I want to start by saying thanks to everyone who's been reading and enjoying this story so far. Knowing that there are at least a few who like it helps me get through the garment rending frustration that accompanies bouts of writer's block, especially while I was writing this chapter.
Sorry this one took so long, RL eating into my time again. When I did get to sit down and write, I found this chapter to be really hard to articulate for some reason. I would only get about a page done after two or three hours, and then give up for the day due to lack of inspiration. The next time I would try to continue, I'd end up deleting half the page I had wrote the previous day. It got really frustrating, but I managed to stick it out.
Anyway, here's chapter 9 at last.
Chapter 9
Lightning and Hope followed Odin through the ark, sharing worried looks. Their recent awkwardness was forgotten in the face of the eidolon's dire tone and anxious gait. As Odin lead them through another one of the mazes of corridors that seemed to make up half the vessel, his pace quickened to an uncomfortable speed, and the two were soon forced to break into a jog to keep up with him. They turned a corner and unceremoniously bumped into the eidolon, who had suddenly stopped in front of a door as if he had remembered something. Lightning, who had managed to remain standing, offered a hand to Hope, who was not so lucky. He took it, but at the sudden contact of her hand in his, his body would not respond to the orders to pull itself up. Lightning seemed likewise transfixed, and their eyes met. The sound of Odin pushing open the door ended the brief moment, and Hope quickly pulled himself to his feet. The eidolon did not seem to notice the tension between the two, nor the unspoken words heavy on their lips.
"I nearly forgot," Odin said as the two followed him into what appeared to be both an armory and a forge. "Your new gunblade is ready, Lightning, and just in time." Odin opened an ornate case to reveal a magnificent gunblade in its compacted shooting form. It was adorned gracefully by blades of a golden material that Lightning was unable to identify, but knew it had to be the magic resistant ore of Gran Pulse that Odin had told her about. Getting past the majesty of her new weapon, a slight frown crossed her face as she realized it was noticeably larger than the gunblades she was used to wielding.
Reading her expression, Odin walked over to her carrying the weapon. "Don't worry about its size; the ore and our forging techniques make the finished products much lighter than they appear, while not compromising the strength of the steel." Lightning tentatively reached for the weapon, and picked it up. Her arm gave a sudden jerk as she lifted it due to how much she had underestimated the eidolon's claim. She was shocked as she tested the weight and found it to be lighter than her old gunblade. With a flick of her wrist she extended it into its sword form and she realized that it was a smaller version of either of the weapons she wielded alongside Odin in gestalt mode. Though the gunblade lacked the dramatic curve, the golden hilt and edge and the black pattered steel on the flat of the sword were all too familiar. She swung the blade around, getting a feel for its weight and length, and was more than satisfied. The weapon felt more natural in her hand than any other that she had wielded.
Pleased with the feel of the weapon, she had one last test for the marvelous blade. She held it horizontally in front of her and charged it with energy, slowly and cautiously at first, afraid to damage the gunblade. She could feel it hum with power in her hand as she continued the stream of magic into it, but it did not feel as if it was about to burst. On the contrary, the blade seemed to be soaking up the energy like a sponge, and as it began to crackle with electricity, Lightning knew that it could hold all of the considerable power she possessed and then some.
"It's perfect," Lightning admonished as she folded the weapon up and tried to tuck it into the sheath hanging at her thighs, forgetting it would not fit. Odin gave her an appreciative smile and produced a new sheath from the same box the weapon had been in. It was crafted of a sturdy black material she did not recognize. She removed her old sheath and donned the new one, though she wore it at a steeper angle to compensate for the added length. Holstering the weapon, she turned to exit the room as Odin walked past her, the grim expression quickly returning to his face and the brisk pace returning to his step.
"We're almost there," he told them. Hope and Lightning exchanged dark looks, not knowing what to expect but knowing that it couldn't be good.
XXXXX
'Almost there' turned out to be a relative estimation. It took them another half an hour at Odin's frantic pace to reach their destination. Upon entering, Hope and Lightning were greeted by a cacophony of beeps, clicks, and static. A few of the other eidolons were already assembled in the room. Stiria was sitting at a console that was making most of the noise, Nix was standing over her tapping her foot impatiently, and Brynhildr was leaning against a wall on the other side of the room, her weapon resting next to her.
Lightning and Hope had the chance to catch their breath after Odin's march and were able to compose themselves in a dignified manner before the other eidolons noticed their presence. As the eidolons turned to them, the lack of the customary nods, smiles, or any form of acknowledgement made the tense atmosphere in the room much more palpable.
"Did you manage to get anything else?" Odin asked as he walked over to Stiria and began to read the flashing console over her shoulder.
"Not yet," Stiria responded, her obvious agitation making it clear she had been asked this question several times already.
"What's going on?" Lightning asked, folding her arms over her chest. She and Hope walked over to stand on either side of Odin, though neither of them could make any sense of the characters dancing across the screen.
"Did you find one of the aspects Anima is controlling?" Hope questioned.
