"Trust me.
I cram thousands of stories in my pockets."

Vanille was helpful. She seemed rather popular in the market, but it was obvious why, besides her pretty face. She was cheerful and positive, even funny. There was something even nostalgic about it; as to what, he wasn't sure.

They stopped at the local park for a rest, setting the newly purchased bags of produce aside. He got a lot more for less than he had thought – Vanille had played a hand in that, getting discounts from friends. (Though every stand they went to, she introduced the owner as her 'friend'.) She gave a content sigh, leaning back on the park bench. Hope chuckled and sat adjacent to her on a protruding play structure. Little had changed about the park from his childhood; some of the toys sticking out of the sandlot were a little more worn than before, but it was all in the same shapes and forms he remembered. (He could also remember his father telling him that there were nicer parks up town, but none of them were as fun as this one.)

"Are you a big eater?"

Hope shook out of his nostalgia, looking back at Vanille on the bench. "You're not the meatiest guy around – where are you going to put all this food?" she continued with a short laugh.

"Well, it's not just me at my place," He answered, "Sort of, I guess. I guess you could say I'm part-time babysitting." Hope paused and rethought his sentence. "On second thought, I she'd kill me if I said I was babysitting." He would give Snow that one – Lightning would put her military training to good use if he thought he would have to really 'take care' of her.

Vanille was rather intrigued. "Oh? So, if you don't mind me asking, who is it that you're not-babysitting?"

He thought for a minute. What would Lightning classify as?

"A . . . friend's sister-in-law, I guess." He cocked his head in thought, before shaking his head. "It's a long story."

"Well I've got nowhere I need to be soon." Seemed like she was in for a story.

Hope sighed, but not negatively. "I know this guy, Snow. We've known each other for a few years now, but – uh, I guess circumstances didn't let us really get all that close. He lives in Bodhum with his wife – er, Fiancée, I don't think they're married yet." He felt rather rambling. Vanille didn't seem to mind, propping her elbows on her knees and leaning in to listen.

"Anyway, his Fiancée Serah has a younger sister who wants to join the Guardian Corps. I go to Crystallisé U. in Bodhum, so Snow looked up my apartment number and called me up. See, the prep camp for all the Sanctum recruits is –"

"At the Bayside PSICOM base here?" Vanille finished.

"Uh. . . yeah." Hope was a little perplexed.

"I know someone in the GC too," she explained in response to his expression. "So anyway, Serah's sister is the one you're looking after?"

Hope nodded. "Sort of. They stay in dorms on the base, but they're given leave every Sunday for the summer. Snow and Serah asked if I could show Lightning around Palumpolum a bit; make sure she adjusts okay with the training." Hope shrugged. "Personally, I've only known her a good week or so, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't need me around. They're worried for nothing."

Vanille hummed. "Really now? How old is this 'Lightning'?"

"Fifteen," Hope chuckled, "Fifteen going on twenty-one."

Vanille scuffed her feet along the ground as she swung her legs. "Well, there are different kinds of 'strong' in this world. People have strong insides or strong outsides, but nobody can ever see who's the strongest out of everything. They try so hard to perfect whatever 'strength' they hold, while the rest of their 'self' is lacking that power."

Hope was a bit awed. He didn't expect Vanille to be so . . . knowing. She seemed to have an understanding beyond her age. It made him think; what kind of 'strength' did he have? He was average, physically. But his inner power was nothing extraordinary – weak, if nothing else. After all, what else could it be if he still expected a 'welcome home' from his mother after all this time?

All of a sudden, he remembered Lightning earlier that morning – that was the closest thing to a 'good morning' greeting he'd had in a long time.

"Contemplating?"

He must have been spacing out, since Vanille had poked his cheek. After he returned to his senses, she stood up, returning to the bags of produce. "You need to get these home, right? So Lightning has something to eat on Sunday."

Hope nodded. "Thanks for all your help – I can take the rest. Since you helped me out today, do you want to meet up on Sunday? You can meet Lightning for yourself," he offered.

Vanille made an 'o' with her mouth. "Are you hitting on me, Hope?"

He instantly shrank back. Wooing the female race was not his forte. "N-no! Just, uh –"

She laughed at him, hitting his shoulder – a thousand times lighter than Snow's bear-like smacks of friendship. "I'm just kidding. Thanks for the offer, but I've got someone to see on Sunday too. Have a safe trip home, okay? And good luck with Lightning!"

Vanille turned to leave, but as if she had forgotten something, she trotted back, and stood on her tip-toes to whisper into Hope's ear.

She'll be worth it.

Training was every bit as brutal as Lightning expected. Through obstacle courses and one-on-one rounds they went, and each day she went back to her and Jesse's room dripping with sweat. Jesse was no different, either; out of breath and sorely lamenting taking the top bunk for the effort it took to get back up the ladder to her designated space.

It was on Friday that Jesse finally tracked Lightning down on the lunch hour. (She normally took her food and sat on her own in the mess hall.)

"Light~!" Jesse called, before getting close enough to take her by the arm.

"What did you call me?" Lightning managed to ask as she was pulled from her place alone, barely managing to take her food with her.

