Author's Note:Just a little scenario I came up with :)

"You ready?"

"As ready as I was last time."

"Kupo!"

"Let's go, then."

With a laugh, Serah playfully shoved Noel towards the activated Gate. As he began to dissolve into it, he dragged her in with him.

Floating through the Historia Crux always felt a little wierd, no matter how many times Serah had done it. It felt like her very molecules were dissassembling themselves and then putting themselves back together, all in a nanosecond, over and over again. It was an odd sensation, though not unpleasant. While Noel always insisted that he didn't feel a thing, she noticed that he often had a slight look of relief on his face when they got out on the other side.

"Where do you think we'll end up this time?" Serah asked him.

"Who knows?" Noel floated in circles around her, "But considering we keep ending up in the future, it's a safe bet we'll end up there again."

Serah was inclined to agree. Even the first Gate they'd went through had taken them into the future, two years to be precise. Since then, they'd been everywhere from 10AF to 700AF. The future seemed like a likely destination.

"Hopefully somewhere with food, Kupo!" Mog cried.

"I hope we find Lightning!" Serah said brightly, "Maybe then we can finally defeat Caius."

"Oh, I'm not good enough for ya?"

Serah laughed, "You know that's not what I meant, Noel."

"Yeah, I-Here we go!"

Their molecules sped up even more as they exited the Historia Crux.

They stumbled out of the Gate, and onto the roof of a building. Serah recovered quicker than Noel, and while he was still getting to his feet, she looked around.

The city was familliar to her. Looking around... yes, this place was very familliar. Judging by the buildings, they were probably in a housing area. Apartments and such. But this place was definitely not in the future, so that must mean...

Noel gave a satisfied groan, "Wonder where we ended up? This doesn't look like any part of Pulse I've ever seen." He cocked his head at Serah, "What do you think?"

Serah's thoughts raced, trying to think of when they could possibly be. From what she could see, the city didn't look much different from the last time she'd been there. But then again, nothing on Cocoon ever changed much...

"Serah? Are you-"

"Palumpolum."

"What?"

"Where we are." Serah gestured to the city below them, "We're in Palumpolum."

"Isn't that Hope's hometown?" after a moment, Noel's blue eyes widened, "Wait, we're on Cocoon?"

"I guess so."

Noel began to walk around, taking in the city around him, "I guess we didn't go into the future after all."

Suddenly, the building began to rumble underneath their feet. Serah stumbled, and clung to Noel for support, "Noel..." The rumbling got worse, and then a big, orange, thing flew past them. "What the hell was that!" Noel shouted.

Whatever it was, it heard Noel's shout, and took it as a challenge. Or maybe it was just mad. In any case, the orange machine doubled back. Before either of the two time-travelers had time to react, it opened fire.

"Look out!" Noel shoved Serah out of harms' way and drew his swords all in the same motion. Launching himself at the monstrosity, he made to attack, but was slammed back onto the concrete surface of the roof.

"Noel!" Serah screamed. He began to rise, indicating that he wasn't too badly injured. But now Serah was mad. She called for Mog, who transformed into her bow. Shooting several arrows at the monster, with most bouncing harmlessly off, her attacks were soon joined by some elemental spells. Noel, now standing beside Serah, had decided it would be better to not try attacking with his swords again. The orange machine was caught off guard by Noel's attacks, but quickly bounced back. Extra turrets came out of it's sides, and it hit them with a fresh barrage of bullets.

Giving up on the arrows, Serah let Mog go (who then hid behind a crate), and joined Noel in attacking the thing with magic. If the magic was actually hurting the monster was anyone's guess, but it was disorienting it. As long as they kept hitting it, it didn't shoot. At first. Then it decided to fly in circles around them, letting loose all it had. With the machine now being a moving target, their accuracy was hindered. Only a few spells hit it now.

"Is that all you got!" Noel shouted. Every shot the monster took missed them by a mile. "I know cats that can shoot better!" Mog could be heard laughing behind them.

At that moment, Serah cried out in pain. Noel, abandoning the fight, turned to see her lying on the ground, clutching her shoulder. He knelt beside her, "Serah, are you okay?"

She nodded, pain clear on her face, and pointed behind him.

The orange machine appeared to be satisfied having put one of them on the ground. It shot at them once more, then flew off.

Noel directed a rude gesture at the retreating monster. He then turned back to Serah, helped her up, "You okay?" He nodded at her shoulder.

She removed her hand, revealing the wound. The bullet simply grazed her shoulder. "I'm fine." She shrugged, then winced.

"Come on." Noel said genlty, "Let's go."

A few rooftops later:

"Then why don't you tell me what I deserve!"

Serah and Noel exchanged a glance, that sounded like-

"The same fate!" This voice was much higher, and cracked on the last word.

The two ran forward (while Mog floated along) until they saw a short, silver-haired boy. He walked forward, towards the edge of the roof, and flipped out the blade of a knife. He was speaking to someone below him. It was-

"Snow!" Serah whispered.

The boy dropped to his knees, brought the knife above his head...

Serah saw what he was going to do. Noel tried to stop her, but she ran forward, "NO!" she screamed.

