Hope in trouble

Hey guys! Hope everything is going well. Insert the general disclaimer! Enjoy the Christmas edition and have a happy one yourself! I've just included something below, which will only be present in special editions.

Date: 11/12/11

Chapter 12

Chapters until the end of Volume 1: 8

Chapters to go in total: 212

Plot progression: 2%

Major themes: 0%

Minor themes: 2%

Main Characters: Not all present.

Romance arc: 1/5

Hopes power level: 1

Times died: 0

Hope/Lightning level: Friends

Hope walked down the street, kicking loose stones from the pavement onto the road. He watched it with little interest as it slid into the darkness of the night. Far into the distance the lit towers of New Bodhum's Central Business District shone into the sky. Here though, it was peaceful. And Hope took full advantage of that. He didn't hurry, even though he knew how angry everyone would be-or perhaps because of it. The breeze ruffled his hair and Hope looked up at the glimmering moon.

"My parents died. I had to be strong for Serah, so I thought I needed to forget my past. And I became Lightning. I thought by changing my name, I could change who I was. I was younger then. You can't run away from yourself. Serah tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen."

Lightning's voice rang in his head. She had been talking to a different Hope; a Hope on the edge of darkness; a Hope with hate in his heart that had threatened to consume him; a Hope long gone. Yet he missed that Hope, and the adventures he had had. But that Hope was gone forever, changed forever. It really was ironic: Lightning wanted to change herself and she thought a stupid name would do it. He had never wanted to change, yet it had happened, as profoundly as Lightning would have wished. One day he was Hope; another he was different. Everything about him had died. He wasn't sure what had happened, he just knew it had. He wanted more than anything to go back to the days where he was just a kid, where not everyone loved him, where not all girls fell at his feet, where he didn't have to run away from himself through drinks and drugs. Because Lightning was wrong. You could run away from yourself. Just not for very long. It was a misconception in history that being special was good. Everyone who was ever different just wanted to be normal; and all those who were normal wanted to stand out. They didn't realize what it truly meant to be alone. He wanted his family back.

"Ha! If they realized what I really did, why that would be the end." Hope snorted as he lit a cigarette. He ignored the part of him that was wailing at him in despair for him to stop. He snarled at it, shutting the door. The pressure built up and Hope grabbed his head in pain, hunching over.

"Not again," he mumbled, through clenched teeth.

"No please not again," he groaned. The pain intensified and Hope fell to his knees, and finally onto the ground, the cigarette lay forgotten. He had this once in a while, but recently it had gotten worse. Hope closed his eyes, writhing as the pain spread throughout his body. It kept on for a few seconds, and then vanished. Hope tried to get up, but found that he couldn't. His entire body was paralyzed, and felt like it was sleeping. Hope heard a rushing sound, in his ears and his body began to vibrate, or at least it seemed to. A white light blazed forth and engulfed Hope, and when it disappeared, he found himself sitting in a field. It was beautiful, surrounded by mountains and the dying sun. He gasped as he saw a beautiful women sitting opposite him.

The women tilted her head. Hope looked at her, and saw that she was smiling.

Who are you?

I am you.

What?

I am you.

How can that be?

How can it not?

I'm not a girl.

Nor am I.

I am merely what your mind wants me to be. I am you.

You are not real?

I exist.

My subconscious?

I am unfamiliar with that term, but call me as you will.

What happened to me?

I do not know how you got here.

Then where am I?

It is you who called me here.

I did?

…

Return me at once.

You listen poorly.

Then we are trapped.

Until the pain subsides. Yes.

I don't believe you. You must be a witch!

As you say.

You are?

No.

Why are you so passive?

Because you are so hot headed. Yin and Yang. The mind and body must be balanced.

Whatever.

Hope felt himself getting heavier, and the world getting more blurred. He dimly recalled the voice telling him they would meet again. He hoped not. He really did.

He gingerly opened his eyes, and got up, groaning.

"What was that?" he said to himself, as he checked the time. That was the strangest dream he had ever had. The pain in his head had gone, and he would worry about it some other time. He started running to the local teleportation system.

