Destinies Intertwined (Lightning x Male Reader)

Chapter 04: Sanctum Strike

Lightning and I walked down the hall of Hope's house, turned a corner saw Hope, his father, Fang and Snow. The moment we arrived Snow looked at us, before getting down on his hands in knees in front of Bartholomew. "The blame is mine. I couldn't save her." Snow declared, lowering his head to the ground. Bartholomew looked at him, and Hope said "If it wasn't for Snow, I wouldn't be here right now."

I thought of adding how Snow had hurt himself saving Hope, but the air was as tense as a wire, and I really didn't want to be the one to make it snap. Bartholomew leaned forward and quietly asked "Nora... did she say anything to you?" He looked up. "Hope. She asked to... to get him home." he said. Hope's father was silent for a moment, until he leaned forward and said "And that's exactly what you've done."

We all relaxed, and I sighed in relief at this. That had been too tense for comfort. "Face to face, it's hard to believe you're all dangerous fugitives." Bartholomew admitted. "But the entire world is scared to death you l'Cie. No, not just you. People who've help you, bumped into you... even people who've walked by one of you. They all think they're 'tainted' and wanted every one of them Purged."

Snow stood up. "The Sanctum's a puppet of the fal'Cie. That's why we have to take it down. Destroy the Sanctum, and protect Cocoon." he said confidently. Knowing that would work and deciding to save Bartholomew the trouble, I said "Have you given that plan a lot of thought?" He stopped and looked at me, and I continued.

"If the whole government was toppled over by a group of Pulse l'Cie, then the amount people fear Pulse will only get bigger. Without anything to control them, society itself will dissolve into anarchy. They'll start to take up arms, and every single citizen will attack anyone they perceive as a threat, especially us. Can you imagine the disaster, the amount of bloodshed?" I asked.

"Without the government's control, citizens will revolt." Lightning said, and I nodded in agreement. "So what then?" Fang asked. "So we just smile and eat a bullet. Last time I checked, you're a l'Cie too." Fang told me. "Oh trust me, I haven't forgotten. And we've brought Hope's father over to this side of the fence too. Harborer of l'Cie, and alongside us, Public Enemy Number 1." I said.

"Coming here was a bad idea." Hope said. Bartholomew put his hand on his son's shoulder. He said "This is your home." He looked at all of us. "We're all here, so let's work together. We'll figure this out."

It was at that moment that the power went off. Instantly we all stood, each of us reaching for our respective weapons. A team of PSICOM soldiers fell through the roof and dropped a couple of smoke canisters. "Heads up!" Lightning called. "Hope, get in the back!" Snow said, but I pushed him toward that direction. "I may be healed, but you're in no shape for fighting! Stay in the back with Hope's dad!" He looked at me before nodding reluctantly and taking Hope's father to the back.

A trio of regular officers ran into the room while a pair of troop in hover-suits flew down to the ground. I looked at Lightning, Fang and Hope, and they all nodded before we charged forward. One of the soldiers pointed his gun at me, but I slashed Indomitus across his chest and he fell like a puppet cut from its strings. That left four to go.

Hope threw his boomerang, charged with both a Water and a Glacier spell, at the two hovering officers. The Airwing hit one on the side of the head and he faltered for a little before it came back and hit the engines of his hover suit, the ice spell creating an unblockable cap of ice over the exhausts. For a second nothing happened, until there was an odd metallic screeching sound and thee suit exploded, sending the soldier wearing it flying into a wall, where he slid down to slump against the wall.

The other hover-soldier said "Die, l'Cie scum!" and a set of small rockets Brasierd from its suit. Four of them went after Hope, while the other half went for Fang. Hope used an Rafale spell to send them crashing into each other, while Fang spun her lance and blocked the ones sent for her. Lightning charged forward and stabbed that soldier in the chest, adding a Foudre spell for good measure.