Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Square-Enix!
Pairing: SnowxHope
Warning: Contain Yaoi! Mature Content.
Thank you the-true-freya for reediting this story.
Chapter 1: Welcome to Gran Pulse
Grand Pulse was everything the team had expected from the stories they heard on Cocoon. The vast wilderness put everyone on high alert for any incoming dangers, but the party was thankful for the narrow mountainous pathways in Vallis Media, which gave them a safe haven against the vicious enemies. As the party began searching for human life on the world below Cocoon, they started to lose their resolve getting rid of their ill-faith curse when they found no trace of human activity. The second week took a toll on the youngest member of their team as he struggled with his innermost thoughts and values amongst them which led to the appearance of the summoning Alexander. After their clash with the Eidolon, the silver-haired teen had collapsed later in the evening because of the exertion on his magic abilities, putting a halt to the team's journey.
As the sun rose on the horizon the next day, the party, all except for Hope who was still asleep, arose from their slumber to make their early morning preparations as to begin their journey to Oerba. Fang and Vanille set off towards the northern Steppe to verify whether or not there were any existence pathways to Oerba. Lightning and Sazh went searching for food, leaving Snow to watch over Hope and to salvage any remaining items from the ship that may be useful for their journey.
Snow walked out from the broken shattered widow of the aircraft, carrying with him a first aid kit, potions and some energy snacks that he'd found in a storage, 'Seems like this will do for now…' He mentally sighed. He placed the kit and provisions on the floor before glancing around his surrounding. His eyes fell on his sleeping silver-haired companion, curling up in a fetal position on the tarp with his coat. "Poor kid. He went through too much for his age." The blond told himself weakly. The teen shifted in his position causing the bright rays of sunlight that shone upon his features and forcing him out of his dormancy. This elicited a moan escaped across his lips, enticed by the soreness in his bones and muscles. The blond dropped whatever task he was doing after hearing said groan from the sleeping silver-haired male and rushed to the young man's side. Hope's eyes were fighting to open because of the surrounding brightness. Snow placed his hands against the teen's chest when the youth tried to push himself up.
"Hold it there kiddo, you should rest more." Snow spoke quietly.
Hope rubbed his eyes to get a better look at his surroundings, only to have a worrisome blond came into his sight. "Water. Hungry!" The silver-haired teen mumbled weakly.
"I'll see what we've got." Snow chuckled and made his way towards the ship where he placed the small supplies of emergency foods he had found.
Hope watched as Snow wandered back to the wreck Pulse ship before glancing around the camp only to notice the atmosphere was too quiet, not even a whistle from the winds or a squeal from Vanille made itself known. "Where are the others?" He asked curiously out loud as Snow stepped away from the ship with a bottle of water and nutrition bar and took a seat beside him.
"Fang and Vanille went to check what lies ahead, and Lightening and the old man went off somewhere. We're waiting for you feel better before setting off."
Hope felt a sting in his chest when he recognized that he was just delaying their journeys. "Sorry. I didn't mean to slow us down," The silver-haired teen mumbled, averting his gaze away from Snow and looking downwards.
Snow, detecting the teen distress, objected: "Don't worry about it, kiddo. You're not slowing us down. This break will do us some good and we have plenty of time to prepare before going to Oerba." Snow ruffled the youth's silver locks to reassure the situation. "Here, you should eat and regain your strength for the time being." The robust blond offered the bottle of water and the bar. Snow then stood up and stretched, loosening up the knots and joints in his body. He turned back towards the ship to continue his work before Lightning caught him slacking off. 'The last thing I want now is her throwing fist at me...' He sighed yet again as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Hope was munching on his snack when a piece fell on the blanket. His green orbs looked down and widened when he realized that the blanket that was keeping him warm was Snow's coat. He glanced towards the crashed vessel, but the blond wasn't in sight. He only heard sounds of metal falling and a grunt coming from the same direction.
"You okay there, kiddo?" Snow questioned, breaking Hope out of his trail of thought as the blond returned with pieces of scraps metal in his hands.
The silver-haired l'Cie nodded and tried to stand, but his feet were trembling from the strain of his body weight. Before he could collapse onto the ground however, Snow moved and caught him around his middle. "Whoa, whoa there Kid. Didn't I tell you to take it easy? You should take advantage of this break. Chances are that we won't have time to rest later when we continue our journey." Snow mentioned softly, placing the teen back on the cushion. Sometimes the kid was being too stubborn for his own good.
"My entire body feel so weak." Hope pouted as he stuck out his bottom lip and looked away from Snow's gaze.
"Of course, you gave it your all last night." Snow smiled and peered down at the teen. He picked up his coat and threw it over Hope. "Rest." Snow only said and took a seat beside the teen, bracing against a log with his hands folded behind his head. They both sat, quietly looking up at the sky and enjoying the peacefulness around them which contradict the nature of Grand Pulse itself.
"Hey Snow?" Hope suddenly asked out of the blue.
"Hmm..." Snow hummed.
"How long will it take to reach Oerba?"
"I don't know kiddo." Snow replied, folding his ankles whilst placing his elbows on his legs and resting his head in his palm. "Hmmm... Let me think."
"You thinking! Well that's a first. Don't hurt yourself." The silver-haired teen teased with a smile, breaking the quiet mood.
