Title: Slow Me Down

Pairing: None

Warning: None

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy X and XIII belong to Square Enix, Emmy Rossum owns "Slow Me Down"! I dont own any of these things :)

Author's Note: I have a happy little bubble in my mind where Cloud, Tidus, and Hope are all brothers, but through time. This is a little brotherly oneshot between Tidus and Hope, Hope being 7 and Tidus being 10. Hope(Ha, its a pun!) this clears stuff up!

Hope's shoulders trembled as he cried, the cool wind tousling his silver hair. Broken green eyes were firmly closed, the young boy leaning into the stiff tree behind him as if it were a lifeline. He couldn't what was going on anymore, the intelligent boy at a loss for the phenomenons happening to him.

A presence made itself known behind the silverette, Hope not turning to see who it was. When a gentle hand placed itself on his shoulder, the young boy turned and vaulted himself into a lightly muscled chest. A quiet voice murmured soothing words in his ear as Hope cried, his tears soaking the other boy's shirt. Hands petted his hair lovingly in an attempt to calm him.

When he finally quieted down to occasional hiccups, the other boy pulled back some to look in his face. A worried expression was there, ocean blue eyes boring into his emerald green ones.

"Hope, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Tidus asked, studying his brother carefully.

The silverette hiccuped quietly. "I-It's nothing, Tidus... Don't worry yourself." Hope whispered.

The blonde's eyebrow twitched in frustration as he hugged the younger boy tightly. "You can tell me anything Hope, you know that." He growled fiercely.

Hope tried to pat his older brother's back awkwardly. "Tidus... cant breathe..." He choked hoarsely.

The older boy ignored him. "Dammit Hope, I love you so much. I don't have much time left; Please tell me what's wrong?" He pleaded, looking at the silver-haired boy.

Hope sighed quietly, pushing out of his brother's hold. He ignored the hurt look in Tidus' eye, needing to tell him without any contact to distract him.

"I'm growing up too fast, Tidus."

The blonde looked at him weirdly. "No you're not, you're growing like a normal human is."

Hope shook his head, his silver locks bouncing back and forth. "No, I meant my mind is. I-I'm too smart, Dad is making me go into really important schools that should be for 20 year olds, not seven!" He took a breath.

"Mom's got a terminal-see, I shouldn't even know that word-illness and Dad's never at home to be around her. She's gonna die soon, and he doesn't even care!" He cried.

Tidus looked at him, a stricken look on his face. He didn't know that Nora had a sickness, but he knew of Bartholomew's neglection of his family. He pulled the unwilling boy close to him, hugging him gently.

"I'm sorry, little brother. I didn't know all these things were happening to you..." He whispered quietly, unshed tears in his eyes. Hope only hugged him back, eyes dull from relieving himself of such an emotional burden. He was content to stay in his brother's warm embrace though; finally able to feel loved by someone other than his mom.

But his wish wasn't granted. He felt Tidus push him away gently and he looked up to witness his brother start to disappear. The older boy grinned at him widely, eyes twinkling with both sadness and excitement.

"You better come visit me sometime, Hope! I'll be waiting for you!" He called as he vanished completely.

Hope watched the spot where Tidus once was in, a bittersweet feeling spreading through his chest. "Thank you, Tidus." He murmured.

"You slowed me down, at least for a moment."

A/N: I felt a rushed ending there, did you? Oh well, it'll be edited later, once I get back from my vacation. I just wanted to tell you lot that when Tidus said he "didn't have much time left", he meant before he had to return to the FFX universe, not that he was going to die. :)