blood; uhhh, i'll say an au of the game-verse

Though life on Pulse was still tough after the Fall, it was the good sort of tough. People learned to work together and fend for themselves, which was worth more than anything.

For Hope, it'd been a bit difficult to adapt to hunting without his l'cie powers. He found that he preferred being the brains behind the operation rather than the brawn, but there were times when his knowledge of Pulse was needed out on the field.

Of course, Lightning was completely the opposite. She'd quickly adjusted to having no magic, and her skills as a soldier seemed even better than before.

They weren't perfect, though.

"Light!"

Hope dashed over to her, eyes wide with horror as she shot down the wolf that'd just attacked her. Even after all these years of going on hunts together, it never got easier to see her hurt.

"I'm fine." Lightning scowled a little at the corpse that was now lying a few feet away from her. "I just got careless."

"You're not fine," Hope said when she'd turned around. There was a long, bloody gash on the side of her leg, probably from the claws of the wolf. Though he could tell it wasn't serious, it still didn't sit right for her to be wounded.

Lightning stuck out her leg and glanced at the wound, taking a few steps as though to judge how bad it was. To the surprise of them both, she hissed in pain a moment later and stumbled a little. She would have fallen had Hope not been right there to catch her.

He stiffened in surprise, his arms around her in what he hoped was a supportive manner, though he couldn't help but tighten his grip slightly when she didn't move, finally speaking after it'd been quiet for some time. "…Light?"

Weirdly enough, she chuckled in response, the noise somewhat muffled by his shirt. "I'll still never figure out how you got so tall."

Hope relaxed a bit, a small smile forming on his face. "That's kinda what happens when you grow up." Much to his reluctance, he loosened his hold on her and looked down at her leg again. "You've got your first-aid kit, right?"

"Naturally."

"Of course." Hope smiled again. "Silly me. C'mon, we gotta find a place to get you fixed up."

Lightning glanced around, eventually gesturing towards a rock slab that was big enough for the two of them. It was only about fifty feet away, but the second she let go of Hope to limp over there, he knew there was no way he could settle for that.

Before she could protest, he'd gone back beside her, only to quickly scoop her up bridal-style, chuckling at her immediate protest, though unbeknownst to him, it was mostly because he actually had the height and strength to pick her up.

"Hope, you don't have to - "

"Don't worry about." He smiled gently, readjusting his hold on her and being mindful of her leg as he arms looped slowly around his neck. "I've got you."

She gazed at him for a moment, her head cocked a bit as they made their way over to the rock slab. Already, the pain in her leg had diminished a great deal…probably because she wasn't standing on it, thanks to him.

"…Yeah. You do."