Eternal Hope (A Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts 2 fic)

Disc.: I do not own 'Kingdom Hearts 2' or 'Final Fantasy' in any way at all- they belong to their respective creators, this is just a harmless story!

A/N: Well, here's Ch.3! It's time to pick up with the next part of Chapter 1 of FF13…This time, they'll run into some new enemies and let's hope they can fare against them! No more distractions, on with the chapter!

Ch.3- New World, New Worries

Lightning opened the door and the three men followed behind her through the door. After a few tense moments, Vincent walked forward and opened a chest revealing a sword. Lightning walked forward and picked it up, discarding her old weapon in favor of the new one.

"Seems like this could come in handy. We should keep moving; you never know what may be hiding in wait."

Sazh looked around cautiously, taking the pinkette's word to heart and admiring the architecture of the place. The brunette male had managed to regain some of his strength, but he still felt drained…he would try to help as much as he could; he didn't want his friends and husband to think he was weak.

(With Snow)

As he stood there looking down, Snow saw that the Temple seemed rather…modern, at least compared to the outside of the structure. The blonde male looked around and finally spotted a ladder, so he made his way over to it and climbed down onto the ground floor of the building. After getting to the bottom, Snow looked to his left and saw there was a doorway but it was blocked; he looked to his right and saw some stairs which led to a platform. Hopping over the rubble near them, the blonde male made his way up the stairs and onto the platform then started towards the inside of the tunnel that was extending over the pathway.

(With Hope and Vanille)

The two of them walked around the Temple-like structure staring at how it was built when Vanille heard heavy footsteps coming their way, looking over just in time to see three Ghouls heading towards them. Hope saw them too, and he rushed to her side while holding up his weapon to attack them. The young girl raised her weapon as well, ready to take them down so they could hurry on their way.

(Back with Lightning and Co.)

Lightning and the others had started walking forward when the sounds of footsteps could be heard nearby. Vincent saw the enemy before the others did due to Chaos' heightened senses.

"Listen, there are a few enemies up ahead; if we sneak up on them from behind, we can get the upper hand and defeat them quickly."

"I agree…let's go with your plan, Vincent." The pinkette said, all of them moving into position at her silent orders.

After slipping in behind them, Lightning used her new weapon called Gladius to wipe one of them out while Sora and Sazh double teamed 2 of them, leaving Vincent to take out the last one before they moved onward. After much walking, they came upon a rather large enemy that was rooted into a wall.

The brunette male heard a voice in his head calling out to him, and he started walking forward as if his body had a mind of its' own…unaware that he was heading into danger, unaware of anyone's voice other than the one in his head. He didn't even hear Vincent calling out to him as he finally stopped in front of the monster.

"Sora, what are you doing?!"

"(empty voice) Anima, I'm ready. Make me a part of your body, I can provide plenty of blood."

As the enemy called Anima wrapped a tentacle around Sora, Vincent immediately became enraged and ran straight at it only to be knocked away with so much force it would've killed anyone else. Lightning and Sazh also met the same fate when they tried to rescue him. The brunette didn't resist as another appendage opened, revealing a mouth lined with fangs that was ready to siphon his life force. Vincent and the others thought that Sora was finished when Snow appeared and knocked him out of Anima's grip, sprinting towards the others with the former Keyblade Master in his arms.

He then handed the brunette over to Vincent, while Lightning stared at him with a shocked look on her face.

"Snow? What are you doing here?!"

"I'll explain later, right now we've got bigger problems to deal with!"

They nodded at the blonde's words as the enemy in the wall roared angrily at them for taking away its' meal.

"Right, let's focus on Anima. Sazh, help us out!"

"You got it!"

The three of them ran at Anima ready to take him out while Vincent tried everything to get his mate to come back to his senses.

"Sora, please answer me…I can't live without you; I need you…the one who accepted me for everything that makes me who I am, scars and all. The one I love more than anything, and the only one I'll ever love with all my heart."

After failing to bring the brunette back with his words, Vincent pulled Sora close to him and did something he prayed would work.

