The Primarch

It took Tifa all her strength to stay coherent, and even then, she couldn't believe the sight before her. Since her childhood, those eyes had appeared to her one way or another. The eyes of an adored hero. The eyes of the monster that destroyed her home. That threatened to obliterate her world.

The eyes that haunted her only in her dreams now looked back at her with a mask of pleasantries, turning her skin ice cold and stealing the breath from her lungs.

Snow managed to crack his eyes open and watch the lady primarch herself approach the team. He had to admit – he had to give her props. Despite being Cocoon's leader for only a few months, she knew how to organize and get a working government together in time to eradicate l'Cie. Dysley's meticulous planning was nothing compared to hers; she was swift, flexible, and always one step ahead of the l'Cie.

"I commend you for making it this far," the woman acknowledged.

Cloud remained breathless at the sight of her, at the sight of her eyes. It was undeniable as to who she truly was, yet he couldn't bring himself to accept it. "Who are you?" he asked in a bare whisper.

The lady primarch threw him a smile that could have been mistaken as comforting; all it did was chill his bones even more. "It's been so many years since we last met face-to-face. But I still remember every strike I endured, every cut and misery you inflicted on my spawn."

Everything was adding up far too quickly, too soon for them to even grasp the reality of it. Vincent kept his eyes on the primarch, thinking – hoping – that it was all just a dream. What they sought was an alien matter hell bent on destroying the world, but what they faced was a regular woman with pale silver tresses down her back, her gleaming familiar eyes sweeping across the team.

And he knew instantly.

"No…"

The primarch sauntered closer, and Cloud refocused with a spin of his sword, holding it in its regular position. Serah began to stir awake, her eyes adjusting and searching as fear evidently grew on her face. For a moment, the woman stood yards away from Cloud, her striking figure growing bigger with every step…

Until she blinked into appearance just mere inches in front of the Farron sisters.

Serah's heart leapt to her throat, her breath lost for the longest moment as she looked up at the catlike eyes to find cold emptiness. The air chilled around them, and she knew that more than anything, she had to get away from this woman, or her life was surely forfeit.

Cloud quivered once more, taken back by how instantaneous the woman moved. He couldn't detect it, couldn't see or feel her pass him; the anxiety stifled his senses, allowing her to cloak herself to her advantage.

In a wild reaction, he swung the sword back in a horizontal arc, swiping at the woman just as Lightning ducked low with Serah. The blade whistled over their heads, for it failed to connect with anything. Swinging a 180 with the momentum, Cloud frantically searched for her, quickly exchanging worried glances with Tifa and Vincent until he found her…

Her palm was faced in his direction as she calmly walked toward him from his left. Before he could retaliate, an overwhelming force slammed into his chest, and the air flew out of his lungs. Knocked off his feet, Cloud felt a surge of pain erupt in his ribs before his back landed on the ground.

On instinct, Tifa rushed forward, swinging her arms and legs at such a speed that no average human could avoid. Regardless, the woman fluidly moved back and forth, Tifa's limbs whizzing by at breath's length. A delicate hand shot out in the midst of the barrage, and its fingers wrapped around Tifa's bare neck with ease.

Her windpipe was crushed as she was dragged forward, her body turned around, the woman at her back. Squinting through her eyes, she saw Vincent abandon the gun and rush forward, his clawed hand stretched out toward them. The gold talons flew past Tifa's face, barely missing scratching her skin to wrap around the woman's visage. His other hand tugged on TIfa's arm; she was pulled away just when he shoved the primarch back, falling back to roll across the ground with her. Her back slammed against the wall, and Vincent was far from gentle as he pressed the tips of his claws into the woman's skin.

In the spaces between his fingers, he saw the woman's eyes shift, the irises changing to ones dangerously familiar. A numbing shock ran through his body – more than enough time for her to take an advantage. Her arm swung up and swatted his hand away, but not without taking five gashes across the sides of her face. The hand that held Tifa prisoner firmly pressed against his chest until an unexpected force almost crushed his lungs. Vincent immediately cringed as he was thrown back, realizing that this power was nothing compared to the PSICOM they pushed through…

And nothing any regular primarch should harness.

