ChunkyFuckyMonkey - I've made a bunch of changes. Here they are at last!

Thanks for finding yourself with this story: First Dance! It is a complete rewrite of the original as I plan to make it into its own full-length story. It is much better written than the original if I say so myself :) Hope you all enjoy! I have been nursing this story for nearly a year before finally putting up the first two chapters. Please give me your feedback! I want this to be the best it possibly can.

Prologue

A thousand years was a good run for the Soldier. While most people who try to quit never make it past their first thirty days or so, Lightning managed to push herself just shy past a thousand years. It was a nasty habit, one that she picked up in her early days of basic training when her body was making its transition to one that needed sleep to one that considered such a luxury, well, a luxury and nothing more. Lightning brought the filter end of the cigarette to her lips, pausing to savor the warmth against her face. Behind her, just beyond the sliding glass door was her family. Serah, Snow, Sazh and Dajh, Vanille, Fang, and even Hope was here as well, enjoying the last minute celebration before her sister's big day. The new world brought new smiles, new laughter, and a new future for everyone. Snow and Serah were finally getting married tomorrow, the Grand Nautilus Hotel being their first choice venue. Although already booked up, the establishment had no reservation against accommodating the thousand-year-young bride to be and her family: the saviors of this newfound world.

Lightning took a long drag through her lips, her front teeth shredding the tar-laden air as it passed down her throat and into her lungs. She sighed to exhaled before tossing the cigarette on the ground to be squashed under her boot. She was happy her sister was alive and smiling, but it wasn't Lightning's smile that brightened the room. Lightning couldn't help but feel crushed by her new life, or lack thereof. She had managed to save the world, just not her own. Serah and Snow were starting their new lives together. Fang and Vanille as well. Sazh was looking forward to the time he could finally spend with his son. And Hope, he had the world at his feet.

Hope had everything going for him in the new world: he was good-looking, excelled at school, and was popular with girls his age. Althout she didn't want him to worry about tuition, he had his mind set. Despite her best efforts, he chose reservist duty with the Guardian Corps while he went to school. It wasn't going to be long before Hope graduated from their tiny place and into a home more suited to his level of success. Imagining his future brought both joy and pain to Lightning. Picturing him successful, with a beautiful woman by his side, a spry young child dancing around his feet in the front lawn of his large, immaculate home made her more proud than any guardian could be. However, this feeling almost always faded into a sense of regret and loneliness. No matter how many times the image came to her mind, she never saw herself in it. There was no obvious place for someone like her, not that she could see at least.

Lightning took a breath and spun on her feet, facing the sliding glass door from the edge of the rear porch. Inside the Villier's home was the bustle of her usual friends and family enjoying the pre-wedding celebration. Everyone was happy and content, well, almost everyone. She had always felt this way when she looked at them. How they could smile and laugh and play and be so joyful so carelessly both escaped her comprehension as well as feed her insatiable jealousy. Once more, they were able to do so without her, even now.

Lightning let her eyes fall to the wood paneling beneath her feet. As much as she wanted to be happy, she wished she could disappear and never have to think like this again. Fighting a never-ending war in Valhalla, away from Cocoon, from Pulse, from her friends and family seemed like a simpler time, more tolerable even in comparison to now. And then there was him. Being awoken a thousand years later only to see his young face before her, just as he was when she first met him. While saving the world for a final time, she was guided only by his soothing and familiar voice. Having him watch over her in the throws of the hardest moments of her life brought more internal peace than standing on her sister's porch waiting the day of her wedding. The rest of the new world was moving on without her. If anything, if just one person would acknowledge her, if only that one person was him. Lightning's eyes welled with a single tear in each as the thought manifested. Please, just please come out here and notice me. If just this once. Please just-

"Light? Are you okay?"

Lightning snapped her head towards the door. Before her stood the very young man her turmoil rested upon. He was one foot inside and one foot on the porch. It became obvious to her that he had opened the door cautiously enough not to make a noise, his concern reigning over his desire to force her attention. Lightning wiped her eyes before turning her back on him.

"I'm fine, Hope. Just needed some air. Did you need something, Hope? Is everything okay inside?"

