Naoto-Hika: Well this is Chapter three! Vanille would like to say the disclaimer.
Hope: Before Vanille says the disclaimer, I have something to say. Thank you all for reviewing for my sake!
Vanille: She doesn't own Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus, and the character! I hope you enjoy this story!
Hope and Vanille started to head to Lightning's house. He was going to tell her just how he felt. He started to feel nervous and unsure of him self. He didn't know if he could do it. Could he really tell her how he felt?
"L-lets head back…," Hope started to speak as he looked at the ground. He stopped walking as Vanille looked at him. She tilted her head slight as he started to speak again. "I-I mean, she's probably sleeping…"
Vanille smiled slightly as she shook her head. No way was she going to allow him to retreat with out trying. Plus, she didn't want all that practice to go to waste.
"It's only seven o'clock," she said with a smile. "You'll be fine Hope, I know you will." Hope sighed as he looked up at the light red hair girl.
"Vanille is with me so I should be fine, right?" Hope thought.
"Thank you Vanille," he said with a smile, "for everything." Vanille smiled as she nodded. She took hold of his hand in hers and started to walk again towards Lightning's house. She wasn't going to let him give up so quickly.
Noctis got out Quinn's car, that he was borrowing, and headed towards the door he was familiar with. He knocked on the door and placed his hand in his pockets. The door opened to reveal a girl in a long pink, sleeveless dress with a cut on the side of her dress that stopped at her thigh. She wore white heels to match her dress.
Noctis eyes shot opened as he stared at the girl in the dress. Lightning clear her throat. She blushed slightly as it didn't work, he was still staring. She punched his arm which he reacted to. He was now blinking and looking at her confused.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"For staring," She replied as she crossed her arm over her chest. "So where are you taking me to?" Noctis grinned as he took her hand in his.
"I thought I told you, it's a surprise."
"I don't like surprises…"
"I know but you'll enjoy this one. I promise."
Lightning looked at him unconvinced. She sighed slightly and smiled. Nocits returned the smile and led her to his car. He opened the door for. She went into the car and he closed the door. He went around to the diver side to enter.
Hope and Vanille finally reached Lightning's house at seven-thirty. Hope looked around while Vanille went to knock on the door. He noticed that no lights were on. He glanced back at her as she knocked on the door.
"Vanille, I don't think she's in. All her lights are off," Hope said as he leaned against the wall. The light red hair girl sighed as she started to pout.
"Where could she have gone?" she asked mainly herself. Hope glanced over at her and smiled. He stepped in front of her as he took both her hands into his.
"It's alright; I guess we can try tomorrow. I mean it's not like she's going to get engaged today, right?" he said unsure of himself. It only took a few seconds to minutes to be engaged. Vanille smiled slightly as she looked down at her friend.
"We can wait here till she come home!" she said cheerfully. She wasn't going to let him go home with out him telling Light how he felt. "I can call her and ask her when she's coming home."
Hope blinked as he watched Vanille pull out her phone. Part of him really just wanted to go home and give up while part of him wanted to stay and wait for her to return.
Hope hugged Vanille as he whispered, "Thank you Vanille…" Vanille blinked as she was hugged by Hope. She blushed a light pink as she hugged him back.
"For what?" she asked as she placed her hands on his shoulder. She pushed him back so that she could see his face. Hope looked at her as he smiled.
"For everything, helping me practice on telling Lightning, walking over here with me, and…not letting me leave…," he said as he adverted his eyes to the ground. Vanille pushed his chin up with her index finger and smiled.
"That's what friends are for!"
Hope nodded in agreement. He was happy he wasn't alone, that Vanille had his back no matter what happened; just like Lightning did when his mother had passed away.
Vanille dialed Lightning's number as she placed the phone against her ear. Hope sat down on the steps to Lightning's door. Vanille looked at him as she heard a voice on the other side of the phone.
"Hey Light!" The cheerful girl said. Hope raised his head to hear what was being said. Vanille sat beside him and put the phone on speaker so that he could hear.
"Hey Vanille," the voice on the other side said. Hope blushed as he knew that voice way to well.
"When are you heading back home?"
"I'm not sure, something wrong?"
"No, no, we're at your house and we're wondering when you are heading back."
"We?"
"Hope and me!"
"I'll call you when I'm almost home. Tell Hope I said hi."
"We'll just wait here till you return. I will tell him you said "hi". Bye bye," Vanille said. She hung up the phone and looked at Hope. Hope smiled as he looked at her.
"So we're waiting are we?" he asked. Vanille smiled and nodded.
"Yup!"
Noctis reached the restaurant while Lightning was talking on the phone to Vanille. He parked the car and shut it off. He got out the car and headed to the passenger side. He opened the door and put his hand out to help Lightning get out the car.
Lightning took Noctis' hand and got out the car. She smiled as she put the phone away in her purse. Noctis closed the car door and led her to the restaurant called The Tower. Lightning looked at the building while holding his hand. Part of her was excited while the other part of her was nervous. She didn't understand why and really didn't care.
Noctis opened the door for her while he couldn't help but stare at her again. She was always beautiful to him but today she looked so different. He didn't understand it. Was it because she was in a dress, or was it because he never really noticed before?
Noctis looked over at the Greeter. He walked over to him when he noticed Laris and Fang walking towards the exit of the restaurant together. Lightning blinked as she noticed them as well.
"Fang?" she asked.