"No…" Odin replied slowly, eyes not leaving the screen. "We found Anima's ark."
It took a few moments for what he said to sink in. "But I thought you couldn't track the ark unless it was active…" Hope said, a weight falling into his stomach as he caught on to the situation.
"It….is active," Stiria murmured, and Hope's fears were confirmed. Lightning stiffened next to him.
"You said we had time," she said slowly , and Hope could detect anger rising in her voice. "How did they get it running so fast without you being able to detect any power sources?"
"When we found their ark's energy signature, we broke into their systems. They haven't detected us yet, and they apparently haven't been able to activate the sensors on their ark, so they haven't located us. We…found some data files that might…explain," Stiria said worriedly. She pressed a few buttons on the console and pulled up a picture on the screen.
Hope and Lightning both had to do a double take at the sight of the figure on the screen. No matter how much they told themselves it was impossible, there was no denying that the figure was none other than Cid Raines, standing in front of the capitol building of New Eden.
"…Raines?" Hope said disbelievingly, staring transfixed at the picture. Stiria pressed another button, and the picture became a video. Lightning and Hope stood there, unable to form words, as they listened to what seemed to be Raines' inauguration speech as the primarch of the city. Only the sight of the small gray owl landing on Raines' shoulder at the end of his speech snapped them back to their senses.
"That owl…" Lightning began, her hands tightening into angry fists.
"Barthandelus…" Hope finished.
"So Anima took over the city and had the people repair his ark? How the hell did this happen?" Lightning demanded.
"After you arrived, we were only searching for Anima or his minions…it seems he didn't use any magic to accomplish this," Odin responded. "We never thought he would be capable of something of this magnitude without using his own power or the power of any of the aspects."
"So how much time do we have now?" Lightning asked.
"According to the data, their ark is set to depart five days from now. Officially, it says it's a test run, but the course they set leads them right to the crystallized Cocoon," Stiria responded.
"Five days?" Lightning exclaimed, "It took us almost that long to get here, we have to leave now if we want to make it."
"There's one other thing…." The eidolon said, her voice filling with trepidation. "We found a file that has information on your friends. Serah, Snow, Sazh, and Bartholomew."
A pit forming in their stomachs, Hope and Lightning's eyes widened and their bodies tensed up. "What does it say?" Hope asked slowly.
"They were imprisoned shortly after you left the city…" Stiria began, turning to the two of them with a nervous expression. "They're scheduled to be…executed on the morning the ark is set to take off."
The pit in Lightning's stomach filled with ice, and her mind shut down. The only thought that she was able to process was the realization that she had once again failed to protect her sister, along with everyone else in New Eden.
Hope was similarly affected, but was able to clear his head enough to continue the conversation. "We have to save them," he said shakily.
"You have to stop the ark," Odin corrected him firmly. Hope looked up at him and opened his mouth to respond, but Lightning beat him to it.
"You can't expect us to ignore them! I won't abandon Serah!" she shouted angrily at her eidolon. "Not again…" she murmured softly, and only Hope caught the remark.
"We aren't going to abandon them," Odin assured them.
"We will rescue them," Brynhildr said, straightening and gripping her weapon. Hope and Lightning looked over at the eidolon curiously.
"You, Hope, Alexander and I are going to board the ark and try to keep it from taking off," Odin said, turning to Lightning. "At the same time, Brynhildr, Stiria, and Nix are going to break into the facility where your friends and family are being held and rescue them. The majority of New Eden's and Anima's forces will be at the ark, so they shouldn't encounter too much trouble."
Lightning and Hope looked at each, both mulling the plan over in their minds. "If we can reach the ark before it takes off," Odin continued, "we can access the main control system from the bridge, and link it to this ark. Bahamut and Hecatoncheir will remain here, so that if we do get there in time, they can wipe the ark's mainframe. Not even Anima would be able to find a way to use the ark then."
"What if we don't get there in time?" Lightning asked the eidolon.
"According to this," Stiria said, "if the ark does take off, you'll only have about an hour before it's in range to fire its main gun and destroy Cocoon. If it comes to that, the only way to stop it will be to damage the core of the vessel enough to disable its weapons. If you damage it too much though, the ark will explode, which will probably destroy Cocoon anyway."
"The core of an ark is basically a huge source of magic that powers all the systems of the vessel. If you attack it with a certain amount of your own magic, it will overload enough to prevent the ark from firing on Cocoon," Nix explained.
"How much magic?" Hope asked.
Odin produced a small white crystal from a pouch and handed it to Hope. "This crystal can hold the exact amount of energy it will take to disable the ark's weaponry. It will be able to hold the energy for only a few moments and will only attain the correct frequency if imbued in the presence of the core, so you won't be able to fill it until you're in the room with it."
Hope looked at the crystal sitting in his palm for several seconds, then stowed it away in a pocket, nodding resolutely at Odin.
"If this is all happening in five days, we need to leave immediately," Lightning repeated, glancing around agitatedly at the assembled eidolons.