Snow quirked his eyebrow at the remark and looked at the giggling teen. 'Smart-mouthed brat.' "Ohhh, you think you're funny, huh?" Then Snow shifted and smothered the teen in a friendly tackle, overwhelming him with a barrage of tickles. Hope squealed from the surprise attack and erupted with laughter from having his sides tickled. "And here I was trying to comfort you a couple of minutes ago. Say that again, I dare ya." Snow teased back, smiling as he continued attacking the teen who was rolling with laughter, once more. 'Man, when was the last time I saw such a happy face?' He mentally pondered. 'The kiddo is just too cute...' Wait he didn't just think that! Snow paused abruptly.
"Snowww...I... waz...jokin." The silver-haired teen managed to say coherently. He tried to push the blond off of him, but suddenly got his hands locked above him by one of Snow's hand as the other continued it quest, exploring the plains of Hope's stomach.
After a few more seconds, Snow decided that he had tortured the younger male enough. He glimpsed down and at that moment his eyes widened in unease at the sight of the younger l'Cie. Underneath Snow was a flushed and panting Hope, whose chest was rising up and down to regain his breath. The teen's shirt was partly riding up, exposing sweet, alabaster skin and a pair of legs were spread apart, pressing against both side of the blond's thighs. Snow bit his lower lip from this sight alone. There were warning signals ringing in his brain. He instinctively took a huge gulp in guilty anticipation. He'd never seen an image like this before. And there was certainly something wrong with the kid... Something very wrong.
"Jeez Snow, can you take a joke?" Hope said with a smile, looking up from under the blond. His soulful green eyes widened and his body flinched when he saw whose aquatic blues hold an intensely deep gaze that penetrated his very soul. Hope perceived a knot in his stomach and his brain was sending him strange and mixed signals. He felt his body getting warmer under the soft regard and his heart began to race from being this close to the blond whose body was radiating heat. His mind was telling him to move away, but his body simply refused to listen.
"Ahem!" Someone's cough broke the pair from their trance. Both men looked towards the direction the voice came from, only to notice an audience of four staring at them. Lightning was folding her arms and bore a glare of death towards the blond. Sazh only quirked his eyebrow at the two males' amusing behavior. Fang was just regarding the scene nonchalantly and Vanille peeked from behind Fang's side, giggling at the sight of silver-haired youth and the blond.
"You boys having fun?" Fang inquired with a hint of amusement, breaking the awkwardness. At that moment, Hope's cheeks reddened whilst Snow now quickly scrambled on his feet, trying to ignoring the strange and warm fluttering in his stomach.
"What's going on here?" Lightning demanded, still pointedly looking at Snow.
"Yeah, we heard a scream, only to rush here seeing you guys playing around." Vanille said as she came forward from her hiding spot behind Fang.
"Ohh, there's nothing to be alarmed about. Just me and kiddo messing around to kill the time." Snow answered innocently, looking down at the green-eyed teen who was smiling sheepishly at the older male's response.
"We've got work to do. There's isn't time to waste." Lightning huffed as she walked past the two men that answered her with an apologetic look.
"Seems like our work will be cut short for a while though." Fang said, gaining four concerned looks from the party.
"Look!" Vanille pointed towards the northern sky before anybody can response to Fang's statement. All eyes attended the direction where her finger pointed at and soon they noticed exactly what the problem was.
Hope gaped at the sight. "Those are..."
"Thunderheads. And they are moving towards the Steppe." Fang interrupted.
"Meaning lots and lots of rainfall!" Vanille piped in.
"So, a little rain wouldn't kill us." Snow inquired.
"Be my guest if you want to cross the Steppe after a heavy and continuous amount of precipitation. It will be like crossing a swamp, to be exact." Fang grumbled as she moved towards the two men and took a seat on the log.
"So you expect us to wait!" Lightning blurted out.
"We don't have time to wait, people! Before we know it..." Sazh trailed off and was followed by a total silence. They knew what would happen if they didn't act right away. They were l'Cie, a ticking time bomb. Time was their enemies, not their friend.
"Ummm… maybe we can go look at the ruin." The pig-tailed girl offered. "We can probably find some clues there, maybe more about l'Cie and our brands."
"A ruin?" Snow blinked.
"The Paddraean Archaeopolis. The Ruins of Paddra." Fang said, gaining with a nod from Vanille. "It used to be a human civilization but it collapsed into ruins."
"If the legend is true, the settlements waged wars against their own kind which led to their own destruction after the fal'Cie, whom they worshipped, stopped offering the humans salvation." Vanille continued with the history lesson.
"Well, if the fal'Cie is involved then Cie'th probably won't be far." Lightning assumed.
"I prefer doing some research rather than waiting here for couple more days doing nothing." The party's only Afro-haired member said, whose declaration was followed with nods from the other party members.
"Nothing ventures, nothing gains." Vanille smiled.
"Then it's agreed. We'll leave after lunch and try to get an early start towards the ruins." Fang exclaimed.
"What about you, Hope? Are you up for some walking?" Lightning asked maternally.
Everyone glanced at the silver-haired teen, knowing that his body was still weak. "Don't worry about me. I'll be okay." Hope reassured.
"Well don't force yourself, kiddo. If you want, I can carry you until you regain you strength." Snow offered warmly.
"What! I'll have you know I'm capable of walking on my own." Hope snorted, a blush forming on his face.
"It didn't seem like it earlier, but we'll see later whether you need my help or not." Snow teased, ruffling the kiddo's hair a little only to have it pushed away knowing that he won this battle.
To be continued...
A/N: Okay first chapter finish. I fell in love with ff13, especially Snow and Hope ;) after watching the trailers and playing the game... I only wish that Snow had a better story-line. And I'll be writing fanfiction of these two lovable pairing.