Awww have I ever mentioned how super motivated I get whenever I read everyone's comments? Haha let's just say I tend to get flattered way too easily xD Yes, well, as I promised, chapter 9!
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I've Got You
Chapter 9: Eidolons and Making Up
Uh...I'm not lost, am I? No, I'm not! I'm totally going the right way...I think....
Even though I hate to say it, I kind of in a way wished that I didn't go ahead of Light and Hope. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm still beyond furious with Hope, no doubt about that. However, trying to fight off these annoying blob monster things by yourself can get pretty annoying. They weren't that bad, though. In fact, they were a great way to relieve my anger.
Aha! So I actually was going the right way. My feet stopped right in front of the elevator, which would lead the way back to the ground level of Palumpolum. I looked back. No sign of either Hope or Lightning. Okay...so what am I suppose to do just sit around here and wait? Great. Why should I wait anyways? I'm most definitely not in the mood to see Hope's stupid, face right now! ...No matter how sickeningly adorable it is. I did, however, promise Light I would wait for them.
I waited for maybe about...twenty minutes and they still haven't shown up! Brice was right, I am not the most pacient person ever. The thought of Brice made me think about what Hope had said to me earlier. "Says the person who ignored her parents for a whole year and called them monsters because she blamed them for the death of her brother." Guilt began to flood through me. Had Hope been right? In a way, that was my revenge. I thought that by ignoring them the pain of losing Brice would go away. I was completely wrong, though.
I snapped out of my thoughts. Right or wrong, he still shouldn't have said that in the first place. Not exactly thinking straight, I walked right inside the elevator. I know, I know, I broke a promise. Not good, especially if you promised someone like Lightning, who is shown to have quite the temper and hits like a man. I mean that in the nicest way possible. Seriously, I mean how cool would that be to know you're just as strong as any other guy? Yeah...anyways, I'm pretty much screwed next time I see her.
Realization just hit me. Am I retarded? Did I just really take the elevator without Lightning and Hope? Did I seriously forget that there could be a whole crowd of PSICOMs just waiting to kill me right after I took one step outside, and I would have to try and fight them alone? Oh my gosh. I am stupid! Okay, wait, I'm pretty sure none of them can tell if I'm a l'Cie or not. All I had to do was cover up my brand. Yeah...covering one hand with my other while walking around doesn't seem suspicious at all!
The elevator finally opened up. Nervously, I took a step out of it as it returned back down. Now there was not turning back. That's just so lovely! Not. I looked around to find the area completely empty. There were two possibilities to this. One: The citizens were...just at other places? Two: The Sanctum is already aware that l'Cie are here and this is a trap. Well, right now I'm going to pretend that the second possibility didn't sound the most reasonable. I slowly walked around. No sign of any PSICOM soldiers. Just my luck, for now. Weird, though. This area seemed like it would be pretty busy. I looked up to see a huge screen advertising some sort of product from Moogle Works.
I continued to walk around, passing by tall buildings and what not. I shouldn't really be walking around idly in a city where PSICOMs minute and attack me, but I haven't bumped into any, so I guess I'm okay? I've passed by a few people, but luckily all of them are too busy to even knowledge my exsistence. Maybe...I should go back to see if Lightning and Hope successfully took the elevator. They probably did though. It's been like half and hour already.
"In a recent emergency conference..." said a voice coming from somewhere. I looked arount and spotted another one of those television screens on one of the buildings. A crowd of people were now swarming around me to take a look at the screen. "The Sanctum has announced that the fugitive l'Cie have been located. The military plans to aprehend the l'Cie and carry out a public execution. These images coming to you live from the scene in Palumpolum." A birds eye view shot of Hope and Lightning were shown on the screen, at the same exact place I was at when I got out of the elevator. Oh no...not good....
"It has been confirmed that a city evacuation is mandatory. Please remain calm as directed by security force personnel." The announcer said, whoever he was. Obviously, nobody was calm. Everyone around me was freaking out. Kids were crying, being comforted by their parents, who were also just as scared. A group of three soldiers already made there way to the area I was at.
"I want everyone to form a straight line this instant!" One commanded. People were timidly lining up. Fear was written all over on all of their faces.
"Miss, I'm not going to ask you again. Get in line!" I looked to find another grabbing my arm. I jerked away. He pointed his gun at me. "I don't have any other choice." I muttered under my breath. My brand began to glow as I blasted him away from me. The other two were attempting to corner me, but I got rid of them fairly easily. I heard the shocked gasps of the citizens.
"Uh...hey listen I'm not going to-" I was quickly cut off by one who spoke up.
