Final Fantasy XIII: The Storm War

All right, the rewrite of this story is actually getting pretty good reviews, which makes me nervous. I don't want to disappoint anyone, but EtherTwist had a very good point, there isn't any reason to stress myself out over something that is supposed to be fun for me. I hope you all enjoy this story, but if this isn't fun for me, there really isn't much point. Anyway, there's some fluff in this chapter!

I don't own anything it's copyright Squeenix.

Chapter 3: Questions and Answers

Light just sort of stared at the group of fal'Cie, unsure of what to do, or what to say. They said they wanted to help, but how different were they really from the Sanctum? She was sure that they would just be used, like they had before, it didn't matter who they were.

"Look, I don't care who you are, we can handle whatever it is, alone."

Titan looked to the others, then the dark skinned woman step forward. "I am Anima, if you do not wish the help of the others, at least allow me to stay. You're powers are impeded, as I am, my abilities are lacking. You will find battle not a simple thing, however if I am close, I may be able to help with that."

Lightning frowned and was about to take her confusion and aggression out on Anima, yet again, but Hope grabbed her, his bare arms closing around her to keep her immobile. Only then did she really become aware that the Lieutenant was only in a tank top. She could feel his heartbeat against her back, his impressively muscled chest rising and falling with his quickened breathing. His chin was now resting on top of her head and the nineteen-year-old man was more then strong enough now to keep her in place with the leverage he held. "Hope, let me go!"

"We should listen to what they have to say. Anima is here, and will speak with us… she should know our focus." His head bent down to whisper in her ear, his breath warm, sending a shudder through her. He let her go, and walked around her, so all she had was a view of his broad back, covered only in a dark brown sleeveless shirt and matching pants.

She stepped forward and put a hand between Hope's shoulder blades, peaking around his broad shoulders, feeling quite small and frail despite her independent personality. She could feel her wounds seeping again; her side was burning and aching, causing her temper flare. "Fine, we'll listen, for now." She glared at the group of fal'Cie, studying them. The tall, winged one had a small girl on his shoulders, and he reminded her of Dahaka, the fal'Cie they'd fought at Taijin's Tower. The girl, she didn't know, but the round little man was probably Atomos.

Anima took the time to step closer; Light took her trepidation as fear of her own, aforementioned weakness, not regret for what was happening to them again. Fal'Cie were creatures without feelings. They were dead things, going through their motions like automatons. Seeing them thusly, it was disconcerting. She wanted to see them as humans, when that was anything but the case. The being that turned them into l'Cie looked to Lightning and Hope, her crystal eyes sharp, if not devoid of warmth. She didn't know if it was the nature of her, or if it was just the color.

"We will be staying with you, until you complete your focus."

"Wait," Hope finally spoke up, his hand moving to rest against Light's bandaged midriff, the simple touch reminding her that she was painfully under dressed. It was fortunate that he'd done that though; because it distracted her long enough for the man to speak and not have her go throttle the lot of them. She grimaced at the dirty trick. The Lieutenant glanced at her for a moment before looking back to Anima. "Why don't you just tell us what it is? It isn't the same, is it? If it was, then we would have turned to crystal the moment Cocoon exploded."

"You misunderstand, your focus wasn't to destroy Cocoon; it was to save the people there from fal'Cie rule."

Lightning blinked then, her gaze going to the Pulse fal'Cie, "so is our focus the same?"

"I can not tell you. That is your job, to interpret the intent of the Universe. The way a focus is given is a complicated thing. I give the intent, but the way it is carried out depends on the state of things. It is the Sanctum fal'Cie that now push you into another war. Barthanelus has slain our Queen… the Goddess is dead. We are as mortal as you now, and only retain a fraction of our powers."

Hope frowned at Anima, moving his arm so Light wouldn't be constrained. "Barthandlus killed your Goddess? Why is that our problem? Shouldn't you battle and kill each other? We were free!"

"No, you are forever mine, even if I lift the brand."

The lieutenant held his arm out, removing the glove that held his manadrive to bare his mark. "Remove it."

"I can not Hope Estheim. You will need your powers to fight Barthandelus and the others."

Lightning stepped forward then, gripping the gun in her hand. This conversation was taking a turn for the worse, and she could tell Hope was getting just as annoyed as she was. "What others?"

"The Goddess revived all the fal'Cie, the Pulsian and Lindzei alike, and because of Barthandelus' betrayal, we all now bear this human form. As you saw with Barthandelus' human skin, we all at one time could transform. It was a gift from the Goddess so that we could earn the faith and trust of you humans. Over the years, everyone but Barthandelus lost the ability, or didn't care enough to use it. Once, we each cared for a tribe of humans here, on Gran Pulse. We understand now, that we are not needed, and this war of his design will happen, and we do not wish to cause more loss. You will be our swords, and we will be your shields."

