Disclaimer: I only own my oc

Yes I know I'm late again, but I've been sick for the past week and I still don't feel well. It's raw willpower that even got me to the keyboard to be honest. Anyway in this chapter Hope and Vira are going to meet. Sound the alarm! Things are going to get crazy (with Vira everything is crazy)!

Thankful for Misfortune

Chapter 8

Saving the Enemy

'Damn it all!' I thought as I made the Ghast in front of me eat a bullet. Killing the cie'th wasn't getting any easier on me and Lightning and Sazh weren't help at all. I mean with my emotional breakdown I was concealing anyway, they were actually doing way better than me in terms of fighting. It actually got me really curios as to how they could kill cie'th so easily, or rather; I wondered why I was having so much trouble. These people had been turned into monsters and the only way to spare them was a merciful death.

"You alright kid?" Sazh asked me after the Ghast fell down, a motionless heap on the floor.

"I'm not a kid…" I grumbled under my breath. "And I'm just dandy geezer. Don't call me a kid."

Sazh rolled his eyes. "Are you alright Madam?"

"Call me Madam again and I will shove that gun somewhere it can never be pulled out of." I said giving him one of my best glares.

"Message received." Sazh said with his hands up in surrender.

I sighed and followed a typically silent Lightning. For every word I spoke to Lightning I spoke about a few hundred to Sazh.

Normally I wouldn't even look at Lightning but now I couldn't stop the look of sympathy I kept giving her. How could you remain bitter at someone who has a sister she may end up having to kill? I was in a pissed off mood all the time so Lightning's mood was actually mellow compared to mine.

The room we entered next looked like a giant… generator? Seriously, that's the only way I can think of the room as. And of course there were cie'th waiting for us ever so patiently.

"Just how many are there?" I asked to no one in particular as I readied my gunblade. Sazh and I had been shooting the cie'th while Lightning would cut them to pieces. It was basically our best and only strategy. I barely actually cut the cie'th, mainly because we all knew how hard it would be to fight them up close.

"To damn many," Lighting said charging the first cie'th she saw and one shotted it. I blinked at it was over.

"No way we're falling behind." I said chasing Lightning which proved to be difficult since her legs were so much longer than mine. Sazh once again passed me with ease and I ended up behind them, which is where I preferred to be.

The cie'th crumbled like paper against us and soon it was just a walk in the park, a blood stained walk in the park.

"Do you know where your sister is Lightning?" I asked her after we stepped of a platform that had brought us to another stair case.

Lightning was about to respond as we started to reach the top of the stair case when I heard her breathe get hitched in her throat. "Serah!" she shouted running towards a girl lying down in the center of the room.

"Did I call that or what?" I asked Sazh looking at him with a smirk. Sazh however, didn't seem to be amused. "Sazh?"

Sazh was unresponsive as he walked closer to Lightning and her sister.

'Oh hell no,' I thought as jogged alongside him.

Lighting picked up her sister and turned to us. "Time to go, we have to leave before the army-"Lightning stopped talking when she looked at Sazh "What?"

"That's a Pulse brand. That's girl's an l'cie." Sazh said.

"I already told you that." Lightning said.

"Pulse l'cie are enemies of Cocoon." Sazh said reaching for his pistols.

"So they should die?" Lighting asked taking a step back.

"Listen; if she fails her Focus, you know how that'll end."

"Do you expect her to kill her sister?" I asked with venom in my voice. Sazh was really pissing me of now.

"And is killing her mercy?" Lightning asked.

"You came…" a very weak voice said that surprised me enough to jump. I looked over and saw that Serah had her eyes open and she had her hand reached to Lightning.

Lightning set Serah down gently when another voice yelled out. "Serah!"

I looked over to see a trio of people come down on a platform similar to the one we had used to come up.

The one that had yelled was a wall of a man with light blond hair, blue eyes, and a stubble beard. He was wearing a black bandanna, black gloves, and large gray boot the size of my head. He also wore a light blue vest over a black shirt and a beige trench coat.

There was also a girl that was dressed much more bizarrely. She was a young girl with bright red hair that was in curled pigtails and green eyes and pierced ears with silver hoop earrings. She had on a light pink halter top, an orange and a yellow skirt, and beige boots. She had on a fur pelt around her waist, which was carrying a very odd… item. It may have been a weapon.

