annoyance; in-game verse

Though somehow she just knew that there was still much more to come in their journey, Serah felt like the Yaschas Massif had held the most surprises thus far - the biggest, of course, being seeing Hope again. They hadn't spoken much in the few years after Cocoon first fell, and it really was such a joy to see him again. It was as though meeting up with him was some kind of sign that everything was going to be okay.

If only you could see him now, Sis. He's so grown up!

Then again, maybe Lightning could see them from wherever she was. They were about to get a huge hint.

"The eclipse!" Serah exclaimed once she and Noel had jumped out of the time gate. "It's gone!" She turned to him with a grin. "I'm sure that means that the broken Oracle Drive is working now. Maybe we'll be able to find out more about Lightning!"

"Yeah…" Noel rubbed his chin a little, looking contemplative. Serah, of course, noticed this and cocked her head in confusion.

"Noel?"

"Huh?" He dropped his hand. "What is it?"

"Nothing, I guess." She shrugged, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "You just looked a little lost in thought there for a second."

"I guess." He put his hands on his hips. "Actually…maybe you'd know the answer to this. You knew Hope even before coming here, right?"

"A little, yeah."

"Were…" He sort of laughed to him. "Were he and Lightning together?"

"…Together?"

"Y'know." Noel waved his hand a little, like that would explain. "Together. Dating. An item."

Serah didn't respond at first. Really, she could've been knocked over with a feather. Even Mog stared at her in concern when she didn't reply, but eventually, she burst into giggles, practically doubling over. "Noel!" She laughed. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

Noel looked at her like she was nuts, and not just because of the uncontrollable laughing. "Did you hear how he was talking about her back there? It was with complete adoration. And he seemed so dejected about the broken Oracle Drive." He quirked an eyebrow. "Not to mention how happy he was to see you. You're really the only connection he has to her."

Though talking about Lightning always filled Serah with a familial longing, she still couldn't help but laugh, especially since Noel looked so darn serious. "Noel, Hope was fourteen when those two met. From what I've heard, they did spend a lot of time together. She taught him how to fight and survive. Anything between them is strictly friendship."

"You sure about that?"

Serah then recalled the way Hope's voice had cracked when talking about her sister, the way he'd longingly stared at the distorted images of the Oracle Drive, and, oh yes, the fact that he was ten years older now. But that definitely didn't mean anything.

"I'm sure." She started walking. "Let's go find him again, though, okay? He's got to be around here somewhere!"

Despite the fact that the paradox of the eclipse had been solved, there were still many Academy researchers milling about. It was no problem at all to find Hope, but of course, due to the fixed timeline, he had to meet them all over again.

Except now, every time Lightning's name was mentioned, Serah couldn't help but notice the – dare she think it – longing expression on Hope's face.

Could Noel be right?

Only one way to find out!

"You must really miss Lightning, don't you, Hope?"

She could've sworn there was a pause, but Hope filled it with a little nod. "Of course. When a…friend goes missing, especially without due cause, it's only natural to constantly wonder."

"Especially since you guys were so close when you were l'cie, right?"

"…Right." Hope cleared his throat. "But back to the matter at hand, it appears your resolving of the paradox did indeed put the Oracle Drive in its right state. I believe we'll be able to view it now."

"It's still the one with Lightning, right?"

He looked at Serah like she'd grown two heads…however, she didn't miss the faint blush on his face, either. "Correct." And he played it.

As they'd known, the Oracle Drive did feature Lightning. For its duration, Serah forgot for a minute about everything else, and suddenly wanted nothing more than to have her sister back here. Towards its end, she did get a glimpse of the anguished look on Hope's face, though completely missed Noel's expression at the appearance of the purple-haired man.

"Lightning is alive in that place," Hope said confidently. "If we can find her…maybe we can figure out what's going to happen to Cocoon, as we saw in that other prophecy. Or perhaps that can offer us a clue as to how to rescue Fang and Vanille."

"It must be such a relief to you, knowing Lightning's alive," Serah said.

"Of course." Though he did look utterly relieved, there also seemed to be a bit of annoyance in his face. Maybe it was because he couldn't stand just, well, standing here when there were things to be done. "We may be able to excavate more Oracle Drives here. In the meantime, Serah, you and Noel should continue your travels. Perhaps there are more paradoxes to be resolved."

With the promise they'd do so and that they'd meet again, Serah and Noel headed back to the time gate. When they were out of earshot of anyone, Noel smacked his forehead with the heel of his palm. "Real smooth back there."

