The underground cavern led back up to the surface with a fairly new tunnel, likely constructed by military and research teams who had gone out not long ago. Lightning took the lead in scouting ahead, checking for any block-offs or PSICOM lackeys roaming around. Sazh definitely didn't complain, he let this be a moment to take his time, catch his breath, while waiting for Light's information on what's up for us further down the trail. Hope and Vanille weren't rushing, either. I decided to walk forward, catching up a bit with Lightning's stead.

There was a large, crashed airship not far along the path. She was seated down towards the top, looking up to the sky. I followed her gaze, and spotted a white glow in the sky.

Eden. The central power of the Sanctum. Our capital. Government is mainly run there, along with big festivals, races, and the fal'Cie that the city is named after. Eden University. Serah hoped to get a Sanctum scholarship to go there. A direct way of passage to the city in the sky was located in Palumpolum, Hope's city.

I reached where Lightning rested, and decided to sit next to her. "So."

Lightning gave a small hum in response, still watching the sky.

Awkward. "Eden, huh? You went once, didn't you?"

She nodded. "You did, too."

I blinked in surprised. "I did? When?"

"You weren't old enough to remember." Lightning looked back down to me. "We all went there, watched the Prix."

Confused, I sat in silence for a moment, trying to figure out when it would've been. "'We all'- oh, you mean-"

"Yes. Long time ago."

"I see. No wonder I don't remember." My eyes went up to the sky again. "Have you gone again? As a soldier, I mean."

"Once. When I was first enlisted. There was an induction ceremony for my class. Couldn't afford to take you and Serah out of school to attend." Lightning's voice was calm, quiet, more than usual. Regretful, maybe? Did you wish we were there?

I rested back on my elbows. "Well, that's okay. You know I'm not much for those formal, fancy things."

I swore I heard her chuckled, even if it was brief.

Sazh ended up joining us a moment later, sitting on the other side of Lightning. He let out a drawn sigh, stretching his legs. "Not much of a future for us." I saw him looking towards the ground, Vanille and Hope were chatting between each other, just out of our earshot.

"Hard to picture a happy ending."

I didn't reply. I don't like that type of talk.

Sazh defeatedly said, "We don't even know where to go". To this, Lightning stood, claiming that she, in fact, did know where to go.

Both Sazh and I looked over to her, waiting for her explanation. Once more, she looked up to the sky.

The older man laughed, bewildered. "Eden? The Sanctum Seat of Power?" He shook his head, and stood up as well. "Ah, that's a great idea, give 'em a taste of l'Cie terror! That'll do it."

But Lightning wasn't wavering.

I got to my feet as well, looking at Lightning. "Uh, sis?"

"You're serious…" Sazh's demeanor changed. When is she not?

"Keep running- it's die, or turn Cie'th." Lightning straighed up. "They want a fight? Well, let's take it to the Sanctum's door." She sounded almost proud of her idea, set on it.

My hand went to my face in disbelief. "Lightning, that's- that's not-"

"It started with Serah, the fal'Cie took her." She interrupted me. "Then you," a nod in my direction, "me. The Sanctum's hunting us, enemies of the state. But who's pulling their strings?"

I chewed on my lip. "A fal'Cie." I understood her sentiment. "It starts with a fal'Cie, it continues with a fal'Cie, it ends with a fal'Cie. I know."

Lightning looked back up to the sky after my respond. "Eden. Cocoon's Sustainer and Guiding Light." Her hand rose to her chest, her brand. "It probably ordered the Purge, too."

Vanille and Hope had joined us during our conversation, listening as Lightning continued. "The fal'Cie of Sanctum, Pulse, it's all the same. And we're all the same to them: expendable." She straightened up. "I'm not dying a fal'Cie slave." She turned her head to me, a look that felt defensive washing over her face when making eyecontact with me. A look that seemed to say, "You are not dying a slave. I won't let you." This honestly made me almost forgive any anger I felt towards her from earlier, in that moment. Because I understood.

"So?" Sazh spoke up. "What are you going to do?"

Quietly, Lightning replied, "destroy it." And I was not surprised by those words. But, the others were. Sazh questioned her, calling her crazy, suspecting her motives, trying to make her realize what the consequences of this could be to us, to the rest of Cocoon.

"It would be lights out for Cocoon." As Sazh finished that sentence, he let out a small gasp. "But- you want that. You're a Pulse l'Cie now, so you just want to snuff out Cocoon!"

"Sazh." I stepped to him, but Vanille exclaimed, "no!" not towards Sazh, but towards Lightning.

She was a bit emotional. "What about Serah? She said to save Cocoon! It might even be our Focus to-"

"Our Focus doesn't matter!" Lightning stopped her. "I don't take orders from fal'Cie. How I live is up to me."

"Don't you mean, how you die?"

Lightning didn't appreciate that reply. "Think like that, and it's already over. Better to pick you path, and keep moving."

Everyone was quiet. It looked like Lightning picked up on this, and her tone shifted. "Don't worry. I'm after the Sanctum, I am not out to destroy the world." She suddenly chuckled. "If it did come to that, wonder if our 'hero' would try to stop me?"

Snow.

It was her way of making a joke, trying to lighten us up after her speech, but I think I'm the only one who understood that. Sazh still was frustrated. "Oh, now you're enemies, wanting to fight Snow now?" I gave him a light nudge, shaking my head when he looked at me.

