Author's Note: Hello! :) See? Told you there'd be more. And after this? There will be more still. I don't know how long this is going to go on, but I don't foresee an end within the next chapter or two.

We'll just see where the story leads us.


Hope's shirt was beyond hope, but as he had nothing else to wear, he had to put it back on. They'd gotten most of the mud out, but some of it just refused to go. Vanille had it easy, she just put on a fresh pair of jeans and a clean baby-blue t-shirt. She nearly bounced out of her room as Hope was attempting to dry off the wet fabric of his shirt. Which was awkward as he wasn't...actually...wearing, his shirt at the time.

"Oh!" She cried, face a tomato's twin at the sight of his bare torso. Hope swiftly put his mostly dry shirt back on. He subconsciously tugged at the bottom, to reassure himself that it was actually on. "Uh, sorry." He said quickly.

"No, no, I should've, I-" A knock on the door stopped Vanille's words, and Bhakti ran over to sniff at the cracks between the door and the frame. She hastily went to it and turned the handle.

In mere seconds, Hope would be reunited with more of his lost friends. It both excited, and for some reason, scared him. He held his breath as Vanille opened the door.

"Hey, Vanille!" Came Serah's voice, then a laugh, "What's the matter?"

If it was possible, Vanille's face reddened even more. She brushed some hair behind her ear and said, "N-nothing, come in."

Hope leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, as casually as he could. The looks on their faces were priceless.

"Hope!" Serah cried, running forward to trap him in a hug, as Snow said, "Would you look at that." Lightning simply smiled.

Serah released him and turned to Vanille. "Where did you find him?"

"Well, I didn't." She replied. "Not really, Bhakti did."

The dog wove his way among them excitedly, and gave a small bark at his name.

Lightning looked from Hope to Vanille and back. She said, "Did we interrupt something?"

"No." They said in unison.

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "Right."

"No, really, Light-" Hope began.

Snow came over to him and clapped him on the shoulder. "Long time no see, kid, how are you?"

"Aside from being older than you, I'm fine." Hope said with a smirk.

"Older than me? That's funny."

"No, really." Hope insisted. "I turned thirty yesterday."

Snow raised his eyebrows. "Damn, never mind."

"Thirty? Really, Hope?" Serah asked.

"Yeah."

"Not to mention a couple hundred years." Lightning added.

"Why, Light, was that a joke?" Hope teased.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me, Mr. Smartypants?"

"Oh, guys." Vanille sighed, her face almost back to it's proper color.

Hope couldn't help but smile. Pointless squabbling, poking fun, he missed this. Snow was cheerful again, Serah was alive. Lightning was smiling. Up until now, he'd only imagined this.

"Mm." Lightning elbowed Snow in the side. "Hey Hero, didn't we have something to discuss?"

"Huh? Oh, right." Snow put his hands together and said, "So, Noel. Normally, I'd go check out the info, but I can't make it this time. Someone else will have to take up the torch on this one."

"I'll go!" Vanille volunteered.

"Vanille, you know you can't afford to go." Lightning said.

Several people began talking at once.

Without permission, four words crawled out of Hope's mouth. "I'll go with her."

They all turned to him, and Serah said, "Really?" Vanille's face held a hopeful expression.

He had about .5 seconds to decide if he was committed to a decision that he had apparently already made. He shrugged. "Sure. I mean, we're not going to talk her out of it, and I want to find Noel, too."

Vanille practically launched forward to hug him, saying, "Thank you!" Hope placed a hand on her back as a way of returning the hug. "No problem."

Lightning had this look in her eyes, a look that he knew well. Something between amusement and accusation. He made eye contact with her and hoped his face wasn't as colored as it felt.

"Alright love birds, come on." Snow teased.

Vanille backed off, looking embarrassed. They probably looked like two kids caught in the act of doing something they weren't supposed to.

"So, uh, what's the plan?" Hope asked quickly.


Hope stood at the edge of the sidewalk, bag at his feet, waiting for Serah and Vanille to come get him. He'd only been standing there for a few minutes, but he was beginning to grow impatient. He was used to handling transportation by himself, not relying on others. He told himself to just get over it, but he couldn't help drumming on his legs.

At some point, he started counting how many people walked past him. He checked his watch every few people. At five, he wondered if he heard Serah right about the time. At nine, he took a mental inventory of the things in his bag. At thirteen, Serah's silver car finally pulled up.

She and Vanille waved at him from the front seats as he slung his bag over his shoulder and hopped in the back. He poked his head between the two seats and said, "Hi."

"You ready?" Serah asked.

"Only since I woke up." Hope replied. "Not that I slept much."

"Excited?" Vanille said.

"Well, yeah. Noel and I got really close those few hundred years before I disappeared. It'll be good to see him again."

"If he's there." Serah reminded him, pulling away from the curb.

"C'mon, Serah. Where's your optimism?"

"Honestly, I didn't think I had any left until you showed up." She admitted. "Now backle up and don't distract the driver."

