Snow stood unafraid as he faced the colossal airtank coming down towards him.

"Light," I hissed, and batted at her arm. "Can we go now?" She nodded and motioned for Fang to exit. I carefully stepped over the shattered remains of the window. When I reached Snow, I knelt down to him.

"I can handle it." He said to me, despite struggling to stand.

I shook my head. "No, you did enough, let us take it from here." I got back up and started limping with haste to join the other women in the battle, when someone took hold of my hand.

I looked back to see Hope. "I'll put some hits in for Snow and you." He gave me a brave smile and ran forward.

My body tense and moved forward. I wanted to be stubborn, to still fight anyway; but a pain deep in my ankle made me stumble. Snow grabbed me to stop me taking a face-full of concrete.

He chuckled. "If I'm not going, neither are you, sis."

I gritted my teeth. "Oh- fine!" I inched back to the safe zone, begrudgingly. If anything goes wrong, I am ABSOLUTELY going in.

The battle ahead of us raged on with the fierce bolts of Lightning's magic striking the ship, sparks crackling across the air that competed with the bullets raining from the aircraft. Hope spread a mix of spells over the party, each one protecting everyone from the onslaught and strengthening their own attacks.

Meanwhile, Fang unleashed an eerie, deep and muted mix of mystical magic- it blanketed the tank with a foggy aura… I'd never seen anything like it. None of us had ever had our magic do something so strange. Then, with a wave of water, Fang drenched the upper left engine. There was a crackling, fizzling sound, followed by the lights inside of the engine blinking out. Smoke spewed upwards from the now wavering ship.

She weakened it! I kept watching- Fang took out a second engine, in the time it took Light to just begin to break one. In combination of Hope's encouraging magic, Fang's shield-depleting magic proved to make each attack more potent. I looked on with awe. I never thought we could possibly be capable of something like that.

Hope's defensive spells had gotten so much better since we faced off with Odin. There was no denying that he was stronger than before. I couldn't help but feel proud of my new friend and the progress he made. He's come a long way… he fought his own battle, and he won. Even if I had to get a little banged up, it was worth seeing him not be so sad. Besides, we were fine. Hope was starting to move past the bitterness he held against Snow and come out braver, tougher.

The trio continued to battle, with the tank attempting to launch a barrage of missiles and a torrent of bullets to take out our allies; however, our side was strong and driven, fighting back against it. The tank started to totter unsteadily, the engines shutting down, and it descended lower, lower- and down it went. I would've been worried for people below, but with the Purge of Palumpolum we saw earlier, I knew the streets were empty. We heard the crash of metal as it struck the ground.

A cloud of smoke rose up soon after.

Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the familiar whirring of another tank roared above us. A blazing spotlight shone down on the patio as a second craft flew in our direction.

"Again?" Fang yelled. "There's no end to these guys!"

But then, the aircraft was destroyed in a flash, a bright orange laser piercing straight through its body and it, too, went crashing down to the ground.

We all looked back to see where the light came from. A third skytank came our way.

"What- why-"

It swooped down in front of us, and the side-door flung open. A brigade of soldiers jogged out, armed- but not aiming at us? The colors of their armor and their pauldron lights were unfamiliar, nothing that I recognized. Who were they?

"Heya, Fang!" A soldier in the center casually strolled out, his gun perched over his shoulder. He popped his helmet off and shook his ahead around, letting his long brown hair catch the wind. He was a man with cocky eyes and a lop-sided smile that gave me the feeling that he wasn't a regular foe. It was like seeing a familiar face in a crowd of strangers, rather than anything else. And he knew Fang. An ally?

"Need a ride?"

I could see that Hope and Lightning still had their defenses up, but Fang seemed to loosen up and lower her spear. "Don't get cute," she quipped.

Next to me, Snow stood up with a grin. He looked down at me and must've seen my confusion. "He's cool." He stuck his hand out to help me up. "Let's go."

I felt my relief return.

