Tales From the New World

#4 Notice me, Senpai

Note: This one is set during the events of XIII-2

Hope was alone.

Alyssa smiled predatorily and slipped from her hiding spot to dart behind a potted plant. She stealthily tailed her boss as he walked through the Academy's headquarters, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. This time for sure, she would get him, Hope Estheim, the director of the Academy and fearless leader of Academia. You won't get away this time, Director, she silently promised as she stalked him into a deserted hallway. At last, you'll be all mine.

When Hope stopped in the middle of the hall and pulled out his phone, Alyssa knew it was her chance. Her eyes glinted and her grin widened and she tensed her muscles, preparing to strike. But just as she was moving to abandon her hiding place a door opened beside Hope and a man dressed in an Academy lab uniform stepped out. "Ah, Director! Good, I'm glad you're here," he said, motioning Hope inside. "I was hoping you'd take a look at these test results." Both the rest of his words and Hope were cut off from Alyssa as the door closed behind the two of them.

Alyssa hissed and glared at the door. Foiled again! But it was no matter. She would just try again later.

~~Later~~

This was it. Hope was once again alone; walking out of his office late at night. He was finally going home after another long day of work at HQ. Hope was usually one of the last people to go home, often staying into early morning. This suited Alyssa just fine as now there would be nobody around to get in her way.

Hope sighed wearily and ran a hand through his hair. His coworkers often urged him to sleep more but he would only smile and agree and then carry on the way he always did. But if Alyssa got her way, he'd definitely be spending much more time in bed. A conniving little smirk appeared on the young woman's face.

Hope walked a short way down the hall and stopped briefly to lock the door to Alpha Lab 1. Alyssa followed his movement from behind a corner as he continued toward the elevators. All she had to do was hop into the elevator after him and he would be completely at her mercy.

Hope pressed the call button for the elevator and then turned to a control panel situated on the wall nearby that Alyssa had never previously paid any attention to. He pulled open the small metal door and punched a few numbers on a keypad before closing it again just as the elevator dinged. The doors opened and Hope stepped inside. It was now or never.

Right as Alyssa was about to spring into action, several automatic doors opened and a wave of robo-janitors swarmed out, completely blocking her path. She swore as the elevator doors closed, spiriting away both Hope and her chance.

"Shit!" she cursed, stomping a petite foot in frustration. Next time. Next time, he would be hers.

~~Later Still~~

Alyssa squinted as her cramped hiding place was abruptly flooded with light. She blinked a few times as she waited for her eyes to adjust.

Hope had just returned to his office from a important meeting with his lead research team. Having memorized his schedule, Alyssa elected to lay in wait for him, confined within an air duct situated on the ceiling of his office. She knew he had no appointments scheduled for another hour and a half, meaning he would use this time to catch up on work undisturbed. Well, that's what he thought, anyway. Alyssa had different plans, of course. Plans of a decidedly more sexy and less productive nature.

Just to be sure Hope was in fact alone as he should be, Alyssa pulled out a portable thermal scanner and performed a sweep of the room and surrounding hallways. Just as she suspected, the device registered nobody apart from herself and her boss.

Alyssa's lips curled into a feral grin. Nobody around to save you this time, Director.

However, once again, just as she was preparing to spring from her hiding spot, she was forced to stay her charge when a large monitor blipped to life in front of Hope and an enlarged projection of Serah's face appeared.

"Hope! How are you?" she greeted merrily. "I'm so glad the communicator you gave me works."

Hope returned the young woman's smile warmly. "Serah, it's good to see you. I had my doubts about the stability of the connection but everything appears to be functioning normally. Things are fine over here. Nothing really to report. How are you and Noel getting along?"

Alyssa narrowed her eyes. Curse Serah and her timing!

But it was fine. She would just have to wait for Hope to finish his call.

A full hour and a half of sitting awkwardly in a cramped air duct later, Hope gave Serah a parting smile and said, "It was good talking to you, Serah. We really should do it more often. And for the record, Snow won't care what color you pick. You always look like a goddess to him."

Alyssa ground her teeth in frustration. Hope and Serah had spent a whole hour and a half discussing fashion. Fashion! For an hour and a half! Alyssa wanted to murder both of them.

Next time! she mentally swore. I absolutely, positively won't lose!

~~Moar Later~~

Hope smiled to himself as he rechecked his blueprints for the umpteenth time. The new Cocoon's design was flawless—barring the problem of keeping it afloat, of course, but Hope would worry about that in due time. For now, he would bask in his success. He was one step closer to fulfilling his dream. One step closer to saving humanity from the fall of Cocoon and freeing Fang and Vanille and bringing Lightning home. Nothing could ruin his mood today.

Are you watching, Lightning? I'm going to do it. I'll save everyone.

A skip in his step, Hope left his lab and headed toward his office to grab his things. He would celebrate by indulging in a nice lunch out. Partway there, he stopped as if suddenly remembering something. "Ah, that's right. Today Alyssa will be waiting to ambush me in the Northeast corridor," he muttered, lifting a hand to his chin in thought. After a moment of consideration he, pulled out his phone and punched in a number. "Ah, hi, this is Hope. Yes. Hey, could you arrange for an urgent message to be delivered to me in precisely seven minutes in the corridor outside my office? Yes, the Northeast side. Yes, it's Alyssa again. Okay, thank you."

Hope snapped his phone shut and continued on with a contented smile on his face. Maybe he would try that new food stand on central avenue. He'd heard good things about the owner's deep fried cactuar kababs.

Yes, Hope thought, whistling to himself while he walked, nothing would ruin today.

A/N: So, this isn't a New World fic or even a LR fic. I asked a friend of mine for a prompt and she suggested a story about Alyssa stalking Hope. I know how much we all love Alyssa, so I was like, "Aight, I got dis." I hope you enjoyed this silly little FFXIII-2 addition to the collection.

Laterz