Ok, first off I'd like to thank those who left reviews, positive (or negative) reinforcement is always appreciated.

Also, sorry about the length of the first three chapters, this is the first story I've uploaded to the site, and I wrote those three chapters before doing so, and I obviously grossly underestimated the capacity of each chapter, I figured four to five pages in Microsoft word was gonna fill them up. I'm won't hold back anymore though, so the future chapters should be longer.

Updates shouldn't take too long to post, I'm out of college until September, and I've found that thinking up scenes in my head is a great way to pass the time at my rather boring part time job.

In this chapter, I'm gonna try some combat scenes, so if you do leave a review, give me a yay or nay on if I'm doing it right. The paradigm system from the game seems like it would be rather awkward to articulate into writing, so I'm pretty much gonna ignore it and write as if the characters have access to their spells/abilities without changing from ravager to medic or whatever. In the other fics I've read, no one else has returned l'Cie abilities to the characters, so I haven't seen any effective method of conveying the paradigms, though I suspect the fights might be more exciting without them.

Lastly, I know the title is, I dunno, kinda lame I guess, but I wanted to post them last night before I went to sleep and I've never been great at naming things.

Square owns all the characters and all that jazz, so here's chapter 4, hope you like

Chapter 4

"Who was that on the phone, Snow?" Serah asked her husband as she walked into the kitchen yawning .

"It was Hope, kid wanted to know if we were ok or anything strange was going on… he was acting pretty weird," he answered.

"Hmm, that sounds kinda serious, maybe we should call them back to make sure everything's okay," Serah said, biting her lip nervously.

"Huh? Doesn't seem that bad to me," Snow replied with confusion at his wife's reaction.

"Well," she responded with a slight smirk, "if YOU say someone is acting weird, then it's probably time to worry."

XXXXX

Lightning was speeding towards the Nautilus district, pushing her standard issue velocycle as hard as it could go. She was trying to concentrate on finding any sign of battle, while at the same time listening to the military radio installed in her vehicle.

"Unit 31 on the way to provide backup, our patrol is the closest to west Nautilus at the moment according to our scanners."

"Affirmative…31….suffering….casualties….all for more back….enemy unknown….humanoid…..fire…"

Lightning wrinkled her brow in frustration. Whatever was attacking the city must have been causing the interference on the besieged troops' communicators. Whatever was going on, it didn't sound good. She wracked her brain trying to remember if she had encountered anything that matched the vague details she had caught through the static filled transmissions, but they weren't ringing any bells.

As caught up as she was in trying to figure out what the hell was happening, she had subconsciously pushed the appearance of her and Hope's brands from her mind until she felt it pulse on her chest. She glanced down and saw it's light coming through her jacket, and placed her hand over the spot on her chest that had for so long been free of the damning tattoo. She reached towards the power in her mind and let it's warmth spread through her body. Her heart skipped a beat and she gasped audibly as she felt the familiar strength coursing through her body. She looked down at her hand and saw electricity crackling at her fingertips.

She was stirred from basking in the familiar feeling of the strength she had thought was lost to her forever when she heard an explosion from up ahead. She looked up, but the sound had obviously outdistanced any visual signs she might be able to discern, so kept her course toward the general direction of the sound.

"Alright, whatever the fuck you are," she said, tightening her grip on the handlebars of her velocycle, "you picked the wrong day to attack this city." With a look of renewed determination, she kicked her bike into the highest gear and sped on towards an uncertain enemy.

XXXXX

Hope was pacing frantically around Lightning's living room, arms folded over his chest, a look of frustration etched on his face. His continued pacing was interrupted after a few more minutes but an announcement blaring over the holo-vid screen. He stopped abruptly as he registered what he had heard and sat down to watch.

"Earlier this morning, a disturbance was reported near the western gate of New Eden, on the edge of the Nautilus district. Military forces in the area have responded quickly to the emergency protocol, but further details are unknown due to the swift blockade placed around the vicinity of the disturbance. Citizens are advised to remain calm and in their homes if you live close to the area. The council has given its assurance that the matter is being dealt with."

Hope was not convinced. On the contrary, the report only made him feel worse. A military blockade meant told him that whatever was attacking the city was giving the soldiers trouble. He hung his head with his face in his hands, trying to decide what to do.