Hope obeyed, but not before mockingly rolling his eyes and smiling at Vanille, who giggled.

Serah dropped them off at the station with motherly warnings of safety and wished for success. Hope found it a bit difficult to say goodbye to her, the whole situation still seemed too unreal. Like a dream he wasn't entirely aware of. But maybe that was because he'd almost given up hope until now.

He insisted on carrying both his and Vanille's bags, which she agreed to. But in return, she insisted on handling everything else, which he didn't argue with. There would have been no point.

About fifteen minutes before the train was supposed to leave, they were aboard. It was crowded and noisy. Many of the other passengers were arguing amongst themselves. But they were going to have to get used to it; they were going to be riding this train until very early in the morning.

Vanille called the window seat, and Hope stowed their bags on the rack above their heads before taking the remaining seat. They watched the people on the platform for a few minutes. Employees rushed around, others pushed each other on the way to their destinations. The way people moved around each other, stepping one way or another way to avoid collision without calculation or thought, that was something Hope had always found interesting. Unconscious movement. Body language. He had been told a few times that he hardly had any, that he was stiff as a board. So he'd begun watching people. Only he didn't usually notice, only in instances like this.

"Do you...do you think we'll find him?" And Yeul?" Vanille suddenly asked.

"Well, Snow seemed pretty optimistic. Not that that's saying much." He half-joked. "But, if we don't this time, it increases the chance that we will the next time."

"Yeah? By how much?"

Hope turned toward her. "You want me to calculate it?"

Vanille smirked. "Well, you are the smart one."

"Well then, I'd have to say a number between sooner or later. I'd narrow it down, but that would require math."

Vanille rolled her eyes playfully and shoved him. "I'm serious. Do you think we'll find him?"

Hope resituated himself and said, "I certainly hope so. Not that he can't take care of himself, but I'd feel better knowing he was okay; and if I knew if he was with Yeul."

Vanille stared at the ground for a few seconds as shouting began outside, a time warning. "He loves her, doesn't he."

He wasn't sure if that was a statement or a question. But either way, he was going to answer her. "Yes. I don't think he ever said it straight out, but he's proved it numerous times. From what he told me about their past, I think he always has."

Vanille nodded. Something about the way she tensed made him think she was nervous about something, though what was beyond him. She turned her head to look out the window. "Hope..."

"Excuse me." Said a voice as the hand it belonged to tapped him on the shoulder. Hope turned to see an elderly woman. "I hate to bother you," She continued, "but could you help me?"

Hope nodded. "Of course."

The woman needed help getting her suitcase under her seat. It was packed just full enough that it wouldn't fit smoothly, but not too full that it wouldn't fit at all. All it required was a good shove. It took less than a minute to do.

"Thank you." The woman said as Hope returned to his seat.

"You're welcome." He replied.

Vanille had returned to staring out the window, but something was different this time. In the few seconds Hope had spent helping the elderly woman, the air between them had grown thick with a kind of...awkwardness. It left him with a loss for words, so he ended up just staring at her, trying to come up with something to say. He never had been good at talking to people, especially girls, which really wasn't helping.

Had he done something? He didn't think so. What was causing this invisible wall? Maybe... She'd been about to say something, what had that been? What could it have been that would cause the air to thicken because it wasn't spoken? He hadn't the foggiest.

The train gave a lurch as it finally started forward. A loud squealing sound indicated that the wheels were beginning their work, and soon the platform and the station were behind them. It would be several hours before they got off, in fact they wouldn't get off until very early in the morning. They couldn't sit like this the entire time. She had to talk to him at some point.

So he decided to just wait until she felt like talking. Anything he said probably wouldn't help, anyway. He laced his fingers together and stared at the floor, mind wandering in a thousand different directions, but always coming back to Vanille. He still couldn't believe it. He kept waiting for something to happen, for this all to be a dream. But it wasn't. It wasn't a dream. And that was the funny part. For the first time in a millennia, he and Vanille could finally just talk, and she wasn't speaking to him. Which was strange enough in itself, because she wasn't the silent type.

After about an hour, he just couldn't stand the silence anymore. (Not counting the chatter of the other passengers) He took a breath and said, "Vanille?"

She turned slowly, as if coming out of a trance. "Hm?"

"You okay?"

"Yeah, sorry." She said, shaking her head. "I was just thinking."

His lips threatened to smile, though it was really not the time. "About what, something complicated?"

Vanille let out a laugh. That was more like it. "Actually, yes."

Now he smiled. "Care to enlighten me?"

"Mmm, not yet." Vanille smiled back at him. "Maybe someday."


"I-it makes me happy when you smile."


The flashback sent Hope's heart into his throat. It beat loudly in his ears, and he sincerely hoped she couldn't hear. "If something's bothering you, you can tell me. You know you can trust me, right?"

"I know."


There you have it, chapter two. For better or for worse, it exists, and if you are reading this, you have read it. To reiterate, this is not the end! The next chapter is now under construction.

So which was it guys, better or worse?