Ok, this chapter took longer than I anticipated to be released, but there is a good reason. Despite having previously said I knew where I wanted to take the story, I was still fine tuning the details. As I sifted through my brain, it quickly became apparent that several of the ideas I was coming up with had some flaws to them. Whether they were contradicted in some manner by something that happened in the game, didn't have any interesting direction I could think of to take them, or just didn't make any kind of sense at all, I was getting frustrated. I wanted my story to make sense with the plot of the game, and I wanted you guys to like it.
So I've spent the past two days wracking my brain trying to string together the ideas I had into something that I was satisfied with. Just when I was starting to think I wasn't going to be able to deliver something I would be proud of, I came up with an interesting thought, seemingly out of nowhere. I grabbed a pen and a piece of printer paper and started writing it down.
Several hours and 4 pages of printer paper (filled front and back) later, I put down my pen and stared at the outline I had come up with. And I can say in all confidence that I do now know where I want this story to go, that when it's finished it will be something that I will be proud to have written, and most of all that I think you guys will like it.
The only thing I haven't planned is how Hope and Light's relationship will pan out. In the past few chapters, I've been letting it develop on its own, and with the major story in mind, I feel that this particular sub plot will turn out the best if I write it as I go along, as a reaction to the main plot.
Unfortunately, my writing time may take a hit. I have to pick up some slack at work after a psychotic co worker got fired. Possibly worse, my friends are trying to get me to relapse back into the electronic drug known as world of warcraft, and I can feel my resistance failing. However, I promise to those of you who are reading this and are enjoying it, that I will make as much time for it as I can. I know how much it sucks to wait a week or more for an update on a fan fic, and I don't want to do that to you guys. I'll find time to crank out updates somehow; sleep is for squares anyway =)
Lastly, I will once again credit square enix with the characters and original story. I'm not exactly sure if this is required in every chapter by the site, but it seems to be what all the cool kids are doing, so yeah…
Anyway, sorry for rambling. Here's chapter 6
Chapter 6
Two soldiers stood on the rooftop of the building across from Lightning's house, watching two cloaked figures exiting the building. The soldiers were adorned in light, black body armor and equipped with high tech night vision goggles. They quickly glanced at one another, and one of them reached into his belt and pulled out a small communication radio.
"Surveillance team one reporting in," he spoke quietly into the radio.
"Roger that, Surveillance team. What's the status on your targets?" the radio crackled back.
"Both targets exited the house and seem equipped for travel. Should we pursue and engage?" the soldier asked.
"Negative, Surveillance team, targets are too dangerous. Alpha unit will move in to apprehend the targets shortly."
The soldier that been talking into the radio looked at his companion after the transmission ended. "Better them then us," he said, sounding relieved.
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Shit Bartholomew Estheim cursed to himself as he exited the council chambers at last. The meeting had stretched on well into the night, and Bartholomew knew exactly why. Rufus had been stalling as much as he could so that he wouldn't have a chance to contact Hope or his friends and warn them about their impending arrest. Several squads of soldiers had already been deployed to apprehend them.
As he walked through the council building towards the exit, he could feel the gazes of several of his fellow councilmen boring into the back of his head. He knew they were waiting for him to try and contact his son, and it took every ounce of willpower he possessed not to pull out his cell phone right then and there and call Hope. But he knew that he had to control himself. The only reason Rufus hadn't had him arrested already was that he had no reason or precedent to do so. He couldn't lose his cool now; he wouldn't be doing Hope any good by getting himself arrested for treason.
Shit he thought to himself again.
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"It's too bad your velocycle got destroyed, we could have saved a lot of travel time with some kind of vehicle," Hope said to Lightning as they walked through the streets of New Eden, heading for the south gate. "I don't want to steal any more cars either, but I'm not looking forward to trekking all the way to the Archylte Steppe." Once they had exited the city it would take them nearly a week to reach the Archylte Steppe on foot, and then they would come out on the eastern edge of the area. They would have to cross the entire length of the Steppe to reach the caverns that would take them to Taejin's tower.
"It's probably for the best," Lightning replied. "Military vehicles have homing sensors built in so they can track down soldiers in case they break down for any reason. Most civilian vehicles have some type of tracker too, so they don't get stolen."
"Okay, no vehicles then," Hope said with a sigh. He patted the bag of supplies hanging over his shoulder. "Maybe we should do some hunting after all. I don't fancy living on dehydrated nutrient pellets for the whole trip."
"We'll be fine," Lightning reassured him. "Besides you're forgetting about Odin. If we ride him all the way, we can make it to the Mah'habara caverns in three or four days."
"Oh…right," Hope said, trying to sound relieved. He had seen Odin in gestalt mode, and he didn't think it looked too comfortable. On top of that, his stomach did a few back flips as he realized that these new travel arrangements would have him sitting very close to Lightning. When they had gone back and forth to Snow and Serah's place on her velocycle, it had only taken a few minutes and it was steady. Odin would be bouncing up and down as he galloped and he was sure that the rubbing up against Lightning's back that would be caused by this would result in some awkward….stimulation on his part. And that of course would lead to a pretty pissed off Lightning….He put his hand over his face and groaned inwardly. I think I'd rather walk he thought to himself, trying to contain his queasiness.
They walked on in silence for several more minutes, and Hope noticed that Lightning was becoming tenser by the second. Just when he was about to ask her what was wrong, she whispered so quietly he had to strain his ears to hear her.
"Hope, keep walking. We're being followed," she said out of the corner of her mouth. Hope had to stop himself from looking around.
"By who?" he asked her, trying to keep his voice low as possible. He was grateful that the hoods of the cloaks he had bought for them would probably keep their pursuers from noticing their whispered conversation.