"Dammit Light…" he muttered angrily. "What should I do?" As if in response to his question, he felt the brand on his wrist pulse violently, startling him from his contemplations. He looked down at the glowing mark on his arm and nodded as if to say 'thanks'. He jumped off the couch he had been sitting on and started for the door.

XXXXX

"Hmmm…" Serah said, sounding more worried than before, a look of clear concern on her face. No answer."

"Don't worry about them, babe, they're fine. Hope's train doesn't leave until later tonight, so they probably went out to breakfast or something. Heh, maybe the kid will get up the courage to make a move since he's leaving soon," Snow said jokingly, trying to reassure his wife.

Serah smiled weakly. "Yeah…I guess."

XXXXX

Lightning was now close enough to the commotion to make out the gouts of flame rising over the buildings in the area. Some of the buildings themselves had caught fire, and she could make out several charred and shattered rooftops of buildings that had apparently suffered from a foundation wracking explosion. Every few seconds, Lightning winced as the heat and force from the explosions blasted through the air around her. After another minute or so, she started hearing the rattle of gunfire and the screams and shouts of soldiers, though whether they were screams of agony or frantic soldiers trying to shout orders, she couldn't tell.

She started slowing down her velocycle, getting ready to descend to the streets, where the battle seemed to be taking place. Before she dipped below the buildings, she spotted several specks in the sky that she was able to discern to be the silhouettes of military aircrafts heading towards them, but she estimated their arrival to be another ten minutes off at the very least. Turning her gaze towards the battle below, she located a knot of soldiers who seemed to be trying to organize their fellows scrambling around them. Looking around, she saw no sign of whoever, or whatever, was attacking them. As she descended, one of them pointed up to her and motioned to his fellows to move aside. She landed gracefully among them when they cleared a spot for her to touch down.

"Lieutenant Farron reporting in," Light saluted as she dropped to the ground from her velocycle. "I need a status report immediately."

"Yes ma'am," saluted a nearby soldier, whose striped soldier pad told Lightning that he was a Sergeant, and apparently in charge of the operation so far. "At about 0900 this morning, our patrol heard a commotion coming from the west gate into the city. We had just left for a routine patrol in the nearby forest, but we hadn't seen anything coming before we set out. We turned around to investigate, and when we came upon the gate it appeared to have been blown in from the outside."

"That gate is thirty feet tall and made of solid adamantium, how the hell could anything blow it open?" Lightning interjected, with a disbelieving tone.

"No clue, ma'am," the soldier responded. "But there were scorch marks on the side facing out to us and the door was bent inward. We called for backup on our comms and went in to investigate."

"What did you find?" Lightning asked, listening intently to the soldier's report.

"Fire. Lots of fire. The buildings in the square surrounding the gate were on fire, the vehicles along the side of the street were on fire, and the holes blasted in the street were burning. We could hear people screaming and saw them fleeing from the burning buildings, only to get blasted off their feet by gouts of flame from….I don't know who he is, none of us do, but we heard him laughing before we saw him. He was standing in the middle of the square blasting people, buildings, trees, anything he could reach with fire that he shot from his hands. He…he looked just like a normal guy in street clothes, not even any kind of body armor or military gear. We didn't see any mana drives on him, but he was obviously using magic…we figure he must be a l'Cie, but….we thought all the fal'Cie were gone," the soldier finished, and hung his head. Lightning couldn't tell if he was saddened by the memories of the horrible scene he had described, or by the fact that the fal'Cie who had provided for them their entire lives were no more.

"A l'Cie, huh?" Lightning muttered to no one in particular, unconsciously raising her hand to her newly reacquired brand. "Where is he now?" she asked sharply, snapping out of her momentary lapse and looking around at the soldiers surrounding her.

"Around the corner ma'am. We engaged the hostile, but nothing we had seemed to work. Bullets didn't effect him, and neither did any of the grenades we were equipped with, frag, impact, and gas. We lost almost half our squad in the first few minutes of the fight, his attacks just burned right through all of our armor. None of the defensive mana drives we had could stop them either, and our offensive mana drives didn't seem to phase him at all. When unit 31 radioed in that they were almost here, we retreated to our current position to rendezvous with them. Their patrol area takes them into a valley that is known to be a spot frequented by adamantoises, so they have much heavier artillery than we do."

