within a few minutes where Hope and Lightning remained utterly silent, Fang was back to softly snoring.

"I really don't like her most of the time," Hope mumbled to Lightning, fiddling with his fingers. "She's so annoying. I don't know how you can not beat her up, Light."

Lightning tried to come up with some wise or considerate response, but at the end she gave Hope a wry smile. "Honestly, I don't know, either."

Hope chuckled to himself for a bit and then resumed nervously toying with his hands. He watched Sazh breathe for awhile, and he must have grown bored with it as he eventually decided to ask Lightning a question. "What do you think you'll do once all this is over?"

Biting the inside of her cheek, Lightning mulled over an answer. "Dunno. Maybe go back to Pulse with Fang and Vanille or something. I doubt the GC would want me back. Cocoon…I don't think I could live here, not after everything that's happened, so Gran Pulse is really the only option left."

He was still for a few moments, but his eyes were wide with concern. "You're not going to stay?"

Lightning shook her head.

"But…but we all need you!"

She sighed, not wanting to have this same conversation twice in the same day. "Hope, you guys don't need me. You all have families to go back to—"

"I have my dad to go to! What about my friends? I want to see them, too! If you go to Pulse, I'll…" his voice lifted to a higher pitch than normal, and he swallowed hard. "You're the only friend I have. You can't go away, Light."

Lightning recalled their conversation in Oerba about Hope being the awkward kid at school, the nerd that was always picked on. Of course he wouldn't have many friends, and though she doubted that he had no friends, his words still stung. She had, after all, been mostly absent from Serah's life once their parents had died. Lightning had been too busy climbing through the ranks of the GC, too busy ensuring she had enough money to see Serah through college to be with her. She had neglected her own sister, and now Hope, her second-chance of sorts, would be put into the same situation Serah had been, only there was no older sibling to care for him. Just a dad that had been mostly absent from his life to begin with.

"I won't be far away," she said lightly. "And whenever you need me or when you want to visit, all you have to do is call."

Hope's eyes were misted over, but he jutted out his jaw defiantly, refusing to succumb to the tears that threatened to fall. "Why are you leaving us?"

"I'm not leaving you, Hope. I won't. I just can't stay here."

"Why?"

"Because I can't."

"It's because of Snow and Serah, isn't it?" Hope said, almost bitterly. "You don't want to stay because of them?"

Narrowed, angry eyes shot to Hope. "It doesn't matter why—"

"Snow wants to be with you, Lightning! Serah can find other places to go—we all want you to stay with us! We need you to stay with us!"

"The only one that needs me to stay, Hope, seems to be you," she said coolly. "And I doubt you need me. You'll be fine with your dad."

Hope buried his head in his hands, grief-stricken. "Light…people need you a lot more than you think. You didn't realize Serah needed you until it was too late, did you? I'm telling you that I do—that we do—and you won't listen to me!"

"How the hell do you know that about Serah?" Lightning growled.

"Everybody knows! You think we're so stupid, that we don't realize anything, but we all see it! We all know it! We care about you!"

Lightning inhaled deeply, fighting to remain in control of her emotions. They seemed to be getting out of hand lately, doing things of their own accord without her consent. She hadn't intended on kissing Snow earlier, but she was so full of guilt and relief and all sorts of emotions that she couldn't name that she just wasn't able to help herself. She hadn't intended on crying, either, and the thought that she actually had cried, in front of Snow no less, shamed her beyond belief.

Now, though, anger was trying to fuel her actions: anger that a little boy was talking to her like she was a child; anger that he and everyone else seemed to know about her guilt; anger over the fact that he was trying to guilt her into staying and, damn it all, how the hell did he get to know her so well?

And how dare the little runt say that Serah can go live somewhere else when all was said and done! He didn't know about the situation—well, no, he did, he just didn't really understand it. How could he? He was only fourteen! Lightning could barely wrap her head around it all, and so if she couldn't, then this little kid surely wouldn't even be able to grasp the fundamentals of her predicament!

But he said that Snow cared about me…

She internally chastised herself for the thought. The concept that Snow could care about Lightning more than Serah was something that she refused to actually believe. It just didn't seem logical to her.

