Aw man I was actually planning to update earlier this week, but i just didn't have the time to until today! Well, no worries! Enjoy chapter 6 :)
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I've Got You
Chapter 6: Tickles
"Ugh...how far ahead do you think Lightning is?" I questioned Hope for maybe the third time now. It really hasn't been that long since we've been walking, but it just feels that we should've gotten caught up with her already for some reason. What can I say? I'm not a pacient person.
Hope just shrugged, "I don't know, we'll find her...eventually."
For the next four minutes, it was quiet. I was kind of hoping for Hope to actually start talking to me first, but that's not exactly working out! Well, I'm okay with that I guess. I mean come on...if you just saw his innocent, adorable, insanely gorgeous face then it's kind of hard to be annoyed with him. Plus, he's kind of shy and all, so that makes him even cuter! To be honest, I don't know what to say to him sometimes. Not that I get nervous or anything...because I'm not! ...Okay fine so I do get nervous around him sometimes. Infact, I get super nervous around guys I li-wait, no! I don't like him, I swear! I just happen to think he's really cute and all. Yeah...what I meant to say was that I get super nervous around guys I think are really cute. Yup. In my past fourteen years, I've only had...two "boyfriends." I don't think I can even call them that! One only lasted for a day because it was a dare, and the other one lasted for a month until I broke up with him because he flirted with other girls all the time. Yeah, that's first grade drama for you.
Huh, speaking of all of my past, "dramatic" relationships, I wondered if Hope has or had a girlfriend before. Just curious really. Not that I would care if he has or had one! Because, like, why on earth would I?
Oh please, you would care.
Shut up, I wouldn't!
Yes you would.
Oh yeah, and how would you know?
Because I'm your conscious?
Leave me alone then, will you?
Not until you admit it.
"Just shut up!" I yelled out loud.
"...What?" Hope said with confusion in his voice. Oh, great. What am I suppose to say? 'Oh, sorry I was just having a fight with my conscious about me not being jealous if you have a girlfriend?' Um, yeah right.
"I...uh, it's nothing." Wow, way to suck at coming up with something good to say, Adeline.
Out of no where, Hope started to laugh. Not like the small chuckles he usually makes, but like a super laugh. Like, that kind of laugh where you just can't stop and you're close to not breathing sort of thing. Wait, was he laughing at me? He better not be.
"What's so funny?" I asked with the most confused look on my face.
"Nothing really...it's just that...you would be the kind of person to talk to themself." He teased, trying to hold back his laughter. I'll admit, it's kind of weird to see him laugh like this since he's usually quiet and fidgety all the time. There's only one logical explanation for this: he must be high on something... Ha, kidding. It was nice though having him like this rather than his usual gloomy self. However, the whole laughing at me thing was unacceptable.
I punched him playfully on the shoulder. "Shut up!" I said smiling. He didn't stop though! Well, you know, whatever makes him happy.... Okay, but seriously, the laughing at me thing had to stop, now. Hm, what should I do...aha!
"Hope...are you ticklish?" I asked, with an innocent look on my face.
He stopped laughing. Ha I got him. "N-no, of course not!" He stuttered, eyes widened just a little bit. Not the best liar, I see.
"Really?" I said as I poked him on his side. He gave out a small yelp. Too cute. "Ha, I knew you were!" I smiled in triumph.
"Oh, yeah? How about you?"
"Nope, I'm not ticklish at all." ...So I lied. Honestly, I'm probably more ticklish than he is, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him!
"Really?" He said, mocking me from earlier as he poked my side. I gave out a loud squeal whilst he laughed softly. Damnit! How'd he figure out? For the rest of the walk we continued try and poke each other while covering our sides at the same time, laughing the entire time. It was nice, it really was. Right now, it felt like we were just normal teenagers instead of l'Cies being hunted down.
Finally, we were all out of breath from laughing, both our sides probably sore. My jaw was even aching, in a good way though. So it's true, the quiet people are always the most fun to be with! You know, when they're not quiet. After we finished our little tickle fight, we noticed a small moving speck right ahead of us. I squinted my eyes a little to get a better view of what it was. It was Lightning! Hope instantly grabbed my hand and ran to try and catch up with her.
We were just a few feet away from her.
"Hey, wait up!" Hope yelled!
Lightning stopped right in her tracks and looked back, staring at us with those cold blue eyes.