"Soldiers, I think," came Lightning's reply. Before he could ask her what they should do, she whipped her gunblade out of its sheath in one fluid movement and fired a shot at the roof of a building across the street. The shot embedded itself in the side of the building, centimeters from the face of a masked soldier, who been laying on his stomach peering down at them. Hope had nearly jumped out of his skin when the sound of the bullet cracked through the night, and he tried to compose himself while he heard the gasps of soldiers from several directions followed quickly by the clicks of them readying their guns.
"Come out," Lightning called to their startled pursuers. Hope watched as a dozen men dressed in black and outfitted with assault rifles descended from several rooftops and emerged from a few alleys and formed a circle around them. He studied the soldiers and counted four of them carrying mana drives.
"Why were you following us?" Lightning called sharply to the assembled men around them. When no reply was forthcoming she removed her hood and pulled out a badge with glowing red stripes. "I am Lieutenant Lightning Farron of the Bodhum district security division, and I demand to know why you are following us."
A soldier stepped forward from the group and addressed Lightning. "We've been ordered to apprehend you and your companion for questioning regarding the incident yesterday."
A pit opened in Hope's stomach. Shit he thought to himself. What are we gonna do now?
Lightning seemed unconcerned, however. "Ordered by who?" she asked the soldier.
"The council of New Eden," the soldier replied simply. Hope's mind began to whirr. The council? But dad…
Hope's thoughts were interrupted as he noticed Lightning glance over at him. Their eyes met and she gave him a barely noticeable nod. He sighed to himself. This is gonna be a long night…
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"Shit," Bartholomew Estheim said to himself as he closed his cell phone. He had lost track of how many times he had repeated the curse that night. He had called Lightning and Hope's cell phones and Lightning's house phone several times with no answer. Likewise, Snow, Serah, and Sazh weren't answering their phones either. Considering the time, he assumed that they were all sleeping by now.
He put his phone down in the empty passenger's seat of his car and rested his forehead on the wheel. After he had gotten away from the other councilmen, he had gotten in his car and drove a few blocks away, parking in the lot of store that had closed a few hours ago. He sat up and ran his hand through his hair with a sigh, trying to think of something he could do. If they don't know anything, the council won't have an excuse to hold them for long….and if they somehow did become l'Cie again, it will probably take more than a few soldiers to bring them in… He was startled out of his contemplations by a sharp tap on the window of his car. He turned his head and found himself staring down the barrel of a gun pointed in his face by a soldier dressed in black camouflage.
"Step out of the vehicle, sir," the soldier demanded, tapping on his window again. He got out of the car slowly, his hands in the air in surrender. An oily voice from the side caught his attention.
"These new phone taps they came up with are quite handy," Rufus said to him, a triumphant smirk on his face.
"Shit," Bartholomew said to himself.
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As soon as Hope heard Lightning shift her foot beside him, he reached into his mind to his l'Cie magic. As soon as he felt the familiar warmth, he casted two protect spells in quick succession, first on Lightning, then on himself. Lightning had sprung to her left into three soldiers holding assault rifles, her gunblade drawn, and instantly disarmed them with a graceful slash of the weapon. Hope's spell took effect at the same moment, and the bullets from the other nine men were deflected harmlessly.
Hope turned, ignoring the grunts of pain from behind him as Lightning proceeded to incapacitate the men she had just disarmed. He cast a quick thundara spell and blasted two of the men he had counted with mana drives from their feet. He was holding back, trying not to kill the soldiers. It's not their fault they were sent to do this he thought to himself, wincing as her heard a sickening crack that had most likely resulted from the hilt of Lightning's gunblade connected with a soldier's face.
Hope was forced to duck into a sidelong roll as another soldier with a mana drive sent a blizzard spell in his direction. From a crouching position, Hope cast another thundara spell in retaliation that sent the soldier with the mana drive and his two fellows standing next to him twitching to the ground. He rose and saw that Lightning had dropped the last soldier equipped with a mana drive and was closing on another. Out of the corner of his eye, Hope saw the last soldier discard his assault rifle and pull out a metal baton. He clicked a button and it extended, the last few inches crackling with electricity. He formed a ball of wind in his palm and threw the aero spell at the soldier. It struck him hard in the stomach, and he doubled over in pain. He looked over to see Lightning dispatch the final soldier with a boot to the face.
"Well, that was exhilarating," Hope said, panting slightly as he walked over to Lightning, sidestepping the unfortunate soldiers on the ground.
"I didn't think they'd try to bring us in so soon," Lightning remarked, sheathing her gunblade.
"You take any hits?" Hope asked as he drew level with her and began to search her for injuries.
She scoffed at his question. "Definitely not. These guys were pretty green." She crouched over the man nearest her and rifled in his pockets, drawing a small radio. "Come on," she said, stowing the radio in her belt. "We'd better get out of the city as fast as we can, there's bound to be more soldiers hunting for us." She broke into a brisk run, her cloak billowing in the night wind.
"Just like old times," Hope muttered ruefully as he jogged after her.
XXXXX
About an hour later, Lightning and Hope were walking through an alley, the south gate in sight. Using the radio Lightning had pilfered from the wounded soldier, they had managed to avoid any more encounters.
As they stood at the end of the alley, Lightning looking up and down the street to make sure the coast was clear, a thought occurred to Hope.
"Hey Light," he asked her, "how are we gonna get out of the city? I doubt they will open the gate no matter how nicely we ask them…"
"We're not going through the gate," she said as she signaled him that it was clear. "We're taking a military exit, they cut right through the wall, and only soldiers have access codes to them. They usually only open the main gates when they need to move heavy artillery or large squadrons in and out of the city. We might run into more soldiers on the way through, but they probably won't be looking for us."