The woman began to saunter toward them once again, but after a couple of steps forward, she took one sudden step back. From her right, a shrieking wave of energy shot past her face, slamming into the wall on her left with incredible force. Looking for the source, she watched Cloud rushed toward her, his sword at the ready in one hand. When he was a few steps away from cutting into the primarch, he raised the sword high above his head, eager to cut into that smirking face.

However, as soon as the blade came whistling down, a gunshot rang throughout the open-ceiling hall. Something collided with his sword just before he could strike the woman, and his arm jerked to the side. Cloud went along with the momentum, sensing a fierce presence rushing up to him for a strike. He readied the sword once again, but another object collided with it once more, this time the impact shaking the sword out of his grip.

Dazed, Cloud's gaze followed the sword as it sailed behind him. A new force slammed into the back of his knee, briefly disabling him to go down on the assaulted knee. With a groan, Cloud quickly tried to remind himself to stay alert, just in time to find a boot coming down on his head. He raised his arms up to cross above his head, blocking the kick, before pushing back with as much force he could muster in the small amount of time. The assailant staggered back, and Cloud rushed forward while reaching back to claim a side blade from the holster.

In quick successions, he threw attack after attack, but each was met with retaliation. Both blades sang through the air at wicked speed; in a matter of seconds, Cloud realized who his opponent was. The speed, the techniques and movements were familiar, and it brought dread to his heart.

When his sword was raised high for a downward strike, his opponent went down to the ground, her arms catching his vulnerable leg before twisting around. Cloud's legs buckled, and he was forced to tumble along with his opponent; his sword was once again knocked from his hand. Acting fast, he rolled over before propping himself up on one knee…

But the muzzle of a gunblade pressed threateningly against his temple, and he froze on the spot.

Little by little, Cloud brought his gaze closer to his opponent, telling himself not to believe what he would see. It was all too real. The stance, the determination, and the firm cold look in the pale aqua eyes could only belong to one person.

Gritting his teeth, he watched Lightning's impassive expression settle over him, as if all emotion and conscience fled from her in an instant. Her grip on the Blazefire Saber was steady, and he realized that this was the opponent he had been dreading to face:

Lightning, the Sanctum l'Cie.

The primarch drifted toward them, ignoring the other l'Cie struggling to get back on their feet. Serah had managed to crawl toward Snow and hold him in her arms, the both of them watching with intense fear.

"Lightning," the primarch greeted with pleasantries. The long gashes along her face closed up within seconds, not a trace of blood left behind. The soldier failed to make any visual reaction to her tone. "You've done your job well. All this time, you've helped me so much."

Snow attempted to get on his feet, but debilitation struck his limbs and he fell to his knees. Serah remained beside him, all the while looking at the woman and her loved ones.

"She's another fal'Cie," Snow growled with acidity. "Another god trying to control our damn lives…!"

Everything began to make sense, much to Cloud's chagrin. His hand curled into a tight fist, unable to take any more frustration…but he knew more was inevitable.

The woman approached him with an outstretched hand, a threatening limb that made Cloud stiffen. Her perfect nails grazed along his cheek, down his chin, and a revolting shiver ran down his spine. Turning his head away, he fought the urge to attack, realizing that Lightning would immediately strike him down once more.

Everything was nostalgic. The fear was familiar to when he fought Sephiroth, only more sinister. It wasn't tainted by years of gullibility and naivety, but driven by pure parasitic instinct.

After retracting her hand, the woman returned her attention to Lightning. "Had it not been for you, I would have never gotten away from that other place." At the last part, her gaze swept from Cloud to Vincent and Tifa, and more enlightenment dawned in their eyes. She knew of the Planet. "Your journey is almost done."

Tifa shakily got to her feet, her fists clenched at her sides. She could feel it emanating from the primarch – the fear that she believed only existed on the Planet, worlds away. The subtle condescending tone in her voice was almost identical to the so-called hero's, and there was no mistaking it.

"Y…You're…!"

