Learning My Roots (Hope Estheim Love Story)

Chapter 4: First Fight

Disclaimer: Everything besides Bella and her family belong to Square Enix.

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We saw the big guy return on the flying motorbike. The rescuers ran over to him. Hope stood a few feet away from them. I stood next to him. "That's the one," he said. I knew what he meant. He was the reason that Hope's mother was killed. The girl walked up next to him. "Didn't you have something to tell him," the girl said. I turned to Hope.

"Yeah," he said. I didn't like the feeling that I was getting off of him. I felt anger. The girl was encouraging him to go talk to the guy. She said that she would go with him. Hope looked confused for a bit what she said. I didn't know what to do.

"Go on," the girl said and pushed Hope forward. I stood back. Hope sounded a bit afraid from his breathing. He just stood there. I walked next to him. "You don't have to do this," I said. He shook his head. I saw the girl walk in front of him. "Hey," she called out to the rescuers. The engines to the flying motorbikes turned on and we covered our ears. {That really hurt.} We saw the guy flew off. Hope looked a bit angry.

We walked over to a motorbike that was off and sitting still on the ground. The girl turned to Hope. "You okay?" she asked. Hope was looking at the ground. "I want to tell him. Its just that..."he started to say. He grabbed onto the girl's arm. I was worried for him.

"Say. You know how to fly this?" she said pointing at the bike. {Was she trying to change the subject?} "Yeah. I think so," he said. I thought I knew where she was getting at. She pushed him onto the bike. Then she pushed me behind him. "Sorry," I said to him.

The girl went behind me and pointed forward. "That way," she said. Hope shook his head and whispered, "No." "If we go in there. We could ,,,It could make us l'cie," he said. This was the first time that I was hearing about this. A guy with fire hair came running towards us. Hope started the engines and we flew off. We crashed into a building.

"Uh....," I moaned from a bit of pain. I opened my eyes. I turned to see Hope and the girl on the ground. Hope was on top of the girl. I walked over to them quickly. I shook them away. "You guys. Wake up," I said. "Wow, that was close," the girl whispered. The girl got onto her feet and Hope sat on his knees..

I turned to the motorbike. I didn't think it was working anymore. I looked around. I didn't like the place at all. It was a bit on the dim side. There was some light though. "Guess it's just us," she said. "What did you expect. Even soldiers know not to go near the fal'Cie. You become a Pulse l'Cie and you're finished," he said.

So there was more things that mom never told me about. "What do you mean finished," the girl asked him. "Haven't you heard. Miss..," he started to say. "Vanille," she finished for him. "Huh?" Hope said. "My name. And yours," she said with her hand out to him. "Hope," he said.

He took her hand and got up. She turned to me. "And you?" she asked. "Bella," I said. "Thank you," Hope said to Vanille. He looked at the ground with thought. "What were we thinking?" he asked. "Since we're here. Lets look around," she suggested. "Um..." I wasn't to sure about it.

The place was huge. Vanille ran off to a statue and grabbed a big stick with horns. I had no clue what it was. I heard a growl behind me. I guess Vanille's voice woke something up. I went to unwrap the sleeve on my chakram.

We heard a roar/growl on top of the stairs. We turned to see a mutated mechanical dog. Vanille got ready with the stick while I got ready with my chakram. Hope pulled his boomerang out. We were able to beat the thing.

"Okay. Back to exploring," Vanille said. She fold the stick and put it on her back. My chakram got stuck on the statue. I went over to get it. I pulled it out with ease. "What is that?" I heard Hope say. I turned to him. "Its my weapon. It's a chakram. My godmother gave it to me on my tenth birthday. She thought me how to use it and how to fight just in case," I told him. I jumped down to him.

We continued to look around the place. It was way bigger from the inside. This place was crawling with monsters. "Aren't you scared?" he asked Vanille. "Mmmmm.....Not so much," she said. He turned to me. "What about you?" he asked. "I don't know what to feel at a time like this. In a way, no," I said. "You really don't get it," he said. Vanille recap some things about the purge for us.

"If they find us, they will purge us too," Hope said. "Whats your problem?" she asked him. She sounded like it didn't bother her. "Whats my...Pulse is hell on earth," Hope said. I didn't know how bad Pulse would be. He was angry.

Vanille hugged him. Somehow, I felt a bit jealous at the scene. "We'll be okay. Calm down," she said. She sounded happy in a way. He pulled away from her. "Get off me," he said and walked off. "SERAH! CAN YOU HEAR ME! WHERE ARE YOU!" we heard.

It sounded like the big guy's voice. He was somewhere in the fal'Cie. We didn't know where though. We continued to search around the place. We kept hearing the guys voice. It sounded like he was searching for someone. {Is he looking for his girlfriend?}

We decided to stay put. We heard machinery and a flight of stairs appeared before us. Beams of light shoot up. "He is here. Calling himself a hero," Hope said I looked at Hope's face. He looked angry. "He's heading our way," Vanille said. His face changed to a bit of panic. "What should I do?" he asked Vanille.

"Tell him what you need to," she said. I turned to him. "Hope. You really want to go through with this. He may have a reason," I told him. "I want to,' he said. We walked onto a platform. He heard a weird scream. We looked ahead to see some kind of disfigured monster. I was getting a bit scared. They looked very creepy.

We were being surrounded. "What are they?" we asked. "Cieth. l'cie who failed. This is what happens,.when l'cies don't complete their focus to the fal'cie had gave them," Vanille explained. They were coming closer. Soon we heard someone and the guy knocked one down.

We fought them off. I managed to slice some of their heads off with my chakram. I was tired to the bone. I took a breather. The guy turned to us. "How did you get in here? You gotta leave" he said us. We weren't going to move. He told us to hide and be quiet. He was finding a girl name Serah and then we would leave together.

"Who's Serah?" Vanille asked. He told us that he was his fiancee. She was a pulse l'cie. "What's wrong with you? Why do you want to help a l'cie. They're the enemy," Hope yelled out. The guy turned around to face him.

"How can you save a l'cie? They're not..they're not...that's insane," he yelled out to the guy. The guy said the he had to do something. He ran off leaving us behind. The fal'Cie was found in Bodhum on the day we came on the trip. We decided to follow him.

We found a afro guy and a two girls. "Serah," the guy yelled out. I guess he knew them. He and the soldier looking girl don't seem to get along. Soon, she turned into crystal. Soon the place started to shake. {Are they attacking the place?}