Caught Up

Lightning approached the main building of the CRYSIS Corps. training facility. Having the clearance to continue through Crystallinus, the shuttle had flown directly to the training facility to drop her off. Large enough to be its own district, the CRYSIS Corps. HQ was actually located nearest the base of Cocoon's crystal pedestal. Spanning a good few miles across, the base of operations was what linked the rest of Crystallinus to the crystal pillar. The CRYSIS Corps. Training Facility was tucked away in the corner, farthest from the HQ main gate.

Drawing nearer the administration building, Lightning found a member of military personnel waiting outside. While relaxed, leaning against one of the crystal pillars outside the double doors, his uniform was crisp, his posture firm giving off a seriousness that didn't suit the age he looked—and he looked like couldn't have been much older than twenty. His light hair was gelled back leaving only a few bangs to fall against his forehead. Though handsomely defined, his face hinted a small softness that gave away his youth.

At noticing Lightning approach, he straightened up almost immediately, giving a formal salute, "Good morning, Sergeant Major." He greeted her in military fashion, by her rank.

Lightning returned the gesture only hers was accompanied by the smallest of amused smiles, "Morning, Sir." She laughed inside at the falter in his stiff demeanor as she emphasized the salutation.

"Are you ever going to stop teasing me about my rank, Light?"

"Well, technically you are my superior, Sir," Lightning argued in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, "And by an entire new rank as of yesterday." She motioned to the double-crystalloid emblem embedded in the collar and sleeves of his uniform. The man, pinked slightly in the face as she did so, "Congratulations on making First-Lieutenant, Hope."

"Thanks, Light." Hope beamed, allowing the military man to fade away for a moment.

As the two of them moved to enter the training facility, Lightning found herself still impressed by Hope's growth. Over the last decade Hope had gone through a rather remarkable growth spurt. Now pushing 6 feet in height, with a build only slightly smaller than Snow's, the First-Lieutenant was no longer the little boy that followed Lightning around like a lost puppy.

But just as, if not more notable than his physical growth, was his growth as a person and member of the CRYSIS Corp. Reaching the rank of First-Lieutenant at the age of 24 was no small feat. And Hope had done so with such strength and grace, Lightning couldn't help but feel an almost motherly pride wherever he was concerned.

"Is your father celebrating with you?" The Sergeant Major continued the conversation, "Throwing you a party, perhaps?"

"Oh Etro, I hope not." Hope groaned, shaking his head rather violently, "You remember my 21st birthday. My father and festivity-planning were not made to exist in the same sentence." Lightning allowed a chuckle. If anyone could be more proud of Hope than she it would be—and understandably so—Hope's father, Bartholomew. 'Over the top' had not been in the senior Estheim's mind when he had organized a birthday bash for his son's 21st. It had even managed to impress Lightning, who most definitely was NOT a party-person. Birthdays—particularly 21sts—held a special place in her heart she wasn't very fond of.

"Best birthday ever?" Lightning quipped, good-naturedly. Her response was a look of pleading from the other soldier, "Well, you certainly displayed a rather interesting interpretation of the Cactuar dance..." Another pained groan.

"I'm sticking to the theory that since I don't remember it, it never happened." Hope mumbled, still shaking his head, "But since you seem to bring it up often enough..."

"My apologies First-Lieutenant Estheim, Sir." Lightning cleared her throat, hiding the amused look on her face but not the one in her eye.

"Feel free, any time now, to stop teasing me about that too." Hope mumbled through a sigh.

Inwardly, the young man was a strange sort of happy that Lightning felt comfortable enough around him to joke and tease. Military ranks meant nothing in his opinion between himself and the woman he was walking alongside. Lightning would always be his hero and dear friend.

Hope's relationship with Lightning had really been put to the test after Cocoon's crystallization. Still a child at the time, he couldn't quite grasp the idea that the only person who could console Lightning and help her heal, was the pinkette herself. Gradually, as he grew, Lightning did as well—healing herself in the process. And while Hope would always remain regretful that he couldn't save her then, his admiration for the woman only grew more.

