A/N: Back again. And again, no reviews. *sighs* I sense this is going to be an ongoing theme until this is done. Must I beg shamefully for more reviews? Must I? This is actually quite depressing.

Things you missed if you're still reading: I got sick. Like, really sick. Hence why this is the teensiest bit late. But on the bright side I've bumped chapter length up by 1k. It's a start. Soon enough we'll be out of the Vile Peaks and we'll be looking at what's been going on with Snow and Keller. That's when things will really start to get interesting. I can't wait.

Anyways, story time. Read on, and I'll see you at the bottom.

Update: Okay, this one's the last one. Hopefully no more number flubs on my part end up in the story. I'm so sorry. Ooh God, it's 2 in the morning. Why did I decide to do this now!? Why do I always decide to do this crap one or two hours into the morning!? I hate myself for thinking of these things so goddamn early in the morning. Christ...

Chapter Eighteen – Munitions Necropolis

It wasn't far up the trail before they paused once again, the hairs on the backs of their necks prickling.

"Is anyone else gettin' the feeling we're being watched?" asked Galen warily.

"Mhm," said Vanille. "I feel it too."

Everyone looked around, ears open and eyes peeled, staring into the surrounding darkness for any sign of movement.

"Wait…" said Hope, looking up – and gasping. "There's something up there!"

And indeed, there was. Something birdlike, graceful, balancing on one leg and weaving about. With a grating squawk, all three of the birdlike entities jumped from their perches above and landed gracefully in front of them, barring their path.

Sazh growled, pulling out his pistols once more. "Just when I was gettin' used to things."

Hope pulled out his librascope and peered through it at the new enemy. The two in front had what looked like purple fabric covering its upper appendages, their eyes looking sickeningly like a fly's might. As it magnified the birdlike things in clearer detail, he noticed one of them had a three-pronged boomerang on its back.

"What's that?" asked Galen, looking at the eye-sized thing in Hope's hand.

"It's a librascope," said Hope. "It allows me to see weaknesses in any creatures or soldiers we might encounter. Lightning gave it to me."

Galen nodded. "I see. So, what are these things?"

"The two in front are Incubuses," explained Hope as he continued to look at the bird-like entities through the scope. "They specialise in physical attacks. The one at the back is a Succubus, which deals out debuffs and buffs its allies." After a second of thought, he added, "Use thunder and water magic. Neither of them will like those."

Galen nodded. "Alright."

"Let's kick some tail," said Sazh before turning his guns on the Succubus at the back. Vanille and Hope readied their water and thunder spells, while Galen charged in with his sword. Almost as soon as it saw them, the Succubus began to dance.

"Is that a good thing…?" began Galen, but Hope shook his head.

"It's about to debuff!"

Galen swore and, with a flick of his sword, the Succubus was launched up into the air. He jumped up to join it and, after a few blows, kicked it back down to earth. It landed with a sickening crunch, and turned to black ashes soon after it was rained upon with a mixture of magic and bullets.

The Incubuses were a little harder to face. The bastards were fast, and their kicks were deadly swift and accurate. It was all Hope could do to stay on top of it with his newly-discovered Protect spell, although it took a bit of time to learn to cast on others instead of himself. Thankfully he was quick to learn, and the others didn't have much trouble taking them both down after that, as the spell lingered for several minutes.

Galen wiped his brow, sword still in hand. "I'd say that was fun, but I'd be lying."

"Agreed, kid," said Sazh.

"Thanks, Hope!" cheered Vanille. "Your spells helped out heaps!"

Hope felt heat flush his cheeks, and he looked away. "Er, no problem." He still wasn't quite used to praise from beautiful girls.

"Well, now that's done," continued Vanille, dipping slightly at the waist with a hand to her forehead, as if to shield her eyes while she looked further down the path, "I'm gonna go peek ahead!"

"Suit yourself," said Galen easily. "Be careful, though."

"Ciao!" With that, Vanille skipped down the path, a beautific smile lifting her cheeks.

Galen shook his head as they began to walk. "No-one sane should be that bloody cheerful."

"That's Vanille for you," replied Sazh. "Least, from what I've seen."

"She ended up dragging me all over Bresha when we were still stuck on the lake," said Hope.

"So…she's always been this way?" asked Galen.

"Pretty much," said Sazh.