We were taken high into the clouds, far above Palumpolum. The few of us still out of the loop were surprised to find the true identity of the skytank. It was a Calvary ship, disguised as the enemy, that took us to a second, larger ship: the Lindblum. The Lindblum served as a docking station up in the sky for other smaller craft. But even the named ship wasn't our final destination- no, we were still meant to go further.

We got of the skytank and into the Lindblum, led by the new face. "Hey, you two." Rygdea pointed to Snow and me. "Follow these guys to go get fixed up."

Both of us attempted to protest, but Lightning stopped us. "If you're going to fight, you need to be at your best. Go." Snow and I simultaneously sighed and exchanged glances. I mean, she's not wrong.

Two soldiers then guided us to an infirmary cabin. A nurse inside had us get onto some beds and a second nurse came in to assist. A white curtain was drawn to give privacy.

The nurse tending to me took out a pen and began writing on a clipboard. "Name?"

"Aurora."

"Okay. So were you injured? You were limping." She gestured towards my leg.

I nodded. "Yes. My sister and my friend already worked on it, it's really not that bad-"

The nurse giggled. "This is my job. I'm sure they did wonderful work, but it can't hurt to let me look, right?" I felt a little apprehensive. Rygdea knew we were l'Cie, but did the rest of the crew know? "Another part of my job is confidentiality." She had a warm smile. "My partner and I already know about you and your friends. We are only here to help."

It was odd to have someone be so accommodating while also knowing that I was a l'Cie, I was supposed to be an enemy. Mr. Estheim was nice, but that was different, he was the father to a teammate. The nurse was a total stranger.

"'rora, play nice!" I heard Snow say to me from the other side of the curtain.

"I am!"

The nurse laughed at our banter. "Snow here had already been to our unit before. We know what we're up against."

Hearing Snow chatting with his nurse, and this nurse seemingly already be familiar with him gave me some ease in letting myself trust these people.

I took a deep breath and decided to let myself be aided by the nurse. "Alright."

I could see the nurse smile with triumph. "I'm glad. Now, may I see?"

I leaned over and unlaced the shoe over my injured foot. Taking my sneaker and sock off still hurt, even with how much Light and Hope had done to get it better. My ankle was bruised, swollen.

The nurse knelt down and gently took my ankle into her hands. "Hmm, yes, I see. And how did you get hurt?"

"There was a, um, blast. Explosion. My sister told me it was broken, I think."

"The same sister that helped take care of you?"

I nodded.

The nurse pressed along the side of my foot. "It's been set very well…" She murmured to herself as she kept examining. "I'm assuming there was a use of some kind of magic or you have accelerated healing?"

"It's- it's magic. My friend is good at it, but it was a really bad break." I absentmindedly nibbled on my bottom lip, trying to ignore the sensitive pain running through my foot under the nurse's fingers.

"Your friend helped a lot. I would say this injury is more like a fresh sprain, now." She stood back up and brushed her hands on her scrubs. "With some rest and a brace, you should be able to be back on that foot in no time." I felt relieved. I knew the bone was back together, but I couldn't tell if any damages were still severe inside.

The nurse jotted something down on her clipboard. "Is anything else wrong?"

"Oh- right here…" My hand hovered over the right side of my abdomen. "And I hit my head."

"You were really thrown around, huh?" She set her clipboard back down. "The ribs, if your sister set them right, will have to heal on their own. As for your head, I'm going to have you do a few things to check it, okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

The nurse had me lie down on my back. She pressed over my ribs with her eyes closed, mumbling to herself as she did it. "There's five, six… eight… alright, you can get back up." She quickly wrote something down and turned back to me. "Your side is just bruised up. The ribs are able to withstand quite a bit, so you don't need to worry about that. So, now, to check your head injury, I'm going to do three different things; one, you're going to follow this little light with your eyes without moving your head," she plucked a pen light from her breast pocket, "two, you'll try to balance on one foot- your good one, of course, and three, I'll say a few different words and have you repeat them back. Sound good?"

"Sounds good."

