Review Thanks!
ben4kevin: They're my favorite pairing from this game too! But you probably guessed that ;)
thewhitespirit: Hope is a cutie.
xXAngelWithDragonWingsXx: Thank you!
rebirth-flame: Yeah poor Noel with no 'touching' young Hope. Just wait till you see his reaction when he can 'touch' Hope again. :)
AN: Alright here's the next chapter and it's a longer one! The story will pick up again in the next chapter. And coming up soon will be the surprise character and the two originals :) Please leave a review and tell me what you think!
Chapter 15 Finding What's Lost
"Noel why are you packing so much stuff?" Hope asked him his head titled slightly to the side. Noel found it adorable that Hope always had that trait.
"It's not a good idea to go on a journey unprepared," Noel told him once again reminded how he didn't know anything about children. Especially sick emotionally scarred children. Add to the fact that this particular child was in his boyfriend back in the real world only made things more complicated.
Hope was standing there with a curious expression like he didn't know what to think of him. His cheeks were also tinged pink. Noel wished that it was because Hope was embarrassed or annoyed but he knew it was from the fever. Noel didn't like the idea of them traveling but he didn't know what else to do as they were running out of time.
"Come on," Noel said as he slung the bag on his left shoulder.
"Right," Hope said. As they left the cave Noel noticed the sad look that crossed the boy's face.
"What's wrong?" Noel asked him.
"Just realizing that I will never see this place again. That this is a one way trip," Hope said as he looked down at the ground. Noel's heart clenched at the look of devastation on the boy's face. It wasn't right that someone so young should go through something like this.
"Hope I won't let anything happen to you," Noel said as he kneeled down in front of the distraught boy. Hope gave him one of the saddest smiles that he had ever seen.
"Thank you Noel but there really isn't much you can do," Hope said as he took off the handkerchief off his left wrist revealing his brand. "Fang explained how once the 'eye' opens all of the way that's it. We would turn into cie'th."
"That's not going to happen…" Noel started to say when Hope started to rub his forehead a sure sign that he was going to have another one of his episodes and that was something Noel did not want to see. Once was more than enough.
"Sorry…" Hope said with a wince.
"It's alright," Noel was quick to reassure him as he reached into the bag, pulled out a leaf and handed it over to Hope. "Chew on this and then swallow. It will help." His grandmother had given him that plant that many times when he was younger.
Hope took it without a word and put it in his mouth. The boy grimaced as he chewed it but didn't complain. He then swallowed it and Noel saw some of the tension leave the boy's face.
"That did help. Thank you," Hope said with a small smile and then gave him that curious look again. For a moment he thought that Hope was going to ask him something but the boy walked out of the cave instead.
"So where are we headed?" Noel asked as he followed the boy.
"Oerba. Fang and Vanille's home," Hope said as he continued to walk.
"Why are we going there?" Noel asked.
"Because I saw it," Hope said quietly.
"Saw it?" Noel asked curiously. He knew that's where they all went before they went to Eden. Hope told him that much but Hope never really explained that reason why they went there.
"Yeah," Hope said as he stopped suddenly looking nervous. "In a dream. After we all got here we looked all around the area and we didn't know what to do next. Then I…ah…I had this dream so that's where we all headed before they turned…anyway I never told you because I know how people 'seeing' things makes you nervous."
Noel looked at the boy in surprise. Hope had just remembered something. About him no less and it didn't cause him pain. Maybe this trip really would work.
"Right then. Do you know which way to go?" Noel asked wanting Hope to remember as much as he could by himself. After what happened the other day he was scared to push the boy again. Hope bit his lip and nodded.
"That way," he said pointing to a side of a cliff. "If these other memories are right there's a tunnel over there."
"Lead the way," Noel said. Hope gave him another look and then nodded.
After avoiding the rather large monsters they soon arrived at the tunnel entrance Hope hesitated a moment before entering. This all seemed so familiar yet not. Those other memories were confusing. Sometimes they seemed so real but he knew that wasn't possible. All the others were dead. He buried them himself.
Then there was Noel. The man seemed very familiar to him too. He felt like he met him before but he knew that he hadn't. Hope was sure that he would remember someone like Noel but the really weird thing was that he did. It was like a fleeting dream. As soon as he came close to grasping any understanding of the man it would disappear. Maybe if he talked to the man some more he could figure it out. After all he did claim that he was a friend of Serah's maybe he also had met Lightning and Snow.
"Can I ask you something?" Hope asked his voice echoing slightly off of the stone walls. He just barely kept from wincing. The leaf that Noel had given him had helped some but the headache still lingered.
"You can ask me anything," Noel said looking pleased. Once again that fleeting feeling returned. He knew that he could trust Noel even though he was obviously hiding something from him.
"You said you were friends with Serah, right?" Hope asked. Noel nodded giving him a small smile. "Were you close?"
"Very close but only as friends. I know how much she loves Snow and he loves her just as much," Noel said with a small smile.
"Did you know Snow then?" Hope asked curiously choosing to ignore the fact how Noel talked about them as if they were still alive.
"I've met him but we didn't really get along. His hero complex annoyed me," Noel told him.