As he finished speaking, they heard several people running towards them from the opposite direction that the soldier had indicated the l'Cie aggressor was. Lightning glanced towards the newcomers, and immediately recognized them as soldiers, most likely unit 31 due to the several men carrying rocket launchers in the back of the group.

The leader of the group hurried over to them and offered a salute, which they quickly returned. "Sergeant Wedge of patrol unit 31 reporting in. What's the situation?" As the soldier quickly went over the details he had just shared with Lightning, she gazed towards the other end of the street. She could hear the blasts of fire that the supposed l'Cie was still shooting indiscriminately at his surroundings, and she even thought she might have heard a sadistic laugh over the chaos. She gritted her teeth in anger as she vaguely heard the two sergeants trying to come up with a strategy. As she continued to look towards the spot where she supposed the mysterious attacker would soon appear, she felt her brand begin to pulse, almost angrily, once again. As it did, she felt a sudden tingling in the air around her, and was sure she was feeling the destructive magic being let loose in the area.

"Ma'am, before you came here, did you happen to see if we were getting any air support?" the soldier asked her, apparently having finalized their plan of attack once their enemy reappeared. Lightning continued staring towards the end of the street, oblivious to the soldier's question. He grabbed her arm to get her attention. "Ma'am?"

"What?" she stammered distractedly, flinching at the touch of the soldier as she looked down to make sure her brand had stopped glowing before she turned back to them. "Y-yeah, I saw a few carriers headed this way, they should be here soon," she replied offhandedly. This seemed to bolster the soldiers' courage, and the sergeants ordered them into position. Lightning moved off to the side and returned to her pensive trance.

What the hell is going on? she though to herself leaning up against a nearby building. First Hope and I wake up with these fucking brands again, and now the city is getting attacked by a l'Cie? This can't be a coincidence…

A flurry of activity from the nearby soldiers roused Lightning from her thoughts, and she glanced up and immediately saw the source. The l'Cie had turned the corner onto the street they were on. He was bald, with gray, cracked looking skin the color of granite. His eyes were glowing like two burning coals set in his gaunt face, which was twisted into a horrible grin. He was wearing regular black pants and shoes, with a long coat over what appeared to be the remnants of a shirt ripped to shreds by the bullets that didn't affect him. Through the tattered garments, Lightning glimpsed the curling lines and spiky arrows of what was unmistakably a l'Cie brand, but this brand was several times the size of any that Lightning had seen. The mark glowed a dull red, while at the center rested an evil looking black eye with a pulsing red pupil gazing out from its place over the l'Cie's heart. He was walking as if he was taking a calm stroll through town, but he was still cackling and firing gouts of flame all around himself. After taking a few steps he seemed to notice the soldiers facing him, and one of the sergeants immediately yelled "FIRE!"

Lightning was buffeted by the sound of gunshots rushing towards the l'Cie. Machine guns emptying their clips, sniper rifles being fired with a single echoing 'bang', and lastly the firing of rocket launchers and the subsequent explosions when they rockets reached their mark. The barrage of weapon fire stopped as suddenly as it started, and as the smoke began to clear, Lightning glimpsed a humanoid silhouette with a raised hand.

"LOOK OUT!" she cried right before what she knew was about to happen happened. Lightning turned and fell back into an alley as an overwhelming blast of fire erupted from the l'Cie's hand and blasted half the street apart. After the ringing in her ears stopped, she could hear the anguished screams of the many soldiers who no doubt took a direct hit from the raging inferno and were even now in the throes of a painful death. She also became painfully aware of the fact that she didn't duck into the alley fast enough. The skin on the left side of her face had been singed by the flames and she knew it was probably scorched red from the proximity to the fire.

She managed to pull herself to her feet with the help of the side of a building. She raised a hand to her face and reached into the well of magic and raised her hand to her face to cast a cure spell. The magic spread a warm feeling of relief across her singed flesh, but after it had passed, it still stung. "Dammit," she muttered angrily at her mediocre spell. Hope was always better at this stuff she thought to herself. I never told him that though…

After regaining her composure, Lightning reached the end of the alley to behold a gruesome scene. Most of the soldiers she had just been surrounded by lay dead or wracked in spasms of pain in the middle of a smoking and flaming crater that stretched the entire width of the street. Worst of all, the l'Cie now stood in the middle of the mass of burnt bodies, seemingly admiring his handiwork.

