A Necessary Lie

"You said what?" Snow said through a loud laugh. The younger man both the question and laughter were directed at stood a few feet away, rolling his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I'm sorry, Hope..." Snow raised a hand in feeble apology, "I'm sorry just..." He gasped for a breath, catching the other man's eyes.

"As glad as I am that I can amuse you," Hope motioned to the ground between them, "Could we focus on why we're here, please?"

"That's really what you said to Li-"

"Snow!"

"Alright, alright." Snow nodded, composing himself. He scanned the area Hope was referring to. A particular area of grass was disturbed, had been matted down by something heavy. Glimmering between the blades of distorted grass were slivers of shattered crystal, "Gadot and Maqui found this, yesterday." Snow explained as Hope knelt to take a closer look himself, "I came out here with them to see for myself."

"Was there anything else here?" Hope picked up a couple of the crystal fragments and examined them closely.

"No." Snow answered, watching the other man, "Nothing, just these shards."

"Well something was here that isn't now." Hope tilted his head, scrutinizing the disarranged area again, "Something... fairly large."

"If it moved... wouldn't that have meant it were alive?" Snow pointed out. Hope just nodded in agreement, still focusing on investigating their surroundings.

There were any clear tracks in and out of the clearing. He did note one of the smaller trees had been snapped in half. Examining it closer it looked as if it'd been done so to create an exit out of the clearing. Upon closer inspection of the broken thicket, Hope noticed the cleared path seemed much too clean and calculated to have been any wild creature.

"So what does this mean?" Snow's question grabbing his attention away from the foliage. The member of CRYSIS Corps. walked back over to where he was still kneeling, "Why didn't you want Light to know about this?" Hope caught the rare, solemn expression on the other man's face.

Snow's hero-complex and general macho attitude towards pretty much anything and everything hadn't made him immune to the passing of time. While he was still as much of a child as his sons and was still far from being the smartest tool in the crayon box; he'd grown in character just as much as any one else. He was still the 'hero' but was also a father, a husband and held responsibilities concerning the protection of Oerba Neo.

"The night before last, something happened at the Crystal Pillar." Hope began explaining.

"Fang and Vanille." Snow immediately stood, glancing in the direction of the aforementioned landmark, "What? What happened?" Hope had wanted to keep the situation under wraps and under control but all the signs were pointing in the direction of more questions than answers. But he realized the two Oerbans were Snow's friends too—and that the older man cared about them just as much as he did.

"They disappeared." Hope answered quickly and simply. Snow blinked, processing the two words for a long while. Eventually his gaze dropped to the ground.

"So you think...?" Hope nodded at the incomplete question.

"The specific type of crystal is obvious evidence." Hope voiced a few of the findings, "And the small path out of the clearing over there?" He motioned to the disarranged thicket, "It's definitely not the work of a creature of the wild." Now standing farther from the edge of the clearing, Hope noticed yet another thing about the break in the wall of vegetation, "What's more is that whatever—or whoever—is responsible is most likely heading back towards the Pillar."

"To Crystallinus." Snow added, catching on. The two of them glanced at each other. Hope looked away first, taking out his comm. device. Already connecting to the shuttle back at Oerba Neo, he began walking out of the clearing.

"So what are we gonna do?" Snow asked, catching up.

"You mean, what am I going to do," Hope briefly glanced up from his comm. to give Snow a hard look, "I am going back to the city."

"And what am I supposed to do Hope?" Snow grabbed the First Lieutenant's arm, stopping him abruptly, "Sit on my hands and do nothing? If there's any way I can help find Fang and Vanille-"

"I don't doubt that Snow, but you have responsibilities in the village." Hope reasoned, "This investigation still needs to remain as low-key as possible." The younger of the two found Snow searching him with his eyes.

"You're not going to tell Light, are you?"

"Not yet."

"What?" Hope found Snow staring at him with an expression of pure puzzlement—as if Hope had been speaking in a different language, "Why?"

"Because she doesn't need this right now, Snow."

"What she needs is to know that there's a chance Fang and Vanille are back-"

"Yes, a chance!" Hope interrupted, his temper flaring, "You saw how losing them affected her and how long it took for her to even begin to come to terms with it!" He saw Snow open his mouth to interject but raised a hand to stop him, "Until I find something that proves for sure that Fang and Vanille are alright—crystallized or not—I refuse to risk losing Light to her own recklessness again."

There was a silence as Hope forcibly calmed himself. It wasn't quite awkward as he noticed the understanding in Snow's eyes. Still, it irked him. Snow was right in saying Lightning deserved to know. It was what Lightning would do with the knowledge that worried him.

"I may not have a choice in the matter." The First Lieutenant eventually sighed, turning and continuing to the truck the both of them had used to get there, "If it was them and they were heading towards the Pillar, it's more than likely they'd have made it to Crystallinus by now."

The two of them fell back into silence as they entered the vehicle and began the short journey back to the village. As hope finished communicating commands back to the shuttle, snapping his comm. shut, he heard a strange scoffing sound from Snow. Turning to the driver just in time for Snow to let a stifled laugh escape, Hope frowned.

"Care to share, Snow?" The other man just looked over at him briefly before returning his eyes to the road, shaking his head.

"Nah I just... I still can't believe... out of all the excuses to use-"

"Oh just shut the hell up and keep driving." Hope scowled, only receiving another laugh in response. He sat, irritated for an entirely different reason, the whole way back to the village.