No, it did seem logical, but that changed.

Up until a few days ago, he still wore their engagement necklace. Just a few days ago he had allowed a shadow of Serah to run into his arms. Sure, Snow had defended himself and given good reasons, but Lightning just couldn't accept it, no matter how badly she wanted to. It was easier to deny the words that Snow spoke, to convince herself that his words simply were not believable. She had learned in her training that the thing most likely to be the truth was the thing that was the most likely to occur, the thing that was easiest to understand. His feelings for Lightning being stronger than those for Serah was not an easy thing to grasp (after all, he had asked Serah to marry him, but he could barely admit to Lightning that he wanted to be with her). Instead of believing, then, she just opted to play along with his silly game until she was proven right. She figured two weeks would be enough time for that.

It was undeniable that her heart, and her body, craved the brute, but in the end she knew that Snow wouldn't be there for her. She knew Snow would return to Serah—and when had she ever been wrong? Or even if he did stay, something bad would inevitably happen to Snow like it had to all the others, which was something Lightning could not accept. But it seemed as if her points of logic wouldn't sink into Snow's thick skull, which wasn't really a surprise, but nor would he heed her obvious attempts to brush him off and to ignore him. Each time she did so hurt both of them more than she cared to admit, no matter how cool she tried to act after each verbal berating, and so she had taken a different route to get things done: she had decided to give Snow what he wanted. Agree to his terms, follow his lead, suffer from a bit of heartbreak, and then at the end she'd be consoled by the idea that she had been right from the beginning. It lacked a romantic flair, and a happy ending, but then again she was used to such things. It never bothered her before, and she wasn't about to let the concept bother her now.

It was better than acting as if she didn't care, it would grant her some much-desired time with Snow, and it would produce the same result in the end anyway.

Another few calming breaths later Lightning had recomposed herself in front of Hope. "I care about all of you, too, but you have to understand that I can't stay here. It has nothing to do with Snow and everything to do with how we've been treated since we became l'Cie. I cannot, and will not, live side-by-side with the people that so readily tried to kill us and Serah. I'm not that forgiving of a person to begin with," she shrugged. "Right now they'd kill us as soon as they saw us, despite how we're trying to save their lives. Twenty-four hours or so from now we'll be saviors, but will they realize what we've done? I don't think so. I think they'll still hate us; me especially, considering my former career. I'll be the most visible, and it'd be safer for everyone if I disappeared."

"So…you're not running away? You're protecting us?" Hope sounded doubtful, and Lightning wondered when he got the balls to question what she said.

"I suppose so, in a way. I also just don't want to be on Cocoon anymore. I liked Pulse."

Hope nodded slowly at her words, finally seeming to accept them. "I liked Pulse a lot, too, even though we almost died a thousand times. I especially liked Oerba. It was nice there. Kinda creepy, but peaceful, you know?"

Lightning nodded. She understood him perfectly.

"Maybe we can all go there," Hope began slowly. "You, Fang, Vanille…I can convince my dad to come, too, so I can join you guys. Maybe Dajh and Sazh…and anyone else that wants to join us." He thought about this prospect for awhile. "Maybe we all could restore the town. Do you think Vanille and Fang would like that?"

"Yeah, I think they would," Lightning said with a tired sigh. She could argue more with Hope, say that he would be better off on Cocoon, but what point would there be in that? His dad would talk sense into him or, more likely, he'd forget about the idea once things settled back down. Either way, it wasn't worth a debate.

"It's settled then! We'll go there, together." As an afterthought, he added in, "Promise?"

Lightning merely smiled at him, not wanting to give the young boy any false hope. She wasn't one to promise things that she knew would not be delivered, and she did not want to have Hope look forward to something that would never occur.

She stood and stated that she needed to get back to bed. "If you need anything," she added, "then you know where to find me. Don't hesitate to wake me up."

Hope nodded earnestly. "Okay. Thanks for the company, Light."

With a wave of her hand she dismissed the thanks, then settled back into her bedroll with a wide yawn. She was more tired than she thought, but of course sleep would be denied to her for the time being.

"Sounds nice: all of us in Oerba, together," Snow rumbled behind her. "You should have agreed to it."