"Amazing, isn't it," the l'Cie said. His voice was raspy with an odd echo about it. "They depended on me for so long, but now that we meet face to face, they attack me with their pitiful weapons and artificial magics…I did them a favor, putting them out of their misery now…the coming battles aren't fit for pathetic mortals such as these. Don't you agree," he said, turning to Lightning, who was startled to find he had been talking to her, "fellow l'Cie?" At his words, the brand on Lightning's chest pulsed again, causing the murderous l'Cie watching her to start cackling maniacally again.

Lightning reached behind her legs and pulled her gunblade from its sheath. It unfolded as she swung it upward into a battle stance and began crackling threateningly with electricity. This is the kind of magic I was good at she thought to herself in grim determination. "Why are you doing this?" she shouted at him, trying to suppress the rage boiling inside her. She normally displayed a cold façade in the face of death, even on the scale that faced her now, but she had trouble controlling it this time. These soldiers hadn't stood a chance against this monster, and he had never stopped laughing while he incinerated them. The fact that it was a l'Cie who had shown up out of no where to perpetrate this slaughter on the same morning that she had regained her brand, Lightning had a very convenient target to direct her anger over once again being thrust into an existence where she was pulled along by fate, like a puppet struggling useless against its strings.

"Why, you ask?" the l'Cie finally managed to say as his fit of laughter subsided. "Because it's fun, of course."

Unable to contain her anger any longer, Lightning charged at the l'Cie with her crackling gunblade and swung it to slash her opponent across the chest. To her surprise, the energy on her blade dissipated out during her charge, and her gunblade sparked feebly across the chest of the l'Cie, who made no move to dodge her attack. Lightning swiftly jumped back from the l'Cie and looked down at the blade that had failed her for the first time in memory.

The failed assault had sent the l'Cie into another fit of laughter. "You have to calm down, young l'Cie. You won't be able to control your magic properly if you can't keep your emotions in check," he said condescendingly.

Before she could respond, Lightning was assailed by the sound of engines and wind forced up by whirring turbines from somewhere above her. With a start she looked up to see three military assault carriers hovering above them. The l'Cie opposite her looked up as well, shielding his eyes with his hand and appraising the newcomers to the battlefield. The front most carrier opened its side hatches and several ropes descended from it to drop off shock troopers while two large gatling guns unfolded from either side of the craft.

The l'Cie sighed loudly to himself. "More humans I see. Very eager to die aren't they?" He raised his arm and Lightning could feel the stir of magic as it collected in his palm. She looked back to the carrier, frantically trying to signal the pilot to turn around.

"Go back!" she shouted futilely, knowing that there was no way they would hear her. She was nearly thrown from her feet as the magic combusted in the l'Cie's palm and a great fireball burst from his hand, rocketing towards the carrier. Lightning was thrown from her feet by the titanic force when the fireball collided with the carrier. Several charred bodies fell to the street to join their late comrades and Lightning was forced to do a backward flip from the ground to dodge a chunk of burning, twisted metal. Landing on her feet, she looked up just in time to dodge a rain of shattered glass as the carrier to the left of the one destroyed was hit with the shockwave and collided with the building above her. The pilot was able to salvage his craft however, and flew up and over the building. It had taken extensive damage from the collision and was most likely out of the fight. The third carrier was not so lucky. It deployed its own gatling guns, which began to spray bullets at the enemy l'Cie. He seemed entirely unconcerned by the barrage, most of which ineffectually bounced off his granite colored chest. He wore a bored expression as he raised his arm a second time and shot another fireball towards the last carrier. The pilot banked a turn, but it's left turbine was hit. The pilot's attempt to dodge caused the carrier to clear the line of buildings on the other side of the street before it went down. Its crash landing was followed by an explosion visible over the buildings.