"That won't be necessary," Odin replied. "Alexander, Bahamut, and Hecatoncheir are working on our mode of transportation as we speak."
"Transportation?" Lightning queried, cocking an eyebrow in curiosity.
"They are restoring an airship that can get us to New Eden swiftly. It will take them three days to ready the ship, and just under two days to reach the city. As long as we don't encounter too much trouble getting into the city itself, we should be able to board the ark with enough time to keep it from taking off," Odin answered.
"You're sure this ship will work?" Lightning demanded, growing angry again. "If something goes wrong…" she trailed off, bringing her hand to her face in frustration.
"Lightning, you have to trust us," Odin reassured her. "The ship will be ready, and we will stop Anima and save your friends." Lightning clenched her jaw, apparently unconvinced. Hope put an arm on her shoulder, but she didn't look at him. After a few seconds, she shrugged his hand off, perhaps more harshly than she intended to, and made to leave the room.
"Three days…fine…but if Serah dies then I'm done with all this…the rest of Pulse can burn for all I care," she said coldly.
XXXXX
The next day, Hope sat in a chair, his hands behind his head in the position he favored when he was doing some serious thinking. As it had been over the past few weeks, the main subject of his thoughts was Lightning. He had not seen her since she had left after the eidolons had told them about Anima's ark and his plans for their friends. Sporadic bursts of energy that he knew came from her told him that she had spent most of that time in the training room. She had most likely even slept there, as he had waited up for many hours the previous night for her to return to their room. He initially wanted to give her some space after what had occurred, but he knew that he had to try and help her through whatever she was dealing with soon; any distractions would be fatal when so much hung on their attack on the ark.
Hope also knew that he had gotten through to her, at least a little bit. He didn't think she wasn't avoiding him so that she could wall herself off once again, but that she was trying to sort through the tumult of emotions brought on by the events of the previous morning. As Hope continued to think, the major question he kept returning to was whether she was more affected by the fact that he had told her that he loved her, or the news of their friends' impending execution. He was more inclined to think the latter, but from how awkward and nervous she seemed talking about the former before Odin interrupted, he couldn't be sure. He silently cursed the horrid timing of it all.
After another hour or so, Hope realized that he wasn't going to be able to come up with any sort of pre-meditated speech, deciding his best option was to just talk to her face to face and trust himself to know what to say. He sighed heavily and got up, heading for the door. As he wound his way through the corridors of the ark, the tingling on the back of his neck from Lightning's discharges of magic increasing, he couldn't help but marvel at the twisted interest that fate seemed to have in the two of them.
XXXXX
Hope carefully opened the door to the training room, not wanting to surprise Lightning and risk serious injury in the process. She sat in the middle of the room with her back to the door, her new gunblade stuck in the floor next to her. From the rapid rise and fall of her shoulders, he assumed that she had just finished a bout of activity. The smoldering remnants of several Pulse automata surrounding her lent further support to his theory. He looked around the room and cringed as he noticed the far left wall. Several large rents ran down the surface, each several feet deep. Two of them had scorch marks and another was fringed with patches of ice, indicating that Lightning had been practicing infusing her new weapon with various flavors of magic.
Hope gathered his wits and walked into the room. He had gotten halfway to Lightning when she tensed up and turned to him, her expression blank. She stared at him for a few seconds before facing forward again, saying nothing. Hope walked over and sat down in front of her, but still no response was forthcoming.
"Odin won't be too happy when he sees that you messed up the walls of his ark again," he said lightheartedly, trying to break the awkward silence.
"Yeah…" Lightning replied softly, looking over at the damage she had inflicted on the room with a distinctly uncaring expression.
"Look, Light…" he began, drawing her gaze to him. As she turned to him, he noticed that her stoic façade seemed to be failing her. "I'm…I'm worried about everybody too, but we have to trust Odin and the others. They won't let us down, and we need to focus so that we don't let them down either. We're the only ones that can stop the ark from destroying Cocoon."
Lightning looked down, unable to meet his gaze. "I know," she said softly. "But…I'm not used to having to depend on other people like this. If something did happen to them…to Serah, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself for abandoning her a second time."
Hope frowned slightly at her response. "Light, there's nothing wrong with trusting people once in a while. Neither of us would have gotten this far if we didn't have each other to depend on."
"I know that, Hope. If it weren't for you, I…" She sighed, and looked up at him again. "When this whole mess started, I thought that I could handle it, but then after what happened with Phoenix…I don't know, I guess I realized that whoever I was up until then wasn't good enough anymore. It was just like when my parents died...who I was wasn't able to cope with it, so I became Lightning. I don't know who I became this time…but one of the only things that kept me going was the knowledge that I was fighting for Serah and the others, to keep them safe. And now we find out that because we fought, they're about to be executed…" She trailed off and stood up, turning her back to Hope, who also got to his feet.
"Light…" he said and made to put a hand on her shoulder, but she continued speaking.
