Author's Notes: Hello again everybody! I'm happy to post another chapter and in addition already made my other work presented. It's called "600,104,973 Times Over". Think of it as what goes on during the small breaks between this story's progressions. Mostly how Hope deals with his team at work (Ace and his group) and Claire's relationship. I loved how dedicated Square Enix was to the nova crystallis fabula universe that surrounds the same mythos of Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII Agito (Type 0). Of course Final Fantasy XV is also a part of the universe, but since I don't know much and to be honest Agito and XIII already share so much in story and even trivial similarities. I hope you enjoy the story as it goes through its final chapters and thanks for the support. I've read all reviews and enjoyed what you all had to say. Just bear with me a little longer and we'll finish this story soon. In the meantime enjoy!

Hope: Well done Light. But what are you going to do with all those adornments? Maybe you could wear them yourself. If you followed her lead, you could attract just as much attention.

Lightning: Hope, that's the worst idea you've ever had.

Lightning Returns (Adoring adornments side quest)

He was still awake. He was still a coward. How long had he been pretending to be working on a late assignment? How much of it did Claire believe? How can he deny the fact that she was in his bedroom sleeping and he was at the dining room staring at a book completely spaced out?

He could do it. Lie to himself. Explain to himself that you see, he had too much coffee and the caffeine wouldn't let him sleep. But that was a lie. And that was why he was a coward, even back in those times he was out of his mind. What do you call it again? When you lie so much that you start believing in your own lies? That's what he was anyways.

False Hope.

And why not? The what if game? What if he wasn't such a lost cause and could go to sleep next to Claire? What then? He was such a coward…

"Hope?"

Looking up from his book under the dim table lamp by his dining table/work desk he saw her shadow behind him. Turning around to see her watchful and equally silent expression made him nervous. More so that before he could speak up he dropped the book from his tired grip. Hearing the thud of the fallen book he reached down quickly to retrieve it before Claire beat him too it. Slowly folding a tip of one of the pages she began closing the bookmarked manual.

Well here it was at last. No more running away, her eyes were steady and even worse her lips didn't tug from the sides. There were no smiles to be had. Let's see how he can run out of this predicament.

Somehow surprising him she put the book by her side and walked a few steps away from him. Realizing that her actions had made Hope mute, he began searching for things to say. Until she beat him to it again.

"I want you to follow me."

Still silent he followed her to the front of the door of his- or rather 'their' home. It had been over two weeks since they arrived from France and they were back in their local home where Serah, Snow, and the others resided within miles. Hope had given Claire a copy of his keys now that they started living together, although admittedly with more awkwardness than anything. They didn't do anything different in France, but he guessed maybe after being with him Claire had finally gotten tired of dealing with his crap. He didn't blame her either.

Sitting down at the steps of the front door she motioned for him to close the door and sit next to her. When Hope did so they sat in silence watching the casual car pass over the street in the dark.

"Does this feel familiar?" She asked him resting an arm on her left knee Claire had bend forward. Hope was sitting with his hands wrapped around each other. Looking back in thought the flashback of his younger self and the strong older Lightning sitting together as she explained the origins of her nickname. The first time she had opened up to anyone about her personal life outside Serah for that matter.

Hearing his voice croak slightly Hope nodded back. "Yeah I do. We sat down and you told me about yourself, all because you wanted to help me. A kid who was too young and naive to understand why hatred shadowed logic." Hope pressed on as Claire raised her eyes at him. "You saved me that day."

"I thought so too," she started before giving him the same look from when they were inside moments ago. "But here we are again, so where do we from here partner?"

Startled he looked back with confusion, "What do you mean?" Keeping her eyes steady she motioned to his hands, "How is it that you can't keep your hands steady as you used to? I've been with you for a while now, and honestly you've been acting differently since we left France. I want to know why you still haven't told me the truth."

He paused for a moment before looking back to the front driveway. It was easier this way, because if what she wanted was the truth. There was no way he was going to simply give her bits and parts of the facts, and maybe when he finished telling her everything Claire might not think that Hope Estheim was as great as people praised him to be.

Where to begin? Hope sighed slowly before looking back at her. When he did she still had the same calm expression, steadily waiting to hear what he had to say.

"You were gone for so long, by that time people were just looking an excuse to give up," he started as Claire slowly let it sink Hope was talking about the 'Chaos Era'. "For over a hundred years none of us aged, people aren't supposed to last that long. I think…well I at least felt that as years went by everything became devalued." Admittedly ashamed Hope began shifting around his position as Claire continued to listen. Although Hope could see the guilt in her eyes, something that didn't belong there.