Titan stepped forward then, his handsome face impassive, "we will stay with you until you complete your focus," he reiterated, "and we will help you fight the others. They are numerous, even with our help you may not win."

"Tch," Lightning turned from them, looking up at Hope. She still wondered when he became a head taller then she was. She looked over her shoulder and crossed her arms, her messy, pink hair slipping into her eyes. "What good is a miracle if you don't make it happen yourself." She looked to her companion again and sighed, "we need to find the others. Your Captain has everything under control for the moment, I don't think we're needed." They were already getting strange looks from the refugees, and she sighed. "Titan, go to the Faultwarrens. We'll meet you there once we find everyone. We have marks again, we'll use the teleport stone in the Haerii Archeaopolis."

He seemed annoyed, but he nodded in a haughty way and moved, all of them jumping up to the top of the plateau. That must have been the tremor from earlier, a gang of fal'Cie jumping down, off of ninety foot cliffs. She frowned a bit and looked to Hope. He seemed just as disgruntled, and she reached out, placing her hand on his wrist, just above his gloves. "Come on, let's find the others… wasn't Damish supposed to get me a uniform?"

Hope nodded, and moved to find Snow and the girls when he noticed Lightning sway a bit. He moved next to her, just in time to catch her as she fell. He scooped her up, letting her lay against his shoulder. He could feel through the thin tank top that she was burning up, and his brow furrowed. "Light, you're injured worse then you're letting on."

"I'm fine," she said softly, and he frowned more, moving back toward where the tents were set up, finding one that was empty and had mats down for treating the wounded. She could complain all she wanted, but he wasn't going to back down this time. He pulled his coat off of her as gently as he could, laying her back onto the mat. She was rapidly losing strength, so she didn't put up much of a fight.

He grabbed one of the med-packs lying around, and pulled her nightshirt up, being careful not to expose her chest and rile her up. At this point, she was just letting him tend her wounds; he wasn't going to jeopardize that advantage. He started to cut the bandages away, when he felt her hand move to rest on top of his.

"Hope," she said softly, her blue eyes opening again, "you're hands are shaking."

He swallowed and blinked, calming down as best he could. "I'm worried about you." He finished cutting through the gauze, his hands more sure, and he peeled it back. She gasped at the pain, her stomach muscles clenching involuntarily. The medic was worried by what he saw. The wound was angry and red, the center was starting to puss, telling him that either there was something in the wound he hadn't seen before, or it was already starting to infect. With all the remedy and cure spells he'd put in her, he was beginning to think something was in the wound. Everything had been so dirty and dark when he found her he'd probably missed something.

"Lightning," he said softly, his hand moving to rest against her flat belly to brace her and keep her down, the other hand moving to the wound. "I think you've got something stuck in your side, it's going to hurt, but I need to get it out." She winced a bit, but nodded, closing her eyes to brace herself, and then Hope took a breath and slipped his finger into the puncture, causing the strawberry blond to let out a little cry, her eyes squeezing shut. She was biting down on her lip so hard she was breaking the skin. He shifted onto his knees and straddled her hips, using his thighs to keep her down, his other hand caressing her cheek. Using his teeth he pulled his glove off, setting the manadrive down, then gave her the leather. "Bite down on this…" She managed to understand, and when he put the glove in her mouth her hand shot out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it with all her strength. He was trying to feel around, for anything foreign, and after a few more moments, he found something. His hand was slick with blood now, and he was having a hard time grabbing it, but he managed to get another finger into the hole without tearing the muscle more, and pulled the nail out. It was the kind that was used to assemble houses, and in the explosion it must have been driven into her side with enough force to get buried.

Hope immediately started pumping cure spells right into the wound, and he was glad to see this time, the wound was covering over. His heart was pounding in his chest and he closed his eyes as he casted another spell, his head sinking a bit, his breath erratic. He hated hurting her, and it seemed since his return, that was all he'd managed to do. He tried to steady his nerves when he felt her thumb brush his cheek, and he opened his eyes, realizing tears had slipped free and he hadn't even noticed it.

"That isn't what you think," he mumbled, only causing her to grunt in an amused way. Hope looked down at her, seeing the color returning to her cheeks made him feel better.

"I'm alright, thanks to you." Some strange, warm feeling was spreading over her, looking up at him, wearing very little… it was like lust or something, but that was absurd. This was Hope, and while he wasn't a kid anymore, it was still Hope. Those fluttery feelings she was having in the pit of her stomach weren't allowed. The way he was looking at her though, like he was going to lose her, it tore at her heart.

