AN. Well, the only reason I made this fanfic is simply that for de-stressing. I have a lot of other more complex plot bunnies up my sleeve but I just don't have the time or confidence to commit myself to it right now. If I do, and when I do get the nerve to actually post another fic, you will know. I hope to hear more of your comments then as well. :)

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Chapter 2

But Here You Are

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The process of passing on the ring was simple. Like Chocolina had said, the ring was person specific so it had to be specified for him.

Lightning placed two fingers lightly over the ring on his palm between them.

"Authorization access granted from Claire Farron to Hope Estheim. Identification mode on." The ring obtained an uncharacteristic glow at her words. Lightning picked up the ring and pulled it out of its chain.

"Which hand will you wear it on?" She inquired as he held the ring aloft with her right thumb and index finger.

"Where did you use to wear it?" Hope inquired. It wasn't something that concerned Hope very much, but he asked just to satisfy his curiosity.

Lightnigh raised her left hand. "Middle finger of my left hand. Since I'm right handed." She added the last sentence as an explanation.

"I'll wear it the same way." Hope responded smoothly with a smile.

She looked puzzled at him reply. "But you're left handed," she pointed out. Hope didn't know how she figured that out.

"For most things," he agreed. "It wont be a problem." He assured her. Lightning stared at him for a moment, then nodded and held his left hand which he had also situated between them. In one quick and precise movement, she slipped on the ring on the indicated finger. With her fingers still in contact with the ring and his hand, Lightning continued to speak.

"Register joint owner user. Hope Estheim." There was a sudden prick beneath the ring and Hope flinched slightly. The ring adjusted in size to fit his finger, loosening a bit.

"Register voice activation." she glanced at him and mouthed the word 'speak'.

"Hope Estheim." He spoke his name as clearly as he could to let the ring properly record it. The ring stopped glowing and remained firmly attached to his finger. Hope had tried turning it around his finger but found it immovable.

"There. It's done." Lightning said softly, letting go of his hand. She stared at his face wordlessly, as if she were trying to come to terms with something.

"I'm really your apprentice." He spoke before he understood what he wanted to say and her eyes widened slightly. Hope wondered if he had said the wrong thing.

"You are." she agreed with smile. He had said something right for once. "We should head out now, you need to get home." Lightning moved and began walking down the aisle back to the door. Hope pulled on his backpack and trailed after her.

"What about you?" Because she had said 'you' rather than 'we'.

"I live in the nearby dorms so I don't need to commute. I wouldn't want to worry your parents by you coming home late."

"My father doesn't really mind. He goes home even later than I do."

By this time, the two of them were already walking down the hallway side by side.

"He cares in his own way." Lightning spoke quietly. "Even if he isn't there, he can't just stop caring."

"If he did, he should spend more time with his family." Hope said with a hint of bitterness.

Lightning hummed, "I don't know how a father should act. I grew up without parents, so…" her voice trailed off. Hope glanced at her. Her face was expressionless.

"Does that bother you?" He asked curiously. As a person who had lost his mother at a young age, he knew that sympathy wasn't something people wanted when they told you such things. It wasn't that way with him three years ago.

Lightning turned to look at him, "It used to. But not so much anymore." She shifted her gaze again.

Hope nodded.

"Do you have any siblings?" Lightning questioned.

"No, I'm an only child." Hope answered.

"Does that bother you?" She posed him the same question and Hope smiled.

"Sometimes." Hope admitted, "Our house, even our old house in Palumpolum, has always been really big. It's just me and my Dad. Since my Dad is usually busy, I'm always at home by myself. At those times, I think it would be great if I had a sibling to talk to or spend time with." He explained, keeping his voice even.

Lightning was quiet for a moment.

"I have a sibling. A younger sister." She said quietly.

"Are you close?"

"No," she replied. "We didn't grow up together. She was adopted into a different family."

"Oh." Hope tried to think of a good reply to that.

Lightning gave another faint smile, as if to reassure him it wasn't a sensitive topic.

"Having a sibling… doesn't mean you wont feel lonely." She added. Hope thought about that and he knew she was referring to her own feelings..

"But I'll keep you company." Hope interjected confidently.

"…what?"

"When you feel lonely, I'll keep you company." Hope clarified. "It's the least an apprentice can do."

Lightning stared at him with an unreadable expression. The two of them stopped just in front of the main building entrance. Lightning reached up and poked his forehead with her index finger.

"You're going to be doing a lot more than just keeping me company. Don't think I'll go easy on you."

She slid her ID card through the door lock and stepped back as the glass doors slid apart after the beep.

"Boot up your SPECS when you get home and read the Student Manual as well." Lightning pulled out a piece of paper from her blazer pocket and handed it to Hope as she pushed him past the glass doors.

"That's my SPECS address. Be sure to save it in your unit. Message me when you've figured out how." The doors were about to close now.

"And be careful on your way home."

An audible thud followed when the door closed completely. Lightning made a shooing motion before she turned around and began walking.

Hope surmised that she would take a different route than his own, so she let them part at this point.

