Just a little prelude. This would take place in between the Vile Peaks (Chapter 3) and the Gapra Whitewood (Chapter 4). However, it does allude to some things in Palumpolum (Chapter 7) so yeah. Also, I would look up the lyrics of/listen to the Japanese theme song of FFXIII "Kimi ga iru kara" (because you are here) because I use it and it sounded good along with the story while I was writing it x3. Anyway, enjoy!~
Lightning was sleeping in silence. However, she was ever vigilant after all of her training and experience. Any suspicious noise from her surroundings and she would be wide awake. This was one of those times.
A rapid rustling came from the area close to her. Lightning's eyes shot open. As she located the source, closed in, and payed more attention to the sound, she heard the rustling was accompanied by shivering gasps and pained murmurs. She quietly flew around a corner to where Hope was sleeping. She scanned the dimly lit area, saw no attack incoming, then looked down at Hope.
She watched for a second as Hope turned about wildly in his sleep. He cringed in agony and curled up, only to flail out into every direction a second later. He cried out "NO!" then woke with a start, his being still in a dreamlike frenzy. Lightning could feel the pulsations of fear and despair emanating from the frightened boy as his heart beat a million miles a minute and his mind scrambled to consciousness. It was something so familiar. She knew that sort of pain well.
The pain of losing something you hold dear again.
Lightning knelt down next to him and said, "It was just a nightmare." Sweat rolled down Hope's skin and he pulled off his jacket, gloves, and bandanna without hesitation; all while panting like a dehydrated dog. He sat up with his legs arched and his shocked eyes flared as he scanned his frantic thoughts over with the rest of his body motionless. Lightning got the impression of a white statue with colored glass eyes from the way Hope looked.
Lightning's eyes narrowed in sorrow as she watched Hope, who after some time of remaining frozen, place his face into the palms of his hands in misery. He side-looked from his hand when he felt Light place her sensitive hand on his shoulder. Her unusually empathetic eyes reassured him as she whispered, "It's over. And I know they are fine." Hope examined her tone with a dazed, distressed, and dampening eye.
"And I'm here."
A single tear fell down Hope's cheek from his visibly discerning eye.
He looked away, shaking his head and clamping his stinging eyes shut tight. He knocked her hand off with a powerful slap and recoiled his shoulder to himself. Light blinked in surprise at the usually gentle boy's reaction. She pulled back with her hand hesitantly raised in the air and watched his back solemnly as Hope cried to himself, curling up in the space between his curved knees and chest.
Hope tried to shake off all the creeping feelings that were eating at his mind in vain. Tried to curl up small, hoping that he would somehow just disappear entirely. Tried to stop his heart from sending waves of fear through his body. Tried to stop recalling painful memories, watching his mom fall helplessly again and again. Tried to stop feeding his ravenous and poisonous magic. Tried to stop the eminent detonation of the ticking time bomb on his wrist. The only result was more stress to his frail state.
He opened his mouth to speak but gasped from a lack of air. He lost all courage as he thought of what Light must think of him. No, he knew what Light thought of him. A weak, stupid kid who keeps pulling her down. She had told him to leave her alone, left him to fend against enemies alone while he straggled behind, and even summoned monsters to rid herself of him. Now he realized why, although he wished he hadn't. She knows that he is too weak to fight off what could kill both of them.
He opened his trembling lips and whispered shakily, "S-st-op-!" Light drew back in surprise as he shrieked at her with untamed exertion, "LEAVE ME ALONE! Just go away!" Lightning decided to go and let him do what he wished since it was what she would want in his situation. She quietly stood up, gave one last look to Hope's back, then walked quickly away around the corner again. Hope immediately regretted what he had done and cried out against himself, his voice cracking between sobs. She stopped on the other side of the corner, squeezing her fist and listening in frustration to the hopeless bawling. She was never good at comforting, that much was known with all of her experience.
Hope traced over the thoughts in his mind as he wept. The dream was just so vivid, it had hurt so much to see. Losing it all again and then some. Purged from a place he was never supposed to be, watching his mother die right before him when he could do nothing, getting cursed by the Pulse fal'Cie, stuck in an unfamiliar and dangerous place with strangers, chased by the same army who once protected him along with everyone else from the frightening monsters that are Pulse and its l'Cie...but it didn't stop there as the darkness had massacred what little light he had left. A darkness that had come from himself.