They continued on for another fifteen minutes, wending through more streets and alleys, until they came upon the outer wall. Looking around, Hope spotted the indentation of a small door about fifty feet to the right of the gate. They ran quickly across the last street towards the door, looking around to make sure they were alone. When they reached the exit, Lightning pressed her hand against the outline of a small square, which slid open to reveal a keypad at her touch. Hope heard several soft beeps as she punched in a code, and the door slid open.
They entered cautiously, Lightning leading the way with her gunblade drawn. They continued moving slowly through the passage for another minute or two, passing several rooms that contained things like cots and refrigerators. When no sign of soldiers in the area was forthcoming, they broke into a faster pace. After another minute, they stopped in front of a door.
"This is the exit," Lightning said, turning around to look at Hope. "But there's an armory right here," she motioned to a door just to the left. "I noticed you didn't have any weapons when we fought the soldiers earlier. If you want one, now's your chance."
"Eh, guns aren't really my thing," Hope said dismissively. "And boomerangs went out of style a while ago…I don't think I really need a weapon. You know I was always more of a spellcaster."
"Okay, just wanted to make sure," Lightning said, and she turned back to the door. She punched a code into another hidden keypad, and the door in front of them slid open. They stepped out, and Hope took a deep breath. Even just outside the wall, he could tell the difference in the air, free of the scent of urbanization as it was. He glanced over at Lightning, and she nodded.
Hope took a step back as her brand flashed red, producing a small crystal. Lightning threw it up lightly and shattered it with a quick swipe of her gunblade, bringing forth a large glyph. Odin stepped through and crashed to the ground, causing Hope to glance up nervously for signs of sentries on the wall above them. As Odin began to shift to gestalt mode, Lightning turned to Hope.
"I hope the others are okay…" she said, voice full of concern. "If the soldiers came after us, it's only a matter of time before they start questioning them."
"I'm sure they'll be okay," Hope replied, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Even if they do, the others don't know where we are going, and they probably have the enough sense to lie about knowing about us being l'Cie. The military won't be able to hold them for long."
She gave him a small smile, and leapt up onto the now gestalt mode Odin. She looked down and held out a hand to Hope, which he took hesitantly. She hoisted him up behind her, and he swung his leg over the other side of the horse. He looked away as he nervously wrapped his arms around her waist. He felt Lightning stiffen slightly, similarly uncomfortable with the contact. It passed after a moment, and Odin broke into a trot.
"We'll put some distance between us and the city and then set up camp for the night," she told him. She looked forward and dug her heel into Odin's side. "Hold on!" she called back to him as the horse broke into a fast gallop, and they rode off into the wilderness of Gran Pulse.
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The next morning, Serah sat in her living room watching a news program on the vid screen, trying to catch wind of any further reports concerning the recent attack. She chewed her bottom lip with apprehension as she thought back to the previous day, when Hope and Lightning had come over, sporting new l'Cie brands. She heard someone come down the stairs, and turned to see Sazh walking over to her.
"Where is everybody?" he asked her, taking a seat on the couch.
"Snow took Zack and Dajh over to Lebreau's café for breakfast," she answered distractedly.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, Serah watching with growing frustration as several unimportant news stories passed by.
"You're worried about your sister and the kid, right?" Sazh asked her, breaking the silence.
Serah sighed. "Of course I am. It's six years ago all over again."
"Don't worry too much," Sazh replied, trying to comfort her. "Those two are tough, they'll be okay."
"I hope you're right," she sad sadly.
Sazh opened his mouth as if to say more, but was interrupted by a sharp knock at the front door. They looked at each curiously, and got up to see who it was.
Serah reached the door first and called, "Who is it?"
"New Eden special forces. We'd like a word with Mrs. Villiers and Mister Katzroy." Serah and Sazh looked at each other in alarm. Sazh shrugged, and Serah opened the door to find three men, two of which had assault rifles leveled at them.
"We've been ordered to bring the two of you in for questioning regarding the incident two days ago. If you come quietly, no one will get hurt," the unarmed man in the middle said calmly. "Please come with us."
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"Take it easy hero," Gadot said to his friend, chuckling as Snow shoveled spoonful after spoonful of food into his mouth. "Chew your food a little." Zack was on the stool next to him, sucking intently at a bottle of milk, while Dajh sat on his other side, laughing at Snow's beastly table manners.
Snow mumbled out a response to Gadot's jab, but it was unintelligible through his mouth full of eggs. Gadot and Dajh erupted in renewed laughter as chunks of Snow's breakfast hit the floor.
"Men," Lebreau muttered from behind the counter, rolling her eyes. "Serah won't be too happy when Zack starts picking up your eating habits, you know," she said turning to Snow.
Snow gulped down his food and wiped his mouth. "Ah, he's a growing boy, he needs all the food he can get," Snow replied, laughing.
The cheerful mood was ruined however, when they heard mechanical clicks from behind them. Snow turned around to see five soldiers, two aiming rifles in his face.
"Snow Villiers, you are wanted for questioning regarding the incident two days ago," one of the unarmed soldiers recited.
Snow got off the stool and began strolling over to the soldiers. "Ah, c'mon guys, what's with the guns? Didn't think I'd come quietly?" he asked loudly. Gadot and Lebreau began reaching for concealed weapons, but Snow signaled them from behind his back to stand down.
"Will you come willingly, then?" an armed soldier asked, lowering his gun slightly.
Snow was standing in front of the soldiers now. "Sorry guys," he said sadly. "But heroes don't go without a fight!" He aimed a jaw shattering punch at the soldier who had asked the question and sent him flying across the room. With a quick sidestep, he put himself in line to land a heavy blow to the stomach of the second soldier wielding a rifle. The other three moved quickly, drawing batons that extended into energy rods. Snow caught the wrist of the first soldiers who came at him with the weapon and disarmed the man, but the other two got past his defenses, and sent several jolts of stunning electricity through his body. Snow tried to aim a punch at one of them, but his muscles were cramping from the shocks.