Lightning squirmed uneasily in her spot. "I thought you were sleeping." It was more of an accusation than a question, really.

"I was. Kinda hard to sleep when some big-ass creeper starts roaring as it moseys on by, and especially hard when Fang opens her big mouth to complain. I've been awake since."

"Spying?" She hissed, casting a dark glare over her shoulder.

"No. Eavesdropping." She heard the crackle of his lips splitting into a devious grin.

Lightning groaned and tugged her blankets up over her shoulders but Snow wrapped his arm around her waist and tugged her close. She didn't want to be there: her mind screamed against it, telling her to be strong and correct Snow, to pull away, but everything else in her being just said shut the hell up and let me do what I want.

Snow nuzzled her neck with his nose, and soon whatever will her mind had left to fight disappeared. She was tired of being strong, of standing alone. Right now, she wanted to be held by the man she came to admire; by the man that she was forbidden to have.

"I don't blame you for wanting to leave," Snow whispered quietly. "I mean, I don't really care for the idea of staying on Cocoon either, not after everything that's happened. I think the others probably feel the same way…and I think that Hope might have a good idea. The Oerba thing. Don't you think?"

Lightning mumbled something that may have been an affirmation, but she didn't want it to be too clear.

"Sazh and Dajh could live in that workshop and tinker around with all that shit in there. Fang and Vanille could teach little Dajh about Gran Pulse; you could probably teach him how to beat things up and heal people and, you know, how to do all that useful stuff that you know how to do. Hope and his dad…well, I don't know what they could do, but I'm sure they'd be useful at something."

Hope's dad probably wouldn't be useful for much, but she was certain there would be many things that Hope would excel at, if only he were taught. She mentioned as much to Snow, who laughed quietly. "True enough, I guess."

"What about you?" She whispered, curious what the brute would do in his spare time.

"Kick ass and chew bubblegum?"

"Lamest joke ever, Snow."

"Fine, fine," he gave an over-the-top sigh and let his hand travel slowly over the curve of Lightning's waistline. "I dunno what I'd do. I'm not good at much, but I guess I could be the security of the town." He pressed his lips against her neck, and she felt him smile softly into her skin. "It'd be nice to come home after a hard day's work to see the missus, who would greet me with a loving kiss instead of a punch or something."

Lightning frowned.

Snow, however continued with the thought. "Lightning—no, Claire—Villiers."

Her frown deepened.

"Claire Villiers," he let the name roll off his tongue. "Kinda…posh sounding. Rich. It flows really well. Maybe it's meant to be?"

Lightning's body went rigid, and Snow realized his error too late.

"Look, Light, I'm—"

"Snow, knock it off. This isn't the time to be talking about that kind of thing. Besides, you're still technically engaged to my sister, and we're not even…I mean, we've just—"

"I got it," he said.

"No, you don't!"

Instead of getting angry or defensive, Snow gave a resigned sigh. "Light, stop. Sorry for upsetting you. It was all in good fun."

Good fun?

"I won't mention it again, okay? But, really, you need to stop doubting everything I say. It's aggravating."

Lightning was still stiff, still annoyed, but tonight was not the night to carry on with such things. There was an impending battle with Orphan approaching, and entering it with hurt feelings towards one another, or being angry with each other, would help no one. Knowing this, she swallowed the several biting comments that demanded to be said and instead gave a short, curt nod that Snow could see. "Sorry."

"No harm done!" Snow said happily. "So…bed time?"

She gave another nod.

"All right! Let's get our sleep on, then!" With that, he twirled Lightning around onto her opposite side so that the two were face-to-face. He smiled softly down at her, his stubble scratching against the forearm he used as a pillow. A thick finger brushed the hair from her face, traced her jaw, then grabbed Lightning's shoulder and pulled her close. "G'night, Lightning," he said, his voice muffled by Lightning's thick hair. "I'm looking forward to seeing you in the morning."

