Hello again. I know it has been forever since I updated. I feel bad after the positive response I got on my first two submissions. I was hoping posting a few works on here would inspire my writing again, but unfortunately it just didn't happen. I tried to think of somewhere to take Not Alone, I really did, but nothing came to mind. I am, however, in the mood tonight at least to submit a work, for what it is worth.

His mother always said bad news came in threes, Hope had just never payed so much attention. Only he had paid attention this time, and the old adage seemed to be holding too true.

'Where could she be?"

The teen fidgeted restlessly. He had not quite settled in yet, having switched residences so often in the past few months. After "The Fall", just making sure the survivors did just that, and survived, there was little time for much else, let alone coming up with shelter for the suddenly homeless thousands. A canvas tent had been home for a while just after, followed by the dreary shanty town formed of bits of scraps from the chaos of what was left on Cocoon after the destruction. Hope was close to his new friends throughout the ordeal though, and it was easy to keep faith his father was well.

It had not been too long before the Cavalry had located him. Bartholomew had set up in a relief zone not far from where the ex-l'cie had been stationed. Hope was relieved to hear his father was well. Very well, in fact, apparently he had quickly risen to become a sort of leader for the people. A "mayor" of sorts for their little refugee camp. Hope had laughed at the thought. Of course his father couldn't rest. Even with his wife passed and the question of his son's well-being, Bartholomew couldn't content himself to just sit by and worry.

Their reunion was bittersweet. As happy as he was to be reunited with the only blood family he had left, Hope was equally upset about leaving his new found family behind. Snow, Sazh, Serah, and Light, especially Light, had become so integral in his life. Sazh had been all of their 'father figure,' ready to give out sound advice where needed. Snow was sort of like the big brother he never had, despite their rocky first encounter. Serah had become a fast friend, and both shared an interest in many hobbies, from cooking, to walking the small settlement, to both of their compulsive need of a clean environment.

And of course there was Lightning. His mentor, his best friend, his guiding light, his... everything really. He had no doubt that without her, his life and ordeal as a l'cie would have been a very short one. She was smart, strong, resourceful, and undoubtedly beautiful. The teenager found it hard to resist his natural urges around the woman. Leaving her presence had not been an easy choice for Hope.

But leave he did. The airship carrying the relief supplies had arrived and Hope had boarded during a tearful farewell. The abruptness of his leaving had been a sort of relief. Had he any choice or time to consider what he was doing, he might have refused to leave. HIs life with his father had been good however, and the father-son bond had started to re-establish itself, stronger than ever.

Had being the operative word.

Not even three full months of living with his father, and tragedy had struck. The remnants of PSICOM, who had formed a separate foundation of survivors, had launched an attack against the peaceful settlements. Unwilling to accept the presence of former l'cie and anyone who would abide such atrocities, they had refused to settle with the Guardian Corps. At the time, it was given little thought. After all the people of Cocoon had endured, the last thing on anyone's mind had been more fighting.

The attack had been as savage and brutal as it was surprising. Many leaders of the GC and the settlements had been assassinated, and countless casualties had been incurred. Two of the shantytowns had been razed completely. The night of the attacks had been sheer chaos, and Hope could hardly recall any of it.

The little he remembered had been spent clutching the quickly cooling body of his father. A hole in his chest, and a gush of steaming blood had been the only signs that the body had been alive only moments ago. Having gone through his ordeal as a l'cie, Hope had been no stranger to the sound of gunfire, but the shot that had started that night was something he could not forget. A single ringing blast that was punctuated by that sickly fleshy thump and then screams. Panic and chaos was surrounding the boy before he knew it, and it was the Hanging Edge all over again.

Some faceless, helmeted soldier had seen Hope curled over his father's corpse and dragged him off. Otherwise, the teen might have been just as dead as any of the victims of that attack. For days he had roamed lifeless about the cavalry ship, one of the few left. The Lindblum, Hope recalled. He had known it when Cid Raines was in command, had flown aboard it once. For a second time it served as his bastion, flying around aimlessly, carrying survivors, until it was deemed safe for them to land again.

The relief Hope had felt when he heard that his friends had also survived the attack almost overshadowed the loss of his only remaining parent. Naturally, Lighting and the others had agreed to take him back in after hearing the news. It provided some comfort, knowing he was not alone in this, and he had loved ones to share his grief with. Much to his dismay though, his comfort was short lived.

It should have been a routine mission. A scout around the village. It should have run like any other day. A few hours running a perimeter scan, keeping the beasties away from the fragile seaside village they had set up since arriving on Pulse. Snow and NORA had been so adamant about this being the location. Of how it was like their own slice of Bohdum, dropped right down here on Pulse. So adamant, it cost them everything.

