All right! So another late update. Also! Today was my last day of work for this year so I will try and get a lot more updated!
Noel groaned at the others words. Of course Snow's idea of helping was to go in guns blazing so to speak. He turned to glare at the blond man and then turned back to Hope who's breath was shallow as Serah continued to work on healing the head wound.
"There's a computer terminal here that will have a map." Arcane stated as she leaned tiredly against the wall. "The problem is, is that we don't know how many jackasses we are up against."
"Maybe this has something to do with the Fal'cie tech? But isn't that in Augusta Tower?" Serah stated and noticed the stoned look on Arcane's face.
"I guess I should have assumed that you all would know classified information." She breathed deeply. "Yes, all the data on Fal'cie study is at Augusta Tower...Most of which can only be accessed with codes that only a very few people have. Which is why we originally thought that they wanted Hope alive. But as Hope explained to me they don't need that because they have access to a paradox. But... all things pulse vestige are here. And nearly all of the pulse vestiges in this time have been confiscated by the government for the cocoon project."
"Then you think they did this to get access to a vestige?" Snow asked as he face turned serious. He looked to Hope who had lost consciousness sometime during Serah's treatment as his fiancé continued to treat him. "But that still doesn't make enough sense. Vestiges are hard to steal. Even to remove the one that had been on Cocoon another Fal'cie... A giant flying one had to remove it."
Arcane grimly looked away. "At this point I don't think their aim is simply a vestige."
"Then what could they be aiming for?" Snow asked. "If we know what they are doing then we can make a much better game plan."
A loud gasp was heard as Hope came back to consciousness. Serah smiled sheepishly, her hands still glowing from the revival magic. The silver haired man collapsed back against the couch groaning in pain. He turned on his side, most of the pain was merely memory as most injuries were healed or gone. Noel grasped his hand as he moved a little closer to the mage.
"Fuck." Hope cursed softly. "I don't think fighting that Fal'cie was this bad."
"Well you didn't have head trauma then." Arcane pointed out helpfully.
Hope sat up carefully and looked over at Arcane. He sighed softly and turned to look at Snow with a determined face. "I think, that this is seriously becoming a problem. Is there a terminal in here a detachable terminal in here."
"Are you really thinking of doing work here?" Snow asked in disbelief.
"Of course not." Hope rolled his eyes and looked down at Noel with a soft smile and nodded at him to go get the datapad for him. "I'm going to hack into the buildings system and take it over. This is our most defensible position. I'm not really sure I can do it... but if the pad is still connected to the building's system I probably can."
"Are you just pulling shit out of your ass?" Arcane asked quietly.
"Right now I'm strictly a non-combantant. As long as they have control we can't risk other injuries." He looked to Serah. "While this is a team of talented fighters... I'm tired of dealing with this terrorist group. This is not the best of plans. But I'm going to try it."
"You're thinking of something further then just right now."
"You would be right." Hope smiled and looked at them. "I'm thinking of the next move."
"You're insane. What you've just done isn't even possible!" Serah blasted. "You were just unconscious and suffering from a dangerous head wound. You can't tell me that you were just lying in wait thinking of new plans of what to do!"
"Of course I wasn't." Hope turned to her and his smile grew bright. "I talked to Lightning."
The soft gasp from the younger Farron was expected as she stared up him. Throughout their adventures meeting with Lightning was rare as she was without time. And she had thought that she was done contacting them until they had fully completed this phase. Part of her wanted to tack it up to the scientist having an hallucination but she also knew that when one was in states of unconsciousness it was easier for the goddess' hero to contact them.
"Well... since I can 'talk to machines' I can probably hack into the mainframe and take control from them. Which will have them sending waves of troops to our position. The most important part is to keep them busy until we can get to a landing site. There, the army should be able to come in and flush them out."
"Well that's a mouthful." Snow complained.
"When we get back to Academia... Or at least when once we are done with all this... We'll go to 500AF. You three will take the gates and I'll go back into the gravity well."
