Authors Note: Hey everyone! I hope you all enjoy this chapter. The story will be picking up in the next few chapters, I promise. Anyway, please read and review, thanks. :)

Chapter Three: Saturday

Hope leaned back against the wall of the large house, his blue eyes roving over the square in front on him. As usual, Oerba's streets were filled with the busy goings on of the people that lived there. He was honestly surprised at how many people he knew by name already. Everyone there was extremely friendly, welcoming him easily into their midst. The only person that was rude to him at all was Fang; he could tell that she didn't trust him at all. Not that he had given her any reason to. Now Vanille was a different story entirely, she and Hope were already good friends. Not that she ever wasn't Hope's friend.

This was the fourth day that Hope had been on Gran Pulse, and though it surprised him, he was already quite used to living there. Besides Vanille he had already made several other friends. He still couldn't get over how nice everyone had been to him so far.

Hope looked to his right when he heard the sound of shoes hitting gravel. Vanille and Fang were making their way towards him. Vanille grinned as they approached him. As per usual, she was skipping. She was always full of energy.

"There you are," Fang said, irritably. "The Elder wants to see you."

"Hey guys," Hope greeted, offering the two of them a slight smile. "Who's the Elder?"

"He's sort of like our leader. Maybe he can help you get home!" Vanille said enthusiastically.

Hope hadn't told Vanille that he was from the future, instead he had settled with telling her that there was simply no way that he could get home. She had still offered to help him find a way anyway, saying that there was always a way. However, he simply didn't see how. Not without the device that had been given to him by the scientist from his own time period. Hope smiled at Vanille.

"I don't think he can, but thanks Vanille," Hope said, looking down at his feet.

Fang scowled, placing her hands on her hips. "Why's that?"

Hope hesitated. "It's just…not possible. I don't think anyone can." He looked down at the ground. "It's too far away."

"You shouldn't be so pessimistic Hope! The elder's really smart," Vanille told him. "He really might be able to help you!"

Hope just smiled and looked back over at Fang. "So, uh, which house is his?"

Vanille giggled. "They all are silly!"

"Right. But which house is he living in?" Hope chuckled. He remembered when Vanille and Fang had first told him that all of the houses in Oerba were theirs. He hadn't been able to fathom that at the time, however, after living in Oerba for the past few days he had begun to see how. They all shared, nobody owned any one house.

"I'll take you there!" Vanille said, as she grabbed Hope's hand and towed him away down the street.

Hope grinned, as she led him through the wide streets of Oerba. It was nice being back around his friends. He really never saw any of the people he had become friends with after becoming a l'Cie. Well, he had seen Snow about three times, but that was it. Only three times in the past five years. Sure he had friends where he lived, but he had never gotten as close to any of them as he had with Snow, Vanille, Lightning, Sazh and Fang. Before he had gone to the past, he had been trying to find a way to save Vanille, Fang and Lightning. He had several theories that he thought might work… Not that it mattered anymore if he wasn't going to go back. For some reason, he realized that he wasn't panicked about trying to get to his own time. He knew he should be, but he wasn't. Not to mention there were things he was in no hurry to go back to.

Vanille came to a halt outside of a tall house; she let go of Hope's hand and grinned at him.

"He lives right in there," Vanille said cheerily. "I'd come, but he said wanted to speak with you alone." She took a couple of steps back and waved. "See you later Hope!"

Hope waved before walking up a short flight of stairs to get to the house. Hope paused before knocking lightly on the door. He fiddled with his glove awaiting an answer. He didn't have to wait long before the door opened and an elderly man peaked out. His face crinkled into a grin when he spotted Hope.

"Ah, you must be Hope Estheim," the elderly man said. "Come in, come in. I've been waiting for you."

"Hello," Hope greeted, stepping past the man into the house. He looked around. He had been expecting something fancy, but the elder's house was quite the same as all of the others in Oerba. There were fewer beds in it then in some of the other houses, which was likely the only difference. Hope guessed that only a couple of other people lived there, so that the elder had some space. It made sense to him, since the man was like their leader.