Lightning responded with a simple, "Yeah, you too." She listened to his steady breathing become deeper until he fell asleep, listened as the world around them seemed to become still during the darkest part of the night. She knew that she should be cold, that she should be worried over their fates to come, knew that she should feel guilty about what she was doing, but all she could concentrate on was how warm Snow was. His arms were comforting when they encircled her body, and the only thing she desired more than their l'Cie nightmare to end was that this—she and Snow, together—could be her reality, because she felt, more strongly than ever before, that this was how it was meant to be.

Destruction lined the highway of Cocoon: evidence of battles hours-old lay strewn everywhere. Cars were smashed; their windshields broken in and the metal crumpled like paper. The people were, for the most part, long-gone, but some had not been lucky enough to escape. There had been a few instances where Lightning, scouting out the area further ahead of the others, had to quickly run back and divert the course of the five behind her to spare the younger two the sight of broken and bloodied bodies that could be found here and there. Mostly the dead consisted of the men of Eden, but at one point she saw two teens lying near each other, male and female, the lower half of their bodies crushed into an indecipherable mess. At this Lightning held back the bile that rose in her throat, then jogged back to the others and ensured that Hope and Vanille walked by without looking at the gory mess to their right, even though the stench was horrid enough to pervade their nostrils and clue them in to what it was they were trying to avoid.

Fang didn't seem too disturbed by the sights, but Snow, being nothing more than a softie at heart, was deeply distressed by the images. His eyes were lined with tears whenever they passed another corpse, and Lightning knew that he probably felt guilty for being unable to save these poor souls. He, like she, probably wondered if the lives of these innocent citizens could have been spared had they dragged Sazh with them the night before instead of resting. Would their rest end up causing more destruction than good?

Of course, they should have still been resting today. Sazh was hardly in any shape to travel: his breathing was still labored, and his wounds, though no longer open, were still sore. He was woozy whenever he stood, or if he exerted himself too much, so many protective measures had to be taken to ensure that he remained safe. Still, him traveling was an unwise decision for his own health.

The reason they decided to leave was much the same as the reason Lightning had to scout ahead of the others. When morning came Fang had risen and told Hope to go take a break for a minute, which he did willingly. He ran onto the highway, looking for a decent place to relieve himself, and upon finding the prime location he also found a broken car. Interested, he finished eliminating and then turned to examine the vehicle, only to find a husband and wife, dead, on the outside of the passenger's side of the vehicle. They bore wounds similar to Sazh's, only much deeper and with organs that were supposed to be inside pouring out.

Hope returned to camp in tears, a small trail of vomit splattered on the outside of his glove and, ignoring Fang, he ran to Lightning to shake her awake. She listened to his tale, waiting patiently between quiet sobs and hiccups, and upon learning what he had witnessed she threw her hard exterior to the wind and wrapped him into a tight embrace. Snow, who had been listening, did the same, causing Hope to lose any and all control of his tears. The three of them sat there, hugging each other, swaying gently back and forth for some time. By the time they separated, everyone, including Sazh, was awake and the story had been relayed by Fang to them.

"We're going. Now," Sazh said grimly, standing uneasily to his feet. Vanille began to protest, but Sazh cut her off. "People are dying, Vanille. We can't sit here on our asses and do nothing. I don't give a shit if I have to hobble along a mile behind you: we're going, now, and that's final."

And, with that, they had gathered their things and set out to continue their journey, only to find a mess of dead bodies along the way.

Sazh, sitting in an ancient velocycle that Lightning had found soon after departing from their nook, shouted from the back of the group that he could see the distant outline of one of the dinosaurs far ahead. Lightning was hardly surprised by this: it was more than likely the source of the ruckus from last night. With a nod of affirmation that she had heard Sazh's words,Lightning kept charging forward.

After about an hour of jogging up the highway, the bodies lining the streets began to appear less often and finally they disappeared altogether. She wasn't sure why this was the case, but she was thankful for it all the same. Another mile or two forward and Lightning paused in her tracks, shielding her eyes to gaze ahead.

"I see people," she said. "Alive. There's a lot of them, too." There were probably hundreds gathered beneath a canopied section of the highway, all huddled together protectively.

Fang joined her at her side, mimicking Lightning's stance. "There certainly are a lot of 'em," she said quietly. "How well do you think people can recognize us?"

