Disclaimer- I own NOTHING!

Summary- Lightning and her friends have won. Now they have a new world that they must make their own. Though they know that together they can do anything.

Chapter 2: Finding Hope

…

After walking for a while I come across a stream. I kneel down to touch the water. It's cool and soothing. As I look around I take in the beauty of this new world. The trees and various plants aren't familiar though. It appears that this world has its own flora and I assume the fauna will be unfamiliar as well. The only thing that is similar between this world and the old world seems to be the sky.

I take off my boots and socks and put my feet in the water. It's then that I realize that I am back in my Guardian Corps uniform. It's been so long since I've felt that familiar fabric. I don't know how I ended up back in these clothes but I'm glad I am.

I soak my feet for a little while longer before pulling my socks and boots on and start walking again. While walking I look around to see if there is anything that seems edible. I walk for an hour or two when I come across a group of trees covered with apples.

'So maybe some things aren't so different' I think to myself as I make my way to the grove. I go to the tree that appears to have the most apples and unclip my cape. I lay it on the ground, intending to use it to carry the fruit back to the others. I climb the tree and find a sturdy branch to sit on and begin picking the apples and throwing them down. I try to get them as close to my cape as I can.

As I'm picking apples and tossing them down I begin to hum softly to myself. I use to enjoy singing, back before my parents died. It has been so long since I've let myself sing. After my parents' death and I had to start caring for Serah I just couldn't bring myself to sing anymore. It felt nice to let myself go again. Now that I've reunited with Lumina I can feel myself becoming more like I was when I was younger.

Suddenly I hear a man's voice call up to me.

"Hello! Is someone up there?" The voice seems kind of familiar, but for some reason I can't quite place it. I look down to see the man walk up to where I've thrown all the apples. I can't really see any of his features so I jump down from my branch. I land facing away from him. He must have heard me land because I can feel him turning around.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you. I was just walking through looking for my friends when I heard you humming. Then I saw the apples dropping and…" He never finishes his sentence because at that moment I turn around and there is instant recognition all over his face.

"LIGHT! Is that really you?" His face is not how I remember him, but his eyes are exactly the same.

"Hope." My voice is just a whisper, but as soon as I say his name I know he heard me and he smiles. His whole face lights up when and he is beautiful. Unsure of where those thought are coming from I turn my full attention back to the man in front of he. Before I know it he pulls me into a tight hug. He's taller than me now and it's a little unnerving. I was never able to be close to him when he was an adult before. Sure I had watched him, along with everyone else, while I was in Valhalla but watching him and being next to him are completely different.

It took me a few seconds before I could bring myself to respond to his embrace. As I wrap my arms around him, he tightens his hold on me. I rest my head on his shoulder and his scent surrounds me. I relax against him as he starts to whisper in my ear.

"Light, I can't believe it's you. You're really here. I missed you so much." I can feel moisture on my cheeks and realize that he's crying. I pull away slightly, though not leaving his arms. I look him in the eye as more tears fall. I brush away the tears and rest my hand on his cheek.

"Hope I am so sorry. I am sorry for everything you had to go through because of me. And I am sorry that I left you alone. I promised to take care of you, but I failed. For 1000 years I failed you. I was so focused on everything else that I let you fall by the wayside. And after all of that you still saved me. How? How can you still care for me? You should hate me, curse me, and never want to see me again." I fall to my knees, slipping from his grasp. He kneels down and cups my face with his hands. Now he's wiping the tears from my eyes. He leans forward and kisses my forehead and pulls me back into his arms.

"Light, I could never hate you. I understand why you were gone. Yes I was sad and a little upset that you never contacted me like you did everyone else, but I know you had your reasons. Everything I did, my entire life, was all to be able to see you again. You didn't fail me. You gave me strength, you motivated me, and let's not forget that you saved me more times than I can count. If it weren't for you I would be lost in the sea of Chaos while Bhunivelze used my body to do whatever he wanted. Sure it's been a long time, but that doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is that you are here now, with me. Light I have waited too long to give you up now."

He pulls me to my feet and wipes away the remaining tears trickling down my face. He seems reluctant to let me go, but eventually he does. The look in his eyes changes from the soft gaze he's been looking at me with to one of determination. I knew this look. It was the same look he had before he had to do something important. I saw him with this look almost every time I looked down on him while I was in Valhalla. I straighten up, steeling myself once again.

"So umm, that's a lot of apples." He says indicating the pile a few feet from us. "Are they all for you or…"

"No they're for Serah, Snow, Fang, and Vanille too. Along with anyone else we happen to find. I wonder if I have enough though, we know how Snow gets when he's hungry." We both chuckle a bit at the thought.

