WARNINGS: This chapter contains; language and implied violence

Hope woke up from his sleep at the sound of Snow's booming voice. He rubbed his eyes before looking up at the scene in front of him. The blonde was standing in the doorway, his cheeks were tinted pink and his breath was short, as if he had been running. Lightning was at her dresser, quickly throwing on clothes.

"What's going on?" Hope said, seeing the two people in obvious distress.

The pink haired girl looked at him. "Serah's missing.

The boy was now also in a distressed state. He pushed the sheets off, standing up and looking at Snow. "What do you mean she's missing?"

"She's fucking gone! Her phones off, she never came home last night, and none of NORA knows where she is."

"Let's go."

Lightning grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the bedroom. While they passed the living room, Snow yanked Noel out of his sleep and pulled him along too. He was in his boxers and his hair was a mess.

"What the fuck? Let me go you asshole!" The brunette pushed on the larger boy's arm, not even making him budge.

"You're coming with us."

"Why?"

Hope turned to his roommate and nodded. "Serah's missing.."

The boy saw his roommate's face drop. Since they arrived at the Farron home, both Hope and Noel had become better friends with Serah. Though Noel had a stronger connection to her, they were instantly friends. Hope could see the hurt and sadness in his eyes, even if he didn't truly know what was going on. They followed the older friends out the door and to Lightning's car. Hope and Lightning slid in the back of her car. Snow looked at them confused.

"Snow, drive."

The blonde nodded and sat in the driver's seat, while the brunette sat in the passenger seat. Hope looked over at his crush and saw her dialing a number on her phone. He slowly reached over, grabbing her hand. The boy was delighted she didn't pull away or protest. The girl was obviously upset and concerned, they all were. Hope felt the need to give her some support, even if he was feeling the same she was.

"Where the fuck is my sister?" Her voice was piercing sharp. "I'm not playing games with you Caius, tell me where Serah is!"

Hope could hear the low chuckle from his side of the car. It was scary, even to Hope. Then a thought struck him.

"Lightning! What does he look like?" He tugged on the girls arm.

She held the phone with both her hands and glared at him. "That's not important right now!"

"Does he have purple hair?"

Her eyes widened and looked at Snow as he asked the question. "Yeah, why does it fucking matter?"

"I know where he is."

Lightning shut her phone, with a loud slap. "Go."

Snow slammed on the gas and drove out of the neighborhood. Hope held Lightning's hand tight as the blonde drove fast through the streets of Bodhum. He looked at the pink haired girl, seeing her fingers twitch and her eyes scanning the scenery. Noel was doing the same thing. 'I hope Serah's okay. M-Maybe she's not really missing.. perhaps she's just out shopping.' He knew it wasn't true, no matter how many times he repeated the sentence in his mind, he still didn't believe it.

Both the two in the back lunged forward as the breaks on the car we're hit hard. Luckily, Hope had quickly put his arm up, prevented him from slamming into the seat in front of him. He looked over at Lightning, who was not so lucky. She had hit her lip on the seat and it began to bleed slightly.

"Shit." She reached down to the pink bag that Hope had just noticed and pulled out a small tissue, dabbing her lip.

"Yuj told me he saw some guy with purple hair talking to Serah last night. He said he went into this building."

Hope looked up at the large hotel building that was now in front of them. It was at least fifty stories high, if not more. He didn't expect such a powerful man to simply stay in a open place like this, if he even was staying there that is. Snow parked the car and they all stepped out. Lightning had ditched her tissue, leaving her lip still red and had her pink bag tightly in her hand. The boy watched as everyone began walking forward into the building. 'Do I really want to do this?' He practically smacked himself for thinking such a thing and quickly ran up to meet with the others.

"Is there a man staying here named Caius?" Noel said, putting his hands on the front desk.

"Give me one second.. I'll look it up for you." Surely to the receptionist, they must have looked like some crowd. "I'm sorry but there's no one checked in by that name."

"Well have you seen a man with purple hair?"

"I'm sorry sir.. we can't tell you that. It's hotel pol-"

Before she could finish, Snow grabbed the girl by her shirt and pulled her up to his eye level. "I don't care about your fucking policy. That man kidnapped my fiancee. So either you tell me where he is, or things will only get worse for you." His grip tightened.

"Snow.." Hope put his hand on the older mans shoulder. He understood that he was upset, but knowing the blonde, he wouldn't hesitate to hurt whoever got in his way to save Serah. Also knowing him, that would end him up in jail.

The girl quickly answered his question. "T-There is a man with purple hair on the top floor. Penthouse suit number one." Her voice was shaky and her face was filled with fear.