Slowly, the primarch's lips curled into a smile, like a snake taunting its prey. "Now do you understand? I was afraid Lightning couldn't keep up the pretense for so long." She humbly looked back down at Cloud, who shot a deadly gaze at the woman. If looks could kill, she would be mere inches from death…but he knew well from experience that it took so much more to even weaken her.

"Jenova."

The name seeped through his teeth like acid, and thinking about it all over again made him want to vomit. After many years of pain, Cloud wanted to believe he was free of the menace that ruined his life…but it was still alive, attacking and abusing the one person he vowed to keep safe. All this time, they had been running around, hoping to find the alien matter in the midst of the chaos the Sanctum tried to alleviate, only to find out that the source was the very thing they were hunting down.

Only now, it had finally taken a human form.

Except Snow's words still had them worried. This was Jenova – the monster they sought to destroy to save the world…and a fal'Cie.

Tifa went extremely pale, her head fervently shaking to erase the truth before her. "Impossible," she muttered before she took a defiant step forward. "Fal'Cie would have created l'Cie. There was never any record of one on the Planet!"

Vincent wanted to believe her words…but refusing possibilities only came from foolishness. "No…" He got up to his own feet not too far from her, his crimson eyes drilling into Jenova with both fury and fear. "Omega and Chaos were products of something that came from this world. That doesn't mean nothing else went along and dropped on the Planet."

Smiling coyly, Jenova drifted toward the center of the platform, her presence augmenting the dread in the l'Cie's hearts. "You get it now. Good." Suddenly, black veins sprouted along her face and neck, the golden shine in her hair turning dull. The cat-like eyes glowed with their usual green hue. With disbelief, Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent finally recognized the calamity that haunted their lives and the world they fought for to make safe.

"That alien world was nowhere near my brethren, my Maker," she explained in a dark tone, sharply contrasting with the goddess-like image just moments ago. "I was left to wander through that world on my own – where the source of power was far different. In order to sustain myself, I had to change, to adapt to a kind of living that was nothing like here." Raising her hand, black mist leaked through her skin, pooling at her feet like a disease. Cloud flinched away, and even Lightning wore an uncomfortable face as she edged away behind him.

"I became a monster; the only way to have others do my bidding was to inject a part of me into them. But it left them without conscious thought, and eventually they became something else – more monsters left to wander."

The Planet natives' minds wandered back to the creatures they had to face on their journey to stop Sephiroth. The strange mutations in Hojo's labs, the monsters wandering through the Northern Cave...They were all caused by a fal'Cie, tainted by the nature of their world to become something entirely different. Cloud shuddered at the thought. In a way, those creatures were a different kind of "l'Cie", only more primitive and driven by a single goal – to destroy their world and find a way back to this one, where the rest of the fal'Cie resided.

As silence began to settle around them, Serah looked toward her comrades and saw their incredibly pale faces, the shock being too much to bear. She could see how affected they were from this revelation; their explanation back in New Bodhum made it clear that Jenova wasn't someone – or something – to mess with.

"You caused their world to suffer," she accused with a mixture of disbelief and disgust.

Jenova looked at her surprised, almost offended as she placed a delicate hand on her chest. "Suffer? It's only natural, my dear." Her voice was almost patronizing once again, like a wise sage lecturing a child. What made it worse was that there was a soothing underlying tone, as if she was cajoling her audience to believe her words. "I was just doing what I have been made to do – find the Door. But sadly, it was somewhere far out of my reach. I had to get back…and that scientist was my path to liberation. To my home." Her gaze then returned to Lightning, and a hint of sinister glee was in her eyes while her lips curved upward ever so slightly at the corners. "You should understand how it feels."

Cloud dared to look over his shoulder, and he found an unlikely mask of pain shadowing Lightning's features. She lowered her gunblade to her side, turning away with self-loathing as she refused to meet his eyes. With that simple accusation, her soldier front crumbled and revealed a guilty accomplice. At first, her suffering made no sense – Jenova's search for the Door had nothing to do with Lightning…

When everything dawned on him, his heart almost sank. Both Lightning and the calamity had a similar goal – to return home. Despite Lightning's joy in reuniting with her sister, it only helped Jenova complete her journey and bring destruction to Pulse. Had she stayed on the Planet, would Serah and Snow have faced the threat to turning cie'th again?

