Final Fantasy XIII: Cursed Past

Chapter 17 of my Final Fantasy XIII story, enjoy.

Reviews

Beloved Nightmare Union: Thanks, glad you are enjoying it, I had time so I thought 'why not'. That's fine, as for what happens, read on to find out.
Aerosophical: Yeah well, I needed it to be like this for the storyline, as for Alyssa's reaction, wait and see.
Lightarcana: Well, here's your answer, wait and see waht unfolds :)

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XIII belongs to Square Enix.

Chapter 17: Angry Outburst

Serah watched nervously at Lightning stalked over to where Hope and Alyssa stood talking.

'Oh please, Light stay calm, don't do anything rash,' Serah thought desperately, knowing that she wouldn't be able to stop Lightning even if she tried.

Lightning glared as she drew closer when she saw the way they smiled and laughed at each other. She longed to have that kind of connection with someone; she had believed she had found it only for it to be taken away from her when Caius disappeared, ever since she had hid her pain and longing beneath a mask of indifference occasionally switched to one of anger, all to hide her deep pain that had nothing to do with the torture.

"Hope," She said simply, trying to get his attention, he turned to her still smiling, Alyssa, who was now behind him glared at her.

Lightning didn't even look at her she focused on Hope, "Could I talk to you for a second, in private."

Anything you wanna say to Hope you can say to me," Alyssa cut in sharply; it took all of Lightning's willpower not to attack her right away. "This is none of your business, it's between me and Hope."

With that Lightning took Hope's arm and led him away as Alyssa stood glaring at her with such intensity it rivalled her own glare.

Finally Lightning stopped some distance away, Alyssa and Serah could still see them but they wouldn't be able to hear what was being said unless they raised their voices. Lightning let go of Hope's arm and then turned to face him.

"Light, what's going on, you've been acting strange lately," Hope sounded concerned but Lightning shook her head.

"Hope listen to me, you can't trust that Alyssa girl," She said, getting straight to the point, Hope looked shocked, "Light, what are you talking about? She's my childhood friend; of course I can trust her."

Lightning shook her head, "Hope, she may want to be…more than just friends with you and, look, just because we're close friends she saw me as a threat, she cornered me in the bathroom and started making threats, even had the nerve to slap me."

Hope shook his head, "I find that hard to believe, Alyssa couldn't threaten anyone even if she tried." He paused for a moment before adding, "Besides, even if she did, why should that be a problem?"

Lightning rolled her eyes and forced herself to remain calm, 'Relax, he wasn't there, he didn't see trying to get in my face,' She thought before telling herself, 'C'mon, just be diplomatic for once.'

She composed herself and then spoke, her voice even, "Hope, if she does like you in that way, she'll want you to be with her and only her, she won't want you to be with your friends, do you really wanna be with someone like that."

Hope stared wide-eyed at Lightning but seemed unable to say anything at the moment.

Alyssa watched glaring, 'Who does that bitch think she is, if she thinks she can turn Hope against me she's dead wrong.'

She shook her head and glared over at where Serah stood watching, 'So that's her sister,' She thought vindictively, She's dating that big lug, God, both of them are slags, unbelievable, do they really think they'll get away with this.'

Serah was oblivious to Alyssa's poisonous thoughts as she was too busy watching Lightning concerned.

'Well, she's not hurt anyone at least, maybe she does know what she's doing…I hope so.' She thought to herself.

Just then her phone rang, she quickly answered it.

"Serah?" It was Snow, "I was gonna drop by but, you guys aren't home yet?"

"This isn't a good time Snow, Lightning's talking to Hope about something and…"

"Oh really," Snow remarked, sounding cheerful, Serah quickly cut across, "It's not like that, something's bothering Light, about that girl Alyssa."

She could almost see the smile disappearing from Snow's face, "Okay, I'll wait for you, let me know what happens."

Serah agreed and hung up before turning her attention back to Lightning and Hope.

Hope shook his head, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Honestly Light, you expect me to believe everything you're saying about Alyssa, just like that" He questioned, she shook her head, "Look, Hope I…"

"What do you care anyway?" He cut across her, "Don't tell me you're jealous of her."

Lightning stiffened wondering how he could possibly seen that but then realized he was actually asking, he didn't know the truth, and she intended to keep it that.

