Hey all! This is my first FFXIII fanfic, so please go easy on me if the characters are a little OOC for the first bit - at the moment, I'm just trying to get a feel for how they act as written characters. Also, since I currently have two story ideas (gah!), I'll be going back and forth between this story, and Negative, another FFXIII LightningxHope story. Please review - helpful critique is welcome! - and I hope you enjoy this fanfic! :)
Also, while I would like to think that I am an insanely gifted writer and never make mistakes (MUAHAHAHAHA!), I'm only human, and I haven't written fiction in quite a while, so if anyone wants to beta this story, just PM me!
Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN FFXIII. Sadness. :(
Lightning heard a commotion nearby and stood, a frown tugging at her lips. True, they were on Gran Pulse, land of monsters and horrors beyond your wildest imaginations, formerly referred to as "hell" by the unknowing citizens of Cocoon, but they were within the city limits of New Bodhum – for any monsters to come within sight of the relatively new civilized area was passing rare. Hope caught the look on her face, taking a sip of his sweetened tea and asked, "What's wrong?"
His answer came in the form of a spontaneous lightning storm, just visible between the buildings from the café where they sat, and his own curiosity was caught as he followed Lightning towards the disturbance. Maneuvering their way through the people who crowded the streets, they made their way to the city limits, seeing another flash of lightning coming from the hills that surrounded the valley in which New Bodhum was nestled. Breaking into a full-out run now that there were no more citizens in their way, they narrowed the distance between them and the odd lightning strikes in little time.
Coming around a hill, both were surprised by the scene before them: three strange creatures, resembling winged Cie'th, were attacking a pair of teenagers. Even as Lightning and Hope moved forward though, drawing their respective weapons to help the pair, the final Cie'th-like creature was defeated, its form dissolving into dust before it reached the ground.
In the suddenly silent aftermath, the pair took a moment to take stock of their injuries as Lightning and Hope made their way forward, for the moment unnoticed. "How's the arm?" the taller of the two teens leaned over next to the younger, long fingers poking and prodding said limb before the healing blue light of a cure appeared, only to vanish as it soaked into the wounded limb.
"Better," the younger said, a note of relief in the feminine tone. "But why -"
Whatever she had been about to say was cut off as the pair caught sight of Lightning and Hope, a mixture of expressions running across their faces. The taller, older one – who Lightning and Hope could now see was a boy, despite the shock of pale pink hair that seemed to stick up in every direction – had at first shifted in front of the younger, his green eyes narrowing at the perceived threat before widening in shock. The younger, a girl only inches shorter than the boy, stepped out from behind her protection and moved forward, holding out a hand to the silent Lightning.
"Hello!" she said cheerfully, a bright smile on her face, her deep teal eyes open and friendly. "I'm Elpis, and this is my older brother, Jakuta. Nice to meet you!"
Her ready cheer broke the stillness that had settled over the quartet, and when Lightning made no move to respond, Hope stepped forward instead, accepting the girl's handshake with a smile of his own. "Nice to meet you, Elpis. I'm Hope, and this," he gestured vaguely to the woman beside him, "is Lightning."
"Isn't Hope a girl's name?" the boy, Jakuta, snorted.
Hope opened his mouth to retort, feeling his cheeks flush, but Elpis was already turned around, her brow furrowed though her tone was light. "And aren't boys supposed to not have pink hair?" she teased her brother, dispelling the tension and redirecting the attention away from her brother and onto herself. "Please, ignore my brother – he can be a real jerk sometimes, but he's really a nice person somewhere inside that ball of bitchiness and standoffishness."
Hope grinned at her, a secretive sort of look in his eyes. "Don't tell anyone I told you this, but it sounds like someone else I know," he said in a mock-whisper, leaning forward conspiratorially and shooting glances at Lightning, who just "hmph"ed and turned away, her arms crossed.
"Really?" Elpis's eyes widened, and she clapped her hands over her mouth as if that could keep the silent Lightning from hearing her. Lightning glared at Hope – why was he being so friendly to a strange pair of kids? – but he only winked back at her, continuing to converse with the cheerful girl.
Instead of trying to listen to their conversation, she turned her gaze to the boy, whose green eyes darted back and forth between Hope and his sister. He seemed ill at ease but was attempting to hide it, his posture stiff and arms crossed over his chest, one finger tapping as he did a survey of their surroundings. Finally, he broke into the rapid conversation between his sister and Hope.
"Sis, the sun's starting to set. We need to get moving." He spoke succinctly, as if reporting to a senior officer, but his gaze was gentle as Elpis turned to him and nodded.
Elpis turned back to Hope, throwing her arms around his torso in a hug. "I liked meeting you, Mr. Hope, Ms. Lightning!" she said, sounding like a child of six despite her teenage appearance. "Ciao!" And she turned and ran off, her brother not far behind her.
Lightning gazed after them a while, feeling Hope's gaze on her. Finally, she turned to him. "What?" she asked bluntly.
"…Nothing," Hope shook his head. "We should get going, too – we did promise Serah and Snow to help with the preparations…" Lightning groaned at this, turning and stalking back towards the city limits of New Bodhum.
"And so it begins…"
A sigh.
"But how did they get here? They should not have existed- - -"
"We'll just have to figure it out. For now, let's just make sure there's no more in this area – we can't afford to have them running loose."
A nod. "Let's go."
So there it is! Going for a little suspense - I absolutely love writing cliff hangers - but I won't pretend that it's impossible to guess who's who.
Also, the current title is definitely not set-in-stone, so I'm more than open to suggestions! At the moment, I have a vague idea of where the story is going, but ideas are always welcome :)
Please review! Not to beg or anything, but reviews tend to make me update faster, if only because I know there are people waiting for more :D
