A/N: I know how many of you though how evil it was for me to pretend that was the end (MWAHAHAHAHA...jk). I think it was even worse that it took me so long to update. I don't know why this story became suddenly so much harder to write, but, well, it was. But I WILL FINISH IT. ...and I did

Yup that's right, this is the last part! I hope everyone enjoys it! And a special shout out to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!

Divine Wolfe, zenbon zakura, mellombror, HopelessRomanticist, sjwoods, Daedulas, I'mSassy2127, RinoaShadow, Willsdarkerside, Angelinn, Diamond Moonlight, togapika, TheBansheeQueen, KunoichiDawn, and Devil's Earl !

You guys are, like always, awesome. Enjoy the story :D

He felt more numb than anything else. Oh sure, when he initially heard her say it and even while he was sitting down in his seat, he certainly understood the term crush. His heart wasn't just stepped on. It was destroyed- cut up into little, bite-size pieces. He was shattered initially, but that initial devastation only lasted for the train ride.

As he walked off the platform at the local Palumpolum station, he couldn't feel it anymore. Numbness overcame his body, as if there was no heart to feel pain in the first place. His chest felt empty and so did his mind. He utterly refused to think about Lightning, but he couldn't think of anything else.

"Hope!"

His dad had picked him up from the station. And of course he would, he was just a kid anyway. That was why he was considered so useless even when he was a l'cie. It was why Lightning wouldn't even consider him, wasn't it?

"How was your trip?"

Terrible. I should have stayed home. "Pretty good. I'm glad I saw everyone."

His father patted him on the back and they both started walking back away from the train. "She must have been really cute, huh?"

He stopped in his tracks, wondering how he could be such an open book to everyone. Even Lightning, the last person he would want to know about any of this, seemed to realize he liked her the whole time. "Dad…you knew?"

"Well that was the whole reason for this trip, right?"

He couldn't help but smile at his perception. How could he have known that the main reason for him second guessing this trip was also his main motivation to go? "I wouldn't say it was the whole reason."

"Well yeah. It was also a little reunion for you guys too, I'm sure. But the baby was the main event, right?'

His green eyes widened. "Oh, the baby!…yeah, she was really…little."

"I'm happy for them."

The rest of his trip up was pretty standard. His father would ask him all the normal questions to which Hope would reply with non-specific answers. Everything was the same. Everything just kept going and going, despite Hope's overwhelming sense of emptiness.

His house was the same and so was his room. Was he expecting everything to seem bleaker? Hope sighed and dropped his duffel bag on the floor before falling on his bed. "This is pathetic."

Hope sprung up from his bed. He couldn't let this keep him down. He needed a distraction. He needed something to do. "I need to get over her."

He waited until nightfall and then told his father he was leaving. Hope was surprised he wasn't asked where, but he supposed after eighteen years, his father finally deemed him trustworthy.

What surprised Hope even more was that he seemed to have a pretty good idea of how to go about this. He would go to some club or bar or something, find some other girl completely unlike Lightning, and develop some sort of shallow attachment to her.

Foolproof.

All he had to do was actually figure out where to go. He hadn't actually been on the dating scene, well, ever and didn't really know where the night hot spots were, despite the fact that he was a teenager. Pining after the same girl for a few years did kind of limit his dating experience.

Then a flood of girls in sparkly dresses turned down the street in front of him, and using his great inference skills, he decided to follow them all the way to a short yet wide building with an array of brightly lit signs. Hope couldn't help but laugh at the name. Carfunkle was highlighted in orange with the four middle characters displayed in a deep red. But it seemed to be the only club in the area, so Hope just shrugged his shoulders and walked on to the line.

There was a man at the door who seemed taller than Snow and twice as wide, face covered with dark reflective sunglasses. "ID?"

Hope fumbled through his pockets for his wallet, which was there, but unfortunately his ID seemed to be absent. "…um, what do you need?"

"ID please. This club is for adults only, boy. No ID, no entrance."

He couldn't believe it. "But I'm 18! Believe me! I just left my license at home, but here's my library card…"

"He's 18!"

It was a girl's voice that said that, and he half-expected Lightning to be right behind him, a smile on her face and her eyes sparkling. She came here, of course, to admit how wrong she was about them and how stupid she was for ever thinking they wouldn't work out. And they would kiss, causing the obscene line of people outside to clap and cheer in their love.

But then Hope turned around too a short girl with straight dark hair. She did flash him a smile, but it didn't seem as spectacular. "You're Hope Estheim, aren't you?"

He nodded, "Yeah…you are?"