Fang and Laris looked over at the couple they knew. Laris grinned as he walked over to Noctis while Fang walked over to Lightning. Noctis sighed as he looked over at the Greeter.
"Reservations for two under Noctis Caelum," Noctis said. The Greeter nodded as he looked at his paper for his name. Laris placed his arm around the prince's shoulders with a wide grin.
"Lightning looks cute in a dress," Laris said as he looked over at Fang and Lightning, who were talking. Noctis looked back at Lightning and Fang while ignoring Laris' comment. The Greeter looked at them and started to speak, "Sir, your table isn't ready yet. I'll call you when it's finish."
Noctis nodded as he glanced at the Greeter. He looked at Laris for a quick second before he started to head over to the two girls. Laris followed in step. Noctis wrapped his arms around Lightning's waist. Laris took hold of Fang's hand.
"We have to wait a little while they get the table ready," Noctis said. Lightning looked up at him and smiled.
"Alright," she said.
"Well we should get going then," Fang said. Laris nodded as he walked out the restaurant with Fang. Noctis sighed in relief as he heard his name called. They walked over to the Greeter as a waiter stood beside the greeter.
"He'll show you to your table," the Greeter said. Noctis nodded as Lightning and him followed the waiter to their table. Noctis pulled out Lightning's chair. She sat down and he pushed the chair in a little. He sat down opposite from her.
Lightning and Noctis talked as they ate their food. The two enjoyed the company of being with each other. Noctis paid for the food once they were finish eating, and left. Before he would take her home, he had somewhere he wanted to take her first.
Noctis drove up to a park. It was full of people that were talking and playing around. Once again, Noctis helped Lightning out the car. Lightning looked around as she looked back at Noctis.
"Just for a little while and then I'll take you home," he said with a grin.
"Alright," Lightning said with out bothering to argue with him. He smiled as he led her to where there weren't many people. Noctis stopped walking as he looked at Lightning. She was looking around as they walked until he noticed he had stop. She tilted her head slightly confused and looked around to see why they had stopped walking.
Noctis blushed a deep red as he looked at the ground. He had minutes to do this and he wasn't sure how. Lightning noticed his blush, which confused her even more.
"Hey, Noctis, are you alright? Are you sick or something?" she asked as she placed her hand on his forehead. "You don't have a fever…" Noctis blinked as he felt her hand on his forehead.
"N-No, I'm fine Light," he said. He took a deep breath and knelt down on one knee. He took out a small black box from his pocket. He looked up at her blushing even more, if he could turn any redder. Lightning blinked as she blushed while looking at him.
"Uh…Light I love you and I want you to always be with me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I hope you want the same, so will you marry me?" he asked while looking straight in her eyes. The tone in his voice was serious and yet gentle. He meant what he was asking of her and he needed to know that she felt the same way; that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.
Lightning smiled as she started to speak, "Oh, Noctis Lucis Caelum…I will marry you!" She smiled. Noctis opened the small box to reveal a ring with a small white diamond. The ring was a shiny silver. He put the ring on her finger. He stood up from his knees and kissed her passionately. She kissed him back while placing her arms around his neck. Fireworks shot up into the air as they shared the long lasting kiss. Lightning broke the kiss to catch her breath as she looked over at the fireworks. Noctis had turned his eyes to the fireworks as well, while catching his breath.
Hope yawned as he looked over at Vanille. Vanille was looking around as she had her chin on her hands. She sighed as she looked at Hope.
"What time is it now?" Hope asked as he saw a car pull out in front of the house. Vanille smiled as she looked at the car.
"They're here!" she said cheerful. Hope and Vanille stood up as Noctis and Lightning got out the car. Hope glared at Noctis until he saw the girl in a long pink dress. He blushed as he noticed it was Lightning. Vanille grinned as she stood up and headed over to her.
"You look nice Lightning," Vanille said excitedly. Lightning smiled as she looked at Vanille.
"Thanks Vanille," she said as she looked at the blushing teen. "Hey Hope." Hope blinked as he stood up. He walked over to her.
"Hey Light," he said in return.
"Hope wants to tell you something," Vanille said. Noctis watched the three of them as they talked. He then looked at Hope in wonder of what he had to say to her. Hope blushed as he looked down at the ground.
Hope knew that this wasn't going to be easy. Practicing wasn't like the real thing. It never could be. He noticed Lightning, Vanille, and Noctis were looking at him, waiting for him to speak. As he started to look up at Lightning, he spotted the ring on her finger. He blinked as he felt his heartbreak and his eyes became watery. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
"Uh, it's nothing…just forget it…," he said while trying to sound normal. "I should get going…" he turned around and started to run. Vanille, Lightning, and Noctis blinked at the running Hope.
"Hope!" Vanille and Lightning shouted his name.
Lightning took her heels off and handed them over to Vanille. She knew if she were going to catch up with Hope, she would have to lose the shoes. Vanille blinked as she took the shoes from Lightning.
"You two stay here, I'm going to see what's wrong," she said annoyed. She started to run after Hope.
"Dammit Hope," she thought as she kept running, "why did you run away?"
Naoto-Hika: I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Chapter four is on hold. I have to work on two essays for school. Please Review for this chapter for Lightning's sake!!
Lightning: ...... Next would probably be for Laris' sake...
Laris: I bet she'll get a lot of reviews, too, if it was me.
Naoto-Hika:...Well ignoring these two, thanks for reading! X)
