Author's Note: So, what's it been, a month? Yeah... Sorry about that. My muse kinda died, and then I started another story (called Hope's Howl, you should check it out), so progress on this chapter slowed almost to a standstill. But hey, here we are!
I apologize beforehand, I feel like this chapter - especially toward the end - is pretty iffy. But I'm posting it anyway. I'll rewrite it if necessary, so if I see that people agree with me, then I will. But if you guys think it's fine, then I'll leave it. It's your call.
Anyway, here we go!
Hope and Vanille went back to their hotel and immediately called Snow to report. Except that he didn't pick up, Serah did.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Oh, hey, Serah." Hope said. "Where's Snow?"
"I made him take Vanille's dog out. He's a little too hyper for me." She explained. "What's up?"
"Well..." He stalled.
"Hope."
Hope laughed, and Vanille rolled her eyes at him. She was sitting next to him, they were on his bed this time. She hit him in the side with his own pillow. "Just tell her!"
He fell sideways and said, "I will! Stop hitting me!"
"Hope, what's going on?"
"Nothing." He replied, blocking another pillow assault. "But we found Noel."
He could practically hear her jumping with excitement. In fact, she probably did, because she sounded slightly out of breath when she next spoke. "That's amazing! How is he?"
"He's fine." Hope assured her. "He's with Yeul."
"Really? That's good, she needs him. Oh, Claire, it was Noel. Yeul's with him, too."
Hope couldn't hear Lightning's response, but Serah replied with, "Yeah."
It was a little awkward sitting there silently holding his phone to his ear. He laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, eyes tracing the swirling patterns. It looked like someone had taken a feather and twisted it in random places in the paint. He glanced at Vanille, who raised an eyebrow. He shrugged.
"Hey, Hope."
Hope sat back up and said, "Hey, Light."
"So, you found him, huh?"
"Yeah. We're going to see him and Yeul later."
"That's great. It's...been a while, hasn't it?"
"Too long." He agreed. He wasn't sure what, but something seemed - or sounded - off. "Light, is something wrong?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because I know you, Light."
He heard a barely audible sigh. "It's just... It's been so long since I've heard, the real you, that I..."
Hope's fingers subconsciously gripped at the covers. "I understand. And, I'm sorry."
"What do you have to be sorry for? You didn't do anything."
"I'm sorry that, well, that my body...that I..." Vanille's slim fingers gently held onto his shoulder.
"No, Hope, that wasn't you. Don't get me wrong, when I figured that out, I was devastated. At least, I should have been. But I was also relieved, sort of. That monster only took your body, not you."
"But then," Hope hung his head, "why do I, remember?"
"I don't know, but it doesn't matter." He barely heard Serah in the background silence, and Lightning mumbled something in return. "Serah wants me to tell you that we love you, and that she knows how scared you were when you were...gone. You're not alone anymore."
"Thanks." He felt Vanille's presence shift, and gave her a smile. She could only follow his half of the conversation, which wasn't very positive. "Hey, could you tell Snow to call us later?"
"Sure. Say hi to Vanille for me."
"I will. Love you guys, too." With that, Hope very abruptly ended their conversation. He felt bad, but the topic made him uncomfortable. He wasn't sure about any of his supposed "memories", or why he had them. He knew it must be hard for Lightning as well, and that it was probably something they two of them should work out together, but not over the phone.
"So, what was that all about?" Vanille asked.
"Light and I were just talking about...you know." Hope replied. "She says hi, by the way."
"That's nice of her." Something in her face softened, and she said, "You know, you can talk to me about that if you'd like. Lightning told us her part of the story, so I know what you went through now."
"Ah, that was just the same old stuff." Hope deflected. "After all, I'm not the one who heard the dead. What was that like?"
Vanille switched to sitting criss-cross, and twisted her hands in her lap. "It was horrible, and lonely. I could feel all of their pain and regrets. After Fang left me, it only got worse. I waited and waited, but she didn't come back."
"I'm sure she wanted to." Hope assured her.
"She did." Vanille smiled one of her brilliant smiles. "As much as I wanted her to return, though, I really wanted to see you."
"M-me?"
Vanille blushed, just as he most assuredly was. "Y-you always had the answers, and... Well, I missed you. You're such a great friend, and I needed you just as much as I needed Fang. But no one had seen or heard from you in almost two centuries."
Hope sighed. "Yeah, well, the whole time, I was in the one place no one would ever, or could ever look. If I could've left, Vanille, I would have. But I couldn't, and I didn't want to. I wasn't me."
