NATURE OF THE BEAST

"Come on," Lightning said the next morning.

I rubbed my eyes. The few hours of sleep hadn't been enough to ease my aching limbs.

"I'll take the lead," She told us.

We fell into formation, with Lightning leading, and me watching the rear.

"James?" Hope began from beside me.

I looked down at him.

"You agree with me, don't you?" He asked. "You saw what happened... you know that it was Snow's fault that she's..."

I paused.

"I don't know, Hope. I just don't know," I said vaguely.

Hope didn't press the subject.

This site of enclosures wasn't as big as the last, and we had to climb up to another platform to keep going, but our path was blocked by a tree branch.

Lightning contemplated the obstacle for a moment before drawing her gunblade. She brought it down, severing the branch where it fell over the side of the platform and crashed into the forest floor below.

"Could I use one of those?" Hope asked, indicating the gunblade.

Lightning looked at him and sheathed her blade.

"Bit too heavy for you," She said.

Hope sighed and pulled out Lightning's knife.

"Okay."

She lead the way forward, and I paced myself beside her.

"What's with the knife?" I asked her.

She looked at me.

"Serah gave it to me," She said.

Day Twelve

Lightning sat down, a frown on her face. She ignored the table covered with food, and addressed the two people standing before her.

"You became a l'Cie, so now you're gonna marry this idiot?" she asked Serah. "And you think I'm gonna buy that? Full points for originality."

Serah hung her head, but Snow stood his ground.

"But don't forget," Lightning said, standing up, "If you really are a l'Cie, it's my job to deal with you."

"Sis..." Serah gasped softly.

Lightning shook her head.

"This is ridiculous. Worst birthday ever," She said, crossing her arms.

Serah broke into tears and ran from the room, and from the sister who wouldn't believe her tale.

"Wait! Serah!" Snow called after her.

He turned on Lightning.

"Why won't you believe her?" he asked loudly.

"You kidding me?" Lightning said incredulously, turning to Snow. "She gets made a l'Cie, and you pop the question?"

"Lightning, stop it!" Snow cried.

But Lightning had had enough. "No, you stop it!" she shouted, slamming her palms onto the table. A few dishes clattered to the floor. "Get out of my house!"

"You're shutting her out. She's your sister!" Snow yelled back.

Lightning stood upright and turned away from Snow, her arms crossed.

"Fine," Snow said. "I'll do it. I'll protect her." Without another word, he walked off.

It wasn't until an hour later that Lightning noticed the box on the table, wrapped in a pink bow. She opened it and lifted the gift within. It was a survival knife. She flipped the knife open.

"How practical," Lightning murmured to herself.

A steady beeping interrupted her thoughts. It was coming from the wall-mounted television.

"We interrupt this program to bring you an urgent news bulletin," The newscaster said. "Late last night, officials confirmed the presence of a Pulse fal'Cie inside the city of Bodhum. Acting with fal'Cie Eden's approval, authorities declared a state of emergency."

Lightning wasn't listening anymore. She was remembering something she had seen earlier. A distinctive mark on Serah's left arm, hidden by a bandage.

"The entire district will be quarantined in response to this crisis."

Lightning gasped.

"Serah. I should have listened to you," Lightning said to herself after telling her story.

I patted her on the shoulder reassuringly.

"You did the best you could," I said.

"Did I?" Lightning said softly, questioning herself.

I nodded. I was tempted to embrace her, to show her that she didn't have to deal with her condemning thoughts alone, but such an act would probably be met with hostility.

"Lightning?" I said, letting her resume walking.

She looked at me.

"I've got your back."

"I think I'm getting the hang of fighting, thanks to you," Hope said, looking up at us after another battle.

"You're doing great, Hope," I told him, trying to keep his spirits up. He glowed at the compliment.

I winked at Light, and she shook her head.

"You're doing great too, Light," I said.

"Thanks, James," She replied sarcastically, and I beamed at her.

We continued on, following the path down to another set of enclosures, soon coming across a feral Behemoth locked in battle with three wild beasts. They were the base form of the Pantherons, and they were relentlessly attacking the Behemoth.

"Should we leave them be?" I asked Lightning, who nodded.

I started moving, giving the two forces a wide berth, but a cry of "Hope, no!" caught my attention.

Hope was dashing towards the Behemoth, sending several waves of magic at the beasts.

"Damn it!" I said, hurrying to join him before he became a meal.

"I rushed in, dealing damage to both opposing forces. They mostly ignored us, focused as they were upon each other, but it didn't take long for the Behemoth to defeat the three Silver Lobos, and the Behemoth turned to us.

Lightning rushed in, slashing wildly, leaving a series of shallow cuts all over the Behemoth's side. I leaped in, only to retreat as a mighty paw swiped at me. Hope stayed back, using magic to overwhelm the Behemoth, and it staggered back as a fireball collided with its head.

