Aw man. I'm sorry for disappearing off the face of the planet for awhile, guys. First, there was the fourth of July. Then, my cousin came over, and, while she's a very sweet girl, I don't want her peering over my shoulder as I write my stories. And then my summer activities really started. But I'll try to go back to my usual schedule.

tootsiepopgurl: Haha, well I think you'll warm up to her soon.

Wanderer of Worlds: Aw, nah. Evi's a nice girl, so she wouldn't do anything like that. xD Sazh and Dajh will pop in later.

PinkhairedSoldier: Thank you Bella! It wasn't a bad review at all. I love hearing from you guys. ^^

AssasinZAssasin: Stubborn lass, she is! :3 Don't go out of your way to review my stories. I know you're busy with your own stuff. Thanks so much for reviewing. :)

Misao19: If you're making me cookies, I'd like choco chip. :D

Revan Farron: Oh my, I feel sorry for her. xD Thanks for the review!

Comancee: Haha, I believe you are one of the first sympathizers with poor Tau. xD Thanks!

FFLightXHopeTifaXCloud: I'm workin' on that comma use! I added a little more story in this one, after your edits. I'm sorry! I probably should've sent them after, but I wanted to update as soon as possible. Thank you for your help.

"L-L-Lightning!" Hope yelled. His face was red and his hands were clenched at his sides. The shade of his cheeks only deepened when the pink-haired woman standing in front of him gave him a questioning look. The two of them stood in the middle of the main street of the city they lived in, yet there was no one else around. The shop windows were dark, and the only other living thing around, besides the two of them, was a raven. The bird perched on a sign near Hope, jerking its head about in the way birds do.

"What is it, Hope?" Lightning asked. She did not seem the least bit perturbed that no one else seemed to be there, and Hope was too embarrassed and nervous to give a damn.

"I... I love you!" The silver-haired teenager said, his voice falling in volume from his previous shout. He was glad he had managed to squeeze the confession out in time; his confidence was running too low to perform any other daring action.

Lightning's expression was moved to surprise, a look almost identical to the one she had worn the night before. Hope's heart lifted in hope, only to crash into the bottom of his chest when Light frowned and her expression darkened.

"I'm sorry, Hope." She mumbled, before turning her back to him and striding down the road, away from him. The raven let out a shriek and a huge cloud of dust blew across the road just as Hope reached forward to stop the woman he had fallen in love with.

Stumbling backwards, coughing and shielding his eyes, Hope tripped over himself and fell onto the ground. He gasped as the very earth began to tear itself up. The dust had become a whirlwind of sand and dirt, and it whipped around Hope as he struggled to rise. The houses and buildings on either side of the street began to crumble along with the ground, leaving only black, empty space behind.

And as fast as it had begun, it had ended. Now, there was only silence and darkness with Hope floating in the middle of it. There was no one else. He was totally alone.

Hope's eyes popped open in alarm. He did not sit up in terror, but he did make a small "ah" sound as he awoke. Stunned and confused, he lay still in his bed. Finally realizing that the whole thing had been a nightmare, Hope sighed with relief and sat up, throwing the covers off of his legs.

There were various articles of clothing thrown about the room. Hope's desk was surprisingly neat but his walls were papered with posters and pictures and his shelves were a crazy mix of objects. Different models of boomerangs, both toys and weapons, were displayed. Everything from stones to cards littered the bookcases. On top of a shelf, a glass pyramid sat on a tiny black stand. The shafts of sunlight that were streaming through the blinds of the windows of the room pierced the glass object and threw rainbow lights around the bedroom.

Hope glanced around the room for quite some time, as if assuring himself that the ground was there and not breaking apart. He sneezed once, then sighed and pulled his knees to his chest, hugging them to himself. Burying his face in his knees, he rubbed away the damp sweat on his forehead absentmindedly. Did that nightmare mean something...? The thought suddenly struck Hope that maybe it was some sort of vision that Lightning would reject him if he confessed.

Oh, joy.

He finally jumped off the bed and strode to the window, pulling up the blinds. Wincing in the sudden brightness of the morning sun, Hope staggered to the bedroom door and opened it, walking into the hallway. His father's bedroom door was open and it appeared that he had already left for his business trip.

Bartholomew Estheim was a busy man. Long ago, Hope had resented him for never having time to be home or to really spend time with him and his mother. Now, though, he had come to terms with the fact that his poor father was only doing it because he had to. Nora's death had been just as hard on Bartholomew as it had been for Hope, and he still had to raise Hope as a single parent.

A note on the dinner table caught Hope's eye and he picked it up, coughing slightly. It was a note from his father.

Good morning, Hope!

