A/N No one probably expected the
cast of Agito being here, right? Well
don't worry things are just getting
started. I just Hope that Lightning
won't kill Caius because that would
be bad as shit. Today Lightning will
meet Hope and probably won't rip
him to shreds... I think. Lumina's
sentences is in Bold by the way.
Disclaimer: I don't own FFXIII/FFXIII
Agito or any of the characters, they
belong to Square Enix.
SORRY IT'S SO LATE!
Chapter 3 Together
The library of Cielo is said to be by
far the largest one at the moment,
housing over 880,000 books from all
the eras before it. This is also where
we find the Cadets of Class Zero
lounging around reading books. At
the forefront is Queen, Trey, Ace,
Machina, and Rem reading a few.
The second readers consist of King,
Sice, Deuce, and Cater. After that is
Seven and Cinque, while Nine, Eight,
and Jack are simply lying on a couch
in the corner playing rock, paper,
scissors to see who's gonna get the
other's food.
"These books are real interesting. It speaks about a city that once floated in the sky called Cocoon. It was controlled by a Fal'cie?"
"What the hell is a Fal'cie?" Asked Trey as he looked at Queen with clear curiosity.
"This reads that a Fal'cie was created by Bhunivelze, the God of this world in his image alongside Humans. It speaks that Fal'cie were beings with immense power rivalling that of the Dominion Crystals back home. What's also interesting was that the two worlds were separated. There was Cocoon, said to be a floating paradise and Pulse, rumored to be Hell."
"...There was a war between Cocoon and Pulse called The War of Transgression. It says the War was between Cocoon L'cie and Pulse L'cie and that many lives were lost."
"Seems like it was a hell of a war like what's happening back on Orience," Ace remarked as he too read some books.
Queen, who was reading a blue book, started talking, "But, it doesn't seem like that was the biggest story. This book I'm reading right now talks about people of Cocoon becoming Pulse L'cie. They were branded as traitors and fugitives being hunted by their own people."
"Like we are now," Sice interrupted.
Machina, who was reading a book, saw their downturn expressions and tried to cheer them up.
"Come on guys! All we have to do is get back to Akademia and expose the Headmaster. Hope will surely help."
"That's the other thing I don't get. Why are you so trustworthy of him? He could sell us out at any time," Cater spoke.
Machina suddenly stood up, bowing his head as a certain petite girl with blue hair entered the library. She was walking towards them holding the hand of a little girl with purple hair and blue eyes.
"Yeul, what are you doing here? Are you permitted to walk around?" Machina inquired as he walked closer to Yeul and the little girl.
Yeul simply smiled a little and spoke. "I heard we had new guests and Cayna was a bit curious. Go on Cayna, say hi to Uncle Machy."
"Hello, Uncle Machy!" Cayna shouted.
"Oooh...! Who's this little adorable princess?" Cinque spoke up as she came rushing closer. Upon Cayna seeing someone coming closer who she didn't know, she inched closer into her mother's side hoping to hide. Yeul quickly glanced at Cinque's approach and felt Cayna inching closer.
"You don't have to be afraid, Cayna. Her name's Cinque and she's not gonna hurt you."
Cinque immediately halted and started to walk closer towards Machina and Yeul.
"How do you know m-"
"I know all your names. First, there's Ace." She pointed towards Ace. "Next is Queen, Trey, Rem, King, Eight, Sice, Duece and Cater." Yeul stopped to catch her breath and continued.
"Seven, Nine, and Eight."
Everyone except Machina just stared at Yeul, shocked at how she knew their names. Machina was the one that broke the silence.
"Yeul is what you might call a God in this world. She's The Goddess of Death."
Queen was flustered, letting out an audible gasp as she turned back to the books lying on the table. It seemed to put everyone in a frenzy as they became curious as to what flustered Queen.
Flipping through pages, Queen kept on
murmuring to herself. "I know I read it!" and "It has to be here..." Suddenly Machina yelled in triumph. "I found it!"
The rest of the cadets just kept staring in utter confusion until Queen spoke.
"Long ago Bhunivelze the almighty God killed his mother, known simply as Mwynn. As the realm of Cosmogenesis couldn't withhold his and his mother's existences. It's also said that Bhunivleze hated his mother and killed her out of anger. So distraught with what he did Bhunivelze soon created a daughter, Etro." Queen shortly stopped to catch her breath but soon began again.
"In his distraught state he failed to see that he had remolded Etro into his mother's vision. Abruptly after he created her he banished her to the Unseen Realm, a place where no time may touch its currents."
"Etro became known as The Goddess of Death because she kept what's known as Chaos under control. Chaos is Etro's blessing. It is what's known as "Heart" but is also viewed as dangerous because if it were to be unbounded it would turn the physical world into a Timeless Realm."
"Also, according to legend, if one were to tame their inner Chaos in their Heart, they could harness "Time Travel", control monsters, and see the future."
