Lightning had become throughout the years, better at navigating the dangerous and elusive Gran Pulse. She had even been studying, along with Hope, the language that Fang and Vanille had known by heart.
There was however, a constant learning curve that neither she nor Hope could ever quite get past. It seemed that no matter how much they learned about the strange world, the more they realized they didn't know.
So the two of them secretly enjoyed being close to death on a regular basis. Lightning did it because she had nothing to really look forward to, and Hope well, she couldn't figure out exactly why he did it. Perhaps Hope also felt he had nothing to live for.
Hope's revelation in Lightning's house opened the door for a deeper friendship. She no longer felt uneasy around him and oddly felt a bond that couldn't quite exist before that moment.
When they entered Oerba village neither she nor Hope knew what they were looking for. More than anything they were looking for some clue as to where they should search to find someone or something that can free their friends.
Light walked over to the building that housed Fang and Vanille's toy robot. She walked inside of the house and realized that everything had a thick layer of dust on it. Just as she was starting to get comfortable Hope walked in and gave a slight smile.
"Find anything?"
She smiled slightly upon hearing the question and continued to look around the room. There really wasn't anything there but somehow she hoped to find something of Fang and Vanille, not for search purposes but because she actually felt the pang of missing them. She glanced back at Hope and went silent for a moment.
"Not yet."
Hope walked over to the window examining the drapes as he always did out of bad habit. Light walked over to a nightstand and picked up a box wiping away the dust that had accumulated over the years. She wiped it off using her hand and saw some weird depiction that her studies had not quite shown her.
It was a beautifully carved box yet was empty. Hope turned around and looked at Light curiously.
"Find anything?"
Lightning glanced up and quickly stashed the box away in her travel pack.
"No...not yet...it's just a box."
