Authoress' Note: I'M BACK! I BROUGHT WEAPONS, TOO! …No, seriously, today I bought a model of Sasuke's katana, and, hell yeah, it's sitting in my lap right now. Anywho, I know I just finished Cherry Bubblegum, but I thought this was a great story line I actually have planned out! I still haven't finished the game, either. I'm on chapter 11, in the middle of the fight with the Fal'Cie Dahaka. If only Hope didn't die so easily…
Just to avoid confusion, in the first (italicized) part of this chapter, bold words are thoughts, of emphasized words. I thought it was pretty easy to tell the difference, but to some people it may not be as obvious… Enjoy!
Day One; Hope
Claire "Lightning" Farron slumped against a wall for support. Sighing, she began wringing her hands nervously. Her fingers twisting, she was sure the leather of her gloves left imprints on her calloused palm. Hope looked expectantly up to his mentor, awaiting the answer of a lifetime. He tried desperately to meet Lightning's cerulean eyes, but she refused to make eye contact. Once again, she let out a thoughtful sigh. Many thoughts swam in her murky mind; hundreds of anxious butterflies fluttered in her empty stomach. A pained groan escaped her lips. "Hope, we… we can't," she choked out, her voice no more than a raspy whisper. She turned to leave the teenage boy to his thoughts when a hand grasped her shoulder. Out of instinct, she spun around, gunblade drawn. With the sharp blade at his throat, Hope didn't dare speak. Lightning's eyes no longer held the kindness and concern she usually showed Hope. Her crystal orbs were cold, no emotion slipping through as she stared at the silver haired boy. Reluctantly, she holstered her gunblade in its rightful place. "We're done here." Even with the stern tone in her voice, Hope didn't make to leave. "That's an order." When he still didn't budge, Lightning began walking to camp alone.
"You're just a coward." Hope may have muttered the words under his breath, but Lightning's highly trained ears picked up the challenge apparent in his threat. Those few words spiked her temper. Already she could feel the heat of an angered flush rising to her face. She'd stopped in her tracks, prepared to slaughter Hope if he went on. Ignoring the obvious tension in the air, Hope went on to say, "You can't even admit it to yourself. You love me as much as I love you. You can't stand being emotionally dependent on someone, Light. But I'm here for you. Always."
Lightning chuckled humorlessly. The situation she found herself in was anything but funny, but it was all she could to from snapping. It was true, she does care about Hope. Up until then, she thought it was on a brother-sister, maybe even a mother-son, level. But Hope confessed his love—that he was in love—for Lightning. Things between the two would never be the same. No amount of time, no growth, no replacement would fix what was lost in that moment. As a second, unwanted thought, Lightning asked herself what could have been gained from Hope's mature words.
She was fighting an internal battle tougher than anything she'd faced before. Behemoth Kings and powerful Fal'Cie were easier to beat than the argument her head and heart were dueling out. Keep a cool head, she chided. I want this—no, need this, as much as him, she concluded. Not even a millisecond later, Lightning ran over the endless consequences. Their age difference, never mind the fact that Hope wasn't even legal, was among the most prominent factors. Lightning imagined the looks of scorn the couple would receive if they went through with their desires. More importantly—what would Serah think? All of these complicated thoughts overwhelmed Lightning. The ex-soldier cried out, gloved hands grasping at her pink locks. She fell to her knees, tears threatening to fall. Swallowing the unshed droplets of salt water, she spoke, "Why do you do this to me, Hope?" Much to her surprise, her voice didn't crack, but was strong and sure.
Hope rushed to her side. Resting his hands reassuringly on her shoulders, he whispered words of comfort to her lithe form. After Lightning's breath evened out, the boys, as proud as ever, told her, "It's what you do to me, Light." Her eyes disobeyed her command my meeting the sparkling green pools of sheer love in front of her. "Please, just give me—us—a chance."
The corners of her mouth tugged upward in a small, but still there, smile. "You're too sweet for your own good, Hope."