Once a deep shudder ran through her, Lightning finally decided to turn back, her body slowly turning toward them…

Until a red flash emanated from her chest. In an instant, she fell to her hands and knees, holding in a cry of pain with gritted teeth.

Turning pale, Cloud moved on instinct and scrambled to get to her side. As soon as he took two steps, however, another force slammed into his back, and he was pinned to the ground with what felt like a ton of bricks weighing down on him. Cloud shakily managed to push one palm against the ground, but sweat already began beading on his forehead; it wouldn't take too long for him to collapse back down.

Jenova glided up beside him, looking down at him with a stern gaze, chastising his actions. The black veins faded from her complexion, returning to how she looked before, though the heavy cloud of despair continued trailing after her. Before her, Lightning continued to be tortured, and her chest remained a constant glow. Cloud watched as Jenova turned back to the Sanctum l'Cie; a subtle twitch of her eye came just before Lightning released another cry of anguish, and it all became clear.

The sudden devotion to the fal'Cie, the ability to turn Lightning into submission without so much as raising a finger…It made his insides twist.

"Now," Jenova said in a dictating voice, her eyes watching over Lightning as she took in large gulps of breath. "Fulfill your destiny. You're the only one strong enough…" She raised a finger toward Cloud, staying on him before sweeping across to the rest of the Pulse l'Cie. "And these creatures are the only ones in our way."

Tifa laid her eyes on the primarch with frustration and contempt. "You're the one who branded her," she accused, her hands curling into tight fists at her side. Any Sanctum fal'Cie could have branded Lightning now that they were awake, but it made sense for Jenova to be the one when she used Lightning's body as a vessel to get into this world.

Not too far away from her, Snow gritted his teeth until they felt like turning into powder. He was tired of seeing his friends being used as tools, slaves to the self-proclaimed dictators. On impulse, he staggered to his feet before barreling toward the primarch. With a roar, he raised a fist, eager to smash it into her skull…

But Jenova moved in a flash, her glowing mako eyes locking with Snow's. A talon-like hand shot out, and its fingers wrapped around Snow's fist. She tugged on his arm effortlessly, pulling him forward for her other hand to shove his nose up to his brain. Once pain spiked up his skull, Snow fell to his knees before Jenova, and she clasped his hand and shoulder together, rendering him incapable of even tensing his arm.

"How long are you planning to deceive these people?" she asked with exasperation when she looked back at Lightning. The soldier only glared at the primarch with gritted teeth, her heart twisting at the truth.

Jenova turned to look at Snow, maintaining her grip on his hand and shoulder even when he brought his other hand up to try and wrench free from her grasp. "They are standing in my way, and the longer you drag this out, the faster your progression will come. It's a lose-lose situation."

With a shove, she released Snow and disappeared, only to reappear next to Cloud. She grabbed a fistful of his hair, pulling back for him to face Lightning as she struggled to even lift her head.

"They are your enemy!" she spat in Lightning's direction. "Not friends, not family." Shoving his head back to the ground, she got up to her feet and raised a palm toward him. "Not even proper fodder." An immense wave pulsed from her, throwing Cloud back to slam against the wall of the dome. Without remorse, she turned to the other l'Cie, waving a hand in their direction to throw them back as well.

Tifa worked get prop herself up on one knee, all breath knocked out of her lungs. "Fodder…What are you talking about?!"

At first, Jenova just looked at her angrily, but when her gaze slid over to Serah and Snow, the cat-like eyes gleamed with sinister intent. "They should know," she teased, unable to hold in a tiny smirk.

The word stirred unwanted memories within Snow, and everything became clear. History truly was being rewritten all over again, with the fal'Cie so easily pulling their strings and making them play into their plan. With the Sanctum fal'Cie now awake, everything is so close to being back to the way it was…and it would only end the way they wanted it.

