Hello! I'm back, writing for FFXIII this time. I love XIII...I really do! This is a HopexLightning fic. I started it on a whim last night, and the rating may change, so beware! I dunno. I'm just kinda rolling with the punches here.
And here's the part where I say that I do not own Final Fantasy XIII or any of its characters or creatures or whatever.
Enjoy!
It starts with one. It always starts with one. One look...one word. One touch, one kiss… Is it always just one?
Hope didn't know what to do… He was lost. He was scared. Lonely. Confused. He had lost all hope… Gran Pulse was intimidating. It was undiscovered. Dangerous. Everything around him was dangerous. Was going on this journey really worth it? Why didn't he just stay on Cocoon, back at Lake Bresha? Or better yet, why did he even follow the strange, bubbly girl? Where did she even intend on taking him back then, anyway? She pulled him along, as he was too shocked to comprehend that near-war pandemonium was happening around them. ..oh. Right. He remembered. Revenge. But Hope needed no revenge. Operation NORA was dead.
The operation was over, and there wasn't much to work towards anymore. Sure, he could fight to survive, but what was there to survive for? There was no point in fighting if there's no strength behind it. But there was something...a spark of something that he felt every now and again. When did he start feeling these sparks? Surely he could remember… He could only sense a blurred line… He remembered no transition effect. He couldn't remember when it started, or if it would ever stop. He would feel it in battle every now and then, though hazy when paired with the rush of satisfaction. He was an excellent attacker, choosing to stay behind the lines and hit each enemy with their weaknesses until they faded away in defeat. There were times when he was needed as a healer, when one was close to being down for the count, or unable to battle due to status immunities.
Just as Fang finished off the menacing feral beast, Hope cast a quick esuna on his rapidly depleting health. Poison could be a bitch sometimes. He sighed when he heard an unattractive snort come from the blond man hauling yet another gorgonopsid to the pile. Best not to waste materials, right? It was growing colder on Gran Pulse, as most assumed that they were heading into the winter months. The gorgonopsids were shrinking in numbers, making it harder for all matters of life on Gran Pulse to feed and stock up for the upcoming winter. All wildlife seemed to migrate like amphisbaenas toward an undiscovered part of Pulse. Should they be doing as the winged beasts and feral creatures were? Was it safe to be here in the winter? As if to answer Hope's unspoken question, Vanille pointed in the direction of the great migration with a bubbly "That way!"
Hope heard Fang agree in that still unfamiliar accent her voice had. He had to wonder… Had all of Gran Pulse's citizens sounded like that? Or was it just an Oerba thing? He sighed. It didn't really matter, he supposed. As far as they could tell, Fang and Vanille were the only two people left from Gran Pulse. Casting his curiousness the side, he noted that the sun had all but disappeared behind the horizon. It was that time again, and there was no safe place in sight. Mindless of their safety, however, Hope saw Snow setting up their camp for the night. He sighed once again as he realized that it was his turn to find materials for the fire tonight.
He hated this job. The Central Expanse of the Archylte Steppe was devoid of most trees, and the few that were there were strongly guarded by the creatures that used them as their homes. Hope just had to tell himself that this was survival of the fittest here as he cast spell after spell at the beast. Once the less-than-intimidating creature was dispatched, he began breaking the branches off of the tree one by one with his boomerang. He, much unlike Snow, wanted to preserve the tree as much as he could since there were so little of them around. He'd have to hurry, though. He could hear the back-up creatures running towards their fallen comrade, and he would no doubt be defeated by this many enemies alone. As they approached the area, Hope shrouded himself with a deceptisol to successfully avoid them. Shrouds certainly came in handy when you needed them, didn't they? He hauled branch after branch over to their makeshift campsite.
He glanced around the campsite, and duly noted that no one else was around. Everyone had jobs each night; some were better at certain jobs, but they switched each night to better experience themselves. Sahz had the duty of striping the kill of the day of all meat and materials, while Fang held the duty of constructing things out of said materials. Snow was clearing out the surrounding area of enemies, and would also be guarding the campsite tonight. Vanille was off finding certain plants and herbs to keep their inventory stocked up in the event of an emergency. And Lightning..? She was charting out their next move, figuring out what their plan of action was. She worked on a high ledge jutting out from the cliff side wall that their camp was based at. She could see everything from that ledge… She knew what they would do next. They would follow the migration, as it seemed to be the best course of action, given the oncoming weather. She sighed as she stared at the dark cloud rolling into view. A storm was evident, and what shelter did they have?
She jumped down from her perch on the cliff wall, and gave Hope a quizzical look. He had pulled most of the wide, heavy leaves off of each branch, and was tying them together with some sort of thin, braided pelt. Those leaves were an excellent source of food, so why waste them? They didn't taste great, but any edible food was welcomed by this point. Kneeling down across from him, she cleared her throat to gain his attention. When he saw the confused look she gave him, he explained.
