Chapter 3

After the party had ended, Lightning and Hope had returned to her house, tired out from the day's activities. They didn't talk much on the way home and afterwards while they were getting ready for bed, but that didn't bother Hope. What she had said to him made him happier than he had been since before his mother had died. She acknowledged him as an equal, and she said that she trusted him, and was grateful that he had followed her. After exchanging 'good nights' and getting into bed, Hope's mind was free of the frantic thoughts and emotions that had plagued him as of late, and fell contentedly to sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

XXXXX

Hope was standing in what appeared to be an old fashioned bar, like the ones that used to be in Palumpolum on Cocoon. He looked around and took in the scene; Sazh was sitting at a piano in the corner, playing an old tune that he faintly recognized. Next to him stood Serah in a gown with a mic, tapping her foot along with the melody. She eventually started to sing, "It's nine o'clock on a Saturday…"

Hope turned to the bar and saw Snow pouring drinks and offering a light to a depressed looking Fang, wearing a leather jacket and taking a drag on her freshly lit cigarette. He looked over and spotted Vanille dancing to the melody in the middle of floor, swaying in time with the music. In the corner he spotted a familiar head of pinkish blonde hair with a ponytail on the side, and walked over to find Lightning sitting at a table by herself with a glass of red liquor in her hand. He sat down across the table from her, and she looked up at him with an unreadable expression.

After a few moments she said to him "I was waiting for you, you know." She cracked a slight smile.

"F-for me? Why?" Hope stammered.

Lightning picked up her drink and quickly drained the rest of it and set it back on the table with a gentle 'clink.' "Let's dance," she sad abruptly, and grabbed a startled Hope's hand and dragged him out to where Vanille was still dancing to the music. Sazh was playing a different tune now, and Serah was singing accordingly.

"No one knows what its like…to be the bad man….to be the sad man….behind blue eyes…"

As Light lead him in a slow dance, she rested her head on his shoulder. Hope let her lead him around the floor, still not understanding what was happening. After a few moments she looked up at him. "You shouldn't worry so much, Hope. Things happen for a reason." She rested her head back on his shoulder and they continued dancing….

The bar faded around him, and Hope was floating through a dark abyss. As the scene formed around him, he noticed metal walls full of twisting gears and flashing lights. He walked into a circular room that seemed vaguely familiar to him. After some thought, he realized this was the place inside the Pulse fal'Cie where he and the others had confronted Anima and subsequently been turned into l'Cie. He looked around, but there was no sign of the part of the fal'Cie they had fought.

Hope was suddenly startled by a voice that came from nowhere. "You've changed Hope," a voice chuckled, and he instantly recognized it as Vanille's. "All grown up, but still having freaky dreams," she chuckled again. Hope looked around for Vanille, but he was alone in the room.

"Vanille? Is that you?" he asked into the emptiness.

"Who else would it be, silly?"

"Where are you?" he asked again, still looking around.

"That doesn't matter right now, I don't have much time. I came to give you something back," she replied mysteriously.

"What is it?" Hope asked, still confused.

"Something to help you do what you have to do…," she trailed off, sounding rather sad this time. "I'm sorry, but there's no other way."

"I don't understand, what do you mean?" Hope gave up looking around, and was instead staring at the ceiling; Vanille's voice seemed to be coming from the walls around him.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I hope you'll forgive me, eventually. By the way, don't give up on her, she'll come around, I'm sure of it!" Her voice seemed to be fading away at her last words. Suddenly, a blue-white flash exploded in the room, and Hope knew no more.

XXXXX

Hope woke with a start. He blinked the sleep from eyes as he looked around. The sun streamed through the windows, and the clock next to his bed told him it was nine o'clock. "Fuckin weird dreams," he muttered to himself as he tried to rub the remaining weariness from his eyes. He walked into the bathroom and looked at his disheveled hair in the mirror with a groan. Eyes still closed, he opened the drawer searching for the brush he had brought with him, and retracted his hand as a sharp pain shot through his finger. He had cut himself on an old razor blade hidden beneath various junk in the drawer.

