Hands clasped behind his head, Noel stared up at the sky, squinting to find the few stars visible under the light of Academia 4XX as he was propelled forward by one of the arrow paths. Last night he had found a total of ten lights he thought were actually stars. Tonight he would find eleven. It helped to have goals. A purpose. Even if it was something as stupid as counting stars. Noel sighed. He should leave. Tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after. It didn't matter when…as long as he left.

The gates were still open, he could go anywhere he wanted. The Archlyte Steppe, maybe. It was a hunter's paradise. No shortage of monsters, a controllable climate. Or the Bresha Ruins. A fortune to make Mog salivate with envy waited for him. His skills were needed in either location and he knew he would be happy whichever one he chose…except… he would be gone when she came back.

If she came back.

She wasn't coming back. He knew she wasn't and yet every time he seriously considered leaving, the hope that she might kept him rooted in Academia 4XX.

Noel shifted to the left before the path ran out, rearranging himself as it propelled him back towards Academia headquarters. He had ridden it enough that the switch had become instinctive; he no longer needed to track his position in the sky or mark a building near the end of the path.

Maybe he should start that chocobo breeding program for Serendipity. There was still the problem of getting the birds to a place that didn't really exist. Damn Snow for taking her. Damn Serah for going with him.

"Screech!"

Noel skidded to a halt, his hands grasping the hilts of his blades while his gaze scanned their surroundings for the source of the noise.

"Caweeech!"

The noise came again, from behind him, and his fingers fell from his hilts. Crossing his arms, he whirled to face a too-innocent looking Serah, her gaze conveniently elsewhere. Mog hovered around her head, revealing nothing.

"What was that supposed to be?"

"What was what…" Serah began, the words dying on her lips as she took in his expression. Avoiding his gaze, she touched her bangs and shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"A chocobo," she mumbled.

"A what?"

He pretended not to hear her and stepped closer.

"A chocobo," she said louder.

Noel's brows arched.

"A chocobo," he repeated, stroking his chin with one hand.

Serah's eyes flashed and her head jerked up as she retorted,

"It's not the easiest sound in the world to replicate."

Noel's lips twitched and he took a step back. Clearing his throat, he took a breath and emitted such an accurate chocobo squawk that the chocobos they had tamed answered him. Serah's eyes narrowed as Noel smiled slowly at her and resumed walking. Mog swirled reassuringly around her head and he heard her muttering, loud enough so he knew she was talking but soft enough he couldn't make out the words.

He'd started it. He beeped like the Serendipity slot machine and tried not to laugh when she cursed him under her breath. "I was in Victory Mode!" Her voice echoed in his mind and his shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. The sensation of a million little daggers hitting his back seized him; he imagined she was aiming for right between the two wings and he barely choked back his laughter.

That evening she thought of the song. That damn song that never really left his head once he had the misfortune to hear it. Even worse…there were words. Inane, ridiculous words. "Run like the wind, just leave your cares behind…."

He sang it now, under his breath, hating that he couldn't stop himself. It became a habit of hers, to hum it as they ran across the Steppe or the Plains, or under her breath while someone else was talking to them. He had tried to ignore it, knowing nothing gave her more satisfaction than when she caught him humming along.

He hated that song. He'd started beeping at her once in retaliation and for five crazy minutes, they made their own song of chocobos and slot machines. They'd laughed so hard afterwards both of them ended up on the ground, trying to catch their breath. He smiled faintly in remembrance.

He hated that song. But he'd give almost anything to hear her humming it again. Noel sighed and shifted over, rearranging his hands behind his head. 3, 2, 1….

"I still don't see the point of this."

Right on schedule. His lips twitched and he looked up and over at the familiar figure of Hope, strolling alongside the path as it propelled Noel forward.

"It's the only way I can get to sleep," Noel answered.

The lights of Academia glinted off of Hope's hair, illuminating him as if he were his own personal flashlight.

"It wouldn't be a problem if you stopped falling asleep on the path."