The boy turned. The look of suprise on his face was plain. His lips formed a word, but she couldn't hear it. He stood, the knife hanging to his side. There was... something about his face... Serah realized who he was, and stopped dead.

"Hope?"

Hope's attention was elsewhere. Serah turned her head to the side, just as he had, and saw what had captured his focus. A millitary ship preparing to fire.

Hope began to scramble backwards, away from the ship.

Which was a mistake.

The ship fired missles, or something, which flew behind Hope before... exploding. The force of it flung Hope off of the building.

"Hope!" Serah and Snow screamed at the same time.

Serah felt gentle hands pull her roughly back, away from the explosion. She knew it was just Noel, but she fought anyway. "Let me go!" she cried, "We've gotta save Ho-!" Noel clapped his hand over her mouth. Serah continued to struggle, and Mog attacked his head, but Noel refused to let her go until the ship left.

Finally free, Serah turned hotly to Noel, until she realized that he had pulled her behind a wall, where the millitary wouldn't see them. "Thanks." she said breathlessly.

Noel just nodded. The three of them made their way to the edge of the roof, where Hope had fallen from. Looking down, they saw both the boy and Snow lying, dead or unconcious, on the ground. Serah got down on her hands and knees, and called out to them. No response.

Mog didn't mind Snow that much (unlike Noel), so he decided to fly down to see if they were okay. As Serah watched the moogle hover over her fallen friends, she felt Noel's hand on her shoulder, "I'm sure they're fine, Serah. You know Snow, nothing can keep him down."

Serah looked sadly up at Noel, "But what about Hope?"

Noel had nothing to say to that. Hope had been awfully close to the explosion. And falling that far... There was no telling if the kid was still alive.

At that point, Mog came fluttering back up, "They're alive, Kupo."

Both time-travelers felt relief wash over them. "We've got to get down there." Noel said. Serah stood, nodded.

"Nora Estheim. She was my mother. And she died because of you!"

Realization hit Snow in the face. It was him. "You-you're the one she meant!"

Hope dropped to his knees. He drew the knife above his head, he was prepared to end it. The look in his eyes was pure hatred, loathing for the man at his mercy. He would get his revenge.

And Snow was going to let him.

Hanging off the edge of a building, Snow was sure death would come anyway. Better to have Hope settle the score, than to just fall. He braced himself for the knife that would momentarily be in his skull.

But it never came.

Snow looked up and saw Hope standing, staring at something that he couldn't see. He held the knife loosely at his side, his revenge momentarily forgotten. His expression was a mix of suprise and confusion.

"Serah?"

Snow's eyes widened. Serah? What?

Before Snow could even begin to think about what could be going on, Hope scrambled back, his eyes wide with fear. Snow had only seconds to be confused, before Hope was thrown off the building by an explosion.

"Hope!" He shouted. He let go, and fell after Hope. He caught him, and shielded the boy with his body as they fell.

Snow awoke to see Serah and a stranger looking down at him. His first thought was that he was dreaming. But then he thought that his head wouldn't hurt so much if he was dreaming. He sat up, massaging the back of his head, "Serah?"

Serah hugged him, "You're alive!" she said, relieved.

The stranger spoke up, "You okay?" he asked.

Snow looked him over. He didn't look like a bad guy. The concern on his face was genuine, or maybe he was a really good actor. Nonetheless, if he was keeping company with Serah, he couldn't be all bad.

"Who are you?" Snow asked.

"Noel Kriess. And don't worry, I'm not the enemy." A little, white, thing suddenly appeared by his head.

"Kupo!" it said.

Snow recoiled from the thing, but Serah just laughed and walked over to it, "There you are!" she said almost lovingly. She turned to Snow, "This is Mog."

"Huh." Snow stood, not taking his eyes off Noel, or the little creature, "What are you?"

"I'm a moogle! Kupo!" The thing bobbed up and down in the air a few times, then flew around Serah's head. Noel looked slightly annoyed. "Cut it out!" Noel swiped at Mog, who dodged. "You're mean!" he (Snow assumed it was a he) said. Serah just laughed.

Hope moaned.

Snow spun to face the boy, he'd almost forgetten about him. He, Serah, and Noel went and knelt beside him, while Mog hovered overhead. He was lying on his stomach, with his arms on the ground in front of him. He appeared to be fine, outwardly, but internally could be a whole different story.

Serah placed a hand on his back, "Hope?"

"Serah..." he mumbled unconciously.

Snow clenched his hand into a fist, "I'm sorry..." It was his fault. He'd promised Lightning, and Nora, that he'd protect Hope, keep him safe. 'Good job.' he thought to himself, disgusted.

Just then, the moogle dropped something into his lap. The knife. Snow held it in his hand, turned it over a few times. Lightning's knife. Serah stared at it, "That's-"

"Lightning's." Snow said, "But why does he have it?"

"More importantly," Noel cut in, "why did he try to kill you with it?"

Snow sighed, "His mother died... beacause of me."

Serah's heart went out to both of them, "Snow-"

"No. Serah. It was my fault. I put her in danger." Snow gripped the knife tighter, "I couldn't save her."