"So Hope, how are you fairing here in Oerba?" the elderly man asked.

Hope turned to face him, and smiled. "I love it here. Everyone has been very nice to me."

The man paced forward until he was right in front of Hope. He held out his hand. "I'm sorry, I realize I haven't introduced myself yet. My name's Oerba Vail Roren. However most people simply refer to me as 'Elder'."

"It's nice to meet you. Can I call you Elder as well?" Hope asked, a slight smile on is pale face.

"But of course!" Roren said, smiling brightly. He gestured to a table and chairs towards the far side of the room. "Feel free to take a seat."

Hope crossed the room and sat down at the table. Roren sat down across from him. He watched Hope silently for a moment, drumming his fingers on the flowery tablecloth, his gray eyes thoughtful.

"So, I was told you are from a town called Palumpolum, is that correct?" Roren asked, folding his hands on the table.

Hope swallowed hard, then nodded. "Yes, I was born there at least. I uh—moved to somewhere else five years ago."

"I assume that this Palumpolum is not on Gran Pulse?" the man further asked.

Hope was quiet, unsure of what to say. Finally he decided on the truth. He nervously met the man's eye.

"No it's not on Gran Pulse. But I've been living on Gran Pulse for the past five years," Hope informed him.

"So you are in fact from Cocoon," Roren guessed, his eyes narrowed slightly. "Have you come here to spy on us?"

Hope frowned, surprised. "No of course not. Why would I?"

Roren looked at him for a long time, taking in his expression. He had been so sure that Hope had come there to spy on them, but the boy appeared to be telling the truth. Perhaps he was just a very good actor. Because why else would he have come there?

"So if you are not here to spy on us, then can I ask why exactly you are here?" Roren asked.

Hope pulled the broken device from his pocket. He'd considered throwing it out, but then decided against it. Perhaps he could find a way to fix it, or like now, if he ever needed something for evidence. Even if it wasn't very good. He placed the device on the table and looked back at the Elder. Roren very slowly reached out and picked it up, his gray eyes lingering on it for a moment.

"What is this?" Roren asked.

"You're probably going to think I'm crazy but I'm actually from the future. With a machine and that little device a scientist was able to send me back five hundred years, to here," Hope paused, watching the older man's expression. "I had thought that it was going to take me into the future. But I ended up here, in this time period. I promise I'm not here to spy."

The elder drew in a breath, looking at Hope. He turned the device over in his hands before further addressing the young silver-haired man.

"The future you say? Is that even possible?" Roren looked Hope up and down. Then he smiled. "Why do I actually find myself believing you? " The man chuckled softly. "Perhaps it's because I've heard of old legends that speak of such things. So tell me Hope, what's the future like?"

Hope grinned, relieved that this man was actually giving him a chance. He thought a moment, how best to describe the future?

"Well, I guess it's not that different from here. I mean, we have a bit more technology, but other then that," Hope said, trailing off. He looked down at the table. "…Vanille's even in the future."

Roren's eyes twinkled as he watched Hope. "Ah, I see. You have a little crush on Miss Vanille don't you?"

Hope looked up quickly, taken aback. Sure when he had last seen Vanille when he was fourteen he had, but over five years had passed since then. But come to think of it, out of the three people he wanted to rescue he was most anxious to rescue Vanille. So maybe he still did? Hope shook his head, trying to clear it, and felt his cheeks grow hot. The man was still watching him, amusement glittering in his pale eyes.

"I—no it's not like that. We're friends, just friends," Hope muttered looking down at the tablecloth. He wasn't sure why he was that bothered by it.

Roren chuckled. "Never mind that, I was only teasing. But I am curious now, you said that you knew Vanille and Fang from the future?"

"Yeah, they were in Crystal Stasis for five hundred years. So yeah, I know her," Hope said quietly. Knew her was more like it, but Hope didn't say that out loud. "I was a l'Cie as well."

The two of them spoke about the future for quite sometime before Roren stood and told Hope that he could leave if he wanted to.

"I do believe you Hope, but that doesn't mean that I won't be keeping an eye on you," Roren told him, his expression was stern though he had a smile on his face. "It's not every day we get a guest that claims to be from the future."

