Ahh finally vacation time for me! But of course, a chapter for all of you before I leave! Wow chapter 15 already... I just want to thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing this story since day one (or whenever you started). I didn't know I would have so many people who really like it and it's all of you who motivate me to work hard on this. Sooo I'm dedicating this chapter all of you guys :) I tried to make it long for you all, and I think I succeeded!
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I've Got You
Chapter 15: A First For Everything
"You're too slow. Try harder l'Cie!" Cid taunted us.
He was insanely fast. Not too mention strong, but not exactly strong as Barthandelus was. Being a l'Cie also, he could do pretty much everything we could do, except faster. Buff himself up, use magic, everything. The trick was to outdo him. The only big advantage he had on us was his speed, meaning that he could easily dodge our attacks. He stood in one place and started to charge up probably for some super big attack. Now was the perfect time to charge in. Lightning ran straight to him, launching him up in the air. After that, we were all just attacking him non-stop. Finally, he just gave up and fell to the ground.
He trained to maintain his balance, but failed as he fell back down. "Ironic isn't it?" he managed to speak. "All I wanted was a moment of triumph. How it ends doesn't matter." He slowly got up, stumbling a little. "Do what you think is right. Trust yourselves." Before our very eyes, he turned into pure crystal. Not another word from him. Snowflakes began to swirl around him. In a flash, his crystal form had disappeared.
Snow looked down. "All he wanted to do was save Cocoon his own way." he said sadly. Then, something just clicked in his mind as his head shot up suddenly. "His own way. That's it!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out Serah's crystal. "I've made up my mind. Maybe I'll end up Cie'th, but until that happens I'm going to make Serah proud." Aww that's so sweet. He continued, "I didn't want to admit that this tear meant good-bye, so I kept on looking for her." He put the crystal close to his heart. "But she was right here the whole time watching over me. Our Focus doesn't matter! I'm going to protect Cocoon, whatever it takes!"
"Same here." Vanille chimed in. She walked over and placed a hand over Snow's who was still holding the crystal in his hand.
I smiled. Snow did have an ego at times and usually thinks before he acts, but he's right. We should do what we want, not what the fal'Cie wants. I took a step forward and placed my hand on theirs. "I'll help too."
I felt Hope put his hand over mine. "Alright. I'm in." Then, our little Chocobo companion landed on his hand.
I heard Sazh shrug. "I guess that means I'm in too."
Snow chuckled. "When a Chocobo agrees, you know you're on the right path!" We all shared a laugh. Even Light smiled a little bit. This is such a cheesy moment we're all having. Snow gives a big motivational speech, everyone decides to not give up, we get all confident, keep fightning, blah, blah, blah.
"You can count me out." Fang said. Well, way to ruin our cheesy moment... We all turned around at her, looking surprised. "If you all want to go it on your own..." Without warning, she pulled out her spear, pointing it directly to us. "...Then so will I!"
"Fang what-" Lightning was quickly cut off by her.
"Why should we help Cocoon if they hate us for being l'Cie? I don't give a damn if they die. Better than watching a friend go Cie'th! Go ahead, get stronger and smash Cocoon out of they sky!" All of a sudden, she dropped her spear to the floor and clutched her shoulder.
Vanille looked worried. "Fang?"
"If you turn Cie'th there's no going back. I won't let it end that way!" Her brand was glowing now, and she was screaming in pain. A light shot up and formed some sort of dark purple portal. A dragon like creature came flying out. Instinctively, I pulled out my sword whip. It was right infront of us now, but it didn't try to attack or anything. Vanille ran over to her to make sure she was okay.
Fang groaned. "Come to take care of a broken l'Cie?"
"It's here to help us?" Snow asked.
"Yeah that's what Eidolons do. They 'help' put us out of our misery if we can't decide what to do next." The dragon started to formed a glowing ball in it's clawed hands and shot it straight to Fang. Snow got infront and took the hit. Luckily it didn't hurt him that much.
Fang gave us an odd look. "What are you doing?"
"Protecting one of our own." Light answered. "We can do without their brand of mercy and we don't need a fal'Cie's orders either. We're all going to fight this Focus to the end." She lended out her hand to Fang.
"Come on, Fang. It's not like you to give up so easily." I said smirking. Trust me, I would know that she never gives up on certain things.
I saw that grin of hers as she grabbed Lightning's hand and got up on her feet. "Alright, let's do this."