"What gave you that idea," She snapped, Hope surprisingly glared at her, "Well given the way you've been trying to stop me from talking to her and the fact you're saying stuff about her that can't possibly be true."

Hope sighed and then continued, "Last time I checked girls only lie like that when they're jealous of the other girl."

"Get real, why should I be jealous, I thought I made it quite clear that…"

"I know, but honestly, the way you're acting it's unbelievable, Alyssa's my friend and you want me to stay away from her, that's not happening."

"Hope," She tried to stay as calm as possible, despite her anger, "I'm trying to stop you from making a mistake…"

"Well tough!" He suddenly yelled startling her, "I don't care, you don't control me Light, if you can't accept me being friends with Alyssa then that's too bad!"

"Hope…"

He shook his head, "I've heard enough, jealous or not, it's clear I can't trust what you say, you just wanna control me, well I'm not falling for it so just leave me alone, don't talk to me again!"

With that he stormed off, heading back to Alyssa and left with her. Neither of them broke stride but Alyssa cast a glance back and gave Lightning a smug smirk, thanking her for making things easier. Lightning stood there, caught between rage and sadness, Serah walked over to her.

"Light?" She asked cautiously but Lightning shook her head, "I don't wanna hear it Serah, let's just get in the car and go home."

With that she stalked off to the car and got in, leaving Serah to follow her and also get in, they drove home in silence.

When they arrived home they found Snow waiting for them. They got out the car; lightning walked up and unlocked the door.

"Hey," Snow greeted, Lightning simply walked inside, "Whatever."

She then disappeared upstairs, Serah walked in behind her with Snow following and closing the door.

"What happened?" He asked, concerned, Serah sat down and began to explain about the incident, Lightning and Hope's private chat, Hope's outburst and the fact that Hope had walked off with Alyssa and no longer wanted to even see Lightning.

"Damn, this, this isn't right," Snow muttered, shaking his head, "What can we do, we can't leave things like this."

Serah shook her head, "I don't know what to do, Lightning's really broken up about it, you know what she's like, hiding her real feelings."

Snow nodded and Serah continued, "We can't talk to Hope ourselves however, he'll just assume we're taking Lightning's side."

Snow sighed, "So what you're saying is…there's nothing we can do."

Serah nodded sadly.

Lightning lay on her bed, even though she refused to admit it the tear tracks on her face revealed she had been crying, how could this have happened? She tried to do one good thing and look what happens, it blows up in her face. She looked at her phone; her list of contacts had grown, apart from Serah, Caius, Cid and Amodar she now had Snow and the NORA crews numbers (accepted begrudgingly), as well as Fang, Vanille and Hope's. She continued to stare at her phone, trying to ignore the fact that fresh tears were clouding her vision. She couldn't make sense of it, she tried to help Hope but that strange feeling had been distracting her, worse still she couldn't call any of these people for help, well, except one but was it really worth the risk. She decided she would try anyway and, clearing her eyes she hit the call button on Caius' number.

"I'm sorry; the person you are calling is unavailable."

Lightning groaned and then prepared to smash her phone into the ground but stopped and fell back onto the bed again.

"This is ridiculous," She muttered to herself. She reached out and picked up the photo again, her family, bright and happy until tragedy tore them apart. She put it back and picked up the other photo, it was even older, and showed her Mother holding a newborn baby girl, Lightning swallowed as a lump form in her throat, the newborn girl in the picture was her, the picture was of the day she was born.

"Back when I was Claire Farron, before Lightning…before everything changed." She shook her head as she considered the name she had chosen for herself.

"I was right, I am Lightning, I destroy everything…PSICOM, Primarch Malum…Now my friendship with Hope, as well as…anything else to do with him."

She put the picture down and sighed, "I'm nothing, I just destroy everything and the one person who could fully understand me is the person I can't talk to…Because he's 'unavailable'."

She groaned and rolled over onto her back and just lay staring at the ceiling, ignoring everything, even Serah when she knocked on the door, she remained lying until her hunger was too great and she finally dragged herself downstairs, Snow had gone home Serah had just finished making dinner. Lightning braced herself but Serah didn't once bring up the fight with Hope as they ate, when she was finished she immediately retreated back to her room and stayed their for the rest of the night, wondering what new problems awaited her tomorrow.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it. So after a little fight Hope is angry at Lightning, how will this affect them, waht will happen next? Stay tuned to find out and please read and review.