Hope smiled. As distant as she could be in times like these, she never forsook the opportunity to try to help him. Did you need something, Hope? The young man thought to himself, replaying her words in his mind. "Nope. I'm okay, Light. What about you? We're all wondering why you're out here by yourself."

Lightning forced a chuckle. "Is that so?"

Hope shuffled his feet, his hand playing with the locks of hair on the back of his scalp. "Well, not everyone… maybe. But, I was anyway."

Lightning felt a stabbing pain in her chest. If anyone was thinking of her, it was him. It was the one thing she wanted more than anything in the world. Despite this, she felt more conflicted than she had before he approached her. She cursed under her breath. He was finally here, waiting for her to respond and she couldn't even face him. It was no wonder that she couldn't picture a future with him. Despite his best efforts, she always managed to drive him away.

Several moments of silence passed before Hope worked up the nerve to speak again. "Well, I guess just come join us when you feel ready, Light. If there's anything you need from me, I'll be inside." Hope brought his leading foot back through the threshold of the door and gently close the door behind him. Just like that, he was gone and quickly as he came. Lightning clutched the porch railing with her hands and squeezed her knuckles into a stark shade of white as she fought back the second round of tears. During the events of their fateful thirteen days, Lightning had returned to the ark on one particularly grueling day. Battered and exhausted, Hope settled her onto the couch opposite from the control station. He draped his jacket over her before bringing her something to eat and drink. His hands dug themselves into her painfully stick neck and shoulders as she nursed her simple meal. Those few minutes made for one of the greatest moments of joy and serenity in her life. Very briefly, she had hoped she could give up saving the world just to live that moment over and over for the rest of eternity.

At last, the evening had come to a close. The girls said their goodbyes to each other with heartfelt kisses on the cheek and passionate hugs, except for Lightning. The other knew better than to try to do so with her. As the crowd dwindled, Hope and Lightning were the last to say their goodbyes leaving only them and their hosts in the living room.

"I'm gonna use the restroom before we leave. Give me a second, Light." Hope said to her as she was wrestling her arms through the sleeves of her coat.

As Hope disappeared beyond the bathroom door, Snow turned to his bride-to-be and her faithful sister. "I'm gonna hit the sack. It's been a busy day. Thanks again for coming, Sis." Snow said before turning towards the hallway as a yawn crept up into his jaw. With the boys out of sight, Lightning was left alone in the living room with her sister.

Serah took a step towards her sister, an unnerving smile hanging from her lips. "Soooo, Claire, do you and Hope have any special plans for the evening?"

Lightning rolled her eyes. "Quit it, Serah. You're always on about this. Can't we just have a nice evening without you bringing this up?"

"Force?" Serah asked, a little peeved. "I'm not the one who asked Hope to move in with them."

Lightning's usually pale face turned an ever so slight shade of pink. "He needed a place to stay. That was all. We've been together for a long time. It was only natural."

Serah put her hand on her hip in defiance of her sister's lack of enthusiasm. "More natural than living with his parents? I wonder how you got them to agree to it."

"I didn't," Lightning nearly hissed, "He did. He was an adult. It was a decision for him to make. Despite his appearance, he is over a thousand years old, Serah."

Serah's face lit up as she paced towards the kitchen. "Speaking of that, Noel and I took pictures of him when he was older while he was the director of the Academy. Do you want to see them?"

Lightning followed her sister to the kitchen and slowly took a seat at the kitchen table. She crossed her legs in her usual fashion while trying to retain a straight face. Her furious foot tapping against the linoleum nearly gave away her excitement. "I suppose so if it will get you to stop talking."

Serah sighed, clearly disappointed. "Yeah, I lied, sis. I don't have any pictures like that. I thought you would be more excited if said so. C'mon Lightning, this is Hope we're talking about..."

Lightning uncrossed her legs and stood, hand on her hip. "I'm not about to get excited about seeing pictures of Hope. If you want that kind of reaction why don't you solicit some of those "fruities" from his fan club at the college? Christ sakes, Serah, he's just Hope. That's it. That's all it ever is, and I would appreciate it if you would stop pushing the subject."

