Yes, everyone. I know it has been a while and I do intend to re-visit chapter 1 but I promised CloudRed that this would be out this weekend… it just so happened I had a few hours to myself earlier and decided to do this while I had the inspiration. Sorry for making you all wait but here you are… the aftermath of Hope and Fang's big night ;)
Crushed By Doubt
A New Dawn
"Good morning, Hope!" The ever vibrant Vanille called out to him as he finally managed to drag himself out of his tent. After the night he'd had, his mind was in a constant state of disarray and slight worry that Fang hadn't returned at all.
"Morning Vanille." He barely managed to mutter over the volume of his thoughts. She stopped cooking on the fire to look at him, obviously concerned.
"Are you not feeling well? Do you want to go back to bed?" He didn't even have time to open his mouth before her eyes slid to the side of his face. "Hope, what happened to your cheek?" Hope's hand instantly flew to the still red, warm and stinging skin of his face.
"Uh…nothing. Just hit it on something in the night." He gulped and sat down; looking away and hoping Vanille would soon go back to her work and ignore him. But there was something that he wanted to ask first. "Where is everyone else?"
"Out hunting. A behemoth wandered into the camp and Lightning, Snow and Fang chased after it." At the mention of Fang, Hope almost flinched but caught himself just in time.
"What about Sazh?"
"The frocobo wanted to visit the other chocobos so he should be back soon I think." She giggled. "Oh well! More food for us!" She proceeded to hum a strange Pulsian song as Hope submitted to staring at the sky.
What had happened last night had undeniably made it the best night in his life so far. There was only one thing about it that bothered him – Fang. Why did she slap him? She'd been in control so surely she had more choice than he had over what happened. It was a mystery that Hope sought to resolve as soon as possible. As soon as they began walking again, he would fall into pace with her and talk this messy business through properly. She wasn't an unforgiving or unreasonable person so surely the minor conflict could be resolved quickly and painlessly. He did care for her, after all.
"Fang!" Vanille's high-pitched voice broke Hope away from his reverie and back into the real world. Indeed, Fang was approaching, quickly flanked by Snow and Lightning. The latter was frowning- her normally beautiful features tightened into a look of pure disgust. Snow was bounding happily back, oblivious to Lightning's disdain. Then, there was Fang who walked confidently, her eyes focussed on Vanille and avoiding Hope's at all costs.
"Vanille." She replied with her usual smirk. "How's breakfast coming along?" Vanille bounced up and flung her arms around Fang's neck who merely patted her on the back affectionately.
"Amazingly. Did you bring anything back for us?" The younger Pulsian woman asked excitedly.
"Yep, some meat and claws." Lightning sunk to the ground beside Hope and breathed in deeply. Was something on her mind? Was the ever stoic Lightning Farron actually worried and concerned by something other than how sharp her weapon was?
Fang sat down on the other side of the fire, perfectly opposite Hope and her seductive gaze almost daring him to say something about the night before. Hope felt his face starting to heat as he openly stared back, a staring contest on physical and emotional levels.
"You seen Sazh, Vanille?" Snow asked, uncharacteristically collapsing heavily onto a fallen log.
"Nope, not yet!" Vanille smiled, pouring the breakfast of soup into their individual bows and handing them out along with a spoon. "Eat up, everyone!" Just as Hope took up his spoon and bent his neck to bring it closer to his bowl, he felt something tug slightly on his shirt. Ignoring it and dismissing it as a light tug of some force or creature or even Lightning straightening his clothes, Hope bent again only to be tugged upon again with more force, resulting in his breakfast spilling all over his trousers.
"Hope, what the hell is this?" Lightning asked angrily, tugging his shirt down further for everyone to see. Laid upon his neck was a bright red love-bite surrounded by clear teeth indentations. Resisting the urge to swear, Hope pulled his shirt back into place and felt his face heat incredibly. Hope looked to see Lightning glaring angrily at him, her eyes clouded over with pure fury. Next was Snow's gobsmacked expression, him blinking quickly and rubbing his eyes as if not trusting them to perceive the truth. Standing behind Snow was Sazh, whose mouth was open impossibly widely. He had frozen on the spot and seemed to be attempting to speak. Vanille's shocked eyes displayed her true innocence – they were open wider with shock but she doubtlessly didn't understand the entire significance of what she had seen.
Then, finally, was Fang's expression. Her earlier toying and playful gazes had turned into a hard stare of anger and betrayal, her eyes boring deep into his as if trying to find his soul. Lightning was the first to recover and speak.
"Hope, who made that?"
