When I came to, my hand immediately grabbed my head, which was throbbing. Groaning, I sat up. "Everyone OK?"

Sazh was the first one up; he looked at our surroundings. "Is this…Lake Bresha?"

"Well, we're not swimming," I muttered. "But it sure looks like it's Bresha. Although…" I tapped on the surface below us. "Huh. It's crystal. The entire lake's been crystallised."

Snow stood up and looked at me. "What's happening?"

I shrugged. "Wish I knew, man."

Lightning's gaze shifted to her right and she went on guard, her hand going to the hilt of her gunblade.

I looked where she was looking and flinched slightly. PSICOM grunts.

"Hands in the air!" one of the soldiers ordered.

"I'll show you hands!" Snow muttered. He roared and his hand started flying to the soldier, but something was different. Something on his forearm was glowing a pale blue, the same colour as the crystal around us. The light coalesced into his gloved hand and he lashed out, the light turning into ice crystals, sending the PSICOM troops flying.

Snow looked at his hand, the spot on his forearm still glowing. "What did I…just do?"

"You used magic!" Hope snapped behind us. I sighed internally. This kid was starting to get on my nerves. "The fal'Cie cursed us! We're l'Cie now!"

More PSICOM grunts appeared, their guns up.

"No offence, kid, but right now we need to focus on not dying!" I shouted at Hope, drawing my swords.

Snow snapped out of his reverie and adopted a fighting stance. Behind me, Lightning drew her gunblade and Sazh pulled out his guns. I assumed that a light folding noise was Vanille pulling out her staff.

I started out doing things the traditional way, slashing the soldiers with my swords. Snow was punching troops one by one, his fists glowing with that same odd light. Sazh's guns were working overtime, giving Snow, Lightning and myself some cover fire.

Sudden gusts of wind flew past us and threw the PSICOM goons back; confused, I turned around to see that the wind was coming from Vanille. She threw a fireball at one of the guards and I snapped out of it.

It was then that I had a spark of an idea. I closed my eyes and imagined something in my head. Fire on my swords.

My eyes snapped open when I suddenly found that my swords – exactly like I'd imagined – were engulfed in flames. Roaring, I slashed at a soldier, burning part of the uniform. Sazh took advantage of that gap and shot the soldier in the exposed part of his chest.

After a while, the PSICOM troops who hadn't been killed broke ranks and ran, leaving us with three dead bodies.

I looked at Snow and saw what I hoped to be an illusion. The spot on his forearm was a strange mark, resembling a shield. Some of the lines on the mark were black, while there were underlying grey marks.

It was the brand of the Pulse fal'Cie.

I gasped hoarsely and fell to my knees. "The…the kid's right. We're l'Cie."

Snow looked down at me. "All of us?"

Sazh's eyes scanned our small crowd. His brand was barely visible under his low-cut black shirt. "Looks like it."

I stood up and calmed down. Snow looked at me closely. "You too?"

I turned around and raised my hair slightly to reveal the mark on my neck. "Yeah." I turned around. "You know, when I said I wanted a tattoo…"

"This isn't a time for joking," Lightning glared at me.

Hope was kneeling like I was before; his brand was under a bandanna tied to his left wrist.

I turned to Vanille. "What about you?"

The girl's usually cheery face was downcast as she nodded. "Yep." She moved her fur cape to reveal her upper thigh, complete with large l'Cie brand. It was darker than ours, and there was a red centre to it. "Right here."

Snow and I looked at each other. "Oh-kay…"

My gaze shifted to Lightning. "What about you? Where's your mark?"

She turned away quickly. "That's none of your business," she said quickly, harshly. Before she turned…was she…blushing?

"Right…" I drawled. "Maybe we should get to know each other better first."

Hope looked up at us, his gaze squarely on Lightning. "I don't even know you! Why'd you have to fight that thing?!"

The former soldier didn't say anything.

"Why she did it is beside the point," I said. After all, Snow and I knew full well why she'd attacked the fal'Cie. "The fact is it's done, and there's nothing we can do about it except complete our Focus. No way I'm gonna become one of those Cie'th."

Lightning walked away slightly, her hands on her hips. "Well, how are we supposed to complete our Focus if we don't know what it is?"

Vanille looked down, her hands clasped. "I think…I saw it."

"I did too," Hope added. "It was all sorta…grainy…but I saw a beast. Something…it was huge. And, and…and it was destroying everything."

I turned to him sharply. "I saw that too! I recognised the monster from the old stories. The ones about the War of Transgression. It was…"

Lightning and Snow looked at me. "Ragnarok," the three of us muttered.

Sazh put his hands on his hips. "That's the thing about a Focus. The fal'Cie don't give you clear-cut instructions. All you ever get is a hazy glimpse." We all gave him strange looks. "Well, that's what I've heard, anyway. Legends and all."

"Sure…" I smiled. Then it fell. "So what does Ragnarok have to do with our Focus?"