He fell to his knees, panting. Zack had started crying and Dajh was looking terrified. Snow turned his head and looked at Gadot and Lebreau. "Take care….of the kids…" he managed to stammer out before he fell forward and passed out.
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As the sun set on their third day out from New Eden, Lightning and Hope arrived on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the Archylte Steppe. Lightning stopped Odin, and she and Hope jumped down.
"Let's camp here for the night," she said to him as she dismissed the eidolon. "We'll climb down these tomorrow morning," she said gesturing at the cliffs. "If we don't run into any problems, we should reach the Mah'habara caverns before noon."
"Okay," Hope replied, and they went about setting up their camp. Hope set up a fire while Lightning went to the nearby stream and filled their canteens. When she returned, they sat around the fire in silence, eating the unsatisfying provisions Hope had purchased. The nutrient pellets kept you from starving and were useful as a lightweight food source for traveling, but they couldn't quite match the warm feeling of a home cooked meal.
"I'll take the first watch," Hope said after they had finished eating.
"Alright," Lightning agreed quietly, getting up and walking over to her blankets. Hope turned and looked up at the starry sky as he heard her settle in. He turned back to her a few minutes later to see her curled up, her back to the fire.
Hope got off the log he had been sitting on and lay down on the bare grass, hands behind his head, gazing at the night sky. Their trip so far had been uneventful. During the day they rode Odin, and he was fast enough that none of the wild Pulse creatures could hope to catch them. There also wasn't much time to talk with the wind blowing into their faces while Odin ran, so the miles of terrain they had covered had melted away in silence.
When they stopped to camp, it had been much like the one tonight. They would eat in silence, interrupted by the occasional conversation, but nothing too deep. Since they had left civilization behind, Lightning had apparently been hard at work repairing her walls.
He knew she was still dealing badly with what had happened in Nautilus though. When she was sleeping and he was on watch, she would toss and turn, and sometimes even talk or groan. Hope was sure that she was reliving the traumatizing event in her dreams every night. It was no different tonight. After a while, he could hear her shifting in the grass behind him.
He let out a heavy sigh. He knew she was bottling up again, and he knew it wasn't good for her. He had tried to talk to her a few times the past two nights, but she had deflected all of his attempts to strike up a meaningful conversation. She's used to dealing with things on her own, and she's way too stubborn to admit when she can't he thought to himself. She was still trying to shut him out after everything that happened, and he was starting to run out of ideas on how to break through her shell. But I won't stop trying he told himself resolutely. I'll keep trying to get through to her…and I'll stick by her even if everyone else on this god forsaken world is against us.
He sighed heavily again. "You sure know how to pick 'em, Hope," he said aloud as the mournful howl of an unknown creature echoed through the night.
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Soon after the sun had risen the next morning, Hope and Lightning had packed up their camp, having finished yet another meal in silence. Hope had given up trying to get through to her for the time being, realizing that the best thing to do was to wait for events to continue to unfold around them and hope that something would happen to coax her out of her shell.
"You ready to go?" Lightning asked him, walking to the edge of the cliffs. There weren't any clear paths into the Steppe from where they were, so they would be climbing down the cliffs the hard way.
Hope walked up next to her and gazed down at the craggy wall they would soon be descending. "Ready as I'll ever be," he answered, wishing he had been able to eat a satisfying breakfast before starting the climb. Looking up resentfully at the blazing sun, he began to work his way down the cliff.
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They had managed to clear the cliffs without much trouble, and Lightning summoned Odin when they reached the Archylte Steppe. Odin broke into a fast gallop, and they were once again able to avoid the various creatures that made their home on the wide expanse of the Steppe.
As Odin thundered across the plain, Hope looked over and saw the opening in the cliffs that lead to the Vallis Media. It was there that they had spent their first night on the wild Pulse, and it was there that he had come the closest he ever had to giving up on himself. But she didn't give up on me…she believed in me….he remembered the moment clearly in his mind, the others trying to help, but it had been Lightning who had saved him… "You're not gonna go through this ordeal alone, you know," she had said to him, a smile on her face. He had been feeling the same back then as she was now, afraid of the others getting hurt because of him. But she had been there for him, she had given him the courage to keep fighting, the strength to defeat Alexander… He tightened his grip on her waist. Don't worry Light…I won't let you go through this alone either.
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Lightning's prediction turned out to be true. By the time they reached the western end of the Steppe near the entrance to the Mah'habara caverns, the sun hadn't yet reached its zenith in the sky. They dropped off Odin's back, and Lightning dismissed him; they would be traveling on foot from here, as the caverns were far to cramped to need to ride the eidolon.
"Finally we'll be able to get out of this heat," Hope remarked, wiping the sweat off his brow and walking towards the small ledge that sloped down to the entrance of the caverns.
"We'll escape the heat, but we won't be able to escape the monsters in the caverns," Lightning said offhandedly, as she moved to follow him.
"Eh, they weren't too tough, we shouldn't we have too much trouble here as long as we avoid the juggernauts," he responded. They entered the cave and the air immediately became more humid and oppressive. They worked their way through the cavern, alert for signs of trouble.
It quickly became apparent, however, that this time Lightning's prediction was wrong. As the minutes dragged by and they delved deeper into the caverns, they did not encounter any hostile creatures.
"Maybe someone else cleared out all those robots," Hope offered, but Lightning ignored him. He noticed she was glancing around, a tense look on her face. As they entered the open chamber where they had first seen the resident fal'Cie Atomos, Hope figured out why.
Before them lay the smoldering wrecks of what appeared to be juggernauts, though Hope was just guessing from the amount of debris; the machines were so thoroughly destroyed he couldn't be sure what they had once been. A dark look crossed Lightning's face, and Hope knew she had been expecting something like this.
"We aren't alone," she said quietly, drawing her gunblade as she looked around for signs of whoever or whatever had arrived at the caverns before they had.
