.Step into the Rainbow.

The great trees sheltering them swayed slightly in the wind and Hope frowned a little when he was sprinkled with a spattering of cold droplets. He'd never seen it rain in the Yaschas Massif, but the gray cloudy overhang showered him and his friends with light, refreshing raindrops, small and gentle. The water seemed to hush the beasts inhabiting the forgotten land, leaving Hope with feelings of drowsiness in the quiet.

It was the calmest he'd ever seen the vestiges of Gran Pulse.

Above the settled silence, Hope could just make out the rushed murmurings from the others. Lightning and Snow were bickering on the subject of leaving or not ("It's all clear, we should go!" "Come on, Light! When are we gonna bask in some peace for a while? Anyway, we'd get all wet, and we don't wanna mess up your hair." "You damned idiot!" "Ow!"), while Sazh or Fang would try to add experienced input into the argument, probably heard but never acknowledged.

Hope's frown deepened. Lightning, Snow, Sazh, Fang...Where was—!

"Isn't the rain lovely?" Vanille chirped into his ear and Hope jumped, wholly unaware of how and when she had appeared next to him. "It never rains very hard on Pulse. It always feels like a shower, washing everything away. Fang and I used to play in it all the time."

To Hope, rain was just rain. "Is that so?"

Vanille nodded. "That's for sure!" With a high laugh, the girl practically bounced out from the tree cover and into the open, free from the bonds of watchful monster hunting. She threw her arms open wide before skipping and dancing in circles. The rain didn't bother her in the slightest as she continued gallivanting.

Hope thought she looked like she really belonged here, happy, even as a tiny voice in his head reminded him that Gran Pulse was her home.

He sighed. "Hey! You say it doesn't rain heavily, right? But...but that doesn't mean you're not gonna get soaked!"

The Pulsian girl laughed again before rushing back under the branches beside him. "There's nothing wrong with that now, is there? It's just water."

"What? You'll get wet and muddy and water isn't that clean, Vani—hey!" Hope stumbled a little as Vanille pulled him from his sanctuary. He grimaced as the soft mist of rain brushed his face, the rest of his body uncomfortably warm and dry. Vanille dragged him further out, despite his protests, until they were both near the edge of one of the many valleys cracking through the surface of the Yaschas Massif.

She pointed down into the chasm. "Look! Maybe the water on Cocoon wasn't very clean, but do you see anything around that could pollute the rain on Gran Pulse?"

Hope gazed down. She was right. Gran Pulse was teeming with vicious monsters and craggy cliffs, but there was a distinct beauty about the lush forests and budding nature in their surroundings. The world was void of technological whirs and buzzes, but it was still so very much alive. Hell he may have thought it, but he'd be damned if he wasn't awestruck by it.

"So!" Vanille took his silence as resignation and concluded, "Wouldn't you agree that there's nothing to worry about? A little water and dirt didn't hurt anyone." She scooped up his hands in hers and held them as she began to dance playfully again, once more dragging him along for her enjoyment. On one particularly rough twirl and jump, Hope lost his footing in the slick mud and grass and landed hard on the edge of the valley lip.

"Watch it," he warned, a little breathless. "I almost fell off!"

"Sorry!" Vanille apologized, looking genuinely contrite. Hope nodded his acceptance and could have counted the seconds on one hand before she was all smiles again, happy to be forgiven. She bent over slightly to offer him a hand up when suddenly the world lurched.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding," Hope gasped as the muddy cliff edge trembled. He scrambled to get to his feet and Vanille grabbed at his shoulder, pulling with one hand as she kept her own slipping balance with the other. Their attempts proved futile as even more of the cliff crumbled beneath Vanille's feet.

Over Vanille's frightened shriek, Hope could hear Lightning yell in warning and several heavy footfalls. Before he could look over to his companions, the cliff shook once more and he was falling.