*Ahem*

Serah and Lightning snapped their heads towards the direction of the hallway. Simultaneously, Serah threw a careful chuckle at the young man while Lightning tucked her face into her shoulder, arms crossed just below her chest.

"Heya kiddo, all set to go?" Serah asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." Hope seemed nearly dejected as he looked at his housemate. "Light? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Just grab your coat. We're leaving." She continued to look the other way, her hands clutching at her elbows until the whites of her knuckles emerged. Once Hope had retrieved his coat from the rack by the door, she followed, content now that he was preoccupied enough not to look at her. As the pair made their way from their hosts' front porch and to the car, Lightning waved a silent goodbye as Serah wished them a good night.

The car ride home was arduously silent. Lightning stayed glued to the road in front of her, her shoulders and arms square with the wheel in front of her with her hands perfectly at 'ten' and 'two'. Hope was slumped over in the passenger seat, his forehead resting on the glass as he gazed out at the starry sky. Despite his lack of posture, he was restless in his seat, his feet scurrying against the carpeted floor beneath them. At last, they parked in the lot facing the condominium building they resided in. Usually, Hope was the first to hop out as soon as she cranked the key into the off position. This time, however, he stayed where he was gazing out the window.

"Something wrong, Hope? Are you feeling sick?" Lightning put her hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed.

Hope brushed her hand away and sat upright. "I'm not a little kid, Light. I'm not gonna get sick from eating too much junk food at Snow and Serah's."

"Fine, Hope. You're not a kid anymore. Anything else you wanted to talk about?"

Hope gave a soft huff as his shoulders drooped. "Am I bother to you, Light?"

"So you heard me and Serah talking then?"

Hope sighed. "Yeah… You could say that. Look, you were the one who asked me to move in. Is this about the time you dropped me off for class one day and those girls were cooing me? That wasn't my idea, Light. I don't even know them."

"You didn't say no when I asked, did you?" Lightning's response was quick, like the bang of a hammer on an impenetrable door.

Hope turned to her and put his hands on her arms. "I'm serious, Light. You're doing it again, shutting me out. Of course, I wanted to move in with you. We'd been together for so long, just us. The two of us living together on the arc, and now, where else would I go?"

Lightning looked up at him, a smile creeping on her face as she saw the honesty and compassion in his eyes.

"You're my friend, Lightning. I won't leave your side. I made that promise to you before, and I don't plan on breaking it."

The smile faded from her lips faster than her heart sank into her gut. Lightning pulled her arms away from him, his touch feeling like sandpaper in contrast to the soothing warmth from seconds ago. Her it is again, she thought to herself. It was always like this when it came to him. He was her friend, her absolute best friend and forever comrade in the face of any trial. It was more than she deserved to ever ask, and perhaps this was enough for her. What she sought for, he would find in someone else. Someone more deserving. Someone younger. Someone more open. Someone with less blood on their hands. Someone less broken.

"Thanks, Hope. I appreciate it, I really do, and I'm glad you're here with me. Just go inside and get some rest. Tomorrow is a big day for everyone, including you."

Hope obliged and opened the passenger door, propping it open with the heel of his shoe. "Are you coming?"

Lightning shook her head as she tapped her breast pocket.

"I wish you would give that up. You didn't smoke when we met. I can't understand why you do now. I didn't come to the new world just for you to die before me." Hope's words were sheepish at best, the new world wasn't like the old and he knew it.

"Nobody has died yet in the new world. Let's not get carried away," She replied.

"Still stinks. I like the way you smell without it." With those last words, Hope hurried towards the building door, his distaste for the smell fueled more by the potential that he smelled it on him sometimes than the fact that it was Lightning's vice and not his.

Lightning pulled the pack from her pocket and tipped it over, letting one of the cylindrical strips peek away from the package and into the space between her left middle and forefinger. Finally opening her own door, she gathered herself and pushed her way away from the car, slamming the door shut behind her with her boot before striking a match in front of her face. As she took the first drag from the evening's last cigarette, she let out a heavy sight into the emptiness of the night.

A friend, She thought to herself, A friend that smells better when she doesn't smoke is what I am. As long as he's here and not with someone else, that's all I need. That's all I need.

