A Price to Pay
Bart Estheim knew that they were trouble the moment they stepped through the door. There were five of them and they seemed to fill the cosy dining area of the boarding house with a kind of carefully controlled menace. If he had to put money on it, he'd say that they were hired guns of the worst sort, the kind that would do just about anything if the price was right. At least, four of them were. The last man, a smart looking kind of fellow with glasses, looked to but cut of a different cloth. For all that he was of a decent size, this last man had a strange, shuffling kind of walk that made him seem smaller than he really was, but not in a good way. It reminded Bart a bit of the way that rattlesnakes sometimes coiled in on themselves to try and look smaller. But looking smaller didn't make the rattlesnake any less dangerous and he had a feeling it was the same with this man.
"I think we ought to skip out of here," Bart murmured softly as he raised a cup of coffee to his lips to try to hide his nervousness. All around the dining area, others were already doing that, leaving the room as gracefully as they could, all of their eyes averted from the group of men that had taken up a spot at a table right by the door. "This looks like trouble, Nora, the kind we'd best keep out of."
Across the table, Nora nodded slowly. "I think you're right, Bart. They look like their gunning for trouble." She glanced across the table at Hope, who had his back to the group of men. To his credit though, he'd managed to stop himself from simply turning around to stare, but even so, it seemed like he could sense the danger, because he kept fidgeting, his hand going from his coffee to his toast and back again. "Easy, Hope," she said as she reached out to add a little sugar to her coffee. "Just settle down a fraction."
"Right," Hope said as he finally settled on his toast and took a bite. The bread was toasted just right and the butter on it was rich and good, but it tasted like ashes in his mouth. "What now?"
"Just sit tight a little longer," Bart said. "Finish up and then we'll leave, nice and easy. I doubt they're here for us."
Yet as the minutes ticked past, Bart began to feel a cold lead weight form in his gut. The men were clearly there for someone, but they'd yet stop even one person from leaving the room. In fact, they'd not even bothered to give anyone a second glance. Finally, there was no one left in the dining area except for them and the group of men. Heart pounding, Bart slowly pushed to his feet.
"Well," Bart said, "That was a good breakfast. How about we head down to the Eden City Gardens? I hear they're pretty nice this kind of year." Eyes only half on Nora and Hope, he waited with frayed nerves to see what the men would do.
The men stood as one and Bart felt a shiver crawl down his spine as one of them very calmly and very deliberately pushed the edge of his coat back to show the gun that hung at his side. Then, with that same calm look, he met Bart's eyes and the message in them was clear as day: Bart wasn't going anywhere.
"I'm glad you had a decent breakfast, Mr Estheim, but you're not going anywhere." The words came from the smart looking fellow and his voice, despite the fact that it was high-pitched and sort of nasal, was more than threatening enough to freeze Bart in his tracks. "So, you and your family you should just take a seat."
Bart gathered his courage as best he could and straightened his back. He might not be powerfully built, but he wasn't a small man. "Good morning to you all," he said as he moved forward to put himself between the men and his family. As he passed Nora, he met her eyes and nodded once. If this really was trouble, then she needed to be ready to grab Hope and run. He'd have to hold them off, or at least, try to buy them a little time. "Could I ask though, who are you?"
The smart looking fellow smiled thinly and Bart had to stop himself from taking a big step back. It wasn't a nice smile, not even close, and it reminded him a great deal of a snake sizing up its next meal. "The name's Hojo," the man said. "And I'd like to have a word or two with you and your family." He tilted his head to one side. "You know, really, friendly like."
"That so?" Bart knew without a doubt that he and his family were in trouble now, real trouble. He'd heard a thing or two about Hojo and none of it was good. Sure, Hojo might be a smart fellow, real good for a business to have around, but he was nasty to the core and everyone knew it. He had to stall for time, had to try and think of a way out of this. Swallowing thickly, he did his best to keep his voice on the level. "What were you wanting to talk to me about?" Damn it, if only he'd brought his gun. He might not be much good with it, but it'd make him feel a whole lot better knowing that if it came to shooting, he'd at least have a chance, even if it wouldn't be a good chance, not against four hired guns.
Hojo's smile widened and Bart had never thought the flash of clean, white teeth could ever look so cruel or be so terrifying. "Well, the thing is, we had a bit of a problem down at Cocoon this morning and I was thinking that maybe you might be able to help us sort a couple of things out." He paused and his eyes glittered, cold and filled with an evil kind of glee. "So, why don't you and your family come join me at my house, you know, just for a word or two."