Enough Lightning thought to herself, closing her eyes and employing a calming technique she had learned during her training to try control her anger. Get a hold of yourself! You're better than this and you know it. If you can't stop this guy, your city and your friends are gonna be killed! At this thought, images of her friends and family flashed through her mind. Serah, Snow, and her nephew Zack; Sazh and Dajh, Fang and Vanille, Hope…

Her brand pulsed and her eyes opened. She lifted her gunblade once again into a fighting stance. This time when it began to surge with energy, the electricity running along the blade was brighter and stronger than Lightning had ever remembered and it disturbed the air around it as it crackled. She charged at the l'Cie, not listening to whatever mocking comment he was in the middle of saying. His eyes went wide as he turned to Lightning and he was barely able to dodge in time to avoid being cut in half. As he dodged, her gunblade caught him across the chest, releasing a sudden spray a blood from the wound. She turned back to him and slashed her blade through the air, sending the blood that had trickled across its length into an arc of crimson rain drops that fell to the still smoldering pavement. She examined the damage she had done to her opponent, and saw that she had slashed him across the eye on his chest, which now appearing to be weeping tears of blood.

The l'Cie quickly regained his composure and condescending demeanor. "So she has teeth after all," he sneered.

"She has a lot more than that," Lightning responded, as her brand glowed red through her jacket. "Odin," she said, quietly. A red gem appeared in her hands, which she promptly threw and shattered with a swift slash of her sword.

The l'Cie was once again interrupted mid-remark as a huge red glyph burst from the shattered crystal. He watched as Odin emerged from the glyph and landed next to Lightning with a resounding crash, double ended scythe in one hand, a narrow shield in the other. The intimidating eidolon immediately charged the l'Cie who executed a quick backwards leap while launching a volley of small fireballs from both hands. Odin brought up his shield and the flames fizzled ineffectually against it. As he landed, the l'Cie once again was forced to dodge a blow that would have decapitated him as Lighting had come from behind with a horizontal slash of her electrified gunblade aimed at his throat.

As he ducked, he lifted his right foot backwards as if to kick Lightning, but sprang into flip that sent an arc of flame from his foot at Lightning, who was too close to dodge. Fortunately, she was able to bring her gunblade to bare in time to attempt to parry the attack. The force of it sent her sliding away from the l'Cie, who snapped his fingers as he landed, combusting the arc of flame in Lightning's face. She went flying through the air, but was caught by Odin from behind before she collided with the building.

She opened her eyes dazedly, and was quickly made away again that her face had been burned. Looking down at her clothes, she saw her jacked was full of scorch marks and the bottom of her cape had been burnt ragged. The palm of left hand that she had used to brace the gunblade as she tried to parry the l'Cie's sudden attack had also been burned raw. Trying to master the pain and keep her cool, she leapt from Odin's arms as he touched down to the street and stumbled. Her left leg had suffered a bad burn as well, and she now noticed a painful looking scorch mark that spread from her shin up to her knee. Gritting her teeth, she gasped as Odin casted a healing spell at her and the pain subsided. Well at least one of us is good at magic she thought with relief.

"Impressive, girl," the l'Cie sneered at her from across the street. "I had not thought you were this powerful, but your command of your eidolon is marvelous. Do you think that when you're a charred corpse he will serve me instead?"

Lightning chuckled at him, unaffected by his continued taunts. "Odin would never serve trash like you," she said coldly.

"Oh? Then your precious eidolon will burn with you, girl!" he snarled and launched a blistering gout of flame at Lightning.

"Odin!" she called, and leaped into the air over the attack. Odin soared past her and begin transforming into the gestalt mode that Lightning had once been so familiar with. As he shifted into his horse form, she caught hold of him and flipped herself onto his back as he fell back to the ground. She caught his scythe blade and separated it, one blade in each hand.

The l'Cie seemed to be at a loss for a snide remark for once, so Lightning took the initiative and charged him, blades surging with electricity. He managed to jump out of her path in time, but got caught in the blast when she discharged the energy in her blades and he went tumbling down the street. Pressing her advantage, Lightning charged again, preparing to finish the fight. She uttered the familiar command phrase for Odin's final attack. "The storm is here!" she shouted and leaped off the horse and began spinning, the energy from the blades stirring up a tornado of energy.

Hearing Lightning's exclamation roused the l'Cie from his stupor and he rose to his feet in time to see Lightning spinning, but was too late to dodge the attack. The blades of energy flew from where Lightning was spinning in mid air and struck him all over, crashing into the ground around him kicking up shockwaves and sundering the street further.

Lightning stopped her attack and landed nimbly on Odin's back. She reattached Odin's scythe blades and jumped down to the ground where she plunged the blade into the pavement. She walked up to Odin and stroked his neck appreciatively.

