Chapter 4: Allergic Reaction

I'd woken up late, and had to rush to make it in time for breakfast. I wove through the tables with my tray when I spotted Snow and Lightning sitting by the far door. Both of their plates were picked over, but they hadn't bothered leaving yet.

I waved, hoping I didn't have to eat alone. As I approached, I saw Lightning hold up her hand to Snow. He must have gone and asked her anyway. Instantly I was flooded with fear. I tried to run without tripping over the legs of other diners. Of course I didn't make it in time. Sparks bloomed in her hand and he touched them.

"Holy Shit, Lightning!" Snow's voice reverberated across the dining hall.

When his eyes caught mine, he grabbed at her wrist and shoved her out the door. I dropped my tray and jumped over tables trying to get to her as fast as possible. I needed to explain myself. She needed to know that I hadn't meant to keep anything a secret. My hands pushed through the double door. The two of them were standing a few feet away. She looked at me with rage and a hint of fear.

"Get away from me!" she shouted at me.

"Now's not the time," Snow said to me before placing his hand on her shoulder.

"You have to let me explain myself," I said, reaching for her.

"Not now," he said, pushing me back through the doors.

He let go of her and followed me into the dining hall.

"Before I go back and clean up your mess, I need to know one thing. Was what I felt true?" He squinted, as if trying to bring something into focus.

"What do you mean 'true?' She won't even show me how she does it. All she's told me is to think of something that you have strong feelings about. But I can't make it happen no matter how hard I try."

"That's not what I'm asking, Hope." He gripped at my arm so hard I worried it would bruise. "That 'feeling' it gave off. Was that true?"

I shrugged and shook my head, not understanding what he was asking.

"How am I supposed to know? I think so. It feels like laughter and happiness to me."

Snow released his hold on me and closed his eyes. He wiped his hand down his face and pinched his chin.

"Ok. That's what I needed to hear." Then his brows furrowed. "If that's all it is to you, then why didn't you tell her?"

I hunched my shoulders. "I don't know. I felt like the second I told her, she'd stop."

Snow sucked on his teeth and crossed his arms. "I'm going to sort out this mess. When she's calmed down, you need to talk to her. But don't expect her to forgive you any day soon. In fact, I'd stay away from her until tomorrow if you value your life."

He stepped back through the door, and for a split second I saw Lightning with her face in her hands.

Lightning had been sitting alone in her quarters since this morning. She had refused to look at me after Snow blew my cover. Sure, it was a little unfair that I had access to the Lightning that existed below the surface, but I had always been an open book. It's not like there was anything about me she hadn't already known. I knocked gently on the door.

"May I come in?" I asked, technically already entering the room.

She was sitting on the floor, her back leaning against her bunk. When she looked at me, her glare wasn't as violent as earlier. Her hand patted on the floor next to her. Taking the cue, I sat close-ish to her, just out of striking distance.

"What do you feel?" she said. "What do the sparks feel like? You always ask me for it. Here I was I thinking you were just wanted a light show. What do you feel when I do that?"

She scooted until she was sitting on her knees directly in front of me. She leaned forward so that her hands where balanced on the floor beside my thighs. Her teeth bit at her bottom lip.

"I need to know. What do you think is happening when I do that?"

"Giggles."

Her face twisted into confusion.

"It'd probably be easier to show you than try to explain in it in words."

This time I inched forward, my mouth hovered above the crook of her neck. Her body tensed as we heard boot steps pass through the hallway. The door was still ajar.

"Humor me. It feels somewhat blissful. Kind of like your breath on my skin. Only, I guess this is missing something. Try tickling me."

She sat back so she no longer rested on her hands. I followed her motion, keeping my head against her shoulder. Her fingertips glided along my torso until they settled at my waist. Suddenly they were bouncing and pinching in an irregular pattern. It didn't take me long to cave. I started shaking with laughter. I tried to just keep my laughs in the air above her neck, but it was nigh impossible. Every couple of laughs and my lips would make contact with her skin.

Embarrassed, I knocked her hands away from me. We quickly disconnected and she resumed sitting upright.

"So. Yeah. That's what it feels like. I can understand though, if you aren't going to do it again. I should have told you from the start."

She lifted her hand and held the sparks over my head. They drizzled down my hair and settled onto my face. It was like being drenched by a raincloud of pure ecstasy.

"Don't expect this all the time. And definitely don't ask for it in front of Snow," she said with a smirk.

Her smile was wickedly adorable. Could she possibly be that inherently beautiful? Her lips were perfectly shaped. If there were ever a moment to kiss her without warning, this would probably be it.

No. Absolutely not.

I started shaking my head violently. I must be having some sort of allergic reaction to her magic. My hands flexed into balls, my nails biting into the flesh. The woman was seven years older than me. She definitely didn't want my attention.

"Are you ok?" she said, stopping the cascade of sparks.

"I'm fine. I just felt a little light headed for a second. Anyway, we should head back. Rygdea actually sent me to come get everyone. He has new intel."

"Great," she said, slightly grimacing.

Something about Rygdea talking to Lightning alone drove me nuts. Technically they weren't alone; we were all entering the meeting room. But he had gotten to her first, having some private conversation. Who did he think he was anyway? The bigger question was why did she even bother? Even though Snow was her in-law, that man could rarely get within five feet of her.

Rygdea's hand settled on her crossed arms.

"Hey!"

