Hey guys! I am so very, very sorry this took as long as it did. I usually pride myself on getting a chapter out in two weeks TOPS, but my hard drive crashed after I finished writing the story, so I had so little inspiration it was just...amazing. Anyway, here it FINALLY is! Chapter three! Thanks for all your patience!

I survived a dreadful accident

In the car crash of the century

My shattered hopes collapsed on cold cement

But in the back of the ambulance, I never felt so content.

- Hospital Flowers / Owl City

Hope opened his eyes, the morning light shining in through the half closed curtains. He looked around the room, grunting sleepily as he sat up and scratched his stomach. Then the realization hit him, like a hard kick to the groin.

I saw Lightning..naked.

He jumped out of bed, forgetting all he had on was a pair of boxers, and swung open the door. He succesfully managed to slam the door right into Light's face, sending he stumbling backward into the wall.

"Ow! What the hell!" She barked, hand clasped over her nose. She lifted her hand away and immeditaley replaced it.

"Hope!" She glared at him. He noticed th brown stains all over the rug and figured she had brought him some coffee.

Shit!

"Oh my- I am so sorry!" He ran around the corner into the bathroom and grabbed some tissues, and he grabbed a few and went to move her hand. She sent him an icy glare and took he tissues from him, doing it herself.

I think my soul just cried a little.

About a half an hour later, Lightning was good as new - or at least, she looked like it. Still in her pajamas from last night, she sat straight up in the chair and avoided eye contact. She just sipped her fresh cup of coffee and ignored him for the most part.

I have to make this right. My god, how she hasn't beaten me up already I will never know.

"So! Light..I, uh..I was thinking. Why don't I take you out?"She gave him a scary look and he immediatley explained, " I mean out, like outside...as in outside the house, you know..to see the town and..stuff. Again. "

She rolled her eyes and answered, "Sure, why not? Beats going shopping with Serah."

"You don't like shopping?" He asked, incredulous. "I thought all girls liked shopping..."

"Yeah, maybe girls like Vanille." Lightning said, huffing a little.

Then the silence set in. Both of them looked away from eachother. Hope closed his eyes, remembering that one summer day on Pulse when he an Vanille had sat by the cliff and talked about the promise he made. Or the one he didn't make. It didn't matter anymore, did it? Vanille was a beautiful girl who had given up so much, and..and now it didn't seem fair that she was frozen. It really, really didn't.

Light un-froze...the rest of us did, too. So will Vanille and Fang.

...Right?

He cleared his throat after a long time and said quietly, almost too quietly, "I'm going to go get ready, then. "

He stood and walked down the hallwa, leaving light just staring down at the cup of coffee in her hands blankly.

Lightning thought back to the times she had spent with Vanille. Though they were few, and she hadn't really taken the time to actually gett to know Vanille - that was always a Sazh kind of thing - she still felt bad about what she had said. She was even younger than Light and she knew what she had to do in the end, to make everything right and to save the world. Her and Fang had given up a lot for the world. What had she given?

A good news story, probably.

She cleared the thoughts from her min and stood, setting down her mug. Lightning made her way into the guest room, closed the door and picked out her clothes for the day. Instead of her regular uniform that she felt comfortable wearing most of the time, she figured it would be a lot easier to just dress more...casually. She didn't want to be recognised, after all. But after rummaging around in the bag that Serah had brought her she realized...there was nothing at all appropriate. So she stuck to her uniform.

After she had buckled the last buckle and fixed her hair she looked at herself in the mirror. She straightened up and slipped her gunblade into it's holster.

Better safe than sorry.

She walked out of the bedroom, quite sure Hope was still changing. She looked around the corner, at a few picture frames Hope had on a desk.

One of them was of him standing with the whole group, just the same as she remembered him all those years ago. Fourteen year old Hope was standing next to Snow, on the very edge of the picture. Snow was wrapped around Serah, Sazh was holding Dajh on his shoulders and a crystalized orb could just be seen behind them. She looked at Hope, who seemed to be shrugging away from Snow's arm. His peircing green eyes were looking elswhere and he had a lost expression on his face.

She sighed, and moved on to the next photo. Judging by the date, it was a couple months later. Hope was in a tux, his hair spiked up and cut a lot shorter. He was awkwardly standing next to a girl who must have been four years older than him, who smiled and kissed his cheek. He was blushing but...behind the tiny smile she could still see the sadness. She felt a twang in her heart, but when she looked at the next photo something else hitched in her gut.

