Here we go! Hope you like it:
"I... I still have a hard time believing all this." Noel said as he sat on the edge of Hope's desk as the other man sat at his desk and sighed softly.
"What? That you were left here? Or that Snow's off being his usual stupid self again."
"That Alyssa betrayed you." The other stated solemnly and Hope's mouth snapped shut. "I would have thought that she was in love with you... That you were in a relationship."
"I... Such a happening never crossed my mind. She was merely a friend." Hope stared off in the distance outside his window. "I never would have realized that she hated me so much. I mean, it's not like she didn't have a reason. The first 5 years after the fall were really hard. And considering that Pulse l'cie has always been hated and Gran Pulse was seen as hell on earth... It makes a rather sad sense."
Noel turned to him and gasped eyes wide. "How... How could you have done something that would make you.. All of you so hated?"
"Well... we didn't really have a choice. We honestly thought that we wouldn't be around to face the backlash if we succeeded anyways. We turned to crystal... Sazh, Snow and I on Gran Pulse, Fang and Vanille within the crystal pillar that they made with Ragnorok and if what is really happening is true... Light swallowed by chaos." He looked at Noel and shrugged. "It was better then the alternative. The Cocoon fal'cie nourished Cocoon and made it flourish so that people would happily breed more and more. To make a fitting sacrifice to their maker. Cocoon would have fallen either way... It was mostly just a question of how many had to die."
"That's disgusting." Noel replied quietly and Hope nodded in agreement.
"We were pets to the Cocoon fal'cie... The Pulse fal'cie only consider us when we interrupt their space. We are merely usable insects to them."
"In my time they don't even exist." Noel commented vaguely in wonder.
"Fal'cie... are a rather strange kind of living thing. They have a focus like l'cie but they can not betray their focus... Ever. Which is why the Cocoonian fal'cie couldn't destroy it. After we destroyed Orphan all of the Fal'cie within Cocoon stopped... or I guess died might seem appropriate. They gained all their power from Orphan." Hope had a rather troubled look on his face. "A central Fal'cie who was merely a power source, never meant to wake."
"So you think that the Fal'cie here on Gran Pulse have a central 'power source as well."
"It would explain why they don't exist in your time. But then again such an idea scares me... because that would mean that such a Fal'cie is why the planet is still alive. And for it to die... it would become a bitter husk... Worse then Cocoon because there is no 'outside' world to continue to sustain it."
"What does that even mean?" Noel asked quietly.
"People still sort of live on Cocoon. When it fell... It broke open more... So the outside sunlight, rain and such all can make it inside and continue life inside. Not as wonderful as it once was. But still... It exists."
"Do you miss it?" Noel asked quietly.
"Of course I do." Hope snapped bitterly and then he sighed softly. "Cocoon was paradise Noel. My biggest problems were my dad being too busy to spend time with me. I didn't worry about food, or safety or anything. I was a coddled baby."
Noel wisely didn't say anything else as the older man's facial expression soured more. He looked to Hope's window, looking outside at the world that they lived in now. Beautiful and bountiful. Hope sighed weakly and sank deeper into his chair.
"Sometimes... I feel bad for the Fal'cie." He swallowed as the other looked over at him. "They have a purpose that they barely want. We... There are thousands of Fal'cie. Ones that weren't even involved in the destruction of Cocoon. Their directive was merely to nourish humans. And all of them died."
Noel swallowed hard and he reached out but stopped short. He knew pretty quickly that the silver haired man didn't like to be touched. He was a very tactile person, which had been easy with Sarah. She was the same. They often traveled to places more his speed or were fighting so he had much less time to feel awkward. But this world was almost completely different, a world he strived to make.
"What's it like?" Hope asked suddenly. "In the future?"
"Well... I can't say for sure." The hunter replied quietly. "I mostly remember that it was well... Dead. Sand for miles and miles. The sky bleak. Few animals left. Fewer water sources left. When I was a child, it was bad but not so bad?" He shrugged. "The village was next to a water source but when I was 14 it got contaminated and dried up. The other one was smaller, further way. By the time I was 18... it was just me."
"Because Yeul had died..." Hope whispered and Noel nodded as he stared down at his hands.
"My life was hard. I... My parents died young. And my grandmother taught me about medicines and cooking. When I was... nine I think Caius came. My grandmother asked him to teach me to hunt since no one else had time... But Caius taught me so much more." He shrugged idly.
"What did he teach you?" Hope asked quietly and Noel shrugged again.
