Here is the following chapter.

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Chapter Twenty-Three

Separated

The group of unlikely companions had settled around the destroyed ship, probably since it's the closest thing they have that is familiar to them. Zack had a small fire going, having learning it from camping all the time upon the Sunleth Waterscape on Cocoon. They were all seating around the flames.

Basch had put himself on guard duty, with a gunblade in hand seating upon a fallen tree that the ship had demoted during its landing. He and Vaan had stayed out of each other's way and the tension between them was visible by anyone.

Paine, Zack and Vaan were all seating together around the fire and Vaan had his grandfather's journal open upon his lap, reading about all that his grandfather had written about Pulse even thought it wasn't much about the landscape itself, and a few sketch were drawn upon pages, thought Vaan had no idea what they could mean.

Colonel Lightning was seating by herself on the other side of the camp. She hadn't spoken to anyone since she had snapped at Vaan earlier, and no one actually wanted to talk to her either considering she is Sanctum soldier, and was hunting them through all through Cocoon. The woman had her gunblade lying beside her, her head bowed as pink hair shadowed her expression.

If anyone was looking, they would have noticed that her hand was twitching every now and then each time she draw breath.

Vaan sighed to himself, looking out toward the darkness that surrounded them. He was worried about Tifa and Éclair, the two last members of their group that were missing and even thought he hated to think of the worst but…

They'll be fine Vaan, he told himself, They have to be.

"Vaan, are you okay?"

He glanced toward Paine who was looking at him worriedly. Zack was lying down on the ground now, probably tired after today's event.

"Vaan?"

He returned his gaze toward her.

"Yes, I'm fine," he said to her giving her a slight smile, "I'm just worried about Tifa and Éclair."

Paine gives him a nod.

"They're fine," she told him, "They have to be."

Vaan glanced at her again.

Paine must be worried about Tifa's safety since the two were sisters. He get the feeling Paine had said that more to convince herself than to think the worst.

"Today was quite a scare huh," he said trying to lighten up the mood.

Paine shook her head.

"If you count almost dying," she said, "Then yeah. Say, your grandfather didn't say anything about Big Jaws that almost had us for lunch in his journals."

Vaan glanced down at the leather covered book that lay open on his lap.

"I've been searching for it," he said, "But there is nothing about it…most likely he never came across it when he was here."

Paine nodded glancing around herself.

"So this is Pulse huh?" she said, "The world were magic came from."

"According to the Sanctum at least," Vaan told her, poring over his book.

Paine glanced skyward.

There as plain as day was Cocoon. It was a melancholic feeling seeing the world she was born and raised floating so far away from her. The moonlight was shining upon the bronze outside.

"Compared to here," Paine said softly, "Cocoon seems so…foreign."

Vaan glanced at her before looking toward the floating world.

"What do you mean?"

Paine shrugged.

"It's just…feel like something's different," she said, "I can't really put it into words."

A noise drew their attention, but it was only Basch who had gotten off from the fallen tree he had been seating on and stretching a little. Vaan glowered at the man in the distance as he walked back into camp making his way toward the Colonel and kneeling in front of her, both of them speaking softly.

"You got to talk to him you know," Paine told him.

Vaan snapped his attention back toward Paine.

"Why should I?" he asked her, "He betrayed us back at the Ruins remember. We have nothing to talk about."

Paine shook her head.

"Yes you do," she said, "Me and Tifa fight all the times and we talk to each other when we're ready to face the problem. Trust me; you wouldn't want to be parted from your brother on bad terms. We are all on foreign territory right now. All we got now is each other."

Vaan looked down at the book.

He knew that Paine is right in a way. They should join forces together if they are going to survive on Pulse, a place where you make your own safety. They had hardly being there a day when they were attacked by that giant flying thing causing them to miss two of their own.

The young man glanced up toward Cocoon, narrowing his eyes.

They weren't on the floating Planet anymore, not under the Sanctum rules…

They were on their own, and working together to get through this was the best choice.

Éclair paused in her walk, glancing back toward Tifa who was huffing slightly behind her. They had miscalculated how far the smoke really was and night had fallen upon them during their trek. She could feel herself growing tired after all the magic she had used.

"You're okay?" Tifa asked her, "You suddenly stopped."

"It's useless walking around in the dark," Éclair said, "We can't even see the smoke to guide us anymore, we're going to have to camp somewhere for the night."

Tifa glanced toward the inky black sky.

"You're right," she said, thought reluctantly.

She probably would have wanted for them to find the others before resting.

"We'll find them tomorrow, no need to worry," Éclair told her putting a hand upon the girl's shoulder.

Tifa nodded at her.

Éclair walked toward a tree, pulling out her sword.

"I'll get some firewood," she said, "Try to see if you can find us some place that we can sleep around here."

Tifa glanced around herself.

"I'm…kind of scared to go out there alone," she said.

Éclair looked at the girl's nervous figure beside her, causing her to sigh slightly.

"Alright, you can stay close here," she said, "But you'll help me carry the woods agreed."

"Agreed," Tifa said, and Éclair can hear the relief in her tone.

A few minutes later, the two girls were seating around a fire which Éclair had used magic to light up, warming them up from the cold night air. Tifa had pulled up her knees toward her chest as Éclair seated across her and her sword was in front of her.

The metal was shining slightly in the soft ember light, showing the words that were engraved upon the blade.

"What does it mean?" Tifa asked.

Éclair looked up at her.

"What?"

"Your sword got something written upon it," Tifa said, pointing at it, "What does it mean?"

