Hello! I'll be honest this chapter was kind of challenging to write, and I really don't know why it was, but it turned out pretty good I guess. Oh and big thanks to Divine Wind Storm! She messaged me asking if she could draw Hope and Adeline, and I was so flattered by it. Made my day big time :) So I think I'll dedicate this chapter to her :D Enjoy chapter 13! Ooh and I see people are wondering when they're going to kiss. My answer: soon :)

BTW: Did anyone happen to catch the Cid reference in the last chapter? (If you haven't go back to the part where she was talking about Cid) Heheh just curious to know who saw it!

xxxxx

I've Got You

Chapter 13: Reunion

"I swear if anyone pushes me and I die, I'll hate you forever." I said seriously. Actually, I was just kidding. But if anyone did push for real, then I'd be pretty pissed off.

"Don't worry sweetheart, Hope will come to your rescue if that happens. Isn't that right, Hope?" Fang teased, as always.

"Y-yeah of course..." he said blushing. We were at the External Berths of the Palamecia. First of all, it's windy, the airship is still moving, and we're kind of outside. Second of all, it's really not that hard to fall off from here. Call me crazy, but I don't think this is exactly the safest place.

Snow smirked and nudged Hope. "So kid, you have a little crush on Adeline?" ...Honestly, does he have to ask him right now? Especially for the fact that I'm right beside him? Snow... please, please don't join the dark side with Fang.

"What?" he asked with wide eyes, obviously caught off-guard. "N-no I don't."

Lightning glared at Snow and Fang. "Are you two forgetting we're on a rescue mission here? You can play matchmaker later, got it?" she said strictly. ...Later? Snow seemed to straighten up a little and didn't say a word, while Fang just grinned.

Although it was a pretty quick walk to the next room (which was inside the ship, thankfully), there were a bunch of PSICOM soldiers and these annoying little yellow droids. The droids weren't bad, but these soldiers in particular had that armor that could make them fly with their stupid little jet packs. Well you know what? Screw them.

Finally we made it inside the corridors. We were all silently pressed against a wall, making sure that we couldn't be seen by anyone. Our plan was to make sure the area was free of any PSICOM, then make a quick run for it. Unfortunately, that was all ruined by no other than Snow.

"Let us through! If you block our way, you're dead!" he said, threatening all of them. All of a sudden we heard a loud siren go off. Red lights were blinking repeatedly.

"Attention all crew: Code Green! Repeat: Code Green!"

I groaned in annoyance. "What, do you want us to die or something?"

"Well...I thought that maybe they would run." We all glowered at him.

"Did you forget that those soldiers think they're protecting Cocoon by getting rid of l'Cie? Or did that happen to slip your ego-filled head?" yelled Lightning.

"Sorry, Sis." It looked like Light was about to say something about him calling her "Sis," but closed her mouth and gestured for us to run.

Soldiers were practically everywhere we went. From the weakest ones to the highest ranks, they all had one goal: kill the l'Cie. They can never cut us any slack, can they? We fought every single one of them, and trust me, there was a lot. Right when one group was done, another one was right around the corner. There just had to be so many hallways in here. Good thing I'm not tired anymore, right?

"Code Purple! I repeat: Code Purple! Security breach! All units on alert!" another PSICOM announced as we turned to another corner.

"What are all these colors suppose to mean?" Hope asked curiously.

"Means we're doing our job. A lot of PSICOM guys are really nervous now." Fang said confidently.

I looked to my left to see another door. "Where do you think that leads to?"

"Doesn't matter, it's the only place to go right now." said Lightning. We walked into another enormous room. The exit was on the other side. Did I mention this room was huge? It get's better though. The whole room was filled with soldiers, small annoying robots, and I could've sworn I saw some weird looking turtle thing.

Let me just say, it was not easy to get out of here. We were running around in circles, literally. Maybe because of the fact that this happened to be a circular shaped room. Anything that came across our way was down in a second...or minutes perhaps. We did manage to escape from a few soldiers, thank goodness. When we made it to the other side, the door led to outside on the deck.

"The wind seems to be dying down." said Hope. He was right. It was no where near as windy as it was the last time we were outside. That's weird, why would they be slowing down the airship?

