So hi guys, and thanks for tuning into the next chapter of NR! :3

Thanks again to everyone who reviewed: GCFarron, OscarMerrionoz96, and Mylaervain! You guys flatter me with the compliments, ha; originally I started writing again on because I felt like I needed to improve my writing if I want that English minor, and what better way to play around with my style than with my dear Lightning? xD

Anyways, I'll shut up now and let you guys in on the chapter. Enjoy as always! n_n

Chapter 27: City of Angels

An icy cold breeze swept over her pink hair, and Lightning raised a hand to keep her bangs from blowing in her face. Several days of fighting through the pine forests northeast of Teh Rya had been fruitless - the city of Tythell was supposed to be only a few inches northeast on the map, but either they were lost or they hadn't gotten there yet... which she doubted. And if we're lost... I blame Snow, she thought bitterly, remembering the incident two days ago.

Snow chased after her, big hand grabbing for her cape as she tried to dodge the swipes at her head. Cursing, she kicked her boot backwards into the stream, splashing water over him as she moved out of his range onto the other side of it. Ignoring Serah and Hope's giggles, she shot them a scowl.

"Awh, Sis, come on, please?" She wanted to slap the puppy dog eyed look off his face... and she would have, had he been in reach.

Instead, Lightning had to content herself with a venomous glare. "Hell no. Snow, if you're looking for some amusement, instead of chasing me, why don't you try to make Serah happy? I think there are some berry patches behind you, why don't you try making her a mud pie so she doesn't have to prepare food for a change?"

Snow had taken a step back at her sharp words. "Ouch, Sis. Really?" Pointedly turning around, Lightning crossed her arms over her chest and furiously scanned the trees. Spotting several dark shapes flutter overhead, she figured some extra food wouldn't hurt if it meant getting away from Snow. Striding into the woods near the bank of the stream, she pulled out her weapon.

She was only a few dozen feet in the woods when something large bounded out of the shaded verdant flora and into the clearing in front of her, before suddenly everything around her went still. Feeling her body tense, Lightning tried to pin the animal in front of her with a name. She racked her brain, but the only thing she could come up with was 'horse' and she knew it wasn't that. Whatever it was though, it was food, and it was looking at her with large brown eyes filled with curiousity; curiousity that was going to cost it. Poised with a graceful arc of its back; it was prepared to run if it sensed danger. Beautiful, in a way that could only be applied to wild animals.

Probably less graceful when her bullet struck it right in the eye and it bucked once before sinking to its knees, flopping lifelessly to the ground. Pulling it by the neck, she let out a grunt when she felt its weight - she was going to look like an idiot dragging it back. However...

Lightning let a smirk cross her face at the thought of Snow. Here she was again, doing all the hunting while he was horsing around. He was going to skin and clean this animal before she let him eat it. Relishing the thought of the big oaf trying to clean and gut an animal made her want to laugh - Snow looked like he had never done any survival work in his life.

Arriving back at the stream, her heart momentarily leapt to her throat - no one was there. Cursing, Lightning dropped her prey. She had been gone for all of ten minutes and they'd already managed to get themselves into some sort of trouble.

"Figures," she muttered under her breath. Dragging the carcass behind her, she looked around. Nothing seemed disturbed, and she hadn't heard anything out of the ordinary. Crunching through the foliage that grew in wild patches in the forest, Lightning strained her senses to listen for the sounds of human footsteps. Finding none, she glanced at the sky. There hadn't been anyone they'd seen for the last ten miles or so, and she figured that if she risked a shout she wouldn't bring on any unwanted pursuers.

"Snow! If this is supposed to be your idea of a game, it's not funny! Get out here before I punch you." But there was no response. The problem was she didn't know which way they would have gone. There was a full three hundred and sixty degrees around the area they'd been in last and she didn't even know if she was on the right track or not.

If this was Snow's little hide and seek game... it wasn't funny.

Something poked her in the back and she turned to find Snow's expectant expression looking down at her.

"What, Snow?" she snapped back, slapping away his hand.

He didn't move though, facing her glare straight in the eye. "Uhhh, Sis? You're supposed to be the navigator here? Where do we go? Or you're not sure where we are?" Why is it that he always finds some way to get on my nerves?

She poked him in the chest with a finger, forcing him to take several steps back. "I would know where we were, if you hadn't pulled Serah and Hope into that game of hide and seek. Seriously, Snow, when are you going to grow up? If you're so impatient to get somewhere, then why don't you lead?"

