Note: Thank you for reading this far. This started out as a Hope-ccentric fic, but I'd forgotten that since I'm working round to the epilogue shown in the game, I'm going to have to switch POVs around eventually.

"Vanille." His voice came out involuntarily in a whisper. "I don't think we should be doing this."

"Relax! Don't you want to know what they think about you when you're not around to hear it?"

"…no." He responded most unconvincingly.

"Did you get a bit taller?" She changed the subject abruptly, squinting up at him, all the while creeping closer to where Fang and Lightning were exchanging quiet words while stripping the tough fibres off juicy stems for lunch. Hope looked down at himself consideringly. He stood about a full head taller than Vanille. The last time they met, he barely reached the tip of her nose.

"I guess my body was returned to its actual age from before."

"Nope, I meant from just now!" Vanille scrambled over to some flowering bushes for cover without waiting for his answer, dropping to her hands and knees to hide. Slightly bemused, he followed suit, careless of the damage to his sleeves and trousers. They crawled slowly to the bush closest to the two as quietly as possible and flattened themselves to the ground, listening. She placed a finger to her lips and winked. There was something nostalgic about that small gesture which put the vague sense of unease from her earlier comment to rest, so he was smiling as he put his eye to a gap between the leaves to peek.

"We don't know anything about this world right now. There may be a reason for it, but anything we tried would only be a stab in the dark. Keep an eye on him for a few days, see if you can figure anything out."

"Let me know if you come up with something. Maybe he should stay here with you. I don't know how far Serah is from here."

Fang was facing away from them, and Lightning's hair fell forward to hide her face, so he couldn't read their expressions. Was 'he' himself? A small spike of disappointment made him exhale audibly and Vanille poked his arm painfully in warning.

"That's for him to decide. He's not a kid anymore."

Lightning shrugged. "You're right." but she did not sound happy to concede it. There was silence for a bit, interrupted by the regular sound of bits of stripped fibre being flicked on the ground.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"You said you knew where Serah was. How does that work?"

"I just do. It's feels like she's calling me to her."

"Does it feel like there's a string pulling on your heart towards her?"

"Yeah. Exactly like that." She did not voice the obvious question, but she must have looked quizzical.

"You're not as good at that as you used to be."

"What do you mean?"

"Your face. You're letting your feelings show."

"Ah." She looked up from her work, and raised a hand to her face, which began to show signs of surprise before it smoothed and became impassive once more.

"Isn't it okay? You can trust us now."

"I trust you. But showing my feelings on my face isn't my character."

"You never change, do you?" Fang chuckled, and Lightning smiled wryly.

"Mm." She rubbed her eyes before she finished off the last stem and flicked it into the basket. It hit the edge and would have bounced to the ground if Fang
had not caught it reflexively.

"We've just been reborn but you look like death incarnate." Fang prodded Lightning's cheekbone roughly with her thumb, continuing "Your new life won't last long if you're not planning on sleeping in it."
She must have been pretty tired because she made only a halfhearted attempt to bat her hand away. Hope suddenly remembered the ease with which he had caught up with her run earlier and felt a stab of worry.

"I'll be fine. I just need to find Serah. It's not over yet."

"You sure about that? Seems to me like she's not your only problem right now. Look at you. Just when I thought you finally got yourself some fashion sense, you're back in your uniform again. We're finally here, and safe. That fight is over. Time has moved on. Aren't you the one that can't let go of the past?"

Lightning's hand reached for a weapon that was no longer there before she stopped herself, and looked down at her gloves. The scars and calluses of battle still marked her fingers, and she was glad for them. They were a reminder of who she was, and what she had fought for.

"Maybe. I've been fighting for so long I don't know if I'll be able to do anything else but fight. It feels like if I don't, then the person called 'Lightning' might not even exist. In a world without a need for a soldier, I'm not sure if there's a place for me. Right now I can keep going because there's still something left to do, but once I find Serah, there might be nothing left. I wanted this, but I'm also… afraid, of my future."

"It's alright to be afraid, as long as you don't run away from it." Her voice held nothing but kindness. "Why don't you take it slow? You don't have to let everything go now, just give yourself a chance. You'll find new battles to fight, but you don't have to forget the old ones."

"I guess… you may be right." She rested her forehead on her arms, supporting them with her knees drawn up to her body, hiding her face from view. "I'll give it a try and let you know. Thanks for the advice."

"Take a rest, you deserve it. Did you ever think what you would have done if you hadn't become a soldier?"

"No." She had always moved forward, without looking back. There was no use in thinking about what could have been.

"Well, you can start thinking now." She patted her arm before turning around and looking right at where they were hiding. Beside him, he felt Vanille jerk in surprise as they were met by the force of her eyes. "And you two can come out now."

Hope scratched his head and came out of his hiding place sheepishly. Vanille simply bounced up shamelessly, fixing Fang with round, innocent eyes.

"We were just playing a game-"

"When did you know we were there?"

She ruffled Vanille's hair with a sigh as she replied.

"From the moment you started crawling here. Had fun?"

"Yup!"

"Sorry…"

Fang was looking at him thoughtfully, eyes tracing the outlines of his head and shoulders. Her scrutiny made him uncomfortable, so he looked over cautiously at Lightning, but she remained unmoving as if she hadn't noticed their presence.

"Time to eat, sleepyhead." Fang shook her shoulder slightly, but did not get a response.

"Are you angry?" Vanille hopped over to her, and knelt down. She tried to peek under her arms to see if she was awake, lifting a lock of pink hair out of the way. When that failed to produce a reaction, she pouted and pulled at her arm, which swung out with little resistance. The movement caused her body to slump to the side, falling heavily on Vanille's lap. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing shallowly. Vanille looked up at Fang in alarm.

"Light!" In a trice, both of them had crossed over to her. He squeezed her arm anxiously, while Fang felt her pulse and temperature. Her skin was extremely cold, but her face was flushed.

"She'll be alright." Fang spoke reassuringly, though her expression was still troubled. "Probably just exhaustion. Let's get her inside."