Author's Note: My story is fast-paced because I only write it when I'm walking to class or something or when I just don't wanna think of anything. If there was one main flaw in this story, it's that Lightning is a little bit too nice. I prefer her being bad-ass and bitchy. HA HA.

Title: Keep It Safe for Me

Rating: T

Disclaimer: No. Just, no.

Chapter 1 Even I Don't Understand

Hope was the last person out of the lecture hall after his final class. As he stood up from the chair carefully, he pulled on one strap of his backpack and left the other strap hanging. He made his way out of the large already empty lecture hall. As he walked down the aisle, he could feel the weight of the ring in his blazer pocket.

"Keep it safe for me."

The girl's words echoed in his head. It must have been something important to her. But why had she left it in his care?

Over the course of the afternoon, Hope had actually seen other students wearing similar rings - but of different colors - as well. What did the ring mean?

And what did that girl named Fang mean when she said, "I'll find one for you?" Find what? Another ring?

When Hope had finally gone past the exit, he was only mildly surprised to find the pink-haired girl waiting for him outside. Of course she would want it back.

He met her gaze directly this time.

Clear blue eyes. Without any hint of anger like before.

The girl nodded in greeting and he gave an awkward smile in response. Hope didn't really know what to say at this point.

The girl continued to stare at him. He was starting to get uncomfortable after about a minute. Just as he opened his mouth to break the silence, she spoke first.

"I'm sure I haven't seen you before," she said quietly. Her voice held a raspy quality Hope had not heard in a girl before. "I've memorized all the freshmen's faces by now - but I've never seen you before." She continued. Hope could hear the silent question that followed.

'How can this be?'

"I'm…new," he answered without thinking how lame that sounded. "I mean," he added hastily. "I just transferred here after moving from Palumpolum."

His companion nodded once as if to say that she understood.

She stared at him again. Hope gave another awkward smile and asked, "Is there…something wrong?" There was a hint of hesitation he couldn't hide.

"You look tired. Go home. We can talk about this tomorrow." With that, she turned around and began walking.

"Wait!" He instinctively called out. She stopped but didn't look back. Hope knew she was waiting for him to explain.

"I can just give it back to you right now. It doesn't have to be tomorrow."

Hope pulled out the ring from his pocket and held it out to her. The girl turned back and fixed him with a look.

"I want you to keep it with you for now. I'm still deciding…" she turned away again as she finished her sentence, "if I'm going to give it to you."

Hope wanted to say more. To ask more. But there was finality in her tone just now and he knew he she wouldn't stop a second time.

He watched her walk away and slowly turned to walk in the opposite direction.

He would be sure to ask someone to explain what the ring meant tomorrow.

"This ring?" His seatmate was a hyperactive girl with red highlights in her dark brown hair. If Hope remembered correctly, she had introduced herself before as Chocolina.

"Why, this ring is actually one of the most coveted items of both 2nd years and freshmen! Everyone dreams of the person who will give them one someday. It's unique to each owner, very durable and its person specific as well. Only the person authorized to wear it will be able to wear it. It also-" she was babbling happily but before she could get any farther, Hope cut her off.

"You haven't explained to me what it is yet," he pointed out.

Chocolina looked surprised, "I haven't? Oh, silly me! The ring is an apprenticeship ring." She said proudly.

"What's an…apprenticeship ring?"

"You haven't been reading the student handbook, have you?" She asked knowingly.

"What student handbook?"

"The file that's in your SPECS, silly! It's almost impossible to miss once you boot the thing up."

"…SPECS?"

Her eyes widened and her forehead knotted a bit, "Now what did that mean again… uh… I got it!" She yelled gleefully. Hope was starting to be aware of the other students eyeing the two of them. "SPECS stands for Student Portable Electronic Communicator and Storage. All students are issued one when they're freshmen." She began to rummage through her bag and she suddenly brought out a pure black rectangular object, placing it on the table between them.

