"We never should've fought back…"

"We're all just gonna die anyway!"

"What did we do wrong?"

These were all questions that everyone around me were asking themselves. And I was asking myself these questions, too. What is that we did so wrong…to have all this happen? What is that I did to end up in the position I am in now? How did I end up in the situation where I'm being purged for something that I have know idea that I did? I don't even want to go to Pulse! I just want to go back home…But what could I go back home to? The people that I called family were all gone. The army had just upped and appeared out of nowhere, not even giving any indication that they were coming. They killed my mom and dad, and my older brother. They killed them all. And they had taken me with them. My life was spared, and yet…my family's wasn't.

"What a mess…" I mumbled into my arms as I held my knees to my chest, sighing and closing my eyes. Perhaps I should enlighten you on who I am. My name is Lyra Gaines, and I'm 14 years old, orphaned, and I feel like I'm sitting in the middle of a war. Actually…I'm not sure how we even ended up here at the Resistance Front. Yes, we. I was sitting here with a group of people that I had been on the train with earlier, which was where we were set free by two people. And then, we all ended up here, all of us sitting in a group, none of us even bothering to stray away, for fears of being caught, or worse…killed.

But then again, people would probably prefer to die than go through all of this crap.

The sound of multiple footsteps caused me to bring my head back up from it's resting spot in my arms. I watched as four people, three guys and a woman, approached us, guns in their hands, all except for one. The guy wearing the white trench coat and the black bandana on his head, blonde hair coming out from it slightly.

"You all okay?"

That one question that came from his mouth caused everyone else around me to stare up at him and the others. And it was that one question that made realize that these were the good guys. The Rebels.

One of them, the one whom I figured to be the youngest on the team, tripped, dropping several guns, causing me to giggle slightly. "W-whoa!"

Trench Coat looked down at him, frowning slightly. "Hey, careful with those." The boy gave a nervous laugh, causing the man to smile slightly, before his face grew serious again and he looked back at us. "Don't worry, no one's moving to Pulse today. We'll clear you a path out of here, so be ready to-"

"Wait! Let me fight with you!" One man exclaimed, standing up.

"Yeah, you can't expect us to just sit here!" Another one shouted, standing up as well.

While Trench Coat discussed the idea with his orange haired teammate, everyone else around me began talking amongst themselves about it. Finally, the first man spoke. "Please. Let us help."

An explosion that wasn't too far away from where we all were caused the Rebels to turn around look at it, and everyone else to gasp in worry. Finally, Trench Coat gave everyone his answer. "Okay then. Volunteers front and center." He ordered.

Most of the people around me stood up, walking over to the group and picking up a gun, but I couldn't find it in myself to get up and be brave. I was only fourteen, but I could fight, yet…I was too scared to even go over and pick up a gun. The woman who was sitting right next to me stood up.

"Mom?" I looked over to find that it was the person sitting on my other side that had spoken.

She turned around to look at the boy, giving him a small smile. "Don't worry." She reassured, before walking over and getting in line.

I could tell that the boy was nervous when he saw his mother pick up one of those guns. I felt sorry for him. Trench Coat walked forward, the last gun in his hands. "All right, last one. Somebody take it." He said, holding it out in front of the boy.

"No…I can't." The boy said, scooting back, bumping into me slightly. I saw a bit of his face. He had silver hair, and green-blue eyes, both showing the resemblance he and his mother shared. He happened to glance up at me, and I sent him a small smile, but he turned around quickly, not returning the smile.

"Here!" One girl said, holding out her arms expectantly to Trench Coat as she sat on her knees. He handed it to her.

"Push comes to shove, keep 'em safe." He told her, giving her a small wink.

She pretended to shoot and fire the gun. "Bang!" She said quietly, and Trench Coat pretended to be hit. The small little show made me giggle slightly at how silly this guy was, causing the girl to look at me and smile.

"All right, lay low and you'll be fine. We'll clear the area. We're going home together!" He exclaimed, throwing his fist in the air, while all of us just stared up at him, most of us still recovering from the attack on the train earlier.