"Probably not very well," Vanille said from behind. "They didn't recognize Snow until the camera spotted the brand. As long as we can hide those, I think we'll be okay."

Sazh grunted. "I don't wanna be attacked by a bunch of crazed idiots, but we gotta get through...I guess we don't have much of a choice," he sighed, buttoning up his shirt. Snow removed his bandana and wrapped it around his brand, mussing up his hair for good measure. Hope tugged his gloves up higher and Vanille tugged her skirt down slightly.

"That's totally not going to work, Vanille," Hope smiled weakly. Vanille stomped her foot and pretended to be angry, but in all reality they were thrilled that Hope had said anything at all: he had been silent since this morning.

"What about Fang's?" Snow asked, motioning towards the mucked-up brand on the Pulsian's shoulder. Fang merely shrugged.

"Damn cool tattoo, don't you think?" she said, showing off the tribal pattern with a wave of her hand. "Got it the other day at Palumpolum for a great price."

Lightning rolled her eyes. "If that works then I will lose any and all faith in the human race."

Fang flashed a smirk. "I lost that a long time ago, Sunshine."

With a sigh Lightning turned and began trudging forward, towards the people, with Hope tight at her side. "I hope this works," he said quietly, nervously. Lightning just lay a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly.

"It will."

They walked slowly through the crowds, trying not to cause any undue suspicion. It was hard, though, considering the members of their group: they had a giant of a man in a trench coat, a black man with an afro and a chocobo in his hair, a young girl wearing hardly any clothing, and a tall and tanned woman with a large lance and strange clothes. Lightning swore that she and Hope were the only somewhat-normal ones of the group, and she cursed the others for their horrible sense of fashion and for their need to stand out.

"We need to split up," she said quietly, watching the quizzical and cautious glares of the people of Cocoon. "I think people suspect us."

"Who goes with who?"

"Fang, go with Snow. Sazh, take Vanille."

"…the hell is a black man on a velocycle supposed to do with a little white girl? I'll look like some pedophile!" Sazh whispered loudly.

"Fine. Fang, go with Sazh. Vanille, go with Snow."

"She's half my height! If anybody would look like a pedophile—"

Lightning turned around and gave Snow a pointed stare. "Really, Snow?"

"I'm just as tall as Serah was!" Vanille pouted, crossing her arms. "You didn't complain then!"

"Point taken. Come on, Vanille," Snow sighed

The two walked to the right and, to add to the effect, Vanille tried to take Snow's arm in her own, but he shook her off and shoved her slightly aside. Lightning then turned to watch Fang and Sazh go to the left, where they looked horribly odd together: Fang had to walk quickly to keep up with Sazh's vehicle, and the two were such a strange sight that they were turning many heads.

Lightning groaned. "This is never going to work. They look like freaks of nature."

Hope took Lightning's arm. "Knowing Fang, she'll open her big mouth and get us all in trouble, so we should probably get heading out before we're figured out."

Lightning nodded and started forward again, weaving through the crowds of people who were too busy complaining about their fate to do anything about it. She found herself growing more annoyed as she passed more people: everyone wondered why they had to endure such a fate, why they had to be stuck in such a situation, but not once did someone try to do something to rectify the wrongs that had been done to them. Honestly, were they all that pathetic? Did the six l'Cie have to do everything?

They saw an end to the tunnel, and Lightning's mood lifted slightly. They were almost there. Just a little ways more to go! The others hadn't been spotted yet! They were—

"You're GC, aren't you?"

Lightning's pace quickened. She was practically dragging Hope along beside her.

"Wait—you're GC! I can tell by your shoulder plate—hey, stop! Why the hell are you running? Stop!"

She felt the eyes of several people land on her, and the crowds seemed to draw closer together, pinning her in. It could have been her imagination, but it seemed far too real…

Instinctively her hand itched towards the hilt of her gunblade. "What do you want?" She directed the question towards the voice that had spoken to her, although she was unsure who, exactly, it had been.

"You're GC! Why are you running? You're supposed to be saving us from this mess!"

The crowd around her whispered to each other, and she felt their accusing glares land on her.

