Finally, the second chapter to this series. Oi, this one's gonna take forever.


Day 2

I awake to the light of the sun hitting my face. The sun sucks here on Pulse. It's way brighter than the artificial sun Fal'Cie on Cocoon, Phoenix. I yawn and shake my beloved Hope awake; he stirs and sits up with a stretch and a yawn. Our hairs are even messier now because they're bed head.
I snicker and he raises a sleepy brow. "Yes?"
I smile and shake my head. "It's nothing. Just how cute you look when you're asleep and how cuter you are when you wake up to bed head."
He flushes and promptly attempts to fix his hair. He ends up making it messier and I can't help but snicker. I fix it for him and then he turns to fix my own hair. I kiss his cheek and we pack our things to leave. Once we touch the ground of the Archylte Steppe again, we begin our tedious trek across it towards the Mah'habara Subterra.

At around noon, we stop in the middle of the Archylte Steppe and set up a camp.
"I'll go kill us a beast. You wait here and stay safe," I smile at him and he frowns.
"I can handle myself in battle."
I smile and caress his cheek. "I know you can, Hope. I've been with you since the very beginning, remember? But what kind of fiancé would I be if I let my other half help with the dirty work. Besides, I fear that if you got hurt, it'd only speed up my reaction to the L'Cie brand."
He nods and I set off toward the nearest beast I can find... what an unfortunate pack of Gorgonopsids in my path.

I come back with only one of the Gorgonopsids because one will surely feed us both for lunch, but... Hope's not at the camp site. This... worries me. I drop the meat near our stuff and start searching the immediate area.
"Hope?"
No response.
"Hope!"
Still no response.
"HOPE!"
Finally, a response.
"Eli! Help me!"
Oh crap. I look around to see what monster took Hope... it wasn't a monster, well... not the kind I was expecting. No, it was a Cieth and he was taking my beloved Hope to Titan. I couldn't allow that to happen.
I cast Haste on myself and begin running at full speed. I get to the Cieth in the nick of time and bulldoze it into next week. Hope goes flying out of its crystallized hands and I catch him in my arms.
"This... this is one of the reasons I said stay by the base."
"I did! That thing up and snatched me from the base!" I blink.
Well... that's a change in plan.
"From now on, you are not to leave my side, I can protect you better if I can see you."
He rolls his eyes as I set him down and use magic to quickly stagger the Cieth. Once staggered, I go into a full on assault until it perishes. After the battle, I take Hope's hand in mine and lead him back to our base camp.
"What's for lunch?"
"Gorgonopsid. It was the first beast I found and should fill us up plenty," I smile and he nods.

...Gorgonopsid isn't the tastiest choice of food. I watch as Hope violently rinses his mouth out at the nearby pond. We took one bite of the Gorgonopsid and immediately spit it out... They taste rancid, as if they were expired meat. I pat his back once he finishes "scrubbing" his mouth.
"Shall I catch something else for lunch?" I inquire.
"No. That won't be necessary. I've... lost my appetite," Hope grimaces.
I chuckle a bit and shake my head. "So we continue until twilight and then I catch dinner?"
"We will catch dinner," Hope corrects me. I smile and kiss his cheek and he clings to me.
"Let's hurry... once... once you complete your focus, I'll take your crystallized body to the Academy where I can keep you close. I'll transfer my studies there," Hope states as he rests his head into the crook of my neck.
"But what about your studies on the Oracle Drive?" I frown.
"They can be transferred and data sent back and forth from The Academy to The Paddrean Archaepolis HQ." He's determined, that's for sure.
"Hope. We don't even know what'll happen once Titan falls, if he does-"
"He will! He has to... or else..." I smile and kiss his cheek once more.
"Okay, he will... but still. We don't know what will happen. Yeah, sure, I could go into crystal stasis-"
"You will-"
"-OR! I could end up the new Fal'Cie to replace Titan. We don't know what the Pulse Fal'Cie are completely capable of. Anima was able to create Ragnarok. Cactuar, apparently, allows L'Cie to use certain Time Gates; Snow is that example. We don't know what Atomos is capable of doing. He's a terraformer who digs tunnels through Pulse, particularly the Mah'habara Subterra. Likewise, we don't know if anyone else got ensnared in this war. What if I have to face other L'Cie, doomed to Ciethdom if I complete my Focus. Do you really think I could do that to somebody else?" I look at him.
"Maybe you can't, but I can... if it means protect you... I... I finally understand what Fang went through when she was trying to protect Vanille. She'd rather have made us all Cieth had we been opposed to her... if that meant make sure Vanille didn't go Cieth. She, herself was even willing to become a Cieth in order to save Vanille from that fate. Likewise with Snow... I now know why he did the things he did: crazy, yeah... it was... but, he was trying to protect Serah. What I'll do in the future may be crazy and illogical for some so high up in the Academy, but... if it's the only way to save you, I'd kill every one of those other L'Cie..." He looks at me, a fire I've never seen before lighting up his eyes.
"Hope..." My eyes widen. He... really does care for me. "Are you sure... it's for me... and not just because you don't want to be alone again?" I don't know why I asked that, but I did.
Hope looks at me, distraught. "I don't care about being alone! Either way, I will be alone! But helping you succeed will enter you in crystal stasis which gives me time to come up with an idea on how get you out! Or gives me time to figure out a way where I can stall my aging until you come out of Crystal Stasis!"
"Oh Hope... we just don't know enough, yet..." I hold him tighter and, for the first time in a long time, he cries into my chest.