Hope similarly examined his surroundings, but was unable to discern any clues as to who had destroyed the machines in front of them. After several more moments, he gave up searching. "We might as well move on," he said, turning to Lightning. "It doesn't look like whatever did this is still around, and if we don't run into them, they just made our trip a lot easier."
Lightning nodded, but remained tense, as if expecting to get ambushed the moment she let her guard down. As they continued, Hope noticed that something was missing from the scene.
"Where's that fal'Cie?" he asked, straining his ears for the tell-tale rumbling that would be closely followed by the arrival of Atomos.
"It should still be here," she replied, a pensive look on her face. "There doesn't seem to be many places that thing could have gone. It's probably just further in."
"I hope so," Hope said as they pressed on. "That thing is our ride to the springs."
They went deeper into the caverns, noting the continuing lack of enemies around them. They eventually reached the end of the line as they came upon the area where they had hitched a ride on the fal'Cie all those years ago. Lightning went ahead, walking over the platform overlooking the trench that Atomos had been carving out at the time, and Hope heard her let out a small gasp.
"What the fuck…." She said disbelievingly.
"What's wrong?" Hope asked, jogging over to her. As he reached the edge of the platform, he looked down and figured out exactly what was wrong.
The fal'Cie Atomos was lying at the bottom of the trench below them, unmoving. A huge rent went down the side of it that was facing up to them. Hope saw scattered pieces of its shell littering the trench around it, along with several of the spikes that had once adorned it.
"What the hell could have done this?" Hope asked, his mouth agape at the sight below them.
"I don't know," Lightning replied after a few moments of silence. "But let's not stick around and find out. With this thing dead, we're gonna have to get to Sulyya Springs on foot." They jumped down to the trench below, careful to give the twisted wreckage of the former fal'Cie a wide berth.
What had taken them only about ten minutes to traverse on Atomos took them nearly two hours to cover on foot. When they finally reached their destination, they scaled the side of the trench up to the entrance to the springs. At the top, Hope plopped down on the rock and tried to catch his breath.
"Man, that was rough," he said, getting up after having recovered. Lightning offered a non committal grunt in response. The continued through into the next room, which was filled with a small lake. Though it couldn't be that late yet, it appeared to be dusk as they entered. The sun was barely peaking through the small hole in the rocks that made up the ceiling. Hope knelt down at the edge to take a drink, but Lightning grabbed the back of his shirt to stop him.
"Don't," she said as he looked up at her quizzically. He slowly rose to his feet and gazed out towards the lake in the direction that Lightning was staring. "There was a fal'Cie in this lake last time, and it wasn't too happy to see us," she said, backing away towards the center of the room, drawing her gunblade. Sure enough, ripples began to disturb the surface of the lake where she had been looking.
Hope readied himself as the ripples intensified, edging towards Lightning and reaching for the spot in his mind where the l'Cie magic awaited his call. He lost his concentration, however, as the fal'Cie breached the surface.
Bismarck, like Atomos, was clearly dead. Several gaping holes spotted the head and body of the aquatic fal'Cie. Its mouth hung open limply. As Hope studied the corpse, the water around it began to ripple more fiercely. The dead fal'Cie began to stir along with it, Hope and Lightning staring at it confusedly. All of a sudden, the fal'Cie's body erupted from the water and was hurled across the water towards them.
"Look out!" Lightning cried, and she and Hope both jumped aside. The fal'Cie sent cracks through the rock as it crashed into the spot they had been standing a second before. It skipped across the patch of land and sank into the water on the other side. Hope and Lightning turned their heads to followed its path and were startled by a voice from where it had surfaced.
"You l'Cie are far too slow," a cold female voice said from behind them. They turned and saw a dark haired woman standing on top of the still frothing water where the dead Bismarck had appeared. She was draped in a black cloak over loose fitting dark blue clothes. A trident ending in three wicked prongs was visible over her left shoulder. Hope experienced a sickening sensation as he was reminded forcibly of Fang, whose appearance was similar, but this mysterious woman's pale skin, heavily lidded eyes, and cruel grin told him that this was definitely not the friend who had been lost to him all those years ago.
The woman began to walk slowly across the surface of the lake towards them. The water frothed and churned in her path. "I scrapped all of the pathetic machines that still roamed these caverns hoping that you would get here sooner if the way was clear. I guess I shouldn't have gutted that ridiculous fal'Cie and made you walk the whole way. The other one here couldn't keep me entertained for even a fraction of the time I had to wait for you," she said, not breaking her steady stride across the lake.
"I knew you'd come eventually, though," she continued, her sadistic smirk widening. "I knew those worthless humans wouldn't be able to stop you."
"Who are you?" Lightning called sharply, her gunblade in a fighting stance, already surging angrily with electricity. Hope watched the woman intently, immersed in the magic in his mind ready to cast whatever spell was needed should she attack.
The woman laughed and Hope cringed at the harsh guttural sound. He watched as she lifted up her shirt to reveal a gleaming eye across her stomach. The enormous eye pulsed a dark blue that matched her clothing, and Hope could see the black tendrils reaching out to the rest of her body.
"You're with that other guy then? The one who attacked New Eden?" Hope asked angrily. He shot a quick glance and Lightning. Her expression was unreadable, but he could tell that she was a little unnerved by the sight of the too familiar brand.
"Pfft, don't compare me with that fool. He was a weakling, and he deserved the death you gave him," she spat callously, stopping several feet from the edge of the water. She reached behind her, and took the trident off her back. She dropped into a battle stance, her eyes moving between Hope and Lightning hungrily. "But since you killed him, you might at least be able to keep me entertained longer than these mindless fal'Cie."