Hope recalled that day a month ago, the day he finally told Lightning of his undying love for her. The woman's reluctance was great, as was the internal battles she fought day in and day out as Hope tried to make some kind of physical contact with her. Even when they'd spar for fun, Lightning would do everything in her power to keep from touching the boy. This saddened him to no end. When he brought the subject up with Lightning, she simply dismissed it. But a few days later, she'd allow him to brush his fingers against hers when the others weren't lucky. On occasion, she'd even initiate contact. Each time their skin touched, Hope's heart would pound in his ears, skip a beat, and then threaten to pop out of his ribs. With each sunrise, his love for the older woman would only grow. Never would his thirst for her affection be satisfied.
Sighing contentedly, Hope grabbed two buckets and made his way to a nearby river. The group set up camp in a clear, blossoming meadow somewhere on the plains of Gran Pulse. Hope had come to realize that Gran Pulse was, in fact, nothing at all like hell. Aside from the dangerous plant life scattered about and feral creatures roaming at all times of the day, Pulse was a getaway. If worse comes to worst, Hope decided, Gran Pulse would be the choice place for Cocoon to rebuild its society. He quickly smothered these condescending thoughts; he knew for sure they'd get out of this mess with Cocoon in one piece.
"What's got you all happy?" Fang's exotic accent rang out in crisp air.
Startled, Hope nearly dropped the empty buckets hanging loosely in his gloved hands. "I was, uh, just, um, thinking about what would happen after this l'Cie thing is over…" He wanted to smack himself for the lame lie, but from the look on her face, he guessed Fang didn't really care all too much about why he was happy—as long as he wasn't bringing the team down, he supposed she wouldn't mind him at all. With that thought in mind, Hope began his journey to the rushing riverbanks he could hear sliding against smooth rocks.
About half way to his destination, soft footsteps reached his ears, causing them to perk up under his silver hair. Alarms went off in his head in warning. Through his slight paranoia, he did his best to stay calm. A giggle seeped through his warning bells, a sound he recognized to be Vanille's sugar coated laugh. He couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle at his own foolishness. No one else was in Gran Pulse—at least, no one that could giggle so much like a human. He was silly to even think about some enemy hunting him down when he was alone.
Vanille caught up with Hope easily, as the boy turned to face the pink-haired girl. Her smile reached her round eyes in a jovial way that made Hope want to burst into a giant grin himself. "I thought you could use some help. Fang sure does use a lot of water, anyway," she explained, her slight accent sending shivers up Hope's spine. Dismissing the strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, Hope began walking once again. The two sauntered lazily closer and closer to the soft whisper of flowing water. Vanille broke the calm silence. "You seem a lot happier lately." Hope was listening, but gave no outward signs of worry. Inside, he began panicking. Does she know about Lightning and me? But the thought was absurd, he knew. Lightning promised not to tell anyone, just as she made Hope promise to keep their relationship between the two of them. "Lightning, too. Must be something in the Gran Pulse air!" She giggled, swishing her hips in excitement. Hope's green eyes followed the sensual movements. He knew it was wrong; he and Lightning were together. Even if they weren't, he was in love with the woman. It seemed to him that merely glancing at another woman than his own was cheating. Guilt took over his features. "Oh, did I say something wrong?"
"Of course not!" He replied a bit too quickly. "I just have a lot on my mind right now," Hope said lamely. Nervously, he clenched and unclenched his hands around the thin handle of the metal buckets.
However, Vanille didn't seem too convinced. "If it isn't too much trouble," she began, unsure, "I wanted to talk to you about something. Something… Important." Giggling, she continued, "That's actually why I came out here in the first place."
Setting the now full buckets on the soft blades of grass, Hope smiled at Vanille, urging her to go on. His legs crossed over one another as he took a seat on the ground. His smile growing wider, he patted the spot beside him, motioning for Vanille to sit there.
Blushing madly, she took her rightful spot mere inches from Hope's warm body. Failing miserably, she tried to look anywhere but his emerald orbs. Voice unsteady, she said, "Hope, I… I'm in love with you."