"Everything it seems. With every paradox we solve my memory gets weaker. But... to read and write... Plusian and Cocoonian. He... he had a pad like you have. Where he taught me history, strategy, technology I guess." He pointed outside. "I don't quite understand everything out there... But I'm sure I've learned about all of it at some point."
"Noel." Hope stood up and walked around his desk, his lips pursed in thought. "Are you're memories being replaced or just... being erased?"
He felt guilty for asking such a question but he had a feeling that his fears were going to be confirmed and he had to know. Because maybe he could do something about it. He thought about what Snow had said and if he was the thing that could save Noel he would. Forget what Light had said, he would make sure to the best of his abilities. No more losses... He wasn't leaving anyone else behind.
"I... I don't know." Noel looked troubled. "It's just at certain places in my memories are fuzzy. As if they haven't been developed at all."
Hope nodded and then he smiled kindly. Maybe he was wrong and they were just weird because they were in the process of being reformed? He decided not to ask just yet and to relax. The stress building in his shoulders was quickly becoming a physical ache.
"All right, this is too heavy of a conversation. Let's go get something to eat."
It was day two and nothing they looked up about who might want to assassinate Hope had turned up anything. Hope had shrugged it off, assuming that they would just have to keep searching. His nonchalant behavior about his own life left Noel concerned. The amount of time that he was spending with the older man was making him more concerned.
He spent a lot of time with the older man. Mostly to protect his identity. Very few people knew about the time travelers. And those that did were all confined to team Alpha. In the course of the first day, Noel had learned a lot about Hope's position and place within the Academy and he was rather sure of what such a position would be like on a person. He'd taken over team Alpha, the head team of the Academy way back when he was 19, which made him the defacto leader of the Academy. He was the head director, but it was a council of the team heads that controlled the large government/research facility.
He also leaned, very quickly within the course of a day, was that Hope was very unhappy. Most of team Alpha he didn't know very well other then Alyssa and many of the members mostly treated him as if he were a god. Hope had no outside friends and hardly did anything outside of Academy headquarters. Even his living space was within the giant building and Noel felt like this was unhealthy.
He was with Hope now, at the top of the building in the cafe to eat breakfast. The space filled with plant life and wide open. The wind was blocked by glass. And it was beautiful but it made Noel long to go outside. He could see that Academia was a tamed paradise, but he could also see that much of Gran Pulse was still untamed and he want to go out there. He wanted to feel free again.
"...it would probably be best to head outside and do something not Academy related. Maybe just a trip... Noel?" Hope was staring at him in confusion and Noel realized that he'd drifted off.
"Oh, sorry? You were saying?"
"I said that we should go out today. Today is actually my day off. And well... I never went out there before because Alyssa can't fight. This way, the Guardian Corps don't have to come."
"You sound like you have a place in mind." Noel hinted at and Hope nodded. "I wanted to go to New Bodhum. It sounds stupid but... tonight is the fireworks show and I want... There's a lot of memories attached to that."
Noel wanted to ask what, but the look on Hope's face was somber and sad. He nodded lightly and took a sip of his drink as he thought about it. "Will we spend the night there?"
"I'm afraid the Guardian Corps won't think that's very safe. It's not really the same Bodhum as back then. We'll go causally. Most people know how I am, but I think it should okay."
"Sounds good. I can protect you!" Noel smirked at the chance to get away from Academia. Hope smiled at his enthusiasm and Noel felt himself feel a little weird. Before the other could notice he turned back to his food, determined to hid whatever that change was. "I'm very glad that I got the chance to stay in this time for a while. The food is amazing!"
Hope's smile softened into something gentle and fond. He loved showing Noel new things about life in Academia and this era. Even though previously he was only able to show him the happy people and a few quick meals between time jumps... He was grateful for this time. It was a stupid wish, but he wanted everyone to be happy. Everyone. And giving Noel the chance to live without worry of the next meal, and a soft bed... As simply as it was, he was glad to give these experiences to the other.
"Just wait." He smiled gently. "Until you taste the ice cream that New Bodhum is famous for."
Noel found himself watching Hope as their transit took them to New Bodhum. The director had fallen asleep in his seat as he'd stared out the window at he passing scenery. Noel had been doing much the same, as he tried to avoid looking at the other. Hope's head was tilted against the window, long lashes rested gently against his skin. Noel felt stupid noticing such a stupid little detail but...
Now, that he had time to breath. That it wasn't all that quick stop, go, sleep, fight that he was use to, he had time to really look at the world around him. And Hope was a very good subject to study. His silver hair, brushing against his checks. His long, awkward legs and arms. His brow was still furrowed as if sad or in consternation. He wanted to smooth that out.