-Hope nervously knocked on the door, waiting for someone to open. The warm wind, tickled his face and fluttered his silver hair, and he smiled up at the silver stars. They laced the sky, shining and twinkling, looking down upon him.

The wind rustled the trees to either side of him, and a small, half-developed leaf blew across the sky, and touched Hope's face, before sliding off. This late at night, the street was empty, but Hope could distantly hear laughing from people having fun somewhere in the distance. Hope tried to look through the side window, into the house, but it was blacked out for the night, and nothing could be seen. Maybe no one was at home, Hope thought, maybe they had gone out. The thought was not encouraging, and Hope shut it out of his mind. Nervously, he rocked on his heels, a few times, wondering why the door wasn't opening. The whisky that he had drunk, as well as his headache however was not without effect, and he stumbled back, losing his balance and falling down the short concrete steps. Hope grunted as his head smashed into the edge of the bottom stair, and he tumbled onto the floor. He rolled on the floor, onto his back, groaning. Wearily he got to his feet, using his knees as support.

His clothes were covered in mess, and were torn, his body burned in a dull ache. He took one last look at the door, still unopened and sighed. He warily raised his hand to the back of his hand, and was only half-surprised to find a large and very painful lump. A fall like that should have cracked my skull. Hope could no longer find the energy to care. He was physically and emotionally exhausted. The discovery of his healed hand had nearly cracked him, and he wasn't sure what to make of this. The women and the dream made this day too great. He shut it into the darkness that he already knew would someday escape.

He decided to deal with it later. Maybe the fall wasn't as bad as you thought. Maybe, Hope thought, but that didn't explain the hand. What's wrong with me?

He used the front gate, in the front garden for support, as he tried to undo the latch. The light-lock would not disengage however and Hope moaned. I got in didn't I? So why the fuck can't I get out? He tried to focus on the lock, but the lock mechanism just pulsed a dull blue and Hope couldn't concentrate. That hit to the head must have been hard then. Hope walked off the pave way and picked up a small stone from the grass. He threw it as hard as he could onto the street, but it just bounced off an invisible wall, that seemed to surround the house. A faint crackle could be heard, and the sky turned a bright blue for a second. So the Security Shield had been activated. Hope almost shouted in frustration. It turned on at a fixed time, every day. In this case, it was obvious that Serah and Snow had it set to activate at ten. Only someone implanted with a Household Identity Recognition Chip could pass through and deactivate it. He absently wondered why Lightning didn't have one. His father didn't have one, but there was no real need-not with his own personal security force. What had happened to them Hope didn't know. He was trying so desperately to not think about his father, even though he burned with white hot rage, similar to what had happened when his mother had died. He knew he had to run from it all, or revenge would consume him; he had learned his lesson from what had happened to Snow. He would however find who was responsible. One day. When he was strong enough he would rip apart the world looking for him. But not today. His father would have to wait, no matter how much the though tore at him.

He was so caught up in his own thoughts; he didn't hear the door open behind him.

"You're late!" A voice called out behind him. Hope turned around and faced Lightning, his eyes widening as he tried to concentrate on her face. In the end he gave up.

"I guess I am." Hope said wearily. He was almost taken off his feet, as she wrapped him in a hug.

"We were so worried about you," she said as she released him. "What happened to you?" she said as she gestured to his clothes.

"Oh, nothing. I...I just tripped over and fell into the dirt." Hope said smiling.

"Where were you? You said you would only be a little late!" Serah shouted from behind Lightning, in the house. Hope walked past her and into the house, only to come face to face with Serah. Her angry glare only lasted a few seconds, as she tried to fight a smile. Before Hope could try and explain himself, she hugged him as well. Hope saw out of the corner of his eye, Kara. For some reason she was staring at him. She was probably worried too, but for the life of him he couldn't imagine why. He had only met her once. Breaking off from Serah's hug Hope walked towards the living room, brushing past Kara.

"Hey Kara!" Hope mumbled. She smiled and raised her hand, looking tired. Hope looked at his watch-it was pretty late, but not late enough to be tired-not for a twenty two year old. At least he thought she was twenty-two. He saw Sazh sitting on the sofa, and he walked up to the older man, sitting beside him.

