Author's notes: Thank you for sending in reviews and adding this to your favorites and alerts! I was hoping to update my profiles and blog this week, but had no time to do so. Hopefully by next chapter update I can get all of it done. Also been thinking a lot about the sequel and deciding if I want to do it. Hope you'll like this chapter of the story!

Chapter 25: The New Battleground:

After what felt like a long time, Lightning finally came to a stop. The men that had her let go of her arms, untied her, and removed her blindfold. When she looked around, she saw that she was inside of a large warehouse. It was lit with orange lighting from the sunset. She stepped forward, still observing the place. Suddenly she heard a voice shout from nearby. "Mommy!"

Quickly Lightning turned and saw Charity running toward her. A small feeling of relief came over her. She kneeled down and embraced the little girl tightly as Charity embraced her back. Charity closed her eyes. She was glad to see her. Soon after, she pulled Charity off of her with her hands on her arms. She checked to see if she was okay. Her hands moved up to her face, cupping her round cheeks. There was no blood or scratches. So far she seemed fine. "Are you okay?"

Charity stared into her eyes concerned. "Yes mommy." When Lightning looked around, she saw men standing around with guns in their hands. Her mind raced to see how she could get Charity out of this. She kept her close by.

Alyssa stepped out with a few more men behind her. "Get them set up. We need to get this thing going."

The men stepped over toward Lightning. She began to tense as she held Charity close by. "Listen," she whispered between them. "I need you to stay close by me. We're going to get out of here. When you get the chance find somewhere to hide okay?" The men approached her which Lightning stood up. When one man reached in, she knocked his hand away and punched him down. More started to approach her, but she knocked them down toward the ground.

During the fight, she heard a cry nearby. "Let go!"

Quickly Lightning's eyes darted over to see that one of the men had his hand latched onto Charity's arm while she was struggling. She was about to run to them, but then heard the click of guns. She looked back and saw a few men with guns pointed. When Lightning turned her head forward, she saw the man holding onto her little girl. Alyssa stepped forward. "You're really making a lot of people here upset with you. I'm trying not to be responsible for any injury caused before the Director gets here. Now sit." Two men placed their hands on Lightning's shoulders and sat her down in a chair. They tied her hands and legs down to the chair's armrests and legs. Lightning looked back and saw that they had blindfolded Charity and had her sit down on a box with her hands tied in front of her with rope. One of the men went over and blindfolded her as well. Alyssa smiled. Things were back on track for her plan. "Now that we got that settled, time to send a message."

In the streets of Academia, Hope and H.J. stood with some of the soldiers. There were bodies of Alyssa's men that were lying on the ground lifeless after the fight that happened. Soon a soldier ran over to Hope. "Director! There's a message for you! It's very urgent!"

Hope looked surprised and wondered what it was about. He followed the soldier. On a table nearby, the soldier pulled up a screen off of the computer. On it, Alyssa let out a smile once she saw Hope. "Hi Director!"

A serious look came on Hope's face. "Alyssa! How are you still alive?!"

"It doesn't matter. Right now I have something of interest that you will want to see. It can't wait."

H.J. could hear her voice from nearby and stepped in behind Hope. Hope was curious, but remained serious and wondered what she was up to. "What is it?"

Alyssa smiled. "I'm so glad that you asked. Hold on one minute." Hope watched as she went out of view. The screen began to shake. "You're really going to love this," her voice told him.

Then on the screen, he saw Lightning sitting in a chair blindfolded. Hope's eyes widened along with H.J.'s. "Light!" At the sound of his voice, Lightning lifted her head a little. "Alyssa! Let her go right now!" Alyssa didn't respond. Hope began to get angry and impatient. "I know you're there Alyssa! Answer me!"

Lightning thought she recognized the voice. "Hope?"

Hope turned his attention back to Lightning. "Light?! Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!"

"I'm fine," she spoke softly.

"What about Faith? Is she okay?" he asked anxiously. The last time he saw Faith, she was still in the hospital hurt. Lightning's head lowered as she turned silent. It was hard to see her expression through her eyes while the blindfold was on. Her silent began to worry him. "Light? Where's Faith? Is she all right? Is she still alive?"

Lightning shook her head. "No… I'm sorry."

Hope took a deep breath in. The news shocked him. "I thought that… we had some time left."

Slightly Lightning stood her head. "She wasn't killed because of that… She was killed... because of Alyssa... It was before we could get the curse off. The only thing I heard was… a gunshot. I'm sorry."

Hope's eyes shook as he heard the story. His emotions felt overwhelming at that moment. "No…"

"It's her plan Hope. She wants everyone who means anything to you to die; those who have your blood." Lightning moved her head back straight. "Not just us, but she's after my sister, my-."

