Hope by Megan Rees (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

"Thanks, Mirus." Hope said, leaving the hut after a brief moment.

The clouds from earlier had disappeared, leaving a midnight blue sky dotted with tiny stars, shining in all their wonder and beauty. Hope strolled away from the mini village and settled down on a log near the boundary. She closed her eyes for a moment and let the sounds and smells of the evening wash over her. There was a slight breeze in the air, making a differance from the harsh winds earlier.

"You did all you could, Hope." A voice said behind her. Hope turned her head and saw Raven. He was still ill, but not as weak and he didn't cough so much.

"If Ignis dies, Fortis will never forgive me." Hope murmured softly. "He loves her, Raven. You could see the look in his eyes when Ignis took the blow intended for him."

"It's not your fault." Raven reassured her. "Some things are meant to happen."

"This is my fault!" Hope insisted, tears in her eyes. "If I had never come here, Ignis wouldn't have been injured and you wouldn't have been captured!"

Raven sat down on the log and put one arm around her. "Look, just because everything bad happens, it doesn't make it your  fault. Ignis getting injured was actually my own doing because I shot Nocte. All you did was try to defend me."

"If you didn't shoot Nocte, he would have killed Virtus. I couldn't stop them, so-" Hope was then interupted by Raven cutting her off. "Exactly. You couldn't stop them. It wasn't your fault. You've got to look past your mistakes and stop blaming yourself for everything, because trust me, nothing has and never will be your fault."

"Nobody's perfect." Hope sighed softly, wiping tears away.

"You're perfect in my eyes." Raven assured her. Hope stared at him a moment, taken back by what he said. She gave him a disbelieving look. "Lying isn't going to make me feel better." She sniffed.

"Since when did I start lying?"

There was a slight hesistation as Hope thought of an answer. She eventually sighed and gave in. "Never. How comes you're so flipping perfect and everyone else is a untrustworthy liar?"

"Nobody's perfect, I am nobody, therefore I am perfect." Raven told her with a smile. Hope shook her head. "You're somebody. I'm nobody."

"Then you are perfect." The Captain concluded, gently kissing her on the forehead. "Don't you worry about anything. It will be normal again soon, I promise."

Hope laid on the sofa in Ignis' hut, her head spinning. She had been thinking about what Raven had said, how kind and relaxed he'd been to her. Hope knew well that Raven had a soft spot for her, and truthfully she had feelings for him too, but life was now so complicated that there was no time to concentrate on that.

Life can be so cruel. Hope told herself privately. It takes away so much; family, friends, love... what does it actually leave alone?

A knock on the door interupted her thoughts. "Can I come in? It's Fortis."

"Sure, go ahead." Hope called. The young boy casually strolled in, his eyes brighter than usual. Hope smiled as he entered. "Well?"

"Ignis is going to be okay!" Fortis told her. Hope almost passed out in relief. "Is she? Did she say much to you, if it's not prying to ask?"

"Well, I told her what I thought of her. I told her she didn't have to save me, but Ignis told me that she couldn't watch me at Larva's mercy. She even said that she liked me!" Fortis was over the moon as he continued. The Falling Stars Captain smiled at him. "I'm glad to hear that, Fortis. Is she asleep now? Rest will help her get better." She pressed on. Fortis nodded, just as Nocte came in. He was in human form with a lump on his shoulder, suggesting that someone had bandaged up his shoulder after the fight. Hope greeted him with a brisk nod, while Fortis ignored him and left.

"How's the shoulder?" Hope inquired. Nocte just nodded briskly. "Fine. Just great. Where's Silva?"

"Asleep." Hope replied, pointing towards the young girl's bed. "I think Rivum's gone for a walk, in case you were looking for her too. I'm the only one awake here."

"How nice." Nocte grumbled, strolling away towards his bed. "I think it would be nicer if you actually got some sleep."

Too tired to argue, Hope wrapped the blanket round her and closed her eyes, allowing sleep to wash over her.

Hope was woken up by a loud scream that echoed across the forest. Horrified, she realised that the scream belonged to Iocale, so Hope swiftly leapt out of bed and rushed outside. Out there, four shapeshifters had just arrived back in the village, panting. They were all in animal form; Iocale as a cheetah, Virtus as a coyote, Fortis as a grizzly bear and Fragosus as a husky. Hope noticed instantly that Virtus was limping, suggesting he'd been shot.

"H-Humans!" Iocale cried anxiously. "They're chasing us, and they set these horrid demons on us! They even shot Virtus!"

Protege walked up to his brother in animal form and nudged him away, wanting to get his leg checked over. Rivum came out of her hut as a pretty lioness, while Silva stood beside her as a fox.