Snow put on the look Serah always had when Lightning caught her looking through her stuff. "Awh, but Sis..."

She didn't give in though, tapping her foot as she rested one hand on her hip, pointing the other in front of them somewhere. "Go on, lead," she snarled back.

Casting a scared glance back at his wife, Snow cautiously took a few steps in front of her before stopping. "Sis..." She glared back, determined not to give in.

If he thinks it's so easy to be me, then this is his chance to prove that he's not an overgrown kid. She let out a snort as he began walking forwards, picking his way through the tall grasses that blew in their faces.

Yeah right. Who am I kidding?

Snow scratched his chin, trying to discern the direction they were supposed to be going in. He thought they were going northeast, just like the map had said, but then again, he wasn't sure - it was cloudy. And the constant glares from Lightning weren't making things any easier.

"Geez, if Sis was so annoyed she should have said something earlier..." he muttered to himself under his breath, crossing his fingers that she wouldn't hear him in the strong breeze. He let out a surprised yelp as his boot sunk into something soft - lifting it, he wrinkled his nose at the soggy brown mud that clung to it, earning himself Lightning's raised eyebrows as she passed him, snorting.

"It's water, Snow. Don't worry, it dries," she remarked dryly before putting one hand up to her hair, pushing it out of her eyes. He heard Hope giggle behind him, and he tried to shoot her a disdainful look. She never gets tired of insulting me, does she?

Slender arms embraced him from behind as Serah nudged her head underneath his arm. She was smiling too. "Don't worry, I still love you," she murmured, blue eyes sparkling with amusement. He tousled her pink ponytail affectionately, playing with the tendrils of cherry coloured hair that wound around his fingers.

"Yeah, I know, baby. Love you too," he replied amicably, feeling happier when he earned himself another delicate giggle. Grasping her small, warm hand in his, he pulled her along with him as he picked up the pace a little to catch up with Lightning, who was standing a ways off with Hope, a disgusted expression on her face.

She opened her mouth before Snow could say something in his own defence. "See, Snow? If you can't lead, don't bother. If you want to do something useful, keep Serah happy, okay?"

He pursed his lips at her. "Alright, alright, Sis, I get it. You're better than me, okay? I know that's what you want to hear." Her expression softened a little.

"Better." She raised a hand, pointing in the distance. "Looks like you're smarter than what I give you credit for, though, look what's there." He followed her gloved finger, squinting in the distance. A small blue edge awash with life several hundred yards in front of them and something glimmering beyond that.

Tythell. The City of Angels.

A weak twilight was touching the water's surface by the time they made it to the shores of the lake, turning the water several different hues of mauve and orange. Scuffling his shoes through the pebbles that lined the shoreline, Hope squinted into the gathering darkness. He could see a crumbling causeway down the shoreline that led to the city, and briefly, he wondered what sort of people would let their only connection to the land decay like that.

A small crackle and the bloom of flames behind them distracted him as he turned, amused, to watch Serah struggle to start a fire. She was better now; had more magic at her control and could hold her own somewhat in a small scrimmage with a monster. But she could do better. Oh well, I suppose the rest of us have had much more practice than her... not that Light would let her fight to begin with. The pink haired soldier in question was currently wading into the shallows of the lake, weapon drawn, looking for food... or at least something to shoot. How she was supposed to see prey in the deepening twilight, he didn't know, but Hope knew it was wiser not to ask.

Pulling the black gloves off his hands, he held them over the fire to warm them. "Good job," he commentated quietly to Serah, who had wrapped her arms around her knees, sitting beside him.

"Thanks!" Her happy quip just reminded him again of how stark the contrast was between her and her sister. Lightning would have cuffed him over the head for complimenting her before brushing it off impatiently. But thinking about her just made him remember the day back at Demonsoul Tower, the icy moments when he was sure they were going to lose her. The desperate clench of their fingers afterwards, and how he knew he wouldn't be the first to let go. Suddenly, Hope was glad it was getting dark; he felt a faint flush creeping up his cheeks and Snow, for one, did not need to see that.

The big man plunked himself down beside Hope, rubbing his hands together as he dug in his coat for something. A few silent moments passed before anyone spoke - Serah was humming absentmindedly to herself, Lightning wasn't back yet, and Hope was trying not to think about her while staring at the fire.

"So. I figure we could all use a little history lesson before we go charging into Tythell first thing tomorrow morning, hm?" Snow's confident voice sounded off in the darkness that had gathered around them, eliminating any way of seeing anything beyond the warm circle of light the fire provided them. The strong wind had died down, and the flames barely flickered. A crunch of shoes on rocks sounded somewhere behind them.