"Alright pops?" Hope said, copying what Vanille used to say. Fighting back tears, he turned his mind to something else. He missed Vanille and Fang desperately. The darkness in the cupboard grew.

"Nice of you to join us Hope. Say, where the hell have you been?" Sazh replied as he wrapped Hope in a fatherly hug. Hug clawed his way out, glowering at Sazh. "Urgh geroff me! Sazh!"

From the corner of his eyes he saw Snow come in from the kitchen. Sazh finally let go with a laugh and Hope tried to sit up hoping to maintain at least some dignity. He stood up as Snow approached. Sazh followed suit.

"Hope! Glad you could make it!" Snow grinned, as they clasped hands.

"What the hell were you doing in the kitchen? Bit late to eat isn't it?" Hope smirked.

"Just playing a game. No worries-Snow had it in the bag," he said, with a wink.

"Hope you're in big trouble." He heard Serah's voice.

"You missed dinner, and dessert. Just where were you? You told Lightning you were going to be a little late!" Kara demanded.

"I already told Light. I made some friends on the beach, and I went with them. I'm sorry, I just lost track of time." Hope said. He was surprised when everyone, except Snow and Sazh rolled their eyes. What were they doing?

"You expect us to believe that?" Serah said. Hope looked around confused. He had no idea what was going on.

"Are you seriously telling me that you went to the beach, made some friends with some beach hunks, and they turned out to like you so much that they decided to take you out, even though you're only sixteen?" Hope turned to Kara's sceptical voice, not liking where this was going.

"Hope, you know you can tell us the truth right?" Serah rounded on him. Hope couldn't believe this! They thought he was lying!

"Alright! I was at the bookstore, catching up with the latest issue of RosVam! Sorry!" If they didn't believe him, perhaps they would believe this.

"You should have just said so Hope. We're all family, we won't judge you," Serah said.

Hope turned his eyes to Snow, who was sniggering, and for some reason Kara seemed smug.

"Whatever he was doing-it doesn't matter. He's here now." Snow said looking at Hope.

Hope looked at him, with an amused grin. He knew Snow was going to keep pestering him until he found out the truth, but that was between Snow and himself. None of the others needed to know. What Snow thought he had been doing, Hope had no idea. He didn't mind telling everyone. It just seemed that no-one believed him.

Hope sat on the sofa, and Snow fell down next to him.

"What really happened?"

"Bookstore."

"Bookst…Oh come on Hope! Then why are you slurring? I didn't know you were allowed to drink in a bookstore. Oh by the way I told Lightning to send you to summer school so you can get to grips with the academic mode."

"What? Bastard, why did you do that?"

"It's for your own good." Snow said whilst trying to hold in a laugh.

"Now tell me what really happened."

"I already said what really happened."

"Then invite them here."

"What? Are you serious? Serah would flip!"

"Why would I flip?" Serah said as she entered the living room.

"Snow was trying to show me the porn video he taped. I was just telling him you would flip if he showed it to me." Hope said casually.

"Porn video? Where?" she said. Snow was choking.

"I don't know-check his draws." Hope said.

Serah cast a glance at Snow, then at Hope and then walked towards the stairs.

"Idiot," hissed Snow. Hope noticed to his intense surprise, that Snow had stood up and was chasing his wife.

"Oh! Don't tell me…" Hope laughed to himself.

Just then Sazh came into the living room.

"What the hell are those two doing up there," he said as he cocked his head up to the ceiling.

"No idea," Hope smiled. "What's going on?"

"We're going to put on a movie." Sazh said. "A proper one this time," he said hastily as Hope raised his eyebrows.

"So how was your book?" Sazh asked as he collapsed onto the sofa.

It took Hope a few moments to realize what he was talking about.

"It was you know really interesting…I couldn't stop reading." Hope lied. Seemed to work though.

"What was it about?"

"Umm…Evil monsters and stuff. What about you?"

"It's my holiday, so I've taken Dajh to the park and we went to the top floor of the Celing Tower. It was fun."