Upon entering the village, Hope head directly for the shuttle landing pad. He asked Snow to take care of his farewell, deciding not to waste any time in returning to Crystallinus. He'd spent the entire previous evening with Snow and his family—extended members included. Gadot, Maqui, even Sazh-

"Leaving without a proper goodbye, she's trained you well." Speak of the devil, Hope thought with a smile. He found the ex-pilot leaning against the stairs up to the shuttle pad. After a brief smile, Sazh's face turned serious, "So? What did you find?"

"Well," Hope started, holding out a few of the crystal fragments, "Snow was right about the type of crystal."

"So where did they come from?" Sazh asked, closely examined the fragments, "The only crystal of this type left is at the tip of the Crystal Pillar." Hope didn't respond. Sazh glanced at him, his focus leaving the crystal fragments almost immediately at the look on the officer's face, "They've thawed?"

"Fang and Vanille are no longer at the Pillar—but nothing's for sure right now." Hope stated the facts, "There is a lead, back to the city." Sazh remained quiet, as if attempting to put pieces together himself.

Hope knew that Sazh—being the eldest of the l'Cie during Cocoon's crystallization—had the most wisdom and experience to deal with the loss of their two friends the most effectively. It didn't mean it affected him any less. Particularly Vanille; the both of them had developed a significantly strong bond during their time escaping together. He'd grown to see the small Oerban almost as a daughter-figure and likewise, he a father-figure to her. Perhaps this had been due to the ex-pilot longing to see his only child again. Hope couldn't know, he never asked, it was just something that'd developed during the end of their world. Like his admiration for Light; Snow's realization of guilt; Light's rival-based friendship with Fang which he would later learn was something much deeper.

"Sazh, about Dajh..." Hope pulled himself from the past.

"How is he?" Sazh asked, her voice calm but his eyes apprehensive.

"It's hard," Hope began picking his words carefully, "We haven't had many chances to talk recently, he's been busy. Training under Light of all people-"

"You don't have to make excuses for anything, Hope." Sazh pat the First Lieutenant's arm, giving the younger man a small smile, "I know he's probably still angry."

Hope had always felt a pang of guilt when reminded of the rift between Dajh and his father. Sazh has tried everything to persuade Dajh to stay away from Crystallinus and out of the CRYSIS Corps. It wasn't that the ex-pilot dislike the new city or its government. He just wanted his son to live a normal life—as far away as possible from the place he'd almost lost him.

Sazh's over-protectiveness of his son was probably his biggest mental weakness. Sometimes it seemed as if the image of Dajh encased in crystal was imprinted on his mind, driving his need to keep his son within close reach. Dajh and Hope had grown to be good friends over the years. They'd both talked about training to defend both Oerba Neo and Crystallinus.

They'd drifted apart slightly since Hope had joined CRYSIS long before Dajh. But they'd been close enough for Hope to realize that the time Dajh started getting serious about leaving home was around the same time his beloved chocobo companion, Nebu, died. Hope didn't know the details (he'd been in Crystallinus at the time). Just as well, he hadn't known if there was a direct connection—he still didn't know—and probably never would. If he found out, it would be because Dajh chose to tell him.

"I doubt it's even about him being angry, anymore." Sazh snapped Hope back to the present.

"I think he wants to talk." Hope spoke honestly, recalling the short exchange he'd had with Dajh before he'd left CRYSIS, "I think he's just... trying to figure out what to say."

"I know." Sazh nodded slowly, "And all I can do is wait." There was no tone of complaint in his voice, just acceptance, "Just... keep an eye on him, will you?"

"Of course." Hope reassured, "I know Light will as well."

"Speaking of Officer Farron," Sazh straightened up with the change of topic, "What does she have say about this?" Hope sighed heavily, anticipating the same conversation he'd had with Snow earlier in the morning while they'd been driving to investigate the clearing Gadot and Maqui had found.

"I assume that means she doesn't know, and not she doesn't have anything to say about it." Sazh asked rhetorically, eyebrow raised. Hope avoided the older man's eyes, shaking his head, "Well she obviously knows about the Pillar... how did you manage to convince her to let you come out here alone?"

"I didn't." Hope answered, "Well, I mean I didn't exactly tell her... I was coming out here... specifically." Hope didn't miss the perplexed look on Sazh's face.

"You lied... to Lightning?" The tone in the older man's voice was layered in disbelief. Hope rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah, it was necessary, alright?" Hope ran a hand through his hair, "Look, she caught me coming out of General Amodar's office right after I'd talked to him about coming out here; she asked me what I'd talked to him about."

"Uh huh." Sazh responded, impressing the First Lieutenant with his ability to look amusingly impressed and mildly disapproving at the same time, "What did you tell her." Hope just groaned in response, "Well, now you gotta tell me." The younger of the two turned to Sazh, giving the ex-pilot a pleading look. It didn't work, Sazh just continued to wait patiently, his eyes gleamed of anticipation.

"I... told her I was asking the General for dating advice."

Hope didn't know which was worse: the unending bouts of laughter he suffered through while around Snow, or the stupified look of overwhelming incredulity on Sazh's face.

A/N:

Poor Hope. Not really. Well... maybe a little bit...
I think I made Snow too... not-Snow =[ BLAH
More Sazh.

This is a terribad chapter. I apologize.