"I'm going with you." Arcane stated firmly, her purple eyes hard.
"Arcane you belong here." Hope protested as he took the terminal from Noel. "I couldn't ask you to leave your family."
"I actually don't belong here." Arcane admitted softly. "I'm actually from the time 300AF. Lighting spoke to me about coming here to protect you. I was under a program that you weren't allowed privy to."
"Hey! You didn't explain that to me!" Hope stated in shock. It never occurred to him that they would send others into the gravity well.
"I had a disease that for the time wasn't all that curable. Because I was higher military brass they allowed me to enter a gravity well along with several others who were awoken in this time. Most of them are in regular military branches doing whatever. I on the other hand was more targeted because of Lightning."
"Makes sense." Snow shrugged. "She always had a soft spot for the kid."
"Then Arcane will come with me." Hope sighed, not really wanting to fight. Right now he was just too tired to fight. But the promise of getting back to Academia and back to his bed was far more tempting then anything else. He shifted slowly, limbs still pained from previous injuries, Serah was a good healer but probably not as good as Vanille. "We should get to work."
"What do you need Serah and I to do?" Noel asked standing up and dusting off his pants.
"I need you two to protect the director." Arcane ordered as she looked pointedly at Noel. "Snow and I will make some noise on the other end of the floor to keep people away from here. This is an L shaped hallway so you and Noel should be able to keep this area safe."
"Sounds good to me." Snow replied slamming his fists together. Noel nodded, and turned back to Hope only to be bopped in the head by Moggle.
"What about me?" The little fey creature asked.
"You can scout." Serah replied as she caught the flying creature. "After all, no one will realize you're on our side. We will need someone to see if they are straying to close to us."
"But not too far." Noel interrupted and the Moggle nodded.
With the thankfully swift agreement. Arcane and Snow took off to inflict damage and Moggle floated out into the hallway to keep a sort of watch. Serah went to the door and sat down pointedly facing away from the two in what little privacy she could give them.
Noel sat down beside the mage and smiled thinly as the other slumped against him tiredly. Hope closed his eyes for a moment seeking strength from the other. Noel wrapped his arms around the other and kissed the top of his head and laid his head on silver hair.
Hope took in deep breaths as he searched within his mind for the image of his mother. It was kind of like a touch stone for him. Something that gave him that extra bit to keep moving on. With the image of Nora firmly in his mind he opened his eyes to gaze up at his lover. That was a nice term to use he thought idly before he sat up fully and turned his eyes and focus towards the terminal.
Noel sat back idly and watched as Hope did whatever he did to 'talk' to machines. It wasn't a concept that he fully understood although Serah had a talent that was vaguely similar with her ability to talk to monsters. No one in his village had had such abilities. Or if they did, they hadn't had enough time to really manifest those abilities. And thankfully, when Serah did it, it wasn't as eerily quiet as it was when Hope did it.
Although he guessed that it had to do with the fact that machines didn't really make the same type of noises animals made. As he waited he looked up at Serah who was now looking back at him. Her head cocked to the side as she looked at Hope.
"It's okay." Noel said. "He's done this in much more stressful situations."
"On the 13th Ark?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah." The dark haired man replied.
"Noel... will you be okay?" Serah asked quietly she gestured him to closer to him, not wanting to disturb the scientist.
"What do you mean?" He asked as he came to stand beside her.
"Are you okay with leaving him?" She asked quietly. "I mean... I know we'll all meet in 500AF... But we could be stuck in different times for a while."
"I prepared for it." Noel lied with a small frown. "After all, losing people... you get use to it."
She knew he was lying. He could tell by the way she cut her eyes at him. He swallowed hard and prayed to Etro for her to not ask anymore questions. At this point, not only did he not have any more answers but he wasn't sure he could keep it together if she pressured him on this. He closed his eyes and and sighed deeply.
"After all." He stated with a sense of finality. "There is still a chance that I will be separated from everyone I know here in the end anyway."
"So... Lightning just randomly contacted you?" Snow asked conversationally as he and Arcane headed to their positions.