At around sunset, we set up a base camp high up to avoid ground monsters. The air monsters aren't nocturnal, thankfully. We prowl around and find us a King Behemoth and kill it; we then cook it up for dinner.

King Behemoth is actually quite tasty. If all Behemoths are like this, I wouldn't mind having a taste of each one of these meaty creatures. After finishing our meal, I stare at Hope. He had been silent ever since our feud this afternoon.
"Hope...?"
Silence.
"Hope, you okay?" I give him a nudge.
He looks at me with sad eyes. "No. I'm not okay... I... I keep thinking about what would happen if I lost you for good because you became a Cieth and I..." He tears up again.
"Stop thinking such bad things, then," I smile sadly at him.
"You said it yourself... if anyone else got entangled in this mess, you wouldn't fight... I wish Noel and Serah were here to help us..." He draws his knees up to his chest and hugs them. I smile. He hasn't changed. Not completely.
"It's okay, Hope. I know... how much it'd hurt if I did nothing... so I'll fight... for you. I don't want you to be sad, because... I have a favor..." It's a hefty one too... but I don't tell him that.
"What kind of favor?" He perks up and looks at me.
"If... for some reason... I become a Cieth. I want you to be the one that puts me out of my misery. So... you'll have to do it the moment it happens... okay?" I look to him and he looks like he's about to have a panic attack.
"N-No! I-I... No! I couldn't... I don't think I'd be able to move... I..."
"Hope! Please! As my last will and testament before Ciethdom... if it occurs... I need you to do it. I don't want to be the one that hurts you if I become a Cieth," I frown, tearing up for once myself.
He looks at me and shakes his head before silently nodding. After a bit, he says, "Okay... but only because I wouldn't want you to suffer anymore..."
I smile at him as the tears fall. "Thank you." I hug him to me and we lock lips.
This kiss... it was... different than our previous kisses, which were full of love and longing. This kiss... was almost... it was almost like a "Goodbye". Like... this would be our last night together and I didn't like it one bit.
I pull back and look at his face. I stroke his cheek and smile once more as the tears stop. I gather him up in my arms and pull him in my laps and kiss him once more.
It's a sweeter, lighter kiss this time. It's full of passion and love. I kiss deeper, needier. I want him to know how much I love him, how much I long for him, how much I want him... how much I need him. Hope... he really is my hope, my strength, my pillar of light.
I lay him gently on the ground as I attach my lips to his neck. I snake a hand up his shirt and caress his torso. He shivers and I nip his neck, eliciting a small noise of pleasure from him. I use my other hand to gently rub his lower region through his pants; this earns me a moan. I smirk and nip his neck again before removing his shirt. He pouts and tugs at my shirt.
"You. Shirt off, too."
I snicker and nod. "Yessir." I remove my shirt in somewhat of a strip-tease fashion and he shiver. He sits up and starts sucking at my collarbones, leaving hickeys everywhere. I can't help but make small, pleasured noises as he does this. It's so cute the way he does it; it turns me on.
I smile down at him and kiss his forehead before dipping my hand into his pants and massaging his nether region. He moans into the hickey he's giving me before lolling his head back, exposing his neck to me. I bend slightly over give him a nice, big hickey on his neck. He moans out a bit louder before biting his lip.
"Don't wanna wake the monsters now, do we?" I smirk again and he glares at me as he massages my chest. I purr and take off his pants and undergarments. He groans as air hits his fairly obvious erection. I stop and stare.
