Review Thanks!
ben4kevin: Thank you! Sorry for the long wait again.
xXAngelWithDragonWingsXx: Congrats on getting the names right and thanks for the nice comments :)
rebirth-flame: Don't worry I promise I won't abandoned this story ;) As for how old Dajh is. He's physically 25 but I know that the game mentioned that he was in that time thing with his dad so he's also much older. No exact age. Does that help?
cat: Welcome! I'm glad you like the story!
AN: Here's the next chapter. Finally! The Final Fantasy concert was one of the best things that I ever saw! It was great! Again sorry this chapter was so late. I finally got my 3ds for graduation/Christmas present. So I had to play my new games. Beat Kingdom Hearts twice. Have a new FanFic for it. If you like Kingdom Hearts please give it a try. Anyway please leave a review and tell me what you think!
Chapter 22: Of Darkness & Visions
Hope felt the vision pushing at him to be seen but he ignored it. He knew that the darkness that worked with Alyssa saw what he saw and not only that but it was close he could feel it. It was also heading for home. Right where Noel and the boys were.
"Hope what's wrong? You look ill," Dajh said his voice full of concern.
"I'm fine but something bad is heading towards the house," Hope ground out. His head felt like it was going to split in two and the world went fuzzy. Once again though he pushed the vision back. He couldn't have one now. Not with the enemy so close.
He saw Noel hurry out of the house and the boys were right behind him. Hope watched with dread as the darkness closed in on them. Dajh sprang a head and stood in front of the boys. Hope hurried to catch up wanting to help.
"Hope!" Noel shouted his eyes full of worry.
"I'm fine," Hope lied quickly not wanting Noel's focus to be on him. Noel gave him a long hard look and then sighed. He had a feeling that Noel didn't believe. His boyfriend opened his mouth to say something but Alyssa walked out of the darkness.
"My, my. It's good to see you up and about. Not that it was something that I expected to see but good all the same," she said as she looked directly at him; Noel then placed himself more in front of him. Normally Hope would have stepped away but his vision was going blurry and it felt as if his head was about to split.
'You are fighting the vision,' a low, deep voice looked around but didn't see anyone else but the darkness was behind Alyssa seemed to be…he really couldn't describe it but it seemed to be looking at him. 'That's right.'
'What are you?' Hope thought back.
'I am what I appear to be,' it replied. 'You can't fight the vision forever,' it sing-songed.
'Watch me!' Hope snapped.
'You figured it out,' it said sounding surprised. 'You are a smart one. Then you should be smart enough to come with us. If you do then we won't have to hurt your friends to get to you. Because we will you know…'
"Hope No!" someone else shouted breaking. "Don't listen to it!"
Whatever connection Hope had with the Darkness was broken and his headache intensified a hundred fold. If Noel hadn't had his arm wrapped around him he would have fallen.
"Bastian get Hope into the house and look after him!" Dajh shouted.
"Right," the boy said. He then felt Noel place a kiss on his head before slowly letting him go and someone else grab him.
Hope wanted to protest that he was fine but at the moment he knew that in his state that he would put his friends in danger as he couldn't even take care of himself much less them. So he let Bastian lead him into the house and lay him down the couch. He needed to have his vision but he didn't want that thing to see what he saw again.
"I think I can block it from your thoughts," Bastian said. That was all it took for Hope to let himself go.
Hope looked around confused by what he saw. He was surrounded by hundreds of people. But he couldn't see them clearly. They were more like shadows than anything. They were standing in a big circle several layers deep. And they were facing the center of the circle.
Wanting to know what they were looking at Hope walked past them towards the center of the circle. He finally saw Alyssa standing in the middle of everyone. Her body looked like it was covered in black spider webs. They slowly spilled off of her and traveled until they were connecting everyone.
"I will have them all," she said her voice devoid of all emotion.
"No you won't. I won't let you!" Hope shouted at her. He then began to run through the crowd using his bare hands to break the webs. It sliced his hands but he didn't care, he had to save them.
As he did this he began to recognize the people. Lightning, Snow, Sash, Dajh, Bastian, Zar, his mom, his dad, people that he went to the academy with. Each time he broke the thread of someone he knew they would give him a smile and then disappear.
Hope then moved through the crowd faster breaking each thread he came across. If everyone he ever cared about was here that meant that Noel had to be here too. He finally broke the last thread but Noel never appeared.
"You can't save everyone," Alyssa said with a cruel smile before she too disappeared. Hope couldn't stop the scream of angry and sadness. He would not let them take Noel. He would do everything in his power to save him.
Noel watched as Hope and Dajh came running toward them. Even from this distance he couldn't help but to notice how dreadful Hope looked. It reminded him of the time that he was in Hope's nightmare.
