Author's Note: Hey guys! Just to let you know, this chapter is mostly dialogue and will answer a few questions that you may have been wondering about Lightning. One the reviewers had concern that Noctis will fall right back into Lightning's arms again, which is not the case. He is not just going to become obsessed with her over night. Just as a hint, she's going to have to prove to him that she can be trusted.

Thanks for the reviews from Yuki, Dawn, flower on thewind, Sunflower Weilder, gagboy, .f.R.1.3.D.a, and feFisgbf13.

Also, thanks for the 100+ reviews. I love you guys! Again, if you have any question, just email me and I will be happy to answer them.

Enjoy. All characters and locations are owned by Square Enix.

Noctis and Lightning finally moved from their position at the piano and over to a set of two ivory and gold lovebird couches. The prince and princess sat on one, while Lightning sat on the other, facing directly opposite the two people.

"So," Lightning began, her voice subdued, "what do you want to know?" She had her legs crossed, and her hands tightly folded in her lap. Everything about her showed how uncomfortable she was with this. Her long hair was tossed in strands around her back, and a few hung loosely across her front.

Stella looked back. "The truth. Who are you, and what happened to you?"

The prince remained silent, staring at Lightning. He was not sure what Stella was doing.

"Are you doing this so that I might feel sorry for Lightning?" he muttered.

"Noctis!" Stella turned to him, disapproving of what he had just said.

"It's alright Stella," Lightning spoke. "I…I really don't deserve any sympathy."

The prince's words echoed in her head. He had changed from the man she had once known.

Stella wanted to reply to Lightning, but decided that tensions were already high and decided to drop the subject entirely. "Go ahead Lightning," she spoke encouragingly.

Lightning shifted her position on the couch. Instead of thinking of what to say, the words just started to flow from her mind to her lips, like a prisoner who had been confined in a cage for years and was finally free to speak.

"Well, to be honest, I really don't know who I am. I…don't even think Lightning is my real name…the only reason I'm called Lightning is because I was assigned that name by some one. Who, I don't know."

She bit her lips, trying to gather her thoughts.

"My earliest memory was being in an orphanage with a bunch of other children. I think was nine or ten when I first got there, but I'm not sure about that. It was run by the Algentian government, as a place for them to find new recruits for the war. I just remember that place being so cold and wet. I remember I was always scared, terrified of what would happen to me.

"The goal of the orphanage was to create hatred toward the other empires, those who fought against Algentia. Some accepted those thoughts willingly, other fought against those lies. Me, I had no idea what to believe.

"I must have stayed there for a year or two. I got into trouble all the time. I picked fights with everyone. But, I could out run and out fight every kid in that place. It came with a price though. I was always in the infirmary, always getting punished by an adult. At one point, I think I had more broken teeth than whole adult teeth.

"Towards the end of my stay, a man from the Algentian came to visit me.

"He, uh, offered me a chance to leave the orphanage. Said that the empire needed young kids like me. I went with him."

Lightning paused and shifted her position on the couch once again. There was a small knock on the door just then.

"Come in," Stella spoke.

The door creaked open to reveal Adrian, Rex, and Quinn, all of who seemed curious by what was happening.

"We," Rex spoke, "we were wondering if we could join you guys?"

Stella looked at Lightning for approval. She responded with a simple shake of her head.

"You three can come in."

The men then gathered three chairs and placed them around Noctis and Stella. Lightning looked on, amazed at how much she had missed them in those two years. Once they were situated, Stella asked Lightning to continue talking.

"This place he took me to was a training camp," she explained. "They basically turned me into a soldier, a fighter for the great empire.

"But I never fit in. I was always faster and stronger than the others in my group. And it didn't help that I had no idea who I was before. It got to be very frustrating. Everyone there had dreams and aspirations, but I had none of that. I just retreated into this shell of caring only for myself.

"Sometime when I was sixteen, a few soldiers and I snuck out to a bar. I was underage, but they didn't seem to mind that. There was a piano at the bar and they wanted music. Somehow I got stuck playing the piano, and, well, I just started playing these songs."

Lightning glanced around the room. She focused on Noctis for a moment, seeing a disappointed frown on his face. She hated the red eyes he had.

She continued with, "Um, it turns out there was a high ranking member of the army and espionage team there and he took some interest in me. He later would turn out to be my mentor for a year before moving to on."

