Hey everyone! Back for more? :)

As far as updates go, I'll aim for every other day or two - maybe faster, if inspiration strikes and I simply cannot restrain myself from writing...but I can promise that I'll update once a week at the latest (I am a student, after all - homework must come first!). Also, I'll probably be updating this story a little slower than Negative, if only because at the moment I have a b'gillion ideas for that story...but do not despair! I had a lightbulb for this story the other day, and updates will continue to flow, they just might be delayed a bit. :)

I'll be responding to anonymous reviews at the end of the chapter. To all my reviewers, once again, THANK YOU! :D You make my day happy.

The usual disclaimer...I don't own FFXIII, much to my own personal despair, but I do own the plot and any OC's that might show up!

"Claire!" Serah exclaimed, setting down the floral arrangement she had been examining and running to embrace her sister, who returned the hug, if a little less enthusiastically.

"It's about time you got here, sis," Snow teased, following his fiancée at a slower pace. "Looking good, Hope – have you gotten taller?" Snow leaned over, narrowing his eyes as if peering through a microscope at the younger boy.

"I'm not that short," Hope mumbled under his breath, crossing his arms in annoyance, but Snow only ruffled his hair good-naturedly.

"Oh, don't worry about it," the tall, broad-shouldered, thickly-muscled man reassured him with an easy grin. "Some kids grow slower, that's all. Maybe you're just a late bloomer?"

Hope rolled his eyes at this, brushing Snow's hand away, and was about to retort when Lightning spoke up.

"He's taller than Serah," the soldier said, releasing her sister and turning to Snow. "Not everyone's a giant like you, idiot."

"Yeah, well…" Snow laughed, staring down at them all from his giant's height.

Serah studied them quietly for a moment, then began to laugh. "Actually, Claire, I think Hope's taller than you now!"

Lightning looked at her bemusedly, her expression clearly stating "as if", while Hope looked over at Lightning, blinking quickly before grinning. Lightning turned to him, about to warn him not to get his hopes up, but stopped when she was forced to face the unwanted truth that she did indeed have to look up to meet his eyes – if only slightly.

Before anyone could begin to tease her about the fact that her one-time student was now taller than his teacher, Lightning decided to choose the lesser of the two evils. "So how is the planning coming along?" she asked her sister, knowing there was just one thing that could distract Serah from any line of questioning.

Just as expected, Serah's eyes grew wide and she began beaming. "It's going perfectly!" she chirped, clasping her hands together in a display of excitement. "We were just about to decide what floral arrangements we want on the tables, but there are so many choices, and I want it to be perfect." A momentary frown tugged down her cheerful smile, but it quickly vanished as she continued. "And we've reserved the ballroom in the Bodhum Beach Hotel for the reception – they'll even get everything all set up for us, we just need to have the caterers and florists deliver everything!"

As she continued to chatter at her sister, dragging the unwilling Lightning towards the flowers she had been inspecting for her opinion, Snow turned to Hope and grinned.

"So, you're taller than sis now," he said, his tone speaking volumes.

Hope ignored the insinuation, simply responding, "It had to happen eventually." He watched as Serah pointed out two arrangements to Lightning, feeling a smile tug at his lips at the pained expression on Light's face – flowers were not her thing. He saw Snow grinning at him out of the corner of his eye, and rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Snow said, assuming an innocent expression. "So how was your date with sis?"

"It was – what?" Hope caught himself just in time, feeling his cheeks flush as he looked at Snow with an expression somewhere between disbelief and horror. "It wasn't a date," he insisted, his voice rising, and he fought to keep himself from shouting. "We were just meeting up for drinks, you know, to catch up before heading over. We haven't seen each other much recently."

"Drinks?" Snow asked, with another of those grins that made Hope want to punch him – Now I remember why Light has such a short fuse around him.

"We were just getting coffee and tea at a café," Hope groaned. This conversation was taking a turn for the worse, and fast. "That's it. Well, mostly," he corrected himself, the strange teenagers popping into his mind.

Snow caught his change in tone and turned serious. "What happened?" he inquired, for once not being the dense idiot Lightning not-so-fondly called him.

Hope explained what they had seen: the winged Cie'th-like creatures, the pair of teenagers with their weird hair, the magic they had used. As he finished, he felt a thought tugging at the back of his mind, like a half-remembered memory, but when it refused to come forward he brushed it aside, instead watching Snow's reaction.

It was exactly what he had expected: surprise, confusion, worry. The fact that it was exactly what he had expected bothered Hope for a moment, but he reminded himself that it was Snow he was talking to, not Lightning. Snow was entirely predictable.

"Cie'th near Bodhum…silver- and pink-haired kids…and magic?" Snow muttered, raising one hand to scratch at the scruff on his chin. "That doesn't sound right."

"Doesn't sound right?" Hope repeated, feeling exasperated again. Snow looked startled – apparently he hadn't realized he was talking aloud – but it faded when Hope continued. "Of course it isn't right. It's been four years since Cocoon fell, and in that time all the Cie'th near here should have been wiped out. And magic? Only l'Cie can use magic, and our brands are gone. Only fal'Cie can make l'Cie, and all the fal'Cie are trapped in Cocoon, living or dead."

"Maybe they're from the past!" Snow exclaimed, looking as if he had just discovered the secret to life. "Maybe they're l'Cie who were crystallized after completing their Focus, and only just woke up – ow…"

Hope had punched Snow's shoulder before the man could get too off track. "Even if they were crystallized, all the other l'Cie we've seen who have woken up don't have their brands, either."

"Right…" Snow frowned, rubbing the shoulder Hope had punched. He opened his mouth, probably to make another stupid comment, but was interrupted when Serah called them over to help decide which arrangement to use – true to form, Lightning had been no help at all.

So? How was it? Good :D? Bad :(? Confusing O_x? Weird 8.8? ...Ok, I ran out of smilies.

Hope (haha) you enjoyed it!

iheartsnow: Wow, thanks for reviewing both stories - thanks for the support! And yeah, I understand - I just feel like the current title doesn't quite fit the story, and it bugs me O_x Don't worry, I'll try to fix that soonish...or just live with it. Thanks again for your reviews! :)