Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone for keeping up with the story, adding this to your favorites and alerts, and sending in reviews! I've enjoyed reading all the reviews that were sent in! I hope that you will like this chapter of the story!

Chapter 25: Reveal:

At the front of the warehouse, the soldiers were still holding onto Lightning as Nabaat stepped in front of her. A smile came on her face. "Well Lieutenant Farron. Finally we get to be alone."

The soldiers released their hold on her, allowing Lightning to stand up. They stepped back from her, giving Nabaat and her some space, but close enough to keep their guns pointed toward Lightning. When Lightning's eyes looked over, she saw her gunblade on the ground. There was a little distance between her and the weapon, but with enough speed she could grab it in time. Her eyes returned back to Nabaat. All she wanted to do was take that smirk off of her face. "What do you want? What did I ever do to you to make you want to kill me?"

Nabaat let out a calm smile. She walked over and grabbed Lightning's gunblade from off of the ground. In her hands, she observed the weapon for herself. "Oh my! What's this? I've never seen a model like this before. It reminds me of…oh right… One of the models that the Director showed us the first day at the first meeting." Nabaat took a few more seconds to stare at it before tossing it off to the side, more out of Lightning's reach. "You really have done well for yourself haven't you? You have one of the most powerful men in the palm of your hand. You could get him to do whatever you want and what did it cost you? Getting him to believe that you care for him? Something more personal and physical?"

Lightning refused to give her the satisfaction by answering with anything. "Get to the point."

Nabaat closed her eyes as she took her glasses off. Finally she could let out her frustrations and what she really thought about Lightning. "Frankly…I'm sick of you. As if you had to work to get where you are today. It took me years to get to the position and rank I am today where as it took you no time at all. You're nothing but a daddy's girl that got lucky. The people on the council kissed up to your father. They loved him and when he died, they didn't take a second thought about putting you on. Face it. You just got there by name alone."

Lightning looked upset and offended. "That's not true. It took me years just to get on the council like you."

"Yeah. By a few years, but soon as your daddy died, it was only a matter of time. Spoiled little brat. It still continues doesn't it? Once daddy was gone, you moved right on to the next powerful man. Even if you were to leave the council you would be well taken care of wouldn't you? You would probably even have a say over the government if you want. That's how wrapped around your finger you got him."

"Just get over it. This jealously sounds pathetic even for you. I can't help how things turned out, but I'm not going to apologize for it."

Nabaat became more upset by her comment. She pulled out her sword from her side and pointed it toward Lightning. She stepped forward as Lightning stepped back.

"Colonel Nabaat." Nabaat lifted her eyes and saw Raines and Rosch standing on the upper level of the warehouse floor. Raines was a little surprised to see Lightning there and that Nabaat was about to attack her. "What are you doing?"

"Handling a little pest problem. I have the plans. I just need to deal with this first. She's the last soldier that I need to get rid of."

"There's still the general." Lightning pointed out.

A smirk formed on Nabaat's lips. "Not anymore. It took some time, but we managed to kill him while he was still in the hospital. With everyone out of the way, we'll be the only ones on the council making decisions. That will work so well in our favor getting the new government into power.

Lightning looked up surprised to see Raines and Rosch there, but more that they were a part of this. While Nabaat was distracted turning her attention to them and speaking, Lightning took off running for her gunblade. For a second, Nabaat looked surprised, but quickly ran after her. Lightning grabbed her weapon. When she turned around, Nabaat swung her sword. The tip sliced open a part of her sleeve and left a cut on her arm. Lightning placed her hand to her arm. When she looked down at her hand, she saw blood. Nabaat ran in to attack again, but Lightning fought back against her. "Kill her!" Nabaat ordered.

The soldiers pointed and shot their guns toward Lightning. Lightning reacted quickly and ducked for cover from them and Nabaat behind some crates. It was hard to deal with them and her at the same time. She switched over to her gun and began shooting toward the soldiers and Nabaat. Nabaat avoided her shots and moved in for the kill. "Now you'll die!"

Lightning clutched her teeth. She tried to turn her gun to Nabaat. Suddenly, she saw something rapidly knock Nabaat's sword out of her hand and flipped it through the air. The sword landed on the ground, surprising Nabaat, Raines, and Rosch. The object flew back again and knocked Nabaat down. An electric shock went through her and made her fall onto the ground.

