"We fight it! Radnorock!" Snow said, jumping off the crystal mound he was on. "That's the reason we're L'cie. To stop it- to keep Cocoon safe!"

"Well, news flash, dummy. Sanctum L'cie protects Cocoon, not the L'cie who come from Pulse." I said, trying to inform him.

"Yeah, so give us one reason to believe that? One reason." Sazh asked him and I crossed my arms, probably know the answer.

"Serah." He said and I glared at him. He was definitely stupid.

"Serah? Your precious waifu?" I rolled my eyes, looking away from him.

"Just hear me out." He stepped closer to me and I turned my back on him. "She said to protect Cocoon, then she turned to crystal. That's the proof right there. She completed her focus! That means ours is to save Cocoon!" I heard him walk away so I turned to see him walk towards Lightning. "Serah's Fal'cie was the same as ours. Our focus has got to be the same. We were chosen to be guardians, to defeat Radnorock! It makes sense!"

"Not really..." I mumbled to myself, still stuck on the fact that we are Pulse L'cie.

"The hell it does! You're grasping at straws, son!" Sazh told Snow, seemingly thinking the same thing I was. "Maria was right. Pulse Fal'cie are Cocoon's enemies. We just got recruited by one of them. If I were a betting man, I'd put us on the other side."

"So Serah's an enemy too?" Snow glared at the afro'd man. He sighed and looked at Lightning, "I don't buy it. We have the power to save Cocoon. If we work together and carry out our focus-"

"Our focus?" Lightning drew her gunblade and held it to his throat, "The Fal'cie took Serah from us, and you wanna help it? Who's side are you on?!"

I sighed and walked to Hope, "I'm with Sazh and Lightning."

"Freeze!" We heard a voice and Sanctum Soldiers surrounded us. I growled and kept Hope behind me and summoned my blade. A beam of red light aimed at my heart. "Put your hands behind your head and drop your weapons."

I growled at him and Lightning dropped her weapon, doing as instructed. I lowered my weapon, glaring at the soldier.

"That means you too, cutie." The soldier said and I was outraged.

"Maria, it's okay." Lightning had a smirk on her face. I knew by then she had a plan so I dismissed my blade and put my hands behind my head.

"Good girl..." He spoke to me like I was a dog which really provoked me. I glared at him and he scoffed, "I'm guessing you all fall off the Purge train?"

"Tch, Maybe." Lightning turned her head and smirked, talking back.

"Are you talking back to me? Huh!?" The soldier said, marching up to Lightning and pointing the gun in her face. A wave of fear made me nervous for Lightning.

"Lightning..." I whispered and she nodded, telling me it was going to be okay. I pouted.

"Nice gun..." She sassed and knocked it out of his hand. She kicked him up into the air and kneed him in the ribs, which I swore I heard a large crack. I cringed as she kicked up her weapon and slashed through a soldier. I widened my eyes and my mouth was agape. Granted, she was an ex-GC but damn, I'm not even that skilled...

"Come on! Let's help!" Vanille said and I nodded. I recalled my engine blade and struck a soldier down with a warp strike.

"Too slow," I smirked and we started to fight with the rest. The fight with soldiers was easier than Cie'th.

"I thought they'd be tougher than that." Sazh bent over a dead soldier, "These are PSICOM Soldiers, yeah? Supposed to be cream-of-the-crop."

"Yeah, but PSICOM's an anti-Pulse task force." Snow said and I nodded.

"All they do now is show off anymore. Well, ever since the war centuries ago. They haven't fought a war since, either." I crossed my arms and looked around for more just in case.

"So, from what you're telling me, it sounds like a regular old soldier has got more training than special forces," Sazh said and I nodded. That was pretty much it, great summary Sazh!

"Nothing for us L'cie to be afraid of." Snow said and I groaned at his cockiness. Seems it never stops.

"Look, we still need to stay cautious and alive! You don't know the army as much as I do!" She glared at him.

"I do too." Lightning said, "Their grunts maybe green but PSICOM's elites are cold-blooded beasts. They hit the field and it's game over."

"Uh-oh, then let's run away!" Vanille said and ran off. "Ciao!"

"Vanille!" I shouted out for her and she giggled.

"Hey, wait!" Sazh said and sighed. A Chocobo chick flew out and kwehed. "What's a man to do."

Yet again me and Lightning were behind the pack.

"I sure hope Snow is right about this." I sighed, slightly annoyed all he could think about is his fiance

"He's an idiot, he's never going to be right. He wasn't right when he said he was going to protect Serah, so how could he be right about our Focus?" Lightning retorted.