As the smoke cleared however, a figure rose from amidst the debris of Odin's zantetsuken. When she heard the shifting rock, Lightning quickly jerked her heads to the sound, unable to believe that the l'Cie had survived her attack.

"Very….good….girl," the l'Cie rasped out through coughs that sent blood splattering to the ground. As he came into view, Lightning saw that his was grasping the stump of his severed left arm with his damaged but intact right one. His jacket and the remains of his shirt had been torn from his body, revealing his scared and bleeding chest and shoulders. His pants were tattered and shredded but they remained on his body. Blood ran down his body and fell to the ground to join the spatters he had coughed up.

"How did you survive?" she asked him, still shocked to see him still breathing.

"You..underestimate me…if you thought that could…kill me," he gasped out, still having trouble recovering. He chuckled weakly.

"You seem a little too overconfident for the state it left you in though," she replied as she jump back onto Odin and pulled his sword from the pavement. She split the weapon again and prepared the finish the fight. "Let's end this," she spat at him.

"I agree," he said simply, the mocking tone missing from his voice. He raised his remaining arm, and the brand on his chest glowed fiercely. Lightning flinched as the power of the magic gathering in it washed over her, and when she turned back to him, a large fireball was forming in his palm and growing larger by the second, stopping when it was about six feet around. The magic swirling in its depths was visible to Lightning, and she had to shield her eyes from its brightness.

"This is all the power I have left," he said to her, as the sphere of magical fire began to hum violently and crackle with energy that scorched the street as it struck the ground like lightning.

In response, Lightning began pouring the remnants of her magic into Odin's swords, and she felt the horse beneath her flex its muscles as Odin did the same.

"Over here, he's over here!" a voice called from a side street. Despite of themselves both combatants glanced over to see several soldiers running towards their position, most likely the troops from the carrier that managed to escape without being destroyed. Lightning's insides went cold and she looked over and the l'Cie opposite her smiled. He adjusted his aim and launched the fireball at the group of soldiers, who saw him as they turned the corner. The soldiers looked first at Lightning atop Odin with her glowing blades then towards the battered l'Cie and the fireball he had just sent there way. They were transfixed like deer in headlights as the sphere of destruction raced towards them.

Without thinking, Lightning spurred Odin hard to intercept the attack and prevent further deaths at the hands of her monstrous opponent. The horse reared and leapt in front of the soldiers. As Odin landed, he turned to meet the attack, lowering his head into its path. Lightning crossed the still charged swords in front of her and braced herself.

The sphere collided with Odin and Lightning with an earth shattering blast. The soldiers were blasted several yards down the street by the resulting shockwaves, but Lightning remained in the gaping crater created by the explosion. She opened her eyes and reached for her weapons, but her arms would not obey her commands. As her senses returned, she was again assailed by pain. She managed to lift her head to see Odin fading away back to wherever it was he went when he wasn't fighting alongside her, taking his weapons along with him. She was then aware that the sheath pressing against her back was empty, and turning her head to observe her surroundings, noticed the hilt of her gunblade protruding over the edge of the crater, quite out of reach.

As she frantically tried to come up with some way to get out of her predicament, feeling began to return to her arms. Under closer inspection, they seemed to have escaped major injury, with only minor burns up and down their length. As she glanced down at her legs, however, she stifled a gasp as she saw the extensive burns running up and down both of them. The stinging sensation returning a third time to her face told her that it was again scorched raw. Clenching her teeth through the pain, she began to drag herself up the side of the crater towards her gunblade, thinking she could get out of this if she could just reach her trusted weapon. As she pulled herself along the jagged rocks, wincing every time a particularly sharp one (which turned out to be most them to her dismay) dragged across her injured legs, her thoughts again turned towards her friends. Though she tried to remain optimistic about the bleak situation, the nagging realist in her kept telling her she would not see them again.

After several minutes she grasped the lip of the crater and pulled herself onto the pavement, unable to stifle a moan of pain as her limp legs screamed in agony as she dragged them across the rocky ground. She grasped the hilt of her gunblade with the remaining strength she could muster and stabbed it into the ground to try and pull herself at least into a sitting position.