The object was about half a foot long and 4 inches wide.

"Don't you have one yet?" She inquired.

Hope tried to remember if his Father had mentioned anything about this to him.

"…I don't." He answered quietly.

"Then you should just go and request one from the administrative office."

"Alright. Now can you please tell me what an apprenticeship ring is for?"

Chocolina laughed. "Oh yes, we were talking about that weren't we? Alright, alright,an apprenticeship ring is -"

When she was finally about to explain, a teacher came in and announced the end of the self study session. Hope inwardly groaned.

"I'll tell you next time!" She said cheerfully as both of them got up to switch classrooms. They didn't have the same schedule, so their conversation was definitely put on hold.

Hope didn't try a second time asking, instead during the next break, he dropped by the Administrative Building to request for his own SPECS. He filled up some forms and was told he could drop by again tomorrow to pick it up.

Tomorrow.

He and that girl were going to talk about it today. Tomorrow would be too late. Maybe she'd understand his ignorance if she knew he didn't have a SPECS yet.

He doubted she was the type to excuse weakness though.

By the time his last class was over, Hope had an uncanny feeling that the pink-haired girl would be waiting for him outside again. Hope remained seated and waited.

Wondering if she would wait for him patiently or rush in and search for him herself.

After 5 minutes, the door swung open audibly.

'Yes, you do seem that type of person.' Hope thought to himself as he heard the clack of her shoes drawing closer to where he was seated. She moved to stand in front of him, leaning against the chair situated in front of his own.

She placed a medium sized box in front of him, just a bit smaller than a shoe box. She crossed her arms, looking a bit irritated.

"I went to the Admin Building to inquire your SPECS address so I could message you, only to find out you had only just requested one."

"Sorry."

"You don't need to apologize. I was wrong for immediately assuming you had one." She waved her hand, as if declaring the matter settled.

They lapsed into a short silence before Hope moved. He pulled out the ring together with its chain from his coat pocket and held it between them. The back of his palm rested against the table he was seated at.

"This ring…" he said softly, his gaze settled on the ivory white ring.

"It's my apprenticeship ring." She supplied easily.

"I know -" Again, Hope caught himself, "I mean, someone told me what it was. But I… don't know what it means. Why you're contemplating to give it to me. What it means if I accept it. I'm pretty much in the dark about why this conversation is even happening between us." He replied helplessly.

He raised his eyes to meet hers. "I don't even know your name." He added quietly.

"First of all," she began, "My name is Claire Farron. I go by Lightning usually. You can call me Light, if you want."

She continued on to her explanation without pause.

"An apprenticeship ring is something passed from an older student to a younger student. Its something like an agreement, or a partnership, rather. The one giving the ring is called the 'mentor' who looks after the younger student who receives the ring, called the 'apprentice'. Each student can only ever have one apprentice and students are only eligible for mentorship once they have finished one year of apprenticeship. It was a system implemented to keep a barrier from forming between the older and younger students. Its supposed to build camaraderie and teamwork within the student body." She explained clearly.

She paused, to see if he had any questions. Hope nodded once.

"That makes sense, at least."

Hope paused for a moment and glanced around the very much empty room.

"This is off topic - but are we allowed to stay here this late? Won't the school lock us in or something?"

Lightning shook her head. "I have special authorization to be in school when I need to. It's fine since you're with me." She replied, "Is there something more specific you want to ask me?" Hope knew she was talking about the ring.

Hooe thought for a bit. "I can't comprehend why you'd want to make me 'your' apprentice. I mean, I'm new. I don't really stand out nor am I extraordinary for you to take me into consideration at all. Would it be wrong to ask why?"

Lightning shook her head again, "No, its a perfectly logical question." She easily agreed. She thought for a moment.

"Aren't you just… being pressured into taking an apprentice? By that Fang person from yesterday? If so, anyone would do? Even me?" He asked cautiously.

