Lightning was fighting a battle she knew she could never win. Though she and Caius were equals in both strength and skill, she could never defeat him. He was immortal, and she was not. Her gunblade clashed against his monstrous purple sword. "Impressive," he said, and turned into his bahamut form with an explosion that sent her sailing over Valhalla's rooftops. She summoned Odin, letting her eidolon catch her and throw her right back into the fight. She was an army of one, Valhalla's warrior goddess. Their battle would continue on for eternity, none of them able to defeat the other.
Through the eyes of Etro, she one day saw the death of Serah. She helplessly watched the seeresses claim her sister's soul. She tried to reach for her, but Caius was in the way. Lightning's obvious distraction gave him the opening he'd sought for so long, and he ended the battle with an unforgiving slash of his sword. The chaos of Valhalla took hold of her, pulling her down its endless abyss, slowly devouring her body and soul…
Lightning woke up with a sharp intake of breath. Her heart was pounding, and adrenaline flowed through her body. She sat up with a jerk, and head-butted Hope in the process. "Aouch!" they both yelled simultaneously.
"Bad dream?" Hope asked, rubbing his battered chin.
"Yeah… Sorry." More like a bad memory. She glanced at him. He was watching her with worry in his eyes. She quickly looked away. Please don't ask. Please, please, please don't ask. She wasn't ready to talk about Valhalla, not yet. Not ever. Thankfully, Hope remained quiet.
"Cuddle time's over, kiddos!" Sazh yelled from the driver's seat and turned off the engine. Lightning hadn't even noticed the landing.
"How are your wounds now?" Hope asked while retracting his arm from her shoulders.
"Better." She removed her seat belt and stood up in the narrow cockpit. Her wounded knee hurt a bit, but it seemed to be able to carry her weight. She took a cautious step. "Much better. I think I've still got the quick healing of a l'Cie." She looked at the two men, now standing outside the vehicle. They didn't look nearly as surprised as she felt.
"I suspected as much," Hope said, "since you're awake and all. A normal person would probably still be in a coma. It seems like some of our l'Cie traits tagged along when we were made human again."
"I've got rapid healing too," Sazh added, "and so does Dajh and Snow. Serah kept her medic abilities. And Hope here, oddly enough, kept his super strength." Hope tried to make an insulted face, but ended up laughing instead. Sazh joined his laughter and ruffled his hair.
Serah. Lightning lost control over her emotions for just a second, and pain washed over her, threatening to drown her completely. Serah was a medic, too? She'd never had the chance to have a full conversation with Serah after Cocoon fell. And now, she never would. I remember you. She took a deep breath. The men were still joking around, unaware of her inner turmoil. Come on, Light, she thought to herself. Get your crap together. She took another deep breath, and pushed the pain away. She was good at that. She always had been.
"So, where are we and where are we going?" Lightning asked, sounding harsher than she intended.
"The Academy HQ," Sazh said with a grin, ignoring her grim tone. He'd always done that, from the moment they met on that train, the day they all became l'Cie. He'd looked past her hard exterior and simply accepted her the way she was. There were only a handful of people in this world she actually trusted, and two of them were standing right next to her.
"Smiling again, soldier girl? You're gonna strain a muscle if you keep this up!" Sazh patted her on the head. "This is where I take off. A man's gotta work, you know." He gave her another hug and ruffled her hair in a very fatherly way. "Welcome home, Light." He walked back to his airship and took off.
She felt a tiny hint of happiness spread in her heart. Sazh was alive. During their adventures on Pulse, Sazh had become like a father to her. He became a father to all of us. She looked over at Hope, standing next to her. He'd always been the group's little kid. She'd taught him how to fight and how to stay alive. She knew he felt indebted to her for that. What he didn't know was that she was just as indebted to him; he'd taught her how to feel again.
When the Pulse fal'Cie took her humanity away from her, she'd turned her emotions off completely. She'd kept on fighting unnecessary battles just to push her pain away. If she'd been on her own, she never would have stopped. She would've kept on fighting over and over until someone or something finally managed to kill her.
