Final Fantasy XIII: Cursed Past

Chapter 16 of my Final Fantasy XIII story, enjoy.

Reviews

The Light to all Fears: Yeah, well, read on to see if you were right :)
Lightslightning: Yup she is, it goes even further in this chapter and the next few, enjoy.
Lightarcana: Yup, she sure is :)

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XIII belongs to Square Enix.

Chapter 16: Jealousy

It was Tuesday, Hope was heading into school, he was smiling, his Mother had been released from the hospital last night and was now back home. He was still saddened by his Father's death and confused over his feelings towards Lightning but he was happy his Mother was okay. Just then he almost walked into someone.

"Oh sorry," He apologized and then saw it was a blonde girl, "Don't worry about it," She reassured him and smiled.

Hope then realized that he recognized her, "Hey, Alyssa, it's you."

She smiled, it was Alyssa Zaidelle, her family used to live next door to Hope years ago and they had been friends, her family moved away to Eden and that was the last he had heard from her.

"Yup, I just transferred here, I thought I saw you yesterday, but I wasn't sure." She explained, Hope smiled, "It's great to see you again."

Alyssa nodded and her smile grew, "Wow, you've really changed since the last time I saw you," She said eyeing the slight but toned muscle he had built up working out with Lightning at the gym.

Hope felt his face grow hot and shifted uncomfortably, "Uh, yeah."

Alyssa stepped a little closer to him, "I like it, you look good." Hope swallowed nervously, "Um…Thanks."

Alyssa giggled and stepped even closer, "Maybe you haven't changed that much, still so shy."

Hope blushed at this and then saw Lightning standing nearby.

Lightning glared at the girl who she now knew was called Alyssa. It was the same girl she had seen yesterday eyeing Hope, now it turned out she was a childhood friend of his. She was glaring because even if Hope couldn't see it she could plainly see that Alyssa was flirting with him. She felt a strong burning hatred for the girl that she couldn't explain.

'What the hell is this feeling,' She thought to herself, incredulous, 'Is this…jealousy, but, that can't be right, ugh forget it.'

She stalked over to them; Hope looked up and smiled, his face crimson, "Hey Light."

"Hey Hope," She greeted and then turned to Alyssa, "Hey, I'm Lightning," Alyssa looked at her coolly and then smiled, although it didn't reach her eyes, "Alyssa Zaidelle."

Lightning nodded but before she could comment the bell rang and Serah, Snow and Noel approached, Hope waved goodbye and hurried to his class, Alyssa walked separate from them as they all headed to English.

'That's that girl Lightning, the one he keeps staring at,' Alyssa thought to herself bitterly, 'Well I can't have that, I have to get her away from him.'

They entered English, Alyssa trying to think of a way to get rid of Lightning; Lightning meanwhile was annoyed and spent most of English seething.

'What's that girl's problem, why do I feel like this,' She thought and then finally decided, 'I'll talk to Hope, see if I can…finally sort this out.'

Satisfied with her plan Lightning decided to focus on English, she did what she was best at, compartmentalizing her thoughts and emotions.

She didn't have a chance to talk to Hope in Physics and she could feel Alyssa glaring at her, she felt unusually sitting near Hope, she felt awkward and whenever she looked t Hope her heart beat so hard it hurt and she could've sworn she was blushing. By the end of the lesson she felt hot and bothered, she excused herself and allowed Hope and Maqui to head to the cafeteria and she headed to the bathroom. She splashed water on her face trying to cool down, she dried her face and then looked up and saw Alyssa standing behind her, she turned around.

"What," She snapped, not even bothering to be polite, especially since Alyssa was glaring at her.

Alyssa stepped forwards, "You know why I'm here, Hope, stay away from him." She stated directly.

Lightning rolled her eyes, "Look, Hope's my friend, why would I stay away from a friend?"

"Yeah right, don't' lie!" Alyssa snapped, "I've seen the way you look at him!" Lightning glared, "I don't know what you…"

She was cut off, shocked at Alyssa's audacity as the girl slapped her across the face. She glared at Alyssa with such ferocity that Alyssa briefly backed away in fear before recovering.

"What the hell." She growled through gritted teeth, Alyssa then stepped towards her and spat out, "Stay away from Hope, he's mine, got it."

With that she turned and stalked off, Lightning sighed and shook her head. She left the bathroom and headed for the cafeteria still seething. She sat down at the usual table and greeted the others, making an effort to appear clam.

As she sat she glared over at Alyssa who was glaring back, she rolled her eyes. She then turned back to face the others, unfortunately Hope was sitting right in front of her so when she faced forwards her breath caught in her throat.

'This feeling again, maybe she's right…I'll have to talk to Hope about as soon as possible.'

Hope noticed Lightning's preoccupation and looked around and noticed Alyssa's glare.

'Wonder what's going on, honestly it's great to see Alyssa again but…The way lightning's been acting, it's just…weird.'

As Hope was lost in thought Lightning decided to try and talk to him now but before she could say anything the bell rang and she had to head for Maths, Alyssa was in her Maths class and wouldn't stop glaring at her. She sighed and headed to Maths immediately, ignoring Alyssa.

'Honestly,' Lightning thought to herself, 'She thinks she can intimidate me, she's lucky she doesn't know how strong I am, or that I let her get away with that because I wasn't in the mood for any trouble.'

With that she walked into her Maths class and sat down. Apart from Alyssa glaring at her nothing really happened that afternoon, Biology and Gym also passed without incident. She walked out of school, Vanille and the NORA crew had already left, so had Snow as he had to hurry home. So Lightning was going to be driving Serah home, when she got outside of school however she saw Hope and Alyssa talking, laughing smiling and that burning angry feeling in her heart spiked.

"Light?" Serah asked her confused, Lightning shook her head, "It's nothing, just a minute, I need to talk to Hope."

Serah nodded and waited as Lighting walked over to Hope and Alyssa, deciding now was the time to talk to him about her feelings, before Alyssa caused any real problems.

End of chapter, what do you think, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.