"What is your buisness here, l'Cie?" sneered a low, nasal voice. A short, fat, and bald man stood in front of them. He was dressed up in a military uniform, but his build made him look like a fat kid trying to play soldier. However, Lightning knew that the gun pointed at her was very real, just as was the dozens of soldiers surrounding them, and that she had to proceed cautiously.

The fat man continued. "Are you here to destroy Neo Palumpolum, just like you destroyed Cocoon, our home?" His voice constantly rose in pitch, and spittle started to fly from his mouth. "You damnable l'Cie destroyed our home, our gods, our civilization! And now, you wish to destroy our new home as well?"

"Why don't you understand," said Snow. "Destroying Cocoon saved you from being sacrifices of the fal'cie! We saved your lives!"

"Whoa now," said Sazh. "We weren't trying to destroy Neo Palumpolum! We just need some supplies, for a journey we're making."

"Deceit- typical of Pulse l'Cie," sneered the man. "If so, why did you rampage through our city and slaughter our soldiers? Why did you destroy the being holding up our world, the one who gave us light, the one who gave us food? And why were you planning in a secluded grove, then carrying such weapons and mysterious packages? No, I think I won't fall for your tricks." His grip on his weapon tightened, with his finger slowly tensing. "Any last words?"

Silence. Then...

Bang!

Russell felt proud of himself as he held the legendary l'Cie at gunpoint. The great criminals, who had destroyed his easy lifestyle, were at his mercy! He could finally enact revenge upon the devils! The whole world would thank him for ridding them of this Pulsian menace! He started daydreaming, of the world bowing to his feet, of maidens kissing his footsteps- but first he had to do the deed.

"Any last words?" he sneered.

There was a silence. Russell closed his eyes- he could never get used to the flash from the gun- , and tightened his right index finger. He pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Wait. Why did he feel the pain? He had pulled the trigger. It was aimed at the l'Cie. The l'Cie should've been hurt, not him.

Russell dropped the gun, his fingers beginning to numb. He could feel a wetness in his chest, then suddenly a jagged pain as his nerves began screaming at him. His vision started to go red, and he couldn't hear anything but his own labored breathing. Through his fading eyesight, he could just make out a slight ripple in a blue bubble surrounding the l'Cie.

Russell's legs suddenly remembered that they were too weak to hold him up. Russell collapsed into a heap on the ground.

His last thought was that it was a shame no one would ever bow to him now.

A few seconds after the fat man collapsed, everyone was simply silent and still. Then, suddenly, half of the soldiers thought, "the l'Cie are invincible! Run!" The remaining fifteen or so kept their guns trained nervously on the l'Cie, but didn't fire. They remembered the fate of the fat man who had tried to fire.

"You really don't want to stay," said Lightning. "I could kill-"

Most of the remaining soldiers simply fled with that. Only one remained, but he looked like he was busy wetting his pants. The sight of Varic casually charging up a Firaga made him run like the others, leaving the group, a body, and a slowly growing pool of blood.

Lightning looked at the body and sighed. "I had hoped to get through without anyone dying," she said. "I've had enough of killing soldiers to last a lifetime." She turned back to face Hope. "Thanks for that Protect by the way. I would've been in real trouble if you hadn't put it up in time."

Hope nodded fiercely. "I promised you I'd protect you, didn't I?"

Lightning just nodded, and said a simple "Thanks." She walked on to begin the tedious task of finding their stocks manually, seeing as all the store keepers had already fled.

Even though the task of finding supplies when there are no store keepers was rather dull, the entire day, Hope's face was lit up in a smile.

A/N

Firstly, by writing this, I am not condoning any Hope/Light. Honestly.

Secondly, I tried to have more char development in this one. Hopefully, it worked.

Lastly, don't forget to review! And Fav! and other stuff too! That's the stuff that encourages me to write more, the reason I'm writing right now. So, even if it's only full of criticism, please review!