"I think the first time I lied to everyone was when I was chosen to lead the people. Right off the bat I told them all that there was something out there in Grand Pulse. That our new Cocoon; the same home that the Academy essentially forced all people to move into…was to be evacuated." Hope kept looking at her from moments at a time as she still didn't change her expression.

"One lie led to another and before I knew it, lying had become a norm for me. Everything was essentially false or an excuse as to why the Conseil de Renaissance couldn't control the chaos infused in our world. Sometimes I wish I'-"

Feeling the whack across his forehead Hope flinched as Claire recoiled in an alarming rate. "Are you serious? You've been acting this way because of what happened back then? I should hit you again just for being such an idiot." Claire kept her anger incredibly in hidden sight. Hope had begun searching for a good apology, but before he could he felt her embrace.

"There's another part that I didn't tell you back then, when we sat and I told you how I became Lightning," she started as Hope let his head rest on one of her shoulders. "In order for me to be a part of the Guardian Corps, I had to take a few courses that were regiments for a big physical test."

Hope felt her heartbeat the closer she held him enough for him to ask, "You didn't have the best results to just get in?"

Feeling the vibration of her soft laughter as she held him Claire finally answered flatly, "I failed my test three times Hope. I had to get Amodar to get me another shot after the first three attempts, the board in charge of the Guardian Corps required a special audience for repetitive failed applicants." Claire released him as he settled closely. Surprised at the revelation Hope slowly thought back on his vague knowledge of the Guardian Corps. If he was correct on the small information that he had, wasn't her regiment the weakest of the five divisions?

"You were part of the Bodhum security regiment right? Did they give you harder tests?" Hope asked slowly trying to put the pieces together. He wasn't sure how Bodhum worked, but where he was born in Polumpolum, the corps there were simple patrol officers. Most of them lazy if he recalled.

She was surprised that Hope had already asked this much out of her, it was a start. "No I started out with 'The Calvary' or the GC-WARB for short. I tried to make it there but like I said, failed three times." Looking back in thought Claire kept eyeing the slower count of cars that casually came and went. Hope didn't press forward. There was so much he didn't know about her after all. He wanted to know more, ask more questions. But somehow this wasn't supposed to be about her, Claire was trying to get him to talk.

"I see, so you got your job though right? In Bodhum I mean?" Hope leaned in on one knee while Claire looked at him in thought. "Yes, the pay wasn't close to what WARB would offer, but since I couldn't make the cut, I opted for the regiment back home. I supported my sister with that job."

"But that doesn't answer my question does it? Why do you keep bringing up those memories, have you forgotten something important?" Claire asked finally trying to keep the conversation on track. Hope looked down in thought.

Honestly? He wasn't even sure. "I feel like I'm missing something," Hope said out loud although mostly speaking through his thought process.

Raising her head up Claire looked surprised at his tone. It was very much like the tone 'that' Hope in the arc had…the soulless vessel.

Feeling her own heartbeat get louder she asked the one question she was afraid of. Something that Claire didn't want to bring up, but knew that if she needed proof that 'her' Hope was alive…that question had to be asked.

"Hope? Bhunivelze…you're not-I mean he's not a part of-"

Before she could finish Hope shook his head eagerly. "No. That's over, I'm my own self." Hope left it at that.

Claire didn't show it, but she was stuck with him. And in truth Hope was trying to assist her, but he wasn't close to getting to the point. The final truth that she needed to know.

Feeling the last chance coming through Hope looked at her steadily, just like she did so with him minutes ago. "Claire, I need you to know something. But I need you to understand that if I say something, anything that may seem like it's too much….please promise me you'll hear me out alright?"

She felt her heart stop both in fear and in happiness. He was opening up finally. "Of course I'll listen Hope."


Letting a few breaths in he looked up at the stars. The same ones that he and his mother looked over the eleventh night before the Purge. "I did everything in my power to get Fang and Vanille out of those crystal pillars. You already know the story of how Serah and Noel came and met with me. In doing so I discovered, well technically rediscovered the effects of time travel. How to change the future and how to change the past." Hope said following a set of stars that shined brighter than the rest. "I won't pretend that when I found out about changing past events was…a possibility my first thought came to my mother." He looked back at her with his eyes glazed over. He didn't cry, he couldn't.