Between his salt pricked eyes, he looked down at his hand. The brand of the Pulse l'Cie stood out against his fair skin, visible and undeniable proof that he would never be able to conquer the choking darkness. Once a human had become a l'Cie, there was no turning back. Once someone dies, they can never come back. Once his time was up, the nightmare would never end. That was the horrible truth, something he could never fight or run away from. He hopelessly scratched at his brand with shuddering fingers and all it did was shine from pulsating magic. The brand was changing since he had first seen it, a shadow of an pointed arrow appearing on one end. He watched and grow darker, darker, darker...he was losing control inside and out...
He shoved his own hand away in fright. He hid his eyes so he didn't have to look at it. It had summoned the darkness that murdered his light and now it was showing signs of bringing it to a terrifying reality. He had already been left with virtually nothing, and then to destroy the last thing he could hold with his own hands? He just couldn't. There was no way. He needed her. Without her, he didn't have anything left and would surely fall to pieces inside out even if he never went Cie'th. He selfishly didn't want her to go but he didn't want her to hurt because of him either.
Not Light.
Hope's muffled gasps and shivering form...moved something inside Light. Made her fill with so many memories, so many regrets, so many feelings...She remembered it all, although it was so blurred together she got only a flashing stream that seemed to drag on for what could have been years yet dueled out in a rush of seconds.
Two gravestones, both baring the last name Farron. A small, pink haired girl shuddered in despair before them. She seemed to have uttered something over her shoulder to Lightning and Lightning's lips moved on their own, "I'm leaving." The sound of a blade slicing through flesh, a dying screech, a slain target, blood dripping down the gun blade's surface and streaming onto her hand, and the reflection of cruel, merciless, blue eyes on the frigid metal. The pink haired girl from before was now grown up and running from her, crying out something that churned Lightning's insides even though she couldn't make out the words. Throwing out pictures, locking feelings out, forgetting her name, building an invisible barrier...
And then a wave of soothing magic pouring over her battle worn body. "I'll try to be as strong as you.", his voice came, the only clear thing since the flashback began. His face bore dirt and blood spilled from cuts all over but his shining green eyes displayed determination and compassion. A barrier appeared around him as he used his rather bright synergy to protect himself and Light. Steadfast and ignoring his injuries, his face hardened from a smile into something more frightening he watched a soldier burn to death from his fire spell. His eyes were cruel and merciless. No...they were Lightning's eyes, the blue ones that stared back from her stained blade.
She blinked hard and the eyes disappeared, but left a bleeding puncture in her heart. She couldn't handle having him send her away again but she couldn't let him suffer through what she had to. Seeing all of this played out again made her think of what she had felt. Without the faintest glimmer of hope to help her to her feet, the darkness had crumbled her away to ruins after the death of her parents. One that grew thicker as time went on, choking her insides until she was forced to cease resistance.
Light moved a hand to her chest. A darkness that was very much real now as her l'Cie mark would grow until it would finally overtake her with its stifling agony. The very same torment that had swallowed up her sister just like in her darkest nightmares. Left with nothing to hope for, she fought endlessly for satisfaction and purpose. And he followed after her into these battles. Fought alongside her, helped her beat the toughest enemies, shared the burdens, and depended on her to make it through. She saw him as a liability at first but now those blue eyes had made it clear to her that he was just like her when she was younger. And she didn't want him to end up where she is, with that look where his soft green eyes should be. All she had ever needed was so evanescent but yet the quavering boy who was still there before her could give her the hope to rebuild once more. She didn't want him to be left in the ruins that had rotted her very core.
Not Hope.
That was when Light remembered that song.
"Because you suddenly said, 'It's alright to cry'," a brilliant voice from afar echoed into Hope's ear drums, splitting through the haze. "I was somehow happy and smiled without a tear," Light crept up and revealed herself from the shadows. "Unfortunately, I've hurt you with overly clumsy words," she wistfully rang out and didn't falter even when Hope didn't look at her. "Nevertheless you haven't left me," Light carefully stalked forward and knelt down next to him, thinking over each lyric carefully. "But keep supporting me in this way even now," She reached over Hope's back and raised a delicate hand around to his chin. "Surely..." He obediently turned to her face along with her touch, too far gone to react and ashamed to open his eyes to her and face reality as tears streamed down.
"The wishes and dreams I want to fulfill," Light kneeled down next to him, wiped his tears with her fingers, then took delicate hold of the back of Hope's head. "All the feelings I want to send out," She moved her other arm to his back and wrapped around to his shoulder. "That in which I keep believing summons a miracle," She leaned in and pulled him close to her, the curve of his head fitting into her neck perfectly. "And will be connected to the future," Hope blinked awake as he finally registered the situation then jerked his head back and pushed her away with one arm. "I want to watch over you always, yes always," Hope grabbed her arm with the other strong hand to force her back farther but she only sang "Dear my friend."