Just then Lightning walked into the room, and sat down on the sofa, next to Hope, where Snow had sat. There was another large thud upstairs and Hope glanced up at the ceiling, and then turned his attention the room around him. He closed his eyes, and rested his back against the sofa sighing. He slipped in and out of sleep.

Snow and Serah came downstairs and Snow sat on the sofa next to Sazh nursing his head. He absently wondered why none of the guys ever sat next to him, but the thought soon went, as he slipped back into sleep.

"You still have those?" Hope heard Sazh say incredulously. "Is this house still not connected to the Digital Network?"

"It is, but I prefer to watch movies the old fashioned way. Besides you have to pay to get movies off there, and we already have one here," Serah replied, whilst busy sorting the machine out.

"How many times Sazh-you said the same last week!"

"You should get a monthly subscription," Hope mumbled, as he curled up to a cushion.

"We don't watch movies very much. It's mostly TV for us," she replied.

Hope didn't reply. From the one eye that he had visible from the cushion he just watched. Raising his head, he looked around. On his sofa, Lightning and Snow sat. On the other one Kara, Serah and Sazh were starting to sit down. He thought dimly that Snow had been on the other sofa, but he couldn't be sure of anything anymore.

Hope sat up properly, and watched the screen. However, when the light dimmed, until the room was dark Hope could hold on no longer. He felt himself fight to keep his eyes open, and he rested his shoulder on Lightning's, as sleep overcome him. He felt her tense in surprise, as she wondered what to do. After a few seconds she relaxed, and flick something off his hair. He dimly felt Lightning push his head away, and attempt to put it gently on her lap. Hope's last thought was that it didn't matter-he would still fall asleep, if she poked him with her gunblade.

Sunlight shone on Hope's face as he blinked groggily. He was lying on the sofa, Lightning's legs pressed against his stomach, as his head rested on her hips. He raised his head, to see if anyone else was awake. He saw Lightning's head resting on the hand rest of the sofa. It appeared Snow had fallen to the floor in the middle of the night.

He sighed, as he rested his head back on Lightning's hips. He smiled to himself as he thought of Lightning and Snow's relationship. It had changed drastically over the last few years. Hope remembered when she had hit him, when everything was crystal, and Serah was entombed in front of them, with Snow trying to dig her out. And that bloody Mandarvin Scorpion shit. It all seemed a lifetime ago.

Lightning had long since accepted Snow as her brother, and probably loved him as much Hope himself did. He chuckled as he remembered how she had used to glare when he called her sis. Things really did change. Hope sat up, and carefully jumped off the sofa, trying to avoid Lightning's legs. It was funny-normally it took a few minutes to adjust his eyes to the sunlight, but today Hope felt fine. He was refreshed, and buzzing for something to do. He saw Serah and Kara sleeping on Sazh's shoulder. Hope walked out of the living room, and went quietly up the stairs. He searched upstairs looking for Hazel, and finally found her asleep, in her cot. He stared down at her, curled in her blankets. He wasn't sure how long he stood there, but he was jerked away from Hazel by a small child, with the most ridiculous afro.

"Hey mister!" the boy said.

"Dajh!" Hope grinned.

"Hey you know my name! Do you know Hazels name too?" the young boy said excitedly.

"Yeah, Hazel."

"Wow! You know everything."

"It's me Hope! You probably don't remember me," Hope said.

"I remember you. You're dad's friend. I haven't seen you in ages!" Dajh said excitedly.

"I've been gone a long time-but I'm here now."

"Do you want to play?" Dajh asked.

"Play? Play what?" Hope asked, amused.

"With my toys of course!" Dajh said leading Hope away, from Hazel's room, into the corridor. Dajh pressed his finger to the wall, and where his fingers were, blue and red lights glowed.

"You have to be red. I'm blue," Dajh said.

"What are we playing?" Hope asked confused.

"I'm building my base, you have to build your base! Let's see who makes the best one!" Dajh said. In front of Hope a pile of red energy bricks had been generated. He saw Dajh had a pile of blue ones. Hope smiled, and wiped his hand through the air, summoning the apartment Omniplex. He requested a large flat base, for the foundation, and it generated in front of him. It was a brilliant idea, making building blocks from suppressed energy fields. There was no cleaning up, since they disappeared once the power was disconnected. Hope sat cross-legged opposite Dajh and got to work.