I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye face to face. I didn't want to wake you. I'm quite certain you didn't go to sleep until very late last night. I told you not to stay out too late. I'm also sorry I won't be home for awhile. This business trip will probably take about five days. Will you be all right? I'll call every day. Don't eat all the cake. Save it to eat with Claire and the others; I'm assuming your friends will be visiting. Say hello to them for me.

Love,
Dad

P.S. Don't overfeed Maui. He's already getting quite big. Also, don't overfeed yourself. You're already getting quite big.

Next to the last word of the note was a smiley face with its tongue sticking out. Hope smiled. He would get back at his dad for that, later. First of all, he was hungry. The first mission on his list was to raid the fridge.

A few minutes later, he was sitting at the table with a plate of waffles covered in syrup when his cell phone, which he had retrieved from his bedside table, vibrated and wiggled across the tabletop. A text? Hope dropped the phone in surprise as it vibrated again. A second one?

"2 New Messages." The screen flashed. There was a picture of an envelope, and Lightning's name was shown below it. There were two options, "View Now" and "View Later." His heart thumped loudly in his chest with both excitement and worry. Recalling the dream, he slowly pressed the "View Now" button.

Hey. In the most boring meeting ever. Some people acting up in the community. Don't reply, and you don't need to pick me up today. Later.

Feeling a little disappointed at the rather bland, anticlimactic message, Hope sighed, closing the text. She was right, of course. If she was in a meeting, he shouldn't distract her by replying... Did that mean he wouldn't see her at all?

The second text was from Vincent. This one was probably as boring as one can get with a virtual message.Hi.

While Vince was the most serious and studious of them all, he had a bit of a quirky side to him. His parents had only just allowed Vincent to text, and he had been having plenty of fun with his new freedom.

Hope replied, Hey, Vince. Bored? With that done, he set his phone beside his plate and resumed eating. The phone vibrated soon afterwards, but Hope refused to part with his pancakes until they were in his stomach.

Finally, Hope stood and put his plate in the sink. Sweeping up the cellular device, Hope vaulted over the back of the sofa to view the reply. Yeah. Tau is still sulking. Your Lightning really scared him.

Hope rolled his eyes to show his exasperation, even though his best friend wasn't there. Lightning isn't "mine", idiot.

The response was nearly immediate and Hope sighed at the text, which displayed its context in an indifferent tone. Yeah, whatever. Man… Vince could express his point of view in the most discreet tone possible and still get his point across.

Hope's only response to the previous message was a peeved emoticon. After that, the words "I'm feeding Maui now. Come over if you want," were tapped into the text after the face. With that done, he tossed the device carelessly over his shoulder onto the sofa as he sat up.

But as Hope was pulling a bowl out from under the sink, a special ringtone quickly dragged him back to snatch at his phone with an alacrity that one would deem suspicious.

Hope had a specific ringtone for each of his close friends. Snow's ringtone, for example, was the man yelling into the phone and laughing at the same time. "Hope! Hey, Hope!" The phone would shriek whenever Snow called, "It's Snow. The hero!" Shouts of laughter from Maqui, LeBreau, and the others could be heard in the background while Hope's own voice interrupted the man. "Oh God, Snow, don't say that stuff for a ringtone."

They had all been at a party at the Villiers' place when they began recording these, and everyone, even Lightning, had their own set of personalized sounds. Afterwards, Hope had gotten Vincent, Evi, Tau, and a few others to do it too.

The ringtone that was currently playing from Hope's cell phone was one that made him smile. Lightning's voice could be heard, distinct even through the device. "...Why do I have to do this..."

Snow's loud voice, also quite prominent, coaxed her. "C'mon, Lightning. It's fun!"

The next voice made Hope laugh. Dajh pleaded with the woman. "Pleeease, Lightning? Please? Me and Daddy are doing it, too."

Lightning sighed and finally agreed. "But... what do I say?"

"Anything!" Hope tilted his head, thinking about how different he sounded on the phone, at least to his own ears. Deciding not to keep her waiting any longer, Hope retrieved the phone and opened it, putting it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hope?" Lightning said. "Hope, we're having a dinner party at Serah's place tonight. Sazh and the NORA gang are going to be there, too. Can you and your dad come?"

Hope smiled; Dinner parties were always fun. "I'd love to come!" The smile on his face faded a little. "...My dad's on a business trip, though. He left this morning."

"I see..." There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Will you be okay while he's gone?"

"Lightning. I'm not a kid."

"Yeah you are." The woman chuckled.

"Hey! I'm sixteen!"

"Hmph, still just a kid."