Lightning glared at him and snorted lightly. "If I could be 'pressured' by Fang to take an apprentice so easily, I would've done so when I was a second year." She said with a slight shake of her head.

This surprised Hope. "You're a third year student?"

"You couldn't tell the from our meeting yesterday?" She gave him a quizzical look. At Hope's audible 'no', she pointed to her right collar where there seemed to be something gold embedded near the edge.

When Hope focused a bit more, he found it to be the roman numeral for the number 3.

"You have a I on your collar too. Second years have a II on theirs."

So she really was a senior. A senior student already halfway through her final school year without an apprentice.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind." He nodded to convey that he understood. "You still didn't answer my question though, Light." He pointed out quietly, saying the name she suggested he use.

If it was such a special position, to be someone's apprentice. He still didn't know why she was considering him at all. It seemed like she had absolutely no intention of taking on one until she graduated - until now. Until they had encountered each other yesterday.

Lightning closed her eyes for a moment. "If I were to explain it in simple terms… it would be because we're having a conversation like this." She answered vaguely.

"I don't understand what you mean." He responded honestly.

"That ring is special to me, an important senior passed it on to me when I was a freshman. I usually feel uneasy without it." She looked at him to see if he was following where she was going.

"But yesterday, when you were holding the ring. Even I don't understand why, but I felt like it was okay to leave it with you while I did what I needed to do. I was able to say 'Keep it safe for me." which, in itself is already a surprise." She added with a touch of uncertainty she couldn't mask.

Hope could tell she wasn't lying when she said she didn't understand. That hint of frustration at herself was imposible to fake. And she wasn't the type to lie either.

"In the last year and a half since my mentor graduated, I've never met anyone who could remove that uneasiness. I thought it would be impossible for me to find anyone suitable as my apprentice. No matter how much Fang and the others pressured me, as long as I couldn't leave the ring in good hands, I would have preferred to graduate, taking it with me."

She stared at him, "But you're here," she gestured to the ring between them. " Right in front of me. If I wanted my ring back, this would be the right time take it. But at this moment, I feel no desire or urgency to take it back from you."

Lightning let out a soft breath. She squared her shoulders and looked at Hope with quiet determination.

"So I want to ask you, will you accept my ring?"

"You want me to keep it?" Hope asked carefully.

"Yes, if you can, I want you to keep it safe for me - because this ring is very important to me. This is a request wholly out of my selfishness so you can refuse if you dont want to." Her voice sounded resigned. As if she was already preparing herself for a rejection.

She gave him the option to refuse. Hope thought she would be more forceful. Believing he wouldn't reject her ring. That was how he imagined this conversation would go.

But she had given him the choice to decline.

To follow after her. Or to not follow after her.

Six months was such a short time. But she wanted someone look after something important to her. She believed he would suffice for the time she had left in the school. Not any body else in the school. Just him.

How could he refuse her like this? Her reason for choosing him was vague. And he had only met her yesterday. But Hope couldn't bring himself to decline her request. Because he felt she wasn't the type to ask honestly like this.

Hope took a deep breath and closed his hand over the white ring in his palm.

"If you're fine with someone like me. I gladly accept it."

6 months. Only half a year. Hope supposed that would be enough to get to know her better.

Lightning didn't smile or anything but Hope could tell she was pleased. He saw it in the subtle way her eyes lit up once he had spoken.

"Thank you, Hope."

He didn't think it was possible to be happy just by being thanked. But the faint smile which accompanied those words was special without a doubt. To have brought a smile to 'the' Lightning Farron was an achievement Hope had yet to realize magnitude of.

Endnote: Uploading the first chapter with the Prologue so you get a feel of how the story flows. If you might have noticed, some elements are similar to the anime Maria Watches Over Us (Young as I was, when I watched this. I had no idea it was that sort of anime). I liked the concept of passing something from senior to junior so there you have it. Its the main link in this story.