"Hope!" Noel shouted worried about his boyfriend.
"I'm fine," Hope said quickly. Noel gave a long hard look and then sighed. Noel didn't believe him. He was going to call Hope on his lie but Alyssa walked out of the darkness.
"My, my. It's good to see you up and about. Not that it was something that I expected to see but good all the same," she said as she looked directly at Hope. Noel immediately stepped in front of Hope. He would not let him be hurt on his account again. He knew that Hope really must not be feeling well when he didn't protest his actions.
"I won't let you hurt him again," Noel said as he glared at the woman.
"Him," she said as she glared right back. "It wasn't him I was aiming for. I need him."
"And I already told that I won't let you hurt him," Noel said as he put himself more in front of Hope. There was something seriously wrong with him. Afraid that he was going to fall Noel put his arm around him.
"Hope No! Don't listen to it!" Bastian shouted startling everyone. Hope let out a moan of pain and stumbled. If Noel hadn't been holding onto him he would have fallen.
"Bastian get Hope into the house and look after him!" Dajh ordered.
"Right," the boy said as he stepped toward them. Noel placed a quick kiss on top of his head before passing him over. Bastian gave him an encouraging smile before wrapping an arm around Hope as half carried-half dragged him into the house.
"You've found help I see," Alyssa said with a mild look of surprise.
"Not just help but family and I don't like people who mess with my family," Dajh said as he stepped towards Alyssa.
"Family," Alyssa said with a cruel laugh. "He doesn't even exist so he doesn't have any family."
Noel knew that she was trying to hurt him with her words and it did a little. But even if he technically didn't exist and neither did his family he still had the memories of them and what they taught them.
"You have no idea what a true family is," Dajh shot back.
"And you have no idea what you're talking about," Alyssa said her voice dangerously low.
"Hey you guys I think that shadow thing is mad about something. It's really swirling," Zar said his voice strained. Noel looked towards the boy and saw that he had a fire spell ready to go but it wasn't an ordinary fire spell. Zar was somehow was able to turn it into a bow and arrow.
"Well, well, look who knows a few tricks," Alyssa said with a sneer.
"Anyone ever tell you that your voice is annoying," Zar shot back.
"Zar please don't antagonize the enemy," Dajh said sounding annoyed.
"You better watch yourself boy," Alyssa said as she glared right at Zar who seemed unfazed.
"Why are you here Alyssa?" Noel asked putting the woman's attention back on himself. Instead of answering the woman looked behind her at the swirling darkness. Before Noel even had time to react he saw a fiery arrow fly into the middle of the darkness. Alyssa let out something that was between and hiss in a growl before the two of them disappeared.
"What did you do?" Noel asked not sure if he should be happy or upset.
"That shadowy thing was up to something. I could hear it whispering to her," Zar said.
"Could you understand it?" Dajh asked hopefully.
"No, but Bastian could," Zar said with a frown.
"You boys have different powers too?" Noel asked as he headed towards the house worried about Hope.
"I thought that was obvious," Zar said with a very sarcastic tone.
"Zar watch the attitude," Dajh said with a long sigh.
When Noel walked into the house he saw Hope sitting on the couch looking distraught. Bastian was kneeling in front of him wrapping bandages around Hope's hands.
"What happened?" Noel said as he sat down next to Hope and put a hand on his shoulder. Hope shook his head but didn't say anything.
"That shadow creature was saying nasty things to Hope and it was trying to see what he was seeing," Bastian explained sounding tired.
"Did it hurt you in your vision?" Noel asked terrified that that thing could attack Hope during his visions.
"No Bastian was able to block it. I hurt them when I…I can't talk about it yet," Hope said his voice wavering.
"Alright," Noel said concerned. He pulled Hope close so the smaller man's head rested on his shoulder.
"It looks like we all have a lot to talk about but Hope and Bastian are in no condition to do so," Dajh said his voice serious.
"What's wrong with Bastian?" Noel asked as he looked down at Bastian who was leaning against the couch.
"Using his powers exhausts him!" Zar snapped. "I'm going to make you something sweet."
"Thanks," Bastian said as he smiled up at his brother.
"I'm going to get Hope to bed," Noel said as he stood up bringing Hope with him.
"Good. I'll keep any eye on the boys," Dajh said looking his eyes looking tired and old.
Noel then brought Hope into the bedroom and laid down on the bed with him. Hope cuddled next to him and held so tight that it was almost painful.
"What did you see?" Noel asked now really worried.
"I…I don't want to talk about it. I just want to lay here with you for a while," Hope said quietly.
"Whatever you need," Noel said as he gave Hope a gentle kiss now really worried. Just what did Hope see that had him so upset?