"You too?" Lightning's mumbled voice brought him out of his reminiscing, "First Serah, then Sazh—now you…"

"Hmm?" The First-Lieutenant blinked, throwing a questioning look at the Sergeant Major who just shook her head in response. Lightning had noticed the strange look on Hope's face as he had fallen into thought. It was the same look she'd seen on both Serah and Sazh earlier that morning. Even though it was Hope who she arguably felt the most comfortable and open with, she couldn't help but feel a small flash of frustration licking at the back of her mind.

"How is everyone at home?" Hope asked, diverting the flow of the conversation slightly. He knew that pushing Lightning for answers she obviously didn't want to give, was pointless.

"Everyone's fine, Sazh had planned a fishing trip with the children today."

"Ah yes, Sazh's fishing trips, those were always fun—though I can't say I envy being stuck on a boat with almost a dozen children with 5-foot poles and fishing lines for half the day." Hope chuckled, "Syd and Noah are going too, I assume?" Lightning answered with a nod, "Serah's no doubt got enough to handle lately with the new baby and all—she's what, going into her 7th month now?"

"6 months, 2 weeks and 4 days." Lightning's recitation of exact time of her sister's pregnancy enticed another chuckle from Hope.

"Already counting down the days until you have a little niece you can spoil silly?"

"I do not spoil them!" Lightning defended with vigor. Why did everybody say that?

"Light, you gave the boys-"

"AMP devices, so Serah reminds me every time I see them." Lightning turned away, shaking her head, "It's not my fault whenever chocobo chicks were brought up as a gift, she got difficult." The pinkette turned back to hope, wagging a finger and shaking her head, "'You can't get the boys chocobo chicks! Chocobo chicks are sooo last decade!' she says." At that point Hope couldn't hold back a full-on, heart-felt laugh at elder Farron's eerily-accurate impression of her younger sister. Lightning, to say the least, was visibly not quite as amused.

"Thinking about it, she did have a point though," Hope started, after calming himself, "I don't think I know of anyone who's raised a chocobo from chick to adult except for Dajh with Nebu."

"Speaking of Dajh…" Lighting remembered her conversation with Sazh that morning. Hope's expression turned as serious as her own.

"Sazh still hasn't heard anything?" The taller of the two asked. Lightning shook her head. The two of them had come to a windowed overpass leading to the administration office. It crossed over part of the training grounds, most specifically the sparring rings and obstacle courses. Lightning found herself slowing down as she observed the few trainees below.

"I'll need to have a talk with Dajh, eventually." Lightning stated, her eye drifting from the sparring rings to the obstacle courses.

"Easier than you think," Hope spoke, "Speaking of which, they're probably something you should know…"

Lightning had been trying to concentrate on the conversation with Hope but found something bizarrely fascinating about watching new recruits train. She slowly found his voice fading before it reached her ears. But just as she was about to pull away from the window, her eye caught something on the edge of the course. Something that made her stop dead in her tracks. She only saw it for a second but it was long enough to where she couldn't exactly deny it.

A lump formed in her throat as doubt and disbelief started coiling itself around her heartstrings. It couldn't have been… There is no way in hell… Lightning shook her head, clenching her jaw. Great, now she was seeing things. It was all the eggshells that had been danced upon today, she reasoned. All the damn worried looks given to her by her family that forced her to remember the anniversary of Cocoon's crystal encasement. Their crystal encasement-

"Light!" Hope's hand on her shoulder brought her back to her senses. However the worried look on his face only seemed to irk Lightning more, "Are you-?"

"We'd best not keep Amodar waiting." She stated more than suggested, ignoring the goosebumps that had suddenly spread like flames across her body. She pulled away from the window and continued down the walkway, leaving Hope staring after her.

With a quick, curious glance at the window the pinkette been staring through, the First-Lieutenant took full advantage of his longer stride to catch up. For a span of seconds, the Hope had flown back 10 years to when he remained helpless, following Lightning. Always behind, staring at her back.

A/N:

I own nothing from FFXIII. I just like to play with the characters.

GRAAAAAH
I'm really not a Hope-fan but... this is me challenging myself _
Or maybe it's just me making up for his lack of cool (in my opinion-sorry Hope-fans) in the game _ I'm sorry, please don't hurt me...
I'm totally not military savvy but I tried to get ranks and things as accurate as possible. Besides, it's Gran Pulse, not Earth so...
It's 3:30am. Can I sleep now?