"Cocoon…" He rose to his feet, hands clenched into fists at his sides. "You want to destroy Cocoon! And kill everyone up here! Just like the damn fal'Cie last year!" As Snow's eyes uneasily rested on Jenova's calm face, he shook his head. "But it's impossible. The pillar—"

"You really don't think crystal can be destroyed, do you?" Jenova sighed. "Foolish l'Cie. It may be hard, but crystal is not forever."

Her casual tone made it all too easy to believe her words. Just when they thought their old home was safe, the fear of destroying the crystal pillar weighed heavily in their minds.

"What…"

From behind her, Cloud propped himself up on his arms, his eyes cold and deadly as they rested on Jenova. "What does Lightning have to do with this?" Now that things were making sense, he still couldn't see Lightning's part in her master plan. If she wanted to kill the citizens by dropping Cocoon, it wasn't necessary to brand Lightning and give her a separate death sentence. Cloud grimaced at the thought of Jenova tossing her around just to do her bidding…much like how Sephiroth treated him not too long ago.

"It's called leverage," she told him over her shoulder. "Killing me may or may not be your Focus, but I'm sure it's on your bucket list." Jenova then turned to smirk at Lightning, reveling in the idea that everything was going according to plan. "If I die, she fails. And if she fails….Well, I'm sure you've already seen what a disappointing l'Cie becomes."

His blood ran cold, his limbs turning numb for what felt like an eternity. Everything they had worked for turned into wasted time, and what they thought was progress was revealed to be a series of failures stacked against them. Even if they managed to destroy Jenova for good and save Cocoon, Lightning was a lost cause, and they would have to fight one more cie'th in the end. She was doomed that day Deepground captured her at the WRO headquarters, for everything had led up to this moment.

All taunting finished, Jenova's face turned cold and commanding as she spun back to face her only slave. "The moment he points that sword at me again, you cut him down." Her voice, brimming with authority and underlying threats, was nearly impossible to refuse.

Still, Lightning steadfastly glared up at her so-called master, finally fed up with listening to a fal'Cie. The Pulse l'Cie suddenly felt the pent up anger and resentment emanate from Lightning…and realized exactly how much she hated the deities. For the past year she had been a pawn in their schemes, used as a tool for their means, only to have ending options that no one would ask for.

And she was tired of following orders.

"Never," she growled just before tightening her grip on her gunblade.

Jenova spared her a look of disappointment before waving a casual hand in her direction. In the blink of an eye, Lightning was thrown off her feet and back to the wall, the gunblade falling out of her grasp. As she collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily, the primarch crossed her arms over her chest.

"Useless."

Rage consumed Cloud once more, steering him to head toward Jenova. He swung down with the main blade, all too eager to make even a scratch, but the fal'Cie pulled another vanishing act, only this time reappearing right next to him. One hand clutched his vulnerable throat with ease, and the other twisted his wrist to allow the sword to fall.

The grip around his neck wasn't as tight as he anticipated, though the nails did hold a threat he didn't want to test. Cloud glared at her from the corner of his eye, waiting for some type of attack…

But a painful throb suddenly pulsed from his neck, spreading up to his face as well as his chest. It became difficult to breathe, every inhale feeling like no oxygen was coming in. His skin was on fire, and he recognized this sensation all too easily.

Geostigma.

As soon as his limbs felt like jelly, Cloud was thrown back against the wall, landing close to Lightning as she scrambled toward him. Her arms instinctively wrapped around his shoulders as he leaned into her, clutching his throat as his skin continued to burn. His mind went back to when he first found Serah and Snow, under the control of the stigma; was this Jenova's goal for him now that he's branded a Pulse l'Cie? Was it possible to control an enemy? The idea of being influenced by Jenova cells again brought unforeseen panic to Cloud's face.

"Cloud!" Lightning's voice echoed in his ears. Her gentle hands cradled his face, forcing him to look up at her worried expression as she knelt before him. "Just hang on." She then turned her head toward Jenova, a familiar rage seeping into her gaze. "You said it was my task to stop them! Leave them alone!"

In any other situation, one would have thought of Lightning's words as mutiny. When Cloud glanced down, however, her fingers were wound tightly around his hand, trembling as she glared at the fal'Cie. More than anything, she didn't want to see them subjected to the monstrosity's wrath, even when it meant she had to do the dirty work herself.

