Chapter 6

I looked at Vanille and Lightning and they looked exhausted, "Yeah we're fine, we've just been waiting for you to come around!" Vanille explained, "And Hope is around the other side, I checked on him a minute ago and he was asleep."

I walked around to see Hope, in fact, asleep against the car. I sat down next to him and made sure to bump him. I saw the blood above his lip when he moved his head and opened his eyes. "Hey there!" I smiled and he did too.

"You're alright!" Hope said weakly and leaned up against me. I put my arm around his small body and pulled him in, "You know, for a second I thought I lost you." I heard the sadness in his voice and I heard his breathing change. He started to cry. He buried his head in my chest and I held him as close as I could, "Please don't ever leave me Snow!" I lifted him onto my lap and let him cry.

I rubbed his back, "It's alright Hope. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. Look at me." Hope lifted his face so I could see him. I wiped a tear from his cheek, "I'm not going anywhere, I promise." I pulled him back into me and kissed the top of his head.

I looked to where the battlefield was and saw a huge slab of ice, "Hope, did you do that?"

I heard a sniffle and he turned his head to see what I was looking at, "The ice? Yeah, with help from Light and Vanille."

"Cool!" We laughed, "Alright, do you think we can leave now?" I looked around to the bumper, where everyone but Sazh, was crowded around. Lightning and Vanille still looked really tired, but I knew we had to get going eventually. I mean we were all tired, but we were already so close to Orphan. Why slow down now?

Sazh walked to the hood of the car where he could see the road below. He shrugged his shoulders, "Well guys, if we play it safe then we get through without having to fight anything." He walked back around the car in front of all of us, "The roads are destroyed, so there really is only one way to get through."

"Well, it's settled! Let's get out of here!" Fang said walking to the front. "We are going to save Cocoon and that's that!"

Hope stood up, and I got up too. I was excited to finally finish this journey and be able to start a new one. I was trying to not think about my actual focus and just think about my life with Hope. We started walking toward the elevators. There were three small ones- two in each. We separated, Light and Sazh, Fang and Vanille, and Hope and I. Now, I never liked elevators, in fact, I'm afraid of them. When I was a little kid I got stuck in one in the middle of the night. I was in there for a couple of hours before I got out. I was in there alone, so I had no one to comfort me.

We got in and closed the door. It started down the shaft and Hope grabbed on to me really tight. I put my arms around him, "You scared babe?"

"I don't know why I am all of a sudden. I used to ride elevators all the time. But right now, I'm just scared it's going to get stuck." Hope hadn't held onto me this tight since he woke up from that nightmare on Pulse. "I know you're scared too Snow."

I looked down, confused, "How do you know I'm scared?"

"I don't know. I felt scared as soon as you stepped into the elevator. I don't know. You probably think I'm crazy." Hope turned around to make sure that I couldn't see his face.

I put my hands on his shoulders and turned him around, "There's those red cheeks again!" I smiled and he smiled back. It was the moments like these that made me wonder why I let Hope stop back in Oerba, "I am afraid of elevators, when I was little I got stuck in one by myself. It was dark outside and there was a storm rolling in, so I had to sit in the elevator for hours listening to thunder. You're not crazy Hope, you're right.

"I'm sorry Snow, I didn't know. I just felt it." The door opened and we could finally get out. From this street, we could get to Leviathan Plaza and then finally to Eden Hall. Hope took my hand and wove his fingers between mine. "You're not scared anymore, are you?" Hope asked shyly.

I shook my head, "Nope." I smiled at him and his face got red, "Hope, how come you still get red?" I wasn't asking him to be mean or anything, I was just curious.

He looked away, "I don't know."

"Hope, it's not a bad thing, I promise!" I couldn't help but smile, because his face only became redder. He kept looking the opposite way of me, though. "Did I make you upset?" I started to feel bad now, I shouldn't have said anything.

"Don't feel bad Snow." He squeezed my hand and looked at me, "I can tell you feel bad, but don't. I get red because I still can't wrap my head around the fact that you and I are together. You would be one of the guys that is never seen without a gorgeous woman, or guy for that matter. I mean, back on Cocoon I had friends, but I wasn't very cool. Everyone just knew me as the kid with the rich dad. I never had girlfriends or boyfriends or anything like that. The fact that you want me is so crazy to me. I love you Snow, but sometimes I get weird when you tell me things about myself."