Noel shifted. Yesterday morning had been the fifth time. It had been funny at first. Him falling asleep on the Academia path. Now it was becoming a habit. He had tried to go to sleep the normal way. In his room, without riding the paths. But he couldn't sleep the normal way. Not anymore.

"It isn't my intention," he muttered. "I don't know what to do," he added.

Hope's brows arched and he continued walking alongside Noel in silence, the lights glistening crazily in his hair. Two guards stood stationed at the end of the path nearest headquarters, close enough to come to their aid if necessary but not to hear their conversation.

Satisfaction trickled through Noel at the sight of them; as Hope's bodyguard, he had been given command of the Academia guards. It had taken weeks of heavy training, but they now performed flawlessly under his command. Noel even had one or two picked out to take over as bodyguards if he ever did manage to leave. It was a formality, really. Hope was more than capable of taking care of himself.

Behind his head, his fingers curled as if to make a fist as he wondered how aware of that Snow had been when he designated Noel to stay behind. The assassination attempt he spoke of? Hope had been giving a presentation at the Academy. Noel had guards stationed at every doorway of the auditorium, all of the building entrances, plus several mixed in with the crowd. None of them had been close enough to stop the assassin.

Hope stopped him. Without missing a word of his presentation.

Before anyone knew what was happening, the Academy Director pulled out his boomerang, killed his would-be assassin, and continued his presentation. While the guards rushed to clear the scene and check for accomplices, Noel stared at Hope and realized he'd been duped.

Hope didn't need a bodyguard. No one who traveled with Lightning for any period of time would have remained defenseless. Hope had been a L'Cie. He didn't need guarding any more than Noel did. Snow had to have known that. So had Serah.

"You don't have to stay," Hope said, his lips quirking as Noel shifted over to the other side.

"I know."

"Surely you've thought of somewhere you could go."

"Yes."

Noel let one hand fall from behind his head while Hope continued to walk alongside him in silence. One…two…Noel's eyes followed the pinpricks of light he believed were stars.

"If she came back," Hope began.

"She's not coming back."

"If she came back, I'd tell her where you went. She could…"

"Travel through a gate, I know. But what if I'm not there when she gets there?"

Noel looked up at Hope. The young Academy director's jaw was clenched, his arms crossed as he walked alongside the path.

"You could leave word with someone you trusted, telling her where to find you."

"And leave a trail across the crux for Serah to try and find me? She made her choice, Hope. All of us have to live with it."

Hope's mouth opened and then closed. One…two…three…Noel counted and shifted over to the other side of the path.

"Everyone leaves me. Why should she have been any different?"

The words escaped Noel before he could stop them and Hope came to an abrupt halt. Propelled onward by the path, Noel clenched and unclenched his fist and resumed counting the stars. Hope's footsteps pounded behind him and Noel started as Hope seated himself on the path in front of him. Legs crossed, Hope studied him unabashedly while Noel groaned and pulled himself upright. Resting his elbows across his knees, Noel threw up his hands and stared back at Hope.

One hand at his lips, Hope's gaze fell to the blue light of the arrows visible between them, his expression somber.

"Alyssa agreed to let us question her."

Interest flickered within Noel before he stifled it.

"To let you question her," Hope amended, his hand leaving his mouth as his gaze met Noel's again. Noel arched a brow.

"Me?"

"She insisted. She won't talk to anyone but you. Not even me."

"How flattering."

A look passed between them and Hope's lips twitched.

"Will you talk to her?"

Noel sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his head tilted to one side as he studied Hope. The Academy Director looked back over his shoulder, gauging the distance between him and the end of the path, before electing to move over well ahead of time. One corner of Noel's mouth raised and he leaned back on his palms, staring up at the sky. One…two…three…four…

"Before you decide, there's something you need to see," Hope added, unbuttoning the top button of his uniform and withdrawing an object that looked suspiciously like a compact. Handing it to Noel, he mimicked the hunter from the future's pose and rested his arms across his drawn-up knees.