The four went to the elevator and got in. Hope watched Snow hit the number fifty button about ten times before he finally stopped. The silver haired boy turned away and looked at his crush. Her lip was still bleeding some. He frowned and moved towards her.

"You okay?" He whispered.

"Couldn't be better."

The sarcasm was floating in the space between them. She tapped her lip and looked at her fingers, her eyes squinting as she looked at the blood. Hope sighed and leaned against the elevator wall. He watched the number light up on the top. 35,36,37,38..
It seemed to be taking forever. The boy looked around at the others in the elevator. Noel had his hands on his hips as usual. Snow's hands were curled into fists as he clenched them tightly, making a small squeak from his gloves. 43,44,45,46,47..

Finally the elevator made a ding and the doors opened. Snow bursted out, slamming his fists together as he walked. Hope stayed in the back, not sure what help he would truly give but was willing to do anything he was asked. While the door was insight, Lightning pushed the blonde out of the way.

"Let me go first. All of you, stay away from the door. Got it?"

"Sis, no way I'm staying out here."

"You're not staying out here. Just give me a minute. He'll open the door for me."

Hope bit his lip. 'If anything happened to Serah.. and if anything happens to any of us.. what are we going to do?' Him and the other two boys stood away from the door and out of sight. They watched from a corner as the pink haired girl knocked on the door. The sound of the door opening echoed through the hall. Hope held his breath as he watched the girl walk in, her pink bag held tight by her side.

"What now?" Noel whispered.

"Let's go." Snow hit his knuckles together and walked over to the door.

Both Noel and Hope followed after him. The door was still open slightly, giving them the clue that Lightning left it open for them. Snow smirked and clenched his knuckles before punching the door open. Hope followed in after the blonde and gasped at the sight before him. Lightning was kneeling at the ground, in front of the large couch that was in the room. On the couch, was Serah. Her normally bright pink hair was now a darker, grey shade and her eyes were almost closed.

"Serah!" Snow screamed and made his way to the couch, only being stopped half way by the purpled haired boy.

"And who might you be?" Caius held Snow by the neck, nearly choking him.

"Snow, Serah's fiancee!" Snow attempted to punch the man, who simply caught his fist with his free hand, making a low chuckle.

Hope quickly snuck past the two men and walked over to the two sisters. Lightning was holding Serah's hand tightly. The boy noticed the bruises and cuts along her arms. The arm that Lightning was closest too was swollen and almost one whole bruise.

"Let him go Caius!"

The silver haired boy heard Noel yelling. He didn't turn around to look at the scene behind him, he continued to look over Serah's discolored body.

"Lightning, go help Snow and Noel.. I'll make sure Serah's okay."

Lightning looked at him, her eyes watery with tears and stood up. He turned back to Serah and frowned, her eyes were closed, her lips were dry, and her body was cold. But she wasn't dead, just beat up badly. 'We need to get her out of here as soon as possible..' He could hear the chatter and yelling behind him, but none of it registered. He was determined to get the bruised girl out of the room and to a hospital. Without thinking, he pushed his arms under her body and lifted her up. She made a groaning noise and her eyes fluttered open.

He looked up and focused on the door, blurring everything else out. Hope ran to the door and opened it. He quickly looked at Lightning.

"Ill take her to where she needs to go."

With those words, he left the room. He hoped that the girl understood what he meant by that. He didn't want to mention hospital, in fear that Caius would follow him there. The silver haired boy quickly ran down the hallway, trying his best not to bump Serah, hurting her further. He made it to the elevator and took a breath, watching the girl in his arms carefully.

"Serah.. can you hear me?"

Her eyes opened slightly. "Hope.." Despite her current state and the obvious pain she was in, she managed to have a small smile on her lips.

"You're okay.. I'm taking you to the hospital. Everything's going to be fine okay?"

Her head nodded slightly. "Is everyone alright? Snow, Noel.. my sister?"

Hope nodded. "Yeah.. yeah they'll be fine." The boy grabbed her hand gently, holding it close.

"Thank you.."

The silver haired boy rushed out of the elevator when the doors opened. The people in the lobby all stared and gave him odd looks. The only thing on his mind though was finding a hospital. And probably the most convenient thing ever was that, well, there was a hospital across the street. 'God damn, what luck.' Looking both ways several times and dodging multiple cars, the two made it across the street.

Hope ran into the emergency room, running up to the first nurse he saw. He explained the situation with the girl who was limp in his arms and they got into a room. He watched as they put an IV into her arm that wasn't swollen. All sorts of questions were thrown at the boy as multiple nurses came in and he tried his best to answer the ones he could. Once the swarm of nurses was down to only one every couple minutes, he sat down on the chair.