But, she hadn't been alone. A five feet tall, fourteen-year-old boy had insisted on tagging along with her. He'd been pretty much helpless, so keeping him alive hadn't been easy. Somewhere along the way, she'd bonded with this little boy. He'd given her something to fight for. He'd given her hope. Too bad I can never say it out loud, though, she thought, snickering a bit on the inside. "Hope, you gave me hope." It would sound like the worst pun ever.
Together, Lightning and Hope walked through the hangar and into a nearby elevator. The elevator was almost as big as her old bedroom in Bodhum and had a ridiculous number of buttons. Judging by the buttons, it seemed like the building was more than a hundred stories high.
"Uh, Light? I need my keys. They're in my left chest pocket." At first Lightning didn't understand what he was talking about, but then she remembered that she was still wearing his coat. She checked the pocket and pulled out its content. The key bundle didn't look like any key bundle she'd ever seen before. Sure, some of its pendants were normal keys, but most of them were cards of different sizes. She noticed another item attached to the key-ring that was neither a key nor a card. It was a silver lightning bolt, adorned with pale pink gems. It was beautiful. She looked at Hope and raised a questioning eyebrow, while handing over the so called keys. Hope took great care in avoiding her gaze. He picked out one of the cards and held it against a sensor on the wall. The elevator started moving. Lightning looked in one of the many mirrors covering the walls. When was the last time she'd seen her own face? She couldn't even remember. Feeling a little awkward, she looked at the girl in the reflection.
Her pink hair looked like a bird's nest. Her hospital gown was stained with blood, and Hope's oversized coat made her look like a child wearing grown-up clothes. Her complexion was even paler than she remembered it, and her eyes looked haunted. Next to Hope, she looked like a crazy person.
The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. They were on the top floor, and the sun was shining through the glass of the building's ceiling. Recognition hit her, and she looked up. Right above her was a person-sized hole. Crap.
"Sorry about that," Lightning said, feeling more awkward than ever. "I mean, for breaking the ceiling." Hope just smiled. They were in some sort of lobby, not very different from the one at the ITP. The walls where painted white, completely bare of any decorations. A couple of couches and armchairs were scattered around the room, all white. The wooden floor saved the room from being inhospitably sterile and gave it a bit of a bohemian touch. One of the room's many doors opened, and in came a horde of people. She recognized some of them from her landing.
"… I swear, she just fell from the sky, and then the TD came and it was like-" The group went completely silent when they saw Hope. "Director," they said in one voice and saluted. Hope gave them a dignified nod. The group relaxed and left the room. Lightning was starting to get a headache. This timeline is weird. Together they went through the door the academiers had just left and entered a corridor.
"Oh crap, not another never-ending passageway of doom," Lightning sighed. She didn't even realize she'd said it out loud until she heard the sound of a badly repressed chuckle. She glared at Hope. Her glares used to make people shut up. Hell, she could even make children cry and grown men run and hide, just by staring at them. Hope however seemed to be immune to her killer glance. It annoyed her a little.
"It's okay, Light. You're still terrifying," he said with laughter in his eyes. "I've just missed you, that's all." Lightning didn't know how to answer to that, so she remained quiet.
Hope gave her a guided tour around the Academy HQ. Most of the rooms where lecture halls, but there were also several workshops, libraries, gyms and cafeterias. There were academiers all over the place, and every single one of them stopped whatever they were doing just to salute Hope. She could tell they all genuinely liked him.
They ended up in one of the cafeterias. Though white was still the dominating colour on walls and furniture, the cafeteria was really cozy. The rugs on the floor were fluffy, and the smell of coffee was downright glorious.
