Uhhhh….I should have expected that kind of response in the last chapter -.- Now, it's not that I'm trying to paint Tifa in an entirely bad light. It's just a little set-up of an overall lesson/theme I'm hoping to express in later chapters. Many of the major characters are going to face their own personal struggles while on Pulse. In regards to Tifa, it's not exactly that she's jealous of Lightning; the conflict runs deeper than that. I'm just showing the surface of that conflict, which will be revealed more later on.

The Sister

When she finally opened her eyes, all she could see was the dark night sky. The stars were barely visible, though their illumination was deemed unnecessary by the fire growing beside her. Her whole body felt like it went through a whole bout with Snow, but she knew he would never do as much as make her wince.

And then she remembered.

'SNOW!'

Bolting upright, Serah's eyes widened as her head whipped all around. The last sight she processed was Snow rushing out of the bar, Lightning towering over her sprawled form…until she turned to the fiancé with dagger in hand. Serah's hand flew to her bicep, where Lightning had sliced her skin when she was still wary of the soldier's actions.

What happened after that? How long had it been since her older sister attacked them? Serah bit her lower lip, beating down the uncontrollable sob that wanted to come out. After holding on to the belief that Lightning was alive for so long, Serah refused to even think she had changed so much.

'L-Lightning.' Her head once again whipped around frantically, desperate for answers. 'Where's my sister?!'

On her other side opposite the fire, a man with spiky blond hair leaned against a large boulder, his head dropping past his shoulders as one arm rested on a propped knee. What truly caught her eye was the massive blade that rested beside him, its gleam sending chills down her spine. Her first natural reaction was to get away as fast as possible, but her scurrying proved to cause a ruckus. The man head instantly snapped up, and deep blue eyes settled on her with surprise.

"Serah." He rolled forward onto his other knee, anxious to approach her, but his movements made her retreat even faster. She crawled away with frightened eyes, her lip quivering as she tried to find words.

"Who are you?" she asked in a shaky voice. "W-Where's Snow?"

In an instant, her eyes caught sight of three figures on the other side of the fire, close to the bridge that led to the Archylte Steppe. Two of them were hovering over a massive form lying on the ground, and it was all too easy for her to deduce who the third person was. One of the hovering figures – a woman – whipped her head back to Serah and rose to her feet.

Assuming the worst, Serah grasped the closest rock she could find and shot up to her feet, raising her arm apprehensively as the woman started making her way to her and the spiky-haired man.

"He's all right," the man assured, though it did nothing to ease the tension. Serah's eyes darted back and forth between him and the woman drawing closer. "Don't move; you should keep resting."

"What do you want with me?" Serah's arm slowly reeled back, preparing to strike at the opportune moment. Her chances were slim; if they were to cause harm, she would have to strike the man first and find another weapon to fend off the woman. And who was to say the third stranger wouldn't hurt Snow to force her to stop?

When the woman was a few steps away from the fire, the man held a hand out to her, signaling her to stop her advances. She did so, but Serah refused to let her guard down as she eyed the man warily. His expression wasn't hard, but instead, he offered a pleading look in his glowing blue eyes.

"I'm looking for your sister, Lightning," he explained in a calm manner. "My name's Cloud."

The mention of his name immediately eased the fright consuming Serah, and her eyes that never left him finally looked at him with wonder and shock. Now that she thought about it, Lightning's descriptions of the man exactly matched the one before her, all the way down to the detailed weapon that still rested against the boulder.

"You're Cloud?"

Thinking quickly, he reached back and pulled out a silver chain with a dangling pendant. In the fire's gleam, Serah recognized the necklace with a gasp, her arm lowering down to her side. The lightning bolt pendant looked no different from the day she first saw it on her sister – a commemoration in her advancements in Guardian Corps. If there was any proof needed that he knew Lightning, this was it.

Serah took slow steps toward the necklace, gazing at it and Cloud with surprise. "She thought she lost it…"

Cloud offered a bitter smile as she weighed the pendant in the palm of her hand. "My fault, I guess. I forgot to return it before she left." He allowed the chain to slide out of his hand and watched as her forehead creased, her mind trying to make sense of everything.

With a humorless chuckle, she looked back up at him in wonder. "She really wasn't making it all up." As much as she wanted to believe Lightning's story, Serah couldn't imagine a completely different world where Lightning had actually lived and experienced a new adventure. Having to deal with fal'Cie and being stuck in crystal stasis was enough; she wasn't sure if she could handle a whole other world aside from her own.

Now that she saw Cloud in a different light, her expression became much softer, almost familiar. Serah's eyes eventually flitted toward the other woman, and uneasiness briefly settled.