Lightning was surprised by what happened. When she looked up in the air, she saw a boomerang. She had no idea who was helping her, but she was just glad that it was friend and not someone else attacking her. "Follow where it's going!" one of the soldiers shouted. Hearing that, Lightning decided to shoot back. At least with her fire distracting them, it wouldn't reveal the location of whoever was helping her.

Her plan worked. The soldiers began to fire back. The same boomerang flew back and attacked the soldiers. Each soldier that attacked, it managed to knock them down and out. It soon headed over toward Raines and Rosch who ducked. After things calmed down, the mysterious attacker ran out of his spot and caught his boomerang.

When Lightning looked over, she reacted with surprise as she recognized the figure. He jumped over and made it behind the crates where she was. His attention turned over to her. "Are you okay?"

"Hope? I thought that-."

Hope smiled a little. "I got out of where they were holding us."

A concerned but serious look came across her face. "But where's Serah?"

"Don't worry. She's fine. Actually, she reminds me a lot of you. She was the one who was able to get out first and then she came back and got me out as well. Right now, she's getting other people to come help us." It was a relief that Serah was safe even if Lightning felt uneasy about her being out on her own. Hope looked down and noticed blood on her arm. "What happened?"

Lightning followed the direction of his eyes and saw what he was staring at. "It's nothing. Just a little scratch." When she looked through a crack between two crates, she saw more soldiers heading toward them. She got her gunblade ready. "They're coming."

Quickly, Hope reached into one of his pockets that was on his belt and grabbed her hand. He took some bandages and wrapped them around the wound on her arm. She didn't think that they had time for that, but let him finish since he was moving fast. "Thanks."

Hope nodded. "I got your back."

Lightning shook her head. "No. You attack first. That way with them distracted, I can go in and finish this."

"All right." he agreed. "One more thing." With his hand, he grabbed onto the back of her neck and pulled her in toward him. His lips met with hers in a strong, passionate kiss.

"Hope?!" she murmured against his lips. Her hands pressed against his jacket. She wanted to push him away, but found herself giving in just for those few seconds.

After he parted from her, a smile came on his face. "I just wanted to do that."

A slight smile came on her face. "We are getting out of this together you know."

"I know." Soon, he stood up and threw his boomerang. The soldiers began firing back. Like planned, it distracted the soldier somewhat. Lightning stood up and fired back, hitting them all.

During the battle, Nabaat groaned as she began to wake up. She saw what was going on. At this point, she couldn't complete the part of the plan she wanted to as far as with Lightning. What was more important than that was to get those plans and get out. She got up and ran toward her computer. She looked up toward Raines and Rosch. "We got what we came for. Let's go."

After they were finished, Hope and Lightning looked over and noticed her by the computer. "Let's go." Lightning was about to take off, but Hope held out his arm in front of her. She looked back at him. "What are you doing? They're going to get away with what you worked on."

Hope looked down at his watch. Afterwards, he placed his arm down. "No they won't. I wasn't sure, but this actually worked out perfectly."

As Nabaat was typing on the computer getting the plans, suddenly her screen began to flash with red. Her eyes widened, surprised. "What's happening?" The screen continued to flash with red until an error box popped up. "I can't access it anymore."

"That's because as soon as I came back here, I set off a timer." Nabaat looked back at Hope, worried. "I sent a signal to your computer to access a file that I placed on the drive. The file was made to corrupt all of the files that had the plans. Seeing as you didn't kill me right away, it became easy to just corrupt it. The only question was when."

"But how?" Nabaat asked.

"It was easy to get access to your computer with my own that I brought with me." Hope explained. Lightning had to admit that she was impressed. Even with just improvising, everything worked out.

Angry, Nabaat was running out of options. With her and her plans exposed, there wasn't anything else they could stop him with. "No!"

Lightning took aim and shot her computer, destroying it. "It's over."

Nabaat growled. She wanted nothing more than to attack them, but instead, she retreated along with Raines and Rosch. Lightning started running as well which Hope looked surprised. "Where are you going?"

She looked back. "I'm going after them. I'm not letting her get away with what she did." She ran further into the warehouse. Hope was about to run after her, but then heard a loud banging on the front door. He started to get concerned. Were there more soldiers out there to carry out Nabaat's orders? Then, the doors busted open. There were more soldiers there. Hope looked surprised. In front of them all was Serah. Serah ran over to him. "Hope! I did as you said and they came!"

Hope looked over at the soldiers. "They're…"

"They're a part of the Guardian Corp. They were getting ready to leave the city, but I stopped them just in time. When I told them what was going on, they came to help out."