Lightning ran forwards, leaping up and impaling her blade into the Behemoth's head. She flipped away, avoiding the spray of blood.

"Hope!" I roared, rounding on the boy. "Why did you do that? You could see that they weren't going to attack us!"

Hope hung his head, but my anger was not abated so easily.

"You want to be stronger, I understand that, but throwing yourself into every battle is not the way to go about it!"

I turned to Lightning, and she spoke to Hope.

"You need to be aware of what the enemy is doing. A good leader avoids battle," She said. She didn't yell, but she was forceful, commanding.

Hope nodded slowly, and I half-expected him to cry, but he was made of sterner stuff.

I walked up to him.

"Listen. Every fight is a risk. You never know which battle will be the last, do you understand? Any one of us could have died."

"Sorry," he muttered. "I just thought... you're already tough, you don't need to work as hard as I do, and if I don't fight, how am I going to learn?"

My voice softened. Hope had a good point, but I knew better.

"Hope, we're teaching you. Light and I have years of experience. Trust us, and you will learn."

He nodded again. "Okay."

I smiled at him, hoping he understand that I wasn't angry anymore.

"Let's keep going," I said, turning to Lightning, who nodded and led the way.

We left the enclosure and ascended to the pathway again, coming to another elevator which took us up.

"Wait," Lightning called from ahead.

We had come to a platform, and strewn about the platform were corpses.

"What happened here?" Hope asked as I bent to examine one of the bodies. They were soldiers, probably Observation Battalion.

"Bad luck," Lightning said. "They came looking for us and found something worse."

I looked around. Whatever attacked the soldiers could still be here.

"We can't just leave them like this!" Hope cried, hurrying over to one of the bodies. Lightning threw out her arm and stopped him.

"Don't touch anything!" she said, throwing him back. "Control your emotions. If you want to survive, you forget about sympathy."

Hope looked up at her, and I stood.

"How can I explain?" Lightning said, turning away from us. She thought for a moment before turning back and crouching in front of Hope.

"Think of it like a strategy," She said. "Focus on your ultimate goal and shut out everything else."

Hope nodded.

"Still your mind. Move on instinct," Lightning continued, standing up. "Let doubt take over, and despair will cripple you."

Hope stood.

"Strategy. Good. I'll take anything that can help me get through this," He said calmly, walking forward. "I'll call it 'Operation Nora'."

"NORA?" Lightning asked.

"My mother's name," The boy said.

"Your revenge?" Lightning asked.

"Yes," He said. "Don't tell me. I know getting revenge on him won't... bring her back."

Hope spun around.

"I know that!" he said loudly. "But 'sorry' won't cut it."

"Hope," I said. "Snow didn't kill your mother. The Sanctum did."

"Whose side are you on?" he cried, turning to me.

"The side of truth!" Lightning answered for me.

Hope faltered, and pulled out Lightning's knife.

"Fine," He said. "I'll fight the Sanctum with you. I'll learn to survive." He flipped the knife open, then closed it and walked on.

I followed, and Lightning led us onto a large, oval-shaped elevator.

We ascended several floors, until we reached a short pathway that lead to a door. It was clearly the exit to the Gapra Whitewood.

I stepped forward, only to be greeted by a huge rumbling as an enormous creature landed in front of us, blocking our path.

The bioweapon looked like a giant turtle, with a plant for a shell.

The three of us settled into a combat stance.

"This is it," Hope said. "Operation Nora!" He charged forward.

I recognized the bioweapon. It was an Aster Protoflorian. A bioweapon that dealt punishing physical attacks and elemental attacks. It was also able to shift its elemental properties, so any magic that we dealt had to be exact, otherwise it would just absorb the magic.

Lightning leaped forward, launching a flurry of attacks at it's flowery shell. Hope forsake his boomerang in favor of magic, and launching several damaging fireballs at its vulnerable shell.

I dashed forward, dodging the head that swung at me, and jumped up, landing on its neck. I ran along the length of its long neck, delivering a blow to its shell. The Protoflorian gave a mechanical roar and it shook its mighty body, throwing me off.

"Hope, look out!" Lightning shouted at the boy.

I got to my feet to see Hope knocked off his feet and sent sprawling to the edge of the platform.

I moved instinctively. I hurried forwards, my weapon forgotten, and dived over the edge, just managing to get a grip on Hope's hand before he fell out of reach.

Terrified eyes looked up at me, and I heaved the boy up, back to safety.

"You got him, James?" Lightning asked where she was still battling the Protoflorian.

"I got him!" I called back, collecting my blades and rejoining the battle.

Hope took two steps before he was hit with another attack. I whirled around to see him fly into the wall and collapse to the ground.

