Hi all!

Sorry for my month-long hiatus. Work has been super hectic lately, and I've been taking classes, so I've been super exhausted and without whole lot of time to write. Classes are now over, and weekly writing nights are back in session! Which means updates will DEFINITELY be happening more frequently, especially since the story is now headed into the dark.

Thank you guys so much for your patience. Really. It means more than you know :) special shoutout to Meyneth24!

Summary: "Something wrong?" Noel asked, a twisting feeling settling in his gut. Hope lifted his troubled gaze, aquamarine meeting blue.

"It's Stacks," he said. "He's missing."

Disclaimer: I don't own the Final Fantasy XIII series

Luxerion – 830AF

The river wind in Luxerion always managed to soothe Noel, literally giving him a breath of fresh air. He preferred being out in the Wildlands whenever he had the chance, but there was always business to take care of in the city. There were times he missed living simply off of the land out in the Pulsian Wilds; he comforted himself with the thought that at least the world would never be as complicated as Academia in 4XX AF, the one he and Serah spent hours getting lost exploring, after the Chaos Influx. The hunter closed his eyes, relishing the breeze that ruffled his brown hair, the calming sound of running water bringing his breathing to an even, steady rhythm.

The moment shattered when a beeping sound filled the air. Next to him, Hope sighed, stretching and pulling his phone from his toolbelt. Reading his message, his brows furrowed as a metaphorical storm cloud passed over his face.

"Something wrong?" Noel asked, a twisting feeling settling in his gut. Hope lifted his troubled gaze, aquamarine meeting blue.

"It's Stacks," he said. "He's missing."

FINALFANTASYXIII

"No one's seen him in a couple of days, sir," Hope's assistant, Lecia, reported, scurrying after him as soon as he arrived back on Bhunivelze.

"Who brought this to our attention?" he asked. Lecia bit her lip.

"I did, sir."

Penny in the air. Hope suddenly stopped walking, looking at the girl closely. The nervous blonde in front of him sported bright green streaks in her hair, a feature he had noticed first about her as soon as she had been assigned to him when he arrived in Academia 500AF. Though they worked quite closely together the past three centuries, Hope had been cognizant never to pry into her personal life, but over the past half a century, if his memory served him right, he did remember seeing her and Stacks together around the Academy HQ quite often. Penny fell.

"You're…his girlfriend?"

A bush spread across Lecia's cheeks, a small, timid smile quirking up the corners of her lips before the worried look fell back over her face. She quickly nodded. "Yes."

Well, that made a lot more sense. Hope resumed walking, the girl falling into step beside him. "You haven't seen him in a couple of days?"

"Yes, sir," Lecia replied. "We were supposed to meet up a couple of days ago, and I thought he had just gotten sick. But he hasn't called in at all the past two days, and no one has seen or heard from him."

Hope frowned, his mind running ten miles a minute. He and the young scientist had certainly gotten along extremely well, especially after he had taken Stacks under his wing in academics and research. Stacks had a brilliant mind and served many times as a springboard for Hope's thoughts whenever he voiced them out loud. He was always courteous to everyone around him while efficient at his job, and he never, ever failed to be respectful whenever he walked into the Crystal Room and saw Fang and Vanille. Stacks was like the younger brother Hope never had, and that worried him.

"We'll find him, Lecia," he said firmly, for both their sakes. "For now, keep a close eye on everyone, and make sure they all report in as soon as they begin work and leave work each day."

Fire burned in Lecia's eyes, the same one that spurred her on in her duties as his assistant all the hundreds of years passed. The girl was bright, intelligent; really, Hope couldn't have asked for anyone better at her job. He had every confidence that Stacks would be found, as he had every confidence that in bringing her in to help would help them get to the bottom of it all.

Everything worked perfectly for another week until Lecia went missing.

FINALFANTASYXIII

Hope nearly slammed his fist into the console in front him as the data appeared on screen.

STAFF:
Hope Estheim – IN
Stacks Orregan – OUT
Pidge Holt-Kogane – OUT
Sorcha Sinclair – IN
Willim Nalath – OUT
Kali Grethor – IN
Eon Thorston – IN
Giah Powers – IN
Elias Rackowsky – IN
Keynan Lauerson – OUT
Cassidy Scotwood – IN

ASSISTANTS:
Lecia Hurdy – OUT
Brenton Sophiar – IN
Kaya Storm – IN
Tonya Ascot – IN
Rhys Dalleon – OUT

OTHER AUTHORIZED USERS:
Keith Kogane - OUT

Two weeks. Two weeks was all it took for nearly half of his staff to go missing. Everyone who remained were all incredibly tense and on edge, not knowing why so many of their coworkers had suddenly disappeared without a trace. The feeling that it was only going to be worse from there on out permeated the atmosphere, almost stifling in the moments where everyone bustled about in the labs and looking at the empty desks of their fellow researchers and assistants. It wasn't as if they had never existed either, no, it was the leftover coffee mugs still half-full, the sheets of paper scattered everywhere, their remaining personal effects that made it all the more unsettling. This was truly the calm before the storm, the sickening moment of silence before everything erupted into chaos.

Hope was more than grateful for the remaining staff who continued with their research and work despite the fear that was so prevalent it was almost tangible. Losing Stacks, then Lecia, then Pidge and Keith- those had been hard losses. Those were his best minds, his best help, his best fighters. It was- unnerving. It was everything he could do to keep going, retreating into the Crystal Room every night to curl up next to Fang and Vanille's still forms.

The nightmares never stopped, even next to the two Oerbans. The rose-haired phantom beckoned him deeper into the darkness every night, promising answers, promising to help, promising that everything would be made clear. That those who had gone missing would return. And Hope, Hope was desperate for answers.

It was the last night of 830AF when Hope woke up as he did every night, sheets wrapped tightly around his legs and his forehead, back, and chest damp with sweat that he couldn't hold it off any longer. He flung his arm to his bedside table, ripped his phone off, and made a single call.

The expression on Snow's face was one Hope and Noel had never seen before, and Hope had known the guy for nearly a thousand years.

"What do you mean people have been going missing?" the blond asked, his jaw clenched tightly. Hope ran a shaky hand through his silver hair.

"Exactly what I said. They just…didn't show up for work one day, with absolutely no record of where they went. No transports missing, and everything just as they left them in their labs and in their rooms. Just…"

He swallowed hard, and Noel put a hand on his shoulder in a silent support.

"I had a dream last night."

"And?" Snow asked with a strained voice.

"I've…had the same dream for a while now."

His unspoken question hung in the air. How long?

Hope closed his eyes. "A hundred years."

He slumped his shoulders as if carrying a heavy burden, the weight of centuries weighing heavily on his frame, eyes dropping to the ground as his silver bangs hung limply, tickling his cheeks. "I need answers," he said quietly. "I've been searching for answers, and she…she promised. She promised she had them. I…I need to know."

And then he told them about the rose-haired phantom, the one he couldn't recall the name of, just out of reach, about how he had seen her every night the past hundred years. Noel and Snow's faces were twin expressions of shock and grief and worry, and Hope was tired, so tired, so tired.

The only thing he didn't tell them was just how far into the darkness he followed her.