"Well... yes." She replied with a shrug. "I... You could say that I am an ancestor of Noel's people." She shrugged idly. "And in my tribe they chose those to be blessed by Etro. When I was 'blessed' I had my first meeting with Lightning... The Goddess' champion."
"Ah... I never thought of it that way." Snow scratched the back of his head. "I know Noel is devoted to a religion... but I guess the rest of us kind of lost it when our own 'gods' were destroyed."
"That's a pretty strong logical stance coming from someone like you." Purple eyes watched him briefly as they stopped for a moment.
"Hey! What kind of lies has Hope been feeding you?"
"INTRUDER ALERT!" A voice yelled from around the corner.
Snow cracked his knuckles. "Time for some action."
Arcane shook her head as the roguish blond charged around the corner in to the hail of gunfire and started fighting. She watch him idly for a moment, fighting with a kind of brute strength she had never seen before and a protect spell. The power of a l'cie. She tried to imagine how powerful Hope's magic would be if he was still one and then shook that thought from her head and charged forward into the fray.
"Welcome to the party." Snow taunted as he crashed his fists into the face of his current opponent and sent them flying backwards into someone else.
Arcane shook her head. "How do they put up with you?" She asked as she launched into her own attacks. It didn't take much to take them out. Which worried her. Were was the main battle force if all this shit was so easy? How had they managed to take the floor with such weak fighters? She paused against a wall and motioned him to stop. "These guys are far too weak to have taken the floor."
"So canon fodder. What else could they possibly want?"
"Well the Director is a distinct possibility." She replied as she crossed her arms and frowned. "But even that doesn't seem worth it."
"Noel and Serah could take anyone that goes their way so I'm not worried." Snow shrugged lightly. "But this is busy work... maybe to distract anyone that tries to stop them?"
She shrugged lightly and groaned in an annoyance. "Hope told me you are a l'cie. Got anything to clear this out?"
"Coming right up." Snow stated and called Shiva. Diamond Dust was enough to clear out the hallway and then some, the walls and floors iced over. "Be careful... it'll be slippery."
They marched down the hallway, past the past out or frozen grunts. The main room wasn't too far off. Snow sighed as he felt a familiar tingle of annoyance shift through him. He took off his coat and tossed it at the open door. The gun fire was immediate. Arcane laughed softly.
"Looks like this is definitely the place."
"I got some more protects. Shall we?" Snow was already pulling out the costly veils and activated one of them. "On three... THREE!"
They burst into the room fists flying and sword swinging. This was way harder then the grunts Arcane noted and this must have been the main fighting force. It made sense she thought in hindsight to not defend the rest of the floor since most of it was useless. The hooded figure standing in the back though gave her pause and made her nervous. But only for a moment as the waves of fighters kept coming.
"Got it." Hope spoke and Serah jerked as the mage carefully set his hands on the tablet and began rapidly typing. "Hang on."
The building suddenly took a dive as Hope turned off and redirected all electrical lines, turning off the enemies access to the mainframe permanently. Noel grunted and pushed the chair that had crashed into him off and looked at Serah who thankfully had clung to something nailed into place and was able to avoid being battered. Hope was sitting on the couch, one arm clutching the armrest but it slowly relaxed as the building righted itself.
"We are now ground zero. Only I can control the floor." He immediately set on the tablet again. "Unfortunately my control is limited... I'll have to rely on the computers sensor to find a suitable place to land. If you can keep watch until then. I should be able to land us and send a message to the army of our location. Unfortunately we'll have to on the Archylte Steppe."
"Why does that seem worse then it sounds?" Noel asked quietly.
"Large monsters who will probably attack the building and probably more of a crash then a landing since this room is on the interior. Without site the buildings sensors could be faulty from the destruction already incurred. I've already sent a message before I shut down the system that we will be landing on the Steppe. And I'll turn the systems back on when we get there and fry the propulsion system. We'll be sitting ducks."
"I don't like this." Noel stated firmly and Hope shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing else can be done."