The smell of water and other aquatic life hit the back of his nose as Lightning dropped a fish in front of them, still dripping with lake water.

"Sis, I was just about to start..." Hope watched Snow close his lips as she shot him a deadly glare, pulling her survival knife out of the red pack on her thigh and removing her fingerless gloves.

Flicking it open, she started to scrape the scales off the fish. "I wasn't stopping you." She sounded tired, and suddenly, Hope regretted the fact that he hadn't offered to help. A sideways glance told him Serah wore the same expression.

"Claire... you could have asked us to help..." Lightning silenced her with a look, and Hope quickly closed his own mouth. She'll just get mad.

"Anyways..." Snow coughed lightly, and Hope turned his eyes back to the big man who was holding several pieces of paper in front of his nose. "Tythell, as I think we all know, is... was the City of Angels."

The only sound Hope could hear now was the scraping of Lightning's knife and the crackling of the fire.

"Uhm, Snow?" Serah's voice piped up beside him, breaking the heavy silence that had settled upon them. "How did you... get those papers?" Hope followed her slightly suspicious and amused look. That's a good question... Where did he get them?

"Well, see... I kind of... borrowed a few pages out of Teh Rya's library." Hope suppressed a frustrated sigh, and he caught Lightning rolling her eyes. Noticing their expressions, Snow quickly waved his big hands back and forth. "It's not like that! I mean, they were grateful, right? And they said we could help ourselves to stuff... so well, I went to the library and... yeah."

The scraping of the knife stopped. "I'm pretty sure, Snow, that they didn't mean 'rip a few pages out of our books', you know?" Lightning's voice was dry, and Hope could tell she was trying to keep her temper.

Snow coughed lightly again, and Hope briefly wondered if he was actually sick, or he was just trying to see how quietly he could do it. "Sis, don't pretend you don't want information before we go charging in there, hm?" Hope saw Serah grip her sister's arm; a silent warning. The scraping of the knife resumed after a few heartbeats.

"Anyways... let's see here... Tythell. It's an abandoned city... since the time of the War of Transgression. I guess it must have been hit pretty hard by the onslaught of monsters after it, though it's far from Oerba. I guess its citizens were less prepared or something. Anyways, that's not important. Tythell was the home of the Angel's Cathedral, the place where what we know as the 'Maker' was said to have departed the world he made. So that made Tythell an important place, because people used to come here to worship the Maker."

The Maker. The creator of their world; the being Orphan had wanted to call back into the world using the Door of Souls. Just thinking about it brought Hope back to Orphan's Cradle, and the echoes of its laugh brought on a slew of memories he didn't want. And what was so chilling was that now, there was another who wanted the same thing. Hope felt himself clenching his hands together. We can't let that happen... right?

"So why is it important? I mean... is the Eclipse going to happen there, or not?" Serah's voice sounded beside him again.

Snow playfully shook a finger at his wife. "Ah ah... I got this one. It doesn't mention anything about the Eclipse happening there... guess we'll find out soon, but what it does say is that there's a golden jewel sitting in the Angel's Cathedral, guarded by 'the Maker's Guardian'. Don't know what that's supposed to mean, but we can safely guess that this jewel is one of the four needed for the Eclipse. There's also something else here. Remember all that fal'Cie garbage? The one where it said we'd turn back to crystal if the fal'Cie who freed us is gone, or whatever?"

The silence was so thick that Hope didn't see why Snow didn't just continue.

"Well, I found something on that too. Fal'Cie can free their own crystal servants, if they choose for that servant to complete another Focus. And in that time... a servant is never not a l'Cie. But whether a fal'Cie chooses to have their servant remember their focus is up to them. So, in other words..."

"... we just got toyed with like puppets." For the first time since Snow had started, Lightning spoke. "Think about it," she continued quietly. "We knew these people were searching for a fal'Cie's power to use the Eclipse, the woman from Teh Rya said as much. If they actually got it... it would have been beyond easy to brand us again, or whatever, since they seem to think our powers never left. So that means Anima didn't die, if they were able to..."

She didn't need to finish. Hope felt a familiar rush of anger consume him. So they had never really been in danger of being a crystal again - it had always been a lie to drag them into the whole mess because they had defeated the ultimate Cocoon fal'Cie. So we've never been more than just puppets, waiting to be used again for their purposes.