###

Since he was a kid, Hope always had a knack for electronics. Oftentimes as a child, he took to dismantling countless gadgets in their home in order to figure out how they worked. His Dad had scolded him one too many times whenever his father had used one of the gadgets he had wrongly reassembled. Over the course of time, Hope had already mastered a system of carefully dismantling a gadget to understand the function of each component, to easily putting it back together once he had understood and memorized all of it.

Which is exactly why Hope didn't do exactly as Light had told him to.

At the moment, the countless parts of the SPECS unit were scattered across his work table in his room. On the left side were the physical components, on the right side was his computer, analyzing the software and data processor the unit used.

He had learned advanced programming previously from one of his university internet friends and at the moment, he was trying to identify some of the risks this software posed. Even the security system of their house was something Hope had secretly modified to suit his level of protection.

Another barrier hindered him from going further and he skillfully bypassed it with another program he designed specifically for hacking.

Hope alternated between reading the student manual and reading the data logs of his unit to understand the main software that managed the other applications installed.

By the time he had actually remebered to message Lightning, it was already 2:30 in the morning. He had gotten too carried away. He knew the time would appear when she received the message - but he knew it would be worse if he didn't message her at all.

To: [ ]

From: [ ]

Light, it's Hope.

***end of message***

Hope didn't say anything else. If he was going to explain, he would do it tomorrow when they met. If she was still awake, he doubted she'd want to read a really long message, so he made sure to keep it short.

Hope stared at the white ring adorning his left hand until he fell asleep.

###

The next day, Hope entered his first class with a small headache from his lack of sleep. He sauntered towards his assigned seat and sluggishly sat down. He had woken up later than usual and had to forgo drinking a cup of coffee to be in class on time.

Due to a stroke of misfortune, his first professor managed to catch him sleeping and had asked him to stand at the front of the classroom.

"Now listen here you. You may be the new kid but I don't tolerate kids sleeping in my class, alright? I don't stand here early in the morning just to let you go snoozin' about your business." The dark-skinned man said sternly.

Hope pulled out his name from memory, "Sorry, Mr. Katzroy. It wont happen again."

"I'm making sure it wont. Seeing as how you've already got an apprentice ring even though you've just transferred-" the mention of the ring seemed to have caught the attention of the other students who had been looking on uninterested.

"I'm informing your mentor so they can straighten you out for me. Who is your mentor?"

Hope remained silent for a moment too long.

"Kid, I'm gonna need that name." Sazh Katzroy repeated.

"Lightning Farron, Sir." There was a collective wave of silence followed by numerous outbursts.

"Impossible!"

"'THE' Lightning Farron?"

"I thought she wasn't going to take an apprentice."

"I don't believe it!"

"Could he be lying?"

"It's true! Check the official list on the Academia web page." Another student shouted. Most of the students pulled out their SPECS and began typing rapidly and scrolling down quickly.

Amidst all of this, Hope was left stunned. He watched dumbly as the other students likely searched for his name in the online list of registered apprentices and mentors.

All of them became silent at one point and began staring openly at Hope with a mixture of disbelief and awe. Hope didn't know how to respond and awkwardly scratched the back of his head, fixing his gaze on the professor who was looking at him like he had grown a second head.

Once people had quited down. Professor Katzroy let out a hooting whistle. "Well, I'll be. So it is true," he said, glancing around at the other students. "I thought you were just bluffin'. If you can make Lightning Farron choose you as her apprentice, you must be really amazing - or just really unlucky." The Professor came forward and placed a (what Hope presumed it to be) consoling hand on his shoulder.

Lightning couldn't be as bad as this guy was making her out to be. She was nice enough to him.

"I'm forgiving you just this once. If you 'ever' sleep in my class again, you're on your own. Now get back to your seat. We're continuing the lesson."

Hope made his way back to his seat, trying very hard to ignore the inquisitive stares boring into him.

He knew Lightning stood out - but he didn't expect her to stand out 'this' much.

After that class Hope couldn't go anywhere without people repeatedly asking how it happened or what he did. All of them seemed to think it was a mirable that Lightning chose him. Hope was getting weary of repeatedly evading all of their questions.

Hope dreaded leaving his last class before lunch break. He was sure there would be even more in the cafeteria. Just as he was about to get up and leave the classroom, Hope heard an alert on his SPECS unit.

He checked and found that it was a message. He opened it and after scanning it, was filled with relief.

From: [ ]

To: [ ]

If you want to avoid a crowd, head to the infirmary and request a separate cubicle from the doctor where you can rest. I informed the doctor that you could use it. I'll drop by with some food after I drop by the Cafeteria. I've attached a map you can follow to encounter the least number of people.

***end of message***

Hope made his way to the Infirmary using the map Light had made and true to her word, Hope passed by a minimal number of people outside. If he did pass by people, they paid him no mind at least.

He entered the infirmary quietly and told the Doctor Lightning's instructions. The Doctor, who was called Cid Raines, smiled knowingly and led him toward a cubicle at the very end.

"This is Miss Farron's reserved private cubicle. She comes here frequently to rest and catch up to some work. Please make yourself comfortable."