"Whoa! Whoa! I don't want you to spoil my whole plan! I didn't get to show him the rest of my surprise." Alyssa moved the screen over and showed where Charity was. Hope couldn't believe it. She had his whole family except for H.J. "Now for the conditions." Alyssa placed herself back on the screen. She couldn't help but noticed the torn look on his face. She acted sympathetic. "Awe! You look really terrible over this. Well it will be all right. All you have to do is surrender Academia to me and come to the address that I'm going to give you to come here. We should talk face to face you know." Hope remained silent. His eyes stared forward and down still in shock. He heard the words that Alyssa said, but couldn't help but think about the ones in trouble, most of all Faith's death. Alyssa blinked surprised. "Hello…?" She waved her hand, but he wouldn't respond. She sighed with her eyes closed. "I don't need you zoning out me Director."

"You…" Quickly Hope lifted his head. There was anger in his eyes. He slammed his fists hard against the table which made the screen shake. "You killed my daughter!"

Alyssa opened her eyes surprised. She jumped a little at his yell. "Hey! Don't yell!"

Hope's eyes narrowed and glared at her coldly. "Alyssa I am done playing this game with you! Give me back my family now!"

"You'll have to come get them at this address." Afterwards Alyssa told him that she could be found near the outskirts of Academia. The screen cut off after she was done.

Hope closed his eyes as he breathed out with his eyes closed. H.J. looked concerned. Hope sat down on the ground as he placed his head down. His knee was up as his arm was resting on it. He couldn't believe that things had gotten this far and this bad. H.J. stepped over toward him. "Dad?"

Hope lifted his head in despair. From far away, he saw smoke rise. He figured that the people Alyssa sent must've attacked there as well. "How could she have done this, all just to get back at me?" he whispered.

"Did you see any signs before that she would do this?" H.J. asked.

Hope shook his head as he closed his eyes. "I don't really understand it." After a few seconds, he stood up. He lifted his eyes toward the sky. His fists baled a little. "There's no time to waste. Your mother and sister are in danger. The only way to stop this is by stopping Alyssa." H.J.'s eyes stared toward the ground, thinking. Hope looked back and noticed. "What's wrong?"

"I was thinking…about…Faith," his voice faded off into a whisper.

Hope's eyes lowered. He wasn't sure what he could say at that moment, but it pained him deeply to know that he couldn't stop Alyssa from taking her life. As much as he wanted to grief, there was no time. He had to prevent other deaths from happening. He began walking forward. It was a hard path, but he had to stay strong through this. "This is my fault. Second time trying to change the future and all I did was screwed it up." He held his hand in front of him with his palm up. "Faith's blood is on my hand."

"Why are you blaming yourself?" H.J. asked as he sounded upset.

Hope placed his hand down and looked around. "Look at this destruction that's happening, where as if she would have killed me first, maybe everyone would have been okay. I didn't want anyone sacrificing their life for me."

H.J. placed his hand on Hope's shoulder, comforting and assuring. "And we didn't want you sacrificing yourself just to make sure that we were safe. None of us would have been happy about that especially mom who wouldn't forgive herself for letting you die."

Hope gave a faint smile. "Well right now I won't let her die either. Let's go."

Following Alyssa instructions, they made it to the warehouse where she was with soldiers following them. Hope was hoping not to lose any more lives today.

Inside the warehouse, Lightning was sitting quietly and listening to her surroundings carefully. While she couldn't see anyone, she wanted to make sure that Charity was safe. Worries had crossed over her mind about what was happening along with Faith's death. Silently, in the back of her mind, she was grieving over her loss, but kept her emotions internal not letting them show on the outside as much as she could.

Then she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Instantly she became alert. The footsteps stopped near her. The mysterious person took off her blindfold. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the lighting, but once she saw who it was, she sighed wishing that she didn't have to deal with the person in front of her. The same man that she had knocked down to the floor in the hospital was standing nearby. He did not seem happy. "Looks like I'll be the one watching over you and the little brat." Lightning's eyes drifted off to the side uninterested. The man frowned. "You know. That really hurt when you hit me in that hospital room." Since she didn't say anything, he continued. "I think that you owe me an apology." Still she refused to look at him. He was starting to get impatient and irritated. "Look at me!" he raised his voice. Lightning turned her eyes over to him. She was starting to get annoyed with the guy. "I want an apology!" the man demanded.

Lightning gave an unimpressed look. "For what? Because you got hurt over a little hit. Fine." She looked away from him. "Now get lost."