"St-Stop staring!" He pouts and looks away, flushed. He's so tsundere sometimes, it's cute. I smile and kiss his lips. He closes his eyes and wraps his arms around my neck, pulling me into a deeper kiss. I rub my hand against his phallus and he moans, allowing me to dip my tongue into his mouth.
He moans into our kiss as I massage his tongue with my own. He starts to grind against my hand and I know he wants more so I remove my own pants and undergarments (to be fair). I pull from our kiss and hold out my three fingers to him.
"Suck." He flushes and sucks on them to make-shift lube them. We have no lubricant, so it'll have to do. Once he's done coating them with his saliva, I pull them from his mouth; a bead of saliva follows before breaking and sliding down his chin. I lick it off and he shivers before I press the first finger into him.
He gasps and I look at him.
"Now, do you want dry entry or semi-lubricated entry?" It's blunt, but it makes him blush, which was my goal in asking that... other than obtaining an answer. He remains silent. "I'm kinda serious about the question."
"O-Oh! I... I guess semi-lubricated." He knows what that means and I smile. Looks like this will be an extremely pleasant night.
"I love you, Hope," I smile and press a second finger into him. I begin stretching him and he groans in pain. This is never the favorite part of doing this, but he always likes what happens after preparation.
Once I have him stretched on all three fingers, I pull them out and he gets into position. I look down at him and blush. Why the hell does he have to look so cute before giving me head?
I'm about to say something when he begins sucking me off. I gasp and moan out as he instantly takes half of my length into his mouth. He bobs his head and I thread my hand through his hair. He does this for a minute or two, varying from just sucking the tip to full-on deep throating. He pulls back and sticks his rear end out for me.
"Dammit Hope... You seem so cute, but you're the devil when it comes to this situation," I growl out and I swear I see him smirk. I tug his hair lightly and he makes a pleasured noise, indicating his love for having his hair pulled (but not too roughly). I press my tip to his entrance before pressing in. He groans in pain until I'm fully sheathed. He wiggles a bit to get used to it... and ends up moaning.
I smirk, "I see you found your own prostate." He flushes but presses onto that spot more and moans again. I grab his hip with one hand and begin rocking my hips to slowly press in and out of him. He groans in pleasure this time as I angle myself to hit his favored spot. His groans turn into moans.
I grab his erection and stroke him as I increase my tempo and roughness with him. He responds well as he positions himself to get the most out of it. I increase depth into his prostate and he moans louder, signifying his pleasure from my actions. Eventually the stroking and thrusting lose rhythm as I just aim to make him (and myself) feel the utmost pleasure from our sexual experience.
It happened fast, but not too fast; we reached our climaxes in sync as we both moaned and releases our never-to-fertilize sperm. We both pant as I pull out. I use a light water spell to clean off our naked bodies before putting both of our clothes back on (Hope too exhausted to do it himself). I drag him to our sleeping bags and snuggle with him before drifting off into what seemed like eternal slumber.

Days Left: 8


Hope you all liked Day 2, especially with that NAUGHTY sex scene. ;) Heh heh.
Anyways, I do have a picture of Elijah drawn up, if you go to my y!Gallery (NovaHeretic) or my dA (Nova-the-Mad) and search "Elijah Enzeru-Farron" that's him.
It's not done... particularly well, but I'm a much better writer than I am a drawer.
But yeah... expect at least 2400 words per chapter.

Your author,
Nova