"I've always had to rely on myself…I never had anyone else. Taking care of Serah was the one thing that gave me purpose. When she became a l'Cie and turned to crystal, I blamed myself for not trying to help her…and I lashed out at everything around me. Then I found out that she might come back, and I had a goal again." She looked down and laughed bitterly, turning back to face Hope. "But when Serah did finally come back she married Snow, and it didn't take too long for me to figure out that she didn't need me anymore. For a little while, it didn't get to me too much because I was wrapped up in helping settle New Eden. After that though…I guess I was jealous of her, of what she had. And deep down I couldn't shake the thought that she still hated me for walking out on her when she told me she was a l'Cie, and that made me resent her even more. I hated myself for thinking like that, for being that petty. So I shoved it all down and locked it up, and lost myself in being a soldier again…being Lightning. Stifling my emotions was the one thing I'm good at…" she trailed off again, and shook her head, as if disagreeing with herself. "Or what I used to be good at anyway."
She crossed an arm over her chest and rested her elbow on it, her head in her hand. As she lost herself in thought, Hope tried to decide what to say, or if he should say anything at all. Lightning was opening up to him more than he could have hoped for. He looked up at her when she sighed heavily.
"I saw all this as my second chance, I guess," she said quietly. "I thought that if I kept them safe I could make up for not being there last time…" she turned around again, staring up at the ceiling with one hand still on her forehead, the other dangling at her side. "And you were there with me the whole time and I thought that this was also my second chance to…" Lightning stopped mid sentence, and turned to face Hope with a mildly surprised look on her face as if she had forgotten he was there.
Her surprised expression quickly turned back to one of sadness. "I've been alone my whole life," she began, and Hope couldn't stop an expression creeping across his features that mirrored her own. "I don't know how to be anything but alone…you're one of the only people that I truly consider a friend, and I know that you want…more. I think I might too…but I don't know how this is supposed to work. I don't want to push you away…if I open up and you don't like what you see…I don't want to lose you."
"You never will Light," Hope replied softly. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder and looked in her eyes, seeing the green from his own gaze reflected in the soft blue of hers. "Even if it's just as a friend, I'll always be there. You don't have to be alone anymore." He offered her a small smile as he brushed lightly past her and left the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
XXXXX
Hope had been asleep in his bed for a while, when he was awoken by the smell of strawberries and the light scratching of hair across his face. After a few moments he recognized the scent and the touch of Lightning, and with a small smile that went unseen in the dark, moved over to give her room. Without a word, he wrapped an arm around her and drifted back to sleep. Even without the connection of Hope's mind through his magic, Lightning slept soundly.
XXXXX
The next two days passed quickly. Lightning spent most of her time in the training room, perfecting her technique with her new powers and gunblade. Hope joined her occasionally, but usually kept to the sidelines watching her fight, and either meditating to delve deeper into Eden's power, or practicing filling the crystal that Odin had given him. Hope knew that if they had to use it, the room housing the ark's core would not go unguarded, and he would not be able to fight while he filled the crystal with his energy. So far, he estimated that filling the crystal took around ten minutes, but he was unsure if the core's resonance would have an effect on the speed of the process.
When he wasn't doing either of those things, he would just sit and watch Lightning. He noticed a change in her demeanor. It was subtle, but he could tell that she carried herself with more confidence, as if the ropes weighing her down with all of the guilt and anger she was dealing with had suddenly been cut. Hope was happy to see her apparent freedom from her emotional baggage, as she seemed much more like her old self. She would come back from training later than he would, and she would crawl into his bed and drift off to sleep in moments. He did not try to push for more, he was willing to wait until she was ready. Hope was content to lay awake and listen to the rhythmic breathing that accompanied the rise and fall of her graceful form. When he eventually fell asleep, his dreams were full of things which made him relieved that they were not sharing their magic as they slept; he couldn't be sure that she would not be pulled into his nighttime fantasies through their linked consciousnesses.
XXXXX
Hope and Lightning awoke early on the morning that their ship was to leave for New Eden. They wiped the sleep from their eyes and got their gear together in silence. A glance at the clock told them that they still had another hour before they were supposed to meet Odin and the others to board the airship. They sat next to each other on one of the cozier couches in the room.
"I'm gonna miss this place," Hope said as he looked around the room that had been their home for the past few weeks. "It was a little…unnerving at first, with all the corridors and the feel of all the energy, but I gotta say it grew on me."
"I know what you mean," Lightning replied after another minute. "But I'm glad to be getting back out there. They need us, and it didn't feel right spending all this time hidden away in this ark while Anima has his way with the rest of Pulse."
Hope took her hand and turned to her, his gaze firm. "We'll stop him," he said. "We won't let him destroy our home." She gave a nod and a smile, and Hope put an arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder, and they sat in silence for a while.
"Hope," she said after a while, raising her head to look at him.
"Hm?" he responded, returning her gaze.