As she did so, she heard a mocking chuckle from somewhere behind her. She turned slowly to see the monstrous l'Cie she had been fighting standing on the other side of the crater, apparently having enjoyed the spectacle of her dragging herself out of it.

"You know, if you hadn't cut off my other arm, I would be giving you a round of applause right now. That was an impressive performance," he sneered at her, his voice once again dripping with taunting cockiness. "Impressive as you may be, however, I think it's time to end this little contest. I would like to get started on healing these injuries so I can have some more fun. Oh, by the way, do you remember when I said that last attack was all the power I had left?" Lightning renewed her grasp on her gunblade trying once more to pull herself up, but her legs still weren't responding. "I lied," the l'Cie continued, raising his hand, a ball of fire forming in his palm.

I'm going to die she thought, her eyes going wide at the revelation. I'm going to die….she said to herself again, unable to believe the words. No matter how bad things had got before, she had never truly, truly thought her life was about to end. The few times she may have brushed the idea, she was able to hold her head high and push it away with the thought that if she did, she would do it fighting. Now here she was, staring it full in the face for the first time of her life. She wasn't going to go down fighting, she was going to be killed like a dog, unable to stand or do anything to stop it. She hung her head, unable to muster the strength to even look at the one who would murder her, and her thoughts turned again to her friends, and the flashed through her mind, as she saw them for what she believed was the last time.

Serah…I won't get to see your son grow up, I won't be there to lend a hand or an ear when you need it. Snow…I'll never get to hit you again for being a perpetual idiot…and I won't be there to see you keep your promise to Serah. Sazh…I won't ever get to thank you for boarding that train with me so many years ago. Though I didn't know it, our motives were the same, and I never once showed any appreciation for you throwing yourself into the fire at my side. Hope…I won't get to see you become the amazing person I know you will be, I'll won't be there to put you on the path if you should stray…I'll never get to tell you…she opened her eyes in surprise as she felt a tear slide down her face and off the tip of her nose to the pavement below. At the same time, she felt the tingle of the magic as her killer released the fireball from his hand…

There was a crash as the fireball hit its target and Lightning was sent tumbling away from the impact. If this is death, it isn't so bad…that didn't even hurt…After a few moments Lightning opened her eyes, wondering if she was about to see what the afterlife was like, but all she could see was smoke, and all she could feel was the rocky pavement against her back and still injured legs. She turned her head towards the spot where she should have just been killed and as her eyes came into focus, she saw the outline of a gargantuan figure. It looked vaguely familiar, though she couldn't tell what it was. As she took in more details, she was sure she had seen the colossal figure before…familiar stature, and the golden armor glinting in the sun…

Though she wracked her brain, Lightning was unable to discern the identity of her savior until she spotted a second, smaller figure standing in the palm of its outstretched right hand. She recognized the build and stature of this individual and the silver hair that hung to his shoulders. "Hope…Alexander…," she stammered weakly.

Hope looked back at Lightning, and their eyes met. She could see the concern in his eyes, and she hoped that he couldn't see the tear tracks on her face at that distance. She tried to shout out to him, that she was still alive, that she was grateful for him saving her. She tried most of all to warn him about the dangerous foe he was about to face, but she couldn't find her voice. All she could do was try to convey all these thoughts into the few moments their eyes remained locked. She didn't think she could do this, but he was able to convey to her through the tenderness in his eyes that she was going to be okay, that he was going to kill the monster that had hurt her, and bring her home. Content with Hope's silent reassurances, Lightning closed her eyes and succumbed to the inviting darkness.

XXXXX

Hope looked away from the now unconscious Lightning and turned to the figure that he was going to eradicate from the face of Pulse for hurting her so badly. His eyes met with that of his opponent. If the l'Cie who was staring into Hope's eyes had known him, he would have noticed the uncharacteristic fire in the young man's eyes, and he would have known that he was about to die painfully.

"So, another whelp of a l'Cie," he said, looking Hope and Alexander up and down. "Come to save your girlfriend, boy?" he said mockingly. "You're too late. Even if you kill me, that girl will die a slow, agonizing death from her injuries."

Hope said nothing, but continued gazing at the l'Cie, feeling more hatred towards the being in front of him than he had ever felt before. He turned and walked up Alexander's arm and stamped his foot on the eidolon's massive shoulder. At once, Alexander began to transform, great pillars raining from the sky to connect and form the towers of Alexander's castle-like gestalt form.

