I heard rushing water not far ahead of us, and the sound of it had me excited. There was a small waterfall over by a bridge, and where there's a waterfall, there's a water source that leads into a lake or stream. We must be closer to the woods, now. I know there's streams throughout the Gapra Whitewood.

The water almost looks refreshing, like it would have been enjoyable to jump into. You know, if it weren't running through absolute pollution and garbage within a junkyard. I'm not a heathen. But, I'm also human (l'Cie, but human), and I was starting to feel quite tired by this point.

So was Hope, probably moreso than me. He tripped over a ledge that was right at the start of the bridge, gasping when he landed. I caught up to him, kneeling down to help him up.

"This isn't working," we heard Lightning say some further on the bridge. Hope's head shot up to look at her, and I felt my heart ache at the look he had on his face. "I mean, you're a liability." Woah, wait, huh? This was a total shift from the supportive nature she was giving earlier on when Hope was tackling PSICOM soldiers with the armament, when he said he wasn't scared, when he was being very tough and brave despite the elements.

And her words made me worry that I, too, was bringing her down. "Light…"

"No, I'm sorry, but I can't protect you when—"

"You can't leave me here!" Hope yelled- but something was wrong, wrong with Lightning. She stopped walking, her head bowing down and I think I heard her groan in sudden pain. "You've got to take me with you!" I grabbed at Hope's arm, trying to quiet him down so I could focus. What's happening?

But despite whatever was possibly happening to her, Lightning kept fighting back. "Enough! The whole world is-" she gasped out, falling down to one knee, yet still continuing, "-the whole world is against us!"

"Light!" I let go of Hope and quickly rushed to my sister's side. I saw a pink light emanating from her chest as she clutched at it.

But she tried to push me away, still arguing at Hope. "I can't worry about some helpless kid when I can barely keep myself alive!" Lightning was getting closer to the ground, on her hands and feet, and I knew she suffering, for whatever reason, out of the blue like this.

My hands frantically reached for her, I don't know what I was trying to do, anything to help her. Lightning was in pain and I couldn't figure out why. All I could tell was that her brand was doing something I couldn't explain. Glowing brighter and brighter, until-

"Ah!" -red and pink light shot out of the now vibrating ground, and I fell back with a yelp.

Lightning looked side to side, and quickly shoved me away as she leapt forward. I landed in front of Hope. When I looked back in front of me, there towered a large, brilliant dark knight, made of luster and metal, equipped was an enormous blade. Runes covered the knight from head to toe in a language I didn't recognize, and the colorful glow from the ground illuminated his tall frame as his white eyes stared Hope and me down. I think I heard Lightning complain with a yell from behind this… thing… but the beat of my heart in my ears muffled whatever she was saying.

The giant knight swung back, and I rushed to arm myself as Hope screamed with terror. I managed to bring my blades up just in time to block the attack, but it easily threw me back, making me hit Hope, and the both of us landing on the ground. Ouch. Ouch ouchouch-

"Look out!" Lightning was in front of us, protecting us from another blow with her sword. I rolled off of Hope, pulling him up by the arms and grabbing his boomerang off the ground to hand to him before getting to Lightning's side to help her with whatever this new problem was.

The knight stepped back, watching us, and I could hear whispers from his direction. Something in another language, the language like the ruins, maybe? Then Lightning made an abrupt choking noise, her legs shaking, before righting herself and shaking her head. Her face went pale all of a sudden, even though she grounded herself in preparation for the fight. Whatever the knight said, did something to Light that seemed to weaken her, but also raise her spirits. Was it taunting her? Can she understand him?

Hope casted a shell spell over us, right as the knight swung at us. When did Hope learn that? It was enough to prevent us from being knocked back again, but it still knocked the breath out of me. I moved back, getting air for a second, before running forward to swipe at the thing's legs.

It very easily braced itself, and I barely left a scratch on him. He kicked me back towards the other two, making me fall to my feet. Hope helped lift me back up while Lightning landed blows onto the knight.

Only what she does hurts it… I took note of this. I re-strategized, quickly letting Hope know, and we shifted to defense and restoration for Lightning so she could put all her might into taking this thing down.

Finally, we were getting somewhere. Hope kept us energized using his magic, I made sure he didn't get hurt and I would lash back at the knight when he tried to shift his attention away from Light, who was starting to make hard progress on bringing it down.

Minutes passed, and after a rather hard strike from Lightning's sword, the knight moved back. He planted his blade firmly into the ground next to him, and jumped up into the air.

"What is it doing?"

Mechanical noises were being made as the knight moved, changed, transforming. His arms and legs rotated, his helmet switching location, and a new form took place.

A broad, and quite beautiful steed now trotted towards us. The knight now took form of a horse. To say I was confused was putting it lightly.

But Lightning, she seemed to understand, somehow. She walked to the weapon, plucking it from the ground and looking it over while the horse approached her and lowered its head. Lightning put her hand on his muzzle. "Odin," she spoke. Some sort of connection was clearly between them, and I had a realization. He's an Eidolon!

In the tales of the l'Cie, there are stories of Eidolons, creatures that are summoned from the l'Cie when they need assistance if magic and inner strength aren't enough. But, he was fighting us? Although now he's docile? There must be something I had simply missed from those stories.

As quick as he had appeared, "Odin" vanished, leaving behind a sweep of rose petals that faded into the air. His blade dissolved in Lightning's hand.

She fell down to her knees again, snapping me out of the wonder I had been in after the fight. Hope and I both quickly ran to her side. "Lightning!" I gently placed my hands on the back of her shoulders, trying to support her as she was catching her breath. Concern burned in my stomach as I watched her twist her eyes shut.

"Your brand," Hope started, "it looks different. Was that an Eidolon? Like l'Cie can summon?" So I was right.

Lightning opened her eyes and glanced at him. She smirked, sitting up some and shaking her head. "Magic and mumbo-jumbo." Light let out a breath, and I brushed some of her hair away from her face. "Must've hit my head on that Purge train." She shrugged my hands off so she could stand back up, and I stood as well.

Hope rose up, not looking at either of us. "Um." He reluctantly spoke. "Am I… really in your way?"

I looked over to him, then to Lightning, who didn't say anything. She simply sheathed her gunblade and moved past him. My hand reached out to her while Hope turned, exclaiming with distraught how he's going to work better, try harder.

"Hope." Light stopped him. She was at the middle of the bridge. "I- hnn- we'll toughen you up." A smile crept onto my face at her correction. "And, I'm sorry, about before. Both of you." Then she started walking again.

Man, I can't stay mad at you when you do stuff like that, sis. My smile grew bigger. I was about to catch up when I noticed Hope still standing there, likely processing what just happened. "Hey- let's go!" I patted him on the back, and giggled when he realized and ran forward with me.

Maybe it'll all work out.