Hope woke up cold. With a start he pushed himself into an upright position, eyes wide and searching. Rain still breezed into his face and he concluded he hadn't been out for long, but what about...?

"You're awake!"

He turned to see Vanille sitting amongst the rubble pieces of former cliff, dirt smeared over her face and hair falling loose from its tight corkscrews under the weight of muck and water. "Vanille...we're okay?"

Vanille watched him for a long moment, humming in uncertainty. "We did fall a long way...do you want the Hope-friendly answer or the normal answer?"

He scowled. "You don't need to baby me."

The girl shrugged. "Let's just say if I hadn't Protected us, we'd be dead right now. The impact would have killed us. Lucky I'm so good under pressure!"

Not the way he would have chose to describe her. "But Protect wouldn't have kept us from getting this...unhurt."

"Cure!"

"Of course...," Hope sighed. He was relieved that Vanille, although energetic and trusting to a fault, was so competent in magic. While the thought was warming to know she would help him out no matter what, and continued to prove it, he felt a little sick in the stomach when he realized that Vanille had been awake to feel the agony of their wounds, but it was probably no more than phantom pain now. She'd never admit to it. Ridding his head of those heart ache inducing thoughts, he asked, "Do you think we can climb back up?"

"By ourselves? I think we'd just fall again."

"Um...what about using an Eidolon?"

"Are ours built for climbing?"

Distantly, Hope wondered if this was what it was like talking to himself.

"Do you want to just wait here, then? Light and the others saw us fall so they're probably on their way."

Vanille hopped off the wreckage with a spring in her step. "That doesn't sound so bad! The rain'll keep all the beasties away and I can learn a little more about Hope!"

"Whaaa...?"

"Or maybe Hope wants to learn a little more about Vanille? Mr. I-Like-It-When-You-Smile?"

Oh. Hope grinned a wobbly grin. "You're still not over that? You're such a girl!"

Vanille was beside him in an instant. "No doubt about that, is there?" And that was when Hope realized...

Vanille was bent forward at the waist and Hope had a very, very close meeting, should he angle his eyes down just the slightest, with her cleavage, raindrops rolling over the fabric of her clothes and into the curves of her breasts. Stammering nonsensically and flailing like a startled chicken was unbecoming of a man and he had no doubt that if Snow found out he would be teased mercilessly, but at the moment Hope couldn't have cared less.

"You...you're impossible," Hope finally said once he had crabbed himself a more appropriate distance away from Vanille. Vanille seemed perfectly content with his response and bounded through the overgrown grass. Brightly colored flowers, glowing like neon lights, were carefully avoided so they wouldn't be stepped on, and Hope asked, "Those flowers, what are they called?"

Vanille made a happy sound, bending down and plucking a bright green one. She tucked it behind her ear. "We call them Pyreflies. They only seem to grow in hard to reach places, such as—"

"The bottoms of deep valleys?"

"Right! And by waterfalls or tucked into grooves of stalactites."

"...I like them. They're really pretty."

Vanille almost seemed to glow as though Hope had praised her specifically and she reached down to pluck another flower, a fluorescent orange one. "Here!"

Hope didn't really know what to do with the flower, but he took it anyway. "Thanks."

Any more conversation was cut off by a tremendous roar that shook the already loose sides of the valley. Vanille and Hope stuck close together. Thunderous footsteps deafened their ears as they grew louder and closer, gaining momentum as whatever powerful creature plowed across the valley floor.

"I thought the rain put the monsters away!" Hope cried out.

Through a miracle, Vanille heard him. "I thought so, too! I don't know what it is!"

When the footsteps seemed almost upon them, the sounds stopped. Not all was silent, though, as the two heard giant whuffing noises like heavy, animalistic breathing. Hope felt himself pale drastically when from around a rocky edge the beast crept ever closer.

"That...that is the biggest Behemoth I have ever seen," Vanille whispered, hand clutching at Hope's upper arm.