He kissed the brunette male, and that seemed to do the trick as he began responding into the kiss after a minute. As their tongues battled it out, Vincent smiled against his mate's lips and after a few minutes they broke apart.

"Vincent, what happened? Why are you crying?" the brunette asked his husband, and the raven haired male hadn't even realized that he was crying. Instead, he embraced his lover with all his strength as the Chaos Vessel let all his sorrow wash over both of them, Vincent holding his mate close and sobbing into his shoulders.

"(voice breaking) I thought…I'd lost you again when you almost became an offering for that monster over there (motions towards Anima). Don't ever leave me again, I couldn't bear it if you were gone!"

Sora finally realized what had almost happened, and sighed into his husband's embrace as he held him close.

"I promise that I won't let that happen again, and I'm sorry if I worried you like that. Please forgive me."

After they finished apologizing to each other and sharing a few more small kisses, Lightning, Snow, and Sazh walked over to them after beating Anima. The pinkette warrior then knelt down in front of Sora with concern in her eyes, and asked him if he was alright. To which, the brunette replied that he was, and Lightning felt relieved.

Snow then helped Sora up off the ground and at the same time shook his hand.

"The name's Snow Villiers, although we've already sort of met." The blonde male said with a smile on his face.

"Sora Valentine, thank you for saving me." The brunette replied whilst smiling in return.

"No problem. So, who's Mr. Shady over there?" the blonde male asked as he pointed to Vincent, Sora pouting amusedly as the raven haired Chaos Vessel glared at him.

"Be nice Snow, that's Vincent Valentine."

"Your brother?" Snow asked curiously.

"My husband." Sora replied plainly, shocking the blonde male for a few seconds before he managed to find his voice…he never imagined that there'd be others like him in the world of Cocoon, but he shook it off as he ran a hand through his blonde locks nervously.

"Oh, didn't mean to jump to the wrong conclusion."

"It's ok, not many people believed us either when we told them that we're married. But we should probably get moving, no telling what else is down here."

As everyone started walking along through the rest of the structure, none of them were prepared for what happened next. Sora was so unfocused on his surroundings that he ran smack into Vanille, while Hope finally caught up to the hyperactive girl. When Vanille looked down at who she'd run into, she immediately got off of the brunette's lap, offering him a hand and apologizing about running into him without even looking at where she was going.

"It's ok, really…thanks for helping me up though."

"Even so, I'm sorry about knocking you over like that…my name's Vanille Di Oerba, and this guy (motions to silverette) is Hope."

"Nice to meet you guys. I'm Sora Valentine, and this (motions towards Vincent) is my husband Vincent Valentine."

At hearing that the two of them were married, Hope got a blush on his face and Vanille was grinning like a Cheshire cat; she was secretly a yaoi fangirl and accepted gay marriage as a part of society.

"We can finish the introductions later, right now we've got bigger problems…like getting out of this shithole alive." Snow said offhandedly knowing that he was indeed right. Looking up, Sazh saw 5 more Ghouls heading their way and muttered to himself "Just can't catch a break."

After taking out not only the five that had appeared but several more Ghouls, the small party finally made it outside. When he looked up, Sora saw what looked to be a rather huge mechanical entity. Lightning then walked up next to him and uttered a single sentence.

"The Fal L'Cie. That's what I've been searching for this whole time."

"That thing? Why?" Sora asked unsure of what he was hearing.

"My sister, Serah. She's inside that thing, and I'm gonna save her!"

Sora could understand where she was coming from; after all, he'd had to leave his brother behind hundreds of years ago and it certainly wasn't easy to accept that he was gone. That all of his friends and everyone he ever knew were gone for good, lost to the Lifestream and never to return again.

"Alright, I'll help you. I know what it's like to lose someone close to you."

"You?" Lightning asked the brunette male, shock in her tone of voice.

"Yeah, I lost my brother. I won't let you lose your sister."

The pinkette was surprised to hear that Sora had lost a sibling, but watched with determination as he ran ahead across the bridge while Vincent ran after him. She then took off after the both of them as Snow and the others followed closely behind.

