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Hope that you enjoy this chapter of the story!


Chapter 28: A Change of Power:

Later the group arrived at the Academy's headquarters in Academia on Pulse. After Lightning explained what happened, the medics at the Academy carried Hope away to somewhere he could rest and be monitored for a short time. Lightning and the others walked in, following behind the medics. When Lightning looked around, she noticed that members of the Academy and members of the Guardian Corps were staring at her. Inside the stares made her uneasy.

Soon a high ranking officer and a top member dressed in an Academy uniform stepped in front of her. The Academy member smiled. "Mrs. Farron! Welcome back. We are glad that you made it here safely." Lightning wasn't sure what to say. She didn't expect to be greeted personally. The Academy member and the officer noticed the hint of surprise on her face along with her silence. They glanced at each other before they turned their attention back to her. The Academy member looked a little confused. "I'm sorry. Would you prefer Mrs. Estheim?"

Hearing that stunned her even more. How did they know that she was married? The two men stood even more confused since she didn't answer. "Are you okay?" the Academy member asked.

Lightning snapped out of her thoughts. "Yes. I'm fine. I'm just curious as to how you knew we had gotten married."

The Academy member let out a smile. "Oh! We saw it on television. Everyone here saw."

Lightning couldn't believe it. She didn't think anyone was still watching after the Primarch destroyed one of the cameras. "How did…?" She turned and looked at the others. Maybe one of them had an answer.

Serah was surprised. After thinking about it, she figured out how it happened. "Oh!"

Lightning arched her eyebrow at her sister's response. "Oh?" Nervously Serah let out a smile. Lightning wasn't going to let it go especially if she knew something. "What is it?"

"I just… remembered something." Serah replied.

"What?" Lightning asked.

Serah looked over to Snow who was smiling nervously as well. He sighed, figuring there was no use hiding it. "It's okay."

Lightning crossed her arm as she looked serious. "What do you know?"

Snow shrugged. "Well Hope thought of the idea to control the cameras and let people see what the Fal'Cie was up to, so I got some people to show what the Primarch did. I might have…just so happen to let one of the guys controlling the camera show your guys' wedding…"

Lightning became surprised. She had no idea that both worlds saw what happened. She placed her hand to her face as she closed her eyes. She felt awkward since she thought it was a private moment. At the same time, even with the contract gone, at least there were witnesses. Snow grinned nervously. "Sorry but I couldn't resist. It's not every day you see your sister get married."

Lightning removed her hand from her face and looked toward Snow. "I'm not even your sister yet." Afterwards, she relaxed, letting it go. A lot happened while they were in Eden so she wanted to know what else the worlds saw. "What else did you get?"

Snow's eyes turned off to the side. "Pretty much… after you guys got married, the cameras went black. I don't know what else happened."

Lightning placed her fingers to her chin. "So no one other than us saw the Primarch kill the judge or what happened to Hope." she said to herself.

"If it's all right, we would like you to come with us." Lightning lifted her eyes to the Academy member who spoke and wondered what he meant. Afterwards, they started walking away.

Minutes later, they sat in an empty room where they could talk. In the middle of the room, the Academy member and the officer sat in front of Lightning across a small table. Snow, Mog, and Serah sat on a couch against the wall to the side where they could see the three speak. Sazh, Vanille, and Fang sat near the wall behind Lightning. Lightning sat patiently to see what the two men would do next. The Academy member lifted his phone from off of the table. "I believe that things have been settled at least for today with input from the Director's parents. With the Director out of commission, we will let you resume charge."

"Like I said, I haven't really worked in Hope's field of work before."

The Academy member smiled. "Don't worry. We can take over things temporarily for now and continue with projects that have already been started. We figure with your military experience and your knowledge of Eden, you could take charge of the Guardian Corp. In the meantime, whatever you need, we will try our best to provide it to you."

"I'm surprised at your pass of power like this. The Fal'Cie might decide to attack this place especially if they knew I was here." Lightning said.

The Academy member kept his smile on to assure her it was okay. "We believe it's what the Director would have wanted. We appreciated what you did speaking out about the Fal'Cie."

"For the time being, we will remain on high alert. Extra security will be provided for you and for the Director."

Lightning turned her head to the officer that spoke. Afterwards, she crossed her arms as she leaned back in her chair. "That won't be necessary. Just make sure that you have soldiers looking out on the outside and on every floor. We need to be alert as soon as possible. I can handle the rest."

The Academy member stood up. He held out his hand toward the door. "Please! Let us show you around."

Lightning stood up. "It's been a long day. Can we look around tomorrow?"

The Academy member nodded. "Of course."

Lightning glanced over toward the others before she turned her attention back to the Academy member. "Anything that these guys need, help them."

The Academy nodded. "Yes ma'am. In the meantime, we will show you just a few places that you might want to know about." The three headed toward the door as the others followed.


As night was over Academia, rain began to pour from the sky. Serah leaned against the wall as she stared out of the window. Her eyes shifted between the city and the water that rolled down the glass. The expression on her face was that of worry. Nearby, Mog was sitting on the bed with a big plate of food in front of him. Happily, he began munching down. He lifted his head and noticed Serah standing near the window. "Come eat with me kupo! It's really good kupo!"

Serah looked over and gave a brief smile. "It's all right Mog." Afterwards, she turned her head back toward the window. Watching the rain was peaceful, but at the same time she couldn't help but be concerned.

Mog flew over, starting to get worried about her. "What's wrong kupo?"

Serah smiled as best as she could. "It's nothing."

Mog began to look around the room. "Everything is so nice here kupo. We could stay here and live like this forever kupo."