Noel took the compact, turning it over in his fingers several times before glancing questioningly at Hope. The Academy Director said nothing, his fingertips laced together.

Despite its shape, the compact-like object didn't open, and Noel was about to chuck it back at Hope when his fingers found the concealed button on its side. Pressing it, he tried not to be impressed as a holographic image sprung up from the compact's surface. Hope watched him out of the corner of his eye, his fingers fiddling with the end of his tie.

A girl reclined against a thin metal slab, the mop of blonde hair confirming her identity before the Academy uniform could. Left leg resting against her right knee, Alyssa stared up at the ceiling of the cell Hope had placed her in, her hands clasped behind her head. A tray of untouched food lay a few feet from her, accompanied by a book that lay open but face down against the cell floor. A window barely big enough for a bird to fly through cast a thin patch of natural light into the cell.

There were no bars. Alyssa was contained by a transparent force field capable of shocking someone into unconsciousness should they be so foolish as to touch it while the cell was armed. The force field could be disarmed with the swipe of a card, but the key code changed daily and only certain cards could be reprogrammed.

It would be difficult but not impossible for the theft of one to be successful in breaking her out. She had yet to try, by herself or through someone else. Beyond her refusal to talk, she had been a fairly cooperative prisoner. Maybe too cooperative.

Alyssa changed positions, crossing the right leg over the left and fiddled with her tie in an almost exact mimicry of Hope. Hope's tie fell from his fingers, his expression stricken. Noel's thumb hovered over the holograph's button.

What was he supposed to be seeing?

Hope's features were once again under his control and he shook his silver head before shifting over to the other side of the path. Noel's thumb slid away from the button as he did the same. The hologram shimmered from outside interference and Noel's gaze flickered to Hope before returning to the miniature image of Alyssa. Her position hadn't altered, but there was a tension to her posture that hadn't been there before.

"This isn't what I planned."

Noel jerked upright and the compact nearly slid out of his grasp. The hologram shimmered a second time, one thick black line running through it as Alyssa pointed at the corner of her cell. A derisive laugh echoed throughout Alyssa's cell and Noel's grip tightened on the compact as the familiar hooked shape of Caius's blade blocked the camera's view. The hologram sputtered and fizzed and then completely faded, leaving nothing but the grating sound of static. Noel's cramped thumb inched toward the button a second time only to have Hope shake his head again.

Static faded in and out of the hologram and Noel let the arrow path run out beneath him. Hope slid off and motioned for his guards to maintain their respectful distance.

After what seemed hours but was no more than ten minutes, the hologram sputtered and the thick black line returned, running an endless loop over a blank screen until Alyssa came into view. She now sat on the narrow slab, her legs still crossed, the previously discarded book spread open on her lap. Her head was tilted to one side in her usual fashion and Noel recognized her trademark smirk on her lips. Alyssa tossed her tousled blonde head and looked into the corner where the camera was concealed.

"Director?"

Noel glanced at Hope. Jaw set, Hope was looking anywhere but at the compact in Noel's hand.

"Director, if you're not watching this now, I know you will at some point. I'm ready to talk. About everything."

Alyssa's gaze fell to the book in her lap and she turned a page, her lips threatening as if to smile.

"If Noel is still in Academia 4XX, tell him I'll speak with him. Only him. Or Serah. It doesn't matter. As long as it's one of them. I have some information they might find interesting. Very interesting." Her gaze flickered back to the camera and she smiled.

Uncrossing her legs, she rose from the slab, the book falling unheeded to the floor as she approached the corner. Standing on tiptoe, Alyssa tilted her head to one side and looked directly into the lens she supposedly couldn't see.

"I'm not going to say I'm sorry. I'm not. And I'm not going to explain myself to Noel or Serah when they come to talk to me. The only person I owe an explanation to is you, Director. But you won't ask for it. Don't you want to know?"