I tore my eyes away from him, praying that he was still alive; that the blow hadn't killed him.

Lightning and I renewed our attack on the Protoflorian with vicious anger. Bits of its shell floated to the ground around us.

The Protoflorian emitted a powerful wave of energy that swept us backwards, away from it. I landed on the ground, hard, but picked myself up. What I saw next made my blood run cold.

Lightning was pinned beneath one the Protoflorian's flat foot. It was pressing down, crushing her. Lightning struggled feebly, and I hurried forwards, slashing at the metal foot with my blades.

I may have been whacking the bioweapon with paper.

I knew Lightning didn't have much time, then the sickening crack of bones breaking rent the air.

"NO!" I roared, my battle-cry echoing around our arena. The Protoflorian lifted its foot from Lightning's still body.

Rage swept through me, and I ran, dodging between its flailing limbs.

I reached the shell and hacked madly, pushing through the unnaturally stiff petals.

I found myself inside the Protoflorian's shell, and at the base, in the center of it, was a glowing, pulsating energy core.

I lifted my blades over my head, then plunged them into the glowing core.

A wave of energy burst from it, threatening to unbalance me, but I braced myself against the raging wind.

Then the Protoflorian collapsed, and I jumped off, wrenching my blades out of the core and dropping down beside Lightning's body.

Her supple frame was pale, lifeless. Her limbs stretched around her in unnatural positions. I felt for a pulse, and relief rushed through me when I felt it.

But she was dying, and I had no means of reviving her.

I looked towards Hope, he was my only chance. If I could wake him, he could heal Lightning.

I dashed towards Hope, and shook his body.

"HOPE!" I screamed at him, but his head lolled around on his neck. "WAKE UP!"

It was no use. I couldn't do it. I had no healing magic, that was Hope and Lightning's area. I was destined to face the Sanctum alone, my friends – for that's what they were now – dead.

I knew I couldn't go on. Hope, only fourteen, would die here. He would never become strong enough to face Snow and exact his revenge.

Lightning, so beautiful, so inspirational. I had followed her, trusted her to be there at the end of this journey.

Tears filled my eyes as I slowly walked back to Lightning's dying body. Even if Hope woke up, he wouldn't have time to heal her. I couldn't lose her, not now.

I sunk to my knees beside Lightning, a hand involuntarily reaching towards her, a single stroke of her face, one sweep of her pink hair. That was all I could muster before I reached for my blades.

I was tied to a destiny I couldn't escape. A destiny I would now face alone. Better to die here. Who cared that the Sanctum would prevail? What did it matter if Cocoon was destroyed? Over the past three days, I had met the strangest assortment of people.

We had been thrust into this situation, and we had done what we could. We had parted, and I had followed Lightning.

As I knelt there, resigned to the worst, I knew that I would follow her anywhere. She had a power in her. Feelings that had confused me to no end made sudden, magnificent – and terrible – sense.

I would follow Lightning to the edge of Cocoon.

Now I would follow her no more.

A voice spoke inside my brain. A commanding voice, cold and harsh, with no trace of compassion of emotion.

Leave her.

Leave them both.

There is no room for compassion in a soldier's life.

There deaths will sever any ties you have to weakness.

Leave them, and be strong.

It was the soldier. The voice that been a sanctuary in all my years of PSICOM was now plaguing me.

I barely noticed the ground begin to shake as I fought a mental battle between the two halves of myself. Despair gripped me, and I knew where escape lay.

I reached for my blade, and pointed them at my chest. I couldn't leave them. I would follow Lightning one last time...

The sound pierced my ears. My brand burned on my shoulder, and I dropped my blades as pain stabbed me.

A glowing white light shone out from my position. It was a mark on the ground, decorated in the most intricate patterns. The light was blinding, but I couldn't shut my eyes.

Then it appeared. Salvation. Condemnation.

It was huge, a giant, mechanical man. It had a white mane surrounding a pointed head. Wide shoulders that lead to clawed hands, both gripping a deadly blade in each hand. Its waist was thin, and its legs were oddly shaped. Looking like animal legs, with inverted knees and elongated feet, the back of which was raised so that it stood on the balls of its clawed feet.

I felt the connection. The part of me it represented.

The man raised its blades, and bought them down towards Lightning's still, defenseless body.

It would remove the obstacles in my path. I knew this. I knew that it would make me stronger.

Let it happen, said the soldier.

I couldn't.

My own blades were in my hands, and I jumped forward, placing myself in the path of its deadly swords.

Metal clanged on metal as I blocked its attack.

Then it turned on me.

I sank into a half-crouch, my teeth bared in a feral snarl.

"You want me?" I roared at it. "Come and get me!"

It charged, gracefully, swiftly.

I sidestepped the charge, spinning around and attacking with my blades.

Suddenly, in my anger, a new feeling erupted. Not mine, but the man's.