"Maybe you're right... But do you have any idea what our focus is?" I asked her and she went quiet. I knew then she had no idea. "Eh, we'll figure it out!"

"...Maybe." she shrugged as we walked.

~

After a lot of walking around, we found one of the Purge trains that wasn't completely turned to debris.

"I wonder what else is down here to," Vanille said.

"I just hope everybody's okay," I sighed, and followed Lightning down the ramp. Then, she just stopped.

"What's the matter, Lightning?" I asked, and then looked over to where she was staring at. It was a person in crystal. Wait...

"Is that...?" I whispered to Hope asking him. Snow answered my question instead.

"Serah!" Snow went to dig her up with the help off Vanille and Sazh.

Only minutes later, I heard footsteps getting further and further away. I turned around, and Lightning was leaving! How could she leave her own sister trapped in crystal? Sure, Snow and Serah started all this but I won't leave Serah if she was my sister.

"You're just going to leave her?" Snow noticed she was walking away.

She stopped, "PSICOM will be here soon. If they find us, we're all dead. You think Serah would want that? You think you know how she feels, Snow?" She started to walk off again.

"If I leave her, then I'll never know," Snow said, which made Lightning stop again, "We'll be fine, I can handle anything they throw at us. No one will die. I will protect Serah, and Cocoon."

Lightning turned around, fury burning her eye sockets.

I knew someone was going to be killed. Snow, definitely.

She walked, more like stomped, up to Snow, and smacked him hard, and he fell over on Sazh.

"Does she look protected to you?" Lightning asked him.

"I can save her!" Snow yelled, and stood back up.

Lightning smacked him again, and he fell over on Sazh again. "What more could you possibly do?"

"Whatever it takes!" Snow said, slightly frowning at her. Lightning growled as she lowered her fist.

"We're getting nowhere fast. Especially if we're fighting..." I pouted and looked at Hope.

Hope looked at me with those big green eyes. I heard Sazh walking away and muttering something about Lightning. I rolled my eyes and checked on Hope's emotional state. He nodded his okay then we heard Sazh yelling.

Lightning had already unholstered her gun blade, and Vanille had got her Binding Rod out.

Everyone ran up there, and the thing jump down off the ledge, making Hope fall back. I stood strong but stared at it like a wide-eyed owl.

"Holy cow!!" I yelled and helped Hope up.

"Stay back!" Snow yelled at me, Sazh, and Hope. We did as told, and stayed out of the battle.

~

We just stood there, staring at crystal Serah.

'What are we going to do?' I thought, then I saw Lightning starting to leave again.

Snow ran in front of her, "You're leaving?"

"We want to help Serah too," Sazh sighed, "But without tools, we could be diggin' for days. Army's on our trail. For now, we've got to keep moving. For now."

"So I just abandon her and save myself?" Snow yelled.

"What about your Focus?" That caught Snow's attention.

"What happened to banding together and saving the world? Isn't that what you promised? Now you want to forget it all and die right here?" Lightning said, "Snow? You're nothing but talk." She walked off again.

"Lightning!" Snow stopped her, "I'll do whatever it takes. I'll finish this Focus, and keep Serah safe. That's my promise."

"Great job so far," and she walked off again, not stopping.

Sazh walked over to Snow and sighed. Snow smiled, and told him, "Stay out of trouble."

Sazh patted him on the back, "You too."

Then it was just me, Vanille, and Hope. The youngest out of all of our group, looking like little puppies with our sad faces.

"Get going," Snow told us.

Vanille left first, then Hope started to walk away, but came back.

"Snow, we..." Hope started, but didn't finished.

"Save it for later, kiddos. You'll get left behind." Snow pointed at the others.

"Snow we really need to-" I said, walking to Hope's side, Snow interupted me ... Again.

"Save it for next time, okay? We'll meet again." Snow gave a small grin.

"Yeah, count on it," and he started to walked back off. I sighed angrily and punched Snow's arm.

"Hey!" Snow said, rubbing his arm and I huffed.

"Maybe one of these days, you'll learn not to interrupt me, you big jerk." I walked passed him, stopping when I was about ten feet away from him. "But..."

"Hm?"

"I guess I can relate to you. Things can get pretty rough sometimes, but no matter what, the promise of me keeping my baby brother safe will always be the reason I will keep on fighting."

"Wow... You have a strong sense of purpose, don't you?"

"Of course." I started to walk of, "And Serah will be the one to keep you going, Snow. Keep her in your heart."

"Right."