He just watched her, and then he leaned forward, brushing his lips against her cheek. "Light, I want to tell you why I had to leave."

"You had something you had to deal with," she muttered, suppressing the pleasant shudder that wanted to run through her body.

"I couldn't see you every day and want you like I did when I could get you in trouble."

She blinked, and despite being tired and in pain, she moved his face to look in her eyes. "Want me? Hope, I'm twenty six."

"So is Snow," he said softly, "and you let him marry your sister.

"She wasn't fourteen…"

"Light, give me a chance to prove…"

"No, Hope, I'm not going to risk my job, and yours, because you have hormone issues when I'm around."

"It isn't hormones Lightning," he said, his voice growing angry, "it isn't because I want to have you, then leave. I want to be the one that makes you smile like Serah does. I want to be your Snow. I want to be the one that won't let you down, that stays by your side, no matter what."

"Hope, I'm not Serah. The love and wonder that she has, it's dead in me, it has been for a long time."

The silver haired man shook his head, moving his hand to touch her cheek gently, the honesty in his eyes was both wondrous and uncomfortable for her. "I don't believe that Light… I don't believe your heart is dead. I saw your face, when we were finally free, when Serah was returned. You were happy, and I'm sorry that we all moved and left you alone… I didn't know you'd turn back to your cold ways. If I'd known, I'd never left."

She frowned and pushed him, he wasn't ready for her strength, which had recovered with all the healing magic, and she sat up, grabbing him by the collar. "It's been years, don't come back and act like you know what I've gone through. I've given up on happiness; get that through your skull. There isn't anything you can do, and you'd be better off finding some young woman and being with her. I'm damaged goods, and I always have been."

The look on his face wasn't one of anger, it was sadness, and it deflated her fury a bit. She sighed, and let him go, scooting away, her hand supporting the scab on her side. "Look, Hope, I can't give you want you need."

"You're wrong Lightning," he said softly. "You already do, just by living. I love you, more then anyone and anything, if I can never be with you, fine, but I won't be with anyone else either. I'll at least be with you in your misery."

She didn't know whether or not to punch him, her hand balling up and her anger apparent. He then did something that she hadn't been expecting. He invaded her personal space again, leaning in to brush his lips against hers. She sucked in a startled breath and he pressed in, determined to show her what she was missing, or die trying.

She moved her hands against his chest to shove him back, but his hand went to the side of her face and caressed her skin. She sighed into it, her body responding to him, even if her mind was screaming at her to stop.

When a few minutes had passed, he pulled back, looking down at the flushed Lightning. Her cheeks were the same color as her wild hair. "Just a chance, if I can't show you that you are deserving of love, then I'll never bother you again."

"I can't lose you," she whispered, even if it didn't sound like she'd intended, he understood, and he reached up and squeezed her shoulder before moving back, getting to his feet to go wash the blood away.

"You won't, no matter what, I'll always be your friend." He smiled just a bit, his green eyes boring into her. Lightning swallowed, uncomfortable and cold all of a sudden without him nearby, and she frowned, annoyed at the weakness she was showing.

She reached up and poked him in the forehead, her face turning impassive again. "Get me some clothes," she groused, earning a little chuckle from him.

"Aye Captain," he said cheekily, turning to leave the tent. Once he got outside, he let out a shaky breath. It hadn't gone as well as he'd hoped, but it had been better then he feared. She hadn't bashed his skull in, which was a bonus. He rubbed the spot she'd poked him, "at least," he whispered to himself, "she didn't punch me…"

.:xXx:.

Snow, Vanille and Fang made it back to the Colony pretty quickly, especially since the pugilist had to carry Vanille most of the way. They needed to find Hope, based on what Fang had told him, they knew he was their medic, even thought they still didn't know what powers Lightning had access too. The red head lying in his arms was trying to stay upbeat, he could tell, she was smiling and jabbering on about everything that had happened while they were sleeping, wanting to know all the details. Fang had told her a few times to save her strength, but she insisted that she was fine, a cure spell would put her 'right as rain.'

"Snow?" He looked down to Vanille as they crossed through the gate into the settlement and she smiled softly.

"Yeah?"

"You and Serah have any babies yet?"

He frowned a bit, and cleared his throat, obviously not comfortable with the question. However it wasn't his way to not be honest. "No, not yet. We're trying, but nothing yet."

"Maybe you aren't trying enough!"

