Rayne twirled around in her little pink dress. It was her seventh birthday party and her parents had decided it would be a small party with just the Estheim family in attendance. After eating cake and opening presents, Hope and Rayne had gone into the yard to play. The young girl smiled at Hope who was gathering grass in his hand before letting the blades fly away in the wind. She spun around and around, letting her surroundings turn into a blur.
"See? I'm a princess! Mommy said so."
She pointed to her tiara and continued twirling happily. She eventually made herself dizzy, so she flopped down onto the ground as the world spun around her. Hope sat down next to her. He was giving her a thoughtful expression.
"Then I'm a prince!" he announced.
"No, you're not."
"Yes! If I'm a prince, then I can marry you. So there."
The look on Hope's face showed that proposing to her was a natural statement. Rayne stood up and put her hands on her hips.
"That isn't how you propose! It has to be romantic!"
"Romantic?" Hope asked, clumsily climbing to his feet," How do you do that?"
Rayne shrugged.
"It's what all those big girl stories talk about. And I heard my mommy say that it was really romantic when daddy proposed to her. Uh huh! Besides, if you were only a commoner I'd still marry you no matter what you were."
Hope smiled happily at her last statement before getting a mischievous look on his face.
"Wellll, what if I was a dog?"
He pretended he was a dog by getting onto his hands and knees and began barking at her. Rayne giggled and pet the top of his head.
"Yep!"
"How about…the Primarch?"
"Ewww, that wouldn't be you, you're too young and he's all old and ugly!"
"Okay…how about…a l'Cie?"
Rayne thought for a moment before looking at Hope.
"Yep, I'd still marry you."
Hope shook his head at her.
"Nuh-uh. They're big scary monsters and they want to kill everyone on Cocoon. You'd marry a monster?"
"If it was you," Rayne said, stomping her foot," And they don't look like monsters. You wouldn't marry me if I were a l'Cie?"
"No way!"
"Well, then you're just a big meany!"
"Nuh-uh."
"Yeah-huh."
The argument went on for awhile until the two got distracted by a butterfly that joined them in the yard. It was only three months later in the same garden that Rayne had confided in Hope that she was a l'Cie. He had pushed her to the ground before running off saying "I hate you" with finality.
The sound of Hope waking up the next morning took Rayne out of her memories. She buried her face in her pillow, as tears had been falling down her cheeks. She heard Hope roll out of bed, pause, and then pull on his jacket and shoes. Rayne sniffled into her pillow, trying to pass it off for being in her sleep, but he heard Hope stop and assumed that he looked over at her bed. She peeked slightly at him.
"Rayne?" his voice called out softly.
She didn't respond, her body completely rigid. She heard him sigh; tying up his scarf, before he finished. Burying her head in the pillow she heard him move and the door opened and clicked shut. The young girl groaned and turned over. She froze as she spotted Hope watching her from beside the door. He'd tricked her. Rayne sat up, brushing her tears roughly.
"Hope!"
"I knew you were up and crying," the teenager commented, giving her a scolding look.
He didn't move, probably knowing that if he did, Rayne would do anything to get away. Falling back onto the bed, she covered her head with the blanket, seething.
"Leave me alone," she growled, just loud enough for him to hear.
She heard him move again, this time back to her bed, where he sat at the end.
"Rayne, please listen. I have to say this, okay? If I don't and we just stay this way, being around each other is going to be harder than the situation already is. First, I'm sorry. The way I treated you when we were kids was terrible and…I ruined whatever faith you had in me. I know that. Becoming a l'Cie was really hard for me to accept, but once I was able to…I knew I was wrong. I treated you like you were a monster and that wasn't right. I hadn't accepted who I had become when I first saw you in Palumpolum, but…I felt relieved to see you. Even though I had been mean…and harsh…there was this feeling of being home when I saw you. I never stopped caring about you, I couldn't do that; you were my best friend. I didn't leave you, really, until the public knew of your brand, that is. I can't make up for it…but I can try. And you don't have to forgive me, but…I don't want you to hate me because…I don't hate you, Rayne. I don't think I ever did…I just thought I was supposed to. Maybe you understand that?"
Her breathing had gotten softer as she listened to him talk. When the room went silent, Hope looked over at her at the sound of the blankets shifting. Rayne sat up, playing with the edge of the blanket that was now in her lap. Her expression was so sad.
"I can't just forget how you treated me. Honestly, I want to say I don't forgive you, but I understand…We're trained to hate l'Cie. It is a sad and horrible truth and I wish that people would just-"
She cut off with a heavy sigh before looking up into Hope's eyes.
"I never hated you for hating me. For the longest time, I just wanted back what we had…but…it's been too long now. I won't avoid you. I can't avoid you. But…just know…you really hurt me and I am not about to forget that."