His hands were shaky as he put them through his hair. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what was going on back across the street but he hoped everyone was okay. Almost if on cue, he saw a sway of pink hair in the corner of his eyes. Hope turned and looked towards the color. In front of him was none other than Lightning. He noticed the redness on the side of her face and the small bruise that was beginning to form.

"Lightning.." Hope stood up and moved closer to her. "What happened? Where's Noel and Snow?"
She ignored his question as she walked to the bed with her sister in it. Hope watched her as she put her hand on the girls. He walked next to her, putting his arm around her back and holding her close.

"She's going to be okay.."

She turned towards the silver haired boy, her eyes filled with sadness. Before he could say anything else, she leaned forward, hugging the boy tightly. Hope heard the girls shaky breath as she breathed against his neck. It was easy to tell that she was crying. Knowing how embarrassed his crush became when she was crying, he just held her tight and let her cry all she wanted.

"Snow and Noel.. they went back to NORA house to make sure nothing's missing. Their both fine." Hope loosened his arms around her as she pulled back some, quickly and discretely trying to wipe her eyes.

"What about Caius?" Hope pushed back the slightly damp bangs out of her eyes.

"I gave him the drugs and he told us he'd leave us alone. Snow and Noel fucked him up but.. he seemed fine."

The boy sighed. "Lightning.. you can't.. you can't keep selling him drugs. Things could end up like this next time, or even worse."

"I know."

Noel and Snow arrived at the hospital about an hour later. He watched the scene as the two lovers reunited, even if the pink haired girl was asleep. Snow had tears in his eyes as he saw his fiancee hooked up to multiple wires and bandages on her. The nurse came in in the middle of it all. She explained that Serah would have to stay over night and possibly longer. The injuries she had were not only bad, but with her illness, they could become worse, and quick.

"Lightning, take the others home. Ill keep an eye on Serah." Snow said as he pulled a chair up next to the bed.

The pink haired girl scoffed. "You're joking right? She's my sister. I'll stay if I want to."

"You have to take Noel and Hope home."

It was obvious that both of the older people were getting angry at each other. Hope frowned and played with his fingers, trying to keep quiet. He didn't want to come in between the two. They all knew Serah, but obviously Snow and Lightning had a much stronger connection to her.

"We'll walk home. You two stay with Serah." Noel said, putting his hands on his hips.
Lightning nodded. "Ill call if anything happens."

The two boys walked out, both thinking about what all just happened. After a couple minutes of walking, Hope wanted to know about what really happened with Caius.

"Noel.. what happened after I left?"

He watched the boys face scrunch up and he ran his hand through his hair. "Well I was fully prepared to beat the shit out of him. But Lightning, after you left, she went in a room with him." He crossed his arms across his chest. "I'm not sure what happened but, she came out fine and he agreed to leave Serah alone."

Hope bit his lip and frowned. He knew that she sold him the drugs and thats what made him say what he did. He knew that even if he said he'd leave the girl alone, he would go back to her or someone else next time Lightning didn't give him the drugs. It seemed like it would never end, at least to him.

The rest of the walk home was silent, most the time they were trying to find their way back in the confusing city of Bodhum. Once they got inside the Farron household, they both sighed and went to the kitchen to eat. It was only two in the afternoon, despite the what seemed like long morning. After he finished eating a sandwich, his phone rang.

"Hello?" He said, swallowing his last bit of food.

"Hope.." Lightning's voice was soft, almost a whisper but not quite.

"Hey Light, what's up? Is everything okay?"

"Serah has to go to surgery. Her.. heart stopped. Theres a hole in her heart."

Hope's eyes widened and he stood up, walking upstairs into the bedroom. "But.. she only broke a couple bones, at least that's what the nurse told me earlier."

"Apparently not. Not only are her bones broken but, they can't heal and her cuts can't heal because she can't clot properly."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. They had only left the hospital an hour ago. How could things have gotten that bad in such a short time?

"Is she going to be okay after the surgery?"

"They say she will be."

"Call if anything else happens okay Light?"

"Yeah."

He smiled softly and then hung up the phone. He sighed to himself and sat down on the couch in the room. There was so much that happened during the break and there was still another two weeks left of it. Hopefully Serah would get better in time so they could all go back to school together. Hope knew that if Serah wasn't better, neither Snow nor Lightning would go back until she was better. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. 'Why did this happen? Why Serah? She did nothing wrong. She had nothing to do with any of this.'

Now that he began thinking about it, none of them had anything to do with Caius. The only person that had any connection to him, was Lightning. His phone vibrated and he opened it up.

"What's up Light?"

"Mr. Estheim."

His eyes widened and he gripped the phone.

A/N: I know this chapter was a bit blank on what happened with Caius, so stay tuned cause next chapter is an extra!