Hope set down his bag on the nearby chair and sat himself on the neatly made bed. There was a stack of papers and an organizer with attached colored labels on the desk nearby. The blanket he was sitting on was light pink with faint rose patterns and the pillow was covered with the same pattern. This wasn't something standard to a clinic - this was standard Lightning. He lied down perpendicular to the bed and closed his eyes. It smelled clean and fresh, like a forest early morning after the rain.

Hope was roused a few minutes later by a soft knock. He blearily made out Lightning at the edge of the bed looking down at him.

"Hope, get up and eat something first." She lightly tugged the cuff of his blazer and Hope dragged himself upright.

Lightning placed something cold in his right hand and something warm in his other hand.

"Its a grilled cheese sandwich. You should eat it while its hot."

"Thanks…" he murmured, trying to focus and wake his brain.

"The one in your left hand is iced coffee. I don't know your preference so I went with my own mix. It should keep you from falling asleep in class."

Hope nodded sleepily.

"Hope, if you don't pull yourself together in 10 seconds, I'm leaving."

That woke up Hope up considerably. He shook his head to dispel any remaining sleepiness.

"Sorry. I'll wake up now." He apologized and offered her a rueful smile.

"Drink." She ordered.

Hope complied quickly. He drank a large sip of Lightning's mix and regretted it immediately. The bitterness was an extra punch to wake him up. He knew he had made a face because a small snort came from Lightning. Hope frowned slightly at her, she held out her hand and dropped packets of sugar and cream on his lap.

"Use these. I figured you were the sweet coffee type."

"Not particularly. This is just too bitter, Light." There was a note of complaint.

"It fufills the purpose of waking me up. That's what coffee is for, isn't it?"

Hope opened 2 packets of sugar and dropped the contents into the cup. Lightning handed him a plastic stirrer as she relocated his bag to the top of the table and sat herself on the chair.

"You look tired." It wasn't a question.

Hope took a bite of the sandwich and chewed as he thought of how he would phrase how he felt at the moment. Lightning leaned against the chair and crossed her legs and arms. It was a sign that she was willing to wait.

"I don't recall you mentioning anything about garnering this much attention. Was there something about your status apart from being a third year that I missed?"

He took small sip of the coffee to see if the taste had improved. He made another face.

Still too bitter.

He opened another packet of sugar and began stirring it in when she spoke.

"I'm not exactly what you would call 'popular'."

"Would notorious be a better term? Or infamous?" There was no hint of mocking in the way Hope phrased his question. He was simply trying to understand what she meant.

"Infamous would be a better term," she agreed, seemingly pleased he had caught on fast. "I'm not exactly known for being nice. Rather, to others I seem to be quite a formidable person."

Hope nodded. He could understand a bit why they would think so.

"I'm the Vice President of the Student Government. I was coerced into running for the position by Fang when we were in second year." Lightning said with a small frown, as if the memory greatly displeased her.

"I'm the only student whose education is sponsored by the Principal so academically, I'm at the top of my year." She continued her list of achievements and Hope was able to slowly piece together how people perceived Lightning Farron.

"I'm also a member of the school fencing club-"

"I think you mean 'ace', rather than just a member?" Hope interjected.

Lightning let out a small huff. "Fine. Whichever way you want." She added carelessly. Hope had a feeling he was right.

"I think the main factor why you're gaining so much attention is because I've rejected a lot of others who asked me to be their mentor in the last year and a half since my mentor graduated. Everyone must have concluded I would graduate without taking an apprentice when the first half of the school year passed with no developments."

"But here I am." Hope let out a small sigh.

Lightning nodded. "Yes, here you are. I presume people are just dying to know who 'the' Lightning Farron chose as her apprentice after such a long wait." She closed her eyes and gave an irritated sigh.

"I see." Hope finished off his sandwich.

"I didn't want to trouble you like this." This was as good as an apology from Lightning.

Hope crumpled the wrapper into a ball and took another sip of coffee.

"It's alright. They'll get tired soon enough when they realize I'm pretty ordinary." Hope said in a reassuring tone. Lightning cared enough to let him use her personal resting space like this. Lightning was silent at this though, Hope wondered why.

"Thanks for the food and coffee." He smiled gratefully.

"No problem." Lightning glanced at her watch briefly. "There's still 25 minutes before the end of lunch break. You should sleep a bit more. I'll be going ahead." Lightning stood up.

She leaned forward and poked his forehead the same way as before. "Don't be late for class and comb your hair before you leave - you have terrible bed head." Lightning straightened and made her way out of the cubicle. Before she left his line of vision though, she glanced back shortly.

"Don't forget to fix the bed properly before you leave, too."

And with that, she was gone. The quiet footsteps remained only a short while before the audible click of a door was heard.

Hope drank the last of the coffee and settled back on the bed, this time leaning against the metal headboard to keep himself from lying down fully.

He closed his eyes and felt satisfied. A meal and coffee, together with a quiet chat with Lightning.

Lunch had gone much better than he had anticipated.

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Endnote: Well, that's that. Leave a review if you have the time! :) Ciao!