Final Fantasy XIII: Cursed Past

Chapter 18 of my Final Fantasy XIII story, enjoy.

Reviews

Lightslightning: Thanks, glad you are enjoying it, yeah well, wait and see what happens, it's gonna be good.

Aerosophical: Thanks, glad you are enjoying it, oh just wait, more intense stuff is still to happen.

Otaku-Entity: Thanks, glad you are enjoying it, yeah, I always make free time for a chapter or two :) Yeah Alyssa is, just wait though, Hope will see the truth eventually.

Lightarcana: Thanks, glad you are enjoying it, yeah, chapter 19 will delve into Hope's feelings, right now it's Lightning's, you're gonna enjoying what happens in the next chapter too.

Beloeved Nightmare Union: Thanks, yeah Hope's not too happy at the moment, trsut me you'll see how he feels in the next chapte, right now it's Lightning's feelings that are under the microscope, so to speak.

Kurosaki Anne: Thanks, yeah I decided it would be interesting to switch their roles around, well this chapter and the next one will show the results of what's happened, as for Caius he will show up but only much later.

The Light to all Fears: Yeah I thought that would make an interesting twist, as for Caius answering the phone, yeah I figured that would be good for suspense, Caius will be a hero (he's already a legend on Cocoon due to the war), in fact Caius is important to Lightning for a special reason that will be explained in a later chapter, well, wait and see:)

The Warrior12: Yup he sure is, well, here's the answer, hope you enjoy it.

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy belongs to Square Enix.

Chapter 18: Sickening Sight

Wednesday 11 August 2 APW was a grey day with heavy rain. The weather reflected Lightning's mood, she had to go to school, and following the outburst with Hope she was extremely nervous and unsure of herself. She stepped out and got into her car, Serah climbed into the passenger seat and looked sadly at her sister, it hurt to see her in this state.

"Light," She said hesitantly, "should we get going?"

"Yeah," Lightning replied quietly and started the ignition and drove to school. They arrived at school and parked; they quickly got out and hurried into the school building. Snow and the NORA crew stood waiting for them.

"Hey," Snow greeted cheerfully, Lightning nodded and Serah walked over and embraced Snow, he saw her serious expression and nodded. Finally Vanille showed up, she looked at the others smiling but then turned to Lightning and was suddenly serious.

"Hey, Lightning, can we talk for a minute?" Lightning was surprised at this and agreed.

"What's going on?" She asked when Vanille stopped some distance away from the others. Vanille turned to her, "Listen I heard what happened yesterday...with Hope."

Lightning stiffened and her defensive reactions kicked in, "So what." Vanille shook her head, "Look, Hope will come around; he'll see he's made a mistake."

"Doubt it, not when he's got that bitch poisoning his mind."

Vanille was about to reply but stopped, Hope and Alyssa had arrived and were walking past, talking to each other, Hope didn't even look at Lightning. She shook her head and was about to walk away when Vanille stopped her.

"Listen Lightning, he's angry just now but...you know Hope loves you."

"He's got a crush, there's a difference," Lightning growled, Vanille shook her head, "C'mon, stop lying, we know you..."

Lightning rounded on her angrily, "Don't even go there, just drop it, got it!"

With that she turned and stalked off to English leaving a tearful Vanille behind.

Lightning arrived at her English class and stopped dead, Alyssa was already there, smirking at her. Lightning simply walked over and leaned against the wall, ignoring Alyssa.

"Oh Lightning, thanks by the way," Alyssa said smugly, "I thought you were going to ruin my chances but you've made Hope all available to me."

"Shut up," Lightning spat, not even looking at her, "I don't care what you have to say."

Alyssa smirked and stepped in front of her, "Oh really, because I think you do, what's wrong, upset Hope isn't with you."

"I'm seconds away from hurting you, so just shut up." Lightning growled, Alyssa smirked.

"Go for it," she taunted, "Give Hope one more reason to choose me over you," Before Lightning could retort however Snow, Serah and Noel showed up.

