"So... where to Light?"

The group sat for a short breather on the side of the road leading out of Oerba. Hope was ever the one to ask his Idol for guidance. Guidance to the one he longed for...

Who Lightning also had no idea as to her whereabouts. All she knew was the cryptic message...

Just go south...

"We'll pass Taejin's Tower first, then worry about precise locations later", came the confident response. But inside, the seeds of doubt were starting to manifest in Lightning's head. Was the mysterious voice really a person who could help, or was it a result of her stressed mind leading them all into the most dangerous location for miles around?

Taejin's tower. The imposing tower blocked the only way south, forcing potential travelers to enter through the elevator, and slaughter their way up and down through countless floors of the monster-infested tower.

It was here that the group found themselves slowly making their way up. Only at the top of the tower could they get the elevator, to take them to where they needed to go- a definite place in the minds of the three, and a burning secret of nothingness and shame in the mind of Lightning.

She was everywhere, whirling, slashing, shooting, gracefully dismembering every monster heading her way. But the burden of her thoughts weighed down upon her, and she was noticeably slower than usual, though she was still leaving nothing behind her but a pile of dismembered bodies and limbs.

Lightning ran right past the last twitching Yaksha, to the top of the Cloven Spire, and directly into a lightning bolt. She was tossed back into the rest, Snow catching her.

The rest sprinted out into the open top of the tower, and were greeted with the sight of a massive bird, feathers crackling with electricity, and with a wingspan that seemed larger than the entire length of the Palamecia.

"It must be Binesi..." said Hope under his breath as he readied a shroud.

"Bine-what?" asked Snow.

"Binesi, a bird of eternal thunder, who would strike down those who are foolish enough to attempt to defy death itself..." came the reply from a now phoenix down'd Lightning. She came forward, leading the party yet again.

Binesi turned towards Snow, seeing him as the largest man, and being the greatest threat. Snow took the challenge is stride, taking up a defensive position, and when the inevitable thunderbolt came, shouted "STEELGUARD!" at the top of his lungs.

Before, his magic would activate.

Before, this little spark wouldn't even tickle.

Now, Snow stared in disbelief at his arm, where the light usually flashed and protected him. He then promptly got flung fifteen feet and landed with a sickening crunch on the elevator, trench coat smoking, and groaning. Well, at least groans meant he was still alive.

Sazh narrowed his eyes. The group couldn't afford another hit like that, especially it had managed to take Snow of all people out in one blow. He took a few potshots, even used his beloved rifle, but they simply bounced off the hardened hide of the bird. He needed to think of a strategy...

Lightning had also narrowed her eyes. That bird Binesi had hurt her family. Snow was out cold because of it. Oh, by the time she was done with it, it would be wishing it was dead a lot sooner...

Sazh continued shooting, but the bird had such a hardened hide, he might as well be tossing toothpicks at it. He needed something with a little more bite... Wait, what was crazy soldier girl doing up there?

Aforementioned crazy soldier girl was busy beating the crap out of Binesi. The rage unlocked by Snow's injury was busy working its way out in the form of her gunblade. She was still up there, a minute after jumping, thanks to her anti gravity unit, was still hacking away. The bird had given a startled squawk, then fell silent. Its chest started puffing out, but Lightning assumed it was gathering its breath for a death scream.

Lightning couldn't be more wrong.

With a crackle, Lightning was suddenly flung just as far as Snow, ending up using him as a pillow to soften her descent. She slowly crawled off, and ended up taking potshots from afar with her gunblade, until Sazh called her name.

Binesi had been taking his time, just flying in the sky, when a little human had darted onto the top of the tower. Now normally he let humans alone, but he got a feeling that these humans were the ones he was tasked to defeat.

Perhaps a little bolt would discourage them from their course. So he hurled a little bolt, just a tiny one, and watched as the lead human, little more than a pink haired doll to him, went flying.

Oops, he'd forgotten again how fragile humans were.

Then when he saw the four rush out, clearly preparing for a fight, he saw the biggest in front. He looked the most intimidating, so Binesi decided it was a good idea to send another bolt at him too. He ended up smoking in a heap at the side of the elevator.

Binesi was growing annoyed from this fight. After all, the boomerang boy and the grizzled shooter were tickling him, and Binesi hated being tickled. He turned to them, preparing a lightning bolt-

And then the little dolly from before blindsided him. The little vixen was in his face, hacking and slashing for a full minute while he charged up. Finally that little pink haired dolly got so annoying that he simply unleashed a little bit of his power to get her off him and back onto the ground.

She ended up landing right on top of the big one from before, and slowly crawled off him.

Then, after hearing something from the grizzled shooter, she pulled something from the big oaf's coat, and tossed it over to boomerang boy. The boomerang boy then promptly tossed it at Binesi.

Binesi laughed on the inside. They were now at the point of throwing rocks at him? He charged up a little more.

"Fal'Cie, I'm getting too old for this..." Sazh muttered as he trained a bead not on Binesi, but on the little object that Hope had thrown. When it curved right next to Binesi's face, three things happened.

There was a loud clear shot.

There was a roar of pain from the great bird.

There was a massive explosion in front of the bird's face.

"Yes, yes we beat it," Hope breathed out.

Sazh gave a whoop for joy, seeing as the bird was nowhere to be seen. He then hurried to Snow and Lightning, giving a phoenix down to Snow, and plenty of potions to both.

"Thanks," Snow said as he accepted his third potion. He tilted it down, then stood back up and walked slowly to the center of the platform-

Where a bolt promptly tossed him into the stairwell where the four had come, landing with another sickening crunch.

Binesi was back, and he was pissed.

A/N

Heh, I'm mean with my cliffs, ain't I?

PS, I don't own any of these characters- they're Square's. I don't even own Binesi, I got him from Native American Mythology =(

I only own the pure awesomeness plot =P

As always review please XD