"This is a friend of mine, Tifa," Cloud introduced as Tifa gave a light wave across the fire. "The other one is Vincent. We've been here for about a day." His expression then became guarded, cautious about his next words. "Do you know where Lightning is?"

Serah looked troubled once more, unsure of believing her last memories. So much had happened in the little time she was reunited with Lightning, she didn't know whether to feel relieved or frightened.

"W…Why do you need her?"

Cloud hesitated, wondering exactly how to explain it all. "We think she's in danger. If we don't find her soon, and get this to her…" He fished out the gold materia from his pocket, its bright radiance from earlier already dead. "Things might get worse."

Serah's hand immediately went to her bicep, where she felt the slight scar of the cut. She remembered the burning sensation when the golden orb made contact with her skin, as if they were ready to chop her whole arm off.

More of her memories came flooding back at once, and her head began to reel from the overload. Her body swayed, but Cloud reached out and steadied her by gripping her shoulder. "Take it easy," he said gently. When she felt the waves of lightheadedness subside, her eyes flitted back to the gold materia.

"Lightning…" Her voice was layered with worry. "She…She cut her palm before coming after me. Sliced me here…" Serah placed a hand on her bicep again. "And then mixed our blood."

"How long ago was that?"

"…About a month ago." The images were unclear, but Serah made a good estimate of how fast the memories passed by. "And then another month before that – that was when Lightning suddenly came back."

Tifa easily did the math in her head. "So time doesn't flow much differently here."

Serah looked at her curiously. "'Here'….So, you guys really are from another world…the Planet?"

Cloud nodded as he got to his feet. He held a hand out to Serah, who didn't hesitate to take it in honor of his chivalry. "You've heard of us?"

She gave a wry smile. "Lightning told me the gist of it all, but no matter how much more I wanted to know, she shut me down at every turn."

Flushed, Cloud looked away and scratched the back of his head, eliciting a chuckle from both Serah and Tifa. 'So she does know…'

"But to answer your question," Serah said regretfully, remembering their main topic of discussion. "I don't know where she is. After she…cut me…I can't recall ever talking to her. Or even seeing her."

Tifa's brows knitted tightly together. "What do you remember?"

In response, Serah let out a bitter chuckle. "Bits and pieces. I kept going everywhere – home, the Yaschas Massif, Cocoon…It was like I was watching a messed-up movie, but I couldn't change the channel or take control."

"But you remember this?" Cloud held the materia up, and Serah nodded.

"It was frying my skin, but it helped destroy whatever was controlling me."

Cloud briefly looked away in frustration before catching Tifa's gaze. Between them, Serah didn't fail to catch the severity of the situation and knew that Cloud's words were true. Lightning was central to the catastrophe she was certain was imminent, and no doubt Serah herself was made a pawn to help it unfold.

Behind Tifa, the other man assumed to be Vincent approached in silence, his bright red eyes glancing toward Serah. "Your friend's starting to wake up," he said in a deep voice. "It should be safe to see him."

Her heart felt like leaping out of her chest, relief washing over her at the thought of Snow coming out perfectly okay. When she took a few steps toward her fiancé, she stopped and spared a quick glance over her shoulder to Cloud, wondering if it was all right to take a break from the Q & A. As much as she wanted to help him, Serah also wanted to be sure whatever Lightning infected them with didn't do too much harm to Snow.

Cloud gave an assuring nod that was accompanied with a hard smile. With every step, Serah felt the small ounces of worry pile up one after another, a sense of helplessness swelling up inside. She hoped Cloud and the others would have a way of saving Lightning…especially after she had just gotten her sister back.

When Serah was out of earshot distance, Cloud cursed under his breath and paced around his side of the fire, clenching his hands tightly into fists. "So we are too late," he muttered. "Those were Jenova cells they were infected with, and Lightning got to them a whole month ago." It finally seemed ridiculous how desperate they were holding on to hope. When given the opportunity, Jenova was certain to take advantage of a host and carry out its will; as supposedly great as Hojo was, he could have never inhibited its basic instincts for so long.

"Just because Jenova's taken over doesn't mean we can't save Lightning anymore," Tifa assured as she folded her arms, though her worried expression did little to back her words. "Besides, we've got a cure now, remember?"

The thought seemed to ease Cloud's mind, even if only for the slightest bit. If they could get to Lightning soon enough, the materia may rid her of infection, just like Serah and Snow.

"It makes sense," Vincent said with a slight nod. "It's created by the Lifestream, from the very reservoir that cured all the stigma infections."

Cloud's gaze drifted toward the two natives not too far away, and a more pressing issue came to mind. "First things first – we get Serah and Snow to safety. We can't have them come along."

Though very thoughtful, his plan didn't exactly sound wise to Vincent. "Bodhum's not going to be safe enough. More scouts may be sent to look for them."