Hope thought that calling the four-legged monster big was something of an understatement. It's head alone was about the size of a Boxed Phalanx, shoulders twice as broad as one. It's skin looked thicker and harder than the metal jointed creature, as well.

"...We can take it."

Hope jumped and would have turned to yell something along the lines of, "Are you crazy?" into the girl's face had the slight motion not been caught by the Behemoth's red, paralyzing eyes. It stared at them, regarded them as though it had never seen human beings in its life (and living down in this region, it was entirely possible).

It apparently didn't like what it saw.

Hope felt the tingling rush of magic wash over his skin. "Vanille...?"

"Protect never hurt anyone..."

And the Behemoth lunged.

Hope reacted without thought, right hand clutching his left wrist. "Alexander!"

The bottom of the valley was bathed in green light, the sound of rain muted by magical explosions and mutated beast roars.

"I can't believe we're alive," Hope wheezed as he carefully rubbed a spot of Behemoth blood off a Pyrefly petal.

"I've never seen a Behemoth grow so big! It's amazing!" Vanille said, ecstatic and cheerful as ever. "We should name it! Get it down in the history books!"

Hope stared at the corpse of the beast, his nerves deadened by the lengthy fight and energy drained by magical onslaught. "How about Giga Behemoth? Are there Giga Behemoths?"

"Giga Behemoth sounds great!"

"...Named or not, it still smells horrible. And it kind of creeps me out."

"...ille!"

Hope looked up at the sudden call. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"...ille! Hope!"

Vanille jumped up and grabbed at Hope's arm. He went along with her despite the tired aches in his bones, if only because curiosity and welling hope urged him into action. "That's Snow's voice! C'mon, they're nearby!" The girl cheered.

They had to go around the dead beast to continue down the valley floor's labyrinthine path, but every racing step they took made their companions' echoing calls more solid, more real. They called back joyously.

"Hey, over there!" Hope heard Fang's accented voice call. Footsteps, lighter and much less terrifying than the Giga Behemoth's approached as they ran, and Hope thought he'd never be happier to see the battle-hardened Pulsian again. Closely behind her were Lightning and Snow, and behind them, stumbling in mud and overgrowth, was Sazh.

"There you are!" Snow cried out, approaching them both in a hug. "You're all right!"

"Somehow," Hope mumbled into the bigger man's shoulder, uncomfortable. When Snow finally released them, Hope looked up at him. "What took you guys so long?"

"Hey," Snow protested, hands up in defense. "Goin' the way down you did was awfully dangerous, you know. But Miss Field Ranger—ow, don't start hitting me, too, Fang—said that there was bound to be a safer way down, so we came to get you."

"Yeah, well," Sazh spoke up, shaking a tendril of plantlife off his boot. "Finding that safe path wasn't easy. All triffids and goblins and stuff even Soldier Girl was having issues with. Glad to see you're both okay, though."

Snow jabbed a thumb towards Lightning. "And it wasn't easy, anyway, because we've got a real crappy medic over here!"

When Lightning didn't say anything, only glared, Snow stopped laughing at his own joke.

"Hey!" Vanille suddenly cried. All heads turned to her. "The rain, it's stopped! And look!"

She pointed at the valley walls. As the clouds began to drift apart and away, sunlight shown down on them and crystals embedded in the rock began to shimmer. Rainbows arched through the air and painted the walls and their persons.

"C'mon, Hope!" Vanille said, grabbing his hands once more and beginning another dance. Hope was glad there were no ledges nearby. "Step into the rainbow with me!"

A/N: Inspiration from the game's soundtrack. The Sunleth Waterscape track. I don't know how many of you have heard the Japanese version's soundtrack, but in it the first line of The Sunleth Waterscape track says "Step into the rainbow".

I also like Hope and Vanille dynamics. I do and do not ship these characters. It's an "I don't mind either way" thing.

Also, who saw what I did there with pyreflies?