He wanted to know why a man so great and loved and heralded could be filled with such pain. He also, if he stopped to think about it, wanted to be one of the people that alleviated it. He knew that Lighting was one of those people and Vanille. It made him feel like he couldn't do anything. Surely one of those women had the position that he coveted. He swallowed hard.
That line of thought push him into a realization that he wasn't ready for. Now that he had the time to really look over his own thoughts and feelings, he realized that he cared for the other man. More then cared probably had feelings. Leaning back in his seat and turning back to the actual scenery Noel thought back to 10AF, when he'd first met the other man. Tried to think of what he thought and felt when first laying eyes on the other man.
After a solid 20 minutes of thinking Noel realized, with an unsettled feeling in his stomach that he really did have feelings for Hope. They'd been there since they first met. A remembered jolt at seeing the silver haired man for the first time. Being enthralled with his voice. The guilt he'd felt when he realized that many of his actions directly returned affected the man's memory.
And the worst memory of all, that solidified it. The horror, pain and grief he'd felt in Augusta Tower when the A.I. had told him Hope was dead. Or worse, the vision of it happening. Feelings that he'd shoved down because his own life was in danger and then all but forgotten when he'd seen him alive again. He closed his eyes with a long suffering sigh. An unrequited set of feelings was the last thing that he'd wanted to deal with on top of everything else that they had to deal with.
The town of New Bodhum in the year 400AF was vastly different from the one that Noel had seen all those years ago. Once they got to the beach it look kind of the same. Small shops and houses but those quickly gave way to city streets more reminiscent of Academia when you were in the city proper. Hope when the finally got off the train in New Bodhum Beach Station went and changed his clothes into something more relaxed.
But Noel could tell from the material that it was woven into body armor. Casual work pants and a loose shirt and jacket. He noticed that the yellow bandana was still tied around his wrist. Noel begin to wonder if he ever took it off. Hope smiled softly and gestured him to the gates.
"It'll be a few hours before sundown... The monsters here aren't so strong but I figured that I'd get some real training in while we're here."
"Somehow, I feel like there's a reason that you wanted to come here with just me." Noel raised an eyebrow and Hope nodded faintly.
"Well, the government doesn't know that I can still do magic. In the past I wore a manadrive but I never really needed it. But now I know why I have it." He pointed towards the exit towards the wilder parts of the beach, where the warnings were posted. "I was worried because while magic has come back to the people in a sense... It's not the same as what I have."
"And what do you have?" Noel asked as he leaped over the barricade followed by the other man.
"My powers." He admitted quietly. "When you become a l'cie... the Fal'cie aren't giving you powers... they are awakening the ones you already have. L'cie in many ways have no limitations of their growth due to the Fal'cie. Or well they do, but to live freely like I and the others now do... Well, that made us a danger to the Fal'cie... and thus we turned into crystal when our focus is over... Or cieth when we fail to please our masters."
"That sounds terrible... but you were crystal weren't you. Serah told me about that."
"We woke up. Whoever woke us up... Snow told me that it was Etro but... If she did she couldn't turn us off for lack of a better term." He lifted his hands and greenish fire appeared on his fingers. "I'm rather happy about it."
"Then why did Snow become a l'cie again? That doesn't make sense." Noel shook his head but Hope smiled fondly at him and shook his head.
"When you fought with Snow what was he like?" The scientist asked quietly.
"Stronger, faster. He seemed almost inhumane and never needed to heal."
"Exactly. Being a l'cie increases your abilities as well. You become super human." His face became sorrowful for a second. "If not for that I wouldn't have survived. I am a talented mage, probably one of the best... but I have a lot of physical limitations that even being a l'cie couldn't really change..."
"But Snow..."
"All my limitations are here now. I am a strong magic user... one might even say super strong... but I am not a l'cie... they are super human. Snow, to guard the pillar needed the power of a l'cie if what you say is true. He was fighting an endless battle against the flan to keep them from melting the pillar." Hope swallowed hard. "It's a godlike power that of course I don't possess anymore."
"But you're the one that made the cocky statement about your magic." Noel stated as he turned around to walk backwards. Most animals near a human settlement most likely wouldn't be terribly strong considering the Guardian Corps.
"Human capabilities are amazing." Hope admitted quietly as he paused and pointed to Cocoon. "We thought that such things were something that only a Fal'cie could make. But what we've done on Gran Pulse is far greater. And likewise. With the amount of training that I put in with my magic... I'm almost as strong magically as I had been then. But, I can't account for the boosts that being a l'cie gave me. I no longer have an endless well of magic, I'm only good at certain types of magic now instead of all of them. My limits had to be built up then endurance and determination."