"You're right..." Lightning agreed. "They're up to something, that's for sure."

"Maybe it could be good luck?" said Snow. Right after that a couple of tiny droids appeared in front of us.

"I'm pretty sure that isn't good luck." I told Snow, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, more like bad luck." Fang scoffed.

"We're just going to have to turn the tables here. Besides, those little things aren't even close to being a threat." said Light. She was right. There was nothing on this deck except for stupid droids and maybe like two big ones. Nothing big to worry about. We did however, come to a stop when this big yellow, bird-like monster came flying towards us. It looked kind of similar to the one we fought back in the ruins around Lake Bresha.

It shrieked wildly at us. It was glowing bright with lightning near it's wings. It would continuously swoop down to attack us, but most of the time it was in the sky. There were the occasional bolts of lightning that we had to avoid...or else. We pretty much shot a few spells at it the whole time. Lightning, Fang, and Snow would occasionally jump up and get a few hits. It must be lucky to be so tall... Finally after a few minutes, it fell down lifeless, it's body slipping right off of the airship. Right when that one fell down, unfortunately another one came flying up.

"One big fat stroke of luck after another." Snow said sarcastically. It flew right over us, probably just trying to tease us. We heard a loud explosion from the inside of the ship. It seemed like a wall was broken down, and smoke was everywhere. I spotted a yellow speck coming out from the smoke. I squinted my eyes to get a better view of a tiny Chocobo chick. There's only one person I know who would bring an innocent creature into all of this and keep it safe...particular safe inside his afro. Sazh. I was correct as I saw him chasing after the little chick, Vanille following close behind. I smiled happily. I'm so glad that they were okay.

"Vanille!" Fang shouted.

Vanille looked up surprised, yet extremely happy. "Fang!" she yelled back excitedly while running over to her. Sadly, their little reunion was cut short as the bird came flying back from behind them.

"There you are." said Snow.

"Miss me?" Sazh asked.

"Not you, the monster!"

"What? Where?" he panicked turning around quickly. I let out a small laugh. Same old Sazh. This time, I don't think the monster was that hard to kill now since we're all here. And I mean seriously, seven against one? I think I know who's going to win. Like the last one, the great bird fell down with it's electric glow fading away.

Fang walked over to Vanille once again to pull her into a sisterly hug. She then turned her around and crouched down to lift up her skirt. Quickly, everyone else looked away. I pretty much covered my whole face with my hands. I'm not a fan of looking at those kind of things, if you know what I mean.

I heard Fang give out a big sigh of relief. "You've still got time." Time? Oh, so that's where Vanille's brand is. "Making me worry like that! We'll talk later, missy." she said in a stern voice as Vanille nodded.

"...So," Sazh spoke up. Way to ruin a nice moment... "What's on the agenda now?"

"Getting rid of the Sanctum." Snow said in a determined voice.

Sazh looked as if he thought he was joking. "No, seriously."

"He's serious," said Lightning, "We're going to take down the Sanctum and give Cocoon back to the people."

"If we pull this off, it would be a miracle." said Hope.

Fang looked up in the sky and grinned. "Well, good thing lady luck's on our side." she said as more of the giant bird-like creatures flew above us.

"This is getting really old." Sazh groaned.

I looked at her strangely. "How is this luck?"

"You'll see, Gran Pulse style! Vanille, go fish." she ordered.

"Right!" she said as she pulled out her binding rod. Four long wires extended towards one of the flying monsters until it wrapped around it's neck, preventing it from moving forward. Fang ran over to jump on it, slamming her spear right on top of it's back. The poor creature struggled to escape, but failed.

"That's a good girl." Fang said, smiling in triumph.

"Come on let's get on!" Vanille said. We all ran over and climbed over the back of the huge beast.

"Okay, here we go!" said Fang as the bird rose off the ground.

It wasn't exactly the most comfortable flight ever. Although, it was kind of fun. How many times can you say you've rode on a giant dragon bird thing? We had to hold on pretty tight to this scaly monster. Poor Sazh was desperately holding on to it for his dear life. Due to a little accident from all the turning and wind blowing in all directions, let's just say he kind of slipped off. Now, he's holding on to just it's tail while everyone else was still on it's back! Even through the noisy wind, I could still hear him screaming.