"Well if you want I can help you pick some more." Hope offers with a warm smile.

"Sure, how about I pick them and toss them down to you. That way you can keep the pile neat and we won't have to worry about gathering them all back up when we're done."

He nods and says "Sounds good." He then goes and starts gathering the ones I already picked and puts them in a pile on my cape. "Is this what you were planning to use to carry the apples?"

"Yes." Is all I say before climbing back up my tree. We start a steady system gathering the fruit. It feels nice to be working with him again. Even if it's just gathering apples. We continue this for a while until we feel we have enough. I jump down as Hope is tying up my cape so none of the apples fall out.

I pick up the makeshift bag of apples and begin walking. "Come on the others are waiting this way." Hope jogs a little to catch up and we walk in a comfortable silence. When we get to the stream I had stopped at earlier we decided to take a rest for a few minutes.

As we sit by the stream I begin to reflect on everything. We've only been in this new world for a few hours and already so much has happened. I found was reunited with my sister, she was reunited with her fiancé, we found some of our friends, and I found Hope. I think back to our exchange back at the orchard. Why did I react like that when I saw him? Yes I've always cared, well not always, for him but why did seeing him again, in his adult form, affect me so. I am broken out of my reverie by a sudden splash and in the blink of an eye I was soaked.

"Hope! Why did you do that?" I ask wiping the water out of my eyes.

"Because Light you look so serious. Come on lighten up." He said with a ridiculous smirk on his face. I want nothing more than to wipe it off.

"Oh yea? I need to lighten up?" I say standing up and making my way over to him.

"Come on Light. It was just a joke. Please don't be mad." He gulped looking afraid and backing up a bit.

"Oh I'm not mad." I keep moving closer.

"Really? Cus you look kind of mad." He backed up some more.

"No Hope I'm not mad at all." I finally reach him and put my hand on his chest.

"Light… Light what are you doing?" He stammers trying to squirm away from me. I grab a fist full of his shirt and yank him to me.

"Why do you think I'm going to do something Hope?" Before I he has a chance to answer I swing him around and throw him into the stream. However he managed to catch my arm and he pulls me in with him. The stream is barely deep enough to cover us both. We struggle for a few seconds to untangle from each other. I sit up and the water reaches my shoulders.

Hope manages to get up and he looks at me. We both stand and Hope comes at me. He tackles me back into the water and we spend the next half hour wrestling and just playing around in the water. By the time we stop we are both soaking wet and laughing harder than I have since I was a child.

We lay down on the stream's bank side by side. Still laughing he looks at me and inhales deeply. I turn onto my side to face him. I am smiling more than I ever have. He turns to face me as well. Several locks of my hair fall into my face and he reaches up nervously and brushes them behind my ear. We stare into each other's eyes, his hand resting gently on the side of my face. He is smiling at me and closes his eyes. We lay there just enjoying the sun on our bodies and each other's presence. I don't think I have ever felt so relaxed in my life.

I watch him beside me, eyes closed just relaxing in the warm sun. I can't help but think he is beautiful again. The sun reflects off the water drops in his hair and his expression is so peaceful. I want things to be like this all the time. I never want him to have to worry or feel pain. Right then I make a silent vow to myself to do everything in my power to make him happy. I can't figure out why I'm feeling like this, but at this exact moment I really don't care.

I reach over and gently caress his cheek. His smile grows even bigger, I didn't even think that would be possible. Then I lean forward and press my forehead and nose to his. He gasps at the sudden contact and I can feel our breaths mingle. Everything about this feels so right, but at the same time I'm a little nervous. I don't really know what I am doing or why I am doing it and that scares me. Maybe I need to talk to Serah about this. At the thought of Serah I suddenly pull away and sit up. Hope opens his eyes and looks at my questioningly.

"What's up Light?" He sits up as well. I take a deep breath and exhale slowly.

"We should be going. The others are going to start to worry about me. Serah was nervous enough about me going off by myself."

He smiles gently and stands up. He then offers me his hand and I take it. He pulls me to my feet, but doesn't let go of my hand. We walk hand in hand to where we left the apples. I don't want to let go of him, but I know I have to. He seems just as reluctant to release my hand, but eventually we do let go and I pick up the apples. We begin walking again back to the rest of our family.

…

A/N: Okay so lots of HxL fluff in this one. I hope you all liked it. I'm thinking about switching to Hope's pov for some parts, but I'm not sure yet. What do you guys think? If I get enough people saying they want to see something in Hope's pov then I will, if not then I'll stick to just Light. Let me know what you think. Later.