"Black coffee, right?" Lightning nodded. Hope was already at the counter, ordering things from the cashier. If that really qualifies as 'ordering', Lightning thought while watching Hope go behind the desk, open the pantry and grab just about everything he could carry. It's good to be the boss, I guess. He somehow managed to bring everything to their table without spilling a single drop of coffee, which was really impressive considering he was carrying no less than half a dozen full cups. He placed five of them in front of her, keeping one cup for himself. He unceremoniously dumped the rest of his stolen goods in a giant heap on the table. She took a sip of her coffee. Her eyes widened. It was by far the best coffee she'd ever had. Before she knew it, she was on her fourth cup.
"It totally beats the coffee we had on old Cocoon, right?" Hope said with a goofy grin. "We import the beans directly from Pulse now." Lightning grabbed a sandwich from the pile and took a bite. She let out a loud groan. "This is so good." She finished her first and second sandwich in the blink of an eye. "It might be because I haven't eaten in millennia, but these sandwiches are amazing."
Her feast was interrupted by the sound of a cup breaking into tiny pieces on the floor. She reluctantly looked up from her third sandwich. Hope was staring at her, completely aghast. "It's not like I was starving," she quickly added. "You just don't get hungry in Valhalla."
Her words didn't seem to calm him at all. He swallowed hard a couple of times. "You were in there for millennia?" he finally said with a trembling voice. Oh crap. She hadn't planned on telling him that. She thought about lying, but ended up nodding instead.
"I knew time stood still over there, but I never thought… Shit. I'm so sorry, Light. I'm so, so sorry."
"You didn't do anything wrong."
"No, but neither did you." Hope was really upset. "I should have tried harder to get you out. I didn't even realize you were stuck in there until I found those oracle drives. I'm so sorry, Light. I should have believed Serah right from the start."
"Stop apologizing. I know you did everything you could. I saw it from Valhalla." Lightning gave him a sad smile. "I saw thousands of timelines, and you were fighting for me in every single one of them."
They finished the meal in silence. Lightning could tell Hope was still bothered by her revelations, but she was grateful he didn't ask her any more questions. The cashier girl came over with a mop and some paper towels, trying to clean up the spilled coffee, but Hope immediately shooed her away and cleaned up the mess himself. After eating an uncountable number of sandwiches, she caught a glimpse of something in the pile. Something amazing. She looked at Hope, mouth ajar. "Is that… is that really…?"
Hope couldn't help but smile. "It's chocolate, yes. We have lots of it nowadays. Help yourself." He watched as Lightning with a childish enthusiasm grabbed a chocolate bar. She carefully opened the wrapper. They were never able to grow cocoa beans on old Cocoon, so chocolate had always been insanely expensive. Only the richest citizens of Eden could afford it, so she'd only heard stories about it. She took a small bite. Her taste buds almost exploded. It was the perfect mixture of sweet and bitter, and it melted deliciously on her tongue. She took a second bite. It tasted just as heavenly.
Hope couldn't do anything but stare at the wonder taking place in front of him. He had to remind himself that the girl across the table was a soldier, thousands of years old. He also had to remind himself that this girl could kill him in seconds if she had to, and that she had fought as the knight of a freaking goddess. Yes, he knew all of that. But that girl in front of him was right now shining with pure happiness over a piece of chocolate. She looked up at him and smiled. It wasn't a half-smile or a sarcastic grin; it was one of her real smiles. His heart nearly stopped. It was just as he remembered it. 14 years later, and Lightning's true smile was still the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. And I'd do anything to protect it. He knew it would disappear in just a few seconds when the soldier within her reemerged, so he treasured every last moment of it.
I'd do anything to protect her.
A couple of minutes later, they were walking through the headquarters again. Lightning was carrying her gunblade in her right hand, and three big chocolate bars in her left. My outfit just keeps getting better and better. They were walking towards Hope's room, since he apparently had a surprise for her there. "You live at the Academy?" she'd asked. "I had an apartment nearby for a while, but I never used it. I'm always here anyway," he'd answered with a shrug. She could picture it all too clearly; the workaholic going to work in the middle of the night just to make sure everything worked the way it should. Hope in a nutshell. They walked past the lobby. The broken ceiling reminded her of something she'd been meaning to ask.