In that instant, Bart understood the play. If he and his family went with Hojo now, he'd bet everything he owned that they'd wind up dead or worse. He didn't know a thing about what had happened with Cocoon, but he had a pretty good feeling that wouldn't matter one bit with Hojo. Hojo would ask his question and when Bart couldn't answer them, he'd take things out on Bart and his family. He needed to get Nora and Hope out of here, but there was no way he'd be able to take the four hired guns on his own. His only chance would be to pick a fight and hope that they needed him alive. If they did, then just maybe, he'd be able to buy Nora and Hope enough time to get away. No matter what they did to him, he'd rest easy knowing that his family got away.
"Nora," he whispered, his mind made up and his body tense with fear and awkward courage. "Take Hope and run."
And with that Bart reached for the chair closest to him and flung it at the group of men. The chair caught one of the hired guns and the man stumbled back, a curse on his lips as he reached for his gun, but before he could draw it, Hojo's voice rang out.
"No shooting!" Hojo growled. "We need them alive!" His eyes flashed darkly. "But that's all – feel free to rough them up a little."
Behind him, Bart heard Nora gasp followed shortly by the sound of shoes on wood as she and Hope darted for the back door of the dining area. For a moment, he felt an eerie calm sweep through him. His wife and son were away and the only thing he could do for them now was to buy them time. He just hoped he could buy them enough.
The hired guns came forward together, smooth and easy on their feet, and Bart lunged at the one closest to him. His fist swung out, but the man ducked beneath it and then the air rushed out of Bart's lungs as the hired gun drove one fist into his gut. He dropped to his knees, vision already blurry, before another punch caught him on the side of the head and knocked him to the ground. Still, he wouldn't give up and as the hired guns stepped over him, he reached out and grabbed two of them by the ankles. They tripped and Bart stumbled to his feet and then tackled another one of them to the ground. The two of them rolled over and over across the floor and Bart lashed out wildly. Somewhere along the line, his glasses broke and he cursed as blood from a cut on his brow trickled into his eye and turned the world red.
"He's a tough one," one of the hired guns growled as he grabbed Bart and threw him off into one of the tables.
Bart hit the table with a grunt and tried to find his feet again, but this time, the hired guns weren't taking any chances. The last thing he saw before a boot caught him square in the jaw and knocked him unconscious was the amused smile on Hojo's face. The monster was actually enjoying things.
X X X
"Come on, Hope!" Nora shouted as she pulled her son after her. "We have to go!"
As he followed his mother through the corridors of the boarding house, Hope found that he could barely breathe. He knew, even without the sounds of fists hitting flesh that had followed them out of the dining area, that something bad had happened to his father and he knew that his father had chosen that just so that they might have a chance to get away. If only he wasn't just some stupid kid then maybe he'd have been able to stay with his father and they could've fought together and things would have turned out different. If only he was grown up and strong, like… like Snow or Lightning then maybe he wouldn't be so afraid, maybe he wouldn't be crying so hard it made it almost impossible to see what was in front of him.
Behind them, he could hear the sound of heavy boots and he knew that the hired guns must have finished with his father and were now after them. Up ahead, the door to one of the rooms opened up and he and his mother had to throw themselves to the side to dodge the startled maid that came out with an armful of linen.
"Is everything all right Mrs Estheim?" the maid asked before she was knocked over by one of the hired guns. Linen flew every which way and the big man stumbled and almost fell before he caught himself and took off again, now only a few steps behind Hope and Nora.
Hope chanced a look back at the hired gun only just behind them and then gasped as the man leapt toward him and tackled him to the ground. The impact sent a wave of pain through him and he fought madly to try and get free but the man was just too strong and it wasn't more than a moment or two before he found his face shoved into the floor with his arm pinned behind his back.
"Get off him!" Nora screamed and Hope heard his mother curse – something she'd never done in front of him before – as she grabbed a vase from a table in the corridor and brought it down on the hired gun's head. He gave a sharp cry and tumbled off Hope. Blood poured down his face from a cut in his scalp and as his mother pulled him up to his feet, Hope turned and managed a kick to the jaw that rolled the man's eyes up into the back of his head.