The large beast was directing all it's focus on Fang. She wasn't that scared of it though. It's Fang for crying out loud. She just kept hitting it with her spear back and forth with ease. The rest of us didn't even have to attack that much. A final stab from her spear, and the dragon roared in pain as hit returned back into her brand. Well, that wasn't so hard.
"Hey look a new path!" Vanille said excitedly. We looked her way to find a thin crystalized bridge. "Maybe that thing did save us."
"Great, let's move!" said Snow.
After crossing the bridge, we came across a weird looking airship.
"An airship from Gran Pulse!" said Vanille.
Fang looked up and pointed a weird looking portal. "That's a gate to Gran Pulse."
Lightning shrugged. "It looks like it's our only way out of here."
"I'll be the one doing the flying then. No more ships taking charge of our travel plans anymore." Sazh said. Now that I realize it, everytime Sazh flew the plane, it ends up in a disaster. Unfortunately, he was the only one who really knows how to drive one. "The only place this think is taking us is where these boys tell it to." He said as he pointed to his muscles.
"Ha, really?" Fang scoffed. "That's a Gran Pulse ship."
"Just leave it to me!" We all walked into the ship and took our seats. This is like the fourth airship I've been on already. It's getting pretty old. I have a hunch on how this is going to end. We start flying. It seems like we're safe, but than something is going to attack us, and then we crash. It's like deja vu over and over again.
Sazh zoomed straight into the portal. It felt like we were going in warp speed or something. In a few seconds, we were at normal speed. I looked out the window to see Gran Pulse. The meadows, plateaus, bright grass, everything was just so beautiful. However, it became hard to admire the view when a giant floating, caterpillar like monster decided that it wanted to mess around with us.
"The little critter thinks we're lunch." said Fang.
"Yeah, the l'Cie food buffet." Sazh joked.
"'Cie food.' Cute" said Lightning. What...oh just kidding I get it. It's like we're sea food, but we're actually 'Cie' food! Yeah... The annoying overgrown caterpillar shattered the glass roof with it's tail. The strong wind blew Hope and Vanille right out of ship. Snow tried to grab them, but couldn't as the wind blew harder.
"Fang! Go get them!" he yelled.
"You got it!"
"Wait..." I said before she could summon her Eidolon. She looked at me. "Would it be okay if could do it?" I pointed to my brand, hoping she would get what I was saying.
She smirked at me and nodded. "Go right ahead sweetheart." I smiled back at her as my brand glowed. Leviathan appeared right infront of me as I hopped on his back. Fang, Lightning, Snow, and Sazh all got on too. Right, okay so how do I do this? Do I just tell him to fly to-whoa! As if he read my mind, he flew straight toward Hope and Vanille, catching them on his long back. Oh that's right, he's pretty much a part of me...so I guess that means he knows what I'm thinking? That's kind of cool and creepy at the same time.
"Welcome to Gran Pulse." said Fang.
Lightning scanned the surroundings until she pinpointed a safe looking place. "Adeline go land over there." she said. I nodded. Leviathan landed gently on the soft grassy land. We all got of on him. I smilled and said a quick thanks to him as he went back to my brand.
"Nice flying there, kid." said Sazh.
"Yeah, maybe I should fly the next airship instead of you." I said jokingly.
He laughed. "In your dreams."
xxxxx
We've been in Gran Pulse for two days now. This place was just so gorgeous. It was a totally different world than Cocoon. How on earth could this place be called "hell?" Oh, well there is the fact that there are Pulse monsters here that roam pretty much the whole place.
I, however, couldn't enjoy any part about this stunning place at the moment. Why? I was kind of pissed off. Not as in angry or I-want-to-kill-someone pissed, but more of the annoyed pissed. It's a really stupid reason. Beyond stupid, but...for the past two days Hope decides to spend all his time with Vanille. I mean, it's not like it's a big deal or anything. He can spend time with whoever he wants. I don't care! Why should I?
"Adeline, watch out!" I snapped out of my thoughts as Snow shot a ice shard at a wolf-like monster. Oh shit, was that thing about to attack me?
"Um..sorry. I kind of spaced out." I told him. It was early afternoon, and I decided to go with Snow to look around the plains of Gran Pulse.
He looked at me strangely. "Are you okay? You've been kind of off today."
"Really? Oh..."
"Something bothering you?"
