Final Fantasy XIII: Cursed Past
Chapter 27 of my Final Fantasy XIII story, enjoy.
Reviews
The Light to all Fears: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it, Well, wait and see :)
Beloved Nightmare Union: Thanks, glad you are enjoying it, I have to say you are pretty close about Dysley, all will be revealed about him in chapter 34, in this story the Fal'Cie are basically the old Gods, faded by Legend and presumed extinct.
TheWarrior12: Yeah, thanks, glad you enjoyed it, yup, Fang and Vanille are engaged and so is Snow and Serah, read on to find out.
Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XIII belongs to Square Enix.
Chapter 27: Back to School Again
It was Monday, January 17 3 APW, the group was heading back to school, the Christmas vacation was over. Snow was driving to school; Serah sat up in the front passenger seat, content. Lightning sat in the back, relaxed, waiting to get to school to meet up with Hope. They finally arrived and saw that Fang and Vanille engaged in a game of 'suck my face', Hope, Noel and the NORA crew stood nearby, waiting, they got out of the car and approached, Hope smiled at Lightning, she smiled back and they shared a brief welcoming kiss before parting, still smiling. They hung around and chatted for a while before the bell rang and they headed off to their first class, Lightning, Snow, Serah and Noel heading for English. When they arrived they saw that Alyssa was already there before them, but no one else. Lightning fully intended to ignore her; however she noticed something unusual, Alyssa turned towards her. Her eyes were unusually blank; she walked over and stopped in front of her.
"What?" She snapped, expecting Alyssa to come up with some snarky remark.
What happened next however took her by surprise. Rather than make some biting remark Alyssa just lashed out at her, scratching her face. Taken by surprise Lightning stumbled back and fell over, Alyssa had scratched her hard enough to leave three cuts on her left cheek.
Lightning looked up and saw that Alyssa was trying to attack her again, only Snow was holding her back, Serah and Noel were at Lightning's side. Serah glared up at Alyssa.
"What is wrong with you?" Serah snapped angrily, Lightning then realized something, that blank look in Alyssa's eyes, she had seen it before. "Guys, hold on."
They looked at her, Snow still holding Alyssa back. Lightning pointed out what she had noticed.
"She's not acting on our own free will," She explained, "Look at her eyes."
The others then noticed it; Noel was the one who voiced their conclusion, "Looks like she's been hypnotized."
Lightning nodded, 'I can't believe it, that look, she's been hypnotized alright, but in a specific way, the very way PSICOM control their sleeper agents.'
It now dawned on Lightning that this was exactly what had happened, Alyssa was a sleeper agent for PSICOM. But she couldn't have been for long, since PSICOM had been disbanded two years ago and only recently, secretly reformed. Snow was still struggled to hold Alyssa back.
"Any way to get her to snap out of it?" He asked, Lightning nodded, "I've seen this sort of thing before, there's a pressure point at the base of the neck, press that and she should snap out of it."
Snow did so and Alyssa fell limp.
Lightning walked over and checked Alyssa, she was unconscious but okay, definitely free of the hypnosis.
"What's going on here?" They looked up, it was the teacher. Lightning quickly took charge of the situation, "Alyssa just collapsed, I think she fainted, I was gonna take her to the nurse."
The teacher nodded, "Very well, what happened to your face Miss Farron?"
"Alyssa tried to grab on to me for support when she began falling, she accidentally scratched my face."
The teacher nodded again and, after Lightning lifted Alyssa into a standing position and slung one of Alyssa's arms over her shoulders and, supporting her, Lightning began walking to the nurse's office. As they walked Alyssa groaned and opened her eyes, she saw the situation she was in and struggled.
"What the hell, get off me?" She began but Lightning glared at her and replied, completely serious, "You fainted and tried to grab me for support as you fell, but accidentally scratched my face instead, understand."
Alyssa's eyes widened and realized what Lightning was saying, it was a cover story she needed to corroborate to the nurse.
"Oh God, Lightning, I...I'm so sorry, I..." She began but Lightning shook her head, "You weren't in control, but that still doesn't excuse you from the way you acted towards me and Hope."
Alyssa lowered her head, "R-right, but even if I wasn't in control, I still knew what I was doing."
They arrived at the nurse's office and luckily she believed their cover story. She had Alyssa lie on the bed and then treated Lightning's cuts to avoid infection; she then had to leave to attend to another incident.
Alyssa looked up at Lightning nervously, Lightning looked complete professional and serious.
"I think I know who did this to you, what did they want you to do?" She asked, Alyssa lowered her head, "I honestly don't know, I just, felt weird and I felt like my body was acting on its own when I attacked you there."
Lightning nodded, it sounded just as she remembered it from hearing captured sleeper agents as they were out of their hypnotic state.
"Listen, those people who hypnotized you could regain control whenever they want, but there's a way to help. I know people who can ensure you never fall under their control again."
Alyssa looked up at her, amazed, "R-really. Lightning nodded and explained, "I'll take you there after school, I'll have to call ahead."
"Okay, thanks...Lightning."
She nodded and prepared to head back to class, she knew Alyssa would be released and allowed to return to class eventually. Lightning returned to class and Serah turned to her.
"Lightning?" Lightning shook her head, "It's okay, I've sorted it out, after today it won't happen again.
Serah nodded knowing that was all the answer she was going to get.
The rest of the day passed quietly, Alyssa kept her head down and no further attacks occurred. The scratches she had given Lightning had led to Alyssa ending up with blood under her fingernails, but it was gone by Lunch Time. They stuck to the cover story so no one else knew what had happened. Finally, by the end of the day everyone was heading home, Lightning had made excuses so she could stay behind and once the others were gone she crept out and found Alyssa.
"Good, you decided to trust me." She stated simply, Alyssa nodded, "I'm here, so, where now?"
Lightning sighed, "Okay look, I've made some calls, a car will show up to take us to where we need to go, it'll be here soon."
Just then Lightning spotted something, a woman walking out of the school; she was carrying a semi-transparent bag with what looked like swabs in it.
"That's the woman who cleaned your blood out from my nails," Alyssa explained, "Although she wasn't wearing that mask when she did so."
Lightning narrowed her eyes; the woman was wearing a mask she recognized, the same type of mask as the silver haired man who had been in charge of the kidnappings in Bodhum.
'She's PSICOM, something about her feels familiar, why is she taking...' Suddenly it dawned on her, 'My DNA, that's what she's taking, that's what they were after and why they had Alyssa attack me, but why do they want it.'
She couldn't get any answers however as the woman got into a car and left quickly. Shortly afterwards the car that had come to pick them up had arrived, they got in and drove off.
They arrived at the Guardian Crops medical office, Lightning had already explained what was going on and they were expecting them, Alyssa was taken to receive treatment to free her from the hypnosis. Lightning meanwhile called Cid and mentioned the incident she had witnessed; Cid promised to investigate immediately, satisfied with everything Lighting got transport back home and put the incident to the back of her mind. She walked inside; Serah had already finished preparing dinner.
"Hey Light, did you have something to do with work?" She asked, clearly asking why she was late. Lightning nodded, "Yeah, it's all sorted out now."
Serah nodded and smiled, both sisters ate in silence. Lightning later received a message to confirm that Alyssa's treatment was successful and that she had been returned home.
'Good, now she won't cause anymore trouble,' Lightning thought happily. Now she could leave the incidents that disturbed her to the back of her mind until she could get answers.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.