"I did everything. Anything to get my mother to come back to me. I told myself I was selfish, but I didn't care. My goals had been to keep you, Fang, Vanille, and mother back to me. But then it didn't work out and I went away myself for a while…" Hope pressed his lips as Claire remained still. Listening to every word with equal weight.

"Then of course you saved me, and even did something I could never repay you with. You made my parents, my father who had passed away before he could see me lead the Academy entirely, and of course my mother who didn't even get to see me through adulthood." He reached over to her now. One hand over hers. Blue eyes meeting green eyes.

"You sacrificed yourself to keep all of us together, to have my final fantasy come to life. Reunite with my family in a world where there were no Fal'Cies or deities. There was nothing I wanted more than that, and you knew that Claire." Hope said feeling his own chest get heavier.

"That is why, I didn't take mom's hand when she reached out for me…" Hope looked at her with an expression Claire had never seen before. It was unnerving and she wanted to move back in confusion, but she remembered her words and kept still. She would listen to everything, even if she was to be blamed for-

"So I took your hand instead."

Feeling his grip on her hand that rested by her knee Claire looked at him taken back. He felt this strongly about her? Circumstances….circumstances and fate is what Claire held responsible for Hope's partnership thus far. They cared for each other, like a special bond even. But she had no idea that, even then 'her' Hope had been waiting for her.

"Claire? Did you hear me?" Hope asked nervously but determined with a look that she saw him have when he was working with a difficult task. She was the one stunned now, and if she was honest that faint part of her…the Lumina that laid dormant in her was relieved.

Feeling her eyes flutter a few times before catching a sentence, "I um, I heard how you picked me yes, but I wasn't expec-

"I'm sorry I said it too fast," Hope said with a flash of embarrassment while he still held her hand quietly. Not realizing that his hand had gripped hers gently.

"Claire will you marry me?"

It was quiet again. To his credit Hope didn't move and Claire didn't blink. She heard him right? Was he crazy?!

Serah was going to have her baby (a boy according to Snow) anytime now. Hope was still positioned to continue his job, but needed a month to process his work over. The idiot wanted to marry her?! Now of all times?

So why couldn't she complain to him? Why couldn't she move? Feeling scared as much as confused Claire kept looking at his eyes. He had been waiting for a while. She could read that from his expression. 'Her' Hope wasn't gone, he was still there. Nervous, unsure, hesitant, and loving. Smart, sassy, handsome, confident, and thoughtful were traits he carried passively, but so long as the main attributes never left…

"We aren't ready yet. This is a rash decision Hope. We need to talk more about this later," are the answers in her mind she felt were the 'right' answers.

If only her conscience would have listened…

"Yes. I'll marry you Hope."

… … …

… … …

… … …


(Seven years later)

"Alright who's next?"

Aaron placed the strangely designed coat away that aunt Fang and Vanille provided. He wasn't crazy about the tribal shapes around it, but wow was it comfy.

Surprisingly enough his mother who he shared so much in common with had a small box in her hands. Walking down beside him she reached over his forehead and kissed it just the way he hated it, in front of everybody. Still he knew better than to protest, one time he tried that; his mom purposely played with his hair when they walked to school one day. Ever since that day Aaron learned to just take the eight seconds of affection like a man.

"I think you'll like this one," she whispered as the box was handed over to the six year old's hands. Aaron looked around at his family. Uncle Sazh and his older son Dajh kept peeking over the table at the present with curiosity.

"Unless you made that present yourself Claire, Light loves our present. Right darling?" Aunt Fang asked keeping her typical smug teasing smirk at the boy.

Aaron held his breath politely. He loved his two aunts, but how long would they keep calling him by that nickname? Light. It wasn't a bad one, his dad did say that his name originated as 'bringer of light'. But his dad was cheesy sometimes.

Honestly, how cool could you be with that nickname? He was sure his mother would agree.

Looking back at Fang he smiled at her politely. "But isn't the coat special anyways? You said that aunt Vanille designed the shapes out of happy memories right? So it's not fair to compare it isn't it?" He asked slowly letting his mind process the facts flawlessly.

Hearing a soft chuckle from the orange haired woman, Vanille winked at her partner next to her. "As sharp as Hope, but he's right Fang! Our gift is too perfect to compare."

Snow who was behind the cam recorder, as he had been since the party began kept moving between Aaron and Claire. "Alright then, let's see what's inside kiddo."