Everyone looked at Queen then back to Yeul and comically repeated it over and over again, not quite believing it. Nine broke the silence and inquired,
"Isn't The Goddess of Death something Mom was looking into?"
Machina looked back at them and said, "Dr. Arecia was a Pulse L'cie from our dimension and her Focus was to try and prove that Etro existed."
"But wait! There's one thing I don't get. Why do you call her Yeul if she's Etro?" Cinque asked.
"Oh! Sorry, but I am not Etro. I'm what you might call a replacement. I am merely a student studying under Etro."
Yeul said to the Cadets. Machina looking at the ceiling, and
contemplating, simply asked, "Where is she anyways?"
Yeul, who was a very sickly person even after becoming a God, had to sit down. She took a seat on the couch and spoke as Cayna went to the kiddie section of the library, Yeul insisted (or rather forced Hope to include).
"Probably bugging Hope. You know how much she loves that, now that she's free to explore the world and annoy other Living Beings. She loves to taunt Hope."
Machina smiled as he remembered his first encounter with that wildcard. "I would hate to be Hope." Just as he finished that sentence everyone in the room could feel a shockwave.
Cayna suddenly came running around the corner carrying a huge book with a Moogle on the front. She ran to her mother and bounced on the couch with the book.
"Mommy! Can you read the 'Intrepid Moogle' for me?"
Again, everyone except Machina had to wonder if this was a random occurrence. Don't they even care what's happening?
-XIII-
Running for his life was something Caius never expected to do in his life. Well, there's a first time for everything. Lightning was relentlessly chasing him with all she had.
"Awww...! Never thought I'd see the day when Caius was running away from battle." Lumina teased inside of Lightning's mind.
Lightning hearing Lumina's voice for the first time since coming to Renascentia didn't actually care as much as one would've thought.
"You're taking my voice in your head pretty good aren't you?"
'I suspected that this would happen. You're a manifestation of Chaos after all, and we're in a world where Chaos exists and therefore your free will returns.' Lightning voiced mentally.
The mere fact he survived this long was due to his Protectga and Shellga he constantly kept activating. Oh! And Luck of course. And although Caius could die at any time he still wouldn't answer Light's most fervent question.
'Isn't it weird that he's running away!'
Lumina voiced her concern. Lightning ignored Lumina's voice and yelled,"Where's Hope?!"
One would have to think that Caius was truly insane to keep smirking as Lightning's glare increased in volume. She was literally using every ounce of her power against him, not even caring about herself. Even though she was obsessed with killing him she glanced around the cafeteria they ended up in.
Lightning saw at least three soldiers wearing what looked to her as Guardian Corps attire, but very different.
She also noticed that the three soldiers
immediately took aim at her.
"I'm not the enemy you assholes..." She muttered to herself.
While Lightning was trying to gauge the three soldiers, an increasingly weird thought followed. 'Or am I the enemy?' She couldn't quite point it out but she knew the atmosphere changed because of her, and not Caius.
"Don't Fire! She's mine." Caius commanded the three soldiers. To Lightning's surprise all three stopped. She glanced at Caius and he had a smirk on his face.
"Didn't you even wonder why I ran away in the first place, Warrior Goddess?" Caius stated as his stance changed. Lightning cursed mentally with 'Fuck!' and 'Shit!' but finally focused on the task at hand, stopping Caius from potentially killing her.
-XIII-
Alyssa was a person of many words and an energetic will to break almost any despair she saw and witness. However, none of that could mend even the "Heart" of the fake lying beside her. Alyssa tried snuggling closer to her "Hubby" as she called him.
"How dare they! She is mine! Always has and always will. That naive runt of a boy has already struck too many chords in my plan." The man next to Alyssa spoke with seething anger and jealousy hinting his voice.
Alyssa looked at her "Hubby" and asked, "Don't tell me you're still fixed on that pink haired girl?" Suddenly, Alyssa was being held down, hands around her neck suffocating her. She instinctively started to writhe under the touch of the man.
"... I can't... b-breathe..." She managed to wheeze out.
Abruptly, the man on top released her neck and apologized. "Ah! S-Sorry Alyssa, I didn't mean to. I still can't grasp the logic behind feelings." Alyssa sat upright and took huge gulps of air, trying to fill her lungs.
One would ask why Alyssa was in love with someone like this, but the answer was painstakingly easy. The person she was in love with looked like her Director, her Hope Estheim. But that wasn't entirely correct as he was once known as "The God of Light".
Alyssa looked at her lover and cringed slightly as this fake. He had different features from her own Director, the features she fell in love with. He had the same facial structure as her Hope, but his hair was abundantly dark and not silver, his eyes weren't green like the ones she loved, they were a gold like color. He also seemed to exhibit red lines running across his bare body.
While Alyssa was still deep in thought, the man next to her explained. "I hate these feelings surging through me... I am a benevolent being and am beyond this. But I feel bad for hurting you Alyssa." Bhunivelze ended.