The woman who had come with him smiled at us all. "Come on! Everybody up!" She ordered. I stood up like everyone else was, and stared at the backs of the recruits and Rebels as they all took off to clear the pathway. The woman who was that boys mother stopped and turned around, sending a smile to her son before she took off again. I felt myself being moved aside by that one woman who had told us to get up, and I began to walk, the girl that Trench Coat had given the gun to walking up and evening her pace with mine so we fell in step together.

"Hello!" She said cheerily, causing me to fully glance at her this time.

I gave her a small smile. "Hi…" I said quietly.

"What's your name?" She asked, giving me a curious look.

"Lyra. What's yours?" I asked her.

"Vanille. It's nice to meet you." She said, grinning brightly, while I simply smiled a small smile.

"Nice to meet you, too." I said quietly, before looking back ahead. That's when a huge explosion coming from the other bridge shook the one we were on. I stumbled slightly, catching my balance by grabbing onto the boy, who easily steadied me. I thanked him quietly, before running forward so we could see what was happening on the other side. I gasped quietly, while Vanille gasped loudly, her hands flying to her mouth as we watched people falling down into the darkness below. And then a second explosion came, and I noticed that the boy seemed to freeze up. I saw that Trench Coat was hanging on for his life, trying to hold onto that boys mother. I couldn't see what all happened, but she seemed to go limp, and then…she slipped.

I don't know which was worse; Having to see that boy's mother fall, or having to hear his pain filled screams. Or maybe the one thing that was worse above all of them was him getting ready to lunge forward, as if he wanted to die, too. Well, he probably would've, had I not grabbed him and stopped him before he had the chance to. He had a familiar look of pain and sadness in his eyes, and tightened my grip on his arm.

"I'm so sorry…" I mumbled, giving him a look of sympathy.

He said nothing.

Vanille pulled on my arm. "Come on!" I moved forward, the boy's arm still in my grasp, but he didn't even budge. Vanille, apparently impatient, slapped him across the face. "We have to move!"

"All right." He mumbled, this time moving with us as Vanille dragged us both along with her as we ran back to the group. The boy sat down, while Vanille and I watched some strange big machine fly across the sky and the boy began to take off the ridiculous cloak that all of us were given. When he had ridded of it, I finally got to see what he really looked like. He was wearing a black shirt under his orange short sleeve jacket, and he wore a green scarf around his neck, while his hands were covered by black top gloves, while the bottom of them were white.

I noticed that Vanille had taken off her cloak as well, fixing her bright red hair which was tied into curly little pigtails. She turned around to stare at us, her green eyes shining as she grinned. Her outfit consisted of a bright pink halter top and a short yellow skirt, some type of fur thing hanging on her waist, and she wore a lot of beaded items. She glanced away from us and down at the ground, moving over to pick up the gun that Trench Coat had given to her from before, moving over to us and thrusting it into the boys hands. "Here."

The boy stared down at it, not really knowing what to think. "Uh…"

Vanille moved forward and embraced him, surprising him. She gently stroked his hair as she spoke. "It's too much, isn't it?" She asked, pulling away from him and giving him a smile. "Face it later."

He opened his mouth to say something, but I beat him to it. "Even when we're sad, we have to keep moving forward. It's what helps us get through tough times." I said, giving him a small smile. I took a hold of the cloak I was wearing and threw it off, allowing everyone to see what I really looked like. My hair rested on my shoulders, while my bangs fell in place around my face, bringing it out. My blue duster flitted around for a moment before settling in place. My clothes were a bit wrinkled, so I smoothed out my black tank top, and my shorts, making sure my shoelaces were tied. I moved my hand to my other wrist and pulled off a hair tie, reaching it back to fix my light brown hair into its normal ponytail, making sure it was nice and strong enough to stay in place before turning back to smile at Vanille and the boy.

Vanille laughed slightly before waving. "Ciao!" She exclaimed, running off.

"Hey! Wait!" The boy exclaimed, taking off after her, the gun remaining on the ground. I sighed, reaching down and picking it up, making sure there was enough ammo in it before taking off after them.

"Hey, you guys! Wait for me!"

A/N: So, this is my first FF13 fanfic ever, so I'm sorry if it was a bit crappy! Thanks for reading! Later Taters!