As she finished, the water frothing beneath her churned and a large wave erupted. Hope and Lightning were forced to back-step several more paces as the deluge collided with the shore, bring the woman with it. As soon as she touched down, she turned and charged at Lightning, bringing her trident to bear. Hope sent an arc of electricity from his hand at her, but was surprised when a jet of water burst from the lake beside him to intercept his attack.
"What the fuck…" he started but trailed off as the water on either side of the rock path churned violently. Two larger jets of water burst from each side and launched themselves at him. He casted a shell over himself and began to launch another bolt of electricity to assist Lightning, trusting his defensive spell to block the water. He didn't manage to get his spell out before the twin jets struck him. He lost the spell and gasped at the force of the water. After a few seconds, his shell shattered and he was thrown to the ground by the woman's spell. As he lay on his back coughing and sputtering, he could hear the vicious clamor of the woman's trident and Lightning's gunblade banging together as the two women battled furiously.
He rose to his knees, trying to shake off the pain from the water driving him into the hard rock. The other guy used fire, and this woman obviously attacks with water…she has the same huge brand that he had…where the hell are these guys coming from? He thought to himself, trying to analyzing the situation. She obviously knew we were coming, so she must know where we are headed. He composed himself and moved closer to the dueling women and sent several more bolts of lightning towards the second mysterious l'Cie. This time, no water rose to intercept them, but the women were darting around the patch of rock they were fighting on so quickly, his spells missed. He was afraid to use anything stronger, for fear of hitting Lightning.
He looked around at the cavern they were in. I can't summon Alexander in here, there's definitely not enough room…the roof looks too unstable to not cave in from his attacks anyway…It's probably the same for Odin, the cavern wouldn't be able to survive most of his attacks, and there's not enough land for him to fight alongside Lightning effectively. He grew increasingly frustrated as he tried to find a way to help Lightning. After a few moments he quickly formulated a plan, and dropped into a fighting stance as he readied a spell.
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A look of concern crossed Lightning's face as she saw Hope get knocked to the ground by the woman's spell, but she had to suppress it as she engaged the mysterious woman. After they traded a few blows, Lightning realized that this woman's fighting style was similar to that of Fang's, who she had sparred with a few times during their travels. Spear users had the advantage of reach and a solid defense, but if she could get past that defense, she knew she could win. With the help of her rigorous years of military training, she was able to shut out all the distractions in the face of her foe, from her worries about Hope to the strange woman's many similarities to Fang. Even the reappearance of the large l'Cie brand on the woman's stomach was just another small detail to the stoic soldier. In battle, Lightning was confident she could keep her cool.
They traded blows furiously, Lightning's electrified gunblade sparking angrily against the woman's trident. Every time she was forced to parry an attack, Lightning grimaced at the weight behind the blow; the woman possessed immense physical strength. Lightning flinched slightly as a spell thundered into the rock next to her, and her opponent took advantage. Lightning was barely able to parry the woman's heavy attack, and her arm nearly went numb from its force. At least I know Hope is alright she said to herself as she quickly recovered. But he's not gonna be able to help much when we're fighting like this, and this bitch isn't about to let me back off long enough for him to try.
She continued trading blows with the woman, trying in vain to find an opening. She might be better than Fang Lightning admitted to herself. She felt a slight tingling, and out of the corner of her eye noticed Hope readying a spell. Not having the luxury to ask him what he was about to do, she trusted her younger companion and continued her fight. This time when his spells hit the rock around her, she didn't flinch. She saw that he had casted several blizzard spells in quick succession, and that they had hit the ground around her and her vicious opponent.
"Looks like your boyfriend needs to improve his aim," the woman sneered at Lightning over the continued din of their weapons. Wrapped up in taunting her opponent, the woman didn't notice the patches of ice that Hope's spells had created on the rock beneath them. Lightning put more energy into her weapon and went on the offensive, pressuring her opponent and moving her towards one of the patches. The woman sneered at her again, apparently unimpressed by Lightning's ferocity, but her grin quickly faded when her foot found one of the slippery patches and she lost her balance.
Lightning took the opening and executed a heavy horizontal slash as the woman lost her footing. The l'Cie was able to avoid Lightning's attack however, when she jammed the butt of her trident into the ground and used it to push herself into a backwards leap away from the slash. Lightning likewise leapt backwards, and the two women glared at each other over the frozen battleground.
"Nice try, but shit that like isn't…" but the overconfident woman was cut short when several large lightning bolts hit her in the back. She screamed as Hope's thundaga spell sent arcs of painful electricity surging through her body. As the spell dissipated, the woman fell sideways into the lake, with her clothes smoking slightly and her body jerking spastically from the aftershocks of the attack.
Lightning ran over to Hope, who offered her a grin. "Are you okay?" she asked him, examining him for injuries.
"I'm fine, she didn't get me too bad. What about you?" he responded, likewise examining her.
"I'm okay too, I managed to hold her off, but she was strong. I don't think I would have been able to keep it up for much longer. That was some quick thinking, Hope," she said, offering him an appreciative smile.
He was about to respond when the lake once again began to churn violently. Hope and Lightning snapped back into battle stances as the woman rose from the depths on a cyclone of raging water, three similar swells rising around her.
"Don't pat yourselves on the back yet," she said with a gurgling echo. Her eyes flared up with a dark blue glow, matching that of the brand on her stomach. Hope sent another volley of blizzard spells over the water at her, aiming for the swell she was standing on. With a flick of her wrist, however, several jets of water rose from the lake and intercepted the spells before they reached their target. No taunting jeers followed this attack; it seemed the woman was ready to get serious.
She pointed her trident at them, and two of the surging cyclones of water rushed towards Hope and Lightning. They jumped apart, and the swells split to follow them.
Hope waited for the swell targeting him to get closer, a spell ready to be released. When it was about to hit him, he unleashed a fierce blizzaga spell, freezing the attack. For a moment, the frozen cyclone looked like a huge sea serpent rising from the water, but it quickly shattered.