A couple years later there stood a tall kid with silver hair with his arm around a girl - pretty, but obviously the typical cheerleader type that Lightning had so very much liked to wail on in her highschool years - they were smiling and Hope looked genuinly happy. Lightning felt her fist clench slightly and she was surprised that she found herself feeling...jealous.

Seriously? What am I, some cliquey little freak? Obviously this is over..

She looked at the other photos too - some were from parties with Hope's friends, namely Maqui and Yuj. As she looked over the photos, slowly she noticed Hope's smiles getting weaker and weaker, Yuj leaving the photo collection all together and being replaced by Lebreau. Maqui's arm went from over and around Hope's shoulder and neck to being clasped by Lebreau. The last one on the shelf was of his last birthday. He sat there at the table with a pink and blue froste cake that said 'happy twentieth, Hope!' on it. He was sitting in a chair with a peice of cake on his plate, looking disappointed. The others around him didn't seem to notice.

Just as she moved away from the photos, something caught in the light. She raised an eyebrow and peered behind the desk. She found a picture hidden behind the desk, shoved in a small crevice where it would be almost unnoticable. She took the picture out and she leaned agains the wall to look at the picture. She felt her heart drop a little.

Set for the date she knew only as her birthday, only at 11:00 at night, she saw the grown up Hope in the side of the picture. He had silver hair coming from under a black and green touqe. His smile was genuine and warm, not like it had been with the picture of the other girl, the actual Hope's smile. She still felt a hint of sadness though, because there were tears brimming in his sparkling eyes. He seemed to be holding the camera himself, taking a picture of him and the statue beside him. She knew it was her, just by the expression on her face. There was a cupcake in his hand with a single candle burning. She thought she could see a bottle of something on the ground, but she didn't want to focus on it.

She heard the door open then, just as she felt a tear threatning to fall. She stuff the picture back into it's place, and spun to look at Hope. She took in his appearance right away, trying to use anything to take her midn off of what she just saw.

He was wearing that classic green bandana, a white shirt and black shorts. She suddenly felt very over dressed.

"Looking at the pictures?" Hope asked her, and she looked behind her and exhaled, "Yeah, sorry."

"No, it's fine...sorry for the crappy number of them though. I try to get out but..I didn't really feel like it."

There had to have beena t leasy twenty five there, but she didn't argue.

"So..you ready?" She asked him and he nodded, so they both headed towards the door. Awkwardly, they also decided to go out the door at the same time. They got stuck a couple times, and finally Hope motioned for her to go first. She smirked and stepped out, shaking her head slightly.

They walked down the road in awkward silence, looking ahead. Hope had his hands shoved in his pockets, and he seemed to be furiously occupied with counting the cracks in the sidewalk he stepped on.

Lightning didn't really give it much thought, thinking 'He's a teenager now, I guess. Teenager problems.'

Though she really did't believe it. Not completely, but she didn't want to bother him. It looked like something important.

They walked around the corner, and Hope stopped in front of her. Immediatley alert, she let her hand slip to her gunblade. "What is it, Hope?" She asked in an icy cold voice, soldier mode beginning to click into place.

She caught him doing a double take, at first a grin on his face and now a frown of confusion.

"What're you doing, Light?" He asked in surprise, putting hands on her shoulders.

"You looked...alert. I figured something was up ahead." She moved her hand away and rolled her shoulders - simultaeniously getting them from Hope's hands as well - and muttered, "Old habits die hard."

She saw his eyes glitter with something for a second before he curtly nodded and cleared his throats, "It's okay, Light. I was the same way for a long time too."

She looked at him but only nodded, not daring to speak another word. She heard him huff slightly in defeat and he grabbed her hand. She almost pulled back before she remembered the previous day - the crowded crosswalk, getting lost...

He pulled her through the crowd, firm yet gentle in the same way. She let him, not minding the closeness. But as soon as they were safe across the street, she pulled her hand away roughly.

She ignored the look on his face, and pointed ahead, "What's going on over there?" she asked, and without a second of hesitation stepped toward the park. She heard Hope following her, and breathed a silent sigh of relief. She hoped, against her will, that she hadn't offended him too much.