"I don't get it..." Serah's quiet voice cut through his thoughts. "If the Yorun person has the fal'Cie power, why doesn't he do this himself? Why doesn't he use his own power?"

Lightning let out a snort. "Probably wants us to do his dirty work for him... and we don't have a choice not to. He saw to that." She went back to gutting the fish, rummaging around the gravel for what Hope assumed was something to spear it on. The rustle of cloth grazed by his ear - Serah had gotten up to go over and sit on Snow's lap, asking to see the papers he'd 'borrowed.' Their quiet murmurs filled the air, and now with nothing else to do, Hope found his eyes wandering back to Lightning. He tried not to stare at her slender fingers, but it was hard, and he felt something else tug at him.

She hadn't noticed him staring at her - and he suspected if she did, he'd hear about it before long. The glint of her pink bangs in the firelight reminded him, almost painfully, of the other time he'd seen a harsh orange glow on the smooth tendrils. The moment where she'd almost died back at the tower. Feeling his hands curl into fists again, Hope forced himself to look away from her.

I promised I'd protect you too, Light. And I won't see you like that... ever again.

Lightning delicately put a boot down on a rock - the harsh morning light bouncing off the cerulean blue waves lapping the shore was definitely not helping her see, and she could already tell that the crumbling causeway, worn from centuries of weathering and disuse was going to be a problem... especially for Serah and Hope. She wasn't too concerned about Snow - if he fell into the water, well, he could fish himself out.

Crouching down, Lightning scanned her blue eyes over their current setting. There wasn't a direct way onto the causeway itself... not that it looked safe. She could see cracks in the weathered white marble even from here, but hopefully, they wouldn't actually have to walk on the collapsing bridge. The stone looked like it would give way easily. Especially with someone as heavy as Snow tromping around on it.

Narrowing her eyes, she could see some sort of passage underneath the main structure of the bridge - not the most ideal; sunlight was shimmering on several bright patches and she could see clumps of some sort of reedy water plant growing at regular intervals, but it was better than attempting to walk on the causeway and plummeting about two dozen feet onto the exact same result.

Hope pulled on her left arm, gloves meeting the black sleeve she wore on it. Shying away as always from the unfamiliar contact, she forced herself to relax. I can't react like this every time he touches me. He'll think I'm angry at him or something like that...

"Okay, okay... let's go." Pulling herself to a standing position was harder - Lightning felt pins and needles in her knees for a few seconds before the feeling passed. Joining Serah and Snow at the water's edge, she spied a few larger rocks that would hopefully allow them to get onto the lower part of the causeway without getting to wet.

Beckoning them to follow her, she suppressed an internal sigh that she would have to go first... not that she was concerned that much about falling. It's just that if I do fall because of some unsafe spot or whatever, Snow will never let me hear the end of it. Gritting her teeth, Lightning took the first precarious step onto the roundish white rock. The contact between her boot and the smooth surface didn't produce as much friction as she'd hoped - her left foot slid slightly off the side and she had to place her other foot quickly onto the next rock before it slid off.

Almost skipping her way over the rocks, Lightning breathed a quiet sigh of relief when she saw that there were only a few more rocks to go before she reached the underground path in the causeway. Good. I must look ridiculous hopping like that. A rock cracked under her foot.

"Shit," she hissed under her breath, quickly moving to the next rock, before a final jump that took her underneath the moss covered marble overhand. Brushing her cherry coloured hair out of her eyes, she was surprised to find a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead, and she raked her hands through the wavy hair past her neck, rearranging it over her left shoulder.

Now that she was out of the sun, Lightning could see Hope and Serah trying to mimic her as they precariously made their way across the rocks, Snow bringing up the rear. She felt her heartbeat speed up slightly as they made one shaky jump after another. Please be okay... Hope was first, and he was almost there when he misjudged the last jump, a few inches short.

Her hand went out to him before she realized she'd reacted to it, and their fingers met again, this time not holding each other because of relief, but because she knew she couldn't let go. A hiss escaped her lips as she felt his whole weight drag down on her slender body, and she tightened her other hand around his wrist, pulling.

His out of breath huff as she pulled him underneath the overhang, her breathing slightly faster as she tried to wring the strain out of her arms. His apologetic green eyes met hers.

"Sorry, Light." She stood up again before cuffing him in the head.

"Silly. Be more careful next time." She tried to sound stern, but her words didn't come out that way.

And for some reason, his demure giggle lessened the irritation she felt at the thought of Snow seeing her... them like that.

