As a temporary replacement for her loyal companion, Hope didn't leave Vanille. He stayed with her as she tried to control her shaking. She said that was always the worst part: the shaking. To distract herself from her dream, she asked him to teach her his song.

He did, well, tried. She learned the first couple notes, but got lost as his little song went on. He kept repeating, and she kept messing up. Eventually, she burst out in a fit of giggles.

"I give up!" She said. "I can't sing, anyway."

"What are you talking about? I'm the one who can't sing." Hope insisted. "You're just fine."

"Whatever. You should hear Fang!"

The comment on the eldest Pulsian caused Hope to laugh, but Vanille quieted.

Hope stopped laughing as well. Fang was Vanille's best and only friend for a long time, and now there was no sign of her. Maybe it was time to change the subject...

"Hey, it's almost time to get going. You ready to see Noel?"

Vanille smiled up at him. "Yup. You know, I've never properly met him, but I feel like I've known him forever."

"He's a good guy. I haven't seen him since..." Hope trailed off. "I, uh, I guess the last time I saw him I wasn't really...me."

Vanille shuddered. "Do you, remember any of that?"

Vague, fuzzy images of Lightning and even more distant images of the rest of them presented themselves to him. No feelings. "Sort of. I don't remember anything specifically, just images, faces. Mostly Lightning."

"At least she's a friendly face, right?"

Hope chuckled. "Friendly" and "Lightning" were two words that usually didn't appear in the same context. "Yeah, I suppose." He smacked the blankets with his palms and bounced backwards onto his feet. "I'd better go."

"Go where?"

Hope smirked, "You don't want me to watch you get dressed, do you?" Besides, I gotta change too." He nodded towards the connecting door. "Just come get me when you're ready."

Vanille smiled at the prospect of fitting in a few more pieces of their family puzzle. Goddess, she really shined whan she smiled. "We're really doing it, aren't we? We're bringing everyone back together."

"If he's there." Hope reminded her.

She rolled her eyes. "Your glass is half empty, isn't it?"

"Only when I drink from it." He replied. "Get dressed, we have hunting to do."


It was hot again that day. Add that to the rain from the storm, and the air was practically solid. It was uncomfortable to breathe, and Hope felt filthy after only seconds in the air, but there was honestly way more important things bothering him.

The past couple of days were more than he'd ever dreamed. He'd hoped he'd find his friends, sure, but before he ran into Vanille - or rather, before Bhakti ran into him - he'd started to lose faith that he would. Now he was reunited with Vanille, Light, Serah, Snow, and quite possibly Noel and Yeul. It seemed like a dream.

Something funny about his dreams, they tended not to end very well.

His father suggested that his bad dreams were his mind's way of processing everything that had happened. "Well, damn," He'd replied, "I've got a millennia-long string of unfavorable outcomes to work through, then."

But no, this was real. Dreams weren't this long. They weren't this vivid. They were really doing it.

He chuckled out loud, and Vanille smiled at him. "What?"

"I just keep reminding myself that this is real. I'm actually here with you, and we're actually going to find Noel. Snow actually sent us out to do this, and Serah and Light are actually back there with him. It's just been so long since I've seen anyone in real life, that I have to keep reminding myself that I'm alive." He shook his head. "I probably sound crazy."

"No!" Vanille insisted. "I feel the same way. I guess that we've been trying to save the world for so long, that peace feels like a trick."

"Black and white are just more shades of grey..." Hope murmured.

Hope was stopped by Vanille's arm across his chest. He'd reached the edge of the sidewalk without even knowing it. Two more steps and he probably would've been run over. He backed up. "Thanks."

"You need to pay more attention, mister." She teased.

"As a man, my attention span is about as short as yours is long." He joked back.

Vanille laughed as a car slowed to a stop and waved them across. They took the opportunity and were soon on the other side of the street. Hope took note of the number and came to the conclusion that they were close.

"Shouldn't be far now." He commented.

Snow's contact had found - possibly found - Noel at his workplace. It was a car repair shop of all things. He couldn't recall if Noel had any mechanical expertise, but he could've picked up some skills in the past five hundred years. He followed the organized street identification system to the correct address while Vanille chattered away happily beside him. She was overly excited despite his repeated reminders not to get her hopes up.

