Chapter 11
The Victor
A/N: You didn't think that was the end, did you? Sorry for the massive delay, but life gets in the way. Thank you for the love, now enjoy! I want to finish this fic until the end.
With one swift motion, he toss them all at her. Lightning's eyes widened as fifty sharp and pointy weapons came flying straight at her with lightning speed...
"Shit…" Lightning whispered. Her fingers grabbed at the Blazefire Saber while pink flames rapidly encased her whole body. Her eyes narrowed, "I will not run, nor hide, I will win, even if it kills me!" Wielding her weapon, she aimed it at the prince and charged.
Noctis' small, sharp eyes widened in shocked as he watched his weapons vaporized to nothing by Lightning's intense fire. She was running passed everyone of them unaffected and quickly approaching.
"AHHH," Lightning yelled as she thrust her sword. Noctis shifted to the left, but felt the cold steel slice his cheek. He was just a little too late. The smell of blood along with a sharp stinging-pain hit him hard.
"I win." Lightning smirked.
She reached for the floating orb, fingers clinching onto its golden rays. Instantly, the two were transported back into the classroom.
Frozen from the events that transpired, the dark prince touched his cheek once more. The pain had disappeared much like his wound, erasing the evidence of Lightning's mark on him. The violent redness of his eyes faded back to a soft blue. Disbelief was written all over his face as he faced her.
"Congratulations Lightning, you are the victor," the headmaster said raising Lightning's hand in the air. She watched as a small marble materialized to the right side of the scale that read Ladies.
"Me too, bro." Gladiolus patted his friend's back. It wasn't easy to admitting, but he had terribly lost to Fang.
"What!" Prompto gasped, clearly shocked that Lightning had beaten his master. "Am I the only one that won from us?"
In that moment, Ignis suddenly appeared with Princess Stella. The golden orb clearly visible in his left hand, he cracked a smile. Gladiolus smirked as Prompto did a fist pump in the air cheering his fellow car man.
"Congratulations Ignis," said the headmaster. "You are the victor." He too, raised the gentleman's hand as a marble tipped the scale back to the men's side. Princess Stella huffed in annoyance.
As more and more couples were transported into the room, the results had caused the large scale to occasionally tipping back and forth from men to women until finally landing in favor of the men's side with the finally couple completing the task.
"I'm happy to see such an active participation on the first day of battle strategy."
The headmaster beamed, "Hopefully it will continue as the year progress."
"Yeah, we'll keep beating the girls." Prompto proudly said while crossing his arms and nose up in the air.
"Good, a challenge." Lightning replied, touching her saber once more.
The blonde pretended not to hear her.
"Well done MEN, well done. As a reward you get to leave early and rest peacefully." The headmaster signaled for them to leave and waited until all were gone. "Now ladies, that was an excellent first fight."
Fang and Lightning looked around the room. It was mostly filled with defeated looks, especially the one Princess Stella's face.
"I must remind you that in the heat of a battle or in this case, a competition, do not doubt your innate abilities. For some, that lost of confidence led to a defeat. Do not let fear paralyze you, instead let it give you the courage to fight harder. Understood?"
A mumble of yeah, okay, and yes came from the ladies. However, Lightning remained silent. She nodded in acceptance.
"Now go and rest… for tomorrow is a new day and a clean slate. Goodnight ladies and remember curfew is in 30 minutes." The headmaster had left after that.
Fang looked at Lightning, "Think we can show the boys, who's boss."
Lightning fought to keep her face stoic, "Great job so far." She said sarcastically and began walking towards the door. "Let's go find Serah and Vanille."
Fang shook her head, "It's going to be a looooooong year."
Noctis had been walking absent-mindedly and tuning off Prompto's never ending boasting until Ignis nudged him.
"Is something the matter?" He asked the prince with an inquisitive look.
Noctis suddenly stopped. "Huh?"
Prompto was walking in front with Gladiolus, talking adamantly. "That was so easy. It should hardly be called a competition. I mean come on – these girls have no battle strategy."
The prince returned to his previous gloomy demeanor.
"Am I correct to assume that this is about your grievous loss to Lightning?" Ignis whispered, not wanting to set Prompto into another rant.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Ah," said Ignis. "So it is–"
"Drop it, Ignis."
And so he did. Ignis knew better than to piss Noctis – even further – off than he already was.
"Hey, guys." A familiar hunter came into view. "I hope I'm not late. I had heard something interesting and had to stay for awhile."
"Not at all, Noel. Class just finished and we were coming to get you anyway." Prompto said. "So, what did you hear?"
"Gotchua," Noel said excitedly, "Well, Serah told me that her friends were also going to snoop around the castle tonight."
Prompto's smile grew, "That's great! We can get them into trouble."
Noel looked confused. Meanwhile, Ignis shot a look of pure annoyance at the blonde while Gladiolus chuckled. Then Ignis carried that look to a now laughing Gladiolus as well.
"What? The man's determined." He shrugged his shoulders continuing to laugh.
Ignis said nothing and just adjusted his eyeglasses, a habit he did whenever he was feeling particularly displeased.
"Aren't we going to get into trouble too?" Noel questioned the blonde. "Besides, wasn't it 'the first one to find the throne room wins' remember?"
"Only if we get caught." Prompto said slyly. "Plus, adding a little bit of a challenge won't hurt our game."