Tiredly shifting his gaze toward his friends, he saw a blend of terror and anger plastered over Serah's face. Without hesitation, she raised her bow and pulled back the string, and an arrow of surging energy nestled on the apex.

A little ways to her right, Vincent lifted his Cerberus pistol, taking aim so that any stray bullet wouldn't endanger Lightning or Cloud. Next to Cloud, Lightning herself gripped the Blazefire Saber with her right hand, pointing the muzzle at Jenova.

It all happened at once. As soon as Serah's arrow flew, bullets sped out of their muzzles and headed toward the center of the platform. Surely, with three attacks converging in from different sides, at least one of them would make a mark.

Before they could blink, Jenova had vanished once more. Lightning tried to trace her in her line of sight, but the arrow drew extremely close in her periphery. Her heart stopped as she felt the air sharply zoom past her cheek, and a faint thunk sounded in the wall behind her. Both she and Cloud looked back to find Serah's arrow embedded in the wall.

Likewise, Serah and Snow froze still as Lightning's bullet whizzed between them, too shaken by Jenova's reflexes. Vincent's bullet proved futile as it only grazed air.

Just when Lightning tried to track the fal'Cie's movements again, Jenova appeared mere inches before Lightning and Cloud, towering over them like a predator playing with its prey. Her hand shot out to grab Lightning by the throat, and just like what she did with Cloud, black wisps of mist poured out of her hand and seeped into Lightning's skin.

Black veins sprouted across Lightning's face; her painful cry broke out from her throat, and her grip on Cloud's hand instantly slackened. Just next to her, Cloud watched in horror, unable to bear how helpless he was. Ooze dripped down his neck from his own infection, pooling on the floor before him.

"No!"

Looking toward the others, he saw them rise up and speed toward them. Without even looking back, Jenova waved a hand, and the l'Cie ran straight into an invisible wall, their own voices muffled by the interference. Despite their fierce pounding and shoves, it appeared nothing could break through it unless the primarch did so of her own accord.

Casting his gaze to the floor, Cloud glared at the black puddle…until he realized one way to at least stave off this menace. Reaching into his pocket, he felt for the familiar round orb that had been pushed to the back of his mind. Once it brushed his fingers, he instantly fished it out, the golden hue bringing a spark of hope inside.

But another hand had clasped around the orb and wrenched it out of his. Cloud looked up to see Jenova grip the gold materia tightly….and tiny fissures erupted along the surface.

"Don't!" he roared with fear. By the time he figured out her intentions, it was far too late. The gold materia glimmered with its last light before crumbling into many pieces, falling into the pool of black ooze in defeat.

She then clutched his face to make him see up, an ominous glare settling in her eyes. "Did you really think that would work again? There's no Lifestream here. While you may have been lucky enough to heal those two over there…" Her eyes shifted back to the way he remembered – emerald slits that resembled a cat's.

"This is a new world, and I rule these lands now."

His heart plummeted to his stomach. From the beginning, he had hoped Aerith's last gift would somehow solve everything. But now that its powers no longer even applied to Jenova's true nature, what hope did they have to defeating a god?

After Jenova shoved Cloud's face away, she turned back toward Lightning, anger seething off her in waves at her insubordination. "I branded you for a reason. Get to it." Like Cloud, Lightning was shoved back, the stigma still writhing underneath her skin. As Jenova finally skulked away from the two, Cloud heavily crawled closer to the Sanctum l'Cie, who growled against the pain. It was his turn to grip her shoulders tightly, but she reassured him with a hard nod.

"It's fine," she told him in a tired voice. "It'll wear off…"

He was about to call her crazy when he realized his own stigma had grown less painful. He put a hand to the side of his neck; when he checked it, the black ooze easily slid off, evaporating in the air as if it only had seconds to exist. Despite being temporary, it took its toll on his strength – he wasn't about to go into another bout with Jenova anytime soon.