"I just wanted to say…thanks for being patient with me. I know I can be…difficult sometimes but it means a lot…that you're here." Hope could tell that she seemed embarrassed, and he knew she was having a hard time articulating what she wanted to say. "I…don't know who I am yet, but once I figure it out…"
Hope took her hand and brushed aside the sheet of strawberry blonde hair that hung over her face. "Light I told you, you don't have to thank me. I care about you more than anything. It doesn't matter to me who you are, as long as you're happy." She leaned closer, and Hope was again assaulted by the scent of fresh strawberries. Their faces were inches apart, and she smiled at him.
"Hope…call me Claire." Hope smiled back at her, and leaned a bit closer. A sudden noise echoed through the room, and the two of them jumped, letting out startled yelps. Hope looked over and was unable to keep down a surge of irritation as he saw Odin walk in.
"The ship is ready. I thought you might like to leave as earlier as possible," the eidolon said, oblivious to the daggers that Hope was staring at him. Lightning was standing up, looking flustered and trying to compose herself. She grabbed her sheathed gunblade and attached it to her back, giving Odin a quick nod. Odin returned the gesture and left the room.
Glancing awkwardly at Hope, Lightning turned to follow. Halfway to the door however, Hope gently grabbed her arm and spun her around, pulling her into a passionate kiss. She was startled at first, but he felt her smile against him, and she began to reciprocate. Hope tried to put all of his love and affection for her into the tender embrace, which seemed to last an eternity. Hope savored the feel and the taste of her lips, and a shiver went down his back as she moaned softly. Knowing they could not dawdle though, Hope reluctantly broke the kiss. They stood their forehead to forehead, their breathing shallow. Hope could not keep the grin from his face, and opening his eyes, saw that Lightning wasn't able to either. The two composed themselves, and taking one last look around their room, left to follow Odin. Hope turned to Lightning as they started down the familiar corridor.
"Well, let's go save the world…Claire."
XXXXX
After about ten minutes of walking, Odin led Hope and Lightning into a room that they had not seen before. It contained only one thing, and that was one of the familiar elevators that had brought them from Taejin's Tower down to the ark in the first place.
"This will take us to the surface, where the others are waiting," the eidolon told them, and they promptly boarded the machine. As soon as they doors closed, it began to rumble and shot upward. After a few minutes, they encountered resistance, and Hope and Lightning knew they had left the ark behind and were burrowing up through sand. They waited in silence for a while, and finally felt the elevator break the surface and come to a stop.
The door slid open, and Hope and Lightning had to shield their eyes from the glare of the morning sun over the desert. They gingerly stepped out of the elevator and took in the fresh air, relieved to be out in the open after almost a month underground.
"Hey, over here!" came a voice, and the three of them turned to see Nix waving at them. Stiria, Brynhildr, and Alexander were also there, standing around a large airship that faintly resembled the one that Barthandelus had provided for them all those years ago, but quite larger. Lightning, Hope, and Odin walked over to the others, admiring the airship that was already thrumming with energy and kicking up some sand in the process.
"The ship is ready," Alexander rumbled.
A ramp descended from the bottom of the craft, and they all filed in, Alexander taking up the rear and barely able to fit through it. The inside of the craft was spacious and lined with various sized chairs for the eidolons. Stiria and Nix took seats in what Hope guessed was the cockpit, while Brynhildr and Odin took the larger seats behind them, resting their weapons across their laps. Lightning and Hope made for two human sized seats towards the back, while Alexander stood behind them against the far wall.
As they all settled in, Stiria began to press some buttons, and the engines on the ship revved louder. Nix turned to them, a slight smirk on her face and called out over the noise "Hold on, it's gonna be a bumpy take off!" No sooner had she said this had the ship began to shake violently. The eidolons braced themselves, and Hope and Lightning quickly pulled their seat belts across their chests and locked them in place. The ship began to rise off the ground, and the shaking intensified. Hope found Lightning's hand and held on tight as the ship took off.
Hope, Lightning and the eidolons sat in silence as the hours slipped by and Gran Pulse flew past beneath them. The ship had settled down after a while in the air, and the thrum of the engines, the sound of the air as it whistled over the hull of the vessel, and the occasional shifting of one of the occupants was all that was heard. All of them were steeling themselves for the coming conflict.
Eventually the sky outside darkened. "We should try and get some sleep," Hope said as he turned to Lightning. She nodded, stifling a yawn, and he put an arm around her. After a while, they drifted off to sleep. They were unaware of Nix's subdued giggles as she nudged her sister and pointed at the two of them sleeping in each others arms.
XXXXX
The next day passed much the same way, the hours filled with mostly silence accompanied by the occasional short whispered conversation. Night eventually fell again, but Lightning and Hope were far too tense to even consider sleeping.
"We're getting close to New Eden," Odin eventually said. It was a few hours past midnight, with the ark set to take off at noon, along with their friends' execution. Hope and Lightning straightened up at the eidolon's announcement.
"What's the plan?" Hope asked.
Nix pressed a button and a large map of what appeared to be New Eden was projected on the vid screens in front of them. "We are going to enter the city from the west gate," Odin began, and map zoomed to the indicated sector. "The ark lies roughly in the center of the city. We'll have to slow down a bit once we enter New Eden, so it will take us at least two hours to reach it. We're going to jump once we're over the ark."