And then they had to run again as another two hired guns rounded the corner of the corridor and saw them. The back door of the boarding house loomed up ahead and Hope prayed for all he was worth that whoever that Hojo fellow was, he hadn't bothered to post some hired guns there as well. Hope and Nora reached the back door and flung it open. Outside was one a grimy, rubbish riddled alley – and there wasn't a hired gun in sight.
"Quickly, Hope," Nora said and Hope could tell that having to run in her heavy skirts had sorely tired her out already. "This way!"
As Hope followed his mother out of the alley, he stopped just long enough to grab a small wooden crate and throw it back at one of the hired guns. The projectile caught the leading man in the legs and he went down in a tangle of limbs. As he regained his feet, Hope saw the fury in his eyes and knew that if he and his mother got caught now, they'd definitely be in for it.
His mother led them out onto one of the main streets and Hope realised what she'd been thinking. Those men might be hired guns, but it would take a lot of guts, and cause a lot more trouble than it was worth, to try and grab two people on a crowded street. The problem was, it was still pretty early, so the street wasn't all that crowded. Worse, as the two men followed them out onto the street, Hope saw that a lot of the people who were there either looked away or just looked on and did nothing. Panic filled him.
"Help!" Nora shouted as the hired guns got ever closer. "Help!"
Not a single person moved to help them and Hope saw the fear crystallise in his mother's eyes, saw the sudden, awful certain dawn that nobody was going to do a thing. Out of breath now and with her skirts too tangled to run, his mother had no choice but to stop. The hired guns closed in, only a few steps away now, and Hope tasted bile as he took in the smug looks on their faces. They'd won and they knew it.
"Run, Hope," Nora said. "Just leave me and go."
Like he'd left his father? Hope shook his head and drew himself up as tall as he could. He might still be a kid and he might be scared witless, but he wasn't about to leave his mother behind.
"You're not touching her!" Hope spat as he stepped forward, a small crowd forming around the disturbance. "So just back off!"
X X X
Snow sighed and ran one hand through his hair. He'd probably get into trouble once he got back to the place where he and the others were holed up, but, honestly, if he'd been cooped up indoors for just one more day, he'd have gone crazy. It wasn't the company he was keeping indoors though. Serah was just plain great to be around, but he'd lived his whole life out on the range and while he enjoyed a nice, soft bed as much as any man, the only way he'd ever feel healthy and whole was with the wide open spaces and clear blue sky of the West around him. Of course, there was also the matter of Fujin…
The silver haired woman seemed pretty decent, and it wasn't like her eye patch put him off or anything, because out on the trail, he'd definitely seen stranger things. No, it was the intensity in Fujin's single crimson eye. Impossible as it seemed, the woman's gaze was even more intense than Lightning's and Snow couldn't shake the feeling that she'd taken his measure and not been particularly impressed. He also had to admit that he found the way she talked just a little off putting. It probably wasn't her fault, and Snow certainly wasn't about to ask her about it, but it could make conversation just a little bit awkward.
At the same time though, Snow was pretty glad to have Fujin around. If trouble came calling – and judging from how things had gone so far, it probably would – Fujin was definitely someone he'd want around. She was good with a gun, although how she managed that with just the one eye, he'd never know. She was also plenty good in a scrap too, and over the past few days he'd asked her a thing or two about the way she fought. Her small size meant she knew all kinds of tricks, tricks that Snow was only too happy to pick up, especially since his big frame meant he'd never had the chance to learn them.
Just that morning, Miss Ashelia and Captain Rosenburg had dropped by early in the morning for some breakfast. Safe in the knowledge that there were plenty of people around in case there was trouble, Snow had seized the chance to get out and about for a bit. The streets of Eden City might not be as wide as the open plains of the West, but they were a bit better than being stuck indoors for another day. Being out and about also gave him the chance to look at a couple of stores. Serah had been looking pretty nervous lately and he figured that he could get her something nice, maybe something to take her mind off how bad things had been lately.
The first thing to catch his eyes had been a beautiful necklace with blue gemstones. It matched Serah's eyes just perfectly and was just the right shade to go with her hair too. Unfortunately, the price on it was a little out of his range – he was a farmer not a mine owner – and so he'd been forced to look for something a little less expensive. Still, he hadn't felt too bad. Serah didn't seem to wear all that much jewellery and he had a feeling that even if he could have gotten it, she wouldn't have worn it too much. After all, jewellery and children didn't mix too well, especially when there were children like Yuffie around who had such quick, sticky fingers.