Hope groaned. His eyelids fluttered.

"He's waking up! Kupo!" Mog wiggled his little body.

As Hope regained conciousness, his face contorted in pain. His gloved fingers groped the ground for something solid, something to hold on to. Something was... digging into him. He cried out.

"Hope!" An unfamilliar voice said, "Are you okay?"

Hope rolled onto his side, to be greeted by gasps and two familliar faces.

"Maker." The unknown man cursed.

There was a chunk of broken glass stuck in Hope's chest. The wound hadn't bled much while he was unconcious, but now that he was awake and moving, blood began to slowly soak his shirt. He looked up from it at the others, terrified.

"Kupo!" A little white thing screamed at the sight of blood, and flew behind a crate.

"Hope..." Serah said calmly. Her presence, though unnerving and confusing, calmed him.

"Don't worry, kid. We'll get help." Snow said, then cursed. Footsteps could be heard.

The unknown stranger scooped Hope up in his arms, who gave a gasp of pain. "We've gotta go!" The man said.

Snow and Serah nodded. "Come on, Mog." Serah called, and the little white thing came out of it's hiding spot.

They ran. But the footsteps kept getting closer. After a minute or so, Snow realized that-

"Damn, we're running toward them!" Not that they'd had much choice, there was only one way they could go. Snow and Serah stood defensively in front of Hope and Noel as the owners of the footsteps rounded the corner.

It was Lightning, and the woman from earlier, who's name Hope still did not know.

"Serah?" Lightning said incredulously.

"Lightning!" Serah rushed forward into the arms of her sister. Snow relaxed, he nodded at the woman, "We thought you might be-"

"The army?"

Snow rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah."

"Serah, how?" Lightning asked.

"I promise, I'll tell you later." Serah said, "But right now we don't have time."

It was then that the other woman noticed Hope, "Aw, hell."

"What, Fang?" Lightning followed her gaze, "Hope-?"

Noel walked forward with him, "He needs help, now."

Fang put her hands on her hips, "And who are you?"

"Does that really matter?"

"Maybe to me it-"

"He's a friend, Fang." Serah interrupted, "He just wants to help."

Hope coughed, and pain shot through his body. He moaned. Seeing him in pain softened Fang a bit, "Fine. But if he does anything funny..." Serah gave an exasperated sigh.

"Well, where to now?" Snow asked, "I mean, we can't just go waltzing into a hospital. They'd kill us on the spot."

While the others were at a loss, Hope knew exactly what to do.

"Take me home." he told Lightning.

She hesitated, "That might not be the best idea."

"My neighbor, she's a doctor. She won't turn us in, please Light, you have to trust..." he trailed off, and suddenly his body convulsed, Noel nearly dropped him. Hope began to slip out of conciousness, "me..." he finished, then went limp.

"Kupo!" Mog floated around him.

Everyone looked to Lightning for direction. She turned away. Going to Hope's neighbor was a risk. He might believe she wouldn't turn them in, but who could really say for sure? She wasn't willing to put Hope's life in the hands of PSICOM if they were turned in. But again, if they didn't take the risk, and he died, his blood would be on her hands. It should have been a no-brainer, there was nowhere else they could go. Either way, he could die...

"Lightning-" Snow started.

She whipped around, and walked over to Noel, held out her arms, "Give him to me."

"Ligh-"

"Listen to her, Noel." Serah said.

Noel obeyed, and handed over the unconcious teen. Lightning nodded her approval at his compliance, turned, and began to walk away.

"Now where do you think you're going?" Fang asked.

Lightning stopped, but did not face the others, "Hope's place. His dad will know which neighbor Hope was talking about. And besides, he needs to know about his wife." She started forward again. Mog was the first to follow. Snow followed with a shrug moments later. Then came the rest.

If anyone had told Bartholomew Estheim that his day was going to be interrupted by six people; four of which were l'Cie, one of which was his own son, covered in blood, he would have told them to get their head examined. But that is exactly what he opened his door to that day.

The look of confusion and suprise on his face was rivaled only by the fear in his eyes as he looked upon his son. But by the time he looked up at Lightning, he had regained his composure, "Who are you? What's going on?"

"Mr. Estheim, please." Lightning said, "He doesn't have much time. He said your neighbor was a doctor."

"Yes." he said, "But-"

"Sir, we will give a full explination, I promise. But I also promised to protect your son, and I can't do that if he's dead."

Bartholomew gulped, "Of course. Bring him inside, I'll go get Mrs. M." He stood aside as the group entered his house, and nearly had a heart attack when Mog bobbed right in front of him with a loud, "Kupo!" He gave one last worried look in the direction of his son before leaving.

Dun, dun, duuuuuuuuuuuun.

I always thought it was kinda unrealistic that Hope wasn't hurt at all in that explosion. I mean, seriously, he was like, 10 feet away from it. And coming out of that completely unhurt? Only in a video game...

Anyhoo, I intend to finish this up in one more chapter. I don't think I can extend it into a third. But ya know, as long as the story gets told right?

Please review!