Day One; Lightning
"Where's Hope?" Trying to keep her voice from sounding to urgent, Lightning knelt beside Snow's large form. "He said he was going to fetch some water, but that was over two hours ago…" Suspicious, she decided to ask the others if they'd seen the young teen run off someplace after the sun set below the horizon.
Snow pulled off one of his gloves, then the other. "I don't know. Vanille's gone, too. Fang just asked me about her. Maybe they went of to make out in the woods or something." Snow winked at Lightning, laughing uncontrollably. "Never knew the kid had it in him."
Lightning knew he was joking, but she couldn't help the pang of jealousy she felt. She knew Hope was totally and completely loyal to her, like a lost puppy. Then again, he was a teenage boy with needs. Without realizing it, Lightning thought that Hope had grown impatient of the woman's need to wait until he was 18 before they did anything intimate. Perhaps her simple, school-girl-in-love love wasn't enough for him. Hell, maybe her body wasn't enough for him. Vanille sure did a great job flaunting every little thing she had—something Lightning could never, in a million years, do. Sighing, she tried to shake away these unwanted thoughts.
Through their perilous journey, Lightning had come to lean on Hope. When she needed someone's shoulder to cry on, he'd be there, waiting with open arms; when she needed someone to hold her, he'd let her slip into his bedroll without a second thought; when she needed someone to love her like no one else, he'd come to her rescue. Although she hated to admit it, she had, indeed, become very dependent on whatever Hope had to offer. That's why, no matter how stupid and childish they may be, thoughts of Hope moving on, doing things with someone other than her made her want to stab herself with her very own gunblade.
"Why the long face, sis?" She'd forgotten she wasn't in the comfort of her tent, but was still kneeling beside Snow. "Was it about Hope and Vanille? I'm sure their both fine, and not doing anything inappropriate. But I have seen the way she looks at the kid—like he's a piece of meat. Poor kid, gonna have to face the wrath of Fang if he wants to get to Vanille."
This took Lightning off guard. "What?" she asked dumbly, mind turning to mush.
Snow looked at her like she'd grown two more heads. "Are you kidding me? You haven't noticed? Everyone around here's got it whipped. Fang's in over her head for Vanille, duh. Vanille definitely has a thing for Hope, and Hope follows you like a love-sick child. I bet Sazh is crushing on someone, too." He chuckled. Between fits of laughter, he went on, "Better watch out, sis. Soon you'll be falling for me!" Hands gripped his sides from the pain of laughing to hard. Tears sprang from his eyes after his giggle-fest died down a bit.
A blush came unwillingly to her face, pink dusting her pale cheeks. Snow soon found out that Lightning can hit a lot harder than any beast in Gran Pulse.
Authoress' Note: OMG! This HopexLightning is my new favorite pairing, even more than SasuNaru, which is saying a lot because I am a total yaoi fangirl! And I think I made the whole "square/love" thing a bit too obvious a bit too soon, ne? Oh well, I thought this was a decent first chapter. I hope y'all think so too!
THIS IS NOT A ONE SHOT! I know it's kinda short, but I loved the ending! There will be more chapters. I can't say how many, not even a guestimation. I have quite a bit of story line planned out (that's rare…), so it may reach ten chapters, it may not. It could even go on… for….. ever. I doubt it. I'll probably get bored of it sooner or later, but meh, I'll try my best! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! I want to know if people are, indeed, reading my stories and liking them.
Okay, I was talking to someone and she said she hated when A/Ns are in the beginning of a chapter, as this placement takes away from the value of a story. I'd really like your opinion on the matter. I want to make my stories to the liking of all my readers, so your opinion does matter! Drop a review of message me about it! I want to hear what you have to say! (I, personally, don't care either way. Most of the time I just skim over the A/N.)
I warmly welcome constructive criticism. I really do like it when people are honest with me, without being rude about it. I just want to know y'all's opinion on things. Without you guys, I could never improve my writing.