The next thing to catch his eyes was much better, or at least, he thought so. It was a graceful wide-brimmed hat. It was a pale, almost white, shade of blue and there was a shimmering cerulean ribbon that went right around it and then looped under so that it could be tied beneath the chin to hold the hat on. It was something he could afford and he knew Serah would look good in it. More to the point though, it was something that she might actually use and he felt a smile tug at his lips as he imagined the look on her face when he gave it to her.
However, the smile on his lips faded pretty quickly when he heard some shouting from down the street.
"Help!" He heard and his brows furrowed as he realised that it was a woman shouting and she seemed to be all kinds of scared. "Help!"
Strangely though, no one else seemed to notice the cries and he wondered for a moment if he was just hearing things, but then the cries came again, louder this time, and with even more panic in them.
"Hey." Snow grabbed one of the men walking past by the shoulder. "You hear that?"
The man opened his mouth to snap at Snow, saw how big he was, and then thought better of it. "I guess I do," the man said at last. "But don't pay any attention to it. It's none of our business."
Snow was mighty tempted to lay the fellow out with a punch. What did he mean that it was none of their business? Someone was in trouble and he'd be damned if just walked away without seeing if there was something he could. The way he figured things, a real man didn't just walk away from someone who needed help, not if they wanted to be able to look at themselves in the mirror each morning. Besides, he thought as he made his way quickly down the street and pushed through the small crowd that had gathered around the ruckus, how would he be able to look Serah in the eye if he just walked away?
Once he saw what was happening, Snow felt a wave of anger sweep through him. Two men were beating up on some kid and it was pretty clear they were toying with him, hitting him in the gut a lot and pushing him over, but never doing enough to knock him out. There was a woman there too, probably the kid's mother, and there were tears in her eyes as she tried to get between the men and her kid only to be pushed out of the way. His anger wasn't directed at just the two men, either. There were plenty of people in the crowd here and while most of them looked horrified, not a one of them was doing a damn thing to help. Well, enough of that. If nobody wanted to do anything about this, he damn well would.
But as he stepped forward to break things up, the kid took another punch to the gut and folded again, but this time he was turned just right so that Snow could see his face. It was Hope. Anger turned into white-hot fury and Snow shoved everything that Captain Rosenburg, Lightning, and Quistis had told him about laying low out of his mind. He remembered Hope pretty well from that fight back at the bar, and even if the kid had blamed the whole thing on him, it was clear to Snow that Hope was a good kid, a little young, but with the makings of a decent man. Lips drawn back into a snarl, he stepped into the fray and put himself in front of Hope.
"That's about enough," Snow growled as the two men backed up, wary and perhaps a little afraid.
Hope staggered back to his feet and looked up at Snow through eyes almost swollen shut. "Snow?"
Snow smiled softly and took Hope by the arm. "Yeah, kid, it's me." Hope swayed on his feet and Snow caught him just as his eyes slipped shut. "Are you his mother?" Snow asked as he lifted Hope and gently carried her over to Nora. "Well, you take right good care of him. He might not be a man in body yet, but he's got a heart big enough for ten." He turned back to the two men and his eyes were colder than the winters way up north. "I'll sort these two out."
If the two men were smart, they'd have run while Snow had his back turned, but they'd stayed and now Snow was going to give them a little taste of their own medicine. Eyes awash with contempt, he stepped forward. "You know, it doesn't take much guts to beat up a kid and you're lucky he's not full grown or I'd bet everything I own, you'd never have lasted five minutes against him." He lifted one big fist. "But how about you try your luck against a man this time and see how well you fare?"
The two men hesitated, unsure, and Snow felt a savage stab of satisfaction. He was bigger than most people, always had been, but he'd never used his size just to bully people around. But these two had beaten up Hope, had taken a fair bit of pleasure in it too, by the looks of things, so Snow didn't feel the least bit bad about putting a bit of fear into them. He had a feeling too, that if it weren't for the crowd gathered around, they'd have chosen to back off, but they couldn't leave now, not without crawling away with their tails between their legs. So instead, they did the only thing they could, they charged him.
Snow didn't bother to try and dodge, he just met them head on. The first man threw a looping punch as the second dove at Snow's legs to try and bring him down. Snow caught the first man's punch with his forearm and lifted one knee to catch the second man right on the point of the jaw. Not surprisingly, the second man went down, and Snow growled as he grabbed the first man by the shirt and swung him about like a ragdoll. The man let out a shrill, terrified wail, which was cut off when Snow hurled him to the ground. The man gave a low groan, tried to rise and then fell back and was still. His anger only slightly sated, Snow was careful to put a smile on his face as he turned back to Hope's mother.