"It's your fault, for putting the idea in my head," Serah replied teasingly. "But I think you're right. He's got it bad for her."

—

The next time they physically saw him, it was 400AF – the correct one – and Serah's relief at seeing that he was alive overshadowed all of her other extreme emotions. It was only when they'd finally met up with him at the command center, where Hope explained how he and Alyssa had gotten here and Noel mentioned that the Proto-Fal'cie project ended badly that Serah was finally able to calm down and feel anything else than relief.

"I hope Lightning didn't see the timeline that ended with your death," she said, attempting to sound innocent. "You're still looking for her, right? We wouldn't want her to think the worst."

"If she did happen to see it, I'd hope she'd be as relieved as you were." There was a slight smile on Hope's face, but all too soon, he seemed to remember that he was in a public place surrounded by coworkers. "At any rate, we're attempting to complete the New Cocoon as quickly as possible. The prophecies have stated that the pillar is doomed to fall about a hundred years from now. When it does, we'll not only need to soften the blow, but find a way to rescue Fang and Vanille as well."

"Hopefully this brings Lightning back, too," Noel piped up. Serah reached and hit a silent high-five behind him.

"Only time can tell." Hope sounded slightly annoyed, but maybe it was just from Noel breaking his train of thought. The look on his face said anything other than annoyance. "At any rate, we need to – "

"Have you heard anything from Lightning recently?" Serah interrupted. "I keep hoping she'll appear in my dreams again. I…I just want to see her again."

"…I know," Hope replied, sounding rather solemn all of a sudden. "Actually, she did appear in a dream to me when I was sleeping in the time capsule."

Serah's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yes." Hope hesitated for a moment, as though the matter was too private – or maybe he was reluctant to share it at all – but finally spoke. "She told me to keep going, that I was on the right path."

"Seems like she's still looking out for you," Noel chimed in.

"For all of us," Hope corrected, ignoring the way Serah and Noel exchanged a dubious look. "But as I was saying, we need to find a way to – "

"Do you think she's still fighting with Caius?" Serah interrupted. "Maybe she's trying to keep him from making the pillar fall!"

"I don't – "

"But what if she – "

"If I may – "

Over and over it happened – Serah and Noel came up with endless questions about Lightning; some they were genuinely curious about, but it was clear the others were just to get Hope to admit his completely obvious feelings for her. The more they talked about her, the more pronounced the faint blush on his face grew…and yet, his voice had an edge of utter annoyance. He clearly wanted to stay on task, while Serah and Noel basically wanted him to admit what they suspected.

"We found a way to make the New Cocoon float," Hope interrupted loudly several minutes later. "However, we need items called Graviton Cores, and unfortunately it appears they don't exist in this particular space-time."

"Guess we can go find 'em." Noel shrugged, glancing at Serah. Clearly to him, getting Hope to admit anything about his feelings for Lightning were a lost cause.

But Serah didn't give up so easily.

"I guess if it's one thing we're good at, it's finding lost objects," she agreed. "We'll go find them for you, Hope." She smiled, turning with Noel to start the task. "And maybe we'll somehow find someone as well."

Hope simply shook his head, but Serah could have sworn she heard him mutter, "Good luck."

"Yup," Noel said as they left the command center and headed towards the time gate, "he's still got it bad. I can't believe you never noticed it."

"How could I have? He was just a kid when we met."

"I guess." He sighed heavily. "I just wish he'd actually come out and say it, though. Trying to get him to talk is like prying open a vault with your bare fingers."

Serah laughed. "Yeah, but – "

It came in a flash so sudden that at first she couldn't see anything, despite her wide-open eyes. Time around them stopped, and everything was focused on the vision right in front of her.

Lightning successfully defeating Caius, Snow arriving to stop Alyssa; she saw herself and Snow looking for crystals and suddenly everything was perfect and she could only see a sliver of it as though peering though a crack in the door but they were there, Hope and Lightning grasping hands and she saw her sister's eyes flutter closed as he leaned in…

" – rah? Serah!"

She gasped, blinking furiously and completely unaware of some of Academia's residents staring at her. Noel's hands were on her shoulders, holding her upright, a look of utter concern on his face. She understood right then that she'd had another vision.

One of the future.

"Are you all right?" Noel asked, his brow furrowed.

"…Yeah." Serah couldn't help but smile a little, which concerned Noel even more, she was sure. But if that was the future…how could she not smile about it? "Everything's perfect."