Alyssa was walking nearby when she spotted Hope talking to Serah. She was curious as to what was going on herself. Serah looked around. "Where's my sister?"

Hope looked uneasy. "She's fine."

There was concern in Serah's eyes. "Why isn't she here with you?"

Then, a few soldiers ran over to him. "Director Estheim."

A serious look came on his face. He pointed forward inside of the factory. "The soldiers that you're looking for, there are three of them: Raines, Rosch, and Nabaat. Find them. Lieutenant Farron might need help."

Standing nearby, Alyssa overheard what he said and became surprised once she heard the Colonel's name. Hope grabbed Serah's hand. "Come on. I'll go out to find your sister, but for now, I need you to stand out here. You'll be safe."

"Why was that woman after my sister?"

Hope's eyes drifted to the side, thinking. "I'm not sure. I'm not even sure how she found us."

A look of worry came across Alyssa's expression as she remembered the conversation that she had with Nabaat. Did anything she told her have something to do with what happened to Hope and Lightning today? She looked down toward the ground. Hope looked over and noticed her alone nearby. He stepped near her with Serah. While things were still shaky between them, they still had to work together. "Alyssa? Can you watch after her?"

Alyssa crossed her arms. "Why? So you can go after your girlfriend?"

"Yes. Listen. I'm just asking because you're still my assistant. Despite whatever grudge that you may hold against me, don't let it affect what you do for me."

"Babysitting is not a part of my job." she muttered.

"Just watch after her." Hope replied impatiently.

Alyssa looked down upset. She didn't give a yes or no. Hope was about to take off running, but then he heard Alyssa's voice. "Did that woman really not tell you why she was after her?"

Confusion became written across his face. "No… Why would you ask me that much less care?"

Alyssa turned her eyes away from him. "No reason."

Getting more curious and searching for any answers, he stepped toward her. He thought about the phone call that he got yesterday and how the man over the phone knew a lot more about his relationship with Lightning than anyone."This whole time you were the only one who knew about Lightning. Do you know something about this?"

Alyssa shook her head. Her eyes wouldn't meet his. "Of course not!"

He gave a suspicious look. "Did you know the Colonel before this?"

"No. I didn't know her. I don't know anything about what's going. That's why I'm asking you."

Hope's eyes traveled down. "Somehow she knew about my connection with Lightning and she was able to find us even as I hid Lightning away. She knew how I felt about her and used it against me. I knew that she was suspicious, but she stopped questioning it." More Alyssa began to seem uneasy which Hope noticed. "Despite that, you were the only one who truly knew about that. So I'll ask you again. Do you know anything about what's going on?" Alyssa didn't respond as she kept her eyes away. Upset, he grabbed onto her arm. "Answer me! Did you have anything to do with what happened?! Did you know the Colonel?!"

Alyssa snatched her arm away and stepped away from him with her eyes closed. "Just stop it!"

"Did you tell her about Lightning?!" The argument was getting overwhelming for her along with her guilt and the pain she still felt because of him. Hope continued to push her. "Tell me! Did you?!"

"I didn't mean to!" Hope reacted with surprise once he heard her honest answer. Finally, they were getting somewhere. Alyssa looked down as she wrapped her arms around herself. "I was so angry at you and she was there. She told me it was okay to just let it out and she was so understanding so I told her."

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her that you left because you said that you were in love with her. That was it. I didn't know she was after her."

Hope looked to the side. He wasn't angry at what Alyssa did, but from there he could figure out how Nabaat found out where Lightning was. "She started asking questions about Lightning, but I kept avoiding them as much as I could. Then, she went to you because you told her about what happened and that only gave her more proof that somehow I was involved. With them tracking me in some way, they could have easily found Lightning. I see... They just needed to be sure."

Afterwards, he began walking away. Alyssa lifted her eyes to him. "Hope? Tell me why she was after her?"

Hope stopped without looking back at her. "The Colonel wanted to kill Lightning." Afterwards, he headed inside.

Alyssa didn't realize how serious things were. She knew that she was mad at the two of them, but she didn't want them to both die over it.

That's it for this chapter! Thank you for reading! As always let me know what you think!

On a side note, I have to announce that there will not be an update to this story for a few weeks due to some things that have come up. I apologize in advance because I know that this story only has two chapters left. I'm really sorry!

So if you are following just this story or this story along with my other story currently going, neither one will be updated for a few weeks after this week. Again, I am sorry.