I attacked again, and felt the approval. I moved sideways, throwing out my palm and launching a huge torrent of wind at the mechanical man. The approval climbed higher.

I ran at it, striking with a frenzy of rage and hate. A frenzy borne of passion for my fallen friends, and the anger at this creature that thought it could dictate my life.

It was the soldier in me that I fought relentlessly, and I intended to win.

I let the magic flow through me, and they wind magic lifted the blades into the air, where they formed a whirlwind of spinning steel.

The creature was battered by the assault, and I felt the approval spike.

I screamed the word. It echoed around the arena, involuntary and unbidden.

"Amra!"

The creature roared, and it transformed, its mechanical body shifting.

A lion appeared before me, roaring wildly.

Then Amra disappeared.

My brand seared, and I felt all that rage, all that emotion, both mine and Amra's surge into the black mark.

The soldier was silent. It had surrendered.

Then I stumbled towards Hope.

I summoned the vast reserves of magic within me, and blasted a gust of wind into the boys face.

His eyes popped open.

"Hope," I said. I was exhausted.

"James?" He said, looking around. "What happened? Where's the bioweapon?"

"Gone. Hope, help Lightning."

I pointed at her body, and Hope scrambled over to her.

I staggered after him, collapsing by their sides as Hope worked his magic.

Lightning's eyes slowly slid open.

"What...?" She started, sitting up, but I didn't her the chance to speak.

I was overjoyed. Relief flooded my system, stunning me into silence. I just pulled her towards me into a tight hug.

"James..." she said, surprised, and she pushed me away. "What happened?"

I could only look at her. It was amazing to me how close I had come to losing her. I appreciated the sound of her voice.

"The bioweapon is dead," I said, pointing at the sizzling remains of the Protoflorian. "Then an Eidolon appeared."

Hope's eyes were wide as I told them about Amra, how it had appeared when I couldn't revive Lightning, or wake up Hope.

"Sounds like Eidolons appear to a l'Cie when they lose all hope," Hope observed.

I shrugged. "It doesn't matter. You're okay," I said, looking at the both of them.

"Right, let's keep moving them." Hope said, standing up.

I helped Lightning to her feet, but she needed no aid. Hope's magic had restored her completely.

"I'll be glad when we get out of here," I said.

I followed Hope to the doorway, which slid open, revealing the edge of the Gapra Whitewood. The trees were thinner here, and the sky was clearly visible. There were mountains bordering the Gapra Whitewood, and beyond that I could hear the crashing of the ocean.

The pathway ended ahead of us, and a gap in the mountains led to a cliff. The three of us approached the edge. Water was lapping at the rock below us. In the distance, Palumpolum lay opposite us, on the other side of the channel.

"That's it," Hope said. "Palumpolum."

"That's where you live, right?" Lightning asked.

Hope looked longingly at the city.

"We'll stop in when we get there," Lightning said.

"Yeah, Hope," I said. "You can stop at home."

"No," Hope said. "We're l'Cie now, and no one's there but my dad."

"Hope... You need to let him know what happened," Lightning pressed.

Hope sighed.

"That's all well and good," I said. "But how do we get there?"

Nobody answered me.

"We can't exactly swim that far, and I don't see any boats around," I continued. "There's a small island about twenty miles away. PSICOM set up a small base there. I trained there a couple of years ago. If we can make it to that island, chances are they'll have a cruiser or a boat we can commandeer."

"But how do we get to the island?" Hope asked.

I shrugged and looked at Lightning.

"Any suggestions?" I asked her.

She thought for moment.

"I got nothing," She said finally.

I sighed and interlocked my hands behind my head. "Great, so we're stranded on the wrong side of an ocean."

"The Eidolons!" Hope said suddenly.

We looked at him. "What about them?" I asked.

"We can use them to get across! It probably won't work in the long term, but it might be enough to get us to that island," he said, pacing now.

I looked at Lightning skeptically, waiting to hear how she thought the plan wouldn't work, but she was nodding in silent assent.

"Okay, that might work," Lightning said, stepping forward.

"Odin," She said loudly.

A bright pink light emanated from her, and the horse appeared, rearing in front of her.

She clambered on, then let Hope climb up behind her.

I shook my head, but summoned the magic.

"Amra," I commanded, stepping backwards when the mighty lion was summoned. I pulled myself onto its back.

"Um..." I said. "There's an island not far ahead of us, so... fly?"

I felt incredibly stupid, trying to talk to a lion, but the mechanical animal leaped into the air and flew; or rather, it ran in midair.

I heard a yelp behind me and whirled, expecting to see a falling body, but it was just Hope crying out when Odin took off.

I faced the front, and held on tightly, the island in sight. The PSICOM forces stationed there would be in for a major surprise when we arrived.