A look of curiosity was all the pink haired woman showed as Aaron began to unwrap his present wordlessly. Lifting the top of the box he lifted up the soft fabric and inspected it for a while. He didn't seem all that interested, but when Aaron looked up at his mother to say his thanks he noticed his dad staring at the present.

His father was sitting down with Faith in his lap, her favorite spot as always. When Aaron saw his similar eyes that belonged to his father gloss over. Did he miss something here?

"I mean it's just a scarf. Isn't' it?" Aaron asked himself as the slowly built curiosity within came out. Giving his present another chance he unfolded the scarf up and saw the designs.

Ok the scarf was nice. Actually it was really cool, green was his favorite color. The tribal markings were designed to make the shape of wings as the scarf was folded.

"Try it," his mother said reading his mind. Aaron did so and tugged his scarf around his neck with the casual help from his mom. When he was done fixing the scarf he looked around at a nod of appreciation from the group. His aunt Serah smiled fondly as if remembering something while his cousin Jack just shrugged at him as he went back to his cake.

When he turned to see his dad though. He was smiling at him, but differently though. There was pride in his expression, and although Aaron knew his dad never liked boasting…the boy couldn't help but feel taller. He was six after all.

"Happy birthday Aaron," his mother whispered again in a hug. He just moved his smaller hands into his pockets.

"Mom…you're squeezing me."


"Hope your squeezing me, let go already." She warned quietly. To think that moments ago she wanted her 'Hope' back the way she remembered. Maybe this was her fault.

"No."

She tried shoving his arms off politely. "I already said yes, I'm not going to run off like in those soap operas." At this Hope poked his head from her shoulder.

"I thought you said you hated them?" Whatever random sense of curiosity from the luckiest guy in the world made her sigh in a tired fashion.

Great. Now she had to explain herself and her guilty pleasure. Honestly she didn't even care about the drama shows, the secret of learning French as well as she did was because of those reruns. And of course the tragedy of Jean Louis's childhood friend that was forced to leave him at a young age only to be reunited by the man's stay at the hospital. And in cue his sweet friend who grew up to be a beautiful nurse attended his injuries.

That was a good one, maybe she could find the later episodes on the internet….

"Claire?"

Looking back down at her fiancée she gave him a defeated smile. "We need to tell Serah about this."

Unfazed Hope looked at her curiously, "Of course. But um-you spaced out a moment ago right? I asked if you think one day maybe we could have ki-"

She got away quickly. For both their sakes. "Easy Estheim. Your way over your head."

Hope didn't seem upset at that. He slowly got up from the front of the steps. Handing his hand to her again he smiled knowingly instead. "You already said yes. You'll grow to like Serah and Snow's baby. Just watch that boy is going to make you want one."

Feeling like the man in front of her morphed into a strange alien Claire took his hand and lifted herself up. "Let's just go to bed. We'll tell Serah and Snow the news tomorrow."

"And Hope?"

"Yeah?"

They both walked to their bedroom beside each other.

"No more baby talk business. I've already agreed to one impulse decision."

Hearing Hope's amusing laugh she raised her eyebrows at him. "What's so funny?"

"You're so stubborn Light."

"Well if that's going to-"

"But your 'my' stubborn Light."

… … …

… … …

"Let's just go to sleep Hope. If you still feel the same about all this in the morning. I'll berate you then for not having a ring ready."

Reaching their bed Hope flinched at the reminder of what should be every man's most important item when in the arts of proposing. The actual ring itself.

He had one. Looking around to his dresser a pair of slim hands pulled him back. "Did you hear me? I said tomorrow. It's late enough as it is, if I don't get my rest it will only add more fuel to the fire when I lay out the flaws of your idea of a proposal."

It sounded harsh, but Hope knew she was covering her real feelings. How did he know? Simple…

Both in bed Hope waited for it, it wouldn't take this long for her to turn around and-

"Are you sure?"

Expecting to have her move to her usual position, leaning into his chest she opted to be on her side with an earnest look of unsureness. Breaking tradition Hope was the one to scoot over to her instead while pulling her locks of wavy pink hair away from the top of her face. Those cerulean eyes looked at him in question before Hope answered her in his own favorite fashion. Just brushing his lips over her forehead the typical protest began.

"Hope…you know I hate it when you do that," she said looking at him with a mild frown. Only mild because he could see her body shifting more comfortably.

"Whatever you say Ms. Farron," he shot back feeling her move her head against his shoulder. Hope could be patient. It wouldn't be long until 'Mrs. Estheim' would be a part of their teasing bed rituals.