"How did I end up at the ITP?" The question had been nagging her for a long time. "I mean, I did fall through your roof."
Hope sighed. "Remember how I said that the Academy wasn't allowed to be at the institute? Well, it doesn't work both ways. The time defenders are allowed to go anywhere if they suspect there's something there that might upset the timeline. A person falling through the sky after being gone for half a millennium apparently qualifies."
"Why don't they just come here and try to take me away again, then?" She deliberately used the word "try". They would not be able to snatch her as easy as the last time.
"They don't have any proof of you being here, so according to some political mumbo jumbo they can't come inside if we don't invite them. They'll be here as soon as they come up with new reason for it, but you're safe here for at least a day or two."
"No proof? They saw you breaking me out, didn't they?"
"The Academy has partial immunity. They have to have extremely strong evidences to do an official assault on this place. We did build this whole continent, after all." Hope gave her a humorless smile.
"Your legal system is kind of stupid."
Hope sighed again. "Tell me about it. People were so afraid of paradoxes after everything that happened that they agreed to pretty much everything Noel said. I suppose the laws were meant to be temporary, but now he refuses to give up his rights. People are moving down to Pulse just to make sure they won't get confiscated. No one's safe anymore."
"What do they do to the people they confiscate? Is it like a prison, or what?"
"We honestly don't know. All we know for sure is that the people they confiscate never come out again." He paused for a moment. "I don't think anyone's escaped from there before. You're special as usual, Light." Hope pulled out one of his many keycards and opened an ordinary-looking door in the ordinary-looking corridor. The door made a beeping sound as it unlocked.
Lightning didn't know what she'd expected, but she knew it wasn't this. It was the biggest apartment she'd ever seen and it was extremely far from ordinary-looking. The ceiling was made of glass, just like in the lobby. The walls where white, but covered with huge photos of places from old Cocoon and Pulse. The kitchen was all stainless steel and wooden surfaces, and was equipped with gadgets she couldn't even begin to understand. The living room consisted of a set of sofas surrounding a ridiculously big TV-screen, and next to it was a fireplace integrated in the wall. He even had his own workshop in one of the rooms connected to the living room.
When Lightning had finished exploring his spectacular home, Hope opened a cabinet that made a strange hissing sound. "Air locked," Hope explained with a smile. "Great for time traveling." He picked up a box and put it on the floor. It was an ordinary cardboard box, with "Lightning" written on top of it in Hope's handwriting.
"Open it. It's yours." Lightning kneeled down on the floor. She carefully opened the box and looked inside.
"No way!" she exclaimed while picking up its contents. In the box was a Guardian Corps uniform. It was exactly like the one she used to wear back in the days when she was a sergeant.
"Thank you so much, Hope. I really appreciate it." She gave Hope a smile. He goofily smiled back, slightly blushing.
"I always knew you'd come back one day, so I saved one for you. The Time Defenders took over the chores of the Guardian Corps, but I thought you'd still want it."
"You were right. Thank you." There was one more thing inside the box, so she picked it up. It was the survival knife Serah had given her on her twenty-first birthday. Her emotions came dangerously close to the surface. She took a deep breath. She didn't want to break down in front of Hope. Her hands were shaking as she hugged the knife close to her chest.
"What's wrong?" Hope asked, looking at her anxiously.
"I.. I just miss her, that's all. She'd still be alive if it wasn't for me," Lightning said, trying desperately to keep the pain out of her voice. Please don't let me cry in front of Hope.
"Light?" Hope sat down in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. He then said two words she'd thought she'd never hear again. Two tiny words that made her heart explode.
"Serah's alive."
ALTERNATIVE ENDING
They were walking towards Hope's room, since he apparently had a surprise for her there.
Light: "Is it your dick?"
Hope: "It's my dick."
*SMEXY TYMES*
So sorry guys. I just couldn't help myself. Thank you all for reading, by the way. I really enjoy your feedback.
