"So... what are these challenges of Titan?" asked Hope.

"Well, you know who Titan is right? That massive Fal'Cie always on the horizon?" asked Varic. When the four nodded, he continued. "His job is to keep the Gran Pulse from stagnating. He manipulates evens so that the strong prosper, and the weak perish."

Varic's continued with the air of a storyteller. "Therefore, the strong must be rewarded. If we can prove ourselves to him, then he will grant us one wish. This wish, I'm assuming, is to go the world of souls, and free the ones you love."

"How will we prove ourselves?" asked Lightning.

"Generally, he will provide a challenge, which usually involves killing something stronger than you. Seeing as you are four the legendary l'Cie, I assume he will set quite a challenge for you..." Varic trailed off as Hope suddenly interrupted.

"But we aren't as strong as we used to be, ever since we lost our magic," Hope said with a sigh. "We can't possibly defeat an enemy without magic, who would be a challenge even if we had our magic."

Lightning's eyes narrowed. "But you said we hadn't really lost your magic... didn't you?"

Varic brightened considerably as he answered, "Ah, that is right." He paused for a moment, deep in thought, before adding, "It will be very hard to do this. It will take much, much training, and even then, you might not be able to access your full powers."

"Well how then? I want my magic back," Snow demanded.

"Yeah, me too. It doesn't matter how much work it takes, I'll master it again," Hope said with fire in his eyes.

Varic paused a second. "Before, you summoned magic by concentrating on your brand, which acted as a 'node' for your power, and then concentrating on the magic you wanted, right?" When the group nodded, he continued. "Well, since you don't have the brand, you can't use that method anymore. But the magic is still there- just not concentrated in your brand."

"So the magic is in our bodies, but it's all weak?" asked Sazh.

"It's still here... it's still here!" Hope whooped for joy as he pointed his hand at a nearby tree and shouted "Fire!"

It seemed as if you listened hard enough, you could hear crickets, as nothing happened, except Hope's face got a whole lot redder.

"Hmm, I can see how this might take practice..." Lightning said.

Varic chuckled to himself. "Let's get started then."

The whole day went by, with only short breaks for a lunch. Varic appeared to be looking over everyone's shoulder at once, guiding, teaching, helping. It was dusk before any one of them reported any progress- that is, if you define progress as Hope summoning a tiny spark. However, to him, it didn't matter how small it was. The magic was there. They had a chance.

Every day while they trekked, the practiced. Every night underneath the stars, they practiced. And each one of them improved. Snow was able to withstand Lightning's temper tantrum punches with Steelguard once more. Sazh was finally able to protect the others as was his duty as the old man of the group- no one else would ever be hurt seriously again on his watch. Lightning was able to summon her trademark spell, and was grateful at the chance to conserve ammunition. And Hope was the one improving fastest, already beginning to summon the -ga spells that were so powerful.

Every day, the group grew more confident, both in their own powers, and in belief that they could handle anything Titan could throw at them, even though Varic constantly urged them to be cautious. After all, they had beaten Orphan- what could a simple challenge do?

It was with that in mind that Snow, upon seeing Titan's massive frame for the first time, conjured up a cone of ice, and called to him with it, even as Varic was frantically trying to shush him.

However, Titan heard, and he came.

"What do you wish?" rumbled Titan's deep voice.

"We wish to undertake your challen-" started the overly cocky Snow. He couldn't continue because of Varic's hand over his mouth, while Varic was whispering, "You idiot" into Snow's ear. However, the damage was already done.

"You wish to undertake my challenge?" rumbled Titan. "Very well." Titan scooped them all up in one hand, and deposited them somewhere, moving so fast the group couldn't even see it.

Hope was puking- apparently he was motion sick-, and Snow and Sazh were slowly getting up. However, Lightning noticed something rather small. "What's that?" Lightning wondered aloud. "It looks like a miniature Adamantoise." She picked it up to examine it closer. Then she realized. It was a miniature Adamantoise. A baby to be exact.

A baby whose very large and angry parents were standing right in front of her now.

A/N Firstly- yay, we get magic. Fun fun fun.

Secondly- it's another Cliffie. Why can't I seem to write anything without cliffhangers?

Thirdly- as you can see, I finally know how to do the line break. I'd like to thank AsakuraX for this. Hey there, if you're reading this AsakuraX, know that you deserve a large internet cookie for that.

As always, review please XD

-Dorryza