Lightning had a similar idea on the other side of the room. She brought her gunblade up in front of her, pouring her energy into the blade in the form of ice instead of the electricity that she preferred. As the cycle arced towards her, she leapt into it, her frost powered gunblade hitting the swell first. As soon as it touched, the swell began to freeze. Lightning landing lightly on the frozen area near her gunblade, and slid down the length of the swell as her gunblade froze a path in front of her. After it ended, she landed gracefully on the rocks beneath her.
Hope and Lightning regrouped in the middle of the cavern, and looked over at their adversary. The woman was enshrouded in an aura of power, the final swell that she was standing on pulsing violently.
"Light, I'll distract her with a spell when she gets close. When you see an opening take it," Hope whispered to her, forming the simple yet solid plan on the fly. She nodded at him and charged her gunblade. As Hope looked back over to the woman, he got a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that something was wrong. The moment he realized it, he felt the familiar tingle that resulted from powerful magic on the back of his neck. Without thinking, he shoved Lightning as hard as he could away from him and broke into a sidelong roll just as the third swell that the woman had conjured reemerged from the water behind them and crashed heavily into the rock.
Thanks to Hope's quick thinking, they were able to avoid being crushed by the swell, but they were still too close to the impact. This swell had apparently been imparted with more power than the previous two, and the impact on the rock sent the two of them rolling in opposite directions. Lightning recovered quickly, but Hope only managed to pull himself up on one knee.
As the powerful swell had hit the rock, the woman had begun speeding towards them on the last swell. Apparently deciding to take Hope out first, she angled towards him. As she got closer, Hope's felt the vibrations of the woman's magic. Ignored the prickling in his skin and the uncomfortable tingle that had his teeth chattering, he readied a spell.
When the woman was a few feet from him, Hope released his spell. The woman was startled when instead of the expected blast of ice, a powerful burst of fire erupted from Hope's hand and towards the swell she was riding. When the two spells met, steam erupted from the point of impact and quickly filled the area.
"Light!" Hope called, signaling her to attack. A second later, the powerful swell, infused with far too much of the l'Cie's power to be stopped by Hope's spell, crashed into him. Several moments passed, but Lightning's attack did not come.
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Lightning had always prided herself on being able to focus her thoughts and ignore her anxieties during battle. The current fight was no exception. Thus far, she had been able to resist several things that would have distracted her and resulted in a quick death at the hands of the skilled warrior she was facing. But her recent brush with death had left her shaken, more shaken that she could admit to anyone, least of all herself. So when the blast of flame that was Hope's firaga spell had flashed before her eyes, she was hurtled back to relive that traumatizing event once more. She fell to her knees clutching her ears, trying to shut out the screams of agony from the dying soldiers and the terrible laughter from the l'Cie who was slaughtering them.
These terrible memories immobilized her, and for the first time in her life, she was unable to shut out her pain in the face of battle.
Snap out of it! She shouted at herself. You're better than this, you have to snap out of it! Hope needs you, are you just gonna sit here like this and watch him die? Move!
At the mention of Hope, thoughts of him began to fill her mind, replacing the ones that had been tormenting her. She remembered him as an awkward teen, struggling to deal with the cruel hand fate had dealt him. She remembered guiding him, as he slowly became stronger, became the one that kept them on the right course. And now he was an adult, and he was stronger than she could ever be.
She reached around and found the hilt of her gunblade. Warring against her unmoving body, she struggled to get to her feet.
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"I'm surprised you're still alive, boy," the woman sneered down at Hope, slowly closing in on him.
Hope was flat on his back, barely breathing. The l'Cie's last attack had left him unconscious, and at her mercy. She stood over him and raised her trident, ready to strike.
"Don't worry, I'll be sending you're girlfriend along soon," she said. Before she could finish him, however, she felt her body jerk violently. Confused, she looked down, and was shocked to find Lightning's gunblade protruding from her chest. She dropped her trident, and grabbed at the blade, struggling against it in vain. She turned around to face Lightning, but Lightning had already moved past her to the prone form of Hope. The l'Cie managed to take two steps forward and fell to the ground.
Lightning crouched over Hope, frantically checking to see if he was still alive. When she felt a faint pulse, she tried to cast a healing spell on him, but she was interrupted by a burst of magic from behind her. She turned to see a blast of dark blue energy burst from the body of the l'Cie she had killed, tearing a hole in the ceiling of the cavern. She threw herself over Hope, shielding him from the rocks that came tumbling down as a result of the blast, but none of them were big enough to cause any damage.
Lightning reached into her mind desperately to cast a healing spell. She managed to cast it, and shakily held her hand over Hope, cursing her ineptitude at the magic as the moments dragged by.
It's my fault she told herself. He's gonna die because I can't pull myself together long enough to heal him….because I lost control of myself in the middle of the fight… she felt tears welling up and tried to fight them and maintain control of her spell. When she lost it and the spell failed, she punched the ground in frustration.
"Fuck!" she cried angrily, reaching for another spell. Before she could manage it, however, Hope let out a low groan. Startled out of her concentration, she looked down at him to see his eyes flutter open.
"Light…" he said groggily as he pushed himself upright. "Are you okay?"
Lightning let out a chocked sob and wrapped him in a tight embrace.
"Arghhh," Hope hissed in pain. She quickly let go of him and helped him to his feet. "I think my arm is dislocated," he told her. "Here," he put his arm on her shoulder and she obligingly braced him. He gritted his teeth and yanked, popping the bone back into place, unable to stifle a groan as fresh waves of pain rolled through him. As they subsided, he reached for his own healing spell and channeled it to heal both himself and Lightning at the same time. As he finished, he looked up at her, but she had already turned away.