Good to see she hasn't changed much… Galen smiled at the thought. Though I wonder why she doesn't remember me…

They soon caught up to the friendly red-head, frozen as she stared at the wreckage of what appeared to be an airship in the distance. As they caught up to her, she began to speak. "Isn't that a…?"

"A warship from Pulse," said Sazh helpfully.

"You mean, they made it this far?" Vanille seemed…almost eagerly curious, which made Galen a little nervous.

"Of course not," said Sazh dispassionately. Galen could almost feel his disappointment in Cocoon's schooling system. "Not during the war, not since. They mighta tried, but none of their forces made it into Cocoon."

Galen sat and listened. This was something he only knew vaguely about.

"They only damaged the outer rim," continued Sazh. "Then the Sanctum's fal'Cie pushed them back." Sazh smiled. "What, did you kids sleep through History?"

As Galen tried not to laugh, Vanille giggled and replied, "More or less," with a small smile of her own. "So, what's a ship from Pulse doing here?"

This time it was Hope who responded. "Once the war was over, people couldn't live near the rim anymore. In places like the Hanging Edge," he clarified, upon seeing the confused look on Vanille's face. He glanced between the ship and Vanille as he continued, "So the fal'Cie, they gathered up scrap from Pulse, and used it for rebuilding here. This is what was left: a bunch of garbage."

"Who'da thunk? A Pulse fal'Cie and who-knows-what, mixed in with all the trash," said Sazh thoughtfully.

Vanille's smile had since faded, and she looked at the ground with a sad but thoughtful expression that only Galen, from his position on the rocky floor, could see. "Who'da thunk…" she murmured. There was a feeling in the air that made his heart sink, and her expression made him think of dark places. There was nowhere for her to go now, except forward. He knew, because he was in the same boat. But at least he wasn't alone.

Quickly though, she recovered, and had the same cheery smile she had all throughout this mess. She ran ahead once more.

"Do me a favour," said Sazh as she ran by, "stop wandering off and stay where I can keep my eye on you."

Vanille just giggled by way of reply and kept running.

So, they journeyed through the mounds of rock and scrap in this manner for a fair amount of time, past more Incubi, more Succubi, and more Pulsian robots, and finding more loot throughout the place containing various useful items.

"I wonder…" said Sazh to himself as they jumped up a rocky piece of earth that was shaped like large stairs.

"Somethin' up, old man?" asked Galen.

Hope had moved ahead to check out the lay of the land, leaving Vanille, Sazh and Galen to trek behind him. Sazh had been a little nervous about the whole thing, but Hope had waved off his concerns, saying something along the lines of getting stronger or something, so Sazh let him go.

"It's just…from the start o' this whole crazy mess, we've been findin' these little orbs with treasure inside," the older man explained.

"Yeah? Maybe we're just getting lucky."

"Mm-mm," hummed Sazh. "I don't think it's that optimistic."

"So, you think someone's leaving us useful stuff?" inquired Vanille.

"Yeah. That's exactly what I think."

"Wouldn't that count as lucky?" asked Galen. "I don't know about you, but I'm not about to complain about free stuff."

Sazh sighed. "Look, kid, these things are only supposed to be opened by soldiers. Civs like us shouldn't be able to walk up to 'em and take whatever."

"That changes things," said Galen thoughtfully. "Okay, say that's true –"

"It is."

"– then why would someone leave these things unlocked? Seems like screwy security to me."

"I dunno," said Sazh, "but that's what worries me."

"When you say it like that," said Vanille, "then it makes me a little worried too. But…I say we worry about that when we're clear of these soldiers."

"Agreed," said Galen.

Up and over a pile of debris they went – Galen kindly helped Vanille over, for which she thanked him, which of course made him blush. It wasn't long after that before they reached a part of the Vile Peaks where rock turned to metal walkways.

As they made their way up the metal ramp before them, they were surprised when someone jumped from the rocky outcropping above to land on the platform in front of them. At first, they readied themselves to fight – but quickly relaxed when they saw it was just Lightning.

"Hey, welcome to the party!" said Sazh.

"You miss us?" asked Vanille cheerily.

"Hmph." Lightning just turned and walked ahead.

Sazh shook his head. "Would it kill her to smile?"

"Time to move," said Lightning. And with that, they continued forward.

"Okay!" said Vanille happily.

With Lightning back in the party, it was once again a gruelling travel pace. Did she wait for us or something? thought Galen uneasily. It's not like we were catching up with the pace we were keeping. Especially compared to her.