"Looks like they're showing movies in the park. Must be using that new projector we found, out by this old village." Lightning looked over at him, and saw the smile appear on his face, that childish grin she subconiously loved to see. "Tons of oldies." He said, the grin still on his face.

He likes old movies? Wow, who would of thought...

She nodded, scratching the back of his head, looking at him then to the movie and closed her eyes, knowing she would regret what she was about to say, "Want to go see one?" She asked, looking at him with nothing but dull curiosity.

Lightning saw Hope's face light up like a Christmas tree, and he nodded, saying, "Yeah! I didn't think you would want to, what with the light-sensitivity and all."

That would be why my eyes feel like they're going to rip off my head...

"Never thought to mention 'light sensitivity' before, Hope?" She frowned at him, crossing her arms.

"I...I didn't want to put 'light' and 'sensitive' in the same sentence, in front of you, Light." He explained with a cheeky grin on his face. If it weren't for how cute it made him look, she would have slapped it right off his face.

She rolled her eyes, "Come on, then." and continued walking. He followed her, which she was surprised to find herself feeling a bit nostalgic when he did, and when they arrived at the park she heard a sharp clang. She looked up, and saw a huge tarp being set up. Probably to block out the sun so that movie would be clearer. It was a massive tarp, it took up almost the whole park. She guessed there would be a lot of people.

Great, I love being with people. So much.

She looked over at Hope, who had fallen silent. She glanced across the room and saw a pretty young girl. She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach against her will, and tried to shove the feeling away. It came into her throat instead, in a hard lump. The girl turned and saw Hope, and she flashed him an awkward smile, turned to the boy beside her, and they walked away. The boy looked over his shoulder and slipped an arm around the girl's waste.

Hope sighed quietly, and put his hands in his pockets. That's when he seemed to notice Lightning watching him, because he turned to look at her and said, "Maybe...coming here wasn't such a good idea."

"Was that an ex-girlfriend, Hope?" Lightning asked without hesitation. She was a little bit frightened to hear the slightest hint of jealousy in her tone, but she didn't let it show that she had noticed it.

"Sort of." He replied, and turned to walk away without saying anything else.

"I thought you wanted to see the movie?" She asked, catching his shoulder. She felt him weaken, almost go limp, under her touch and he turned back to look at her, "I can't...face her, not after what happened."

Lightning didn't need to ask what happened to know it had been horrible from him. This girl had hurt him quite deeply, and she rubbed his shoulder with her thumb to let him know...whatever it was she was trying to convey to him. She wasn't sure herself.

He locked eyes with her for a minute before he turned and walked back to her. She granted him the smallest smile that she hardly ever wore, and they continued into the half set-up tent. The two of them settle down on the grass side by side, mainly to avoid touching other people, and waited in the silence for the movie to begin playing.

A little ways off, Lightning spotted the girl again. She was pretty...

Prettier than me.

Wait...what?

The girl giggled as her assumed boyfriend reached down and planted a kiss on her forehead, holding her in his arms. Disgusted, Lightning scoffed and looked away. She looked up at Hope and saw he hadn't done the same. His fists were clenched at his side, and even when the movie was beginning to play in the almost dark tent, he didn't take his eyes off of them. Lightning felt like a school girl in between two speeding semi's. Not a pretty picture.

She let it go for a while, trying to focus on the movie. She hated it when she was angry and people tried to comfort her and get her to calm down. She would calm down when she was ready to. So, knowing this, she let Hope sit there and watch the two teenagers.

About halfway through the movie, however, Lightning casually scanned around the room without even knowing she was doing it. She caught the girl looking over at them, her expression hidden. But it was clear she was watching them. Lightning glanced at Hope to see if he saw this too, and saw that he had came to sit with his head on his knees and play with grass, not even paying attention to the movie. She turned her head back to the girl and for a sliver of a moment, she thought she saw jealousy on her face. Lightning narrowed her eyes and looked away.

She spoke very quietly, pretending to be watching the movie, "Your friend is staring." She stated plainly.

Lightning saw Hope turn his head back and look at the girl, who then hurriedly looked away.

Coward.

The pink haired soldier looked back at Hope once more and saw him with his jaw clenched, hands balling into fists in the grass.