Her eyes were so intense that Hope had to look away for a moment. Getting up, he rubbed his hands on the sides of his pants. Looking back, he watched as she got up. She moved over to a closet that was full of random clothes.
"Then…I guess we just…move on from here?" Hope asked as she rummaged in the closet.
"I guess so…"
She pulled out a purple outfit, which Hope expected as it was her favorite color. It was slightly different from her previous outfit, though. Stepping out of the room, he waited outside for her. When she stepped out, Hope was astounded by the difference. She still wore a sleeveless shirt, but this shirt's neckline dropped, showing off the purple rose necklace she liked to wear. The edge of the collar was trimmed with white fabric. The shirt split at her stomach like Lightning's did, except the split was held together by white criss-crossing strings. She still wore her gloves and boots, which went up above her knees and laced all the way up to the knee from her ankles. She had picked out a rather short, pleated purple skirt with a white belt. Hope wondered to himself why most of the females he had been around lately liked short skirts, but he did not ponder on the thought. She did not speak, but she followed as he moved off toward the airship docking bay. They met up with the others who were talking with Rygdea and Cid Raines. He was the man in charge of the ship and a leader in the Guardian Corps. Snow spotted them first and winked at them.
"You two doing okay? Didn't kill each other in the middle of the night?"
Hope just shrugged and Rayne glanced over at Fang who nodded at her with a knowing smile.
"What's going on?" Rayne asked as a screen beside them flipped on.
Lightning put her hands on her hips and scoffed.
"Announcement about capture l'Cie."
The young girl frowned.
"There are more than us out there?"
"Just two," Hope answered," Remember I mentioned a girl named Vanille? She is one of them. The other is a man named Sazh. We travelled together for awhile before we split up. Apparently, they were caught."
They turned their attention to the screen and watched as a video of an airship came up.
"There she is. The Palamecia, pride of the Sanctum Skyfleet! This mighty flagship currently serves as a prison for the l'Cie apprehended in Nautilus. The l'Cie will face official sentencing upon the convoy's arrival in the capital."
Snow's hand clenched into a fist.
"So what's with the freak show?"
Raines didn't even bother turning to look at Snow, but kept his eyes trained on the screen.
"So the Primarch can stand in judgment of the villainous l'Cie…with their execution as the climax. The people will cheer their demise, and fal'Cie dominion will be undisputed."
Lightning crossed her arms.
"All part of the plan?"
"Yes," replied Raines," but it also presents an opportunity."
The reporter got their attention again as she started up again.
"In an display of unwavering dedication to duty the Primarch himself has boarded the Palamecia and focused his personal attention on resolving the Pulse crisis."
Rayne glanced around and caught Fang shake her head.
"They're baiting us. Trying to draw us out."
"Bait, huh?" Snow asked.
Lightning stepped forward and turned to all of them.
"Yeah, that's right: 'Here are your friends. Come and get 'em.'"
Snow grinned and sauntered forward.
"Well, if they're daring us to mount a rescue…I'll take that action. All in."
Rygdea grinned.
"All righty, best are on the table. We'll leave when you're ready. I'll be standing by."
He marched off down the bay. The group looked around at each other before moving off after him. When they reached where he was, a light popped on above a PSICOM ship. Rygdea pointed at it.
"This baby back here's a PSICOM vessel. It'll deliver you to the Palamecia."
"Oh, we're cargo now?" Snow asked.
Rayne couldn't help but giggle at the thought, which got her a light punch in the shoulder from the older male. Rydea just grinned.
"A parting gift to our rotting government. Take those PSICOM guys apart."
Lightning's hands were on her hips now.
"And we're supposed to take on all of them? I think the whole division's on board."
Fang stepped up next, a determined look on her face.
"I don't care how many lackeys they've got. Bring 'em on! Vanille's in there."
Hope went over to her.
"I'm sure she's fine. Vanille's tougher than I could ever be."
Rayne felt a bit left out, not knowing either of the people they were going in to save, but she could tell that some connections and grown among the group. She glanced at Hope, wondering if he didn't have a bit of a thing for this girl named Vanille. Lightning turned to Hope while Rayne was still lost in thought.
"Hope, are you scared?"
"Yeah, I'm terrified. But I'll be okay. Because I have you, and this guy, and Fang."
Hope looked over at Rayne and caught her watching him.
"And I trust Rayne to look out for me as well. And I'll do the same. We're all in this mess. We've got to stick together."
Looking down, the younger girl felt a bit awkward by his comment, but she didn't say anything. She wasn't about to let him die though, that was for sure. Rygdea chuckled, suddenly.
"Right, enough with the bonding. It's go time."
He then led them all onto the ship, Rayne keeping close to Fang as Hope fell back with Snow.