"Jump?" Hope asked incredulously.
"Indeed," Alexander rumbled from the back of the ship. You're going to hold on to me and we're going to jump. The ark is too heavily guarded to approach any other way. The others will continue on to the facility where your friends are being held."
"After we rescue Snow and the others," Nix began, "We're gonna come back to the ship and wait for your signal. We'll pick you up, and depending on how things go, we'll figure out our next step from there."
"You're forgetting one thing," Lightning said as they finished laying out the strategy. "As soon as we cross into the city, the military's sensors are gonna pick us up. We won't make it halfway to the drop off point before their cruisers catch up to us."
"Well that's one of the reasons the ship took so long to get ready," Stiria said, joining in the conversation. We were able to come up with a program to jam their sensors. We'll be able to slip in to the city without them catching us. They won't know we're here until we start our attack."
Lightning nodded, seeming mildly impressed at the eidolons' foresight. "Even if they are against us," Hope spoke up, "the soldiers don't know they are being manipulated. We have to try and avoid killing them if we can."
"We'll do what we have to," Lightning said quietly next to him, a grim expression set on her face.
XXXXX
A few more tense hours passed until the adamantine walls of New Eden came into view. The sun had yet to rise, so the lights from the city were visible over the city's defenses. Lightning and Hope grew more apprehensive as they neared their home. The eidolons were likewise fidgeting more restlessly, checking their weapons and exchanging glances with each other.
As they approached the wall, Lightning felt Hope stir with energy next to her. She looked over to find him with his eyes closed in the middle of a spell. "What are you doing?" she whispered to him.
"We may not show up on their sensors, but sentries can still spot us just by looking up. I'm giving us some cover," he replied out of the corner of his mouth. When his fog spell finished and Lightning felt a rush of power from him, a thick cloud of mist formed around their ship.
"Good thinking," Odin commended him as he noticed the spell.
Despite the eidolons' assurances, Lightning could not suppress a feeling of unease as they crossed into the range of the military's scanners. She held her breath and strained her ears, waiting for the telltale sound of the alarm being raised. Several minutes passed in silence, and she finally relaxed. When all this is finished, I'll have to talk to the brass about upgrading our sensor equipment she said to herself.
The ship slowed, but remained on course. Hope and Lightning looked out the window down at the city, noticing it was oddly still even for the early hour. Lightning did spot several people milling around the streets and a few on the rooftops, and she assumed they must be soldiers. They're guarding the thing that's going to lead to the destruction of everything we've built, and they don't know it. She began shaking with anger thinking about it.
Hope grabbed her hand to calm her down, and she welcoming the comforting gesture. "We'll stop him," he said, knowing what was causing her anger. "We won't let Anima get away with all of this."
XXXXX
Time dragged by slowly as the city passed beneath them. As the first light of the sunrise began to peak over the horizon, Hope and Lightning caught sight of the ark. Despite having been inside two of the ships, the sheer size of the vessel stunned them. It was beyond massive, with a design so foreign that the two were unable to pick out most of the features they knew must be there. The ark was bronze colored, with intricate patterns carved into much of the hull. Several large spires rose from the top of the ship like fingers reaching to the sky that the ship longed to travel once more.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Odin said, noticing their awestruck expressions. Lightning turned to her eidolon, noticing the forlorn expression on his face and the almost envious tone to his voice. She knew that seeing one of the arks that he and the other Menhirrim built to protect Gran Pulse being used to destroy the last remnants of Ultima must have been even harder for him than seeing the soldiers being used in much the same way.
They drew nearer to the ark, and Odin stood, bracing himself on the wall next to him. Alexander likewise rose to his feet. Lightning and Hope exchanged a quick look and followed suit. "Are you ready?" Alexander rumbled.
"As ready as we'll ever be," Hope said hesitantly, not looking forward to plummeting the several hundred feet to the ark below. They followed Odin and Alexander to the area of the ship where the ramp would open and they would start their freefall.
"Climb on," Alexander said deeply. Hope and Lightning exchanged another worried glance, but with a shrug Lightning hopped up onto the hulking eidolon's shoulder. Hope shook his head in exasperation and climbed onto Alexander's other shoulder. The hatch began to open, and the sound of the wind rushing around them intensified.
"Good luck, guys," Stiria said to them with a nod.
Lightning turned to the three female eidolons still seated, a concerned look in her eyes. "We'll keep them safe," Brynhildr assured her. Lightning offered a small smile, and turned back to Hope, who was looking rather nervous at the prospect of leaping out of a moving airship.
"You ever do anything like this before?" Hope shouted to Lightning over the gale.
"A few times," she yelled back. "Nothing quite this high though. The trick is not to look down."
Hope laughed uneasily. "Yeah…right," he said, and his gaze was inevitably drawn downwards. His only warning that Alexander was about to jump was the flash of bronze from the ark's hull. Alexander jumped first, and Odin quickly followed. Hope and Lightning were instantly buffeted by wind as Alexander plummeted down towards the ark. Hope looked over at Lightning, and uttered a laugh that was lost in the wind. Lightning's was gripping Alexander's shoulder and gritting her teeth against the force of their descent, which was also causing her hair to stand straight up and blow wildly over her head.