"You sound like Sazh. I'm fine! Geez... I'll drive over and pick you up, then we can head to their place."

"Didn't you read my text?"

"O-Oh, right... I kind of..." Hope trailed off. He had meant to tell Lightning that he wanted to talk to her, one on one, but couldn't bring himself to do it. "Yeah. I'll just see you then. What time should I be there?"

"Hm... Around 6:30 should do it."

"Okay, I'll be... Ah... AH-CHOO!" Hope sneezed violently, his head jerking backwards. Pulling a tissue out of the box next to the phone charger, he blew his nose and tossed the crumpled tissue into the trash can.

"Sorry." He said, returning the receiver to his ear. "I think I got a bit of a chill this morning."

Lightning's voice was reproachful when she finally responded. "...Did you sleep with your hair wet again? I've told you before. If you sleep with your hair wet, you're going to catch a cold."

Hope didn't say anything, but began to giggle quietly. After a rather irritated silence from Lightning, Hope apologized. "Sorry, Light. But you sounded so much like a mom!"

"...Alright. I'll see you at the party." And the woman hung up. She hadn't sounded angry. She probably softened at the mom thing, since it was coming from Hope.

Shaking his head, Hope closed his phone. It was rather pointless though, since it was soon opened again when Hope got a text from Vincent. I'll be there soon. Evi's coming, too.

Evi and Vincent were both next door neighbors and good childhood friends. Ironically, Evi's father and Vincent's mother used to date each other. One would think it would make it more awkward to find that they had moved to houses next to each other with different spouses years after their dating days, but they actually grew to be great friends.

Seeing as they would be there soon, Hope figured he might as well get on with it. Striding to a door that led to the backyard of his house, still rubbing his nose, Hope poked his head into the yard and called out, "Maui!"

He was immediately responded to as a young puppy skittered around a corner of the house and leapt, full throttle, into Hope's arms. In reality, though, it wasn't really a domestic puppy.

It was a baby Pantheron. The vicious beasts had once been one of Hope's frequent enemies, but with short legs, a small body, a chubby face, and a sweet disposition, the little suckers were one of the most adorable things ever. Certainly, the way Hope and Bartholomew had come to keep the "monster" did not really fall into the norm... But that's another story.

"Down, Maui, down! I'll get you your food, so just calm down for a second!" The small puppy's immense joy and rather clingy personality prevailed, though, and he continued to wriggle about in Hope's grasp.

Finally, Hope staggered to the couch and tipped the puppy over onto the cushions, where he lay sprawled in a comical fashion, before wiggling about and tipping himself over the edge. Triumphantly, now that he was upright, Maui scampered after Hope, who had gone to the kitchen to prepare Maui's food.

As Hope set the bowl before the hungry puppy's eager mouth, the doorbell rang. Maui's head jerked up and away from the food and, distracted, charged towards the noise. Hope followed close behind, trying to shush Maui. Peering through the window, Hope witnessed Evi and Vincent laughing on his doorstep. As he watched, Evi gave Vince a bit of a shove.

"You're the new guy?"

Hope blinked and turned. A black-haired boy stood there, looking Hope over with a cool and calculating eye, his light blue eyes startling in their contrast to his hair color. Hope recognized him from his class.

It was his first day in his new high school. Most of the students already knew each other from their middle schools, but Hope had recently transferred into their district. People knew about him from the recent events, but no one actually knew him. And so, the silver-haired boy had been alone for the majority of the first day.

Hope nodded in response to the boy's question. "Yeah. I'm Hope Estheim."

"I'm Vincent Altao. Vince for short. Nice to meet you." The two shook hands. There was a moment of awkward silence, then Vince ran his fingers through his chaotic mane of hair. "So... I noticed you didn't really have anyone to sit with... and stuff. So, basically... Me and my friends were wondering... Sorry, I'm not too good at talking with new people..."

Hope grinned. "Nah, I get what you're saying. That'd be great."

Vince returned the smile and nodded. "Well, come on." He led the way down the hall, back to their classroom. Everyone was eating lunch and a few students stared as Hope took a seat beside Vincent at the window. A large, red-haired boy trudged over to the table and, to Hope's surprise, sat down on the other side of Vincent. Noting his surprise, Vince introduced the two. "Hope, this is Tau. Tau, this is..."

"I know who this is! Hope Estheim, right? What you did with your friends is totally amazing! Vince, don't you know...?"

"Of course I know. But there isn't any need to bring it up, don't you think? He was pretty embarrassed when some of our girl classmates called him out on it."

"Oh..." Tau took a moment to think about it, before bowing his head. "Excuse my inconsideration..." He mumbled humbly.