"I don't know, it's best if we don't cause trouble the first week of school." Noel thought out loud. "Anyways, Serah–"
"I agree with Noel, let's just keep hidden and stick with our original plan for tonight," said Ignis. He hastily interrupted Noel because he didn't want Prompto to begin another one of his anti-girl lectures.
Noctis studied the hunter, Noel had mention Serah's name twice now. What type of relationship does he have with her anyway? Noctis had thought. He still remembered lying to the poor girl and then putting her unnecessarily into harm's way back at the marketplace. He wanted to right his wrong and explain – rather apologize – to the unusually giving girl. He felt that he was wrong and the guilt was starting to become bothersome. Maybe tonight he can have a chance to speak with her. I guess it'll have to talk with him privately later on to help me track her.
"Shh!" Gladiolus perked his eyes. "Did you hear that?"
"Serah, be quiet!" Vanille's muffled yet loud voice passed through the walls. "We don't want to be caught after curfew!"
Noctis smirked. "I guess, Noel's friend was telling the truth," he tested, eyeing the hunter. Is that your true relationship with Serah? He thought. However, another thing had caught his attention: there wasn't any pull on his heart. Lightning isn't with her?
Noel furrow his eyebrows. He didn't like the way Noctis had described Serah with a smart tone.
Oh, looks like I might have angered him, maybe it's not… friendship after all. Noctis stopped smirking.
"This is great! It's like they are coming to us. HAHA, wow they're really make it easy for us." Prompto giggled with glee.
"And so will you, if you yell any louder," said Ignis. "Hush up."
"Okay, let's go," Prompto changed to a whisper. "Follow me." The blonde instinctively followed the hushed voices and sped down the hallway and around the corner. Ignis and Gladiolus followed after him. Only Noctis and Noel didn't make any moves. It seemed like they were have a private conversation with each other without words. Both warriors evaluated the other. It was Noel that had broke it off first and silently disappeared into the shadows following the blonde. Noctis kept an eye on him.
At the end of the corridor, the noisy ladies were now in full view for Prompto. There appeared to be only two of them and they certainly looked lost. One had bright red hair that was tied into two curled pigtails, and her eyes were a bright emerald green. Prompto was approving of her outfit: a light pink halter-top that shows her smooth flat stomach paired with a very short orange and yellow skirt. Her wrists were adorned with numerous bracelets, and colorful beads everywhere. Not exactly the quietest accessory Prompto noted. The other looked rather cutesy with her light pink hair to the side. He didn't really liked the layers, but her legs were divine in those black thigh-high stockings and red plaid-pleated short skirt lined with – oh God, was that lace – along with a plain white sleeveless dress shirt.
"Um Vin, are you sure we are going the right way. I'm pretty sure Lightning's class is in the dungeons. This doesn't look like the dungeons." Said the one with light pink hair. She was scratching her head and addressing the cheerful red-haired girl. "There are far too many windows here."
"Ummm. They should be done by now. Maybe we should wait for them back at the dormitory." The girl called Vin said unsure of herself.
Prompto continued to study these girls while Noctis stood up. The prince didn't want to miss his chance at Serah. Noel immediately followed.
"Hi Serah." Noel said stepping into the light. So did Noctis, Prompto rolled his eyes. Looks like he had to play nice guy for now. He followed as well as Ignis and Glad.
Serah's mouth formed an, "Oo," at their sudden appearance.
Vanille looked happy, "Hello, Noel. Looks like you've made friends."
Noel smiled friendly, "Yes, they are from Alpha."
"That's great!" Vanille was saying gleefully to Noel. She reached out and hugged Prompto's bicep. "You'll be able to show us where Fang and Light are."
The boy had felt her soft breasts surrounding his muscle and blushed. "Umm…I-I" He muttered.
This time it was Noel's turn to laugh because the once confidently boasting Prompto was now reduced to a mutterring puppy. "Sure we can Vanille. It's this way." He pointed to the left hallway leading downstairs.
"Thank you, Noel," said Serah. She eyed the rest suspiciously. Vanille had let go of the boy and began skipping forward. Serah had stuck with Noel for security reasons.
Noctis shifted positions. All of a sudden, a tiny pull began tugging at his heart once more. He concentrated on which direction and faced the group.
"I have an idea," Noctis said loudly, wanting to attract some attention. Maybe Lightning might hear it as well. He thought hopefully. Everyone stopped and looked at him. "Why don't we play a game, it'll be a fun way to explore the castle."
Vanille beamed, Gladiolus smiled, Serah looked unsure while Noel looked curious, Ignis was stoic, and Prompto raised his eyebrow. He liked where this was going.
"That's a great idea," said Prompto. "What game were you thinking about?"
Noctis could sense the pull getting stronger. She must be closer now, he thought. "Have you ever heard of hide and seek?" Much like how Lightning was hiding now, and Noctis was willing to seek her out.
"Eh?" Noel said in disbelief, "isn't that a little childish?"
But his words were soon drown out by Vanille's squeal, "I LOVE THAT GAME! OMG IT'LL BE SO MUCH FUN! YES!"
Prompto seem to add to the excitement, "We can make two teams!"
"I agree," said Gladiolus in his booming voice.
Noel frown, it seems like only he was against this.
"Let's make it boys vs girls," Noctis said, laying down the bait. The pull was very strong now, he could almost smell her scent in the air.
"But I don't think that fair," Vanille cried, "there are only two of us!"
"No, it's not," said a confident voice behind them. Noctis smiled, finally. Everyone turned to the mysterious voice.
"But maybe we can even it outsome more," said Lightning as she and Fang emerged out of the shadows.