Final Fantasy XIII: Cursed Past
Chapter 23 of my Final Fantasy XIII story.
Reviews
Whistlewind Wolf: Well I'm not saying too much, all I'll say is, you're close.
bookgirl111: Sorry, but she's not my character so I cannot give permission for that :)
ILoveMemes: Well, read on to find out, glad you are enjoying it.
Beloved Nightmare Union: Thanks, glad you are enjoying it, you are spot on with those guesses, as for Lightning's scars, they'll be described in more detail in this chapter as Lightning actually examines them at the start.
The Light to all Fears: Thanks, glad you are enjoying it, yup she is, of course we still don't have the full story yet.
Starseeker358: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
Lightarcana: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it, here's the next chapter.
Miya: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it, yeah, she is rather annoying.
Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XIII belongs to Square Enix.
Chapter 23: Challenge
Thursday 14 October 2 APW; things had been quiet; Cid had been continuing his attempts to investigate Dysley, so far nothing. Lightning was content to wait and, thanks to her relationship with Hope, she was now able to sleep free of nightmares. The only reminder of her torture was the horrific patchwork of scars that covered her body, varying from thin faded red lines that covered her legs to the mesh pattern of scars on her arms, caused by a mesh of red hot wire being clamped around them. Her back and torso were covered in scars of varying sizes; some were jagged in appearance, others not as much. She also had faded white marks that were the remains of the electrical burns she had suffered from Nabaat. Shaking her head she quickly got dressed, she had finished at the gym and was getting ready to return home. She drove back and parked before getting out and heading inside, once inside she froze, her soldier instinct kicking in. The main room was trashed, there were signs of a struggle and most worryingly, someone wasn't there who should've been.
"Serah?" Lightning called out, silence greeted her, and her worst fears were confirmed, her sister was missing.
She quickly scoured the house, but there was no sign of Serah anywhere, then she saw it on the kitchen counter, she walked over and picked it up, it was a note, addressed to her.
You dared to refuse me, so I have taken revenge. Serah is with me, you'll never find us, I'm going to have so much fun with her. If you think you can find us then try it, although I won't make it easy. If you do find us, then no matter what you try, you'll fail, thanks to my friends. Have fun Lightning.
The name on the note made her blood run cold, it was Hiroshi.
'That creep, he's gone too far now.' She thought angrily, before confusion set in, 'How did he get out, he was in prison, he was supposed to be in prison for years.'
Her mind was racing when she heard a knock at the door, she ran to it and pulled it openly, "What," She snapped.
"Hey, Light, chill." Snow replied, raising his hands in defense.
Lightning sighed, "Sorry, I just..."
"Look what's going on, I've been calling Serah but..."
Lightning cut him off, revealing the truth, "Serah's been kidnapped by Hiroshi." Snow's face quickly changed, going from shocked to angry in seconds.
"That rat, where is he, we've gotta stop him!" Lightning nodded, "I know, but it's not gonna be easy."
They decided to go around town and ask the people if they had seen Hiroshi, see if they could find some clues.
"Given how he's explained things in the note, even with the two of us it's likely to be a handful." Lightning explained, Snow sighed and then a thought occurred to him, "I've got it, everyone else is away except Noel, let's call him."
Lightning was surprised at this, "Where is everyone?"
"Fang and Vanille have gone on a day trip to Nautilus, I would call my crew but they've been bogged down with work and they won't be allowed to leave."
Lightning nodded, "Right, and I don't really want to involve Hope if things are as dangerous as they seem to be."
So they agreed and called Noel who hurried over immediately.
Once Noel arrived they headed out and began searching for any clues. As they walked around town they could heard the usual gossip and chatter. Snow decided to ask someone.
"Hey excuse me," He asked a passerby, "Have you seen Serah today?"
Serah was well-known around Bodhum, especially for her kindness, so the man knew who Snow meant.
"I'm afraid not, sorry," The man replied. Snow sighed.
They continued to walk around, asking if anyone had seen Serah, or anyone acting suspiciously, they were getting nowhere. As they walked around town, growing more frustrated and panicked every second when they found something that caught their attention.
"Hey, guys check it out," Noel called out as they passed the mouth of the alleyway which led to the seedier side of Bodhum.
Noel knelt down and picked something up and showed it to them, "Isn't this Serah's necklace?"
"Yeah, that's it," Snow replied, he knew it immediately and Lightning also knew what it was.
Snow had bought Serah the pendant, in fact he had had it specially made for her, there were only two like it and he had the other one.
"So they went this way, Serah must've dropped it," Lightning deduced and they hurried through the alleyway.
They soon arrived at one of the deserted squares of the seedier side of town.
They looked around, they couldn't see anything out of place, they had hit another dead end and now they couldn't ask anyone for help. It was then Lightning made an unsettling discovery, leading towards one of the shadowy alleyways, on the fire escape on the side of one building was blood.
"Hey, look at this?" She called out; the others came over and saw the blood.
"Do you think they...?" Snow began but Lightning shook her head, "No, it's not enough for a serious injury."
Snow relaxed slightly, they looked down the alleyway but saw no more blood. Noel however pointed out that there was a trail of blood drops leading up the fire escape.
"To the roof, great, let's go."