I heard myself shouting the word before my mind even formed a glimmer of a thought. I was sprinting across the room.

"Get your hands off of her." The words kept spewing out.

They both turned to me; he quickly released his hold on her.

"How dare you touch her? You can't just be grabbing women. As her superior, it's sexual assault. If you do it again I swear I will kill your backwoods, rafflesia eating ass! You son of a…"

Before I could finish my attack, Snow had a strong grip on my mouth and arms. He was trying his best to drag me back out of the room. All I could hear was the blood pounding in my ears, so I had missed his approach. I could see Lightning making apologetic gestures at Rygdea. Each time she glanced at me, all I could see was disappointment in her eyes.

Once Snow had dragged me to the complete opposite end of the airship, he set me on a bench. Sazh had followed us and was laughing like a lunatic.

"What, in the heck, was that?" Snow said, his expression serious but eyes twinkling.

"He touched her," I said, knitting my brows together. Why was no one else bothered by this?

"Hardly inappropriately. We all know she would deck a man if that were the case. Rafflesia eating? Really?" Sahz said, leaning against a railing.

"That's not the point. The point is she shouldn't have to deal with that crap."

Snow sat next to me, slinging an enormous arm over my shoulder. "If we intend on saving Fang and Vanille, we're going to need this guy's help. Plus, both me and your dad approve of the guy." He cocked his head trying to get my attention. "Is there something you know that we don't?"

"No."

That was the truth. We'd had the man over to our house several of times. Everyone who met him adored the guy. All of his subordinates, men and women, practically worshiped him. Why had I exploded like that? I shoved my face into my hands. I could hear booted footsteps clang along the walkway. Great.

"Have a minute, Hope?" Rygdea said, looking down at me.

I sat up, but I had zero intention of leaving the safety of my friends.

"Guess here is better than nowhere," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "What you saw back there, I'll give you that it was unprofessional. She had looked distressed. I was only trying to put her at ease. Maybe I should've gone about it differently. Trust me; I will never make that mistake again."

Then he did something to only further infuriate me. The bastard winked at me.

"I got your message loud and clear. I won't make any more moves on your girl."

"My what?!"

I launched myself at him, knocking him down to the floor. This time Sazh tried to disentangle me from the flurry of punches, kicks, and obscenities I was hurling at my victim. Rygdea seemed to be in on some disgusting joke with Snow because they both started laughing. No matter what I tried, the man just cackled as I wailed on him. I even grabbed at his stupid ponytail and tried to saw it off with my teeth.

"Hope. Rygdea."

The breezeway went silent. No one moved, no one spoke. Lightning had arrived and there would be hell to pay. I crawled off Rygdea and helped him up. I dusted off both of our clothes and then stood perfectly still. A few hanks of hair fell limply over the fastener, no longer attached to his head.

"Everyone is waiting. We can't start the debriefing without all of you."

She turned, never once looking either of us in the eye, and stalked back toward the conference room.

"Good luck with that one, kid," he said, slapping me on the back.

This was going to be a long day.

We collectively returned to the meeting room. Neither Snow nor I approached Lightning; we sat at the far end of the conference table. Sazh didn't seem to care; he'd tried his best to break up the fight. To make matters worse, she kept craning around him to look at me. Like I could possibly show my face near her after all of that? Everyone else in the room, namely Rygdea groupies, glared at me with murderous intent.

"So, now that we're all here, should we get started?" Rygdea said. "We've run into a complication. A flock of zirnitra have taken up residence where we usually land. They are by no means friendly and attacked the hell out of our recon team. Thankfully everyone survived, but our smallest ship is destroyed. We don't have any other ships that can fit in the tight spaces necessary to navigate the cave system that Fang and Vanille are located in. The only similar craft we have is a little worse for wear. If we plan on carrying our equipment and the crystal back, we need to take weight into account. So we are going to have to use a considerably smaller team. So Betas, you guys are going to have to sit this one out."

A young woman to my left made an unprofessional whining sound. I could hear someone from her squad questioning her. Apparently she had assured them she was very convincing with Rygdea last night. Their gossiping made me gag.

"It'll be just the Alphas, Farron, Estheim, and Katzroy. That means even Villiers is staying behind. We need him in communications in case some magical shit goes down and we don't know what's up. Villiers, you are basically our magic-translator."

"You do realize this isn't a spoken language, right?" I said, blowing printouts off the table with a spell. "And the military is familiar with synthetic magic anyway."

"I don't see why those l'Cie are allowed to go but we can't," whiner-woman interrupted. "Sergeant Farron's the only one of us. How can we trust them not to endanger the mission?"

"Because those four saved all your ungrateful asses. So if I say they're going, they're going."

"It's not like she's wrong." I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms behind my head. "Before all of you get on my case, it's not like most of you weren't trying to kill me a couple of years ago."

I noticed at least three people flinch. These people worshipped the ground this man walked on, but none of them had actually met Vanille. Sure, a couple had seen Fang at a distance, but only five people in this room actually cared about the Oerbans. Snow punched me under the table, trying to silence me.

"I want to remove Fang and Vanille as much as the next person," I added for his benefit. "If anything, those of us familiar with them and crystallization should be there. Have you ever seen someone complete a focus?" I turned to the whiner.

"No."

"Then it's settled," Rygdea said, standing up. "Everyone, I'll have tomorrow's schedule uploaded with your departure time."