"So your magic is like mine then?" Noel asked quietly. "I mean, I'm on the weaker side because I spent more time training my physical side."
"Well sort of, I didn't have to learn how to use it, I just have to extended my limits. Like I said, Fal'cie could turn us on by making us l'cie... but they can't turn us off. And even not being as powerful and remarkable as a l'cie... Enough humans awakened would have the power to have stopped them." He laughed. "The Fal'cie held us back because our potential was far greater then theirs. Jealousy might be appropriate. But that was purely a Cocoonian Fal'cie mindset."
"That's depressing." Noel turned towards the trail and started walking again. "That just means they were too stupid to really utilize humans and that led to their downfall."
"I don't think they could have utilized us. If the six of us hadn't challenged our fate, hadn't had Serah as an inspiration... We would have simply fulfilled out fate. Maybe their so called maker forsaw that and stopped them." Hope shook his head. "But that's a lot of conjecture on my part. It would be impossible to know what Lindzei was thinking."
"Lindzei is the God of the Cocoon Fal'cie and Pulse is the God of the Gran Pulse Fal'cie and I guess us humans have Etro." Noel replied quietly. "At least that's what Caius told me."
"What exactly was life like for you? Before you started traveling, I mean?" Hope asked quietly.
"Hard." Noel responded. "Long." He added after a moment. "When I was very young... my grandmother was my sole caretaker... My parents had died swiftly and most of the village had no time for me. I was one of the last three children born. And since Yeul was the Seeress, she was really the only one who was important."
Hope opened his mouth to say something but Noel waved him off. There were some Nektons but they were far off, and Noel wanted to finish before they lost themselves in battle. "Caius took me in when I was 5 years old as an apprentice. My grandmother had thought it was great. She being the village historian and doctor... she taught me a bit about reading, but she couldn't teach me things like hunting and what not. Caius was a brutal teacher though."
"He gave me a datapad and forced me to learn more then even made sense at the time. Day and night I learned about old cultures, languages, math, technology. I understand a lot of the things that exist in this time even if it's only from a... book standpoint. And it's weird... Even as we change the timeline... my memory gets warped, especially on the history side... But everything else stays the same. The history part makes me sad, as that was often where my grandmother and I could still bond."
"You miss her a lot don't you?" Hope asked in a somber tone. "I understand the feeling... the longing I mean."
Noel nodded quietly. He found he didn't really feel like fighting. He stretched his arms above his head. "I think that's what's really the hardest part in all of this. The people who get left behind."
Hope swallowed hard at Noel's words, because he that was still something that wounded him greatly. Being left behind, not sure if he was good enough.
As they sat on the beach at night with ice cream. Noel had given in and admitted that Hope was in fact a formidable mage. He stared up at the dark sky waiting for the fireworks to start. It was strange he thought as he turned to look at the scientist again. They had talked more then they had battled out in the grasslands around the beach and yet... He never felt uncomfortable. Hope was someone that he just clicked with, more so then anyone else he'd ever met.
Which made him feel guilty when he thought about Yeul and then foolish when he realized that he never thought about her in the same way that he thought about the scientist.
"Don't forget to make a wish on the fireworks." Hope smiled gently. "It's a tradition."
Noel couldn't help but skeptically raise an eyebrow. "Really? I somehow don't believe that."
"I don't know if other people do it... but let's say... it's an Estheim tradition." His smile turned melancholy. "Anything is okay."
The first in a series of blasts went off. And Noel gasped. He had seen pictures of such an event but to waste explosive powder on such fancies wasn't something that could happen in 700AF. He turned to Hope, to find him smiling fondly. And he realized that he had a wish. One that he would wish over and over again.
"Hey." Hope looked over and met his eyes as the show began to wind down. "What'd you wish for?"
Noel swallowed hard and then returned quickly. "What did you wish for?"
Hope laughed softly. "I know it all seems childish but... I wished that you and I could enjoy the fireworks again. It's a small thing, but it's something I would like to do." Noel watched argentate hair fall into his eyes. "Give you this gift of a future that you and your clan will hopefully one day experience."
"Hope..." Noel reached out and took his hand. His confession was on the tip of his tongue. How could Hope be so gentle and gracious with him, he didn't know. He squeezed it gently and then he realized that he was being awkwardly forward.
"Thank you..." He pushed himself to smile back. "I'll tell you my wish when it comes true."