Learning My Roots (Hope Estheim Love Story)

Chapter 9: Long Way to Go

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

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Hope was very focused about getting his revenge on Snow. I felt neglected by him in a way. We didn't talk much to each other since the purge. I was really worried about him. I didn't want him to walk the wrong path.

We continued our way. We found bodies of soldiers scattered across the floor. "What happened here?" he asked. "Bad luck. They came looking for us and found something worse," she said. "We can't just leave them like this," he said as he walked over to the bodies. "Don't touch them," she said and pushed him back.

"Control your emotions. If you want to survive, you forget about sympathy," she said. I saw her thinking of a way to explain it to him. She kneeled down in front of him. "Think of it as a strategy. Focus on your ultimate goal and shut everything out. Still your mind. Follow your instinct," she told him.

She got up and turned away. "Let doubt take over, despair will cripple you," she said. I gave a hand to Hope. Hope shook it off and stood up on his own. "Strategy good. Anything to get me through this," he said. Lightning looked at me. I sighed and turned away a bit. I didn't like it.

"I'll call it....operation Nora," he said. He named it after his own mother. It was his revenge. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. We were able to get out of the woods through an exit. We saw some cliffs. Then, I saw home in the distance at sunrise.

"That's it. Palumpolum," he said. "That's where you both live right," she said. "Yes. It is," I said. "We'll stop in when we get there," she said. Hope shook his head. "No. We're l'cie now and no one is there but, my dad," he said.

"Hope, you need to let him know what happen," she said. I turned to him. "He has a right to know Hope. Whether you like it or not," I told him. He turned to me. "Who's side are you on?" he asked me. I looked at him in the eye.

"No one. I am worried about you Hope. You are not the guy that I met a couple of weeks ago. Would your mother approve of this?" I asked him. "My mother died because of him. I will get revenge," he said angry. "Don't expect me to watch when the time comes," I told and turned away from him. I couldn't look at his face anymore.

It was morning and we got near the city limit. We hid behind some crates and machinery. "We can make it. Get to the station and board the train to Eden ," Hope said. "You think its still running?" Lightning asked. "Well if it isn't, we will make it run," he said. "And punch through the heart of the Sanctum. Now you're thinking like a Pulse l'cie," she said.

"Well this is operation Nora. It's not just Snow I'm after. The Sanctum gotta pay too," he said. I sighed silently. {He is so blind.} I saw Lightning sigh a bit. Hope took her hand. "Hey you're the one who said that we have to fight. Every minute we waste, we are tempting fate," he said.

He used her own hers against her. He pointed at a direction. "There are some underground tunnels not far from here. I used to play in them when I was a kid. No one uses the entrance anymore. So even the army doesn't know about it. But, I know where it is. We could sneak in under their noses," Hope said.

She turned to him. "Sounds good," she said. "Great. Here we go," he said. We had to sneak past the troops to get to the tunnel. We were able to make it into the tunnel. We ended up in the Nutriculture Complex of the city. It was so big and open in a way. No one was here.

We didn't know where this tunnel led to. We just kept going. We got to the fal'cie Carbuncle. It was in charge to make food for us. We continued to walk. I was getting more worried as we got closer into the city. I hope that he would change his mind.

Hope and Lightning started to talk about how the Sanctum treated us like pets. Without them, they would be lost. "I feel that it was probably better for me to have lived in Divinia than on Cocoon in a way," I said. I just realized what I had just said and covered my mouth.

Hope turned to me. "Divinia? Where's that?" he asked. I turned away from him. "Another time Hope. Right now. It's not the time," I said. They went back to their conversation. Soon, Lightning made a connection and realization. She turned to Hope. "Operation Nora is over," she said to him.

"What?" he said in confusion. Lightning said that she made a mistake. He thought that he was going to be abandoned. Lighting said that she wasn't going to abandon him. Inside, I wasn't going to either. We continued our way.

Lightning told us her story. How she became Lightning. Everything was for Serah's sake and her own. If I was in her position, I would have done it as well. Serah warned her, but she didn't listen. Hope talked about how it was Snow's fault for his mother's death.

We found an elevator that would take us to the surface. "Talk to your dad," Lightning told him. "What? Why?" he asked her. "Fighting without hope, is no way to live," she said. Lightning activated the elevator. "It's just a way to die," she said as she walked onto the elevator. I followed her onto it.

"I want you to find the hope that you were named for. Staying alive, I can help you with. I can't...I can't give you hope. If you see your father," she said. "You think meeting my dad will...will make everything better," he said. He grabbed onto his brand.

He brought his head up. "He never listened to a word I said. He just will never believe in this l'cie stuff," he said. {So thats the rift between him and his father. He should be happy that he has a dad that knows his existence.} "You should talk to him Hope. You should be happy to have a father who knows your existence. Rebuild you relationship with him while you can," I told him without looking at him.

We were able to get to the surface. Next thing you know, there was announcement about the fugitive l'cie were found and a public execution would be held. "They found us," I said. Soon, we were surrounded high and low of PSICOM troops.

We backed up. "Start running," we heard Lighting said. She told us that we had to survive. She would keep them busy. I looked around. She wouldn't be able to keep them busy for that long.

Was this the end for us.