After running for several minutes, they ended up inside the L'Cie Core, where a sight greeted them that shocked Snow and the others while angering Lightning.

"Serah!"

Lightning and Snow both ran up to the girl while Sora stayed behind to let them have their moment. It reminded him too much of Roxas and Axel, which caused the brunette to cry; Vincent then pulled his mate close and let him cry into his embrace, while he watched the girl turn into…

"Crystal? What's going on? What's happening to her?"

"It's what happens…" Hope said loudly to everyone in the room.

"When what?" asked Vincent.

"When a L'Cie fulfills their Focus. They turn into crystal and gain eternal life, sleeping yet awake." Hope finished his sentence, shocking everyone. After Serah finished turning into crystal, the ground beneath the group rumbled violently and collapsed right out from under them.

Sora felt himself falling, and reached out to grab hold of something or someone. Vincent grabbed his lover's wrist and pulled him close, vowing never to let him go; the raven haired male heard bells ringing before he looked up to see the L'Cie Core staring at them…the raven haired Chaos Vessel then saw tendrils of blue energy shoot out and grab everyone there, including himself and Sora.

The brunette then cried out in pain like his whole body was burning, and Vincent held him close as he too felt the same burning sensation…he then blacked out after the whole ordeal.

In his mind, the voice of Chaos spoke loud and clear, like he'd never left Vincent's thoughts or his blood…and in a cosmic sort of way, he hadn't.

"Vincent, old friend…the time has come for you to awaken to a new power, tame the beast that sleeps within your soul. Use the power of the L'Cie to become Master to a new force of strength, and use it to protect those you love…I'll be waiting…."

After feeling Chaos yet again retreat to the back of his subconscious mind, Vincent awoke to an incredible sight. Looking around, he saw his mate passed out not too far from him and moved over to where he was as he started gently shaking his shoulder to wake him up.

"Sora, wake up…you've gotta see this." The raven haired Chaos Vessel said to his unconscious mate.

Sora woke up at Vincent shaking him only to gasp at the sight before them. The entire area was covered in ice-like crystal, but it wasn't slippery like ice. The brunette male then noticed a chest not too far from where he was lying on the ground, and stood up on shaky legs before walking towards it; Sora opened it to reveal a staff, a weapon he couldn't really use so he just gave it to Vanille when she made it over to him. At seeing her smile from the weapon handed to her, the brunette male also smiled as Vincent put his arm around his shoulder.

"She reminds you of those two, doesn't she?"

"Yeah…she's exactly like them, Reina and Demyx. I miss them and all our friends, but they'll always be a part of us and our memories."

"That's right. Sora, are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling better than I was earlier. I feel like I'm regaining my energy back, and I'm glad you're here to make sure I'm doing alright."

"Of course, I'll always be here. I love you Sora, and I'll never leave you alone ever again."

Sora couldn't believe at times how lucky he was to have Vincent in his life, he truly was blessed to be with this man who always looked out for him in every way that he could. But at the moment, the brunette male's gaze drifted to a strange looking mark on his older mate's neck.

"Hey Vincent, what's the last thing you remember?"

"I remember us falling into what looked like a bell, I heard a ringing noise and then felt like my whole body was on fire…after that, I woke up on the ground to see you passed out."

"Weird, that's what I remember too…it must've done something to us, because you've got a strange glyph on your neck."

Vincent looked down and over to see that Sora was right. Maybe that's what Chaos had meant, but he didn't want to worry his mate anymore so he looked and saw the same mark on Sora's chest.

"Looks like we're both in this together…that same mark is on your chest, but don't worry too much about it right now (pulls Sora into a hug). All that matters is that we're together, and that we're still alive to be together."

Sora didn't let anything else register or creep into his mind other than how much he was enjoying this moment with the most wonderful man in his entire life, and how grateful he was that eternity wasn't ever lonely with his beloved Chaos Vessel at his side to share every moment of it with him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

T.B.C.- Well now, they have their L'Cie marks. What awaits them, and what does Chaos have to do with all of this? Read and review!