"Stay away from us, you monster!" A lady shakily shouted at me. A man near here picked up one of the guns that belonged to one of the soldiers and pointed it straight at me. I sighed. So this is how my parents felt when I called them that....doesn't feel good at all. Seeing there was no way to convince these people I wasn't going to hurt them, I ran. Fast. I could here footsteps behind me and faint screams yelling "Get her!" and other things.
I was running as fast as I could. I quickly turned a corner, hoping that I could lose them for a while. They went straight ahead. I gave out a sigh of relief. I lost them, for now. Was there any point in running anymore? They're going to find me eventually, and if not them, the PSICOMs for sure will. Sure I can get rid of some, but who knows how many there's going to be next time? It was about time that I just face my fate. There was no way I was going to survive. Why bother, anyways? I don't have anything anymore. Brice is gone, so are my parents, possibly my aunt and uncle are too, maybe...even Lightning and Hope. Hope hates me now anyways.
"Ugh...I give up!" I yelled to no one. Suddenly my right hand began to sting a little bit. I looked at my l'Cie brand to find it shining brightly. ...What on earth was going on? I saw a crystal shaped like a butterfly glowing. In a few seconds, it began to get brighter, almost blinding me. I groaned as my hand stinged in pain. The brightness faded. I looked up to see a giant, serpant-like dragon right infront of me. Holy sh-this is my Eidolon? That's nice, it just had to appear in a city where I'm being hunted down, that's cool. There's no possible way I could get away from this. I took out my sword-whip, ready to fight this, alone.
It roared at me loudly. I groaned in pain. I didn't even attack me or anything, but for some strange reason I felt like I was a ticking bomb. As in, if I didn't prove myself worthy to this thing, I'm done. Quickly I casted a Poisonaga spell. It growled as it started forming a tsunami. I got caught in it. I was terrified. Like I said before, drowning is one of my biggest fears. I fell back down to the ground, trying to shake the pain off. I started casting thunder spells, which was clearly it's weakness. Throughout the battle, I was switching from attacking it physically, to casting spells, and healing my self once in a while. Finally, it gave another loud roar. I smirked in triumph. It went back inside the crystal, which came back to my glowing brand.
"...Leviathan." I said randomly. Was that the name of it? Well, guess so. Weird, but after that whole little episode, I felt better in a way. Like, I don't want to give up anymore. I can't. I have a Focus to complete.
"Adeline!" I heard a familiar voice yell at me from behind. I looked back. It was Light! Thank goodness she's okay. Next to her was another women. She was extremely tall, with wavy black hair and piercing green eyes, carrying a long spear behind her back. I gulped. She looked even more intimidating then Lightning!
Light narrowed her eyes at me. "So much for promising to wait." she said. Oh, right, I totally forgot that she would be mad at me.
I looked down nervously. "I'm so sorry, Light. Next time I won-" I got cut off as she pulled me into a quick hug. Well, this is new.
She pulled away. "...Don't ever do it again." she said seriously. I smiled and nodded at her.
The other lady chuckled. "Never knew you had a soft spot." she joked as Light rolled her eyes. Her voice sounded familiar....it was sort of like Vanille's, except she was older and all. She even wore tribal like clothes! She looked at me and smirked. "Aren't you a little doll? Name's Fang, by the way."
I gave her a small smile. "I'm Adeline." I said. I realized something. Hope wasn't with Light anymore. "Light...where's Hope?" I asked worriedly.
"He's with Snow." she replied. Snow? He was here too? She continued to explain to me that he and Fang got here with the help from a group called the Cavalry. Apparently, it's a rebel group who are only pretending to be loyal to the Sanctum. In reality, their goal is to overthrow them.
"We have to find them quickly." said Lightning. "I think...Hope still wants to do Operation Nora." My eyes widened. Still?
"Come on then." Fang chimed in. "Let's move."
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"Okay," said Fang as we stopped by a staircase around Felix Heights, "Let's get Snow on the line." She took on some sort of wireless communicator and put it right next to her ear. She frowned while shaking it up and down. "Ugh, damn thing's still jammed. Eh, he can take care of himself."
Light scoffed. "We'll just have to believe that." I was so worried right now. I wanted to know so badly if Hope was okay, and if he didn't get his revenge.
"Hey...if any of us got caught, they'd make some announcement, right?" I asked, trying to hide the worried tone in my voice.
"Yeah, they would." Fang said. "They'd have to let everyone know that the big, bad l'Cie can't hurt them anymore." She grinned. "Don't worry too much. I'm sure Snow's making sure your little boyfriend is safe and sound."