He was beginning to think that his glass really was half empty.

They reached the shop, over which hung a sign that simply read "Repairs". Absolutely brilliant advertising. They walked in through the large open garage-type door, and the first thing they heard was someone dropping their tools, resulting in a large metallic clang.

Vanille flinched.

"You blockhead, pick it up!" Someone shouted. That someone appeared to be the boss, because the man who dropped his tools immediately shrunk and began to gather them back into their box.

"Hey!" Hope called. The boss looked over to see who had the audacity to yell at him, and dropped most of his grumpy expression when he saw that Hope wasn't one of his employees.

He walked over to them with an air of superiority. "What can I do for ya?" He asked almost politely.

"We're looking for a guy named Noel Kreiss." Hope replied. "Know him?"

The boss thought for a moment. "'bout your height, brown hair, kinda scrawny?"

Scrawny wasn't a word Hope would usually use to describe his friend, but compared to this guy, yes. "That's him. Know where he is?"

"Gimme a minute." He stalked toward a door at the back of the shop and shouted, "Kreiss! some people here lookin' for ya!" And with that, he went back to scolding the man who'd dropped his tools.

It didn't take long before the familiar face of their time-travelling friend appeared through the door. Vanille gripped Hope's arm in excitement. "It's him!"

"Yeah." He almost laughed, feeling an immense amount of relief. Maybe, for once, things would work out for their dysfunctional family. "Noel!" He shouted.

The hunter glanced around, and hope saw his face light up from across the shop. He jogged over to them, hopping over people's legs and various car parts scattered on the floor. He was smiling like an idiot.

"Is it really you? Or are these fumes getting to me?" He laughed.

Hope laughed as well and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Nope. It's really us."

Noel pulled him into a quick but meaningful guy hug. He then turned to Vanille. "You're Vanille right?" He asked. "The 'saint'?"

"I never understood why they called me that." She told him. "All I did was listen to the dead."

Noel shrugged. "People need something to believe in. You were their something." He but his hands on his hips. "So, how'd you guys find me?"

"We didn't." Hope explained. "Snow did."

Noel chuckled. "Why am I not surprised? Even though he's got Serah, he can't stop looking." Suddenly, he looked a little concerned. "He has got Serah, right? She's okay?"

"She's fine." Vanille assured him. "She's with Snow and Lightning."

The concern melted from Noel's face. "Good. I've been worried about her. Guess it's the guardian in me."

Hope's eyes unconsciously flicked to Vanille, then back to Noel. "I know what you mean."

Noel noticed his eye movement. He looked from Vanille to Hope, then raised an eyebrow.

Hope seriously hoped that his embarrassment wasn't showing.

"Noel," Vanille started, "is, Yeul with you?"

Noel broke out in an enormous grin. "Yeah. She is. She's alive and she's free." He laughed like he was slightly amused by the idea. "She's eighteen now. No Yeul ever lived that long."

Two more of their scattered puzzle pieces fell into place. Hope still felt that this was too good to be true, but that was just his glass emptying again. This was happening. They were alive.

"It almost feels good to age at this point, huh?" He said.

"Yeah." Noel agreed. "It's stupid, but it feels great to finally be older than eighteen."

Math. "Twenty-one, right?"

"And proud of it."

"You're still younger than me." Vanille teased.

"Well, you're both younger than me." Hope pointed out.

"Kreiss!"

Noel turned and gestured to his boss. "Hold on." He said to them. He walked over to one of the carts lined up along the wall. He seemed to be writing something down for a few seconds before returning, handing Hope a piece of paper.

"Why don't you come by around five?" He suggested. "You can see Yeul, and we can catch up."

"Definitely!" Vanille exclaimed.

Hope nodded. "Sounds like a plan."


Yay, Noel! *clears throat* Er, yeah. Anyway, did anyone catch that Hope was singing his (original) theme to Vanille? You probably did, but if you didn't...now you know!

I'm really excited for the next chapter! Is anyone else excited? I'm excited.

You could always...you know...let me know. :)