A/N: This is one of the fanfics I'm most proud of. It seems to be the one that has made the most people feel something. And also, to get the full effect, I suggest listening to Lightning's Piano song while reading, it really sets the mood. :) Song: .com/watch?v=iiqeEM7JPRo&feature=related
So, Review? :)
Hope waved goodbye to Serah and Snow and entered the house he shared with his mentor, Lightning Farron. It had been six months since the end of fal'Cie rule, and things were starting to get back to normal. After they had found Hope's dad, Bartholomew thought it would be best to move away from the now crystallized Cocoon, but the others were staying. After begging his dad, he let Hope stay in the protection of Lightning. She had promised to take care of him in his father's absence.
Hope walked in the front hallway, untying his shoes and leaving them by the door. He walked into the living room and the faint sound of a piano reached his ears. He'd never heard anything like it before.
He walked, letting the music guide him to the source. There was a room in the back hallway that held nothing but carpet, a fireplace, and piano in the corner. Hope had never thought much about it, he never saw Lightning in there, and decided she had just used it for storage.
He turned the corner, looking into the room. The light shone in the room from the window above the piano, illuminating the figure that sat alone, staring and playing the piano. It took him a minute to realize the figure was Lightning. She wore a gray shirt, and a pair of jeans. The light from the window made her slightly pale skin shine in the sunlight and her strawberry hair sparkle.
Hope stood there, in shock, waiting for her song to finish. He noticed that there was no music in front of her, and she had memorized the song. When she played the final key, she sat her hands in her lap, staring at the keys.
He entered the doorway, "Lightning…" The girl looked up, and he noticed how soft she looked compared to how he normally saw her. "That… that was beautiful." He watched as a slight pink shade creeped across her cheeks.
"I… I thought you were out with Serah and Snow…"
He came closer, now halfway in the room, "I was… we came back early."
Lightning let out a soft 'oh'.
"I didn't know you could play like that…" Hope was mesmerized by the girl before him, as if she were a stranger.
"M… My mother taught me to play…"
"She did…?"
Lightning nodded, scooting over on the bench, making room for Hope.
"Let me tell you a story…"
One day, when I was thirteen, I was sitting in my room studying for school, when I heard a beautiful song being played on the floor below. Interested, I walked down the stairs, and I found my mother sitting at the grand piano in our living room, playing. I stood in shock and awe until she finished the song and turned around, smiling at me. She didn't say anything, but told me to come over there, and I did. I sat down next to her, and she smiled. I asked her how she learned to play, and she said that her mother taught her. And her mother taught her. She said that the song she was playing had been passed down through our family since the days of Earth, 2000 years ago. She said it was tradition to teach the children of the next generation the song. Afterwards, she took my hands in hers, and placed them on the keys and began to move them with hers. I was shocked at how I was making something so beautiful with my own two hands… I assumed that's how Serah felt when she cooked… My mother taught her, and I had always been jealous, not knowing she was saving this for me. After we played the song, she looked at me, smiling… And the rest… Well, you know the rest.
When Lightning had finished the story, Hope saw the sorrow and pain in the girl's eyes, "But I doubt I'll ever have kids... It'll probably end with me."
Hope reached over, clasping Lightning's hands in his.
"Teach me."
The pair practiced each day, and he became better with each passing lesson. She didn't scold him when he did wrong, but gently corrected him with her own hands. But even with such teaching, he still made mistakes.
Each day, he scolded himself for not being able to play it for Lightning. He wanted so much to impress her by playing the complete song without her help. He wanted to watch as the happiness flooded her face. He wanted to see her smile again.
Hope sat across from Lightning in the living room. They were both silent, and he watched as Lightning slowly sipped her coffee, looking out the window into the deep night. It had been his eighteenth birthday, and only an hour ago, had his last guests left.
Hope got up, grabbing Lightning's hand, "I want to show you something."
Lightning followed Hope as he led her to the small back room where the piano sat. They hadn't had lessons for a few weeks, and she wondered why he was even back there.
He sat Lightning down and began to play a song they both recognized.
As his finger pressed the final key, the moonlight flooding in the room, illuminating the pair, he looked at Lightning. He watched in excitement as a small smile creeped upon her face.
He stared at her… He thought about everything they'd been through from the fight with the fal'Cie until now… She had made him who he was this day… And he realized that the whole time… he had somehow fallen for her…
Maybe it had been her unique pink hair… or the way she carried herself… or maybe it was just… her.
He wasn't sure, and he knew he would never be. But he was sure of how he felt. So on a whim, he grabbed Lightning's hand, moving closer to her.
Now at only a inch apart, he spoke.
"I love you, Claire."
And she felt the warm lips of his against hers. He had never called her that before, and she didn't know how to react. Was she supposed to be happy? Mad? Sad?
She didn't know, but then again, she didn't care.
Hope sat alone at the piano, his fingers flying easily over the keys just like they had millions of times. He does not even need to think, so he keeps his mind on other things… like someone he once knew…
Someone who he called Claire.
He looked down at the silver ring on his finger as he played. He knew the matching one was somewhere… He knew not where, though. All he knew is it flew along with the wind, along with the ashes of someone he loved. It had been four years since he had seen her… And yet her memory and warmth seemed to hang on like a bad cold. He knew keeping the ring was pointless, as no one would see the match again, but he held it as a promise to himself, to make sure he saw her again…
With all of his thought, he had not noticed the two children that had come into the room. They watched him in awe, and didn't move a muscle. When he finished, he looked back at the smiling. There was a boy, who was now ten years old. He had shining pink hair, and a air of dominance in his personality. And beside him stood a small girl, who was now five. She stood clutching a stuffed bunny. She had long silver hair that ran down her back, and possessed a very quiet and shy personality.
"What was that, Daddy?" She asked in a small, childish voice.
He smiled back at her.
"Let me tell you a story."
There is a legend of a man who sits alone at a piano…
He plays a song that sends happiness into the hearts of millions…
No one knows why he sits there and plays…
Maybe to send happiness, into his own?