Chapter 7

Lightning could feel her left eye starting to twitch from all the stress that was starting to eat at her. With each passing minute, Snow and Serah was getting farther away from her grasp, and that was something she refused to allow happen.

On top of the whole crazy chase she found herself in, Hope and Fang tagged along behind her- adding more unnecessary stress to the already stressful situation.

"So you see Hope," Fang said, and placed an arm around the boy's shoulders. "Lightning's knife means a lot to her, that's why she's so determined to find Snow and beat him up for taking something so precious away from her," she finished matter-of-factly.

Hope's eyes blinked in confusion as he looked up at Fang smiling. "Gee, I never knew how much Lightning loved her knife. I guess I should feel honored that she actually lent it to me that one time," Hope contemplated aloud.

Lightning rolled her eyes at the white lies Fang kept feeding the boy - she wanted to yell out that it wasn't her knife Snow had taken from her - it was her beloved Serah. But Lightning really didn't feel like explaining things to Hope at the moment, so she kept her mouth shut.

The trio walked along Bodhum's beach to ask some local beach bums if they had seen any sight of Snow and Serah, but all they got were inane answers.

"Dude," a surfer boy with bleached blonde hair said in a stoned voice. "I saw Serah once…"

The three held their breath at the mention of Serah's name.

"That girl is hot!" he exclaimed, which caused Fang to hold back Lightning from beating on the guy.

The surfer boy ran away, leaving the three of them lost in the search for Serah.

"We're getting nowhere with asking these idiots," Lightning said impatiently. She leaned against a building and crossed her arms to think of a better plan.

Fang and Hope paced around to help think of their next move, but nothing came to mind.

Lightning closed her eyes and tried her best not to let the two of them see her cry. Thoughts of Serah calling for her help, made Lightning's nerves light up with determination. She refused to back down from this chase - she was going to find Serah, even if she had to search for her day and night.

Lightning thought of all the possible locations Snow may have taken Serah to. She went through a list of acquaintances associated with Snow, and that's when it came to her.

"Do you think he may have gone to NORA headquarters?" Lightning asked them as soon as the question came to her mind.

Fang paused in her tracks and grinned. "Why didn't I think of that?" she said, and placed a palm over her face. "Of course he would, all of his resistance buddies would be there to guard him."

Hope listened to the conversation between the two women and started to fear how passionate Lightning was for her knife. It seemed an all out war was about to go down just for a knife.

Fang and Lightning looked at Hope to get his opinion. "I-I think so too," he said lamely, unsure of whether or not he still wanted to be a part of the crazy predicament.

Lightning saw the apprehension on the boy's face and walked over to him to place a hand on his small shoulder. "You can go home now if you want, Hope."

Hope snapped out of his thoughts and gazed up at Lightning in awe.

"You've helped me enough. Thank you," Lightning said, secretly wishing Hope would take himself out of the equation before he found out the real reason for their search for Snow.

Hope blushed at the kind tone Lightning spoke to him - something she rarely displayed to anyone other than Serah. He felt strength come from the warmness in her voice, and that convinced him to continue on with their adventure.

"I still want to help," he said assuredly.

Damn, Lightning thought and gave him a conflicted small smile. "If that's what you wish," she simply said.

Fang was getting pumped up from the situation and pulled out a fancy-looking cell phone out of her pocket.

"What are you doing?" Lightning asked as Fang dialed a number on the phone.

"I'm calling Vanille," Fang said. "I've got to tell her about this - she'll definitely want to help," Fang said excitedly.

Lightning took the phone from her hands just as soon as Vanille had picked up and said, "Hello?"

"I don't want to turn this into a big spectacle!" Lightning said irritably while Fang attempted to nab her phone back.

"B-but, you'll need help if Snow has all his buddies with him," Fang stammered.

"Hello?" Vanille said again, sounding extremely confused at what she was overhearing.

"I think you're underestimating my abilities," Lightning replied to Fang's suggestion.

She was about to turn off the phone to prevent Vanille from hearing any further details when Fang suddenly blurted out, "Vanille, meet us at NORA headquarters! The thing we've been waiting to happen has happened, but Snow wouldn't back down, so now he's taken it hostage and we need help getting it back!"

Fang was breathless when she finished yelling the whole summary of what had happened in an impressively short amount of time.

Amazingly, Vanille appeared to understand perfectly what Fang had said and what she was talking about. "Oh Maker!" Vanille gasped dramatically. "I'll be there!" she said excitedly and hung up the phone.

Lightning gave Fang an annoyed glare.

Fang shrugged her shoulders innocently. "What? What's the harm in adding one more person?"

Lightning tried her hardest to retain her calm composure. "You guys actually discuss my private life amongst each other?" she asked, referring to Fang's earlier comment on how her and Vanille have anticipated Lightning and Serah revealing their true feelings for each other.

Fang grinned unsurely. "We both knew it was going to happen sooner or later. I mean, it was pretty obvious that you… you know, love it… a lot." Fang said in code about Lightning's special affection towards Serah.

Hope stared in bewilderment at the two women arguing and began thinking back to the phone call with Vanille, and how excited she was in wanting to help Lightning regain her knife back. Hope secretly wondered if everyone around him had gone crazy.