1

First Dance

The ceremony was. . . nice, in its own right. Actually, the ceremony was quite beautiful. Lightning was never one for such experiences. Forcing herself to emotionally caudle the happy couple and socialize with all of Serah and Snow's family and friends was not her idea of an ideal day despite the fact that she shared all of their family and friends. But today wasn't about her, not that she'd ever want such a day. The vows were typical of Snow. He droned on about being the "Hero" and how saving Serah was to be his ultimate feat of blah blah blah. Serah ate his words up like a hungry hippo, despite their lack of eloquence. "I did it all for you", and "only you gave it any meaning", and -insert generic line here- and so on. Someone, please shoot me... Lightning thought as she glanced up from her seat in the front pew. This sentiment only intensified as Serah's soppy eyes shed a new sheet of tears each time Snow opened his idiot mouth.

Lightning felt dampening crawling up the hem of her skirt. She cleared her throat as inconspicuously as she could and scooted up in her chair, her posture straighter than on her first day of basic training. Lightning chided herself for feeling flustered, then chided herself again for thinking that anyone would notice. Everyone in the audience was glued to the couple on stage. Well, almost everyone. Lightning snapped her eyes towards her right, the young man next to her seeking her attention with a subtle nudge to her elbow.

Hope relieved a handkerchief from the blouse of his newly issued dress uniform and presented it to the woman sitting to his left. Side by side in their neatly pressed dress uniforms, the two looked more like gaudy Guardian Corps delegates than a couple, something she considered fortunate. The person to her right, however, perhaps did not share such a notion. She was proud of his accomplishments, having only recently finished his basic training during the summer of his second year of college. She took the handkerchief from his hands and dabbed her eyes, shoulders and chin square with her hips and feet, the only person Hope new could do so.

Hope had taken his seat next to Light when the ceremony began, a decision he felt was a natural one considering she had asked him to accompany her to the wedding. He understood it was out of courtesy, the invitation. She wasn't seeing anyone by any means and he was too focused on finishing his schooling than to focus on something like women. Being near the end of his first phase of school, he knew he would have more opportunities to interact with his longtime friend as Lightning was one to frequent the student practitioner-lead clinic, strained this and maybe broken that littered her medical record. Lightning returned the handkerchief to his hand and breathed a sigh of contentment. The ends of Hope's lips crawled a couple millimeters up towards his cheeks. Hope was relieved that Lightning was enjoying herself. Before now, he was afraid she genuinely wouldn't. Not only were weddings not the official list of things Lightning likes to do with her free time, Hope understood that she had feelings, thoughts, and emotions to inevitably revisit as her sister's wedding progressed. Whether they would bring joy or pain was not something for him to decide. He just hated to see her suffer, even if it was minuscule. He had been like that since the two of them met, willing to think of her first before himself even though he was the one who was truly helpless without her.

After the ceremony, they had moved from the ceremonial hall of the Grand Nautilus Hotel to the first floor where a conference area had been furnished with dining tables and a hardwood center. The usual gang was at the table closest to the dancing area. Sazh and his son were competing with each other, each of them trying to outdo the other in the quest to make the best napkin swan. Snow and Serah were away shaking hands and making their rounds with the various guests leaving Vanille, Hope, and Lightning to deal with the slightly inebriated Fang. Despite her rugged toughness, she was always the first to succumb to the one-too-many rule. Alcohol was not her forte, and neither was keeping her words to herself when she became like this. Hope and Vanille had found their way to the bar upon Fang's pleading for another drink, Fang being too preoccupied with combating the effects of the few she had already nursed into empty glasses.

"I wanted to ask you something," Hope told Vanille as they made their way to the bar. Hope and Vanille's naturally young faces were met with the barman's skepticism but he ultimately disregarded them upon seeing Hope's uniform and hearing something about being "centuries young" from the red-headed one. He decided that producing drinks would be the better side of this trap then engaging the issue of her poorly understood age.

Vanille tipped a dollar into a smelling glass at the barman's side and retrieved the freshly prepared drink from the counter. "What's on your mind, Hope?"