Fang chuckled. "Believe in Lady Luck now?" she asked him.

"Yeah, Lady Bad Luck!"

It wasn't just the wind that made it hard to fly. There were also soldiers inside smaller airships trying to shoot at us nonstop. The bird was taking most of the hits for us. Even though it was trying to kill us along with it's friends, I did feel a little sorry for it.

"Jump!" I heard Fang yell.

"Jump! Are you kidding me?" Sazh protested.

"Fine, you can just stay on this big guy and hope the PSICOM doesn't kill you."

"Oh, fine!" he said in defeat. We all jumped off the bird and into the broken area of the ship with a pillar of smoke coming out from it. All of us were pretty much screaming the whole time, Sazh being the loudest. By the time I knew it, I landed flat on my butt. That hurt big time. I struggled to get up at first, until I saw a hand infront of my face. I looked up to see Hope holding his hand out. Smiling, I took his hand as he pulled me up.

Wherever we were, it seemed that there was no turning back seeing as the only way out was through a huge gate.

"Dysley's through there." I heard Light say. Galenth Dysley. He was like the voice of the Sanctum. The one who calls the shots. Whatever he says goes. He's the one who invented the idea of "purging" people who've come into contact with a l'Cie. The PSICOM soldiers practically worship at his feet, as well as all the other citizens of Cocoon. I honestly never payed too much attention to him. I mean, come on, I'm fourteen. Whenever I see him on television I get bored to death.

We walked through the gate. As it opened, Dysley was there sitting on his throne looking all high and mighty while a younger women was right by his side. Her strawberry blonde hair went all the way down to her waist and her face had soft features, but her expression was a sinister glare. Even wearing glasses she was gorgeous, and there was no denying that. I guess she was like the stereotypical evil secretary. Pretty, but totally harsh and ruthless. Something like that.

I saw Sazh looking angrily at her. "Been looking for you, Nabaat!" he yelled.

She just smiled darkly and walked straight to us. "Your Eminence, please escape. I'll cover for your retreat." she said while pulling out a baton.

"Actually, Jihl, you can leave. Or rather, take your leave. Humans really don't have any business here." he said.

Her expression turned into a shocked one. She turned around, but before she could even speak, she was hit by...magic? She dropped down to the ground. She was dead. All of us stared, horrified at what had happened as Dysley began to float in midair. Lifting up his staff, he fired at all the other soldiers in the room, killing them one by one as if they were just tiny insects. He did use magic. Which meant, he was a l'Cie just like us.

"You monster!" Snow spat out furiously. "People aren't your toys to just play around with."

"I wouldn't really call them toys. They're actually a lot more useful. Perhaps the term, tools, would be a better definition of humans." he said with a fake smile plastered on his face. "You see them all. A mindless mob drunk on fear of a few l'Cie."

Lightning drew out her sword. "If only people knew that a l'Cie was filling up their glasses."

"L'Cie? Me?" he said, amused. He began to laugh, as if Lightning was just joking around. Floating higher, he raised his staff in the air. A small silver owl flew straight towards the tip of his staff. Then, everything went white for a second. "I am much more than that, child." When the bright glow disappeared, he was no longer a human. "I am a fal'Cie!" A real fal'Cie, right in front of our own eyes. One big giant head in the middle, with two smaller heads turned upside down on each side. Crawling on four feet, which had sharp metallic claws.

"My name is Barthandelus. Leader of the Sanctum, and Lord-Sovereign of the Cocoon fal'Cie." he said, voice echoing throughout the whole room. We just stood there, frozen in fear. Even Light was looking a little scared. He laughed once again. "Your kind feared darkness, so we gave you light. You begged us for Purge, and now you reject our counsel? You must learn your place!" he roared. We all braced ourselves for a battle that would definitely be no where near easy.

xxxxx

Barthandelus...gosh I HATED fighting him in the game. So freaking annoying and it took forever. ANYWAYS, I'm going on vacation (finally) in like 2 more weeks I think? So just for you all, I'm going to give you all two chapters before I leave. Three maybe if I can. I'll try!