But he had little time to think on such trivial matters, as they traversed from platform to platform, and then from platform back to rock. After a few minor skirmishes, they reached another platform with an old-fashioned terminal, guarded by an Incubus and two Succubi, but with Lightning back with them, they were much easier.

As Lightning stood impatiently next to Sazh, he imputed the generic override combination. "Here we go," murmured Sazh. When it worked, and a flight of stairs made of rusted metal appeared, he couldn't believe his luck. "Nothin' to it!" he said confidently.

"Doing good," said Lightning, seemingly happy with the pace they were keeping. Inside a red door up the stairs and to their right, they found another chest with more ammunition for Lightning and Sazh, and they continued on. Along the way, however, Vanille began to fall behind.

"Wait for me!" she cried.

"Hurry up," snapped Lightning as they waited for her.

"Sorry," she apologised. "I didn't mean to fall behind."

"It doesn't matter," said Galen quickly, glancing over to a somewhat-annoyed Lightning and back to Vanille. "Let's just keep going."

Up an incline they traversed, until they arrived at a seemingly dead-end with a mound of rusted junk in the middle.

"What do you suppose that is?" asked Lightning, vaguely suspicious of the pile. As they inched closer, the pile began to move, and a gigantic juggernaut of a machine emerged.

It had stubby little legs compared to its oversized body. Its arms were the full length of its body fully upright, the whole thing about 20 feet high overall. It seemed to have a seat up the top, for a rider to sit and control the big lug. Overall, the entire thing seemed pretty menacing.

"What is that?" exclaimed Sazh, drawing his pistols.

Lightning quickly drew her gunblade and stepped forward. "Pulse armament."

The thing knocked a piece of junk out of its way with its massive arm, dealing an impressive-looking blow.

"And that's…bad for us, isn't it?" Sazh fought not to back away.

"You have eyes, don't you?"

Vanille gulped.

And before they knew it, they found themselves fighting the thing. Hope looked through the librascope and found what he could on it. He found that it was actually called a Dreadnought, and that it was susceptible to a select few debuffs. It was quickly decided that Hope and Sazh – who had also learned how to buff – would buff the party, and Vanille would work on trying to debuff the Dreadnought, while Lightning and Galen fought the thing head-on. Once the buffing and debuffing was complete, they would all assist with spells, and Vanille and Hope would also be on cure duty. This worked well until, midway through the fight, the Dreadnought decided it was time for a power play, and its head moved up to expose a charged metal sphere. Everyone dove out of the way as the wrecking ball was fired. It missed them all, but it did succeed in blowing out the platform from underneath them, forcing them to fall to the ground below.

It was a fall that would have injured normal people. But this group were l'Cie, and this made them hardier than most.

"Thought we were goners," panted Sazh. "You all right?"

"I think so," said Vanille, pulling herself to her feet.

When Hope and Galen also responded to the affirmative, Lightning gave a warning. "Incoming!"

The next second, the Dreadnought had jumped down to the rocky ground to join them. This time, it opted to open with a sweep of both arms, made worse with projections of fire coming from both appendages. Everyone dodged backwards to avoid the fire sweep.

"Well that's new," snapped Galen. "I feel like it could've just opened with that."

"I'm actually pretty happy it didn't," said Sazh, firing non-elemental rounds at its underside.

"Would you two quit it?" said Lightning, smoothly back-flipping out of the way of another fire sweep. "Less griping, more fighting."

It was largely the same strategy this time around too – Sazh, Hope and Vanille renewed their buffs and debuffs while Galen and Lightning distracted the Dreadnought with melee attacks. Once buffing and debuffing was complete, the three joined them, backing them up with a variety of elemental spells and cures.

All in all, it was a good team-building and buffing exercise, for eventually the Dreadnought ceased to function, evaporating to black ashes like all the rest and leaving behind a small toolkit.

"Ah!" groaned Lightning as her brand glowed bright-green. The pain did not succeed, however, in bringing her to her knees, but by no means did it tickle. The same thing happened to Sazh, except his brand glowed ruby-red.

"What happened?" asked a worried Vanille as she ran to help Sazh to his feet – the pain brought him to his knees.

Hope inched closer to Lightning. She had a hand to her chest, where her brand rested, and her breaths were a little uneven; apart from that, she was fine. "I don't know."

"Maybe you have new powers or somethin'," suggested Galen, shrugging a split-second after.