The artifice vanished from her expression and her eyes were appealingly wide before she smiled to herself and retreated from the corner. Bending to retrieve her book, she looked back over her shoulder at the camera and settled herself once more on the slab. Noel's thumb hit the button without any silent rebuke from Hope and Alyssa vanished back into the compact where she belonged.

"Will you talk to her?" Hope asked.

Noel handed the compact back to him and rose, stepping onto the path and crossing his arms as it propelled him forward. Returning the compact to his uniform and re-buttoning it, Hope waited until Noel had made one revolution alone before stepping onto the path. One…two…three…four…five…

Noel pivoted to face Hope, his arms still crossed.

"Why won't you talk to her?"

Hope's brows arched and he scratched the back of his head.

"She betrayed me more than she did you or Serah."

Noel opened his mouth and then closed it again.

"I don't need to understand. She might need me to, but I don't. Hearing her side of the story isn't going to change anything. She won't talk to me about Caius. I'm only interested in what she has to say about him. Nothing else."

"I didn't think you were that fond of her," Noel observed.

A smile flickered across Hope's lips and then vanished.

"I wasn't. She annoyed the hell of out me. Professionally she was the best. I needed her ambition to get me here. She pretended to like me so everyone else would think that was the reason. It was to protect herself. She needed to be close to me in order to stop any potential threats to her existence."

"She might have actually liked you."

Hope shook his head.

"No. Alyssa only cares about herself." He turned his back on Noel and stared up at the sky.

"I can't forgive her my loss," Hope whispered.

Noel half-turned to face him and then remained as he was.

"She annoyed me, yes, but she was the only person here who understood…who knew what it was like…where I came from. They welcomed us here. But it isn't the same. She knew that. She was the only one I knew who knew that. I lost that when she betrayed us."

"Caius came to see why the plan failed," Noel stated. Hope nodded.

"Maybe he didn't know it had failed. Whatever dimension he meant to send you and Serah to, you two hadn't shown up yet. Maybe he only wanted to know what was taking so long. You're not concerned over how he got in?"

"Caius can travel through time on his whim. There isn't a security system in any time period that could keep him out of somewhere he wanted to be. It's probably just another trap to get us out of the way."

"So you won't talk to her?"

"I'll talk to her."

Hope sighed in relief and Noel checked his smile as he looked over his shoulder at him.

"I don't think it's going to do any good. But if Caius is involved…I can't leave it alone. He's counting on it. If he thinks I've swallowed the bait, maybe he won't go after Serah."

Hope straightened as Noel stared down at the arrow between his feet.

"You'd sacrifice yourself to keep Caius away from her?"

"She deserves her adventure with her hero. I won't be the one to take it away from her."

Hope's brows arched and he stepped off the path as it neared the Academy side. Noel lowered himself back onto the path, rearranging his hands behind his head. Hope stood at the end of the path, watching as Noel zoomed to the other side and shifted seamlessly to the other side.

"Tomorrow?" Hope asked as Noel's shaggy brown head came closer. Noel nodded.

"After your all-important meeting. I'll talk to her."

"You don't have to, Noel."

"Yes, I do. But I appreciate the option. I'll try not to fall asleep out here."

Hope laughed.

"Don't make promises you can't keep. Good-night, Noel. And…thank you."

Noel raised a hand in salute and Hope gestured to the lurking guards before returning to headquarters.

One…two…three…four…five…five…Noel's hands clenched into fists behind his head. What had he just gotten himself into?

A/N: I have updated at last! I want to thank everyone again for all the positive reviews! They restored some of my lost faith in my writing skills. This one got away from me a little. I hadn't intended to write so much between Noel and Hope, but they're two of my favorite characters. Hope may be the only person I still like from the first 13. Lightning was so annoying in Dissidia 012 I can't stand her anymore. I may have also given Noel my personal love/hate relationship with chocobos. I hope everyone enjoys the 2nd installment as much as the 1st. I'm a little worried I won't live up to it. There will be more. My goal is 5 chapters. There might be more, but definitely not less. :)