The next person I actually recognized and my jaw hit the floor when I saw him. "Hope?!" I yelled at my classmate and neighbor. He looked equally surprised to see me as his blue green eyes widened in shock. His silver hair was slightly ruffled and he wore a short sleeved orange and yellow jacket with a detailed green neckerchief over a black shirt, and black gloves with white palms. He also wore green cargo pants and a black storage pack hanging over a black belt over his left leg, yellow wrist bands, and green boots.

"Vira?" he asked as he and the others with him landed by the platform.

The mountain with hair ran past me and grabbed ahold of Serah's hand, obviously to Lightning's disdain.

"Serah," the large man said with worry.

"Is that… my hero?" Serah asked weakly.

"Why are you here Hope?" I asked my classmate. Hope was one of the very few people in my class I could stand. I wouldn't call him my friend but I still liked way more than most people in my school, or in general. He was never like the loud and obnoxious teens that always judged everyone else and were ruthless to those who were already down. He seemed more like the caring nice guy you met once in a blue moon.

"The Purge," Hope said bitterly.

"Oh, right." I said feeling stupid. I shook of and asked him "I mean what are you doing here in this exact spot."

Hope looked over at the large man Serah called her hero and glared while barring his teeth, like a predator ready for the kill. "I have my reasons."

I had never seen Hope so angry, and it was apparently directed to the 'hero' over there. I glanced at the girl that was with them and I tried to make a joke. "So who's the girl, your lucky lady?" I asked smirking while nudging him in the arm.

Hope said nothing and continued to have a look that could shoot lasers.

"Let's get you out of her." the man said.

"Hands of." Lightning said quickly. "I'm taking her home."

"Sis, I-"

"I'm not your sister!" Lightning yelled angrily.

'This doesn't look good…'

"You couldn't protect her. It's your fault she-"

"You can save us." Serah said with a small smile.

"Serah?" Lightning said.

"You can save us." Serah said, this time her voice barely a whisper.

"Save who?" I asked stepping closer to her. Lightning looked up at me with a warning look. She must have thought I was going to do what Sazh was about to do. I gave her a look that said 'I am not going to hurt her' and Lightning put her look away.

"All of us." Serah said, her voice fading even more so. "Save…Cocoon."

"Save Cocoon?" Lightning asked. "Serah? That was your focus?"

"Anything, I'll do anything." the man said almost desperate. "Leave it to me-you'll see. I'll protect Cocoon. I'll save everyone!"

Lightning looked at the man angrily for a minute and then back at Serah. "Somehow, I'll make things right."

"You just relax." the man said more calmly than before.

Serah smiled happily and then said "Thank you." After she spoke she began to glow blue and started to rise into the air.

"Serah!' Lightning said almost panicking.

"What's happening to her?" I asked almost panicking myself.

"She's turning into crystal, but why?" the young woman spoke for the first time. Her voice had an accent that sounded very peppy and I couldn't quite place it.

"L'cie who fulfill their focus are transformed into crystal and gain eternal life." The roughness from Hope's voice was gone now, which sort of relieved me. "It's just as the stories say."

Sure enough, Serah had started to turn to crystal and a small part of crystal fell from her and it fell into the man's hand.

"Serah!" the man yelled. "Serah!"

Lightning had a look of horror on her face that made my chest hurt. It must have killed to have found her sister and have her turn into crystal before her eyes.

"Serah, sweet dreams." the man said looking at Serah sadly.

Lightning walked to the man and even though Sazh tried to grab her she quickly shook him off. "Sweet dreams? She's not sleeping!" The raw anger in Lightning's voice was enough to make me cringe. I was used to Lightning be calm and in control, only focused on her goal. She had gotten upset with Sazh but now she had officially snapped. "Serah's… she's-" Now Lightning sounded like she may break, which really got to me.

I walked over to her and put my hand on her shoulder. She immediately shook me off which caused me to stumble but Hope and the other girl stopped me from falling.

"Serah is alive!" the man said looking at Lightning.

"No." Lightning said, now angry again.

"The legend, remember the legend." the man said. "L'cie who fulfill their Focus turn to crystal and gain eternal life. It's the same with Serah. Eternal life, she's not dead!"

Normally I wouldn't have said anything, and although I knew he was upset just like Lightning, I was getting annoyed at him. Sleeping forever is no different than death, and it was most likely hurting Lightning to hear him talk about how Serah wasn't dead, as if she was recovering from a coma.

"How is sleeping forever any different from death?" I asked him.

He turned to me and opened his mouth to state his case.

"Stop right there." I said preventing him from speaking. "She isn't coming back." I said making sure I looked as determined as possible.