"Brace yourselves!" Odin yelled. His shout was quickly followed by the sound of bullets ringing off his shield and Alexander's armor as the soldiers noticed the freefalling eidolons. Hope and Lightning felt Alexander gather energy for attack and gripped harder, realizing that Odin was also gathering power. After another minute or so, the ark getting closer by the second, both eidolons unleashed their attacks, which exploded into the hull of the ark. Despite the obvious resilience of the vessel, Hope and Lightning could both tell that the attacks had done some damage. They braced themselves and shut their eyes as Alexander crashed into the spot they had attacked, which splintered under the weight and velocity of the huge eidolon.
Alexander hit the floor of the ark, and the impact sent jarring waves of force up to greet Hope and Lightning. Lightning jumped off and landed gracefully, while Hope fell of and hit the ground, panting and dizzy, but grateful for the solid ground underneath him. Odin landed next to his fellow, and seemed quite unphased by the whole ordeal.
This time, their entrance did not go unnoticed. An alarm began to screech through the ark, and several soldiers entered the roof, guns raised. Without hesitating, Hope unleashed a waterga spell, and the men were hurled into the wall behind them by the force of the wave.
Odin looked around for a minute, trying to get his bearings. When he found them, he pointed to the door that the soldiers had just entered. "Come on, the bridge is this way."
They filed through the doorway, and unsurprisingly were greeting by a labyrinth of corridors. They ran down them for half an hour, fighting off more groups of soldiers as they went. Odin came to a sudden stop when the alarm changed, and a voice blared over the loudspeaker. Hope and Lightning instantly recognized the speaker as Cid Raines.
"Attention all personnel," Raines said evenly, "We will be launching emergency take off protocols to contain the intruders. All flight crew members report to your stations. All military forces engage in defensive countermeasures." As he finished, the ark began to vibrate and hum with energy, forcing Hope and Lightning to lean on a wall to remain standing.
"Shit," Lightning cursed as she was thrown into Hope. "We're too late, it's taking off!"
"Back this way!" Odin shouted over the noise. He indicated a passage off the corridor they had just passed. "We have to get to the core." They backtracked to the corridor and headed down it. The ark began to rumble harder, and after about ten minutes Odin told them that it had taken off.
"So we've got about an hour starting now," Hope reminded them. As they ran on, Lightning noticed that the direction they were heading was conspicuously free of soldiers. The corridor ended as they entered a large room, and she found out why.
Two people were standing next to each other in the center of the room. They looked up at the group who had stopped in the doorway. Hope felt a familiar sensation as the two began to emanate powerful magic.
XXXXX
"What the hell is going on out there?" Snow muttered as he glanced out beyond the door of the cell he and the others were confined in. For the past half an hour, the whole building had been full of crashes and gunfire.
"Maybe it's Hope and Lightning," Sazh offered optimistically. "Snatching us from the jaws of death at the last minute seems like something they'd do." Serah smiled halfheartedly, and Bartholomew made no indication that he'd heard the comment. Snow continued leaning against the cell door, watching several soldiers running past.
About ten minutes later, the crashing began to intensify. They could feel the tremors from battle and hear the frantic shouts of the soldiers as they discharged their weapons. After a few minutes, the clamor died down, and Snow craned his neck to try and catch a glimpse of what was going on. Two figures turned corner into Snow's line of site. As they came into focus, the burly man blinked several times, but there was no mistaking the familiar figures of his twin eidolons, Stiria and Nix. The sisters were followed by Brynhildr, Sazh's former eidolon.
"Uh guys…I think I might be goin' a little crazy over here," he said to his cellmates.
"Crazier than usual?" Sazh replied.
The three eidolons stopped in front of their cell, and all four of them gasped. "You guys can see them too, right?" Snow asked. "I'm not hallucinating or anything, am I?"
"What are those things?" Bartholomew said in awe, a sentiment Serah shared.
"Our eidolons…" Sazh murmured. Brynhildr stepped in front of Stiria and Nix and motioned for Snow to stand back. When he was at a safe distance, the eidolon ripped the door off the cell and casually tossed it aside. Stiria and Nix quickly brushed past Brynhildr and ran over to a startled Snow.
"Snow!" Nix shouted happily, as she and her sister embraced the man who they had once fought beside. "It's so good to see you again!"
"W-what?" Snow stammered, as Stiria and Nix each kissed him on the cheek. "Since when can you guys talk?"
"Who're your friends, Snow?" Serah said icily as she walked over to stand beside her husband and get a closer look at the two strange women who were being so familiar with him.
"Oh…uh…this is Stiria and Nix, they were my eidolons when I was a l'Cie, I told you all about them," he said, trying to placate his wife. He turned back to the sisters. "Guys, this is my wife, Serah."
