So yes, the next chapter is up as promised. It's fairly short - it's one of the transition chapters into the main plotline, because, as we all saw in the last chapter, nothing's really been set into motion yet.

Shoutout this time goes to GCFarron, OscarMerrinoz96, ziel101 and kariuchiha. Thank you for all your love. (:

I've nothing really to say beforehand this time, so here we go! Enjoy as always.

Disclaimer: I don't own XIII.

Chapter 7: Feelings and Flames

Serah gently brushed her hand over her sister's forehead. She had almost collapsed to the ground when Snow had finally returned, Lightning limp in his arms. If it hadn't been for Hope gripping her shoulder tightly, she would have.

Snow had gently set Lightning down on the couch, but it didn't stop Serah from seeing the large red stain on the back of her uniform. She didn't need to guess too hard to figure out what that was.

But Claire looked peaceful now; she'd fallen asleep after Serah and Hope had dealt with her shoulder. Hope had suggested to let her sleep, and so they hadn't moved her. Watching Claire breathe slowly, Serah let a small smile touch her face: it had been a long time since she'd had seen her sister so relaxed, but that didn't mean…

Oh Claire. You were doing something dangerous again, I know it. By yourself. Why don't you ever ask for help…? You wouldn't have gotten hurt if you'd asked people to help you…

Closing her eyes, and resting her cheek against her sister, Serah let herself drop into a doze.

A faint moan close beside her ear caused Serah to sit up - Claire was awake. Gently, Serah shifted so her weight was off her sister, and trailed her hands down to Claire's slender fingers, gripping them tightly when she realized the skin was cold.

"Serah…" her sister's voice was a hoarse rasp.

"Claire! Why didn't you ask someone to help you? Why did you have to go by yourself?" Serah sobbed, unable to control her shaking. She watched as Claire pulled herself to a sitting position, concern and irritation lighting in her eyes.

"Serah, you didn't need to worry, it's okay—"

"No!" Serah cried, stopping her from finishing. "You call being hurt okay? Claire, why do you never ask for help? Why do you always have to do things by yourself? We all care about you, why can't you see that none of us want to see you like this? No one asks you to do things alone – stop trying to shut everyone else out!"

Crying, Serah ran from the living room, holding her forearm over her face, trying to control the tears. But she couldn't. She couldn't continue to see Claire doing this to herself over and over. Running into the room she shared with Snow, she flung herself onto the bed, pulling a pillow over her face. The pillow drowned out the sounds from the house – she didn't want to hear or see them - didn't want to hear Claire's excuses, didn't want to see her wince every time she moved the right side of her body.

Claire… You've been fighting alone for so long, you've forgotten that there are people around you who do care about you. I thought it had gotten better after your journey, thought that being around Hope might have opened you up a little, but I guess I was wrong… You're still the person who can't stand being helped, who can't let anyone do anything for her…

Lightning watched her sister run up the stairs, sobbing. She let out an internal sigh, knowing that Serah… wouldn't understand. She felt the couch sink several inches as Snow lowered himself onto it.

"I'm not in the mood for a lecture," she warned darkly. "Snow, if you're just going to spout the same things Serah just yelled at me, I don't want to hear it, okay?"

"Sis. I'm not going to get between you two – you know her just as well as I do, and I know that you know she only stays that stuff because she cares about you." Snow's voice was unusually serious, and looking at the expression on his face, she let out a snort.

"Huh. Didn't know you could be serious, for one time in your life."

"Good to know you're back to your normal self, Sis. The nap have something to do with it? Cause you sure weren't this chipper on the way back." The big man's smile was enormous – obviously pleased he'd won the fight to carry her back to the house.

"Shut up, Snow," she snapped. "You'll pay for touching me like that later."

He waggled a finger in her face. "Uh uh, not till you're better."

She glared at him for a few moments, trying to fight the temptation to smack the overconfident smile off his face. The couch sank another inch or so as Hope sat down on the armrest.

"You okay, Light?" There was genuine concern in his voice. But for some reason, it didn't bother her as much as Snow's nagging did. Like with Serah, it felt more natural to care about, and be cared for by Hope than it did Snow or Sazh. Or Fang and Vanille, for that matter.

She shrugged, instantly regretting the movement as pain tore down her right shoulder again. Trying to bury the pain the small motion made, she looked behind her at the platinum haired teenager. "Yeah, I'll be okay. A couple days is all I need."

She saw relief flood his eyes.

"Good." His voice was soft. "Light, what were you doing out so late… Where were you?"

Lightning sighed. "Where do I even begin?"

Glancing at both Hope and Snow's apprehensive expressions, she knew they knew it couldn't be anything good.

"Long story short: I found out who the person attacked us was, so I followed him after he left Pulse Management. I followed him to this lab he'd built hours outside of New Bodhum, and he sent monsters he created after me. Only when I killed the monsters, the person there was a different scientist, and he said he'd created the guy at Pulse Management… or something like that.