She walked over to the dead l'Cie, who had apparently turned to crystal when whatever power she had abandoned her at her death. When Lightning tugged her weapon free however, she crumbled into dust on the rock. Lightning sheathed her blade and continued walking towards the exit.
Hope caught up to her and put a hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at him. "Light, it's not your fault," he said to her, with a pretty good idea what was on her mind. "You got hurt by that last attack, that's all. It's over now, and we're both alive…" he trailed off as she turned away again.
"I didn't get hurt…I froze up. You're fire attack….I…I heard them again. I can't get them out of my head…I hear them in my dreams every night and now you almost get killed because I'm too weak to deal with it…" she turned to look at him. "I'm pathetic…" she looked down ashamedly.
Hope put his arms on her shoulders and she looked up at him. He was surprised to see a tear rolling down her cheek. "Light, listen to me. You're the strongest person I know, but…no matter how strong you are, you need to let people help you. You can't deal with everything on your own…" he trailed off as she laughed darkly.
"Strong? Yeah, right..." she let out a heavy sigh. "I wasn't there for Serah when she needed me the most…then I dragged you along with me on some stupid mission so that I could hide from my problems….I tried to save Cocoon, but we end up living on this hellhole fighting for survival, while Fang and Vanille are trapped in crystal stasis….and because I was too weak, you get dragged away from you're life and forced to come with me and deal with this l'Cie shit again…."
"Light…you have to stop blaming yourself for everything," Hope said to her softly. "No matter how much you try to, you can't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders by yourself. If you bottle that stuff up it will destroy you."
Tears began to slide down Lightning's face and Hope wrapped her in a tight embrace. "You don't have to do this alone, Light. I'm here for you…I'll always be here." He held her as she broke down, her walls of stoicism crumbling in his embrace. They stood there for several minutes, Hope staying silent and letting her vent her emotions at last.
She eventually broke the embrace and dried her eyes, trying to compose herself. "Feel better?" Hope asked her. She smiled and let out a small chuckle.
"Hope I…." she began, but Hope interrupted her.
"You don't have to say it, Light. We're in this thing together…you don't have to be afraid to share your burdens with me….and you'll never have to thank me." He gestured towards the exit. "Come on, let's get out here…I've had enough of this place for a few lifetimes I think."
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The rest of their journey to Taejin's Tower was uneventful. By the time they made it out of the springs, night had fallen. Rather than camp again, they decided to press on to their destination.
As they came upon the broken spire, they both stopped to gaze up at the place they had been mysteriously called to. "I hope this is worth it," Lightning said to him as she started walking again. The reached the foot of the tower several minutes later, pushed open the ancient portal, and entered.
They took in their surroundings; the place hadn't changed much in six years. They saw the horned statue and nodded to each other, approaching the lone guardian of the tower.
They stood in front of the statue, but it said nothing. Lightning decided to speak up first. "We're here…why did you call us? Do you know anything about what the hell is going on? About our brands or these freaks that have been attacking us…or anything?" She felt foolish talking to the statue, but could feel power begin to emanate from it at the sound of her voice.
All shall be revealed the statue said. Its voice came from inside their heads. From somewhere above them, they heard the soft jingling music and a low rumble as the elevator descended from the top of the tower. When it reached the ground floor, the statue raised its arm and pointed to it. Lightning and Hope looked at each other, shrugged, and climbed in.
The elevator climbed the tower, the soft melody playing once again. At the apex, the elevator stopped. They climbed out and looked around. The place was deserted. After a few moments, another soft rumbling reached their ears, and they watched as a second elevator rolled up through the broken section of the tower and the door opened.
"Where do you think it's gonna take us?" Hope asked as they walked over to it.
"One way to find out," Lightning replied. They climbed into the second elevator, and it immediately began to descend through the collapsed tower, just as it had six years ago when they were traveling to Oerba. When it reached the bottom, they heard the tower hit the sand, and it began to move forward for several more minutes.
Hope and Lightning sat in silence, wondering where their arduous journey would take them, and more importantly, they wondered who would be there to greet them.
Suddenly, the elevator stopped. They stood up to get out, but almost fell over as the elevator began to spin rapidly in place.
"Woah," Hope said, grabbing onto the wall of the vessel as he stumbled. The whirring elevator reached a crescendo, and began to rumble on.
"I think we're going…down," Lightning said, a curious look on her face. They braced themselves as the elevator burrowed down through the desert, trying not to think of the thousands of pounds of sand that were fast accumulating above their heads.
After about ten minutes, the elevator began to slow. It soon came to a complete stop, and the door opened. Lightning and Hope looked at each other, tensing up. They stepped out of the elevator, Lightning drawing her gunblade and Hope readying a spell.
They examined their surroundings. They seemed to have stopped at some sort of subterranean complex. They stood in a dimly lit room that opened up into a wide tunnel. They cautiously approached the tunnel, when they heard footsteps approaching them from out of the darkness.
As the silhouette of a familiar figure came into view, walking slowly towards them, Lightning did a double take and blinked a few times. After a moment or two, her mind realized what it was seeing.
"Odin…?" she said softly, as the figure walked into the light. It was unmistakably her eidolon.
"Good, you've arrived," the eidolon said in a smooth voice. "Allow me to welcome you to the Fourth Ark."
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Rufus stood in front of the window of his office looking down at the city below him, lost in thought. A knock at the door behind him startled him from his reverie.
"Enter," he said.
"Sir, the transport is here to take you to the detention blocks. The four prisoners have resisted our interrogations so far, but we think they'll break soon."
"Good," Rufus said, lifting up the sleeve on his left arm and gazing down at the spiky black brand, whose red eye gazed back up at him blankly. "Very good."
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Well that sure took a while to write. Sorry if it's a bit lengthy, but I wanted to get to a certain spot by the end of the chapter, so it ended up coming out pretty long. Next chapter should probably be shorter, but it should be a good one.