Just a little.

Snow cursed under his breath as he saw the sunlight play with the pink of Lightning's hair as she walked ahead of them, weapon drawn in case of monsters, Hope tagging closely behind her.

"What is it?" Serah's concerned teal gaze looked up at him, expecting something upsetting.

He sighed, ruffling the top of his black bandanna. "Nothing. It's just unfair that Sis never gets mad at Hope for doing something stupid, and she picks on me at the slightest thing that pisses her off." He tried not to sound disgruntled and whiny - he knew Hope was a kid, and she saw him, or rather, she knew he called himself a hero, and she assumed he could take care of himself. Still doesn't make it fair though.

Serah's bell chime giggle sounded by his shoulder. "Oh, Snow, you know Claire has a soft spot for him. Don't make her more self conscious about it, mmkay?" And of course this is about her and not me. Still, he was amused, he had to admit.

"Alright, baby. I know, I know." She placed a finger on his lips, amusement dancing in her blue eyes, her other hand finding his - their fingers intertwined.

She lowered her voice by several decibels, her next words coming out as a playful whisper. "I told you, if you want to see more, don't mention it to Claire." He laughed again, pulling her waist to him with his free hand.

"Got it, baby."

The sunlight that flickered through the open spaces in the cracked causeway above them hit the back of his head at different intervals, and Snow began to feel the first beads of sweat gather at the back of his neck. Even with his and Serah's quiet, playful converation, far away enough that he was quite sure Lightning and Hope wouldn't be able to hear them, Snow found himself wishing the mossy passageway they were walking on would end soon. The air in the place felt dead and he could taste the scent of decay and mildew in it. At least there aren't any monsters...

The thought had barely formed when a pudding arm raked its way in front of him, and he heard the sound of a weapon click. Roughly pushing Serah in her sister's direction, he punched the arm as the flan melted its way into his view. Gross. The Rust Pudding swiped another arm, clearly angry that he'd hit it.

"Relentless Assault!" The sharp command split the still air as several spells rained down on the gooey monster at the same time. Snow prepared himself for a Blindside as Hope's Aerora momentarily distracted it and it oozed its way over to him and Lightning. The blow sent the monster flying into the air, and he didn't waste any time jumping up after it, sinking several more punches into its body. Landing after the monster made a distasteful splotch on the marble ground, Snow eyed the area carefully, looking for more monsters.

But there weren't any more, and even with his limited vision in the partially light passageway, Snow doubted more would come. He'd probably just surprised this one. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the bright daylight just thirty yards or so ahead of them. Lightning was already clambering agilely over the rocks that had crumbled to form a way up. He pushed Serah up ahead of him, and the first thing he did when his head met fresh air was take a deep breath: it felt good after the dank air in the tunnel.

Something prickled at the back of Snow's neck - he knew it was safe, or Lightning would have said something by now, but he couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling that there was something wrong. Maybe I'm being a paranoid jerk...

Serah was standing near the top of the end of the old causeway, looking around, and as he moved up to join her, he felt the familiar touch of her skin on his hand.

"It's pretty... in a sad way."

Snow cast a glance around at the worn white marble of what must once have been a glorious city. The marble made up most of the houses he could see, and several other places besides - a stone circular building that looked vaguely like the stadium in Nautilus, and in the centre of the town, past other, albeit smaller causeway, the glittering golden Cathedral of Angels.

Maker... That's where you left this world, isn't it?

And even as he followed Lightning's cautious steps into the marble roads of the outermost areas of the city, the serene contrast of bright blue on pristine white couldn't shake the feeling from the back of his mind.

Something's here. I know it.

Well. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and I kind of hate myself for saying it, but the LightxHope parts were so fun to write. I'm trying to portray them right... especially because there's a question of "what are we?" when they're together. I personally thought it was cute, though.

The circular stone building Snow mentioned was a coliseum, I wasn't sure if the XIII crew would know what that was. Same with the thing Light took down in the beginning - that was a deer, and tbh I'm not sure if they'd be familiar with any of those. Cocoon, you confuddle me. I mean, I know there's the Coliseum in Serendipity in XIII-2 but I don't think it's quite the same thing - the idea I have in mind is the original Roman style of the coliseum.

Enough of my rambling. I have work after class tomorrow, so the next chapter will be up on Thursday (I'm sorry to make you guys have to wait! D:). Leave love as always in reviews, and I'll see you guys then! (:

Hearts!