"The name's Snow," he said. "And you must be Hope's mother?"
The woman nodded shakily and only reluctantly handed Hope over to Snow who lifted the unconscious boy as gently as he could. "I'm Nora… I…"
Snow smiled, soft and gentle. "Look, Nora, I figure you've got a story to tell, and you look like you're almost out on your feet." He started to clear a path for them through the crowd that had only just begun to disperse. "How about I take you some place you can get cleaned up and we can get Hope looked after. Then, maybe, you can tell me what this is all about."
Nora nodded and Snow could only hope that Lightning wouldn't strangle him too much for bringing more trouble around.
X X X
Hope came to with a start. The last thing he remembered, he'd been fighting and losing pretty badly too and then… then Snow had been there and… and…
His mother!
Hope shot to his feet, or at least, he tried to. However, the pain in his gut was something awful and it took everything he had not to double over and empty his stomach. His head wasn't feeling much better either and he knew, even without the aid of a mirror, that he probably looked a lot like a raccoon, to say nothing of his busted lip. In the few minutes it took for him to get enough strength to stand, he took in his surroundings. Wherever he was, it was pretty nice. The bed under him was soft and the sheets were smooth and everything around him, from the furniture to the curtains on the window looked to be worth a fair bit of money. Snow must have taken him and his mother some place, but that didn't make much sense. Snow was a stockman, wasn't he, so how would he pay for a place like this?
When he finally had the strength to stand, Hope slowly got to his feet. He had to take a moment to steady himself and even then, he couldn't do much more than hobble toward the door. Outside the room, he found himself in the middle of a corridor and he looked both ways before deciding to make his way toward the stairs. There were voices coming from downstairs, some of them familiar, and he figured that the most important thing for now was to find out what had happened. As he walked, he felt some of his strength return, so that by the time he reached the stairs, he was moving at a slow walk instead of a hobble.
He made it halfway down the stairs before someone noticed him.
"Hope."
He blinked and it took him a second to realise that it was Lightning – Lightning of all people – looking at him. Her blue eyes were softer than he'd ever seen them and before he knew it, she was by his side and helping him down the stairs. Part of him wanted to shrug her off, he did have his pride, after all, but mostly he was glad to have someone he knew and trusted by his side, someone who could, just maybe, get his family out of the fix they were in. At the bottom of the stairs, he stopped and stared at the people gathered around the big table that dominated the room.
Snow was there and as the big man nodded at him, Hope was taken aback by the respect he saw in Snow's eyes. Beside Snow was Serah, and the younger of the Farron sister's had only sympathy in her gaze and Hope had a feeling that if she had the chance, Serah would be fussing over him something fierce. His mother was there too, and Hope could scarcely contain the deep sigh of relief that swept through him when he saw that she was okay. Apart from them though, Hope didn't recognise any of the other people at the table. There was a woman with blonde hair and glasses there, along with a silver haired woman who wore an eye patch over one eye. The last two people were a blonde man who had a scar over his brow and a young woman with blonde hair that reached just shy of her shoulders.
"Have a seat, Hope," Lightning said as she eased him into one of the chairs by the table. "Your mother was just telling us about your run in with a few… interesting folks." She paused and Hope saw something dark flash for a moment in her eyes. "She mentioned a man called Hojo."
Hope nodded. He'd never forget that name, not as long as he lived. "That's right…" Throat suddenly dry, he was inordinately grateful when Serah pushed a glass of water over to him. "There were some men who came around during breakfast. They… they were after us and father did his best to hold them off but…" He swallowed thickly. He could still hear the sounds of fists and boots digging into flesh as he and his mother fled the room. "Father tried to fight them so that mother and I could get away, but they must have… must have been too strong for him, because they came after us and… and we tried to run but they caught us and then…" He bit his lip so hard that he could taste blood. "I wasn't strong enough… and they were going to get us but then Snow showed up and…"
"It's okay," Lightning said. "It's okay."
Hope nodded slowly as his mother reached over and pulled him into a hug. He might look like a kid right now, but he couldn't find it in him to care.
"You act like you know this Hojo," Nora said, eyes suddenly fierce. "What can you tell us about him, and why are you here, of all places?"