As Stiria and Nix exchanged greetings with Serah, Sazh exited the cell to greet Bryhildr. "Long time no see," he said to the eidolon, who offered him a nod. "You guys can talk, huh? What's up with that?"
"We'll explain everything, but we need to get you out of here first," Brynhildr replied. She looked over to Stiria and Nix and gestured them to get a move on.
"Wait," Bartholomew said as he was the last to leave the cell. "Do you…eidolons know where Hope and Lightning are? Are they safe?"
"Hope and Lightning returned with us to New Eden," Stiria answered. They are with Odin and Alexander, trying to keep Anima's ark from taking off."
Most of this declaration made no sense to the four, but they were nonetheless comforted to hear news of their missing companions. Bartholomew smiled for the first time since they had been imprisoned.
"We'll explain later," Brynhildr repeated, "But for now, you have to trust us. We need to get out of here."
Not needing to be told twice, the four followed the eidolons through the facility, back the way they had entered. The route bore battle scars from the eidolons' forced entry, and was free of soldiers to try and stop them. They were nearing the entrance when the three eidolons stopped abruptly.
"What's the hold up?" Snow asked, looking around Nix to see what was wrong.
'Stay back!" Brynhildr commanded, throwing a hand out to stop him. Two people were standing across from them. One was a woman with pure white hair wearing a melancholy expression and humble garments. The man standing next to her had a tangled mane of jet black hair and a crazed expression on his face. He was lightly armored and wielding two weapons that appeared similar to the stun batons that the guards used, but they ended in wicked looking curved blades. The eidolons winced as the strangers began to pulse with energy.
"Madeen…." Brynhildr said, looking at the woman. She turned to the man and hesitated a second before saying "Typhoon…"
XXXXX
"These guys are aspects aren't they?" Lightning said, glancing at Odin, who was appraising the two magic users who were blocking their path. The man on the left was huge and muscular, more so than anyone that either Hope or Lightning had ever seen. He was bald and wore a dark sleeveless coat over a bare chest. In contrast to his intimidating appearance, he had a peaceful expression on his face. Next to him was a blonde woman in military attire. She was armed with two blades that were attached to bracers on her forearms. She stared determinately at the group.
"Yes…" Odin said slowly. "Hashmal, the aspect of earth," he indicated the burly man on the left, "and Mateus, aspect of ice," he pointed to the woman on the right.
"We don't have time to deal with them," Hope said anxiously.
"I know," Odin replied. "You two are going to go on ahead. Alexander and I will handle those two."
"Think you can handle them?" Lightning asked her eidolon with a smirk.
Odin chuckled to himself. "Who do you think you're talking to?" Lightning gave him a determined nod and grabbed Hope's hand, pulling around the room, skirting the two aspects. Mateus moved to block them, but a thunder spell from Odin stopped her.
"I am your opponent, Mateus," Odin said to her as he calmly closed the distance, bringing his sword and shield to bear.
Hashmal made no move to stop Hope and Lightning, seeming bored by the situation. He looked at Alexander who walked over to face him. Despite the eidolon's bulk, Hashmal did not back down an inch. "And I'll be yours," Alexander rumbled at him.
XXXXX
Lightning pulled Hope out of the room and the two of them ran down the corridor that they had entered. After a minute, they came to a fork.
"Which way do you think it is?" Lightning asked Hope.
Hope closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "The left," he said after a moment. "I can sense the power coming off the core." The two of them ran in the direction he indicated, coming to two more forks before Lightning could also feel the power from the ark's magic source.
Hope stopped in front of a large door, pulling out the small crystal Odin had given him. "The core is in here," he said to Lightning. "I won't be able to fight while I energize the crystal, and I doubt it's going to be unguarded."
Lightning drew her gunblade from its sheath, keeping it in its gun form. "I'll manage," she said to him.
Hope pushed open the door, and the two of them walked into a massive circular room. A large bridge about ten yards wide stretched to the center, where a huge bright orb rested. The orb was emitting a low hum, and was flickering between the full spectrum of colors as it provided power to the ark. Hope and Lightning walked cautiously across the bridge. Looking over the side, Hope saw that the room was spherical, and the walkway they were on cut through to the center of the sphere.
Halfway across, the two of them were startled by footsteps from behind them. "Ah, it is good to see you again, my friends," came a smooth voice. Lightning and Hope turned to the speaker, and saw Cid Raines walking calmly towards them, the small gray owl hooting softly on his shoulder.
XXXXX
Again, sorry for the long wait for the update. This whole chapter wasn't in my first blueprint of the story. I actually intended the previous chapter to end where this one did, but when I got to the point where the last one ended, it felt like the end of the chapter to me. I suppose it was a good thing too, because this certainly went on longer than I thought it would. The interactions between Hope and Lightning in the middle were what I had the most trouble on, but I think they came out pretty good.
Sadly, the next chapter will probably take just as long to get out, it's gonna be pretty action packed, and mapping out several fights at once without making them boring or repetitive is going to be a challenge. Anyway, hope you liked chapter nine.