She stared at his hands for a long time, noticing how his knuckles became white. She sighed in defeat, staring blankly ahead as she drew her hand from her pocket and place it overtop of his fist. She felt him relax, and couldn't help but take a small look back at him. He sat there, staring at the conact. When his hand relaxed they didn't intertwine fingers. They just sort of..left their hands there. She could feel his pulse racing a small smirk appeared on her face.

It was about twenty minutes later when she found that she had moved closer to him. She was startled, to say the least. She had managed to keep a good distance from all the people around her, enough to breathe at least. She saw their hands in the same position, though she was closer. Close enough that their shoulders brushed against each other, at least. She decided that as more and more people came to catch the ending of the movie, she had become more and more packked in.

Though Lightning really wasn't focusing on that thought too much, because she was still staring at Hope's face, struggling to keep her composure.

This can't be happening.

But it was. She noticed they had both moved cloer simultainiously, and her fingers began to curl slightly between his. It was invuluntary. She wished it would stop.

I can't be doing this.

He'll think I'm a freak.

What are those girls called?

Oh, yeah. Cradlle robbers!

I'm not a cradle robber.

Am I?

No...right?

She was even angrier at ... well, everything. That she was doing it, that he was doing it, that she was reacting the way she did.

Those thoughts were silenced when his hand curled too, their fingers brushing. She felt her face heat up and she stared at the hand with hatred.

Damn you.

She glanced back up at Hope and saw he was guarded, almost afraid.

She leaned in, origionally planning to whisper that they should stop this, or somethin similar, when she caught a wiff of his breath. Minty, sweet...

He leaned in too, and she was pissed off to feel her hand tighten slightly around his. Their lips had almost met when she heard a shout. A loud one.

She snapped her head up, looking around the area. Her soldier reflexes were already kicking in, and when she heard the other shout and noticed the forms of two men out on the street, she untangled their fingers and marched toward the arguing men. The movie was almost over, so most people were still sitting, but none were watching it anymore. She felt her hand slide to the hilt of her gunblade, and her fingers twitched as they felt the familier handle.

The two men shoved eachother, spitting insults and throwing punches after every round. Following her instincts as a soldier, she tried to break up the fight. Dodging punches and managing to put herself between them, she finally snapped, "What is the meaning of this?"

Hope had come along too, as well as a small group of people who now surrounded the soldier and the men in the middle. Lightning felt her arm smacked away as the two went at each other again, firing even worse insults and reaching around the seemingly 'weak' soldier.

Just as she was about to send both of them to the ground with a kick to the groin, one of the men pulled out an object she immediatley knew was a gun. She drew her own, easily shifting it into gun form. She felt fabric brush her shoulder and saw Hope standing there, his green eyes ablaze.

"Stay back, Hope." She ordered, her voice cold and cuthroat. That usually worked when he was fourteen, but she didn't even see him acknowledge her.

As she turned her head to order him again, maybe even using a good backhand or extra measure, she saw Hpe move. The blast that came from the gun in the man's hand was defeaning. Despite herself she couldn't help thinking,

Guns sure have...improved since I've been gone, eh?

Everything washed away when she saw Hope go down infront of her, clutching at a wound in his shoulder. It all happened in a blur; Her fist connecting with the man's jaw. People shouting and rushing, though none of their words made sense. Pulling Hope's head into her lap, shaking him. The medics taking Hope away on a stretcher. Arguing with the man until she had to flash her soldier status in his face to get in the back with Hope.

On the way to the Hopsital, Hope's eyes rolled open. He saw her and weakly his fingers twitched and he swallowed hard. She understood the meaning somehow, and clutched his hand as gently as she could. A small, weak smile came to his face and faded as he slipped back into unconciousness. That's the only clear memory she had of the night.

It was all incredibly fast for her. One second he was there, then he was on the ground, and now he was being pulled into surgery to remove the bullet from his shoulder. It seemed like seconds to her, but in reality it had taken over an hour.

Now Lightning sat outside Hope's room, staring at the clock across from her. It would be a long night.

***** YES I KNOW IT CHANGES POV AFTER THE FIRST LITTLE BIT. I AM AWARE. I DID THIS INTENTIONALLY. CHILL. *****

DONE!

Not the story, the chapter.

Again, sorry it took me this long. You write when you feel it and for a while, I was just like.."Eh..."

But it's done.

And because this chapter was going to be even longer than it is now, I had to split it. So hopefully, the next chapter will be shorter.

Thanks for reading! :)