"Uh…" Before he had chance to think up a dismissive answer, Lightning had stood and rounded on Vanille and Fang.
"Which one of you two whores did it?" Hope couldn't believe his ears. Why was Lightning talking this way? Was she… jealous? "Tell me now or there'll be hell to pay!"
"Whoa, whoa sis!" Don't you think you're overreacting a little bit?" Snow asked, standing up to confront the angry Farron. Despite his burly weight, Lightning managed to flip Snow onto his ass in one easy movement.
"Don't call me 'sis'!" She yelled at him before turning back to the two Pulsian women. Vanille looked mortified but Fang just maintained her look of pure antagonism. Before things could escalate any further, Hope stood in front of Lightning, defending the two women. Lightning's angry eyes turned on him.
"Whoa, Light. Please calm down. There's no need to start a fight. Sit back down."
"No, Hope. You're still a minor and whoever did this took advantage of you!" Hope heard someone moving to stand behind him.
"So you're saying that whoever did this is a paedophile? That's rich, Lightning. You're the one that has no sexual desires at all. Just because you're chaste doesn't mean that we need to be." Lightning and Fang were obviously glaring at each other over his shoulder.
"Do I take it that I found the culprit?" Lightning's voice was emotionless – hinting even greater danger lay in store for Hope and especially for Fang.
"So what if you did? It's the kid's business, not yours. Maybe if you weren't so frigid, you'd be able to see the fun side."
"Fun side? Fun side?" Lightning flinched with repulsion as she repeated herself. "Where's the fun in forcing a minor to have sex with you? It's just sick, Fang and I expected better from you!" Lightning shot one last disgusted look at them before she turned and stalked away, drawing her weapon and ready to kill something. Hope felt a hand on the back of his shirt and someone pulling him backwards. Barely managing to keep himself from stumbling, it was all Hope could do to keep up with the infuriated Pulsian woman.
-x
Lightning's P.O.V.
How could he? How could Hope do this to her? To betray her in the most intimate of ways. After all she had done for him. The thought sickened her and another thing – with Fang! Slicing through another cactuar, Lightning bit back the need to scream.
Hope was her charge, her responsibility. She would be blamed for this. She would bear the responsibility for what had happened. What she had let happened. But there was something more. Not only did her logic and head tell her that this si wrong but her heart joined in with the sentiments. What did her heart have to do with it? Lightning stopped walking and allowed her thoughts to catch back up with her.
She felt something when she thought about Hope and Fang together – she felt… pain. But why pain? He wasn't hurt. Confused, Lightning pondered over the new emotion coursing through her veins. She couldn't decide upon this new emotion and what it meant. She didn't know what to think or feel.
-x
Fang and Hope's P.O.V.
"What the hell were you thinking?" She landed as soon as everyone was out of ear-shot. She whirled around to face him, her face a mask of pure fury.
"What? It's not as if I did it on purpose." Hope replied, scared by Fang's anger.
"Why didn't you cure them then?" She demanded, her tone angry. No, furious.
"I… I didn't know that I could. Why would you make the marks if you were worried that someone might see?" His claim was valid but he know Fang's anger was too great to even see reason.
"Because I thought you'd have enough sense to even make sure that they were covered up!" Her hand flew to his shoulder and squeezed until he gasped in pain.
"Fang!" He cried out.
"That's two mistakes that you've made, Sunshine. A third and I won't forgive you." She released his arm and walked away in exactly the opposite direction that Lightning had gone.
Resisting anger and desperation, Hope started to walk back to camp before realising that he couldn't face the shame and walked exactly in the middle of Lightning and Fang's paths. There wasn't anything shameful about what they had done last night – was there? They hadn't done anything that isn't done by everyone at least once in their life – right? Right, so… why this feeling? Why this guilt? Why this goddamned situation? The union of two bodies in pursuit of either pleasure or recreation was nothing to be ashamed of – everyone did it. Everyone! … Everyone? Hope stopped his walk, thinking about Lightning's stoic nature. Would she have…? The only people she had let close to her were Serah and Hope himself – no one else. Ever. Did that mean that Lightning hadn't…No! He shouldn't be thinking about such things, should he? Well… why not? Fang hadn't claimed him and he was perfectly entitled to do as he pleased.
Feeling a cocky smile slide its way onto his lips, Hope turned in the direction Lightning had left and walked confidently, cocky in his intentions and confident with his smile.
Ooooh, what's going to happen next chapter then? I know this was meant to be a one-shot but I decided to add a bit more because of how short it was. So this is my apology to you lot :) So, what do you think should happen in the next chapter? Lemme know!
Peace,
Rie x