Before Hope could speak, he and his friend found themselves quietly surrounded by some "fruities" as Lightning so 'joyously' termed. Giddy, but without audible laughter, three girls began pawing at the white and crimson uniform of the young man between them. Hope took an anxious breath as he gently pushed their soft, darting hands away. He certainly had no fear of girls, only fear of the deathening gaze of a certain someone when they tried to do something like this.

"We'll talk later," Vanille said as she took her leave from the group, winking at him.

"May I help you?" Hope's frantic question provided little reprieve, only confirming their efforts for his attention by providing his own. His mistake.

"You're Hope, right?" Where are you from?" "How old are you really?" "What's being a soldier like?" "Did you really fight with Snow and NORA?" "Who was that girl you were walking with just now?" "Is the woman in a uniform sitting at your table your date?" "She can't be, right?" "Are you dancing with anyone later?" Their questions were unrelenting, coming from indiscernable directions.

As Vanille returned to Fang, now being tended to by Lightning who was doing her best to keep her sister's big day as free of Fang's inebriated outbursts as possible, Fang looked up at the approaching Vanille and then past her to the cluster of girls surrounding Hope.

"Look at the kid go!" she nearly slurred, "You know a good looking guy like him dressed in his spiffy new uni would come to a wedding with, you know….*hic*" Upon seeing Light and Vanille's confused expressions she continued unwavering, a sly smile creeping across the right side of her lips, "...protection."

"Fang!" Vanille exclaimed, pointing her nose at Lightning while maintaining eye contact with Fang in a "you-know-who-is-sitting-right-here" kind of fashion.

Lightning turned to Fang, leaning in, and inches from her ear stated, "Fang, I swear to Etro if you can't fucking control yourself right here, right now, I'm going to have Vanille here take you straight back to your room."

Fang pulled away from Light and matched her gaze. "Don't you get too far ahead of me, Light, the night is still young," Fang's reply came with a tactless and obvious wink to her red-haired counterpart as she callously surveyed the red-headed girl with her eyes, starting at her soft, pale legs peeking out from the bottom of her skirt.

"FANG!" came Vanille's second outburst, the back of her hands slapping against Fang's wavering shoulder.

Light, determining that Fang and Vanille's newly found squabble was not worth her time, decided to take her frustrations somewhere else. She turned her attention to the stammering Hope and his followers and ardently approached him. As she did, her eyes met his. His quintessential new-kid-in-class-surrounded-by-inquisitive-girlies-like expression vanishing once he met her heart-piercing gaze. The color on his face disappeared, leaving only the visage of a fear-induced pale white. He had been truly afraid several moments in his life: the explosions surrounding him and his mother on the Hanging Edge, the darkness enveloping the world upon Serah's death, and the moment Lightning left to confront Bhunivelze before the birth of the New World. This moment was one more to add to his list.

Lightning stood just beyond arm's length from Hope and his new found 'friends'. Glancing from his face to hers, the girls stared at the Soldier while she stared back menacingly. At first, they adopted an attitude of retaliation, clicks on their tongues and hands on their hips in defiance to the older woman who sought to ruin their fun. As several moments passed, their spunk dissipated, being replaced only by anxiety as their posture and demeanor adopted that of a frightened mouse trying to shuffle away inconspicuously from a great bird of some kind who had landed just shy to its front but had not quite noticed it, or perhaps wasn't hungry enough to do anything, not yet anyway.

Lightning spoke in the calmest, coolest, most collected fashion that she had ever endeavored to do so in her entire thousand-plus year history of existence. "Hope," She began as she gestured towards the banquet hall door, "May I have a word with you?"

Hope swallowed the air in his mouth, his eyes pleading her for mercy. "Light, it's not what you think. I swear. Please, just listen to-"

"NOW!" Came her deafening response to his feeble attempt to disagree. She turned about face, her feet gliding across the hardwood with the class of a seasoned Warrant Officer. She paused before taking a step, indicating to her subordinate to follow suit.

"U-understood," He softly managed while sloppily snapping to attention. With each of her steps, he mirrored till the two were a mere few feet away from the door. Hope dared not glance behind him to see if the girls were truly gone or not. Each step was pure agony, his soul being slowly crushed under each loud click of her boots against the hardwood. Trailing the woman in front of him was the heavy air of booze, a source he could not bring himself to consider was Lightning's. Once the two were beyond the door, into the hallway, and out of sight, she stopped on a dime and turned to face him. She left him there in silence, her tightened shoulders, clenched fists, and rage-red cheeks scorching the space between them.