The hunter grumbled but nodded his understanding. There was a quiet wait, occasionally broken by the sounds of fighting outside. Hope idly wondered about the hostages but he knew that if he stretched his mind enough to worry about that, he would begin to feel guilty and anxious. Lose his focus. There was honestly nothing else he could at this point.
Arcane gasped as she balanced herself on her feet. Her leg had been hit by a light bullet and it hurt like a bitch. The hooded figure was watching them from behind what was left of their guard as Snow glared fiercely. If the hulking man was injured she couldn't tell, the grim and gore on both of them was rather ridiculous as this point.
"Where are the hostages." Arcane growled as she leveled her sword prepared to fight again.
"They are in the other room. Those left alive." The person replied and both gasped. It was a very recognizable voice. The hood was lowered and there was Alyssa. A different Alyssa from the one that was working with Hope. Her hair was slightly longer and her eyes darkened with grief and jaded. "I can be persuaded to free them if you hand the Director over to me."
"And what good will that do? What do you even want?" Snow growled and Alyssa rolled her eyes.
"You were the guy who stopped me before. Before I was pulled outside time." She glared at him and then turned to Arcane. "I'm pretty sure you know what I want. After all, you've seen the secret files."
"Then you know that what you originally did caused both you and Hope to die! Making a Fal'cie isn't worth it."
"Whoever said I wanted to make a Fal'cie?" She asked quietly as she cocked her head to the side. "A Fal'cie won't save me. We all know that. It won't save the rest of these people either. Each person here is a paradox... who was saved. From the Purge. Our goal is to succeed in maintaining our Paradox."
"Paradoxes take energy..." Arcane murmured as she realized the true aim of this group. "You plan to damn the whole planet in 100 years just so you can live for a few extra decades. Are you really fucking serious?!"
Alyssa laughed. "I can neither confirm nor deny these facts. But I do need Hope. How else will I get access to the Ark Vestiges or at the very least Academia's energy cells."
Before Arcane could reply Snow was charging forward. The guards attacked immediately, nearly waylaying the large man. Arcane's purple eyes narrowed and she charged forward as well. This explained why Hope was the key. They were working off of Alyssa's memories and that was only a partial idea of what the current future looked like.
She dove under a sword and cut the legs of her next opponent. She glared at her goal as she fought her way through what we left of the guards but Alyssa was disappearing, probably using her newfound abilities to pass through time to go to the control room. She shoved the last guard out of the way and turned to Snow.
"This is all a distraction. We need to get back to Hope."
"Whoa. But what about the hostages." Snow held up his hands. "We can't go back to the kid without them."
She stopped and bit her lip in frustration. She knew what Snow meant but this Alyssa. She should have been gone, dead something. Arcane didn't know which and didn't care. The battered guards who had stayed behind showed no signs of moving anytime soon.
"Fine. Let's check on the hostages and head back. Now words on where we are going. Got it?" She ordered as she turned towards entering the control room. Snow grumbled in annoyed agreement and continued walking towards the doors.
Inside the control room was a massacre. Most of the hostages were injured or dead. Arcane bit her lip roughly and Snow cursed. Some people back away from them fearfully before realizing that Arcane was there.
"Captain Arcane? Captain Lydia Arcane?" A scientist asked, Nomura if she remembered correctly.
"Yes that would be me. How many survivors are there?" She asked quietly.
"Eighteen." Nomura replied as he stood up and gestured to the others. "Is there somewhere place we can go?"
"Well... Safe enough for now." She replied quietly. "Follow me and keep quiet. Snow take the rear."
When Mog came flying down the hall Serah had expected him to be sounding the alarm but instead he told her that Arcane and Snow were coming with the hostages. She sighed in relief and sent him on to report to Hope and Noel as she waited for them to turn the corner. The eighteen people that they brought back looked terrible. Bloody and injured, some worse then others. She gestured to the better looking of them to help her set up a mobile hospital to began healing who she could.
"Don't waste too much of your strength." Arcane warned. "Only heal what needs serious attention."