"I'm sure you saw those horrendous-looking clouds up there…It looks like it's gonna be pretty bad, and I figured that since we seem to have enough food for a few days, why not use these for some shelter?" Hope spoke with a smile, feeling a sense of satisfaction wash over him as he saw Lightning understand his reasoning. "We could probably hang this up from the cracks in the wall, and maybe use a couple of these branches to hold it up away from the wall. What do you think, Light?"
She nodded in agreement, and began helping Hope construct their shelter. It really was a good idea; she was surprised that no one thought of it sooner. She glanced over to Sahz's temporary work area, and sighed at the pile of bones that he was making them in his work. What were they supposed to do with those? It was most efficient to use all of whatever it was that they had killed, and there were no exceptions to that. Usually, surrounding animals would take whatever they didn't use for themselves, but now all such creatures had moved out of the area, making it difficult for them to recycle.
Once Hope noticed that the light-haired girl had stopped working, he carefully followed her gaze over to the pile of freshly stripped bones. As if able to read her mind, he spoke. "Don't worry, Light. We can find a use for them. Maybe use them to make tools or something." This seemed to ease her mind a little. "Haha, maybe we even can make a weapon for Snow."
She smiled at his attempt of humor. It was a warm smile. A smile that never really appeared on the girl's face, really. Seeing this made him happy. He hardly ever saw her like this. They shared few moments like this together, and he savored every single one of them. He always did. Her smile faded, however, as a feeling of threat washed over her. Something was nearby...something foreign. "Stay here, Hope." He didn't get a chance to retaliate against her order, as she had hopped back up to her perch on the cliff side for surveillance. Growling to herself, she called down to Hope. "Can you see anything from down there?"
He shook his head, and sighed. It must have been just a passing thing, or perhaps an amphisbaena flying by. Either way, it didn't seem to calm the girl down much. He heard her holler down to him that she was going to go higher up to keep looking, and he sighed. He didn't want her to travel higher up. Whatever it was, it was probably up there waiting for Lightning. He couldn't understand how she could get up there in the first place…
With a final jump, she landed with a thunk on the high ground of the rock formation. She looked down at the area below, and still saw nothing. Did it disappear? No, it couldn't have. She could still sense its presence. "Damn it…" She looked behind her to check the area behind her before she headed back down to the camp. When she turned a full 180-degree around, she was quickly taken off-guard by a…what was it? It resembled an amphisbaena, but had significant differences to it. It looked more menacing than the other flyers… Surely she couldn't take this on by herself… She knew it would be unwise to attempt such a feat. Lightning backed up as much as she could before feeling the edge of the cliff, and cursed under her breath. She had her weapon drawn for defensive purposes only, and was ready to defend if needed.
This spooked the wyvern, as it swooped forward in a powerful attack with its poison-spiked tail swung toward her, and knocked her off of her feet. She could feel the painful gash on her leg burn as some form of poison replaced the steady flow of blood leaving her leg. She backed up as much as she could from her spot on the ground. She couldn't get up; she couldn't move her right leg at all. With no feeling in her leg, jumping back down to safety was out of the question. But she couldn't just stay here and let thing attack her. She retaliated as much as she could with her blade with each attack the wyvern put forward. It was no use. There was nothing she could do.
The wild beast screeched and dove right for her. She rolled almost completely out of the way, only to be trapped. That damn thing's tail had caught her by the cape, and thrashed her about wildly- she wished the damned thing would just tear off already! When the material finally tore, she flew through the air and rolled to a halt at the edge of the cliff. She had various cuts and scrapes from being hit against the wild beast's wings, among other things. That damned thing's tail had gotten her a few other places as well…her left wrist, and twice on her back. She could tell there was a paralyzing quality to whatever venom it contained. No wonder this thing's so damned powerful…
She could hear something, though. Something faint. Almost as if someone was calling her name…Hope! Right! Hope was down there, waiting for her. Maybe he could catch her… Either way, she wouldn't feel her body hit the hard ground anyway. It was worth a shot, she supposed. Using what strength she had left, she pushed her body off of the ground enough to roll herself off of the cliff.
Hope was beyond worried by this point. He heard something screech from up in the sky, and hadn't heard anything else, despite his desperate attempts to gain her attention. He tried once. Twice. Dozens of times, but to no avail. He looked upward once more, and the worry grew in his heart even more as he saw a stripe of royal red fabric flittering down to the ground. What was happening up there? That was it; he had to go up there, no question about it. He dashed toward the wall, but halted almost immediately stopped dead in his tracks. What was leaning over the edge of the wall…? Was that..? ….it fell. She fell. He saw her mouth moving, but he heard nothing. He ran forward, desperate to catch her. He wanted to catch her. He couldn't catch her.
There you have it! I decided to end this chapter here. Cliffhanger, I know (ignore the pun),
Thank you for reading! Favorites and reviews are always accepted! Flames, however...are not. :)