The man could hear her sarcasm. It only made him angrier. He stepped more toward her. "You have some mouth on you." He grabbed onto her jacket near her neck tightened in on it. Lightning showed no sign of fear. He could see that. "I don't like when people talk back to me! Someone should teach you a lesson about that." He let go of her jacket. He tried to place his finger underneath her chin, but she shook her head away. Then he grabbed her chin forcing her to look at him. "Looks like the two of us are going to have to work this out some other way." His lips curved into a devious smirk as he leaned in closer to her face. On her shirt, she felt as he was loosening the buttons toward her chest. As she stared at him with his hand still holding onto her chin, she felt sick to her stomach being near him. Her hands began to tense on her chair. She clutched her teeth tight.

"Get away from her!"

The man looked back once he heard the loud yell. He stepped away from her. "Hey-!" Soon the man was shot down before he could alert the others.

Lightning looked down at the man seeing that he had stopped moving before she lifted her eyes toward the catwalk surprised. There she saw Hope standing with his gunblade in hand and pointed from where he shot. There was a look of anger on his face. He was glad that he made it on time. He reacted as soon as he realized what was going on. He couldn't stand the thought of the man hurting or taking advantage of her in any way if he was even a second late. On the other side of Hope stood H.J. along with more soldiers that were there with them. They were able to get in without seeing anyone or anyone spotting them. "Light! Hold on!" He got ready to run down there to the floor below him, but then he heard a voice.

"Good! You did make it." From underneath him, Alyssa came into his sight walking forward toward Lightning. She noticed how everyone looked and realized what happened seconds before. Then she looked up and behind her. "Now we can begin." The soldiers got ready to shoot. She could hear their guns clicking from above her. "I would tell your soldiers to hold back." She stepped in behind Lightning and placed her hands on her shoulders. "I doubt they are that good of shots."

Hope stepped forward and placed his hand on the rail. "All right! I'm here! Now let them go and we'll settle this!"

Alyssa smirked. Things wouldn't be that easy for him. "I can't just let them go. We haven't even talked yet." Soon her men stepped in with guns and pointed them up toward him and his soldiers.

Hope pressed his teeth together tightly. He didn't want a blood bath on their hands. "Alyssa? Do we really have to lose any more lives here today? Do you know how many people have lost their lives today because of this? Don't you care at all?"

Alyssa looked upset. "Did you care when you just left me behind in the past?!"

Hope turned silent feeling no matter what he told her, she would continue her pursuit of revenge. "I'm here now. You can do whatever you want to me, but let them go," he tried to get her to listen. H.J. looked over at Hope worried. He didn't want to think about the possibility of Alyssa taking the offer.

Alyssa thought about it for a few seconds before she spoke. She lifted her eyes to Hope. "All right. We should talk closer. Here."

For a few seconds, Hope stood still uneasy, but then walked off. H.J. grabbed his arm stopping him. "You can't go down there. You'll be an easy target for her to kill if she wanted to."

Hope gave him a concerned look, but then loosened his arm away from H.J.'s hand and headed down to the lower level. He needed to do this. H.J. wanted to follow him, but Hope looked back with a serious look. "H.J. stay here." Reluctantly H.J. listened and watched worried. Soon Hope stepped in front of Alyssa who stood in front of Lightning. A few of her men had their guns pointed on Hope and a few toward the soldiers above.

Alyssa stepped toward him as she smiled. She noticed that his eyes were shifting from her to Lightning behind her. "You don't have to worry. Since you're here, I won't do anything... as long as you behave." Lightning moved her hands trying to get free, but it was a hard struggle. Alyssa raised the sword she had and held the tip against his neck making him tilt his head.

Hope didn't show any sign of fear as he held his hands up at shoulder level. "I'm here now so let them go."

Alyssa placed her sword down. "It won't be that easy. I want you to see what will happen. It's like you heard before. Your whole bloodline will be gone. Afterwards I'll go after everyone else who has wronged me."

Hope became angry. "They weren't wrong! Look what you tried to do!"

Quickly he stepped back once Alyssa raised her sword again. The expression on her face changed to upset. "I just wanted to stay in the future, but you had to help them!" Still upset, she then turned and headed toward Lightning.

Hope started to get worried about what she would do. "Wait-!"

"Obviously you didn't understand my warning last time. I'll have to make that clear to you." Lightning saw Alyssa approaching with her sword ready in hand. She tried to free her hands, but they wouldn't come loose. Alyssa glared back at Hope. "If any of your men make one move on me, then I'll have mine kill what's left of your family." The soldiers hesitated at her threat. They spotted one of his Alyssa's men pointing his gun to the head of a blindfolded Charity. They couldn't risk bringing any more harm on the Director's family. They lowered their guns a little which H.J. noticed. It surprised him.

Hope's eyes widened. He had to stop her before she hurt Lightning. "Stop!" Before he could rush over to help her, Alyssa's men stepped in front of him, keeping him back. Two grabbed onto both of his arms as two behind him grabbed onto his shoulders. He struggled, but the men had a tight grip on him. "Alyssa stop! Don't hurt her!"