"A nickname," Jesse replied curtly. "Lightning's a mouthful – and Light's cuter, don't you think?"

"I didn't change my name to be cute."

"Ah, but that attitude makes you just adorable!" Jesse gushed, pulling Lightning down to sit at the rectangular table with her. Across from her was a rather doughy young man, probably in his early twenties, with a round face and a red hat that stood against the gray and black of the uniform. He looked up from stuffing himself as she and Jesse sat down. Across from Jesse was another platter of food, though nobody sat at it.

"Who'sh dis?" the round man asked through a mouth of food to Jesse, nudging his fork in Lightning's direction.

"My roomie," Jesse grinned. "I wanted to introduce you guys to her but – where's Biggs?"

"Jess!"

Lightning turned. From behind came another recruit – a boy, ages with Jesse, with dark, messy hair and a wide grin. He was rather gangly, opposite of the other boy across from her. Dark-hair hugged Jesse from behind, before swinging around to sit at the previously unoccupied platter.

"Guys," Jesse began, "This is Lightning, my roommate. Light, these guys are Biggs and Wedge; buddies I grew up with."

They both gave a toothy grin to Lightning – Wedge's was a little delayed, until he swallowed his food.

Biggs looked her over. "Lightning, huh? You're a little . . ."

"Little," Wedge finished with another spoonful of food.

"Hey," Jesse spoke up before the girl in question could, "She's fifteen, leave it be, guys! I think that's pretty damn amazing that you're so steeled to join the Corps at such an age!" the boys nodded in agreement. In the back of her mind, Lightning felt a bit more proud of her decision rather than alienated.

"So!" Biggs sat back in his chair, "Can we call you Light?"

"No," She answered stiffly.

"But Jesse did!"

"Jesse did without consent." Lightning decided then to focus on her food – she hadn't started yet, and the lunch hour was already waning.

Biggs whistled. "Whoa, I think a frigid wind just blew through."

Wedge nodded in agreement.

"Aw, let it go, Light!" Jesse pleaded. "Please? We just wanna be buddies. After all, GC gotta stick together."

After a few bites, Lightning looked up to the rest of them. "You're all aiming for the GC?" She could recall Jesse saying that she and Biggs knew PSICOM wasn't for them.

Wedge nodded. "Yeah. We come from a kind of poor area, so we got this idea—"

"If we all get into the GC, we're gonna go back to our hometown and start a patrol. The area isn't big or populated enough to warrant any real Sanctum police force to watch over it."

Jesse nudged Lightning in the side. "Pretty awesome, huh? We're not just some no-good slum kids, no matter what anyone says."

Lightning slowed her eating. ". . . That is pretty noble of you guys."

"Hell yeah!" Biggs snorted. "You're alright, Light. Come eat with us tomorrow, too."

"Not if you're going to make up nicknames."

"Yes ma'am. . . . Light."

"Stop with the name."

"Aw, c'mon!"

Jesse caught up with her after the last of the evening laps, as everyone began to drag their sorry, tired carcasses to their rooms.

After a few heavy breaths, Jesse grinned. "So what'cha think of Biggs and Wedge?"

". . . They're lively." To Lightning's displeasure, her own breath was just as laboured. The laps around the base killed. "The skinny one, Biggs – you said he's you're . . ."

"Boyfriend, that's right!" Jesse clasped her hands together. "Sorry if they were a little overwhelming. They're enthusiastic guys – lot's of fun."

Lightning, in her weariness, found she was doing a lot more nodding and humming rather than really replying to all of Jesse's rambling.

"—ty on Sunday. Want to come?"

Lightning locked their room door behind them, only catching the last of her offer. "What?"

"I said," Jesse repeated as she shucked off her uniform and shrugged into her pajamas, "Wedge is gonna go send some letters home, so Biggs and I are gonna go into the city on Sunday. Do you want to come?"

Rather than the offer, what surprised Lightning was how quickly she knew her response.

"I have plans with someone else. Sorry."

AN:

Okay, just a heads up: Don't ever believe anything I say about regular updates. I'm going to assume we all know what really happens. I'm so sorry for the wait.

So, new sort-of-kind-of OCs-ish! I can't claim them, actually. I wonder, did anyone catch it? Hinthint: Biggs, Jesse and Wedge were all in Final Fantasy VII. I had to throw in some randoms, and apparently those names pop up in a few games. (Besides the immortal Cid.) I also realized later that I, -cough- accidentally spelt Jesse's name wrong. (In my defence, 'Jessie' was spelt 'Jesse' in the demo of FFVII, which was what I played before I played the actual game.) So I hope nobody minds, because, well, she's already appeared in two chapters, so I'm going to keep spelling it the same way.

So, the fun Sunday is up next! Since I kind of have that part planned, hopefully that will go faster. If I'm allowed excuses, I've been away on Vacation for the past two weeks, and the free WiFi at the hotel is absolute crap. I haven't been online for more than five minutes straight without it disconnecting on me. This chapter was actually done a week or so ago. Please forgive me! ;;;;;;

(PS. Sorry if the pacing might be a little bit slow. It'll pick up soon enough. I-I think. Reviews are awesome!)