"What are you two doing here?" She said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Just go back, I can't babysit you all anymore."
"I can fight. I'm not afraid anymore." He replied rather confidently. Before she could even say one word, she looked back to see a PSICOM squad of five ready to attack us.
"Great, a PSICOM hit squad." She said, unphased by their appearance. The one soldier in the front did some sort of gesture signal that made a bomb from behind explode, causing some broken machine to fall down, blocking our way back. There was no way to get out of this one, so we had no choice but to fight them.
It was a fairly quick fight. A little tiring, but it honestly only felt like a few seconds. I'm proud to say I killed...well I only killed one really, but I'm proud though!
"Not bad." Said Lightning. Was she actually complimenting me and Hope? Well, I'll take it anyways!
I smiled and asked, "So, you'll let us come with you?"
She looked at us with a serious face (not that she's never serious), "If you stick with me, it will be fight after fight. It's anybody's guess how it will end."
"I know that." Hope spoke up. "But-I need to be stronger."
She didn't reply. She was thinking. So she's considering letting us go with her?
"...Lightning?" Hope said again.
"Call me Light." She said quickly, indirectly a confirmation that we could tag along.
"You're going to Eden, right?" I asked. She gave me a smile nod while I continued, "That's where I use to live until this year...I know my way there like the back of my hand, including some of the Sanctum's secret areas."
She narrowed her eyes at me a little suspiciously, "And how do you know where some hidden Sanctum areas are?"
"Field trips." I said as if it were the most obvious think in the world. Most field trips for students in Eden consisted of getting the privilege to see where some of Sanctum's most important bases were. It was really just one of their ways to try and influence the younger crowd to join either the PSICOM or Guardian Corps. So, to me, it was just really a waste of my time going there. Sure, getting to see some were kind of cool, but I never considered joining the military. Not even once.
"...Okay. First we have to go through the Gapra Whitewood, then to Palumpolum where we can find a train to Eden." Lightning explained.
"And I live in Palumpolum, so I can show you all the shortcuts." Hope said. He lives there? Huh, I never saw him. Oh, well, that could be because I just moved there....right....
"No side trips." Lightning warned him, starting to walk ahead as we followed her.
"No need. I don't think l'Cie are welcome at home." He said.
Again, walking with Lightning? Totally like gym class all over again. ...Okay fine that was an exaggeration, but still! We're not even walking, we're jogging. I guess power walking isn't good rnough for her, isn't it? I do feel like I've gotten kind of faster. Seriously, I should consider joining track when school starts. Just kidding.
We started to slow down, we were actually walking. Thank goodness! Wait, why were we though? I then heard voices just a few feet ahead of us. Thankfully, there was a giant boulder we could hide behind. I peaked from behind the boulder to see that the voices belonged to two PSICOM soldiers.
"Any trace of the l'Cie?" One of them asked, the other one examining the machine monster we defeated from before. They were talking about us. Great. ...Or maybe Vanille and Sazh? I can't believe I almost forgot about them! I really do hope they're okay...
"Just follow my lead, okay?" I heard Lightning whispering quietly to me and Hope. We both nodded our heads silently as she pulled out her gunblade while we pulled out our own weapons.
"Nothing. No sign it's been activated." The other soldier said. Lightning took a step forward, purposely trying to get their attention.
"Huh? Who's there?" One said while both got out their guns. They charged straight toward us.
Lightning easily took out one with just one swing of her blade while Hope just blasted the other with fire. ...Hey! I didn't get to even hit one. Oh, whatever! They both went down in a second.
"Wonder what PSICOM was doing here." Hope said while observing the big machine.
"They probably thought we'd try and use a Pulse machine to escape." said Lightning.
"Maybe we should try it." He suggested as he started to climb up the machine.
"You really think that thing still works?" I asked.
He finally got on top where all the control switches and stuff were. "I don't know, let's find out." He said rather enthusiastically. Hope must really be into mechanics and stuff like that. Well, he is a boy. Pretty much every guy I've met likes these kinds of stuff. Must be a boy thing or something.
"Hey don't touch that! You're going to hurt yourself!" Lightning yelled. It kind of seemed like she was scolding him. Like...she was his mom or something. Better not say that out loud. If anything, girls do not want to be called or feel like they're old. My grandmother always use to give a good whack at Brice whenever he joked about her being old. She was old, though, but I knew better not to call her that!