"No not real-well actually, yeah."
"Okay, spill."
"Trust me. You're going to find it ridiculous."
:"Come on, I promise I won't laugh or anything."
I hesitated for a minute. Oh, why not? I held out my pinky. "Pinky swear?"
He chuckled at my childish action and wrapped his around mine. "Pinky swear."
"Okay...well. I don't know why it's bothering me so much...but all Hope does now is hang out with Vanille. He's only said like three words to me since we've gotten here." I said.
Snow grinned at me. "Oh I get it. You're jealous." he stated.
I shot a glare at him. "I'm not jealous."
"You're bad at hiding it too." he laughed. I-I-m not jealous, am I? No! Gosh, no. He continued to talk. "Look, there's no reason to be jealous. Hope really likes you."
"How do you know that? Did he...tell you?"
"Well...he never really told me anything, but trust me. It's pretty obvious." I shrugged. I want to believe Snow, I really do, but not until it comes out from Hope's mouth...and what are the chances of that?
"Hey, why don't I take you back to camp? You should take a break for a while. I'm suppose to meet up with Lightning and Sazh there to go check out some ruins. Maybe we can actually find other humans there." he said.
"Yeah okay...and Snow? Thank you."
He smiled and playfully messed with my hair. "Don't mention it."
I smiled back. "You know...you're exactly like my brother in a lot of ways."
"Really? Your brother must've been a pretty cool guy then."
I laughed. "You could say that."
We finally arrived back at the camp. Sazh had asked my to look over the "little guy" for him while he went with Snow and Lightning. I happily agreed. Of course I'll look over this adorable Chocobo. It was so tiny and cute!
"It's just you and me little guy." I said as I scratched it's tiny head. It began to chrip and hop up and down. I smiled at how innocent it was.
"Adeline? Hey." said I voice. Oh great, it was Hope's voice. I looked up to see him. Vanille wasn't with him. What a shocker!
"Oh hey, Hope." I said. "Vanille's not with you?" I hope that didn't sound like I cared or anything. Because I didn't.
"No...she's with Fang. Why?"
"No reason."
"Okay...so...it's my turn to get food and water. Do you want to come with me?"
"No thanks"
"...Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I am." I snapped. "You can stop bothering me now." A hurt expression came across his face as he quietly nodded and left. Oh gosh...why did I say that? I shouldn't even be mad at him in the first place. If Hope likes Vanille, I can't do anything about it.
"Ugh, I can't believe I just did that." I told the Chocobo chick while softly petting it. I began to ramble on and on about my thoughts and feelings...to a Chocobo. How sad am I? I will admit though, he's a good listener. Eventually, I got tired talking and decided to take a short nap.
xxxxx
I officially hate myself right now. When Vanille woke me up from my nap, she said that we all had to look for Hope since he was the only one who wasn't back yet. So when we found him by the stream, he was lying down unconscious. Snow and Lightning had to carry him back to the camp. Now it was evening, and he still hasn't woken up. I should've gone with him, but no. I was being a stupid bitch and decided not to.
I felt Vanille place a hand on my shoulder. "Worried about him?"
"Um, yeah kind of..."
"Well try not to, okay? He wouldn't want you to worry about him so much." she said as she gently squeezed my shoulder, smiling at me. I smiled back at her. She always did have a way of making someone smile.
Sazh gave out a loud sigh. "Not a single soul around here and not one clue about this whole l'Cie mess."
"If we don't find anything now, there won't be another chance." said Light.
"Oerba-the place it all began." said Hope, finally awake. We all turned around to face him. "Vanille and Fang's home. Maybe...it will be the place where we find all the answers."
Fang shrugged. "Yeah. If we can get there."
"Go on without me." he said getting up.
"We can't just leave you!" Vanille said.
He shook his head. "I'll be fine, seriously. You've all taught me so much. Like how to fight and-" He tripped as Snow quickly caught him, giving him a pat on the back.
"What did I tell you? Just leave the fighting to me." said Snow.
"...I'm scared." he said with a distraught look on his face.
Lightning walked over to him and placed her and on his shoulder. "We understand. You're not going to through this ordeal alone you know."
"But that's what scares me. I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me." He said sadly, on the verge of tears. "It would be better for everyone if I just stayed behind." His brand suddenly began to shine brightly. A bright yellow light shot out from his brand. The next second, his Eidolon had appeared. It was like bigger than big. It looked like a giant walked castle. It even had the crown to go along with it. We all quickly pulled out our weapons.
