When we climbed out of the wreckage, we were surrounded by…more wreckage. This stuff looked foreign, though. Rougher, less refined. Was this…

"The Vile Peaks," I breathed.

"Hmm?" Vanille hummed, bounding up to me.

"I'd heard stories that…after the War of Transgression, the Sanctum collected the wreckages from the Pulse ships and carried them off here to rebuild parts of Cocoon. What was left, they just…left it. Turned the place into a garbage dump."

Vanille sighed and crossed her index and pinkie fingers of each hand over again. Was that some sort of tic for her?

Hope walked a little forward. "How'd we end up here?"

"How do you think, kid?" I said a bit acidly. "We crashed."

He glared at me and went for his back pocket, where his boomerang sat.

"Hey!" Sazh shouted, grabbing his arm firmly. "This ain't the time to fight amongst ourselves. We need to work together here. This place'll be full of baddies."

"PSICOM will inevitably track us here," Lightning muttered. "Not to mention all the Pulse automatons that'll be around here."

"They'd still be around?" I asked, worried. "I would've thought that they would've rusted out by now. The War of Transgression was hundreds of years ago."

"Pulse built things to last," she replied simply.

"Great."

"We need to get moving," Lightning said then, walking forward.

"I'll lead," I offered, running forward.

"Why?" Hope asked harshly. I sighed. Kid still didn't trust me.

"So I can focus on where we're going, while everyone else can cover our sixes."

"Sixes?" Vanille asked, smiling.

"It's a military term. Means our butts."

She giggled a little, and I grinned. Her enthusiasm was dangerously infectious.

I turned around to face the path. "Come on."

Our journey through the Peaks was fairly routine. Well, as routine as you'd think PSICOM grunts, their drones and Pulse automatons attacking you could possibly be. Eventually, we reached a part of the Peaks where the sky was easily visible, along with Eden high in the sky. "Let's stop here for a sec," I told everyone, looking at the panting Vanille and Hope. The boy might not like me, but I'd be damned if I let him die out here.

I sat down on a piece of hull left over from a Pulse ship. Lightning and Sazh stood nearby. "So what's your plan, Soldier?" the pilot asked.

Lightning's eyes flickered up to the sky before she answered. "I'm tired of running."

I raised my eyebrows. "What else do you expect us to do? The entirety of Cocoon thinks we're a plague that needs to be wiped out. PSICOM's pulling out all the stops to kill us. So what else are we gonna do except run?"

This time her look up at the sky was extended. I followed her eyes and saw she was looking directly at Eden. "No. You better not be thinking…"

"I am," she cut me off. "If the Sanctum wants a fight, we'll bring them a fight. I'm gonna bring down Eden."

"Yeah, right," Sazh muttered with a scoff. "That's the thinking of a Pulse l'Cie. Destroy everything Sanctum-related. Next you'll be wanting to destroy Cocoon as well."

Lightning's look was stern. There was no hint of joking in her eyes.

"You're serious?" the pilot said then, shocked.

"No!" I shouted, standing up. "This isn't what we should be doing! I hate to sound like Snow here, but we need an alternative! Something that doesn't make us mass-murderers! If we…if we bring down Eden, then we're no better than PSICOM."

"What else should we do?!" Lightning shouted at me. "I'm tired of running! The Sanctum wants a fight! I say we give it to them!"

I shook my head. "What would Serah say if she saw you doing this?"

She slapped me, hard. "Don't you dare talk to me about Serah!" Her voice was starting to break.

I shook my head again, this time to clear it. "Fine. You wanna go all kamikaze and destroy us all, fine. But you'll do it without me!" I looked at Sazh. "I'm going back. See if I can repair that ship and head back to Bresha. I'm gonna see Snow. Help him out." My gaze turned to Vanille and I smiled. "Take care of Hope, will you?" Without another word, I walked away.

The thing is…it hurt. It hurt so much, leaving them like that. Sazh had quickly become a friend, Vanille a little sister, even Hope was the snarky little brother who hated everyone's guts.

And Lightning…

I shook my head a third time and kept walking.

My hand hammered against the ship. "Piece of crap!" I growled. The damn thing wouldn't start up. I'd replaced the engine and everything. Only now was I starting to regret not going with Sazh and the others.

Suddenly, I was surrounded by troops. They looked like PSICOM, but at the same time…

"When will you guys quit?" I snarled, drawing my swords.

Some of the goons grabbed batons from their legs and charged at me. I blocked the clumsy strikes and slashed through their body armour impassively. The other troops, who'd held back, their guns raised, now opened fire.

I started to think on the defensive and was surrounded by a yellow light. The bullets bounced right off me. I smirked and ran at them again, cutting them all down.

Panting, I stood there, slumped, my swords still in my hands.

Behind me, I heard booted feet crunch on the gravel in a short rhythm. I turned and held up a sword in warning.