Alyssa raised her sword, ready to bring it down. A dark look came to her eyes as she glared down at Lightning. "Too late," her voice hissed coldly.

A scared look came to Hope's face. "No!"

"Mom!" H.J cried out. His eyes narrowed as fear came to them. His hands grabbed on tightly to the metal railing.

For the few seconds that was left before Alyssa would strike, Lightning continued to struggle from her hold, but it was still as tight on her as before. She lifted her eyes seeing the edge of the blade. Reluctantly her eyes lowered to a close as she awaited her end.

Suddenly Alyssa heard a gunshot which made her stop. Quickly she looked over and saw one of her men keeping Hope back fall to the floor. "What-?" More of them fell to the floor as they were shot one by one. The soldiers from above started attacking as well now that they could take a clear shot. Taking advantage while Alyssa was distracted, Hope rushed in pulling his gunblade from his side. Out of the corner of her eyes, Alyssa saw him coming. She barely managed to dodge his attack, but did with her sword. She fell onto the floor by his push. Hope rushed passed her and went to Lightning. When Alyssa looked up, she saw the soldiers pointing their guns toward her. They tried to shoot her, but she quickly ran off.

At Lightning's chair, Hope began pulling at the ropes that had her hands tied. She lifted her eyes to him. "Hope."

Hope glanced at her determined before turning his attention back to the ropes. "Hold on! I'm going to get you out of this." It was hard to get them off so he reached for a knife he had on his side and cut them all loose. After she was free, she stood up. He embraced her with his arms tightly wrapped around her waist. He was thankful for the distraction and glad that Lightning was still in one piece. "Are you okay?"

In return, Lightning wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Yeah." As much as she told herself to move, she wouldn't. Now wasn't the time to let her emotions get the best of her, but with him being there, it had reminded her more that they had lost someone important to them. It was becoming harder to retain them. She closed her eyes tight. "I'm sorry."

Hope placed his hands on the side of her face on her hair. There was a look of regret in his eyes. "No. I'm the one that's sorry. This is my fault. I shouldn't have left. Maybe I should have let you travel back in time. Maybe she still would be…"

Lightning separated from him and stared into his eyes. "It's not."

Hope's eyes lowered. He still felt guilt. Nearby, H.J. had release Charity and removed her blindfold. She looked shaken up, but fine once she saw him and their parents. She rushed over to Lightning and Hope. "Mommy!" Lightning kneeled down and placed her hands on her shoulders, checking on her. Her eyes traveled over to Hope. He kneeled down. "Daddy!" He embraced her as well glad to see she was all right.

Hope picked Charity up off of the ground and held her up close to him with one arm . Both of their eyes had met. "Are you all right?" The young girl nodded as she sat against his arm. After checking on her, he turned to Lightning. "We better go."

Shortly after, a soldier approached them. "Sir! Ma'am! We tried, but she got away."

It worried Hope hearing that. Right away, a plan formed in his mind. He returned his attention back to Lightning. "Go. Take them and hide somewhere safe."

Lightning looked serious. "I'm not staying behind this time."

"I know you don't want to, but she's after me and someone needs to look after them. If I'm in the open, then she'll just come after me. That way you can find a place where she can't get you." Hope looked over at H.J. "Go with them. I can handle things from here."

H.J. reacted with surprise. "But what about-?"

Hope gave a assured look. "I can trap her on my own." His eyes traveled between Lightning and H.J. as he spoke. "I think she was serious about going after the rest of you guys. I can't lose anyone else." Lightning and H.J. turned silent, for now not arguing against his decision. They knew he was deeply afraid now about something happening to them. Hope handed Charity to Lightning. She carried Charity as he had before with one hand against her back and allowing her to sit on her arm. There was a look of remorse in Hope's eyes. "We've been through enough."

Lightning stared into his eyes determined. "Once I find somewhere safe for them, I'm coming back."

Hope didn't want her to take the risk. "No-."

Lightning gave the same firm stare as he did. "This is not up for discussing anymore. I needed to take care of her myself. She'll be after my sister once she's done here. Besides, I'm going after her because of what she did to Faith."

Hope could see that she was dead set on avenging Faith's death and couldn't argue with her for wanting justice for what happened. He wouldn't take that away from her. "Find somewhere safe and get back as soon as you can. I'll communicate to you where we are." Lightning nodded. Hope's expression grew serious. "We better go. We've been here for too long and there's no telling what she has planned next. Go. Take them to somewhere where it's safe and can be locked down."

Suddenly they heard a gunshot and one of the soldiers fell in front of them. It had made everyone alert. Alyssa walked back in with more of her men. "Good! You're all still here." Hope and Lightning were surprised. They didn't have time to get out as a part of the plan.

To be continued. As always I'll be back to update as soon as I can. Thanks for reading!