Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII in any way, shape, or form.
Summary: Sometimes, what the world takes from you doesn't make you stronger.
A/N: Although I didn't mean for it to do so, this directly links into the CGI scene between Lightning and Snow, which I adore.
Either way; first FFXIII fic? I haven't played the game itself, but I plan to, and I've watched the complete walkthrough of it. Apologies if any of the characters are OOC, but I needed a break from the sheer amount of Lightning/Hope and Fang/Lightning that's been circling this fandom as of late.
I do not ship romantic Lightning/Snow or Lightning/Hope. Love them platonic, hate them romantic.
Also; feedback is always welcomed, although I have disabled PMs due to personal reasons, and I was greatly considering posting this on my side account... but in the end, I settled for my main one.
Word Count: 1744 words.
Hope had been having a dream that consisted of Sazh becoming a chocobo and l'Cie hybrid, and then he hid in Snow's bandanna – and speaking of Snow, he had magically turned into a girl, and then Lightning had been hitting on him, while Fang had six wings and was flying, so Hope was very thankful for the loud shouting that woke him up. There were weird dreams, and then there were hisweird dreams.
Maybe it was part of having an l'Cie brand; he had just tamed his Eidolon a couple of days ago, after all. For all they know, crazy dreams involving his new family could very well be part of the deal. Still, Lightning had never complained of unusual dreams after the whole incident with Odin, and he still has nightmares of that.
Sitting up, he takes a quick look around, very quickly finding the source of the noise. Lightning and Snow are large shadows against the bloody backdrop of Cocoon, but Snow is waving his hands around manically, and Lightning just has her arms crossed. Also, Snow is shouting loudly. That part is important.
"Would you listen to me!?" he yells, angry.
Oh.
No.
It's about Serah isn't it.
"Listen to me first!" Lightning hisses back. The two of them then march further away – well, to be exact, Lightning is dragging Snow by his trench coat sleeve to behind some trees that will most likely come to life and suffocate them.
They're not going to..?
Hope immediately shakes the thought away. Snow has Serah, and he wouldn't... nah, Snow isn't like that.
He hopes.
Ha.
Hopes.
...He really needs more sleep.
In the corner of the campsite, whispering in hushed snorts, are Fang and Sazh. Hope sees the setting sun's rays flicker off golden circles that they lay out in the middle, and oh no, they are not betting on this.
"I am tellin' you," Fang says, smirking. "That Snow is more stubborn than a Long Gui, and that is stubborn. You should have seen him on the Lindblum. The extent of his vocabulary was 'SERAHHHHHHHH!'"
Hope snickers to himself, just a little.
"Well, yeah, yeah," Sazh insists, shaking his finger about. "But this is Soldier Girl that we're talking about. He ain't got a chance against Light." He unfolds his free hand, gesturing with it. "Five hundred gil."
Fang slides forward some more coins. "Make that a thousand."
They are betting.
Vanille is curled up fast asleep next to Fang, her pigtails resting on the woman's crossed legs, so it's up to Hope to find out just whatLightning and Snow are arguing about now.
Because, you know, it's not like it's the first time or anything.
He swears, that if Serah didn't exist, those two would be a married couple. But, then again, if Serah didn't exist, then those two wouldn't even have any reason to tolerate each other; Lightning have another new punching bag to add to her vast collection, and Snow would be sporting a heck load more battle scars.
So, it's kind of a good thing that Serah exists.
But Hope is overthinking this, and he casually shuffles along the ground with his blankets firmly wrapped around him, determined to not be caught intruding. It's in his nature to be nosy, and somehow, the two haven't noticed that practically everyone else is awake thanks to their shouting match, round seven, tournament thirteen.
"-We do make an excellent team!"
What.
"I have to heal you every time an enemy taps you!"
"Ah, but most of those enemies are poisonous."
"Snow."
"What? Poison kills!"
So they're not actually having a serious argument that involves Serah and lots of shouting?
That sucks.
Hope waddles back to report his findings to the two adults awake.
Sazh's face falls. "Huh? I'm glad that we're not gonna wake up next to a mangled Snow in the morning, but really? Over teams?"
Fang slaps Hope on the back hard, making him stumble over. He thinks that she really struggles to show affection; that, or she's trying to kill him at every turn. Yesterday, he'd fallen into a lake and nearly gotten eaten by the fal'Cie Leviathan thanks to Fang 'accidentally' shoving him off a cliff. "Go and find out more," she demands, her accent thick. "And don't come back until you have something decent to report."
Hope nods meekly and shuffles back to beside the cliff edge, which is where Snow and Lightning are 'arguing'.
"-C'mon Sis! I just charge in there, and then-" Snow slams his fist into the palm of his hand. "-BAM! That's what I do! Should do," he mumbles lamely.
Lightning sighs heavily. "I am not your sister," she says wearily. "And guess what? There's something called not being able to heal. Unfortunately, it's something that you suffer from."