"Hope is not my boyfriend." I said rather quickly, trying to hide my pink cheeks.
She laughed, "Whatever you say."
Fang...she was definitely no Lightning, let's just put it that way. Nonetheless, I actually did like her. She was pretty cool. Except for the fact she's teasing me about liking Hope, which I don't. We're still in a fight. Therefore...I don't like him.
Out of no where, I heard the sound of planes flying. We all looked up to find three ships zooming straight ahead of us.
"They found them." Lightning said as we all ran straight to the direction the ships were going. Ugh, I've been running all day! It would be so easy if I could just summon Leviathan and have him fly us all to wherever. But...the dragon serpent being to big and all can attract unwanted attacks from PSICOMs and even the residents of Palumpolum. Guess I just have to suck it up and run...
Finally, we found Hope and Snow. Snow was lying on the ground unconscious while Hope was trying to fight of some giant monster. Oh wonderful, another giant monster that wants to kill all of the l'Cie. The three of us all rushed over to help Hope.
"Not bad kid!" Fang complimented him, taking out her spear.
Hope looked at me with a shocked expression. "Adeline?" he said in disbelief.
I rolled my eyes. "...We can talk later." Okay, so much for never speaking to him again!
"Sure you're up to this?" Fang asked.
Light pulled out her gunblade. "Thing will never know what hit it."
With the four of us, the monster was down in a flash. Fang sure is strong. I'm pretty sure she could've taken this thing out by herself.
Right after the battle, Hope walked up to Lightning, handing her back the knife she had given him. "Um...Operation Nora didn't work out." he said. She pulled him into a motherly hug. Lightning's full of hugs today, isn't she? This is such a weird day....
"You'll be okay," she said to him, "I'll keep you safe."
"I uh-me too," he replied, "I'll try to, atleast." She smiled and playfully flicked his forehead.
"Don't forget about this one." Fang said while trying to lift up Snow.
"That one will be alright. He's to stubborn to die." Lightning joked as she helped Fang lift him up. "Come on you two. Hope, you lead the way." He nodded. He glanced at me, but I stubbornly avoided his gaze. Not even trying to make an attempt to apologize? Boys...
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Hope was standing nervously by himself in front of his front door. He seemed unsure if he should ring the doorbell or not.
"What's taking him so long?" I asked impatiently.
"His dad works for the Sanctum. They don't get along much, so he's kind of nervous." Explained Lightning. Oh, I can see how that could be a problem.
"He's taking forever though..."
"Why don't you go and talk to him then?" said Fang.
"What? Why me?"
"Well me and Light here are a bit busy trying to make sure our "hero" doesn't fall down," she explained as both of them still had Snow lifted up, still unconscious, "Besides, you're his girlfriend. You're suppose to cheer him up."
"He's not my boyfriend!" I said. I looked at Light, hoping she would help me out.
She shook her head. "It's about time you started two apologizing. Now." I groaned in defeat. Slowly I walked up to Hope, grabbed his arm, and pulled him away from the door for a minute.
His eyes widened with a surprise look on his face. "Uh...Adeline..." he stammered.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
He looked at my oddly. "What do you mean?"
I rolled my eyes at him. "You know what I mean..."
He hesitated for a moment. "It's just...my dad's never listened to a word I said. And...now I'm a l'Cie and he works for the Sanctum...he's not going to want me to stay."
I sighed, "He's your dad, Hope. You think he's going to pick his job over his son? You have to tell him about your mom anyways."
He nodded slowly. "Yeah...you're right. I-uh...about what happened earlier...I'm really, really sorry for saying that stuff to you. I was being such a jerk and I was just so angry and..." he continued to ramble on until I stopped him.
"Apology accepted..." I told him. "Um..sorry for slapping you."
He chuckled. "It's okay. I deserved it." Then his face turned serious. "Uh hey..." he started nervously, "will you...go with me? Like when I talk to my dad, can to stay with me?"
I smiled and nodded. "Of course." I said. He smiled back at me. He then clumsily pulled me into a hug. I blushed. Hope's not the one to usually just do stuff like this. Not that I was complaining or anything really. I smiled as a wrapped my arms around him, hugging him back.
"I'm um...glad we're not fighting anymore." He said as he pulled me closer to him, tightening his grip.
I giggled. "Yeah...me too."
"Hey! Will you two lovebirds save it for later?" Fang joked. We quickly pulled away, blushing.
I grabbed Hope's hand. "...Come on Hope. We'll talk to your dad...together."
He nodded and gave me the cutest smile ever as he rang the door bell.
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:) I must say, I am very proud of this chapter!