They had not know it was a popular migration route for the menacing adamantoise of Pulse. Giant, gentle creatures, but otherwise uncaring of what ended up under their massive feet. Snow and his band of misfits had been patrolling when a herd of the massive tortoise like creatures had been spotted moving towards the villaged. If they weren't redirected, they would surely smash half of the new town!

NORA had simply tried to distract them, move them out of their path. But little was known of the flora and fauna of the new planet. They hadn't realized what a bull adamantoise was capable of. They had tried a few shots, after all the bullets wouldn't even pierce the creatures thick hides, when it had all gone wrong. The bull had raged, charging the self-proclaimed militia. The monsters had been a formidable foe with six fully powered l'cie going at it. In their current state of affairs, stopping the raging beast had proved impossible.

Lebreau and Yuj had been the only ones left, and tasked with bearing the bad news to those back in town. Serah had been devastated. She had spent days flipping between states of uncontrollable bawling and near catatonic indifference.

'Mom always said bad news comes in threes. What could possibly be next?' Hope had thought bitterly. He could have kicked himself for the thought now.

In NORA's absence, the Guardian Corps. had to pick up the slack of protecting the new settlement. Lightning of course had re-enlisted the moment the GC had arrived in the off-shoot village. Once again, a simple patrol had been scheduled. This time, a small band of GC soldiers would take a small transport airship around to check for possible dangers.

Serah had begged and pleaded for her sister not to go. She said they had plenty of operative to spare for the task, but Lightning of course refused. She couldn't sit by when possible dangers hung around her family, and her newly appointed rank of lieutenant made her the ranking officer in town. She had promised it would only be a few hours. She promised she would be back before they knew she was gone.

She had lied, Hope reflected.

It was well past dark now, hours after the patrol should have returned, and still no sign of the pink haired soldier could be seen.

They had tried contacting Sazh at first. Being one of the few fully trained pilots they had left, he had been on a near constant stream of flights, between settlements and to and from the ruins of Cocoon, leaving him enough time to eat and sleep for a few hours in between flights. His only consolation was that Dajh had been cleared for passage on his airship, and he spent all of his available time with his young co-pilot.

Sazh had tried getting a response from the patrol over the radio. Static had been the only answer. They had left the channel open for a while, in hopes something might come through, but with each passing minute, that hope had become bleaker and bleaker. When the sun had set, Serah had lost it.

Hope might have broke down himself, but the back and forth with Sazh and attempting to subdue Serah had proved enough of a distraction to keep his mind off of wherever Lightning might have ended up.

Now though, Sazh had drifted out of communication range, and Serah had dozed off, worn out with worry. Hope absently stroked the pink locks of the sleeping girl. She had been almost inconsolable. It was all he could do to soothe her fears with false reassurances, while his mind drifted to all the horrible places he wished it never knew about.

'What if the ship crashed? Or what if they ran out of fuel and they're stuck somewhere, surrounded by who knows what?' They had only been six members strong, including the non-battle trained pilot. Their odds in a dire situation were not very good. Unbidden visions of Lightning gored by some beast came to mind.

Hope shook his head, briefly regretful of his movements as Serah stirred in his lap. Thankfully she didn't wake. She could use the rest. The few blissful hours of peace sleep brought. He was almost envious of her. Again, regret and guilt set in, as he thought of all she had lost recently. It would seem Pulse was as unforgiving as ever.

A glance to the clock only deepened the pit in Hope's stomach. It was ticking past four a.m. now. Even if the ship had gone down, their pilot was trained enough for a hazard landing. They had a medic as well, for any injuries. At least one of them should have been back by now, for help if the others couldn't move.

Hope sighed as he reached up and clicked off the lamp on the side table. He rearranged himself as slowly as possible as not to disturb Serah, and laid down on the couch. He prayed that when he woke up, Light would be back in her room. Perhaps a little worse for the wear, but safe and with them all the same. Or heck, maybe it was all some horrible dream. Perhaps he would wake up tomorrow, on the couch or in his bed, and find Light in the kitchen, preparing her usual morning cup of java. But life was seldom so kind to the unfortunate Hope Esthiem. When morning came, all he found was an empty kitchen and a sniffling Serah.

His mother was right, bad news always came in threes.

Okay, so this isn't so pairing heavy, but it's only suppose to set the mood. I'm actually going in to this one with multiple chapters in mind, and I don't think I'll be leaving the updates half a year apart. This is going to be a HopexLight, though I don't think a whole lot of it is going to be personal interaction between the two, just more in a... spiritual essence I guess? And there will be some hints at HopexSerah as I think the two would make a pretty cute pairing, especially in the melodramatic "I lost who I really love" situation lol. I shouldn't lol about that but w/e. Anyways, I hope you'll give me another chance and read my work of utter fiction here which reminds me

I do not own any of this stuff, it's all Square Enix, blah, blah.

Alright G'night!