Hope knew he could speak, or wait till she did. He considered that if Lightning did have anything to say, he'd be dead before she said it. He took a gamble and spoke first. As the first of his words left his lips, he flinched back subconsciously and slammed his eyes tightly shut.

*SMACK*

Perhaps if he wasn't so scared, if he had kept his eyes open, he could have seen it coming. The swelling and stinging against his cheek told him that she considered the opportunity before her and took it: he was submissive, scared, his eyes closed in fear. Like any good warrior, she struck when her enemy was most vulnerable. When he opened his eyes, he saw someone entirely different than the person who was before him prior. The fearsome woman was gone. In her place was a woman whose eyes stayed glued to the floor, begging the threads of carpet beneath her feet to give her an answer to her pain. To her left was a lamp, its base nailed into the wall. Her shiny, wide eyes whose tears had yet to escape glistened brilliantly in its glow as her soft, crimson cheeks matched the color of the carpet lining the floor and the walls around her. She rubbed the back of her hand gently with the other in an effort to relieve the same stinging that Hope endured.

"Look at yourself." Her words fluttered against the quivering of her lower lip as the first of her tears broke free against the damn of what was once her iron will. How anyone could drive her to such an emotional and irrational state escaped her realm of understanding. Of course, he wasn't just anyone. "You look like an idiot in that uniform right now. Today is not the day for you to try and get as many free nights on whore island as you can by-"

"Claire, that's not what I was trying to do!" Hope pleaded fervently, his arms outstretched and his eyes begging for reason.

Just as soon as she was vulnerable she was back to angry. "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT NAME TO ME, NOW OF ALL TIMES! Who am I to you that you call me Claire at the worst possible time?! What about all the times before, when I needed you to say it to me the most? Or were you too busy messaging those "fruities" from school you're so fond of on that smartphone you are always glued to?!" Lightning's best efforts to imitate a teenager glued to their phone added to her fruitless efforts to elicit an honest response from both the young man before her and herself.

"It's not like that!" Hope took a step forward, leaving a forearm's distance between the two as he tried to plead his case further. He was almost crying now, something that only upset Lightning even more.

"Oh?! What's all this then?" She retorted, grasping his wrist and pulling it, and him, closer to her chest. He unfurled his wrist under the pressure of her iron grip revealing a plethora of papers with hastily scribbled phone numbers scribbled on them and a hotel key card that was presumably not his, or Lightning's. "

"Light, these are just- I mean, you don't get it, okay? I was just trying to be polite and get them to go away!"

"I DON'T NEED TO!" She cried out. She paused in embarrassment as a hotel staff member tried to casually walk by the two, whistling into his breast as he did to feign a lack of interest. Lightning assessed herself, his wrists grasped firmly in her hands. His face was tucked into his shoulder as she was only a nose-length away from him. She released his hands and allowed him to take several steps back and quickly wipe his eyes with the back of his sleeve. Music softly invaded the silence between them as the light from the other side of the door dimmed to a soft glow. Lightning could only see the white and crimson silhouette of the person before her.

"As is tradition, the first dance is for the newlywed couple so please welcome them to the floor," Came an announcement from within the room carried by the gentle crackle of a microphone. As she turned away from him to go back inside, Hope made one last appeal.

Lightning stopped in her tracks, clenching her fists as she waited silently for him to let go of the hem of her jacket. She didn't want to face him, more embarrassed and afraid to do so than angry at him. She was unreasonable and she knew as much. It was unreasonable to think he looked at her the way she looked at him. He could have any single girl in that room in a heartbeat, he doesn't need an old hag like me. He never will, not like that. The thought wasn't isolated, she had thought as such many times after they had moved in together into a tiny condominium. With the new world came new feelings. Addressing feelings of any kind was not a strength of hers, especially these kinds of feelings. "Hope, let go of me. Either you go back to your room, or I will."