"Hey! Check it out, I think I can work this!" He said excitedly. He actually kind of could! The Pulse machine was now standing, with Hope controlling it's every movement. He was a little clumsy when it came to moving it, though.
I giggled at how he was struggling to keep the giant machine in place. Lightning just rolled her eyes and walked over to a blocked path. Another metal board once again was blocking our way. She looked around to check if there was any way to move it. There was nothing.
Luckily, it was Hope to the rescue! One swing with the machine's arms and the board fell down, creating a bridge for us to walk over. Hope and his machine thing went ahead first while Lightning and I followed.
Hope really did manage to drive it well...kind of. As we walked there were a few groups of PSICOM soldiers. All we had to do was let Hope take a swing at them with the help from the machine and then they were gone! It was like flicking that annoying fly near the windshield wipers. However, once we were crossing down a steep hill, he lost control and went tumbling down with the machine all the way to the ground.
"Nice landing." Lightning said sarcastically. She made her way down with a few quick, but long jumps. Uhh yeah I'm not going to do that. I just walked down the cliff as quickly as I could. Hope slowly got up from the ground. Must've been a pretty hard landing.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
He nodded, "Yeah, just a bit winded."
"Let's get moving." Lightning instructed. We followed her command as we continued to walk. Walking. Yay...
During the middle of our long walk, I started to slow down my pace a little. Not because I was getting tired (surprising, I know), but Hope was. I didn't really blame him though, this has been a long night.
Just as we were about to cross another bridge, Hope tripped and fell flat on his face. As he got up, Lightning, not looking back at us, sighed.
"This isn't working. You two are just slowing me down." She said.
"What?" Hope said, trying to make sure he didn't hear what he was hearing right now.
"I'm sorry, but I can't protect you when-" She cringed, clutching her heart. Is she okay?
"You can't leave us here! You've gotta take us with you!" Hope shouted.
"Enough!" She yelled back. She was still clutching on her heart, getting on her knees a little. What's going on... "The whole world is against us. I can barely keep myself alive, let alone some helpless kids! You want to get tough? Do it on your own!" The last words directed mostly to Hope. Then, an enormous, pinkish circle formed on the ground, surrounding her. It seemed to form a flower like shape. Lights began to glow lighter as she quickly got out of the circle. Just as she made her way out, the lights shined brighter, almost blinding us. It began to get a bit dimmer, and then finally something appeared. It looked like a white knight, with demon like features. In it's hands were a big blackish gold shield and in the other was an extremely long curved like sword.
It was coming straight towards me and Hope. I closed my eyes quickly, only to hear another blade clashing with the beast's. I opened my eyes to see Lightning trying to hold it off for a few seconds. It's sword was too strong, even for her's, so she backed away from it before it could crush her. I took out my sword-whip while Hope took out his boomerangs. This battle, from what it seems, won't be a quick one.
For most of the time, Lightning was dueling swords with it, making every hit that she could last. Hope and I were casting different magic spells to help her out. I know this is probably the millionth time I've said this, but I sure do love these l'Cie powers! Unfortunately, this little demon can cast thunder spells. Thunder began to crash down everywhere. Thankfully, everyone managed to avoid all of the bolts. A few minutes more the battle went on. The white knight was beginning to look weak. Finally, Lightning took one more hit at it. It put it's sword down, sticking it to the ground. It jumped up into the air, with a light aura beginning to glow around it. Before our very eyes, the white knight now has transformed into a white horse. It galloped back to the ground and stopped right infront of Light as she got on top of it, attempting to tame it. It quickly obeyed her. She then got off of it, and it galloped away, disappearing into the midnight sky.
Lightning, obviously exhausted from all of that, got on her knees, panting loudly. You could see her brand visible now since it was glowing. It looked a little different.
"Was that an Eidolon? Like a l'Cie can summon?" Hope questioned her.
Finally regaining her breath, her brand stopped glowing and she looked up at us, slowly getting up. "Magic and mumbo-jumbo...I must've hit my head hard on that Purge train." She said.
"Um...are we really in your way?" He asked her shyly.
"...We'll toughen you up." She said. We? Um, okay. "Sorry what I said before..." she said directing it to the both of us. She walked quickly ahead of us. Someone's not use to apologizing... I smiled and followed her with Hope walking close behind.
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Yay, I finished! It's like 3:00am here...I was so tempted to finish this so I don't care :)