Hello, I should really be using my time productively but hell, I literally just got FFXIII (I've been waiting on it for years) and can't put it down. Has anyone else listened to the soundtrack of this bad boy? It's just awesome…

Anyways, a few notes, first off, this will follow the Hundred Themes challenge, at least the one that the internet says is most common, and will be a series of…uh…randomness. Warnings for varying chapter length, some serialisation though I think these are what can be considered 'one shots' or 'drabbles' in general…chronological headaches and some serious Hope/Lightning (I know, I'm going to hell…in a hand basket).

Seriously though, I'm gonna be jumping all over the place chronologically so to make it easier to follow, I'm going list Hope and Lightning's ages before each chapter so you guys can work out what should be going on in their lives etc…

Yeesh, I hope this works…

Disclaimer: I own a copy of the game…this is important. I certainly do not own the rights to this wonderful story.

INTRODUCTION

Hope is 14, Lightning is 21

She couldn't quite recall when she'd first been introduced to Hope Estheim. He'd shown up with Snow in the heart of the Pulse Vestige, a kid barely 14 with his head hung low so his eyes wouldn't meet anyone else's. At the time, she'd been hell bent on saving her sister and Snow's appearance had eaten up any remaining attention she might have spared for the two civilian kids he'd dragged into the mess.

She hadn't even remembered his involvement until they'd been made L'Cie and were thrown together on the frozen landscape of Lake Bresha. He'd taken the news worse than everyone else and had burst open with festering negativity. His pessimistic outlook on the situation had irritated her. She knew well enough that their situation was pretty terrible, she didn't need some kid to pull the dread and the grief to the surface when what they needed was a plan.

She was always trying to plan her way out of thinking too much.

Somewhere along the way, the group had realised that they would probably be stuck together for a while. Names were exchanged. She hadn't remembered a single one…save his. The kid was called Hope? How ironic that he was the one that seemed to possess a complete lack of it. When she'd turned back to watch him, his eyes were wide, confused and his lips seemed to have been fashioned into a permanent pout. Of all the kids she could have accompanied her into the world of the Fal'Cie, why did she have to get one that seemed so sulky, so spoilt?

She hadn't stopped to think at the time that his tragedy may have been just as serious as hers and that, as a kid, he didn't know how to handle it so he'd done exactly what nature had dictated he do. She hadn't stopped to consider any of her companions, if she had, maybe she would have considered Katzroy a little differently. What the hell had possessed him to follow her into the depths of the Vestige anyway? It wasn't exactly something someone did on a whim…

The plan was to ditch the lot of them as soon as she got the chance bar Snow. Oh yes, she would be keeping her eye firmly on her aggravating brother-in-law. Of course, as fate would have it, Snow was the first to be abandoned to the wrath of PSICOM. The others had followed her lead into the great unknown.

Hope hadn't come to the forefront of her mind until they'd fallen into the desolate and garbage filled wasteland. Despite her misgivings about the boy, he'd navigated the treacherous piles of trash to follow her. It was the first time she'd paid him any real attention. She wondered just how old he was and why, when she looked at his eyes, there seemed to be a spark of something that wasn't there before.

Of course, the minute negativity had reared its head, she'd dropped him, fleeing over the rubble rather than face the possibility that there was nothing she could do for her sister, that their situation was hopeless. It was a move that had come back to haunt her, cementing a fear of abandonment in the boy that would never really go away, no matter how many times she assured him she would be there for him.

To her surprise, he found her again, latching onto her and following her though she knew she was keeping up a relentless pace, a soldier's pace. For reasons she was still unable to determine, his resolve to follow her, to be her burden had angered her and she gave up on trying to lose him, turning on him instead with the blunt truth. She couldn't progress with him in tow, she wasn't some sort of babysitter…

She still remembered the look of fear on his face. It was such a raw emotion, so untainted and it moved her. His eyes were big and clear, the pout disappeared to make room for the silent protestation forming on his lips. He was the first one that had managed to reach into her and bring her out of her grief even if it was only for a second and even if it was only to register someone else's fear.

It was enough for her to allow him to continue with her. Though she hadn't realised it at the time, he'd generated something inside her that caused a need for him to remain close. Perhaps it was that he was the first person she'd really acknowledged in an emotional capacity since it had all begun, perhaps she wasn't ready to lose this flickering of humanity when it had all but disappeared the moment her sister crystallised.

She'd led him across the terrain until he'd fallen back, dragging his feet as they'd skirted around piles of rubble and hiked up through the various rough pathways. It was only as she glanced back, saw him sway slightly as he stood on the pathway that she decided to call it, scouting around while he took a breather. He collapsed gratefully on the floor, leaning up against the charred machinery. When she'd returned with the purpose of pressing on, she'd found him sleeping where he fell, his face vacant and exhausted.

The feeling that had been born in her when she'd seen his look of terror at her proposed abandonment squirmed inside her. She had no idea what that feeling was supposed to be but she wasn't going to fight it when it seemed to be working like balm on the grief that had threatened to drag her under.

She mulled it all over as she watched him sleeping, his head lolling against the machinery and an innocent smile pulling at his features.

"Mum?" he murmured, eliciting an eyebrow raise…

…and a small smile.

"Not even close," she replied in the half light.

Please R&R! It would make my day!

EDIT: I have burnt my Word - Lightning is now Lightning as she should be.