"Well, if you guys would let me expand to use that..." He waves his hand about. "...Stuff, then yeah, I could heal. Or give the potions to me instead of making Sazh carry them. But nope, I've gotta stick with saving other people's behinds."
Lightning whispers something that Hope can't make out, so he shuffles closer.
Snow's massive frame droops, all of the energy dropping with it. "But I just feel so helpless! I mean, I want to smash up the monsters, not defend people..."
And closer.
"-Really?" Lightning says snidely, leaning forward. "Isn't that what heroes do?"
For the first time ever, Hope cannot hear what Snow is saying, and when he quickly pokes out his head, Lightning looks concerned. Becoming very worried, he shuffles closer, the noise ruffling in the grass.
That's when something rock hard kicks him in the head. Hissing at the sudden explosion of pain, he bites his lip to try and not whimper. The blankets are lifted from his head, and a surprised Snow is glancing down at him. Lightning just looks faintly amused. Hope rubs the sore spot on his head nervously.
"Hey?"
"The hell?" Snow begins accusingly. "When did you get here?"
"Uh..."
"I mean," the man continues. "I'm pretty sure that you weren't there the whole time. Unless Lightning dragged me back to camp..? But then we'd be near Fang and all, right?"
"He sneaked up on us while pretending to be a pile of possessed blankets," Lightning says with a sigh. She leans over him, hands on hips. "Hope?"
"Y-yeah?"
"Could you tell Sazh and Fang to stop making bets on us?"
Snow looks shocked. "They're what?"
"What I just said."
"So they're betting on us?"
Lightning is a master of the deadpan look, Hope realises. "Again, what I just said."
Snow rubs the back of his neck. "Eh... but you just said 'what I just said'."
Hope learns that Lightning is also a master of slamming her palm against her face.
"Yes, they're betting on us," Lightning groans. "Most likely about who is going to win this argument."
"...We were arguing?"
"We will in a minute, idiot," she snaps.
Hope feels like the awkward third wheel in the middle of the two, and is about to say so, but then Lightning gives him a small smile with a ruffle of his hair. "Go back to sleep, okay? Snow and I are patrolling together."
"We are?" Snow asks. "I thought it was my patrol?"
Rolling her eyes, Lightning shoves him – not an easy task – towards the edge of the cliff. Hope instinctively scoots away from it, because there is most likely water at the bottom, and Fang is still nearby. "Then go and do some patrolling, 'hero'." She hesitates, then adds, "I'll join you once I settle things down."
He nods, sighing, then soldiers off without a word. As soon as he's a black blob, Lightning groans to herself, tiredly running a hand through her pink hair. "What is wrong with him?"
Huh? "Something's wrong with him?" Sure, he'd been acting a bit dodgy – and somehow, more dim than normal... but this was Snow. Since when did he let things get him down? Okay, so there was Palumpolum... and the Ark... and Cid...
Oh, crap.
"He's not normally this... this reclusive," Lightning says, just a bit concerned. "Ever since we arrived at the Ark, he's been like this. It... it's worrying," she sounds strained to even say the word.
"You worry about him?" Hope teases gently. He doesn't want her to be depressed before he goes off to sleep. "That's a first."
"Hope," comes Lightning's firm voice. Oops, he shouldn't have said that. "Go to sleep. This is serious. I would be the same if anyone else was upset or acting unusual. You, Sazh, Fang..." She shrugs, scoffing lightly. "Unfortunately, it's the same for our 'hero' over there."
"But-"
"-Just keep the others away, okay? Sometimes, you just need to be alone." She gives him another small smile, resting her hand on his shoulder.
He looks up. "You do?"
"Yeah. Now, go on. Shoo." Lightning shoves him softly on his back towards their small site. Hope can see Sazh whooping in victory, as Fang grumbles to herself, taking out money from her short pockets and handing it over.
"Hey, guys," he announces once he gets back. "Neither of them won. Called a truce."
"Whoa," Sazh exclaims. "No no no. Light won, hands down."
Fang gleefully yanks back her gil. "You heard the kid."
"Heard what kid?"
"Sazh!" Hope shouts, worries temporarily forgotten. "I'm right here!" He jumps in, taking some of the gil laid out between them, grinning as Sazh yells at him. "Yeah, I'm definitely here."
"That was my gil," Fang points out. Hope immediately holds out his hands to return it to her.
"I've got a better idea." Sazh swipes all of the gil from both of their hands, spreading it out between them. "Hope, sit down. Let an old man teach you how to play Eidolons."
"What?" Both of them say at the same time. Chocobo springs out of his brown afro with a chirp, flapping his furry wings about. Sazh laughs.
"Take it easy, aight?" He shrugs, carefree, then sighs as Chocobo flutters down beside him onto his knee. "Look, it's a card game. I'll show you..."
Half an hour later, where Fang is whooping as she hogs all of the money, and Sazh moans about how he's getting too old for this nonsense, and Vanille is somehow asleep, Hope still can't keep his mind off the two he left behind.