"Hope Estheim was part of the l'cie faction that saved Cocoon when he was just fourteen years old." She turned to the bouncer at the door, "That was four years ago, making him 18!"

The giant man crossed his arms and glanced at the card Hope had given him, "Sorry, Mr. Estheim. Next time bring your ID."

"Yeah, I will." He walked into the club, looking back to see the dark haired girl behind him. "Thanks for that back there."

She just kept smiling, "No problem! You were born exactly one month before I was, so of course I know you're 18." Her smile faded slightly, "I'm sorry, is that creepy?"

A little. But Hope laughed, "Nah, I guess you just remember what happened four years ago."

"Of course I do. I mean, I was 14 at the time too. I couldn't believe what you did!"

He smiled a bit, "Thanks."

"You're a lot cuter in person too." She giggled slightly, "Want to dance?"

He said yes, despite every other part of his body besides his mouth and hormones saying the opposite. She was pretty after all, even though she could barely hold a candle to a certain pink haired girl he wasn't supposed to think about.

The night continued on and on until Hope's feet were tired from standing on the solid tiled ground. "I think I'm headed out."

The dark haired girl looked at him curiously, "Is that an invitation?"

"No." Hope didn't hesitate to say the words or the harshness of his tone. "Bye..er, nice meeting you." There was a sense of shame entering his mind when he realized he hadn't even learnt her name. Not like that mattered, right? Shallow attachments. That was the plan.

The road was dark, street lamps barely filling the dark hole of the night sky. But Hope just continued waling, not distracted by the faint city lights or the dimly lit street. He supposed most people would have been scared to walk alone this late at night, but after his adventure as a l'cie, nothing really seemed that scary anymore.

There seemed to be only one thing that got his blood pumping, that gave him chills and throat clog in terror. The anticipation of Lightning's feelings used to be his worst fear, but now that it was over, he had nothing more to fear. He was free to just continue on in Palumpolum without anymore thoughts or dread of things that would never be.

But there was a light in the front of the door.

She wasn't carrying anything, no suitcase, no bag, not even her gunblade, which was a miracle all in itself. Hope blinked a little to clear his eyes and then smelled his breath, knowing that he must have been crazy or at least drug induced. Yet she was still there in front of his door, waiting for something. Waiting for me?

"You're out late." She said it like it was nothing, like he had expected to meet her there hours ago. "What were you doing?"

Hope ignored the question, "What are you doing here?"

"It's bad not to get enough sleep, Hope."

"Light…" Hope's voice sounded pained, "Why are you here?"

Though she didn't answer, not right away at least. She sat down on the small ledge in front of his house, shying a bit away from the Light. Her blue eyes looked at the ground briefly and then flashed back up to meet him. "You didn't let me go first."

Hope didn't know what to say, mostly because he had no idea what she was talking about. Luckily, Lightning continued before he could even muster some sort of idiotic response.

"At the train in Bodhum, I let you go first. I think that was a mistake."

I don't. He needed to hear it, didn't he? It was final confirmation, already delayed for four years.. "Then what did you want to say?" Although to be honest, he really had no interest in the words. It was probably just a further explanation on why they couldn't or shouldn't, something he was tired of hearing.

"I wanted to say…that I knew you liked me the whole time."

Hope just blinked. This wasn't exactly new information.

"And…" Lightning's usual steady voice dipped slightly, barely noticeable if it weren't for the silence of the night around them. "…I remember kissing you."

Hope's breath suddenly rushed up to his head, "What?"

"I remember that night, the whole night. I remember everything."

He was shaking his head, still confused, "Then why did you lie?"

Lightning stood up at that, coming a little closer to him. "I'm not sure. Maybe for the same reason I didn't say anything when I heard you liked me."

His eyes narrowed a bit. She wasn't making sense. Why would she come all the way here to tell him that? It didn't exactly make him feel better. If anything it made him feel worse. She knew the whole entire time and didn't do anything about it. "I don't…"

"You really are dense."

She kissed him powerfully on the lips, his green eyes still open in complete confusion. A rush of emotions overwhelmed him. The doubt in his mind was rapidly decreasing as the flush of the kiss increased. She was here, perfectly lucid too, kissing him. Now he really thought he was crazy. "I really meant that."

It was her turn to look at him expectantly for a response. And for all Hope could tell, she could have been waiting hours for him to speak. The thought that she was waiting for him now only made him smile. He looked at her pale face softly and grinned, "It's about time."

A/N:

Epilogue may be in the works, but I haven't exactly decided yet...

But I hope you all enjoyed the story! I'll get working on the new one/the other ones on here:D (Stupid school making me late for everything...)

-ASX