Fang chuckled at the look of indignation on Snow's face. "Vanille, you aren't supposed to tell a guy that."

"Why not? It would make sense, if you want a baby, and don't have one, that you'd do whatever you could to make it happen."

"We do 'it' plenty, Vanille," he frowned a bit, changing the subject. "Where do you think Hope took Sis?"

"Probably those tents, she needed some healing after her house fell on her." Fang pointed back, and he nodded, starting toward the back of the settlement. Vanille was finally being quiet and resting, he looked down to check on her and she gave him a tiny smile.

"We'll be there soon," he said, trying not to jostle her too much.

"Kay!" She chirped, and he looked to Fang. He could tell she was worried, and despite her attempts to seem chipper. It only took a few minutes to make it to the area the military had set aside for the dead and wounded. Snow tried not to look at the pile of people they'd lost, not wanting to recognize anyone. Everyone he loved was back at the other Colony, other then Light, and they knew she was all right.

Fang moved in front and lead the way, sensing the tension rising in the fighter, indecision clouding his ability to lead. Snow fell into step behind her, keeping his eyes on Fang's back rather then looking at the causalities.

Luckily for them, they came across the command tents, and spotted Hope standing outside a smaller triage unit, obviously put aside for commanders and the like. They could plan and be treated at the same time. The silver haired young man saw them about the same time Snow called his name, he looked up, startled, but when his eyes came across Vanille, he immediately moved toward them.

"What happened?" He frowned up at the blond man, though he didn't wait for an answer and he immediately started pumping cure spells into Vanille.

"Behemoth King," Snow said softly, "we barely defeated it."

After a few more spells, the young woman was standing on her own, even though Fang had her arm around her shoulders to make sure it stayed that way, the two men stepped off to the side while Fang changed the bandage on Vanille and checked on how well the wounds had healed. Snow and Hope had their back to the girls while Fang fussed; the older man took the opportunity study his silver haired friend.

"What's wrong with you? I figured you'd be used to this l'Cie thing by now."

Hope blinked and looked up, taking a minute for the question to sink in. "Huh? No, that isn't what's bothering me… it's Light."

"Sis? What'd she do now?"

"It wasn't her, it was me… and I'm sorta scared to go back in there now."

"In where? The tent? Light's in the tent?"

Hope sighed a bit and nodded, glad they were out of earshot now. "There was a nail in her side, that was why she wasn't healing right. I got it out, she should be alright now… but…" His face flushed red and Snow looked confused for a moment. Why was he blushing? Then the conversation he'd had with the girls came back to him, something Hope and Lightning had to work out on their own…

"What, did you kiss her?"

Hope's mouth dropped open, shocked that the rather thick guy caught on immediately. Well, other then Fang and Vanille, he was the most experienced when it came to dating.

Snow snorted, "stop looking at me with your mouth all agape, something is going to fly in." The younger man snapped his mouth shut and glared, only eliciting a chuckle from the blond.

"What, there isn't anything thing wrong with that, right? You're almost twenty, Light's only twenty-six… and she's hot. Not as hot as Serah, she frowns too much, but I'd do her."

Hope frowned and tried to resist the urge to punch Snow, and the older man recognized that look immediately. "Not that I have or anything, I'm completely loyal to my wife. Wait a second…" He poked the mage in the chest. "It's not just lust, is it? Hope…" he sighed, scratching his head. "I don't know if you can get that sort of emotion out of her. She's not as bad as he used to be, don't get me wrong, but Serah says she's always been kinda a loner, and being here, alone, for three years… I think it got to her."

Hope sighed, his shoulders dropping a bit, "it's my fault, but back then, I was all hormones and living with her, seeing her all the time, every day, and not able to tell her how I felt… it did me in."

"Yeah, I get that, but your mom told me to watch out for you. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't warn you."

"Yeah, I know, thanks Snow, but I don't know if I can give up on her yet. You never gave up on Serah, and she was basically dead. Light's alive and hurting, and I have to make it right."

"Fair enough," he said with a smirk, patting Hope on the back. "Honestly, I hope you can get her to let her hair down, I… Serah worries about her all the time."

Hope chuckled, "well you can tell Serah, I won't give up."

Snow laughed, "Well, I hope… that you can give her hope…"

The silver haired man started laughing, punching Snow in the arm. "Oh I plan to give her all the hope I can, don't you worry." He grinned mischievously at the older man, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh, don't I know it." Snow snorted a bit, and then moved to rub his arm. "Ouch, when did you get so strong?"

"Oh, about the same time I got to be as tall as you."

The fighter shook his head and motioned for Hope to follow. "I think we should find Damish and get those clothes for Light."