"We can barely protect ourselves without materia," Cloud argued with a hint of irritation, which wasn't entirely meant to be directed against his comrades. "I'm not dragging Serah down with us when we run into something big and ugly."

Tifa saw both sides making valid points. Even if they did bring Serah and Snow, having a majority of the party become useless in an unknown world was asking for death. Thinking quickly, she looked back toward the people in question and approached them.

"How are you two able to cast magic?" she asked while crouching down to their level.

Snow warily shuffled away from the strange woman, but Serah placed an assuring hand on his shoulder. "Snow, it's all right." Her eyes then returned to Tifa, a small crease erupting on her forehead. "It just sort of happened. A little after Cocoon fell last year, a lot of people suddenly had it in them."

Tifa nodded in understanding. "You think we can learn a trick or two?"

It was Snow's turn to speak up, his voice clear of the drone-like manipulation from the stigma. "You could try, but some of the people here just can't get it." He got up to his feet and faced Tifa with some skepticism; though he was convinced they were acquaintances of Lightning, he wasn't exactly ready to jump on the bandwagon with them as he moved to stand between her and Serah. "Serah and I were lucky enough to be ex-l'Cie to make the relearning easier. At least that's my working theory."

From the looks of it, it would be too long for them to learn magic before saving Lightning. Tifa let out a defeated sigh, but ultimately decided to not let it all bring her down. No magic didn't necessarily mean they couldn't help Lightning. "You two should rest up," she said with a brighter tone. "Maybe we can head back to your village in the morning. We can sort things out over there."

Glancing over his shoulder, Snow waited for Serah's nod before following Tifa to the camp site. He eyed the other two men warily, willing to put his faith in his fiancée's trust even more when he saw the one with spiky blond hair. Lightning's words instantly flooded back, and it took all his willpower to beat down the knowing smirk on his face.

"So, you're the Cloud."

Cloud blinked hard before immediately looking away, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. There was a sudden air about Snow that irritated him, and he was sure it was the same thing that made Lightning at ends with her brother-to-be.

Serah and Tifa were suddenly caught between exasperation and amusement, and it was impossible to say how well this newly assembled team will work…

But so long as they could find Lightning, they were all for it.

Once the sun returned in the sky, they threw dirt over the fire's ashes and prepared to return to New Bodhum, or so the village was called. Along the way, Serah and Snow brought the others up to speed with a crash course on Cocoon and Pulse. Lightning had taught Cloud of how life was on Cocoon as fal'Cie pets, but true freedom wasn't something she had the chance to experience here before showing up in their world.

"How good are you two with spells?" Cloud asked in the rear of their group. Up ahead taking front, Serah and Snow looked over their shoulders.

"We've been practicing enough since Cocoon fell," Serah replied, her mind going on rewind through the past year. "Some of us are even a bit more skilled than Lightning since she's been gone for so long."

Vincent nodded. "Good. We're gonna need you to take out a few things we might run into." One creature in particular lingered in his mind, and he wondered how much of a threat it would present to their group.

Snow smirked as he laced his fingers behind his head. "You mean the local flan? Those things are a walk in the park." From behind, he heard muffled laughter that made him stop and turn. Tifa pressed a fist against her upturned lips, her shoulders shaking as she looked away. "There something funny?"

Tifa halted as well, trying to compose herself without offending too much. "Nothing," she said without meaning it at all. When Snow cocked a brow, nothing could stop the rest of it from spilling out. "Just…you like to talk. Lightning was right about you."

At that, Serah broke out into laughter alongside Tifa. The young bartender always thought Lightning's opinion of Snow was a little narrow-minded, but it was surprising how on the mark she truly was.

Snow scratched the back of his head as he shot an incredulous look toward his fiancée. "Hey, come on, Serah. Thanks for backing me up." He looped an arm around her shoulders and roughly dragged her along as she continued her giggling fit, Tifa trailing right behind.

Not too far back, Cloud's gaze lingered at the scene, slightly taken aback by how calm and easy the mood suddenly became. Considering that it was Jenova they were dealing with, he expected a sense of loss and hopelessness to ensnare Serah and Snow. Instead, they kept their chins up and continued on, refusing to let despair cripple them.

"She seems to be handling it all well," Vincent suddenly said beside him. "You still think we should leave the two of them at the village?"

Cloud released a small chuckle, somehow amazed that Vincent could read his thoughts when he least expected it. "You're probably right," he finally conceded. "They'll be safer with us, and I won't let Serah get hurt."

This was his chance – the perfect opportunity to take back the pain Lightning had to endure. It would be the one last thing he could do for her before walking away, never looking back to give any more burdens. If he could protect Serah and bring her sister back, this last sin would be forgiven…and he wouldn't have anything else to wish for.