"Serah is my bride to be, I promised to be hers forever." The man said looking at me and Lightning.

"If you want to be with her forever now," I said walking up to the man and doing my best to look him in the eyes even though he towered over me. "Then I suggest you become an l'cie so you can join your lovely fiancé. At least now you can save money on jewelry."

Seeing his shocked face actually put me at ease. I know it was cruel but it was the truth. Faking reality to make things easier only makes the inner damage worse. Plus speaking like this was more me. Being blunt was my territory; it's where I felt most at home. Sugar coating made me feel like I was lying to people, and that's not my style.

His shocked face vanished and was replaced with even more determination then before. He looked at me and then at Lightning. "I don't care how many years I have to wait-"

What happened next caught me off guard. Lightning looked at Serah's fiancé and punched him right in the face. "It's over! Open your eyes a face reality."

'My thoughts exactly' I knew Lightning must have had a whole other reason for disliking snow and it must have been on a whole other plane.

A shock wave vibrated the entire area that nearly made me fall. Hope fell on his knees and covered his head from either fear or any falling rubble and I copied his actions for the sake of protecting my skull.

"What now?" the woman asked.

"The army!" Sazh yelled.

"Get down you idiots!" I yelled over the shaking.

Every follow Hope's and I's example and got on their knees and covered their heads. Lightning and the large man however, covered Serah instead. I would have told them to cover their own heads but I knew it would have been pointless.

"What's happening?" the woman asked.

"Sanctum." I yelled over the noise. "They want this while place destroyed!"

"Aren't they taking it back to Pulse?" the girl asked wiggling closer to me. "That's where the Purge was, right?"

"All they care about is getting everything from Pulse off Cocoon." Sazh said.

"it doesn't matter how to them." I said.

"We can't stay here!" Hope yelled grabbing ahold of the girl and I. "They'll kill us."

"Calm down Hope." I said trying to comfort him. I gave up on protecting my head and rose up Hope's head to look me in the eye. "Just keep calm, you'll be fine." I didn't want to lie to Hope, especially since I had just mercilessly spilled to the truth to Serah's fiancé but Hope was a kid (even though Hope was older than me I still viewed him as a kid) that was thrown into the Purge and then ended up in a place that may have been even worse.

"A-alright," Hope said nodding. Shortly afterwards the shaking stopped and everything was still.

Everyone stood up and an l'cie brand that was previously on the door in front of us vanished.

The large man grabbed a hold of Serah's crystalized hand and said "I'll be right back. Hold on."

As snow started to walk Sazh yelled "Trench coat Where are you going."

'Trench coat is a good nickname, I should have used' I thought.

"Date with the fal'cie." Trench coat said. Yep, much better nickname. "Got some things to talk about,"

"What?" Sazh asked. "You're gonna ask it to help her? Are you out of your mind kid? That thing wants to chew us up and spit us out."

"Well what do you want me to do?!" the large man yelled.

Lightning said nothing as she walked past the man and started to walk up the stair case.

"Oh no," I said

"Lightning?" the man asked with a bit of hope in his voice.

"Here we go." Sazh said walking after the too.

"Follow the leader." I said starting to walk forward. I was pulled back a little because Hope was still clinging on to me and the other girl. "Let's go Hope." I said pulling him a little.

Hope nodded hesitantly and followed me along with the other woman. "So who are you and the human wall?" I asked the pink haired girl.

"I'm Vanilla, and the man is Snow." The girl named Vanilla said.

"Alright then Vanille, can you fight?" I asked her.

"Uh, yes." Vanille said she said bringing out her weapon.

"Do you have a weapon Hope?" I asked him.

"Sort off." Hope said pulling a boomerang out of his side pack.

"That'll work." I said nodding at the two them. "Be ready for anything."

Hope looked scared out of his mind. "Be calm, or it's done before it even begins." I said.

"Alright," Hope said, although he still looked unsure.

'Worry about his emotions later Vira, just try to stay alive.'

I didn't want to fight, and I didn't want to die. But I wasn't going to wait for a cie'th. Plus, Lightning had all of the energy bars.

I hope you liked this chapter, especially since it was pretty long. The trio found Serah and Vira met up with Hope, Vanille, and Snow. Pretty good if you ask me. The next chapter will be a battle scene between everyone and the Fal'cie. Look forward to it. Also look forward to bits of romance here and there in the story between Hope and Vira. This story isn't going to be centered on their relationship but it will be there. Look forward to it.