"Lightning, do you feel any different?" Hope asked.

Lightning furrowed her brow, and, after a moment, her hand began to gather green energy. After a small period of time, she released that power, and Hope sighed as the curative magic hit him in the arm.

"Looks like Lightning can heal now," said Vanille excitedly. "What about you, Sazh?"

After a moment's concentration, Sazh let off a burst of ruinous magic. Thankfully, it didn't hit anyone, but it did succeed in shaving a few inches off the rocky wall a few hundred metres away.

"Well, that settles that," said Galen. "Lightning can heal, and Sazh can cast ruin. Those'll come in handy."

A few moments after that was said, Galen doubled over in pain, his brand glowing grey.

"Galen!" Vanille put a worried hand on his shoulder. Inwardly, he relished the contact, and the pleasurable feeling of her hand, even through his clothing, helped him shrug off the pain. He threw a grateful smile her way. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, still smiling. "The pain's gone now."

"Okay, so if Light can heal, and Sazh can cast ruin, can you do something different?" asked Hope.

Galen furrowed his brow as he reached inside himself for the crystal within his soul. Gently, he searched the complex latticework within, and found a new circle blooming from his ring-shaped crystal. Curious, he touched one of the orbs within the circle.

"Nothin's happening," said Sazh, bringing him back into the real world.

"Maybe he can do what I can do," said Vanille helpfully. "Try casting on me."

"Oh no," he said quickly. Vanille's face fell. Flustered, Galen quickly added, "I don't want to hurt you if I can do what you can do. Let's just try to find something for me to cast on."

Vanille's expression cleared. "Oh. Okay then."

"So…what's this?" asked Hope, picking up the toolkit.

Lightning gave it a cursory glance, and her brows rose in surprise. "It's an omni-kit," she said, taking it from Hope and looking inside. "Looks fully-stocked, too."

"Why would that drop from a Dreadnought?" asked Sazh.

"How should I know?"

Hope shrugged. "It doesn't matter why. The point is, we have it, and it'll come in handy. Best to keep it." Hope held out a hand, and, understanding, Lightning gave it back to him. "I'll carry it."

Sazh put away his guns. "Pulse is crawlin' with things like that Dreadnought, isn't it?" he asked, referring to the fight they'd just survived.

Lightning shrugged. "Got me. Not even the Corps has access to intel on Pulse." She put a hand on her hip as she spoke. "Soldiers in the field fight blind."

"Yeah," said Sazh, folding his arms, "I noticed that. But don't you need to know exactly what you're up against?"

"Target's a target."

"You like to keep it simple, don't you?"

Lightning casually folded her arms. "I stick to my goal."

"As long as you have a goal, you can fight?" asked Hope.

"You can stay alive," she replied, walking forward.

The whole exchange left Galen feeling a tad awkward. He made sure to place a little bit of distance between himself and Hope after that; not because he thought the 14-year-old would turn on him, but because he thought it best to leave him be. He seemed to be very…intense.

So, as they made their way through the red door in front of them and climbed up the steep incline inside, he fell into step beside Vanille.

"This seems like easy going," she said as they continued to climb upwards.

"For now," said Galen. "Who knows what we're gonna find at the exit."

Vanille shrugged. "We can take it, whatever it is." The fight with the Pulsian armament seemed to have given her a little boost in confidence. He couldn't talk though; he was riding a high himself.

So, he found himself nodding, agreeing with her statement. "Long as we stick together."

"Say…" said Vanille, trailing off as she formed the question in her mind. "Where are you from?"

"Uhm…" Galen stalled as he tried to find an answer to give her. He could hardly say he was from Gran Pulse, same as her, because if he did so the Cocoonians would surely hear and grow suspicious. Giving up, he lamely said, "Away from here."

"So…not from Bodhum?"

"No," he said with absolute certainty.

Vanille nodded, seeming to digest this information. He looked into her eyes, but still he could not find a shred of recognition. Either this girl had developed a serious poker face, or she really didn't know him at all.

That left him feeling the teensiest bit deflated.

A/N: Well now, isn't that interesting? Galen's not from Cocoon (surprise, surprise!) which makes you wonder - what's his story? And WHO is his sister? I know, I'm making it a teensy bit over-dramatic, but let a girl have her fun. This is what happens when you don't give an author reviews by the way. They go BATTY. So, so batty.

Anyways! Chapter 19 will be out soon. For anyone still reading, that is.

Fang out.