"That sounds fair to me," Hope said, a smile on his face as well. "Thanks for listening to me sir."

The elder nodded, patting Hope on the arm. "Anytime. I'm sorry about your predicament."

…

A petite young woman with short blonde hair and blue eyes hurried down an alleyway. The sun was going down, casting deep shadows along the cobbled street, making her rather nervous. The woman was dressed her best in a short yellow dress made for a special occasion with matching high-heeled shoes and hairclip. To accent it she had on a pair of short white gloves.

The woman came to a halt outside of a large building and stared at it for a moment before tapping sharply on the door. She crossed her arms and waited for it to be opened, tapping her foot impatiently on the ground.

She didn't have to wait for very long before the door was pulled open and an old man stood there, with glasses that were much to large for his face. He looked over the rim of his glasses at the young woman, and smiled nervously when he saw whom it was.

"Why hello again Alyssa! What might I do for you?" he asked.

Alyssa scowled. "Hope's not back yet. Have you heard anything from him?"

The man shook his head, taking his glasses off and wiping them on a cloth. "I'm afraid not. But don't worry, I'm sure he's fine."

"He promised he'd make it back by today!" Alyssa wailed. Hope never went back on his word, so she was sure that something had happened to him. Even though he wasn't excited about that day she didn't think he would go back on his word. "I want to go in after him. Can I? Please?"

Reluctantly the man stepped back, allowing Alyssa entry into his home. He had been worried that she was going to tell him that, and he still hadn't made up his mind on what he wanted to say to her. He supposed the truth, but for some reason he didn't think she was going to like it. True he liked the young woman very much and thought her rather sweet; but he got the impression that his answer would make her very angry.

Alyssa stepped into his house; it was a nice house with elaborate paintings aligning the walls. The scientist was rather rich and spent much of his time ad money decorating his rather large house. The scientist led Alyssa into his living room. Heavy draperies hung over a row of three windows, the color of mahogany. To go with it he had antique furniture that matched the draperies with just a touch of gold to accent it. When the man invited Alyssa to sit she hesitated before obeying. Everything in the room was utterly perfect, and she was partly afraid of touching anything.

The scientist sat down opposite her, twisting his glasses around in his hands. Finally he looked up and met Alyssa's eyes. She was watching him, clearly waiting for him to answer her question.

"Well, it's not quite that simple," the man began. "Personally, I think we should give him a bit more time. I'm sure he'll come once he's through there. Perhaps he's just exploring the wonders of the future?"

Alyssa shook her head. "No, Hope didn't even want to go to the future. I think he would try to come back as soon as he could."

Alyssa watched as the scientist stood and walked over to one of the heavy draperies. He pulled it aside and looked up at the moon, his gaze strictly unreadable. There was something going on that he didn't want to tell her about, she was sure of it. Only, she had no clue on what.

"Professor—" Alyssa began. "What exactly is going on?"

The scientist sighed. He couldn't think of anyway to get out of answering. He was just going to have to tell her. He was also worried that something might've happened to Hope, he was rather fond of him so he thought he owed Alyssa an explanation. He remained standing but walked over to stand in front of the young blonde.

"You can't join him Alyssa, because I do not have another one of the devices that Hope used to go to the future," the man told her.

Alyssa frowned. "But you don't need another one of the devices to go there, right?"

"No, you don't," the man agreed. "But it is the only way to come back. So say something happened to your friend—" Alyssa opened her mouth to cut him off but he held up his hand to halt her. "Just say for a moment that something did, and his device is gone then you would be trapped there. Besides, I'm not even sure if it is possible for the device to transport more then one person through time, because it transports with the person holding it."

It was Alyssa's turn to stand and head over to the window, however she didn't pull the draperies aside, she just stood with her back to him. So she had no way of going in after Hope, he could technically never come back and she wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. She scowled at the ground; she shouldn't have encouraged Hope to go through time to begin with. But she'd figured that there would be a way to go into the future after him if need be.