He couldn't keep her away but he couldn't keep her safe either. "Because you told me 'You will be alright' at the time of our parting," There was no fruitful solution even if he struggled endlessly to find one. "the loneliness I felt, disappeared beautifully with that single word," He shook his head violently, hoping that maybe, just maybe a resolution would appear. "Opening a new door is something everyone is afraid of but," His impotent and frustrated tears created a steady burning stream down his dirty face. "when I remember how you've always managed to encourage me," Light stood her ground and raised her free arm around to his wavering back. "I am filled with strength."
"I won't surrender my honest feelings," Hope tried to vocalize against her but gasped due to crying and the insane warp on his brain's functions. "All these honest words," Light slowly led him back to her chest with her free arm and stroked his hair when he freed her other arm then froze up awkwardly, hovering just above her skin hesitantly. "If I can convey them with my voice, the future will spread out," she whispered as he closed his trembling lips and silently spilled thoughtful tears. She took in an almost shaky breath and blinked slowly, "Because you are in my heart, forever, yes forever," She spoke the words from her heart as she held her voice, "Dear, my friend."
He seceded to her embrace after a bout internal fighting and smothered his face into her collar bone, wetting her soft skin with his hot tears. "Even if I stop or seem to forget," She laid her cheek down on the top of his head as she continued to pet him. "I vow that I will always keep moving forward," Her eyes clouded a little as she thought about her own sufferings. "The sky above me is shining a light," How she would have been so grateful to have someone hold her when she needed it most, even if they were gone and had left her on her own long ago. "Until the day I can meet you." But she had found her new hope and wasn't about to let it go.
"I won't surrender my honest feelings," Hope concentrated on every other sense than his haunting tears and the drowning thoughts that had summoned them forth. "All these honest words," Her delicate hands sweeping his head down and again, her humming throat resonating the melody directly into his head, her breath emanated on his scalp with the tangible warmth of her melodious words. "If I can convey them with my voice, the future will spread out," Her arm encircled him completely and he remembered what it had felt like when he had come home.
"The wishes and dreams I want to fulfill," The times when his mom had comforted him when he was sad or hurt. "All the feelings I want to send out," It was just like how Light was holding him now. "That in which I keep believing summons a miracle," Even the soft words of Light's song was a reminder of days past. "And will be connected to the future," The familiarity, the protection, the devotion, the comfort...it was all the light he needed to calm his storming mind. "I want to watch over you, always," His eyes remained closed as he heard the rhythmic beat of Light's heart. "always." His own heart synchronized with hers as she held the final note.
"Dear, my friend."
Light fell silent as she wandered in her thoughts and dreamily kept holding Hope. Hope slowly slid to Light's shoulder and rested his head there like a baby. Light cradled her arms around the boy as he got comfortable and his tears slowed. She closed her eyes and began to commit the feelings to her memory, thinking she'd never get to hold Serah like that again. Hope, without looking up from her shoulder, raised his once limp arms up and around Light and built up the courage to gingerly clasp his arms around her. Light's eyes opened in surprise for a second but she looked happily down on his blissful face again as Hope squeezed Light tenderly but strong enough to let out his last emotions and, even though he didn't know it, make her forget about Serah's fate for the time being. Light shared the feeling and remembering of being welcomed back home with him and Hope's heart harmonized with the same ballad as hers, all in that one moment.
Hope slowly pulled away from Light's neck and dropped his arms. Light moved her arms down to his shoulders and kept hold of them as not to let go of the hope he was reconstructing inside of her as a stronghold against her darkness. She patted Hope's shoulders as his last tears cascaded silently down, taking the last of his misery and whisking it away. Then she carefully lowered her face down to his and placed a delicate and thankful kiss on his forehead.
She drew back to look at him and moved her hands up to his face as he finally opened his eyes. She wiped his lingering tears from his cheeks as he watched her with his serene, innocent green eyes and began to feel the beacon of light she kindled inside of him brighten the darkness he had feared. Her eyes glowed with the most understanding and compassionate gaze that it would make anyone know that they were loved. A gaze that was borne from the clear, loving eyes of the one they were admiring as they rejoiced at the sight of green eyes.
Lightning lowered her hands and stood straight back up without a word. She turned and began to walk away when Hope murmured, "Wait." She paused then turned to face him. He looked up at her then down to his hands as her gaze washed over him and filled him with the light he needed to speak again. Light's ruins were rapidly rebuilding as she listened to the boy's honest words.
Hope whispered, "Will you stay close?"
Lightning's lips curled.
"Always."