Éclair looked down at the engraved words.

"It's one of the memories that I can remember," Éclair said, her fingers caressing the blade, "My father created it for me, as a present. The words mean Honor above all."

"You must cherish that memory," Tifa said.

Éclair smiled softly.

"With all my heart."

Tifa gives her a smile back before a light yawn makes her way up. Éclair noticed it.

"You can go to sleep," she said, "I'll kept guard."

Tifa nodded at her, putting her blazer on the ground before lying upon it. She simply lied there with her eyes closed and Éclair returned her attention back to her sword, watching the words.

Dad, she thought slightly.

Tifa was woken up during the night.

Blinking a little, the young girl seated up from where she was lying down and glanced around herself. The fire which had been burning brightly when she had went to sleep was now quite low. Then she let out a breath, seeing the mist in front of her.

She was cold.

Éclair was in the same position she was, the only exception was that her head was leaning against the tree behind her. Tifa noticed that the woman had removed some of the armor, knowing that it mustn't be comfortable to sleep in and the sword was lying on the ground beside her hand, for a quick grab in the first sign of danger.

Tifa rubbed her hands together, trying to warm them up but couldn't really feel them at all she glanced around herself in the darkness and quietness of Pulse. It was still unbelievable to her that she was actually on the world beneath Cocoon.

She was brought out of her thought when her body shivered slightly again.

If I knew I was going to be sleeping outside, I should have brought a blanket, she thought.

Then her attention was drawn toward Éclair who was still asleep, not looking as if she was even bothered by the cold.

How does she do it? Tifa thought in amazement at her.

Tifa got on all four and crawled toward the pink haired woman but as she got close, Éclair's eyes opened, the blue eyes seemingly shining in the darkness.

"W...What are you doing?" she said softly.

"It's cold," Tifa said.

Éclair glanced back at the dying flames.

"The fire is out," she said, sighing, "Come here."

Tifa blinked.

"You can sleep beside me," Éclair told her, "That way, you'll keep warm…I've forgotten how cold it can get to people who aren't used to it."

Tifa crawled until she was right beside the woman and Éclair put her arm around the girl's waist, pulling her close to her.

"You're freezing," Éclair whispered.

"Sorry," Tifa said.

Éclair leaned her head back against the tree.

"Don't worry about it," she said, yawning softly, "Just go back to sleep."

Tifa nodded, leaning her head against Éclair's shoulder. She can feel the woman's warmth body working against the cold around her and in no time, the young girl felt quite warm and it wasn't long before sleep overtakes her again.

The next morning, Éclair was the first one to wake up as the sunlight streamed around the small trees she was in. She glanced around herself, blinking the sleep out of her eyes before feeling a weight against her body causing her to glance down at it.

Tifa was still fast asleep on her shoulder, the younger girl using her as a pillow. Éclair blinked in confusion as to why she was here before remembering last night. The fire was out completely and she slowly removed herself from the sleeping girl, leaving her beside the tree.

She stretched as she walked around the place, her eyes moving about the sight around her. This was the world she came from, the one she was born into and yet, the memories she had were limited, and even the ones with her father were foggy.

She put a hand against her chest where her brand was located. Involuntarily, her eyes went toward the floating world of Cocoon. Her Focus is to destroy it, but she didn't want to do that, taking the life of thousands if not millions of peoples. She didn't have a heart of stone.

As she watched Cocoon, the surroundings around her changed and then suddenly out of the sky…a explosion came from Cocoon causing her to gasp slightly and then the floating world started to fall out of the sky and Éclair's can feel only shock and horror…

Then the two worlds collided against each other and the blast of the collision knocked everything back as flames speed through the lands and then aiming straight at her…

Then Éclair snapped awake.

What? She thought, glancing around herself.

She was back at the tree where she had fallen asleep, and Tifa was standing up checking the surroundings before glancing back at her.

"Éclair, you're awake," she said.

"What?" Éclair repeated, glancing around herself.

"I can't seem to find the smoke from before," Tifa told her, "It might have run out or something."

Éclair didn't fully heard what Tifa had said as she simply seated there in shock. She put a hand on where her brand was and could feel that it was warmer than her skin.

"Éclair, are you okay?" Tifa asked her.

It was a nightmare, she thought, Just a nightmare.

"Éclair," Tifa repeated, now her voice carrying a hint of worry since the woman didn't answer her.

Éclair looked up at her.

"I'm fine," she said, "Just had a bad dream."

Then she stood up, "C'mon, let's find the others."

Cocoon

"They've fled upon the world below," Dysley spoke, his hand caressing the back of the white owl that was beside him, "This will be the perfect time to take them all out."

He turned his gaze in front of him toward the kneeling form.

"You will carry this out," Dysley continued, "Take care of Éclair Farron."

"She had lost her memory has she not?" the figure said standing up, "This won't be a challenge at all."

"Even so," Dysley chuckled, "Do not underestimate her. Even without her memory, she will prove to be a challenge after all, she surround herself with friends."

"As if mere humans can even do anything to me," the figure chuckles a smirk crossing his face.

As he walked away he glanced back toward Dysley.

"And what of your little pet Colonel?" he asked.

Dysley simply turned his gaze toward the owl.

"She will suffer the same fate," he said, "She has the same Focus as Éclair."

The figure continued to walk as the long hair danced behind him with the black cloak flowing at his every step.

A new menace is after Eclair and Lightning's life? Who could it be...?

Find out next chapter: Down One

Jacques0 out.