Lightning nodded. "I think Quistis here can probably answer those questions better."
Hope looked up as the woman with glasses cleared her throat and began to speak. "My name, Hope, Nora, is Quistis Trepe. I'm a marshal." She paused and let the information sink in. "Now, I'm not sure how much you two know about the way that marshals operate, but some of us tend to specialise. As for me, I'm probably best known for going after people and companies with lots of money who think their wealth or influence puts them above the law." She looked over at the silver haired woman. "She's Fujin, my partner. Anyway, a while back Lightning here stumbled upon some pretty interesting information that led us to believe that Cocoon's been hiding money, lots of it, for quite a while. Now, that might not sound like a big deal, but it is, and if we were in any doubt, Cocoon got rid of that went it sent a stack of hired guns after us in Bodhum." Hope and Nora gasped and Quistis sighed. "After that, we thought it would be best to disappear for a while, see if we could find something that could get Cocoon off our backs and put them away for good. That's why we're here in Eden City." She paused again and seemed to weigh up how best to put things. "We've… we've been working with a few people who've also got an interest in Cocoon. We also know someone inside Cocoon who has been helping us out. He's the one who warned us about Hojo."
"So, this Hojo works for Cocoon?" Nora asked. "But that doesn't explain why they'd be interested in us."
Lightning shifted a fraction and Hope got the feeling that he wouldn't like what he was about to hear. "Last night, we broke into Cocoon along with a couple of the people we're working with." She paused and closed her eyes. "The people working with us mentioned they'd found a way into Cocoon earlier. At the time… at the time I didn't think too much of how they'd managed that, but if I had to guess… I'd say they probably used you to do it."
"What?" Hope murmured. "I don't… I don't understand."
Lightning's voice was oddly gentle as she spoke. "Hope, your mother told us about Fran and Penelo."
It took a moment for Hope to understand what Lightning meant and then it hit him, hit like a kick in the guts. Penelo and Fran… they'd seemed so nice and friendly and they'd looked pretty interested in Cocoon and… and… they'd been using him, using him and his family. Bitterness welled up from deep inside him and the ringing in his ears became a roar as he clenched his jaw so hard it hurt.
"Hope!" Lightning said and he realised that everyone was looking at him in concern. "Hope," she said, more gently this time, "We know about your father, okay. We're going to get him back, I promise you." She looked over at Nora. "We'll be meeting up with the people we work with tonight and we'll work something out."
Hope ignored the pain in his body and drove to his feet. "Are they going to be there?" he growled. "Are Fran and Penelo going to be there?"
"Hope…" Serah murmured.
"It's their fault!" Hope shouted. Dimly, he was aware of the look of alarm on his mother's face but he was too angry now to care. "It's all their fault that Hojo came after us! You weren't there this morning. We were running away and I could hear them – I could hear them hitting my father!" He stared across the table at Lightning. "I want to go with you so that I can look them in the eye and tell them what they've done!"
Lightning said nothing for a long, long time and then she nodded. "All right, Hope." The others looked horrified, but Lightning ignored them. "You'll get your chance to tell them what you want, Hope, but you do as I say, when I say it." Her gaze turned gentle. "This isn't the kind of business you should be mixed up in, Hope, and I'm just trying to look out for you."
"Thank you," Hope said as he slumped back into his chair. "Thank you."
X X X
Fang's lips curved into a smirk as she caught sight of Lightning. In the poorly lit, dingy saloon, the sheriff's pink hair and bright blue eyes stood out like a diamond in the rough. However, the teasing comment at the tip of her tongue died the moment she caught sight of who was behind the sheriff.
"This here," Lightning said as she led the boy over to their table. "Is Hope Estheim."
As the words left Lightning's mouth, Fang knew with cold, awful certainty what had happened. Cocoon must have traced things back, must have gone looking for the connection between her and Vanille and the attack last night. Well, Cocoon might not have found her or Vanille, but they'd certainly found the Estheims.
The boy, Hope, had the look of someone who'd been badly beaten, but his eyes had murder in them and frankly, Fang couldn't blame him. There was a price for everything, and it had been Hope and his family who'd been made to pay, not her, and that somehow hurt worse than any wound she'd ever gotten.
"Have a seat," Fang said softly. "And tell me what happened."