"But-"
"It's better to be cautious." The older woman replied as she looked at the bedraggled people. Snow had had Hope moved into the small computer room attached to lounge that was attached to the back. At first the scientist didn't want to be removed from his people but Arcane had swiftly pointed out that they had no way of knowing if there was a traitor hiding in the group.
No one wanted to think that, but today was a trying day of disastrous proportions. After everyone was situated, she changed places with Snow and sat down backwards in a computer chair and regarded the scientist and his partner sitting quietly in the room.
"What's our ETA?" She asked quietly.
"Probably 40 minutes. We'll have to prep for a crash." Hope replied quietly and he sighed. "Snow told me that you only recovered eighteen of the hostages."
"We moved too late." She admitted quietly but Hope shook his head. "We let our guard down. We all did. We assumed all along that they wouldn't attack headquarters. But if the leader if Alyssa like Snow told me, then she knew nearly all the secrets of the building and was easily able to orchestrate this under our noses."
"Excuse me while I proceed to lose my shit then." Arcane groaned in reply before she continued quietly. "...is what she wants even possible?"
"What does she want? Snow didn't tell me. Complex plans tend to fly over his head." Hope stated quietly with a hint of nostalgic smile.
"Enough energy to sustain a long term paradox. Apparently most of the members of the main force of the group are from a paradox that allowed a group of people from the Purge to live. Other then just Alyssa." She paused when she saw Hope's eyes widen and his face go pale. "Apparently, it requires a lot of the same things as Fal'cie reproduction so..."
"While logical our guess was wrong." But Hope still appeared horribly shaken and that worried Arcane. She opened her mouth to say more but he cut her off. "Could you leave for a moment. I... I need some time." She nodded idly and stood up.
"Noel will stay right? I don't like the idea of leaving you alone." Hope turned to look at Noel as if he hadn't realized the hunter was still in the room. He nodded weakly and Arcane took her leave.
Once Arcane was outside the room, Hope slumped down and closed his eyes. Something that sounded vaguely similar to a sob escaped his lips and Noel was immediately by his side pulling him to see a flood of tears pour down the man's face.
"Hope?"
"I'm scared." Hope replied weakly as he clung to Noel. "I..."
Noel was about to ask what could have possibly scared the other after everything that he had been through both back before the Fall and now but then he remembered what Hope had told him. His mother had died in The Purge. What if his mother was a member of this group. He shook his head as he thought of Hope's mother.
"Your mother wouldn't do something like this." He insisted before he kissed the silver haired man's forehead. "You said so yourself, she was a wonderful caring woman. There is no way she'd damn the future to live a few years without you and your father."
"But you can't know that." Hope whispered sadly. "Alyssa... what I remember of her. She wouldn't do something like this."
"You think they were corrupted by the chaos?" Noel asked quietly as he continued his attempts to sooth the other. "Chaos is what makes the soul. She would have to give up her convictions to become like Alyssa might be."
Hope nodded but Noel could tell that the other didn't believe him. They sat in silence for a few moments and then Hope sighed softly and sat up. "I shouldn't let myself fall apart. Not now. We have so much to do."
"Hope-" A quick kiss quieted him.
"We need to be safe first. After all, paradoxes are localized... It doesn't make sense that those who were outside Alyssa's group would be apart of it. And if it had been where my mother... died... We would honestly have an army on our hands."
"How... how many died in The Purge?" Noel asked softly, he'd never asked too many questions but it wasn't something he could avoid now that it was that current concern.
"A lot." Hope stated sadly. "Somewhere in the hundreds of thousands. The whole city of Bodhum was evacuated along with Anima. At the Hanging Edge... Just above Bresha Lake nearly everyone was killed. Most of the remains are beyond the ruins..."
Noel immediately felt guilty for bring up such things. He pulled Hope back against him and ruffled his hair lightly as he looked around the bare, windowless room. While he knew that everyone was suffering, fighting for this to end. He couldn't help but wonder if Hope would ever stop hurting.