The nurse did the light test, moving the light up, down, side to side, repeating it with me covering one eye and then the other. When she was done with that, I was instructed to balance on my good foot for ten seconds. I wavered a bit, but stayed upright. Then we did the word test.

"Yes, good! I would say you have a mild concussion, but it's just a little bump. I recommend trying to take it easy, but I know that's going to be hard right now with what you're having to do." She pulled the curtain open and walked to a cabinet. She pulled out a black fabric brace wrap. "I'll put this on you and you can head back."

I sat onto the bed and put my foot out. "Thank you."

"Of course." The nurse put my sock back on my foot, and pulled the brace over it, adjusting it until it was snug over my ankle. She also helped me put on my shoe and lace it up. "Good to go."

I got up and smiled to her, thanking her again. Snow was also finished with his check up, and the two of us went back out to our group. Everyone was watching a TV screen in the hangar. We watched the news to catch up on the world outside of Palumpolum for the last couple of days.

"There she is. The Palamecia, pride of the Sanctum Skyfleet! This mighty flagship currently serves as a prison for the l'Cie apprehended in Nautilus."

Sazh and Vanille? Or are there others? On the TV, an overhead shot gave for an incredible view of the Palamecia- the huge craft was regal, with white and gold, sleek body. The shape resembled the seagulls that would fly over Bodhum- and then I realized, it was the same ship from back in Bresha. It'd been trying to follow us ever since the start. Of course they found Sazh and Vanille.

"The l'Cie will face official sentencing upon the convoy's arrival in the capital."

"Then what's with the freak show?" Snow angrily asked.

"So the Primarch can stand in judgment of the villainous l'Cie, with their executions as the climax." In front of us stood Cid Raines, member of the Guardian Corp and Cavalry commander. His name felt familiar to be at Snow's previous mention of him, and now that we were in his presence aboard his aircraft, I could recall why. Lightning and Cid, being within the same area of the government, have encountered each other on different occasions. She's told Serah and me about him briefly in the past, He's quiet, but friendly, and shares a similar perspective of our government to Light.

Cid continued. "The people will cheer their demise, and fal'Cie dominion will be undisputed."

"It really is just all a power play." My voice was tinged with disappointed.

"All part of the plan."

Cid looked back to the TV. "Yes. But, it also presents an opportunity."

"In a display of unwavering dedication to duty, the Primarch himself has boarded the Palamecia, and focused his personal attention on resolving the Pulse crisis."

Resounding and equal disgust came over our group at the mention of Galenth Dysley. Fang was irritated. "They're baiting us. Trying to draw us out."

It was a tactic meant to trick us into finding Vanille and Sazh- just so we could be trapped and killed. Fancy date with the Primarch on a ridiculously expensive airship, then end the night with a little bloodshed. Romantic.

"All righty, bets are on the table." Rygdea stepped up. "We leave when you're ready. I'll be standing by."

Light put a hand on my shoulder and drew me away from the others as they prepared to go. I looked up at her after we drifted away into a corner. "Something up?"

"I just wanted to talk." She kept her hand on me. "How are you, what did their doctors say?"

"Oh, I'm doing pretty well." I stuck my foot out and wiggled it. The added structure that the brace provided had already started to help with the limp. "They said you did a good job patching me up, and they were actually really nice."

Light gave me a small smile, but it didn't last. She sighed. "You think you're going to be up to this?"

"A few bruises won't keep me back." Light's face was creased with concern. I took her hand and held it firmly in my own, and gave it a squeeze. "Sis, I promise, I'm doing fine now. I want to do this. They need us."

"It's just… that was a really close call, Aurora."

"Yeah… it was scary. Especially not knowing if Hope and Snow were okay." I peered over Light's shoulder, seeing Hope and Snow talking to each other, reminding myself they they were still there, still alive. "But as long as we're together, we're going to be okay, right?"

The smile returned, and Light put her other hand over mine. "Right. Then, we should get going."

[Author: Longer chapters coming soon!]