Lightning rolled her eyes. "Next time we meet, we might be too." And started walking away from the group.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, annoyed with the situation. "Well- don't wait too long, guys." I nodded to those still left, and picked up the pace to get back with Lightning.

Hope caught up to Lightning and me not a minute later, tagging along as we moved forward, yelling, "wait for me!" and stopping when the two of us turned back towards him.

"I'm going with you."

Lightning shook her head. "I can't babysit you anymore."

"Light-" She put a hand out to stop me. Hope trusts us, I wanted to say.

Hope clenched his fists, getting closer. "I can fight! I'm not afraid."

I smiled a little. "Hey, we know." I put a hand on his shoulder. "Right, Lightning?"

She was about to respond, when she quickly turned around with alert.

Out came charging a PSICOM squad, armed, ready to shoot. A soldier in the middle had something in his hand, and he pressed a button on it.

Back behind us, from where we came, sounded out an explosion, with fiery light and debris darting out everywhere. It startled us.

"No!" I gasped. Sazh, Vanille!

Lightning quickly turned back to the group of soldiers, going in for a fight. Hope whipped out his boomerang, and I followed suit with my blades. Using our weapons, and newfound magic, it didn't take long to put the hit squad down. Even with their assault weapons and army gear, they only put up a mild fight against us and our increased power. Well, I should say, Lightning's power, with mine and Hope's assistance.

Once they were down, we sheathed our weapons. Hope was out of breath, but still standing. I wiped sweat from my brow as Lightning, surprisingly, praised Hope's ability. Hope quickly straightened up, thanking Lightning for the compliment. But Light immediately went back into her regular self, furrowing her brow at the fire behind us. I faced it, too, and frowned. "So much for staying together." I felt disappointed. I worried for Sazh and Vanille, being alone without our help, and us without their help.

"There will be more soldiers, right?" Hope pondered. "But, they should be okay, the others. They would have gotten away fine." He seemed to be saying this more hopeful than assured.

"So can you, if you leave now." Lightning spoke to Hope. "With me, it's going to be fight after fight."

"You don't expect him to go off alone, do you?" I questioned. "Or you? I mean, I know I'm not letting you go alone, I'm not letting him go alone either-"

"The two of you would do well, together. Evade, defend."

Confusion bubbled up in me. "Uh. What?" I shook my head. "No. No, I'm not going anywhere without you, Lightning. Don't expect me to."

Lightning put a hand on her hip. "I don't know how it'll end, Aurora. It's anybody's guess."

Hope chimed in. "I know that. But- I need to be stronger."

Surely, you can respect that, can't you, sis?

"Lightning?" Hope caught onto her sudden silence.

But she decided to give in. "Call me Light, Hope."

I felt stupefied by this. She rarely was willing to let people call her by a nickname, let alone request it from someone. I tried not to smile. She waved her hand over to me, "Let's go, then." Light beckoned the both of us to follow her as she continued forward.

Lightning let us in on the plan she had in mind for our path onward: we'd move through the rest of the Vile Peaks and into the Gapra Whitewood, following the woods into Palumpolum's beach front, and then taking transport to Eden. Hope brightened up at the mention of his home, and told us that he would help with finding the shortcuts through the city to avoid army and civilian spotlight.

Our trek through what I hoped to be the last stretch of the junkyard mostly consisted of discovering more old Pulsian technology that revved up, coming alive as the presence of the l'Cie of its home. Most of it was weak, small, easy to push away from the trail so we could go on.

More PSICOM were also in our way, nothing too crazy, most were duos or trios, rather than the larger squads. They were typically near Pulse equipment- Lightning said it was because the PSICOM believed we l'Cie would use the tech to "escape", as if lifelong Cocoon citizens suddenly learned how to use old wartime Pulse armaments and airships after being branded. Stupid.

Hope had also proven to be a very strong ally for us during all of this. He's far more clever and intelligent than Light or myself had expected him to be, especially for being so young. He managed to get another Pulse steam engine like the one we fought prior to work, using it to break down debris in our way, and move things to create bridges over gaps in the cliffs. Lightning tried to stop him, worried he would get hurt, but he stubbornly went on anyway- and honestly? I think she was glad he didn't listen to her. I don't think she would've tried to start up the machine herself.

Hope bravely charged forward with the combat engine, taking down squads of PSICOM by himself using the machine while Light and I followed behind him, getting rid of any stragglers that he might have missed. Hope using the machine to swipe at soldiers left and right was crazy efficient, and impressive.

Buuuuut, it didn't last too long. Hope managed to drive the engine to a small cliffside, toppling over with a yell. We quickly ran over to make sure he was okay.

"Nice landing." I laughed at Light's joke while we climbed down to get to Hope. He was fine, just a little scuffed up at the knees. The combat machine was totally broken down, sparks shooting out at the joints. Lightning pressed forward, calling Hope "soft" when he asked for a break, which made him quickly get back to him feet to follow behind. She meant it not much as an insult, but more as a way of getting him to stay motivated to move forward.

Well. I think she did.

Author's Note: Howdy! I'm here again to post more chapters. I have quite a few written ahead of time, I'm not sure if I should go ahead and post them, or if I should spread them out... lemme know what you think. -TSoH