"A jarring noise in the distance is approaching . . ."

When was the last time he had seen Snow? Maybe a year or so ago. The man almost made sure kept in contact with Hope. Well, for good reason – in Snow's mind, anyhow. It was irritating and frustrating at first, though the young man had slowly gotten used to it. That was all in the past though, nowadays Snow was more of a long-distance friend.

They met at an outside café of sorts. Hope was alone at the patio table for only a few minutes before a trio came to join him. The first one to spot him was Serah – that was her name, right? He'd only talked to her on very few occasions. She was around his age, he could assume, with soft pink hair tied to the side. She was probably of average height, but it was hard to tell with the monstrous mass of Snow next to her. He, on the other hand, hadn't changed at all. Still blond and a bit scraggly looking, and impossibly tall.

The third member he didn't recognize so much. She had the same soft-coloured hair as Snow's wife, though a bit more salmon-y in colour. She was younger, he could tell, but more or less on par with Serah in height. And though after recognizing him, Serah smiled and adjusted Snow's attention towards him, the younger girl's complacent expression didn't change at all.

"Hey, it's good to see you again!" Snow grinned with a wave. Hope waved back, with a half-smile of his own.

They all sat around the square table; Snow on Hope's left, Serah on his right, and the other girl – whom he could assume was Lightning, or Éclair, or whatever – across from him. He could tell she was sizing him up with her contemplative gaze, unyielding in her examining.

"I guess we should introduce properly," Serah smiled. "Hope, this is my sister –"

"Lightning," the younger cut in, her eyes not once faltering.

Hope nodded. For a young girl, she was definitely intimidating enough. "I'm Hope Estheim. Nice to meet you. . ." He deliberated – Snow had said her name was Éclair, right? Where did the Lightning part come from?

Snow took the silence as his turn to speak. "I guess we should get down to business," he turned to Hope, "You're going back to Palumpolum for the summer, right?"

Hope had been going to Cristallisé University; the Bodhum campus. His father had paid for him to have an off-site apartment, as well. But with the school year now over, he didn't have much desire to stay in his apartment. It made him restless, not to mention a little anxious for the coming year.

He nodded. "Mm, just for the summer. The new semester starts in September. Why?"

"Ah, well, you see," Serah began, "Lightning is joining the Guardian Corps."

Part of his mind thought, oh, she does look like the type, while his body took that chance to take a sip of his water glass and let it flow down his windpipe.

"A-at such a young age?" Hope tried to masquerade the little choking problem with a cough. Lightning didn't seem impressed.

Snow shook his head. "Hah, you'd think that with her army colonel personality –"

Hope safely assumed within the walls of his mind that someone kicked Snow from under the table, considering A. he stopped talking, and B. There was a slight shake of the table. As to who kicked him – Serah or Lightning – he wasn't sure; they both made faces at the man.

"Anyhow," Serah continued on, passing a glance to her husband, as if to ask if he had any more smart comments to make, "Before she can join, they do a sort of training camp."

"It's a two-month regimen at the bayside PSICOM base to evaluate candidates for the two factions." Lightning clarified evenly.

Hope thought for a moment. "Ah, I think I get it. That's the base outside Palumpolum."

Snow nodded. "There are lodgings for the recruits and all, but we were wondering if you could show her around Palumpolum."

He nodded. "I don't mind." He had little else to do, after all.

Lightning stood up then.

"Lightning?" Serah asked.

"Since I'm not needed for this conversation," she began in a flat tone, "I'm going home to pack."

She turned on her heel and promptly exited, but not before reaching into her pocket and tossing some gil to the table – to pay for the glass of water she didn't drink, he supposed.

Serah opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it. Hope raised a brow.

"Is it okay to just . . . ?" He couldn't quite find the word for it.

Snow laughed dryly. "Let her go? Yeah."

"Éclair . . . Lightning, she just has a hard time connecting to people sometimes." Serah laced her fingers together. "Our parents passed away a few years ago, and at the time, I just really wasn't in control of anything. Light took it upon herself to, well, take care of things. She's always so strong willed and stubborn. She even tried to get a job so we'd financially be stable, but her age hindered that."

With her attitude, Hope thought to himself, she could easily pass for older.

"So, uh," Snow looked about like he was about to spill a secret. "She's gonna be far from home, so we were wondering if, you know, you could look out for her while she's at the base? Like, show her around Palumpolum on free days or something. Sis won't allow anyone to look after her – but we're not asking you to babysit or anything. She'd kill us."

Sera nodded. "She needs someone else in her life. Light has grown such a hard outer shell, she's shut everyone out. I can usually get through to her about things, but when she told me she was enlisting. . ."

Hope shook his head. "I . . . think I get it. Don't worry, I'll see what I can do."

What he didn't tell Serah and Snow was that he was going into this fairly blind, with no plan. Just like the other aspects of his life.

AN:

Hey, everyone! I never expected to get such positive reviews so quickly for this little mind-dribble! Thank you all so much, I'll do my best to write something you'll all enjoy.

In regards to younger Lightning's personality, I'm going to do my best to stay true to the stoic sergeant we all know and love and bow down to. I'm sure there will be some point where a kind of childishness will pull through – I mean, that's the whole twist with her being younger, right? Right.

PS. At the moment, it's crunch time for me school wise. I'll try to update in my free time, but until my exams, I won't really have many chances to write. Please bear with me~!