As Alexander finished his change, the l'Cie facing him snarled and unleashed a continuous stream of fireballs at the eidolon, and Hope felt grim satisfaction at the growing fear etched on the l'Cie's face as his attacks failed to so much as leave scorch marks on Alexander's gleaming armor.

Hope, now standing level with Alexander's face, placed his hand on the eidolon. Alexander understood his meaning, and a small compartment opened in his core and began to glow. The star-shaped gears on his front began to whir and the eidolon thrummed power.

The l'Cie opened his mouth as if to speak, but was unable to find the words. He tried to inch away from the massive eidolon gathering energy in front of him, but stumbled and fell back. Managing to stagger to his feet, his eyes once again met with Hope's and he knew from the cold look in the younger l'Cie's eyes that he was about to die.

Alexander reached a crescendo and released the gathered energy in the form of white lasers from its core. The l'Cie didn't even have time to scream as death rushed towards him and a colossal explosion engulfed him.

Hope did not shield his eyes from the bright white blast, but continued to watch, wanting to see the monster die. From the midst of the pulsing energy, he saw the limp form of the l'Cie, back arched and bleeding eye brand facing the heavens. A pillar of dark red energy escaped from the center of the eye and Hope watched it explode and dissipate high above him. When the explosion from Alexander's attack cleared, the l'Cie's body was dust in the wind. Hope jumped down from Alexander as the eidolon rocketed into the sky, not sparing so much as a second glance for his defeated foe.

XXXXX

When Lightning regained consciousness, the first thing she felt were her legs tingling. She raised her head to see what was going on, and saw Hope crouching over her burned legs, his hand a few inches above them glowing with the magic of a powerful healing spell. She was no longer laying in the destroyed street; Hope had carried her to a patch of grass and trees next to a nearby building that had escaped damage from the fight.

"Hope…" she said weakly. He started and turned to her, noticing she was awake.

"Relax, Light, don't try to move yet," he said to her calmly as she made to sit up. "This is going to take time to heal, but it will take longer if you're moving around."

She lay back down staring up at the light shining through the trees. From the position of the sun, she realized it must an hour or so past noon; She knew the fighting hadn't lasted that long, so she assumed she had been unconscious for a while. She stifled a moan as more feeling returned to her legs and the warm relief from Hope's spell coursed through her body.

"Okay," Hope said several minutes later. I think your legs are going to be ok, but don't move yet. Your arms are still banged up and I think a few of your ribs are broken."

"Hope…I..." she began to say, but he raised his hand to silence her.

"Conserve your strength for now," he said to her. "It will be easier to heal you if you concentrate on me and work with my magic to speed up the process.

She remained silent and closed her eyes, reaching for the energy flowing into her from Hope. She tapped into the bit of power that had returned to her since the fight and added it to his, empowering his spell. With her help, Hope steadily moved his hands up and down her arms, soothing the burnt skin and bruised bones. As he moved over her torso, she was unable to stifle a moan as the spell set her broken ribs and repaired the damage.

"Okay, stand up, stretch a little, see if everything is okay," Hope told her after he was finished healing her. She gingerly got to her feet and stretched her arms and legs. She rubbed her hands over her recently healed ribs, but felt no pain.

"I'm okay, Hope, your spell worked like a charm," she said smiling at him. "Tha-" she started to say, but she was interrupted by Hope wrapping her in a tight embrace, burying his head in her shoulder.

"Dammit, Light, don't scare me like that ever again!" he shouted at her. She was caught off guard by his sudden hug and anger, but when she composed herself, she returned his embrace. "I thought for a second there that I'd lost you," he said weakly into her shoulder. From the sound of his voice, it seemed like he was crying.

"Sorry," was all she managed to say. After a few moments she broke away from him. When he got a good look at her, she noticed his eyes widen, and he reached his hand up and cupped her left cheek.

"What are you-" Lightning started to say, raising her hand to his, but she was cut short when she felt Hope release another healing spell. She felt the familiar tingle and relief and knew that the burn on her face was healed. "Thanks," she said to him, looking away slightly embarrassed by the intimate contact. Hope quickly withdrew his hand as if just realizing what he had done.

She turned back to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Let's go home," she said.