They headed up and made it up to the roof. They stopped when they saw the sight before them on the roof. Hiroshi was standing there, smirking. Standing next to him was two rather large thuggish men, what made them looked unusual was, aside from their large bulk there were obvious signs of mechanical parts in their bodies, parts of the skin in their arms seemed to be made of steel, almost as if they had been cyberized.
'But that's impossible,' Lightning thought, 'Only PSICOM have that capability, is this why they were kidnapping people, for their experiments.'
Hiroshi smirked when he saw the group standing before him.
"Well, well, what a surprise, you actually found us." He said before shaking his head, "Although you're a little late," He added maliciously.
That caught their attention and they tensed as the thugs stepped aside.
Behind them, lying on the ground was Serah and, much to the surprise of the trio, Hope. Both of them were bound and gagged, Hope had a large cut on his forehead and they realized that the blood on the fire escape wasn't Serah's it was Hope's blood. Worse still Serah was naked and what remained of her clothing was torn shreds stuck to her back.
"They put up quite a struggle, that pathetic runt Estheim tried to stop us so we've decided to deal with him later." Hiroshi remarked before grinning with savage glee. "I've gotta admit I'm surprised Snow, I thought you and Serah were closer than that."
Snow glared at him, unwilling to believe what was being said, Hiroshi then confirmed their worse nightmare.
"I was amazed when I found out she was a virgin, well...not anymore."
That set them off, Serah had been raped. Snow roared and charged towards Hiroshi but one of the thugs stepped forwards and stopped him. Noel headed straight for the other thug leaving Lightning to go for Hiroshi.
The problem was the thugs, due to their augmentations; it was like fighting a lump of iron, as Snow swung at the first, he simply took the blow. Snow's fist made a dull metallic sound as it hit the thugs face.
"What the hell!" The thug laughed and delivered a powerful backhand knocking Snow to the ground. Noel was being knocked around by his opponent who struck mercilessly.
Lightning tried to attack Hiroshi but he ducked out of the way, she attempted to deliver a kick but he blocked it and then punched her across the face. She staggered back; he had hit her with such incredible force.
"What the, so they got you too." She gasped, realized that Hiroshi had been experimented on too.
"Oh, that's not all, you're gonna love this," He taunted as he raised his right hand up, fist closed.
Suddenly his hand opened up and was replaced with a large blade. Lightning slowly edged backwards and Hiroshi lunged with his blade. She dodged as he continued to strike. Snow and Noel were badly beat up and the thugs weren't even fazed. However Snow realized that while there strength was increased their intelligence was not.
"Noel," He whispered, "When I give the word, move, trust me."
Noel nodded and the thugs charged towards them, Snow and Noel were standing back to back. Snow then called out and they dodged, the thugs ran into each other, stumbling, due to their momentum. Snow took advantage of the moment to grab the thugs and knock their heads together, creating a dull metallic clunk, it was then Noel saw something, they both had a strange device sticking out the back of their necks. Acting purely on instinct he ran over and removed the device. The thugs went still, they were still breathing and looking around but they could no longer move. Their augmentations had been shut down, leaving them helpless.
Lightning was still fighting Hiroshi; he was still trying to use the blade to attack and had managed to cut her arm but gave no serious injury. He was still laughing and taunting them with comments on Serah's rape. Suddenly he stumbled; Hope had managed to get his feet free and had kicked him in the back of the leg. Lightning acted at once and grabbed the arm the blade was extending from and using all her strength ripped the prosthetic from his arm. He howled in pain and she quickly delivered a kick that knocked him to the ground. He glared as Lightning used her foot to pin him, he began to raise his other hand but she threw his own bladed hand into his other arm, pinning it to the ground and drawing fresh screams. She stepped back and breathed a sigh of relief before checking on Snow and Noel; they had taken down their opponents.
"Noel, go call the police, and get some medical help too." She called out, Noel nodded and pulled out his phone as Snow and Lightning headed to where Serah and Hope were.
They quickly untied and ungagged the two; Lightning glanced over at Hope who was holding his usual green neckerchief over the cut on his forehead.
"Hope?" He shook his head, "I'm fine."
She nodded and they turned to Serah, Snow had covered her with his jacket and was holding her as she cried.
"It's okay Serah, it's okay, it's over now." He whispered to her.
Lightning gently reached out and placed her hand on Serah's shoulder. "Serah, I'm so sorry, I know what you're going through."
Snow and Hope stared at Lightning surprised at this; Serah looked up at her sister, still crying, "Light?"
Lightning nodded, "I've been raped too, it was two years ago."
There was solemn silence apart from Hiroshi's whimpers of pain until finally the police showed up, along with paramedics. Due to their injuries they all had to be transported to hospital, in addition to Snow's jacket the paramedics provided Serah with clothes to wear and they were transported to the hospital.
Later, Snow and Noel sat with Serah in her hospital room; they had only been sitting for a few minutes when Lightning and Hope walked in.
"Hiroshi and those thugs have been taking to a secure facility, the augmentations will be removed and they'll be imprisoned for life." Lightning informed the others.
They all sat quietly, Serah had suffered the worse but she was determined to although Hiroshi had lied, while he had torn her clothes and had molested her he had never actually managed to rape her before Lightning, Snow and Noel had shown up. That granted some relief but Serah was still shaken by the molestation and cruel treatment she had endured. Luckily she knew she would have Lightning and Snow to help her overcome her terror and focus on recovering.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.