Hope smiled and waved a hand. "It's fine. Thank you." At that point, Hope turned his head slightly and saw a brown-haired girl staring at their group of three. A moment later, Vince turned his head as well to see what he was looking at. Once the two caught each others' eye, Vince's fork paused its journey to his mouth and the brown-haired girl jerked her head back sharply, as if stung. Then she turned and stalked out of the room with a blond girl.

"Who was that?" Hope asked when Vincent turned back around. Vince took a bite of his lunch and swallowed before answering.

"That's my friend, Evi Mordia. And the blondie was her friend, Libby Conow."

Tau leaned over Vincent to whisper to Hope, "Vince and Evi are mad at each other right now... Usually, Evi and Libby sit with us."

Vince shrugged. "She gets mad at me a lot. We're family friends and we see each other all the time, not to mention we're neighbors too, so she's got plenty of time to get pissed off at me."

"They're really close, though," Tau interjected.

Hope tilted his head, brow furrowing. "So... An extremely contradicting couple?"

Vince snorted. "Oh come on, no matter who says what, we aren't going out or anything. We're just family friends."

Hope thought about this for a moment before asking another question. "Why's she mad at you? She seemed pretty miffed just now."

Vince continued eating with an air of indifference. "I'm on the student board, as well as the vice president of the Forensics team. Speech-making and stuff, you know? Not the detective business. Now that we're in high school, we really have to start working.

"Evi and I usually chill together on the weekends, but I hadn't hung out with her in awhile and she started getting upset. So, one day I didn't come to a dinner party our parents had scheduled and she got mad."

Tau shook his head solemly. "Vince doesn't understand girls very well."

"Oh, and you do?" Vince shot a look at Tau. "Anyways, it usually only lasts a day or two, but I think this'll take awhile to blow over."

Indeed, it took quite a while for the situation to "blow over," as Vince had said. In fact, it was a whole week before Evi greeted Vince in the morning. After that, though, they seemed to return to their old selves, and Hope saw that what Tau had said was very true. Vincent and Evi were very close friends.

Smiling, Hope picked Maui up and opened the door, welcoming his friends in. "Hey, guys. I was just feeding Maui."

Evi slowly slid behind Vincent, brown eyes set fearfully on Maui. Hope raised an eyebrow and Vincent sighed. "C'mon, Evi." Hope said, bracingly. "Maui's nice, you know that. You even managed to pet him last time."

Vincent stepped into the Estheims' house, leaving Evi behind. Hope blew air through his nose and handed Maui to Vincent, who squeezed his blue eyes shut as the excited creature began to lick his face. "S-Stop it, Maui, stop it!" Vincent held him at arms length, rubbing his face on his sleeve. "I'll take you back to the kitchen..."

As Vincent walked away, Hope held a hand out to Evi, who grabbed it and latched on. Hope closed the door behind her, then waited for Evi to let go. But she didn't. "Hope, I..."

Hope said nothing and just looked at the brown-haired girl. "Hope, I need to talk to you..." Evi finally whispered. Hope nodded, even though he really wanted to ask her to say it now.

"Hey, Vince! Evi and I are going to get the mail, okay?" Hope called. The mailbox was allll the way down the long driveway. Even if Vince was wondering why they were taking so long, he wouldn't be able to see them from the window and would just assume they were taking their time.

"'Kay," Vince called back. The two of them stepped out of the house and started the long walk down the driveway in silence.

It hadn't been a lie. Hope had to get the mail, anyways, so it was just a perfect opportunity to hear what Evi said and to get one of his "chores" done at the same time. As he was tugging envelopes, magazines, and a small package, Evi finally plucked up the courage to speak. "Hope, that pink-haired woman..."

Hope immediately knew who she was talking about. "...Lightning?"

"Yeah. Do you... Do you like her?"

"...I guess I do... Yeah." Hope looked carefully at the package in his hands. "What about it?"

"But, Hope, I like you, too...!" Evi blushed, but stared intently at Hope, who paused for a moment before setting the mail on the ground and turning to look her dead in the eye.

"Evi. You don't. I mean, I'm sure you like me as a friend, but you don't love me." Hope decided to be as blunt as possible, but his expression was still slightly sad as he looked down at the girl in front of him.

Tears began to well up in Evi's brown eyes. "I do..."

"The day we first met? My first impression of you was a grumpy person," Hope smiled slightly. "Vince told me you were mad at him. You stayed mad at him for like... a week? Then, you guys slowly started speaking again.

"You really like Vince, don't you? It's been him, even before we met." Hope reached out and hugged Evi as she began to cry. "You're an idiot... Vince probably knew you just wanted to make him jealous, but then decided you really liked me. He's smart, but not in these situations."

