Author's Note: After leaving fanfiction for such a long time – the one pairing that actually got me back to it was this. I have fallen the same way I fell into countless other ships, they've just been absurdly too engrossing. This was just a way to destress so I hope it doesn't suck as much as I think it does. Ciao!

Title: Keep It Safe for Me

Rating: T

Disclaimer: As much as I wasted my life away playing all of the Final Fantasy games ever made, I cannot claim to own anything by Square.

PROLOGUE

First days of school are usually bad. The chaotic mixture of shyness, awkwardness, curiosity, wonder, nonchalance, the excitement of something new and everything in between were characteristic of the first day of classes. To Hope Estheim who was transferring in the middle of the school year - it was a death sentence. He was already shy and painfully awkward, tacking on the word 'new' did not improve his situation at the moment.

Hope let out a huff of air. His father has easily dismissed his fears saying, "I don't believe there has ever been a case of someone dying from 'worries', Hope. Now, get over it, go to school and get used to it as fast as you can."

So now here he was, standing in front of the entrance to the school with his ID card ready to slide into the door lock. He took another deep breath and allowed his hand to fall downward. This movement was followed by a loud beep and the audible swish of the two glass doors as they parted. A small gust of wind brushed against him as he entered the building and he could smell the artificial freshener.

The building was neither hot nor cold so Hope could easily tell it was being regulated. His gaze shifted to the shuffling students around the floor he was on. They walked around with ease and purpose - compared to him who was walking with carefully concealed apprehension.

It was going to be a long day.

By the time lunch came by, Hope had already been swamped with more questions than he was willing to answer. He liked people, sure, but Hope was more of a private person. He preferred getting to know people at his own pace. The same way he was just wandering the halls leisurely, following the mentally conjured map hhle had memorized the night before.

Hope had been deeply contemplating how he could avoid being surrounded by too many people later in the afternoon so he failed to note the faint echo of footsteps that had been growing increasingly louder and nearer as he reached the end of the hallway. He caught sight of the dark-haired woman who had run past his field of vision and just as he took a step out of the hallway and into the corridor, a great impact came against his left side - the side where the dark-haired woman had come from.

At first, his orientation had been upright, the next thing he knew he had landed painfully against the floor, banging the back of his head in the process. He groaned in pain, clutching his shoulder which seemed to have taken all the impact. The shuffling of clothes was followed by the weight over his abdomen disappearing abruptly.

Hope heard a heavy curse near him followed by a laugh from quite a distance. When Hope opened his eyes a few seconds later, he was greeted by the profile of angry blue eyes glaring beneath a wild mass of pink hair. He followed that searing gaze to the source and found it directed to the same dark haired woman he had seen moments before.

The dark-haired woman smiled mischievously and raised something Hope couldn't quite make out from where he was.

"When I get a hold of you, Fang Yun…" the girl near Hope said threateningly.

The other girl called Fang chuckled. "I did warn you, you know. That if you don't find one, I'd find one for you." The accent was thick in the other girl's voice.

The pink haired girl took a slow step forward. The other girl, Fang, didn't move. Then another. And another. When she was already half the distance between Hope and Fang. Fang raised her hand and skillfully threw the object Hope couldn't identify. It arched over the approaching girl, just out of her arms reach - and landed perfectly in Hope's lap.

It was a thin white ring with a silver chain. Hope fumbled with it and and threw Fang a confused look. Fang only responded with a smile and broke into another run.

The other girl glanced back at Hope and looked over him once. He met her blue eyes with the same confusion he felt. He held it out for her carefully, since it seemed so important to the other girl.

"Keep it safe for me," she said audibly as her gaze shifted back to the direction Fang had gone. Before Hope could respond, the other girl broke into a run as well, leaving him behind.

So there he was. Hope Estheim. New kid extraordinaire, dazed and disoriented with a ring from an unknown girl and a load of questions with no one to ask for answers.

Hope thought that whoever said that first days were bad was quite mistaken.

First days were awful. Bad was just too much of an understatement.

Endnote: Meh. I'm pretty bad at prologues. This is actually my first attempt at writing school setting fanfiction~ Leave a review if it actually seems worth it.