Vanille slipped off of the bed and gave him one of her hugs. It somehow felt different that it had when he was younger, but he didn't want to think about it. His arms embraced her without permission, and she pressed closer to him. He could've sworn he felt her heart race.
They remained as they were for what in reality was a lot less time than if felt like. Neither spoke, neither moved. They just...hugged.
The sudden shout from another guest in the hallway was what finally broke them apart. Before once more becoming her own entity, Vanille whispered in his ear, "This is you."
Hope's heart stopped for a few beats, but Vanille kept right on going. Just like her. "So," she said, "how about we go get something to eat?"
The suggestion of food was a great distraction, and they still had about two hours to kill by the time Vanille had taken a shower. Together they looked up good places to eat around the town. However, nothing really appealed to them, or appealed to one and not the other. They ended up just going to an ice cream shop they'd seen on the way to find Noel.
The flavors they chose were pretty generic, but never let it be said that they weren't good. Hope went with simple chocolate, and Vanille chose vanilla. He teased her several times about how close the flavor sounded to her name, but she took his jabs in stride, offering only a sassy smirk in response.
They took a cab to Noel and Yeul's. It was about ten minutes away, not too terribly far. Vanille talked the whole time, saying that Serah's told her all about Noel and their adventures but of course Hope already knew all of that. She asked him if he'd known him well.
"Not as well as I should, or as I would like." Hope admitted. "I was more concerned with stopping Cocoon from falling, and with getting you and Fang out, than paying attention to him."
"Well that's understandable." Vanille replied. "But now you have the chance, right?"
"Yeah."
The cab jerked to a halt. "Here's your stop." The driver called from the front. Hope paid the cabbie what he was due, and he drove off.
Noel and Yeul lived in a quiet little house, next to many other quiet little houses. It was painted a simple white, and looked cared for. Yeul had some flowers growing in a small garden to the left of the door, and the lights were on inside.
Vanille went ahead to knock on the door, with Hope following close behind. She knocked three times, and then rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet until the door opened.
Yeul gave a huge smile. "Hello!"
"Hi!" Vanille said, trapping the smaller girl in a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"I could say the same about you." Yeul replied. "I know I've never actually met either of you, but I feel like I've known you for forever."
Vanille let her go. "Well now you can know us for real."
"Hey guys." Noel came up behind Yeul. He slipped an arm around her waist and smiled.
"Hey." Hope greeted him.
"Well are you going to be strangers or are you going to come in?" He teased.
"I don't know, it's pretty nice out here." Hope joked.
"Okay then. Come on in, Vanille."
"Come on, guys..."
The three of them retreated into the house, shutting Hope out. Vanille held the door shut, sticking her tongue out at him childishly from the other side of the door. He made a face at her and tried to get in, but she wouldn't let him.
He laughed. He just laughed. This was ridiculous. But it was amazing that they had the opportunity to be ridiculous. As his laugh died into a chuckle, someone's dog barked somewhere down the street, and he was finally let inside.
The house was simple on the inside as well. The kitchen blended into the living room, with a table sitting somewhere in between. There was a hallway that led off to the left, likely leading to a bedroom and a bathroom and such. All in all, it was cleaner than Vanille's apartment, and the furniture actually matched, but it still felt lived in.
"Welcome to our humble abode." Noel said theatrically.
"Hell of a lot better than my place, that's for sure." Hope told him.
"Yeul keeps it clean. If it was just me, you probably could've tracked me down by my stench."
Yeul elbowed him. "Whatever. You do just as much as I do."
"Only because you make me."
The whole group burst into laughter, even Yeul. Hope didn't think he'd ever seen Noel do anything more positive than a vaguely aimed scowl. Being reunited with his Yeul seemed to have coaxed out his happier self.
They gathered on the couch and chairs and began to catch up. Noel and Yeul explained how they hadn't been split up since Caius had allowed them both to live again. They'd been reborn together, and had been figuring out their new lives side by side ever since. Vanille told them of her experience, and Hope gave them the short version of his story.
As time passed, the humid air became thicker, and more uncomfortable. They simply dealt with it, until finally Noel couldn't take it anymore.
"Hope, could you switch on that fan?"
"Sure."
Hope reached back for the obvious dial, but found that there were two more. Not sure which one to turn, it took him entirely too long to figure out the fan.
"Our primitive technology is a bit too advanced for you, eh Director?" Noel teased.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
Fin.
Okay, maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought.
"He knew it must be hard for Lightning as well, and that it was probably something the two of them should work out together..." FORESHADOWING?
Anywhoodle, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is always appreciated. ^_^