"So you were the army's pet?" Noctis grunted.

"You could say that," Lightning calmly said. Stella threw a disapproving glance at the prince. In his mind, the number of wrongs that Lightning had done was increasing with each sentence.

"Anyway, I trained under him and left the army for spying. After three years of training, I got my first assignment: Operation Commandeer. It was an extended mission out of Algentia to get the crystal of Tenebrae.

"And that's…"

"That's when you came to Tenebrae," Stella spoke, finishing Lightning's sentence.

"Yeah."

The prince and princess already knew about what went on during that point in Lightning's life, so there was no point to explain what happened then.

So she continued: "When I left Tenebrae, I had completed most of my mission. I was then asked to rendezvous with my contact for the mission and return to Tenebrae. For my work, I would be given a new identity, a place out of the Algentian government, and an exchange of information about my past, how ever small the amount was.

"I got to the extraction point, and was greeted by General Lorelei…"

She closed her eyes, remembering the struggle she had had with the guards, the sensation of the cold metal floor hitting her face.

"She was not apart of the mission, although I'm sure she had a hand in planning it. I thought she was there to congratulate me. But everything went wrong."

Another pause. Lightning bit her tongue, trying to suppress tears of anger and frustration.

Stella saw what Lightning was doing and grabbed a small handkerchief from her robe and offered it to Lightning. She then used the hankie and took a few deep breaths.

"It…it turns out they never wanted the crystal. They wanted me got get cursed by the crystal, so they could use my power against Tenebrae and win the war. Basically, everything I did was so they could backstab me and turn me into a lab rat."

This was getting harder and harder for her to talk about. Stella sensed that frustration and decided to explain something to Lightning.

"Your eye color," she began, "and mine and Noct's, is a mark that the powers of the crystal are in you. Noctis and I only recently had the change in color, and we've been under the crystal's influence for years. In the two years since your interaction with the crystal, your eyes are already showing color.

"Did they do anything to you to disturb the power in you?"

Lightning understood the question.

"There's, um, there's a pair of synthetic crystals in the suit I was wearing."

"You mean these?" Quinn asked as he removed a small wrapped object from his jacket pocket. He handed it to Lightning. "I can't touch it. And Stella said when we were returning to Tenebrae that she felt a power surge in the pocket."

As he talked, Lightning unwrapped the package, revealing the palm sized rose crystal. She then placed it on the coffee table so the others could see it.

"What on Gaia?" Adrian gasped and he stared at the glowing stone.

"That is the work of Dr. Cid and Dr. Hojo," Lightning explained. "There are probably nine more like this one in the hands of the Algentian army. It's the power they extracted from my blood."

"Is it as powerful as the real crystal?" Rex asked.

"It's synthetic so it might not be as powerful, but they can make as many crystals as they want."

Noctis had listened to all of this and had tried to hold back his anger, but it had reached a boiling point. "So basically, Tenebrae no longer has the upper hand?!"

Lightning looked back at the prince with terrified eyes.

"And everything about your life, up until two years ago, was a fabrication?!"

"Noctis!" Stella spoke, with a hint of anger in her voice.

"Thanks so much Lightning!" Noctis then stood up from his seat on the couch.

Lightning did too in response. "I'm sorry Noctis. I…" her voice started to crack, "I'm sorry for what I did to you."

"You're sorry!" Noctis screamed back, the volume of his voice rising with each word he spoke. "YOU'RE sorry! HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL! I'M DYING BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I THOUGHT ABOUT FOR TWO YEARS IN THAT GLASS TUBE?!" Hot tears streamed down her face. "All I could think about was how stupid I was! How foolish I was in betraying you!"

"YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THAT BEFORE YOU GOT TO KNOW ME!"

"I TRIED TO, NOCTIS! I was ordered to kill anyone who knew me, and that included you! I almost lost my head for not doing what I was ordered!"

Noctis paused for a moment. "So was everything in those sessions we had a lie?"

"I…I don't know."

"I opened myself up to you, and what do you do? You RUINED my life!"

"NOCTIS!" Stella screamed. "That's enough!" Her fists were clenched as if she were ready to punch him again. Adrian, Rex and Quinn had also stood up and looked at though they too were also ready to lunge at Noctis.

"I DIED THAT DAY!" Lightning screamed. Even more tears poured down her face. "I've been dead for two years. The day I left Tenebrae, all of my thoughts and hopes and wishes became that I would see you again, because you gave me something that no one else could have given me.