"Hope, this is a gift. This is the power you've got inside you. It's telling you to not give up." Light said.
"That came..from me?" he said, looking unsure. He looked at the giant creature, then back at his brand. He pulled out his boomerang and ran straight to it, ready to fight it.
Like all Eidolons, it mainly attacks the person it came from. Luckily, Hope had our help. This was mostly his fight. The king like Eidolon no doubt was really strong. The good part though, was that he (Oh come on, it has a king's crown and a moustache. It's a guy.) was super slow. So, all we had to do was attack it before it could do another one of his giant slams with it's arms. Once we did that, we let Hope take the final blow. After a huge lightning bolt shocked it, it returned back into his brand.
"That was some beast you tamed there." said Sazh.
Hope smiled. "Yeah. I always that Eidolons appeared to set us free through death, but now I think they're here to snap us out of our slumps."
Light nodded. "So we're all decided then? We're going to Oerba." We all nodded in agreement.
"Don't scare us like that again Hope!" said Vanille, shaking a finger at him. "Poor Adeline! She was worried about you the whole time!" My head shot up as Vanille mentioned my name.
Hope looked at me surprised. "You were?"
"Not really." I muttered. Well actually, I was, but I don't want to admit it. I felt him come closer to me as he pulled me into a hug. Like...infront of everyone.
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again." he said.
"It better not.." I said, hugging him back.
"Right, let's get some sleep then. It's going to be a big day tomorrow." said Lightning.
"Sleep? Finally!" Sazh said yawning.
xxxxx
I was lying down close to the fire to stay warm. Nights on Gran Pulse could get a little chilly. I couldn't get to sleep still. I just had a lot on my mind I guess.
"Adeline? Are you still awake?" I turned my head the other way to see Hope.
"Yeah, I can't sleep." I said while getting up.
"Neither can I." he said.
"Do you just want to talk until we get sleepy?" I asked.
"Sure. But...why don't we go somewhere else? So we won't wake up everyone else." he suggested.
"Okay." He smiled at me as he held out his hand. I grabbed it as he lead the way. We finally made it to the top of a really high hill. We took a seat down on the grass. We weren't by the fire anymore, so I shivered a little bit.
He looked at me. "Cold?"
"No..I'm fine." Even though I told him that, he still decided to wrap one arm around me, pulling me closer to him. I quickly blushed. Hope never does these kinds of things. It was nice, though.
"Hope...sorry about earlier today. I know I was being a bitch to you."
"You're not a bitch. But...why were you acting so...different?"
I sighed. "It's a really stupid reason...but you were spending so much time with Vanille lately and it made me kind of upset..."
He smirked. "Oh. I never knew you got jealous so easily."
I playfully nudged him. "I wasn't jealous..." I pouted.
He laughed. "Okay, whatever you say. I'm sorry though, but I just needed her advice on something."
I raised my eyebrows curiously. "Advice? For what?"
"Well...I've been thinking about it for a while lately, and I've always wanted to say something, but I didn't know how."
"Huh? You lost me." I said confused.
"O-okay um...look, I-I've been wanting to tell you something." He stammered.
"Okay...wait do you want to tell me then?" He was looking really nervous right now. What's up with him?
He took in a deep breath and faced me. "Well...I think..wait n-no I don't think, I know that..." he started to shake a little bit.
"You know that...?"
"I love you." He blurted out quickly. I froze. My eyes widened. Hope just said that he loved me. Not like, but love. "A-and it's fine if you don't feel the same way or anything. I understand...I should probably just leave now and give you some space." He got up quickly and was about to turn around.
"Wait, Hope." I got up and grabbed his arm before he could take another step. He turned around to face me while I had a super big smile on my face. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips against him. At first I was nervous. Not only because this was my first kiss, but I was afraid he wouldn't kiss back. Thankfully, I felt him kiss me back as he wrapped his arms around my waist to pull me close to him. His lips were just so...soft!
After seconds that felt like hours, we pulled away. I smiled at him and quickly kissed him again. "I love you too."
He grinned. "So does this mean you're...my girlfriend?" he asked cutely.
I giggled. "Well yeah, but only if it means you're my boyfriend."
He laughed. "Deal."
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Umm can you say finally? Haha, I really hope you all liked this!