Lightning glared at Alyssa once more and turned away, Alyssa smiled smugly as the teacher then showed up as well as the rest of the class, they headed inside and the lesson began, Lightning fuming the whole time.

'Honestly, does she think she's gonna get away with this,' Lightning thought bitterly, 'She's really pushing it now.'

The lesson passed in silence, Lightning's angry had not abated by the end and so she left with Noel for History in a foul mood. As they walked Noel turned to Lightning.

"Lightning…" She quickly cut him off, "If this is about Hope I don't wanna hear it."

Noel shook his head, "It's not about Hope," Lightning nodded, "Good."

"It's about Vanille."

Lightning turned to him confused and then noticed he was glaring.

"I get that you're angry, but that's no excuse to take it out on her, I mean she was crying for God sake."

Lightning shook her head, "Well, I told her I didn't wanna talk about it and she persisted," Noel continued to glare; "She only wanted to help you."

"If you guys really wanna help me, then leave me alone, that'd be a big help," Lightning spat before stalking off to History, leaving Noel behind.

History passed uneventfully, Noel didn't say a word to her, neither did Maqui. She left for Physics and by the time she arrived Hope and Alyssa were already there, the teacher was there too so Alyssa didn't have to try and stir up trouble. Due to the seating arrangements Hope was still sitting next to Lightning.

"Lightning," He greeted her stiffly, no emotion in his voice.

She didn't reply and the awkwardness grew thick between them. Throughout the whole lesson hope refuses to talk to her and vice versa, by the end Lightning was already out of the class before Hope had even left his seat. She walked into the cafeteria and tried to sit at the first empty table she came to unnoticed but Serah called her over to them. She ignored them and sat down, glaring as Hope and Alyssa walked in. Lightning's anger continued to be her refuge, she knew that if she let go of it she would sink into the depression and almost unbearable loneliness she had endured for so long. She watched feeling the white hot anger and what she knew now was definitely jealousy fester as Hope and Alyssa sat down together, away from the others. Just then she noticed Snow and Serah sitting opposite her.

"What?" She snapped, Serah smiled sadly, "Light, there's no need for you to exclude yourself from us."

"Why would you guys even want me near you, I just destroy everything I get close to," She responded but Serah shook her head, "That's not true…"

Lightning cut her off angrily, "Think about what I did to Vanille."

Snow sighed, "Actually, no one really blames you, yeah Vanille's upset and she's talking to Fang about it right now but, really we all know you weren't thinking rationally."

Lightning scoffed and shook her head, "You guys don't understand, so don't try to."

Serah tried to reason with her, "Light listen, we want to help."

"Didn't Noel tell you? If you wanna help, leave me alone!"

Snow sighed and guided Serah back to their table.

Lightning rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat.

'Why can't they just leave me alone,' She thought bitterly, 'Whoever said misery loves company is clearly wrong.'

Suddenly her phone vibrated, she picked it up and answered it.

"Fang?"

"Lightning," She tensed when she heard what sounded like anger in Fang's voice, before she could ask what was going on Fang continued, "I heard about what happened at school today."

Lightning sighed, "So, are you gonna start telling me…"

"I'm telling you that if you make Vanille cry again, I'll come over there and break your jaw, got it."

Lightning froze at this, "Fang?"

"Stop being such a wimp and stop taking your anger out on others, get help and do something about it, understand."

"Fine," Lightning replied before hanging up.

She leaned back and sighed, this day couldn't possibly get any worse, she had upset Vanille, chased away all her friends, snapped at Snow and Serah and now Fang was pissed off at her. She looked around and saw that she was wrong, things had gotten worse. Her anger spiked and she gripped the table so hard her hands were shaking, Hope and Alyssa were kissing.

'That's it, I've had it, I'm…' Before she could finish her train of thought she spotted something that caused her anger at Hope to evaporate, although her anger at Alyssa increased tenfold. Hope's shocked expression and the fact he was as stiff as a board made her realize.

'This isn't mutual, she kissed him, he wasn't expecting it, that bitch, she's going to pay for this.'

With that Lightning stood up, determined to confront Alyssa, when something happened she did not expect.

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