"You're on!"

Lightning sat up, blinking as the rays of sun stung her eyes. She rubbed them wearily, and stared down at a sleeping Snow. She rolled her eyes, and stood up, being as quiet as possible so as not to wake anyone. She looked around, wondering where Hope was. He had fallen asleep almost immediately, once the movie had started and rested his head on her shoulder. No one had ever done that before, and initially she had been unsure of what to do. Eventually she had decided that the best course action was to lower his head onto her lap, where it would be more comfortable. She had never had a friend as close as Hope before. He had been gone two years and when he saw her, it was like he had been there the whole time. He knew her better than Serah did. He knew what drove her, how to make her smile and laugh, and most annoyingly how to piss her off. Most people did it by accident-but Hope could do it whenever he wanted. If anyone else had tried to rest their head on her shoulder she would have pushed them away-even Snow and Serah. She heard sounds from upstairs and she walked up to the stairs to get a better idea of what was going on. She heard Hope speaking with...Dajh? How did the boy even remember him?

"Ha! Mine's got a bigger gun!" She heard Dajh say.

"Yeah, but I have three guns. Look," Hope laughed.

"That's not a gun-it's a radiomast!" Dajh argued.

"It's not!" Hope pretended to argue. Lightning rolled her eyes and walked off towards the kitchen, intent on finding some coffee and some food.

Lightning sat on the kitchen table, reading the latest newspaper. Digital versions were available, but she preferred paper, rather than holograms. This way she didn't have to keep looking up. As she flicked through the pages, sipping her coffee, she heard someone coming down the stairs. Hope entered the kitchen, looking all bright and vibrant. What's gotten into him? He looked surprised to see her, but veiled it quickly. He dug into the cupboards and drew out some cereal, before moving to the fridge and cursing the lack of milk. He sat down heavily next to her banging his head on the table.

"Can you believe that no-one's awake yet?" Hope said, as he eyed her cereal bowl. It still had some milk, and he grabbed it pouring his cereal into it. "I mean it's not even that early!" Hope mumbled as he used her spoon to fork the cereal into his mouth. Lightning frowned at the box of cereal that he had taken out of the cupboard.

"Hope, do you know how much sugar that's got in it?" Lightning asked.

"Yep," he replied. She gave up-it wasn't worth it.

"The movie finished at one o 'clock, so everyone's pretty tired," Lightning said. Hope looked up from his cereal, into her eyes.

"But not you?" he asked.

"I'm a soldier Hope. I have a built in alarm clock-I always wake up early." She said.

"Yeah-you're weird," Hope mumbled. Lightning cast him a venomous glare, that would have had anyone else shaking, but much to her chagrin, Hope only laughed. "If those stupid looks worked on me, I would have been scared off ages ago," Hope grinned.

He scooped the last of the cereal into his mouth, before standing up and throwing the bowl and spoon into the corner of the room, where a silver square was on the floor. Instead of crashing, the bowl was slowed, until it stood still, slowly rotating in mid-air, in the centre of the square. It slowly rose, finally disappearing in a blue flash of light. The cupboard and cutlery draw glowed blue briefly, as the items were placed back into where they had been before, all clean.

"I love doing that-it beats washing! We definitely need to get one Light," Hope said as he stared at the silver square. As he walked past her, on his way out of the kitchen he whispered 'weirdo, and tried to scurry away, as Lightning punched him gently on the thigh.

"Where are you going?"

"Bookstore."

"Don't be too late Hope." She said.

"Hey Light! I'm going now-tell everyone I said bye!" Hope called as he made his way to the door. On his way a cushion smacked him on his face, and he glared at the living room.

"I didn't mean to wake you!"he yelled.

"Yeah? Well you did!" Snow shouted, as another cushion was hurled at Hope, who quickly fled through the front door. Lightning watched him go, and wondered how long Snow would last, when he awoke everyone else. The question was soon answered, as she heard a crashing sound, as somebody jumped him. She rolled her eyes, and focused back on her newspaper. Her month long vacation couldn't end quickly enough.