Glancing down toward Lightning, he saw her chest rise and fall in a slow rhythm. The black veins ebbed away, and her complexion grew healthier at a steady rate. He dared to look toward her eyes, and when they locked, Cloud recognized the remorse he found. All this time, Lightning had been hiding the truth of her Focus, endangering the others no matter how much she tried to avoid it. If she had been straight with them from the beginning, the Pulse l'Cie could have figured out what to do so quickly.

But how could Cloud blame her when her neck was on the line? Remorse and disgust welled up inside when he thought of all the doubt he had against her, wishing there was some way to reverse time…

Yet all he could do was use the time they had remaining, which wasn't much time at all.

"I have other things to do at the moment," Jenova excused while casting her gaze over the Pulse l'Cie. Their glares were filled with fury and fear behind the force field, and yet they were powerless against the fal'Cie for now.

In Cloud's arms, Lightning struggled to prop herself up and throw a sharp look at Jenova. "You're just leaving it to me to stop them?" she asked incredulously. Cloud had a similar train of thought: why would Jenova just depend on the ever-resistant Lightning?

Turning to them one last time, Jenova gave a coy smile, sending a shiver down their spines. "It's just so fun – watching people see precious loved ones take their very lives. Besides, out of everyone in this wretched land, you seem to be the strongest, second only to the fal'Cie." She then folded her arms across her chest, and she looked upon Lightning with some strange type of pride. A smug air drifted all around her; what infuriated Cloud most of all wasn't just her haughty attitude…

But that she had the possibility of being right about Lightning.

"Let's put my theory to the test." And with that, she vanished a final time. The l'Cie held their breaths, waiting for some surprise attack she could spring on any of them…but only silence followed.

Serah raised a hand and pressed forward, only to find that the force field had disappeared along with Jenova. Together with the other l'Cie, she ran toward Cloud and Lightning, looking worriedly down at her sister as Snow helped Cloud raise her to her feet.

"Where did she go?" Tifa asked apprehensively.

Lightning groaned as she straightened herself, leaning toward Cloud for support. "Preparations are almost complete for dropping Cocoon, but this attack is bound to hit the news. She'll need to calm the people down to gain their trust after this."

"You sure about that?" Snow questioned, his words leaking with doubt. As much as he wanted to trust Lightning, he understood where Sanctum and Pulse l'Cie on a battlefield, and this little incident only proved that suspicions between the two sides were easily understandable.

However, the angry look Cloud shot at him made Snow swallow whatever else he would have said. The tension made the air around them stagnant until shouts and marches echoed in the stairway they had used to reach the platform.

"PSICOM's coming!" Serah twirled the bow in her hand and went to stand beside Snow, watching the stairway with worry. Tifa and Vincent simply turned on their heels, instantly preparing for confrontation.

Just as they braced themselves for a fight, air blew around them; a shadow hovered from above and grew larger as an airship descended upon them. Cloud instantly recognized it as Sazh's, his chest heaving with relief as a rope ladder dropped down from its cabin. As Serah and Snow raced toward it, PSICOM forces finally emerged from the darkness, their weapons readily trained on the l'Cie.

"Should we fight?!" Tifa was torn between making a dash for it on the airship and staying behind, in case they were shot down during escape.

However, Lightning refused to back down. "Snow!" she called before bringing her hand close to her chest. The rose crystal blossomed from her brand, hovering in her palm just before she tossed it across the platform. Before gripping onto the rope ladder, Snow summoned the heart crystal from his own brand and threw it after Lightning's. Two shots from the Blazefire Saber shattered the crystals, and a flurry of wind swirled until the Eidolons emerged. Odin worked fast and spun his Zantetsuken blade to deflect the oncoming bullets, protecting the l'Cie as they hurried. Meanwhile, Stiria and Nix worked hand-in-hand to sabotage PSICOM's efforts; with an exhalation of their breaths, some of the soldiers' guns froze in ice.

As the pursuing force got lost in the distraction, most of the l'Cie had managed to start making their way up the rope ladder. Cloud took his turn after Vincent and watched the battle as the airship made its ascent. Just as he looked back to watch Lightning lastly take hold of the ladder, she suddenly darted forward with an extended gunblade. Whipping his head to the other side, Cloud saw a PSICOM Reaver speed toward her at a ridiculous speed. If they fought, it would be near impossible for her to reach the rope ladder.