By the end of it, Vanille looked like she was about to cry and the red head literally flinched away every time that Hope looked at her. Fang bit her lip. The Estheims were good, decent folk and they'd been dragged into things because of her and Vanille. Using them had been the only way to get into Cocoon, but she'd never thought it would turn out this badly. Still, a cold, cruel voice in her mind whispered, even if she had known that things would end up like this, would she really have done anything different? To her shame, Fang wasn't sure.
"Reeve," she murmured as she turned to face the man who'd gone deathly pale, even as the cat in his lap purred and snuggled closer. "Does Hojo have Bart?"
"I can't say for sure," Reeve replied. "The word is that he does, but you've got to understand, even I don't know that much about what Hojo gets up to." He shuddered. "Not that I'd want to."
Lightning frowned. "I told Hope that we're going to get his father back and I meant it. We are not leaving Bart with Hojo."
Reeve grimaced. "Look, I understand that this Bart fellow is your friend and everything, but Hojo is a monster. There's been all kinds of talk about how lots of people go into that house of his and never come back out. He has to know that you're coming and that means he'll set a trap for you, the kind you won't even see until it's too late."
Fang looked back at Hope. The boy's hands were clenched and he was standing ramrod straight.
"I hate you," Hope whispered, his eyes on Fang and Vanille, the words all the more awful for how quietly they were spoken. "It's all your fault that Hojo's got my father and you don't even care, do you?" He slammed his fists into the table. "You two are just stupid, no good criminals and we trusted you! We trusted you and look where it got us!" Tears poured down his cheeks. "Lightning should just shoot you both and damn it, if I had a gun, I'd shoot you myself!"
Fang felt her gut clench. A kid like Hope should never have a look like that in his eyes. "If you're going to hate anyone, Hope, you should hate me, it was my idea." Out of the corner of her eye, Fang saw Vanille open her mouth but she just shook her head. If Hope had to hate someone, let it be her. "But I'm telling you that I had my reasons, good reasons. Somehow though, I don't think you want to hear them, and that's fine. Hojo's got your father and that means that whatever my reasons might be, they're not going to be close to good enough for you." She met Hope's gaze squarely. "But I'm telling you, right now, that I'm going to see to it that you get your father back."
"Why should I believe you?" Hope growled. "You've lied about everything else so far."
Fang smiled sadly and drew her gun. Hope flinched, but held his ground. However, his wariness turned to confusion as she turned the gun around and put it in his hands. When he made no move to hold it properly, Fang positioned his hands for him and then raised it so that it was level with her heart. "You're right, Hope, I've lied to you about everything so far and I have done wrong by you and your family, but I'm telling you now that I'm not lying about getting your father back." She reached over and eased the hammer of the pistol back. "Look into my eyes, Hope, and judge for yourself. If you think I'm lying, then you pull that trigger – you've certainly got the right."
For a long, long moment, Hope's said nothing, his eyes locked on hers. Finally, he nodded and Lightning took the gun from him. "All right," he said softly. "I believe you, but if you're lying, if you don't get my father back, then I swear, no matter how far you run, or how long it takes, I'll find you and I'll make you sorry."
Fang nodded. "That's fair enough, Hope." She took her gun back from Lightning. "And for both our sakes I'll make sure to get your father back. A boy shouldn't have to say things like that and mean them." She turned and pinned Reeve with a look. "Now, Reeve, tell us everything you know about Hojo and where he might be keeping Bart."
X X X
Author's Notes
As always, I neither own Final Fantasy, nor do I make any money off this.
This chapter was an interesting one to write. It's pretty much devoid of the humour that's present in a lot of the other chapters, but I think that's a necessary concession to the subject matter. At the same time though, I like the grittiness in this chapter. After all, the West wasn't all sunshine and lollipops. There was danger there and all too often the innocent got dragged into it, just like Hope and his family.
I was also glad to have the chance to write a few of the other characters. For instance, this is the first we've heard from Snow for a while, and the same goes for Bart and Hope. Of course, there have been good reasons for Lightning and Fang dominating the tale (e.g., Snow wasn't part of the raid on Cocoon, so he couldn't exactly have had that much to say during the chapter where that occurs), but it is nice to get back to some of the other characters.
As an aside, this chapter also features a reversal of events from FF XIII, in that it is Snow who saves Hope and Nora. Indeed, rather than holding Snow responsible for a lot of his misfortune, it is Fang and Vanille (Fang especially) that Hope holds responsible for what has happened. How this works out, however, is something to be addressed in later chapters.
As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.