"They're coming!" Fortis yelled at the top of his voice. Hope retrieved her gun from her pocket and aimed it in the direction of where the intruders were coming from. The other shapeshifters prepared themselves for the attack, changing into animal form. Raven also stood beside Hope, his bow ready to shoot anyone.

Soon enough, a large attack party swept through the village, animals running or flying at their side. Raven took aim and fired instantly, hitting a golden eagle in flight. The mighty bird let out a cry of pain as the arrow pierced her foot, but she pulled it out with no problems and continued on. A large dog ran at Hope, it's golden fur bristled with fury as it got closer. Hope kicked the dog in the face as soon as it got too close, resulting in the dog retreating with a loud whimper.

She observed the other shapeshifters fight while she fled towards the 'hospitial' hut. Fragosus was wrestling with a vicious looking beagle, who despite her size was actually putting up quite a reasonable fight. Nocte and Paulo fought side by side against a vicious looking tiger, while Larva was fighting a dark skinned girl in sword combat.

"Take Mirari and get her out of here!" Iocale cried, thrusting the little girl towards Hope. The Captain scooped the young shapeshifter up in her arms and ran across the battlefield, dodging arrows flying overhead.

Eventually, Hope and Mirari got to the 'hospitial'. In here, Fortis was crouched down beside Ignis, both in human form. Protege and Virtus were in here too, along with a short black girl with sky-blue eyes. Hope guessed that she was Vita, the youngest of Protege's family.

"Is that all the young ones out of the way?" Protege asked.

"Where's Silva?" Ignis murmured weakly. "Nocte told me she was in the hut still. All this noise is frightening her."

"I'll get her." Hope offered. "Can you cover for me, Protege?"

Again, Hope rushed into the battle field, along with Protege, who was in animal form as the usual stag deer. A white skinned girl of about thirteen or fourteen aimed a gun at them, but Raven sorted her out, firing his bow and arrow again.

"Fantastic." Hope groaned. "There are intruders outside my hut. How the heck are we supposed to get in now?"

"Charge down the wall?" Protege suggested sarcastically. "How else are we meant to get in, stupid? We obviously go through the intruders to rescue Silva, duh!"

"How the Hell are you going to manage that, Einstein?" Hope challenged. "In case you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a slaughter house!"

Instead of replying, Protege charged at the intruders, whom were too shaken to fight back. Hope let out a short laugh of sarcasm, but was able to push her way through the crowd and get to the door. However, the door wouldn't budge. "Oh snap!" She cried, pushing her weight against the wooden door. "It won't budge!"

"Call to her." Protege suggested. "This could be the only chance we'll get to rescue Silva."

"Silva!" Hope yelled, banging on door. "Can you hear me?"

A smashing noise could be heard from inside the hut, followed by a muffled scream. Hope was concerned now, so she attempted to try and open the door again. "Do you reckon Ignis will care if you charge the door down?" She asked Protege.

"We can build new doors." The stag sighed, dipping his head. "Very well. You may want to get out of the way. Oh, and get your gun out. I have a feeling the intruders are trying to kidnap the younger ones."

Hope stood behind Protege and watched as he pawed the ground briefly. With mighty force, the young stag deer charged at the door, sucessfully opened it. He changed back into human form and took out a sword, while Hope entered the hut with her gun aimed at a thirteen year old boy. "Stay where you are." She threatened. "I'll shoot if you disobey my orders."

"You should know about disobeying more than anyone, Hope." The teenager replied uncertainly, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. "Wait a minute, is that really you, Hope?"

"Who are you?" Hope demanded, placing the barrel of her gun at the young boy's forehead. "How do you know me?"

"I'm Harry, you idiot!" The boy snapped. "Where the Hell have you been?"

"Harry?" Hope echoed, putting her gun away. "B-But that's impossible! How did you know where I was?"

"I didn't." Harry pointed out with a irritated sigh. "We found shapeshifters on our territory, but we didn't know you and Raven were on their side."

"Who else is here?" Hope demanded anxiously. "Glory isn't here, is she?"

"Glory's sick. I'm sure Raven's told you all about it, seeing as he went missing while being ill. We'd all thought he died." The younger Captain grumbled. "Anyway, Galaxy, Russel, Griffin, Eski, Lily and their companions joined myself and Coconut. Dew and Life are also here, seeing as they have no human to look after."

"Lily?" Hope was slightly confused. "Who's she?"

"Oh yeah." Harry remembered. "You haven't met Lily. She's the tall pale white girl with short wavy blonde hair and emerald green eyes. Her companion is a black mustang called Stalk. The Light