Snow turned to face away from us. "No point mulling over it. PSICOM will know we're here by now."

"He's got a point," I told the others. "We should keep moving."

There were a few encounters with PSICOM grunts as we ran through the crystallised lake, but not enough to worry about. Snow had ran ahead to scout around, fighting any militarized beasts and troops that showed up. When we finally caught up with him, he had a look of decisiveness on his open face. "We fight it! Ragnarok! That's our Focus! To stop it and save Cocoon!"

Sazh shifted on his feet. "How do you figure that?"

"Serah," he replied simply.

"What?" I asked him.

"She told us to save Cocoon," Snow explained. "When I said yes, she turned to crystal. That was her Focus. To get someone to help her save Cocoon!"

I crossed my arms and looked at him. "A bit roundabout, but… It makes sense."

Snow grinned at me. "That's it, Remus! We can complete our…"

"Our Focus?!" Lightning interrupted suddenly, drawing her gunblade and putting it to Snow's neck. "The fal'Cie took Serah away from us and now you wanna help it?!"

"Lightning…" I muttered, putting my hand on her shoulder.

She grunted and pulled her weapon away from Snow, letting him fall to the ground, panting from the shock.

Vanille put her hands in front of her like she'd done in the Pulse Vestige. "So…if we're gonna travel together…I mean, as l'Cie…we should all get to know each other."

"Good idea," Snow agreed, walking forward. "I'm Snow. Snow Villiers."

"Hope Estheim," the boy murmured quietly.

I smiled. "Most of you already know who I am, but for safety's sake, the name's Remus Cole."

"What about her?" Vanille asked, pointing at Lightning, who was walking ahead.

"Former soldier," Snow answered. "Goes by Lightning. Her real name's anyone's guess. Her last name's Farron. That's the one thing you can be sure of."

Sazh followed Lightning. "Sazh Katzroy. Good to meet ya."

"Well, let's go face our fate," I muttered, walking through the crystal tunnel.

We eventually reached a fallen steel walkway and started to cross it when we saw a familiar sight. Embedded in crystal, her nude body itself crystallised, her hands close together, was Serah.

"Serah!" Snow shouted, running towards her. He picked up a fallen pipe and started chipping away at the crystal around her.

"There's no point," Lightning muttered.

I turned to her. "What?"

She looked down. "This is goodbye…Serah."

Snow's head snapped up and at Lightning. "You're just gonna leave her?! She's your sister, and you're just gonna…"

Lightning wheeled around and punched him in the face. "Will you shut up?! There's nothing you can do! Open your eyes, and face reality!" Tears glistened in her eyes.

Snow sat up. "Lightning, stop this! Serah will be fine! I'll make sure of that!"

She punched him again. "What can you possibly do?!"

"Whatever it takes!" he shouted.

Her eyes opened wide and her clenched fist dropped to her side.

Sazh sighed. "You two are just like each other," he muttered, walking off.

Snow went back to trying to dig Serah out of the crystal, now assisted by Vanille. My eyes stayed on Lightning, who had her arms by her side.

There was a crash behind us, then we heard Sazh's panicked voice. "No! No no no no, not now!"

I turned to see a battered warmech walking slowly towards Sazh. Scars ran across the formerly pristine white shell, and the electronic eyes flashed on and off.

Sazh pulled out his guns at the same time as Lightning grabbed her gunblade.

I drew my swords, looking at the former soldier. "Friend of yours?"

"Not exactly." She ran up to the mech and slashed at it.

"Hold on, I got an idea!" Sazh shouted at us.

I looked at the mech, which was charging power. "Well, whatever you're gonna do, do it now!"

Sazh threw out one hand, having replaced one of his guns in its holster, and a bolt of electricity hit the mech. It shuddered and the power it had been charging dispersed.

"Nice one!" I shouted, grinning.

Sazh grinned back. "Just think about lightning and it'll come!"

Lightning looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"N-not like that!" he stuttered.

I laughed. "I knew what you meant!" I sheathed my swords with a flourish and threw out my hands, sending an electric bolt at the mech.

Lightning, meanwhile, had come up with a different plan. Her gunblade seemed to spark with electricity as she slashed at the mech. Like I'd done with the PSICOM grunts before, she'd put the magic into her weapon.

After a while of us repeating the procedures over and over again, the mech roared painfully and fell. It shuddered slightly and was still.

I sighed. "We did it."

Sazh looked back at Snow. "What are we gonna do about him?"

"Well, he won't wanna leave Serah," I answered.

"We have to keep moving," Lightning said.

Snow looked at us. "You guys go. I'll keep Serah safe. Like I promised."

I knelt down next to him. "You're sure?"

He nodded.

I clapped him on the shoulder. "I'll see you soon."

Snow grinned. "Sooner than you think."

Without another word, Lightning walked away. Hope followed immediately, followed by Sazh and myself. Vanille was the last one to follow, looking back at Snow, who had returned to his attempts to dig out Serah. She sighed and followed us.