"You told me my past.

"You answered the question that I had been hiding and pondering for eleven years. And I am so, so sorry that you got hurt in the process."

Noctis remained silent, his red eyes intently focused on Lightning's opal eyes. Her face was now stained with the flow of tears.

"The truth is I want nothing more than to be forgiven, even if that means being held by the Tenebrae authorities."

The prince was completely confused. Lightning stood there, knowing that she had wronged his kingdom and he, yet she wanted to be punished for it.

"I'm tired of running away and burying my problems," Lightning continued. Her eye's expression was now seeped with ferocity and bravery. "It's about time I face them."

With that, she walked away from Noctis and towards Stella. The princes met Lightning and gave her an enormous hug. Lightning started crying again.

"It's alright," Stella whispered in her ear. "It's alright."

Noctis looked back at Lightning. Just when he had thought he understood everything about her, she turned around and completely floored him. For the first time, he saw clearly the mystery of Lightning that had intrigued him almost three years ago. She had still sinned, that was certain, but she knew what she had done, and was ready to pay the penalty for her actions. In his entire time as prince, he never saw anyone, not a commoner or officer, aristocrat or father, ever do such a thing: admit he or she was wrong.

Perhaps, perhaps he himself needed forgiveness for what he had done to Lightning and Stella. For the wrath he had given them. Lightning still had a long way to go though, before he could trust her again, but this was at least a step in the right direction.

"I'll see what I can do about retribution," Noctis said. "I think I might be able to reach an agreement you might like Lightning."

The princess looked back at Noctis to see the smallest sliver of a smile appeared on the prince's face and for the first time in two years, his eyes change to their deep blue color.

Snow had just left the meeting when Vanille walked up to him.

"Hey, we got a few survivors of Narshe who just arrived," she explained, pointing to a crowd of people who were standing at the far end of the camp.

Snow was taken aback. "I thought there were no survivors."

"I guess they must have left the city before the attack and your scoutters arrived."

The two then walked over to the group of about thirty people. They all looked tired and worn down. Who could blame them? They had just walked all the way from the northern side of Gaia to the mid western region.

Snow looked over the group, giving his usual welcoming message. Vanille stood by him and watched the people. She then took interest in a young boy with silver hair, wearing an orange coat and green scarf.

"Hey, little guy," she said to the young boy.

The kid took notice of Vanille and glowered back at her. "I'm not 'little'! I'm 14."

"I'm sorry," Vanille said apologetically. She then sat down on the ground next to the boy.

"So, welcome to NORA," she said. "I'm Orbea Dia Vanille."

"That's a weird name," the boy responded.

"I prefer the term unique. There are no weird names, in my opinion."

"Mine's weird."

"Oh really, what is it then?"

"Hope."

Vanille smiled. "Hope. I think that's a lovely name."

"It's a girly name though."

"There's nothing to be ashamed of that name. Hope," Vanille now stood up and was pacing in a circle around her new friend. "Hope. It reminds me of spring coming in the dead of winter. Of happiness and good times." The whole time she spoke, she had a smile on her face.

"My mom…my mom," Hope's voice started to crack a little. "My mom loved that word. She always talked about hoping for an end to the war."

Vanille spotted walking and squatted so her eyes were level with Hope. She had a suspicion that his mother had died sometime during the attack on Narshe. "You wanna know something?" she calmly told Hope. "I never knew my mother. So my name was given to me by my caretakers. The fact that you remember your mother and that she gave you that name, you should never be ashamed of that, Hope."

Hope's eyes began to water. "Do you mean that?"

Vanille placed a hand on her heart. "I say everything that I mean." She then smiled at Hope and opened her arms. "Do you want a hug?"

Hope replied by clutching Vanille's chest and wrapping his arms around her. Vanille in turn did the same.

Snow stood in the background, watching the whole scene unfold. That was something about Vanille: she had a magical way of making everyone she met feel happy. In time, Hope would warm up to her and perhaps NORA even more.

"That's Hope Estheim," Reeve explained to Snow. "His mother died during the raid."

"I see."

"It's really a shame that he has to go through with loosing her. But sadly, it's the norm rather than the exception these days."

"Tell me about it," Snow replied. The two continued to talk while Vanille and Hope hung out together.