"I'm working on it," Lightning huffed, her eyes scanning the crowd for her accuser. She couldn't find him, there were so many people…

In the background she saw Sazh and Fang, both of whom had stopped to watch the proceedings. She jerked her head towards the tunnel opening discretely, and, understanding, they quietly continued on their way. How the hell did they make it out without being spotted? This is absolute crap.

"I'm on official business," Lightning continued. "So please stand aside—"

"Like hell I will! GC works for the city—you're not under the Primarch's orders! Do something! Save us!"

"I'm trying, damn it!"

"Wait," a woman's voice said, and Lightning spun around to spy a middle-aged lady step forward. She wore an atrocious flowered dress that was dyed in uncomplimentary colors and the very sight of it assaulted Lightning's vision. "I recognize you from the TV…Primarch Raines was talking about you."

Others began nodding their heads slowly, mumbling, recognizing Lightning's face now. Whatever Raines had run about her, it had certainly been effective.

"Light, we need to go now," Hope whispered, tugging on her arm. He glanced nervously towards her.

"I need to get to Eden Plaza to—"

"She's the l'Cie!" one man shouted, and upon this revelation the entire crowd began crying out in alarm, pointing accusing fingers as many backed away.

"This is all your fault!" Another man cried. "My wife is dead, and it's all because of you!"

"You brought these monsters here! You brought this on us!"

"You're trying to kill us!"

"Monsters!"

"Light!" Hope cried, pulling close to her side. She looked down to him, saw the genuine fear in his eyes, and she decided enough was enough

She whipped her blade out, flashing it before the crowd and waving it threateningly back and forth. "You idiots have no idea what you're talking about," she hissed, jerking her wrist so that her blade transformed into a gun. The crowd in front of her gasped and pushed backwards, away from the tall, crazed woman that stood before their eyes. "I'm not here to kill you, even though you seem to think otherwise." She and Hope took a step backwards, towards where Sazh and Fang were heading. "We don't want to hurt you, but we've got bigger fish to fry. If you try and get in our way—"

Hope cried out Lightning's name, and as he did so she felt a cold blast on the back of her neck. She spun sharply to see an ice shard blasting through the air, digging itself deeply into the shoulder of a man that was only a few paces away from the two of them. A knife had fallen to his feet.

The crowd began to scream and run away at Hope's magical l'Cie display. Lightning took advantage of the chaos and grabbed Hope's hand, lowering her head and charging directly through the crowd to get away. Hope, panting, interlaced his fingers with hers.

"Thanks for the save," she called over her shoulder to him.

"He was going to kill you. I should have killed him," he shouted back, a dark tone to his voice. It disturbed Lightning, to say the least.

"No. You spared him. Now he has to wonder why you didn't kill him—now everyone has to. We could have done it, easily, but you chose not to. Hopefully that'll make them reconsider their views about us deadly l'Cie."

Hope hmphed loudly but said no more.

They both were breathing heavily once they reached the end of the highway. It was free of people, since they all were still screaming in terror and huddling together for safety again far behind them. The other four l'Cie were already there, waiting.

"And you thought I would be the reason we'd get caught," Fang said, folding her arms across her chest. "Looks like you were wrong."

Snow was looking her over for wounds from a distance, but Lightning shook her head towards him. "I'm fine: Hope saved me from some guy that was going to stab me. We're both fine."

Snow sighed in relief, then held out a hand for Hope. "Thanks, man. I owe you one."

Hope shook Snow's hand solemnly. "Yeah, you kinda do."

"How 'bout we focus on all the niceness later," Sazh said, the motor of his velocycle purring as he slowly turned. "Looks like we got us some silver-haired punk that needs an ass-whupping."

Lightning's head whipped up and, to her dismay, she saw a far-too familiar face. "Yaag," she said under her breath, none too happy to see her former instructor standing before her now.

Yaag Rosch had always been a man that was passionate about his duty, but now it seemed that his actions were driven more by his hate towards the l'Cie than the duty that he swore to uphold. He was blinded to the truth by his rage, and Lightning knew that, no matter what words were explained, he would not be swayed by any argument. Not now, at least.

"Come on," Lightning said to the group as her blade-arm twitched. "We have another disillusioned idiot to deal with."