"Will you dance with me?" His voice was level and calm, the words sounding almost rehearsed. Her heart plummeted into her gut in surprise as his words were carried gently to her ears on the back of the music that danced just above their heads. He tossed the shreds of paper and the room key card into a waste can by the door and approached her cautiously. She couldn't fathom the words she had just heard. "I've waited all day to ask you. Please don't leave."

She turned slowly, her arms and hands now shielding her face as her own eyelids swelled. She looked up from her hands, searching his face for any sign of motivation. She couldn't fathom why he would ask of such a thing from her. Having a dance with the bride, sure, such a thing was a tradition. Hell, it was even an honor. No doubt Serah would have loved to oblige him of all the male guests, but a dance from her tomboyish, emotionally void, much less pretty, an older version of an already good if not a perfect woman was beyond Lightning's comprehension. Hope was perfect when she first met him, perfect a thousand years later, and even perfect now. She was not. She both needed his perfection as much as she feared what damage her presence could inflict upon it.

Hope blinked to let the tears escape down his cheek. "Do you still have it?" He whispered.

She reproduced the handkerchief he had given her earlier and held it out in front of his face. Instead of taking it from her hand, he slowly guided his cheek into it. His hands caressed her skin down the length of her arm to the tips of her fingers unleashing an unbearably nauseating sense of butterflies down her through and into her stomach. He gently placed his hands on the palms of hers and guided them, one to his waist and the other out and to his right just below shoulder level. Still relishing in disbelief, she remained silent, refusing an answer to his request as he manipulated her at his will. His lips now mere inches from her ear, he whispered one more plea. "Please, Claire. I will beg if I have to."

"You look good in your uniform, Hope," She mustered like a stupid school girl. "I was wrong, before, when I said what I did." It was all she could think of. Despite only a couple years passing since the new world was formed, Hope's then fourteen now sixteen-year-old frame still carried itself a perfect match to her, not in form but in feeling. Or was it seventeen now? After a thousand years, give or take, she stopped trying to keep track. Like the new world's dumbest deer staring straight into the headlamps of a truck half a mile away, the best she could do was stand there motionless and say the first awful thing that popped into her once collected and calculating head.

Hope guided her through several painstaking motions. Her inability to respond his words, much less match his rhythm, made their first dance as bad as when the first dancer in existence tried to teach a dance to someone who hadn't even heard of the concept. Light pushed her brow into his chest, allowing her tears to soak through his blouse. Hope paused and withdrew his hands from hers before grabbing her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Lightning. I shouldn't have done that." Hope's words stabbed into her like a hot iron into a fresh palate of wood-work. He was sure he made a mistake. He was sure that he shouldn't have pushed her. He never considered that begging could hurt her more than it could hurt him. "If you want to go back to your room, you can. I'll tell the others that you were getting a migraine or something and you needed to rest for a little bit." With those words, Hope left for the door to the banquet hall, leaving her behind to shoulder the weight of loneliness once again.

"Hope, you suck. You know that?" Lightning blurted through her clenched teeth, her molars shredding the words as they were forced to her lips. "A migraine? Am I just some old lady to you?"

"I don't want to fight with you Lightning. I'm trying to admit I made a mistake. Please..." Hope turned back to her, suddenly tossing his hands through his hair to wretch through the locks on the back of his head. "What do you want me to do? Just tell me, and I'll do it. I never wanted to hurt you. I only ever want to see you happy and I can't even do that on a day that's supposed to be one of the best days for all of us. I mean, we've all been looking forward to this for more than a thousand years and I can't even let you have that. I get it, okay? With the girls and you and their phone numbers and whatever it is, please, just..."

"That was my first dance, Hope! I was so happy. For once in my miserable fucking existence, I was so happy that someone like you would want to dance with me and- and how did you say it?! It was a mistake?! If dancing with me was such a mistake, you should have just pissed off from the start!" Lightning chucked his handkerchief into his face and stormed off down the hallway towards the hotel elevators.