Although Alyssa was nearly strangled a small smile graced her lips as she went to sit behind him and wrapped her arms around him. Bhunivelze cringed at her touch as he wasn't used to it yet.
He quickly responded to turn around and almost beastly attacked Alyssa with his hunger for pleasure.
-XIII-
Lightning had been dodging Caius' blade for the twelfth time since they entered the cafeteria. To her surprise, Caius had demanded that the soldiers leave, intending to fight alone. Quickly casting Haste on herself, she intended to finish this fight ASAP. With her Haste she ran with incredible speed at Caius.
With almost a second to spare Caius quickly parried Lightning's slash. Lightning attacked him so hard that his counter sent her flying backwards. She hastily turned around so that her feet would connect with the wall. With inhuman strength, she launched herself off the wall for a second attack. Luckily her plan worked as Caius had been knocked across the room. To Light's increasing advantage Caius lost grip of his sword as it fell with a clatter to the ground.
With her Haste still activated, she was in a blink of an eye standing above a slumped Caius. Lightning looked down on him with a seething glare and demanded, "Before I kill you, tell me where Hope is."
Caius only grinned wider, and before Light could even wonder what happened, she flew backwards. She braced herself for impact with a wall but found it to be soft. Opening her eyes, she saw Caius as he was standing and with lightning speed, her elbow connected with someone's face.
She quickly jumped away from the intruder that carried her. When she landed she looked at said person. Her eyes widened astronomically when she recognized the silver hair.
"Owww...! That hurts! Hey Light." He answered, holding his bleeding nose.
"Hope...!" Lightning screamed as she practically ran to him. But before Lightning could reach him Lumina voiced her concern.
"Isn't he Bhunivelze?"
That single sentence from Lumina stopped all movement in Lightning's body. She quickly collected herself and aimed her sword at Hope.
Hope stood there and answered Lightning's and Lumina question. "I'm really Hope, by the way, so you don't have to debate whether I'm the good guy or not." Lightning, halfway convinced, asked, "Then prove that you-"
"We have three children: Seven, Ethan and Vanille. We chose Seven because you love the number, Ethan because it was your father's name, and Vanille 'cause the annoyingly cheerful one asked us if she could name one of our children." Hope said with a small smile on his face.
Without another word, Lightning was already hugging Hope due to her Haste still being active. Her sword had dematerialize from her hold.
"I missed you..." She whispered into his collarbone. And she had to admit that those words were as true as the first time she said she loved him.
She willed her Soldier instinct to forget about Caius so that she could bask in the warmth of the man she loved dearly. She would let nothing ruin it.
Well as it seems Lumina forgot the memo. "I'm enjoying the hug but what about Caius?" she inquired. With an outdrawn sigh Lightning released Hope and turned to Caius, wanting more than anything to end this battle.
Walking closer, she drew her sword, the blade materializing once again in her right hand. Caius already stood there picking up his blade and confusingly sheathed it on his back.
"Well, she seems to be the real deal." Caius said with a smirk.
"What's going on here?" Lumina asked,
confusion tinging her voice in Lightning's mind. Hope walked next to Lightning. "Caius is actually on our side. It seems he wanted to fight you again. He used me as bait," he explained to Lightning. Caius started to walk away, waving over his shoulder, and said, "Next time I won't go down so easily, Warrior Goddess."
Lightning, still confused, turned to Hope. With a glare that could kill a God, she spoke. "Hope Estheim you have a lot of talking to do."
-XIII-
Lightning and Hope had returned to Hope's office and he quickly filled her in on a few details as he was supposed to be heading to a meeting in a few hours. By what she gathered he was called back to become another Director.
What she also discovered was that Hope was essentially a God-like being due to him absorbing some of Bhunivelze's power. She was still fuming about Caius and him working together but was interrupted.
"So, Light I can send you back to the peaceful life you fought for. Do you wanna go?" Hope said with a stoic face, obviously receding the sadness swelling in him.
Without so much as a warning or notice that it was gonna happened Light punched Hope fully in the face, causing yet another nosebleed than the one he just stopped.
"Damn, Light! Why'd you do that?!" Hope yelled as he searched for more tissues to stop yet another nosebleed.
"I'm staying right here helping you out. What kind of a wife would I be if I just abandoned you?" Lightning stated.
"Well then if you're gonna stay then you have to meet my Council." Hope said with a smile. He stood up, intending to leave the room. He made it outside when Lightning shoved him back inside.
With a click of the lock Lightning said seductively, "Not until you show me how sorry you are." And pounced on her prey.
-XIII-
A/N
Everything you've uncovered here I'll explain eventually. Sorry for the huge gap between chapter 3 to chapter 4 Life got hella hectic. Some of you saw that I reviewed well that's all I could've done at the time.
PC broke and couldn't access my Docs but fixed now. Thanks to beta-reader for awesome work!