Evi was really weeping now. Hope continued talking, now patting her soothingly on the head. "Sorry, Evi... I'm sorry. Two years. It must've been hard." Then, he bonked her on the head. Hard.

"Ow!" Evi stumbled backwards, rubbing her head. "What the heck was that for, Hope?" She asked, pummeling him, even as tears continued to stream down her cheeks.

"That's so stupid!" Hope retorted. "Why didn't you just tell him? I swear, girls are the weirdest specimens in the universe!"

"Excuse me? Boys are the really confusing things!" They proceeded to head back up towards the house, still arguing with each other. By the time they reached the house, the two were laughing hysterically.

Walking into the house, still chuckling, they were greeted with odd looks from Vincent. He looked from Hope to Evi, eyes roaming over her ruffled hair, wet face, and red eyes. He walked up to her, straightening her hair. This was clearly a regular thing, as they saw each other almost every day, regardless of the time of the year. "What happened?" The black-haired boy inquired.

Hope drew himself up to his full height and coughed. "Vincent!" He said in a loud, attention-commanding voice. "Evi has something to tell you!" With a grand sweep of his arm and a great show of bravado, Hope ignored a protesting Evi and indicated the door.

"Sorry to cut your visit short, but I think her announcement will take much more time than is available at my house." Hope pushed the two out of the door, grinning cheekily. "Talk about it on the way home, and tell me what happens after!" And without another word, he shut the door.

Maui was in the kitchen, stretched out in a patch of sunlight. Hope poked him with a toe. "C'mon, you lazy dog." The pup did not respond except to stretch and roll over.

Hope sighed, then was suddenly overcome with a coughing fit. Even though the day was warm, he shivered. The excitement had left him, and now left him feeling very... tired. "I'm gonna go... sleep." He mumbled, heading towards his bed.

Lightning was putting away some more files, preparing to leave, when Amodar came over to stand at her side. "Lightning, aren't you leaving a little later than usual? Where is Hope?"

"I told him not to pick me up today, sir. It's nothing really that important." The pink-haired woman stood and saluted the man briefly. "I'll see you tomorrow, then." Amodar nodded, and she left the office.

As she walked into the parking lot, Lightning felt another presence coming up behind her. She stopped, and a man stopped beside him. He was a handsome fellow, with straw-colored hair and green eyes. He was taller than Lightning, but she was his superior in both abilities and rank. Lightning sighed. "What do you want, Princeton?"

"Please, Light, just call me Bane, won't you?" Bane Princeton grinned, sliding his arm around Lightning's shoulders. She stepped from his reach and turned to face him, her blue eyes shooting daggers at the man.

"I said, what do you want, Princeton?" Lightning folded her arms across her chest.

Bane put on an expression of immense hurt, and shrugged. "Aw, c'mon sweetie, I just wanted to ask you out to dinner."

"That's unfortunate," came Lightning's swift response. "I have something scheduled already. Goodbye." She turned on her heel and headed towards her car. To her great annoyance, Bane followed her.

"This appointment isn't with that kid, is it? What's his girly name again? Faith?" Bane snorted.

Livid, Lightning whipped around. "His name is Hope. And I'd much rather rather go out to dinner with him than an aggravating prick like you. So back off, you childish jerk. I can't believe you're in the Guardian Corp." She continued on her way and was relieved to hear no following footsteps.

Later, Lightning headed up the apartment stairs to Serah and Snow's place. It had been a long day, and she was looking forward to just relaxing with friends and family. As she placed her finger on the doorbell, though, her phone rang with the tone that indicated she had a new text message. Serah opened the door to see Lightning looking at the message with a worried expression.

"Sis? What's wrong?"

"Mm... I don't think Hope's going to be able to make it to the party. He says he's got a mild fever and cold."

"Aww, no..." Serah frowned. "Should we go see him?"

Lightning stared at the message a little longer, before shaking her head and putting her cell phone away. "He said that he was fine. He gave me his temperature, too. It's only 99 degrees, so he should be okay. He doesn't want to get Dajh and the kids sick."

"That's nice of him. I'll take something to him, later." Serah mused as she turned to the kitchen. Lightning followed her, trying to shake off the concerned feeling she still had.

"Hope's heart lifted in hope"... -Giggle- Hehe, sorry. I wanted to say it just so it would be rather... ironic? xD Maybe that isn't the exact word for it.

By the way, if anyone wanted to know, I imagine Vincent as a tall boy with light blue eyes and a hairstyle that's a mix between Noctis and Vanitas. I also wanted to clear up the whole Evi thing before I proceeded to the next parts of the story.