It was a woman. Tall, lithe, dark hair, a beauty spot on one cheek. Instead of the usual uniform, she wore a blue sari, and she carried a red spear in her hand. "Not bad," she drawled. Her accent sounded a lot like Vanille's. "I can see your Eidolon hasn't popped up to try and end you, at least." She pointed the spear at me.

I blinked at her. "Eidolon?"

"The so-called patron saints of the l'Cie. They're said to come when a l'Cie is in the pits of despair. Some say they uplift their spirits. I say they're a one-way trip to the great beyond." Her stance shifted and I saw…a Pulse l'Cie brand.

"You're branded… Why are you working for them?" I indicated the troops that surrounded her.

"Because they're right."

I growled. "Like hell they are." Roaring, I ran at her, my swords aloft. The woman raised her spear to block the strikes.

Block she did. Despite my tiredness, we traded blows for what felt like forever.

It was a small slip-up. I know that now. But it was still a big problem. My sword strike was a little too hard, and it let the woman block wide and nail me in the head. I fell, stars in my vision.

"Take him," she said to the troops around us. It was the last thing I heard before everything went black.

When I came to, I was being dragged along in what appeared to be an airship. Growling a little, I wrested myself out of the grip of the two soldiers holding on to me. "I can walk." The chains of my handcuffs rattled with my every move.

The woman was strutting in front of me. "You can relax, you know."

"Really?" I drawled. "Because the handcuffs tell me otherwise."

"We just had to be sure you wouldn't cause trouble."

In front of us was a young-looking man in a long white cape. Seriously, a cape. How melodramatic.

The woman pushed me towards the man. "We've got another one," she reported. Another one? What?

"Good work, Fang," the man thanked her in a dull-sounding voice. He looked at me then. "Apologies for all of this. My name is Cid Raines, Captain of the Cavalry."

I was unimpressed. "If you're really sorry, you'll get rid of these." I looked at the handcuffs pointedly.

Raines smiled a little and nodded to a soldier, who uncuffed me. "Thanks," I said a little condescendingly.

"I assume you're wondering why we were so rough with you," the good Captain said then.

"A little."

"For appearances, no more. You see, unlike most of the soldiers of the Sanctum, the Cavalry is quite independent, and we are fundamentally opposed to the Purge, and PSICOM in general."

"Wait…" My tactical brain was ticking over. "Are you trying to suggest an alliance between us l'Cie and you?"

Raines nodded.

"You've got a funny way of doing it."

"Perhaps this will convince you." He gestured to one side and a door opened.

Beyond it was a very familiar figure. I should know, I lived with the bastard for most of my life.

"Snow?!" I shouted, my face a mixture of joy and concern.

"Hey, Remus," the idiot grinned, walking forward and holding his arm out.

Grinning a little, I crossed my arm over his. "How'd you get here? Wait." I looked over at Raines and the woman he called Fang. "Never mind."

"You like this place?" Snow asked then, gesturing around. "We're on the Lindblum, the Cavalry's airship."

"Oh, so that's what it's called."

Fang stepped forward. "Hate to interrupt the pleasantries, but we have a few questions. You've been with the other l'Cie for longer than Lover Boy was. What news can you give us? What's their plan?"

My face fell slightly. "I don't know about 'their' plan, but…Lightning, at least, has a plan."

"What is it?" Raines asked.

I took a deep breath. "She plans to attack Eden."

"What?!" Snow exploded.

"I know. It's unbelievable. Sazh, at least, disagrees with it. As for the kids, Vanille isn't the confrontational type, and Hope's following Lightning around like a lost puppy."

Fang's face had shone suddenly with joy when I said Vanille's name, but it fell quickly. I chose to ignore it.

"So if Lightning's going to attack Eden…" Snow mused.

"She needs to get there first," Raines finished the thought.

I was racking my brains as well. "Palumpolum," I said suddenly.

"What?"

"Palumpolum offers a direct shuttle to Eden. That's where they're going. Well, Lightning and Hope, at least."

"PSICOM have a major presence there," Raines mused. "It's almost a definite that they will be challenged."

"Isn't Palumpolum GC jurisdiction, though?" a man in the Cavalry uniform with long brown hair asked.

"It is, Rydgea," the Captain replied, "but I fear it won't be long before PSICOM annexes all dependent branches of the army."

"Great," I muttered.

"So, Cid, what's the plan?" Fang asked, her hands on her hips.

"We get to Palumpolum," he said decisively. "Make sure the l'Cie are safe. Stop PSICOM right there."

"If there's PSICOM butt to be kicked, I'm there," Snow grinned.

I rolled my eyes. "You're a glutton for punishment."

"You'll be fighting too, right?"

"Of course I will, but not because I enjoy it like you."

Raines was looking on with an amused expression. "It's decided. Snow, Remus and Fang will lead a battalion into Palumpolum. Rydgea, you will lead another."

The brown-haired man nodded.

I broke out in a grin. "Let's do this."