"Don't worry I'm sure he's fine," the man assured Alyssa. "He's quite powerful, I'm sure he could handle an attack from nearly any monster."

"If he's okay I can't believe that he missed our date," Alyssa said, sadly. "It was our first one and he promised to make it back in time… He's never broken a promise before."

The man smiled sympathetically. He walked over to Alyssa and placed a hand on her shoulder. Finally understanding why she was dressed in the fancy yellow dress. Honestly he had had no idea that they were even together, Hope hadn't seemed inclined towards her like that at all. And he knew Hope pretty well.

"Well, I am sorry about that. Honestly I had no idea that the two of you were 'together'," the man said, speaking his thoughts.

"Well we're not really, exactly anyway. I finally twisted his leg into going on a date with me. But he didn't seem that excited about it," Alyssa said. "But still he promised. Do you think something could have happened to him?"

The scientist frowned. "Well… The other person that had gone through the portal said that the land was flooded with monsters. But as I said, I'm quite sure that Hope could have handled them."

"Maybe something did happen to him," Alyssa said quietly, she looked up at the scientist. "Do you think that there's another device out there somewhere?"

"Honestly? No." The Scientist fiddled with a painting on the wall. "…But I think perhaps I could duplicate it. It would take time of course. But I think I could."

Alyssa's eyes widened. "Really?"

The man nodded. "Yes, just don't get your hopes up too high."

"Okay, thanks so much Professor!" Alyssa said, happily. Hope had better have a good reason for missing it, or else he was going to be in trouble. "How long do you think it will take you?"

The man hesitated. "Several months, I think."

Alyssa sighed, that was a long time. But it was certainly better then nothing. She thanked the scientist before leaving his house. She paused just outside, and looked up at the sky, where was Hope right now? How far in the future?

Was he trapped somewhere? Something told her that Hope was all right, hopefully she would see him before a few months but if not definitely whenever the Professor got done with the second device.

…

Vanille was bent down in her own personal garden, surrounded by flowers of all sizes and shapes, as well as several different kinds of vegetables. The ones that caught Hope's eye in particular were the roses, tulips, and primroses as well as some carrots and tomatoes. Hope had always found it so strange that tomatoes were actually a fruit, he always held them in the same class as carrots and such. As far as he knew everyone always used them in vegetable soup.

Hope bent down beside her and watched her tend to them. She worked intently, making sure they all were taken care of. He'd forgotten how much Vanille liked nature. Hope twisted his glove around absentmindedly, lost in thought. If he were able to get back to his own time, would he ever see Vanille or Fang again?

"Are you okay Hope?" Vanille asked suddenly, sitting back on her heals and watching Hope concernedly.

Hope snapped himself out of his daze and met her eye. He grinned. "Yeah, of course I am."

"Alright," Vanille said, looking like she didn't really believe him. She bent back over her plants.

The two of them went inside after the sun went down, since there was nothing else to do outside. Alexei accompanied them inside, speaking Hope's ear off. Hope liked the young boy; even though the boy's incessant chatter wore him out. Though Alexei was pretty happy with Hope only umm-hmming every once in awhile. He seemed sure that he had Hope's utmost attention.

Everyone in Oerba went to bed early, much earlier then Hope was used to anyway. But he attempted to go to sleep anyway. The crickets were just as loud as usual, making it hard for Hope to fall asleep. Hope was one that liked complete silence while he slept; he wasn't a deep sleeper.

It was Saturday on Gran Pulse, as it would be in his regular time period. He found it interesting that it was the same month and day in the time period he was currently in as it was in his own time.

Hope sat up quickly in his bed, realizing that it was Saturday. Alyssa was going to be so mad at him. Though honestly, he hadn't intended for the dinner meeting to be a date to begin with. That had been added by Alyssa later on. And Hope hadn't been looking forward to it. But he had agreed to humor her; apparently she had never been on a date before and was just dying to go on one. Though Hope had regretted agreeing. Not that it mattered now, since Hope couldn't get back and had already missed it anyway. Hope lay back down on his bed and sighed, closing his eyes. He knew one thing for sure, if he ever did get back Alyssa was going to kill him.