Nonetheless, she engaged this last enemy in battle. The Reaver shot his lance out without hesitation, but Lightning easily evaded with a dodge roll and continued her rush. With a quick leap, she curled in before swinging out in a wide arc, slashing at the soldier's legs to immediately incapacitate him. His body leaned forward as he cried out in pain, and he was close enough for Lightning to clutch his helmet tightly. In an instant, a surge of electricity shot out and rendered his body immobile; his body quickly slumped to the ground before her as she flipped her sword into gun mode and tucked it away.

"LIGHTNING!"

She whipped back; the rope ladder finally began ascending, Sazh deciding that he had taken enough bullets before getting shot down. Cloud hung at the bottom, his foot on the last rung while he reached an arm out.

Immediately, Lightning took off in a running start, chasing the ladder as it dangled across the platform. In a matter of seconds, it would no longer hover above the platform on the tower, leaving her with the Eidolons and a bloodthirsty army to take care of.

Just when she thought the rope ladder would be out of her reach, Lightning leaped with what strength she could muster, her arm linking with Cloud's as they tightly gripped each other's forearms. He hauled her up next to him, sliding an arm around her waist as she gripped hold of one of the rungs.

Once they flew away from the tower, the l'Cie climbed up to the airship cabin, slamming the door shut as bullets infrequently rang through the metal.

"Get us out of here!" Lightning shouted toward the cockpit. Sazh's thumbs-up came out from the pilot's seat.

"More than happy to oblige!" Cranking the airship to maximum speed, he shot out of the vicinity of Eden and Bodhum, the sea racing below them in a blinding flurry. The l'Cie braced themselves against the walls, and it seemed like forever when Sazh finally slowed down for them to breathe. The hollow thuds of bullets went still; pursuit seemed to have lost its chance of catching them.

When she regained feeling in her legs, Serah walked up to the cockpit and looked out to the sky. "Where are we headed?"

"To Hope," Sazh replied.

Perturbed, Snow joined them, keeping a hand on his abdomen when pain began to spike. "But Palumpolum's the military base. It'll be swarming with PSICOM and Guardian Corps."

"Yeah, well, he ain't there at the moment. Told him what you've all been up to, and he says to meet with him in the Vile Peaks. He and his dad are doing some research on Pulse scraps there right now."

Serah nodded, satisfied that they were safe, if at least temporarily. "Jenova wouldn't allow official entrance there, anyway. To keep up with the 'Pulse is evil' notion."

Once her racing heart returned to its normal pace, Tifa swiveled her head to see Lightning leaning against the wall, propping one arm on her knee while her other hand clutched her chest. For a brief moment, she wasn't looking at her old friend, but rather the enemy. This whole time, they were being guided right to the calamity. If they continued to hold on to their doubt from the beginning, they wouldn't have delved into this mess…but then again, would that have solved anything?

It wasn't Lightning she detested, she realized. It was the Focus forced upon Lightning, turning her against her friends and only family, cornering them all into playing out Jenova's plan without fail. With a heavy sigh, Tifa closed her eyes and tilted her head back, wondering if there was any way out of their Focus anymore.

Or if there was any way for Cloud and Lightning to salvage what they had.

As relentless thoughts pounded through her head, Lightning failed to notice Cloud approach her with heavy steps until he slid down the wall to sit beside her. Neither of them said anything, too lost for words.

But they knew it was inevitable.

Cloud's brows were knit tightly together, and he swallowed before finding what to say. "We need to talk."

After what had seemed like an eternity, Lightning agreed with an idea of his, and nodded. "Yeah."

I hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas and is excited to welcome this new year. I'm ridiculously happy for the Lightning Returns Collector's Edition, which I am preordering tomorrow (12/27). YAY!

So plot twists galore in this one...and I hope they make sense. Again, if what I write makes no freaking sense, feel free to message me, and I'll clarify.

Have a happy New Year's Eve!