Things were okay now, but Serah wasn't sure how long it would be before trouble would come around again. Then, there was a knock on her door which she looked surprised. "Lightning?" She walked over and opened it. Once she saw who it was, she relaxed a little, but was still a little disappointed.

Snow smiled as he gave a short wave. "Hey!"

Serah started walking away and went back toward the window. "Hey."

Snow noticed that her tone didn't seem as happy and wondered why. He closed the door behind him. He looked around as he placed his hands on his sides. "You got a pretty nice set up too. Light's making sure that we're well taken care of." At the mention of her sister, Serah's worry started to show more. Snow noticed and headed over beside her. "Something wrong?"

Serah shook her head. "It's nothing."

"Come on. I know when something's wrong."

Serah's eyes drifted toward the ground as she held onto her arms. "Maybe I'm just worrying too much."

"Aw! You worry too much? No…!" Instantly, a smile sneaked out of Serah's lips at his joke. Snow sat on the edge of her bed. "Seriously though what's on your mind?"

"I guess…I'm just worried about my sister that's all. I haven't seen her since earlier when we got here. I know she had a lot of people to talk to like the soldiers and the medics, but when I asked, no one had seen her after."

"I'm sure that she's fine. With her being in charge now, she just probably needs some time to get used to it all." Snow replied as an attempt to stop her from worrying.

"I guess you're right." Serah returned her eyes to the window again. "I doubt that she went outside and when I asked, they told me that she hadn't been by to see Hope at all. I just wanted to make sure that she's okay."

Snow stood up as an idea came to mind. "You want to go look for her again?"

Serah nodded, happy to hear his suggestion. "Sure."


Inside of Hope's office, Lightning was lying on his couch with her arm over her eyes. After going through the information that everyone gave her so far, she decided to take a break and see what she could use to her advantage. This time, she could figure out another way to go against the Fal'Cie. With all of her traveling around, she didn't give herself a chance to change out of her torn dress. Soon her mind faded out somewhat, tired and traveled to other thoughts. Apart of her wondered if there was a chance that Hope woke up yet, but if he did, by now someone would have told her. Eventually her thoughts left her, leaving her mind to rest. After lying for minutes, she sat up debating where she should go next. Once she decided where she should go, she thought it would be a good time as any to do what she was thinking.

She left from Hope's office and went into another hallway. Beside a door were two soldiers standing with their hands behind their back. Lightning stepped in front of them. Instantly they saluted her. "Director!"

Lightning sighed as she closed her eyes. "Don't call me that." Even though she knew that she was in charge, she felt like them calling her that was insulting to Hope as if he was already gone. She lifted her eyes to the two soldiers. "Listen. You're free to go."

The soldiers were surprised by her order. "What? Are you sure that-?"

Lightning gave them a stern stare. "If the enemy was to come in and see two soldiers guarding one door, wouldn't that seem suspicious? This would be the first place they would look. Stand somewhere else to guard. In case of an enemy attack, it would give me enough time to get ready."

The soldiers nodded. "Yes ma'am. Also earlier, your sister stopped by looking for you."

Lightning was silent for a few seconds before she turned to the door. "If you see her, tell her that I'm all right."

"Yes ma'am."

"Dismissed." The soldiers walked off, leaving her to stand in front of the door. She stared for a few seconds before she entered in. When she stepped inside, the room was already dark. There was a little light that was coming in from the window that was on the other side of the room. From there, she could see the rain outside still going on. Through the darkness, her hand went against the wall searching for the switch to turn on the light. Finally she found it and cut on the light. She relaxed and looked toward the bed.

On the bed, she saw Hope lying with his eyes closed. She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed at his side. She placed her hand on the side of his head, checking over him. There still seemed to be no change. Afterwards she cut on the lamp that was on the dresser beside his bed and turned off the light that on in the room. She stepped over by the window and looked outside to see the rain still falling. She closed her eyes as she leaned her head against the wall. Everything around them was calm and peaceful. At least for now they were safe.

She glanced over at Hope, remembering what Yeul told her before. It felt strange speaking out loud without anyone to respond, but if it gave him a chance to wake again, then maybe it was better to try. She closed her eyes. "Well this is not how I pictured tonight going." She walked over and sat down on the bed beside him with her back turned to him. "You didn't tell me everything that you had to do here once things got this far. I guess you weren't kidding when you said you wanted me to take over if something happened to you." She looked back toward him. "Still in order for this to work, we have to work together. If we were going to stop all of this, I would have wanted you by my side to help me."

She turned and sat with her back against the wall beside him. Her eyes returned down to him. "Hope. You have to wake up. The world you're in is just a dream. It's not real." Her eyes turned toward the side showing a little remorse. "This wouldn't have happened if I… If I didn't let-." She closed her eyes, thinking back to everything that happened. If it wasn't for him, she would be the one sleeping like he was. At the same time, she knew that if it was the reverse that Hope would do everything he could to wake her. Her fingers began to stroke through his silver hair. "Open your eyes. You can wake up. You can find a way out of your dream. You just have to find a way."

After taking some time to wait and watch over him, she lied down beside him. Tired, her eyes lowered to a close. "Come back soon."

Minutes later, she fell asleep beside him.


That's it for this chapter! Hope it wasn't too disappointing that Hope didn't wake up, but keep reading to find out if he will and also that this was a little short. Next time definitely a longer chapter! The good news is there's less than ten chapters of this story to go so we'll be reaching the ending soon!

So after reading through the comments from the last few chapters, believe me when I say that I can't wait for you to read the rest of this and I'm trying hard not to spoil anything coming up too soon. Maybe there are a few "moments" to come all ready done... Hopefully that's not saying too much.

As always, let me know what you think and I'll be back to update!