Either way, I tried to get to get information out of him, but he didn't give it to me, so well, I killed him. But he didn't bleed – he disappeared into smoke."

"WHAT?" Snow's loud yell made her start, and she scowled at him.

"No need to overreact like that, hero. Like I said, he was created, like the guy at Pulse Management was created. Because, at the end, something else took over him, and basically told me that everything on that note wasn't a joke – someone is after us."

She looked away from Hope and Snow, trying hard to keep herself from trembling. They didn't need to see that. What they needed to see was the stoic, independent soldier they'd come to expect from her.

That's why, Serah, I can't... I can't really let anyone know how I feel. Because they expect me to be in control. They expect me to know what to do... And so, I can't confide in anyone, I can't show that I worry about these things. They expect the confident soldier who always knew what to tell them... They expect the person who can be in charge.

Hiding her feelings didn't mean she didn't have any... But as concerned as she was about the note, she couldn't let that crack her exterior. To tell the truth, the encounter in the gorge had severely shaken her confidence in them dealing with this; Lightning was sure that whoever was after them wasn't going to be easy to take down.

But we can handle it... right? We lived through the journey...

As she answered their questions, she let her mind drift back into that moment in the gorge. The moment where the Pulse l'Cie mark had glowed gold in the man's eye. Did that mean a fal'Cie had been controlling him? Or someone using a fal'Cie to control him? Lightning recalled the words on the note – that a fal'Cie who could bring them back from crystal stasis was a powerful being indeed.

It was sunset before Snow and Hope were out of questions, and Hope had offered to help her up the stairs while Snow went to cook dinner. She shuddered inwardly – she hoped whatever he was concocting in the kitchen at the moment was going to be edible. Cooking was not the big man's forte, but Serah had locked herself in her room for the afternoon, and Hope wasn't old enough to cook, as Snow had stated before shooing them upstairs. Lightning had suppressed a snort of amusement, seeing him in a pink apron two times too small for his waistline.

He'll hear about that one later.

Lightning had let herself lean against Hope, not wanting to burden the boy, but really, her right side ached. She lowered herself in the swivel chair in her room, sighing as the leather sank back to accommodate her heavy favouring of her right side.

"You'll be alright by yourself, Light?" There was no mistaking the concern in Hope's voice.

"I'll be fine," she snapped tiredly. "It's not like I'm fighting a war up here."

He'd smiled gently. "You know, Light… you did look pretty beat up when Snow brought you back. Don't scare us like that again, okay?"

Lightning scowled at him. "I don't scare anyone, okay?"

Hope had laughed before heading down the stairs, telling her he'd better keep an eye out on Snow before he lit something in the kitchen and set her house on fire.

After his footsteps had faded away, Lightning had crept to her sister's room, ignoring the protests of her shoulder. She'd snagged one of Serah's hairpins from the washroom as she passed it.

You're not the only one who can pick a lock.

Quietly pressing the door open, Lightning saw that Serah was curled on the bed, clutching a pillow to her middle. It was clear she'd cried herself to sleep. Sighing, Lightning leaned against the doorframe, taking in her sister's haggard looking form.

You must have waited all night for me.

Her voice was soft, barely audible. "I'm sorry, Serah…"

Across New Bodhum, a man with long hair tied in a ponytail, dressed in a scientist's coat watched the citizens scurry through the roads, finishing up their daily routines. Cocoon's crystal was highlighted red by the setting sun, and from this angle it looked like the crystal was bleeding. He held a small summon portal in his hand, and a box of matches in the other.

"Now, my errant l'Cie. Let's see if you can live through this trial. If you do, well, the Eclipse will be set to start, and you, my dear Lightning, you will receive the main role in our wonderful play."

I really like cliffhanger endings, did you know that? *cackles*

So, a couple of things:

First off, the man Light killed? Well, he won't be missed; as you can see, he's back. And if he's back, we can all assume his subordinates are back, so no one at Pulse Management will ever know Light did what she did.
Second, we are back to the fal'Cie! Who is using that mysterious Pulse fal'Cie, if it is being used at all?

Heehee, you guys will have to wait till I update next. Feed the review monster with your thoughts and ideas, as the man said - the show has yet to begin!

While this chapter mainly serves as a transition chapter, like I said, I tried to work in some heavy character development, especially between Light and Serah. Let me know how I did? (And still no response from the potential Beta... so, critiques welcomed!)
Sazh has yet to make an appearance, but don't worry, him and Chocobo Chick are due for some badass parts in a few chapters as we move on to the next arc in a few chapters.

Next chapter will probably be up tomorrow - it's longer but already planned, so I just need to flush it out. Get ready for some of Snow's AMP brawling and some more monster ass kicking provided by our beloved pink haired heroine!

Hearts!