"Shit," he muttered, annoyed by the pain radiated from his fresh wound. He stretched out his hand to turn the sink on to clean it when something caught his eye. He looked down at his left wrist and saw a strange marking on it. Blinking his eyes again he stared down at the mark and recognized it at once and his blood turned cold. It was the same mark he had thought he had seen the last of six years ago. It wasn't black, but frozen looking like Fang's had been, but it was unmistakably his l'Cie brand. It began emitting a soft white light.

"Oh, shit," he whispered. Eyes not leaving the pulsing mark, he ran out of the room towards Lightning's door and pounded frantically on it.

"What the hell?" Light asked angrily as she opened the door, clearly still having been asleep.

"Lightning, something, uh…something bad happened…" Hope said, not knowing how to tell her. Anger was replaced by concern as she continued starting at him, clearly waiting for him to continue. "I was woken up by some weird dreams, and…" he stopped. Why couldn't he bring himself to tell her? He hung his head and raised his left arm towards her face. She looked down at the pulsing brand, and like he had, tried to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

"What the fuck? Where did that come from?" she asked, staring intently at the l'Cie brand burning on her friend's arm. She reached out as if to touch it, but her hand retracted at the last second and grasped at a spot on her own chest. She pulled the top of the loose tank top she had slept in, causing Hope to blush furiously and avert his eyes. When he looked back at her, she was staring at a brand identical to Hope's on the left side of her chest.

"What does this mean? How did this happen?" Hope stammered, trying to remain calm, but hanging his head in despair

"I don't know…" whispered Lightning. She seemed unable to believe what she was seeing.

Hope suddenly looked up. "We have to call the others, see if their brands are back too," he said quickly. He turned to run downstairs to the phone, but Lightning grabbed his arm.

"Don't mention the brand at first, I don't want to worry them if theirs didn't come back too," she said calmly, seemingly having regained her composure.

"O-okay," Hope stammered, and he ran down the stairs, Lightning right behind him. As he reached the phone, he heard the back door open and shut. He punched in the number to Snow's house and impatiently waited as the phone rang once, twice, three, four times until someone finally picked it up.

"Hello?" Snow's voice came through the receiver.

"Hey, Snow, it's Hope."

"Oh, hey kid, whatsup? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I-I called to ask you the same thing….you uhh… drank a lot last night and I wanted to make sure you were okay…" he stammered lamely.

"Pfft, heroes don't get hangovers, kid," Snow chuckled. Nah, I'm fine."

"So…nothing strange over there?"

"Strange? Like what? Are you sure you're okay, Hope?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…sorry if I woke you, I'll see you later," Hope said, and quickly hung up. He turned towards the back door as it opened again and saw Light walking in, looking worried.

"The brands are for real," she said solemnly. I just summoned Odin in the backyard…"

Hope closed his eyes and mentally probed the back of his consciousness, searching for the once familiar spot he had probed many times to call upon magic. With great surprise, he found it, and when he reached for it, warmth flooded him, as if he had rediscovered an old friend. He opened his eyes and released a cure spell on the cut on his finger; it closed instantly and relief spread through his body. The moment of elation was washed away, however, when he looked back at Lightning, who was looking grim.

"What should we do?" he asked her nervously.

"I….I don't know, Hope. But we need to find out how this happened, it doesn't make sense that we just woke up as l'Cie again.

"I know…" Hope started, but he was interrupted by a loud crackle as a radio on the kitchen table blared to life.

"Calling all units…..calling all units," said a voice that was barely audible over the static and interference. "Major disturbance…unknown origins….west side of the Nautilius district….Need backup….." the radio hissed into silence. Lightning looked up, worried, and began running upstairs. Hope remained rooted to the spot, wondering what could be going on. A minute later, Lighting came down in her combat gear, her gunblade bouncing in its sheath behind her.

"I have to go see what's going on, Hope," she said quickly. He could see the worry etched across her face. She turned to leave, but Hope grabbed her arm.

"Wait…let me go with you. We don't know who or what is waiting for you over there…" he said, with a concerned look.

She pulled free of his grasp. "No," she said sharply. "I don't want you getting hurt. Stay here, I'll be back soon, and we can sort this out." She turned to the door.

"But…" he said weakly, but she had already the slammed the door behind her. "Be careful…" he whispered to the empty room.