I squeezed his hand back, "I'm sorry if I make you feel weird, but I can't help it Hope. You are so beautiful to me, and saying little things like this is my way of telling you. As well as telling you directly that you are the most beautiful person I have ever met on the inside and out."

Hope smiled as wide as he could.

"Who knew you were such a charmer." I turned around as fast as I could to see Fang and everyone else listening to us. "Hey now, don't get mad. I'm not making fun of you; I'm just letting you know that Hope is one lucky guy."

Hope squeezed my hand, "Snow, relax." He whispered to me. It was starting to freak me out how he knew what I was feeling. "Fang is serious, I can tell."

I sighed, "Alright, let's get going." I was beginning to wonder about Hope, I wanted to know how he knew what I was feeling and how he knew about Fang. Could he do that, now that he is a Leaver? We set off down the road, we were all pretty quiet. At this point I guessed that we were all thinking about the same thing; saving Cocoon. We all got to the first break in the road and had to jump down to get to the rest of the road. I helped Hope since I knew he didn't like to jump down, ever since Palumpolum.

We started down the next piece of road when Hope stopped, "Do we have any water?" At the same time, I heard Sazh say it too. This was beyond coincidence; Hope was definitely feeling what we were feeling.

Vanille pulled out a canteen from behind her animal fur skirt. "Who's first?" She held it out to Sazh, "You drink first. Hope was the one that got sick." She giggled.

Sazh took the canteen and drank. He tossed it to Hope and he drank. Hope tossed it back to Vanille and we began jumping down again. We turned the corner only to be stopped by a Behemoth King.

Fang, Lightning and Vanille ran to the front and began the battle. I stood in front of Hope to guard him from anything like a Heave attack. I watched Light run around back and start attacking. She swung about four times before I felt the weight on my trench coat.

…

When the Behemoth King came at us, instead feeling ready for the battle, I was terrified. It wasn't my fear though, it was the beast's. Lightning started slashing at the back of the Behemoth and I felt every hit. Three strikes on my back and the fourth on my legs. My legs gave out and I grabbed onto Snow's trench coat. Fang Challenged it and I suddenly felt like attacking her.

I picked myself up and walked toward her. Lightning started attacking again, along with Vanille. I wanted to punch Fang in the face, but I didn't know why. It felt like my head was trying to battle different sets of emotions, and the invading ones were winning. Even though I felt every hit, I still wanted to hurt Fang.

I felt Snow grab me, "What the hell are you doing? First thing you're on the ground and now you're about to go into battle? Wait here!" I felt his anger and concern, I felt the beast's fear and rage, and I felt Fang's rush of adrenaline. Alongside those emotions, I felt my own. At the same time, though, I couldn't figure out which one was mine versus all the others'.

My head began to pound. It was overwhelming. Was there something wrong with me? In the back of my mind I could feel something startling, dangerous and ready to kill. I knew exactly what kind of thing these emotions would come from; the military. It was getting stronger, as well as the Behemoth's rage.

As I felt every blow of Lightning's blade and Vanille's magic, I got angrier. My head felt like it was about to explode and then the Behemoth stood up on its hind legs and removed the saw-blade from its back. I broke away from Snow and began to run. As I ran toward Fang, I could feel my head fill with the intent to kill her, then to kill everyone else. I could see the soldiers coming down the road. I could feel their hatred. I also started to feel everyone else's emotions too.

I pulled out my boomerang to swing at Fang, when I fell to my knees. The pain in my head was unbearable, my eyes went blurry and my ears started to ring. I tried so hard not to cry, but it only made the pain worse. I let the tears run down my face as I covered my ears.

I felt two hands on my back and his panic shot up my spine. "Don't touch me! Please! It hurts too much." His touch sent spikes straight into my head, "I can feel them. I can feel everyone!" I sobbed. I couldn't help it; the pain was nothing I had ever felt before.

"Hope, look at me-" Snow's words were so heavy I cried out.

"Make it stop! Make it stop!" I cried out to anyone that could help. My chest started to get hot. The pain still kept up. The ground began to shake and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. I couldn't breathe, the heat was spreading through my body and when it reached my finger tips, I exploded. My vision went white and I couldn't hear anything.