"Lightning!" He reached out to her, his hand grasping her shoulder. She shrugged it away with force. Hope felt destroyed. He felt more broken than he ever had in his entire life as the one person he cared about more than anyone turned her back on him. They had their fights before but never had it felt like this. He waited over a thousand years to hold her as he did, dance with her even, and she couldn't even look him in the eyes. He felt his soul tearing apart, piece-by-piece, with each step she took towards the elevator. Lightning mashed the call button with one hand as the other tried desperately to wipe away her tears only to smear them, and chunks of her mascara, across her cheeks. As the elevator doors opened, Hope made one last, desperate, and foolish attempt to bring her back to him. "I hate this! I can't take this anymore!"

With the 'ding' of the elevator door, Hope grasped Lightning's shoulders, turning her towards him as he pinned her against the back panel of the lift. Lightning raised her head in protest only to be met by his lips against hers. Her half attempt at a breath prompted her to swallow the air in her mouth. Her hands trapped beneath his against the glass window behind her, Lightning wrestled herself furiously against him as he pressed himself against her. He was motionless, without a sound as her heavy breathing pushed hot, wet air in and out of her nose. Her strength failing her, she stopped fighting as his fingers found themselves homes in between hers, his chest now pressing up against hers. Her breathing slowed, then leveled, then paused as he finally released himself from her leaving mere inches between his now swollen left cheek and her mess of tear-diluted mascara. Hope stared at her, his lips gently parting as the first word to escape his lips rolled off of his-"

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough* *Cough* *Cough* *Cough* Lightning pushed him away by the shoulders and drew in a long, exasperated breath. *Cough* *Cough* *Cough* *Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

Dumbfounded, Hope stared at her struggling to reoxygenate herself. This wasn't how he imagined it. "Light? Are you okay? Do you need to-"

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

Lightning put her hands on her knees and drew in another labored breath. *Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

Finally, with a face as red as a cherry, she fought back with words of her own. "What the hell was that?!"

"That was me kissing you! What did you think it was?" Hope exclaimed. Amidst his own confusion and anticipation, Hope couldn't escape the thought that his first kiss came with the the heavy taste of cherries and scotch among other liquors he couldn't quite determine.

*Cough* *Cough* "That was probably the world's worst first kiss, you know that?!" *Cough* *Cough* "Unlike you, Mr. Ladiesman," She hissed as she made an angry gesture towards the direction of the dancing floor, "that was my first kiss!"

"It was my first kiss, too!" Hope exclaimed. He hated this image that she had of him. Just because girls gave him attention, Lightning paraded him like some kind of pimp who was wetter than he was dry and had the smile to prove it.

*AHEM!*

Both Hope and Lightning jerked their heads toward the front of the elevator cabin and froze. A pristine looking young woman in a uniform wearing white gloves stood by the control panel. With one hand stretched pointed up towards the dial indicating the current floor, she calmly asked the two, "What floor are you trying to go to?"

Hope picked up his chin from the floor and stood, shuffling his clothing back into place as Lightning scampered behind him, her forehead buried in between his shoulders.

Hope's adopted a tone mirroring the meekness of when he first met Lightning, the same dumbfoundedness in this moment as back then. "S-six, please." He whispered.

It was an eternity of pain for both of them. The ride from the second floor to the six floor felt longer than the thousand years they had been apart. Hope kept his eyes on the floor, arms crossed in front of him as Lightning remained hidden behind him, the top of her pale, pink hair poking through his silver locks. She was a tall girl, Hope catching up but an inch shy of her. When they finally reached their floor, they shuffled out of the elevators doors as the attendant waved a thoughtful but labored "You two have a good night, now," before the doors closed behind them.

Hope lead her by the hand, silently, as frustration carried his legs from the elevator towards their hotel room door. Lightning grabbed his arm as he attempted to retrieve his room key from his coat pocket.

"Whatever it is you're thinking of doing, Hope, rethink it." Lightning's mind had taken a turn for the worse as she feared Hope's potential intentions.

"We're sharing a room, remember?" Hope insisted as he pulled his arm away from her and jammed the key card into the slot above the door handle. "In case you didn't notice, you're a mess. You need to clean yourself up before we go back downstairs."

Hope pulled her inside as the door closed behind them. She watched as he scurried about the room, wrestling a fresh set of her clothes from her luggage and placing it on the bed before going into the bathroom and turning on the shower. With water running, he came out of the bathroom and ushered her inside before closing the bathroom door behind her.