In an instant, all the pain I was feeling and all the emotions inside my head were gone. When I opened my eyes to see that the light was gone, so were the soldiers and the Behemoth King. The only emotion I could feel was love. It was mine. The kind of love where you'd end the world for someone, just to protect them, it was this love that kept everyone alive, so I found out.

"Wow Hope! That was incredible! How did you do that?" Vanille cheered.

I honestly didn't know. Snow knelt down and wrapped his arms around me, "Is it okay now? Does it hurt?" He rubbed circles on my back with a soothing hand. I felt him and his emotions, but they seemed tolerable and not dominating.

Fang stepped toward us, "Does what hurt?"

"The emotions everyone was feeling." Snow said for me, "He could feel all of you guys, and me. He felt the monster." Fang looked at me.

"Is it true? You could feel all of the emotions?" I nodded, her words didn't hold any weight, but I could tell she was a little worried.

I stood up from Snow, "Yeah and there were soldiers too. They were coming to kill us; I was going to kill you Fang. I didn't want to, but the emotions of the Behemoth and the soldiers were overwhelming." I looked down. I felt Fang, as well as everyone else, have a 'Oh man!' moment. I felt terrible.

"Hey kid, don't worry about it. You didn't and that's all that matters." Fang put her hand on my shoulder and I looked at her, "Seriously, it's alright." She was being sincere.

Light walked over to me, "Hope, you said you can feel emotions now? What am I feeling?"

"Impatience." She looked at me funny, "You're impatient and want to keep going."

She put her hands on her hips, "That's not what I was thinking."

Vanille and Sazh walked over, and I was thankful for it because Vanille was in a really good mood, "Lightning, there's a difference between telepathy and empathy. He can only feel your emotions, not your thoughts." She looked at me, "And remember on the airship when Fang told you that one of your parents was lying about where they were from? Well, it's true." She looked down.

"So what does this mean? I'm a Leaver and I can feel people's emotions? Is there something wrong with me?"

Fang laughed, "No. You are an empath as well. Legend has it that 'when two worlds have one life to bear, two worlds of feeling, with him, will share' or something like that." When Fang said this, I felt a sense of alarm.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up, "Is someone nervous?" Everyone shook their heads. Then I felt someone lying, "Snow?"

…

I guess I knew that in the back of my mind that I would have to tell Hope. I wanted to wait though; I didn't want him to worry about anything. "Well, when I went to sleep, I woke up in Bodhum. You know how you're a Leaver?" I turned to face him better and he nodded, "Well I saw my Eidolons there and they told me that they could do that for others."

"And?" Hope said. He crossed his arms and I knew that I had to tell him what I knew.

I broke eye contact, "I saw Serah." I heard Light's breath get caught in her throat, "I told her about us and she told me she knew. She told me that her mind had been woken up and brought to Bodhum before so she had time to think and to find things out. She told me about a prophecy about a Leaver, but that she really didn't know any details. She only found out that the prophecy of Ragnarok wasn't the only one that was going to happen." If I told him what he needed to know, that wasn't lying right? I'll tell him the rest in private.

"How did Serah already know?" Lightning asked.

Hope looked at her, "Because the first time I Left, I saw her and told her." I looked at him and was surprised.

"Hope, you never told me about that." I didn't know whether to be mad or not. I mean I didn't tell him about when I saw her, but in the past twenty minutes there really wasn't a 'by the way' moment. There was also the fact that I knew about it anyway, but that was beside the point.

He turned to me and he looked guilty, "I know you're mad at me, but I had to tell her." He was only half right about being mad at him. I was mad at the whole situation.

"Alright people, maybe it's time we get going. No need to get mad at each other." Sazh butted in to try to end all this. It worked because we did begin walking again. We did everything we could not to be spotted and have to waste time and energy on the guards and feral creatures. After a few minutes, I felt Hope's small, cool hand slip into mine. When he took my hand I wasn't mad anymore. I couldn't be. At the end of the day I had Hope and nothing else mattered.

Author's Note: Next chapter is going to be a great surprise which I hope you guys like! Although I love Snow and Hope, Fang is my favorite and I wanted to do something with her and Vanille. Thank you guys so much for reading this! You have no idea how much it means that you actually enjoy the story!