"I really didn't get along with him at first either. I didn't like his hero spiel. He was there during the purge and when my mother died. I blamed him for a long time after that," Hope said. He still felt guilty for the way he treated the man but at least they made up before he turned. "But we became good friends eventually even though at times he could be an idiot."
"Well there must be something good about him if you and Serah like him," Noel said looking slightly jealous for some reason.
"I thought you said you and Serah were only friends," Hope said curiously.
"We are," Noel answered.
"Then why did you look so jealous just now?" Hope asked. He laughed when Noel turned red.
"I…ah…just realized something. That Snow is also friends with my…" the man said his voice trailing off.
"Your girlfriend," Hope supplied. Noel shook his head. "Boyfriend then."
"Yeah," Noel said suddenly looking sad.
"You miss him?" Hope asked.
"Very much," Noel said with a wistful smile. Hope had never really saw people that were really in love before. His parents got along and he knew they cared about each other but he never believed that they were in love. And Snow, Hope knew that he loved Serah but all he did was scream her name a lot and act all depressed. Noel on the other hand was different. There was a look in his eyes when he talked about his boyfriend.
"What's he like?" Hope couldn't stop himself from asking.
"He smart, sweet, and a self-sacrificing idiot," Noel said with a sappy look on his face.
"He must be worried about you," Hope told him. Noel gave him a sad smile.
"He doesn't even know. He's really sick. He fell asleep awhile back and won't wake up. If he doesn't wake up soon he's…but I'm going to save him," Noel said with such conviction Hope had to admit that he was jealous. He would have liked to have found someone that loved him as much as Noel loved his boyfriend. But since he was a l'cie he would never get to find out.
The least he could do was to help Noel get back home and maybe even find something that might help his boyfriend. If these other memories were right he knew that getting to Oerba would solve both their problems. The thing of it was though that Hope wasn't sure if he could make it. He was feeling worse by the moment. Hope would just have to get Noel as far as he could.
Hope said that they were half way through the tunnel when Noel decided that they would stop for the day. After they rather awkward talk; well it was awkward for him anyway. He never thought he would have to explain his relationship with Hope to Hope. That conversation seemed to wear Hope out. Not only that but his headaches had gotten worse. It was to the point that Noel could tell he was even having a hard time walking. It was why Noel had insisted that they stop for the day.
At the moment the boy was sleeping fitfully mumbling the names of his friends and sometimes something that sounded very similar to his name. Not knowing what else to do Noel decided to make a broth that his grandmother had made him whenever he got sick. After she had died he was afraid that he had lost her but now he realized that he hadn't. Even though everyone he knew growing up no longer 'existed' he still had what they had taught him so in a way they were still with him.
When he was growing up the lessons that his grandmother taught him about what plants were used for certain ailments always annoyed him as he never saw the point to them. Now though, he was glad she had forced him to learn all of that. If she hadn't he would feel more helpless than he already did. He had never given the woman enough credit for what she had gone through in her short life. He was quickly learning that there was nothing worse than a child being sick and not really being able to help them.
The broth finally finished so Noel gently shook the sleeping Hope by the shoulder to wake him. The boy slowly sat up and sleepily rubbed his eyes. Even with the dim light Noel could see that Hope had become even paler. It looked like the nightmare was fighting even harder against them.
"Wha…" Hope said sounding tired.
"Dinner's done," Noel said as he handed over a bowl of the broth.
"Thanks," Hope said listlessly.
"How are you feeling?" Noel asked him. The boy shrugged as he blew on his broth to cool it. He took a bite and grimaced.
"This is disgusting," Hope said for the first time sounding the age that he looked. Noel couldn't help but to chuckle. Hope really was a cute kid. He could see how the others got so attached to him.
"I know but it's good for you. It will also help with that headache of yours," Noel told him. Hope gave him a skeptical look but ate it anyway.
"Noel where did you learn to make things from the plants here?" Hope asked quietly.
"My grandmother," Noel answered without thinking when he saw Hope's eyes go wide he realized what he said. The Hope that he was in love with lived on Pulse with him and his grandmother came up fairly often in their conversations. This Hope on the other hand was a child and Pulse was foreign to him. "I…"
"It's alright," Hope cut him off. "I know that you're hiding something from me but I trust you."
"It's not that I'm hiding something really it's just complicated," Noel said with a sigh.
"I see," Hope said looking tired.
"Why don't you try and get some sleep," Noel suggested. Hope nodded as he set his nearly empty bowl to the side. The boy then laid down.
Noel leaned his back against the tunnel wear next to where Hope was laying. Surprisingly they hadn't had any battles since they entered. He didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He wanted to believe it was because Hope was fighting back against the nightmare but he was worried that it might be because Hope was getting weaker and the nightmare was draining him. Still Noel didn't want them to be caught unawares if something did attack.
"Hey, Noel?" Hope asked quietly.
"Hmmm," Noel answered wondering how much time had truly passed since he entered Hope's nightmare. He remembered Fang mention how time worked differently here.
"Would you mind telling me about your grandmother and your boyfriend at least until I fall asleep?" Hope asked him giving him big sad eyes. He couldn't say no to Hope when he was an adult when he gave him that look and it was even worse when he was a child. Noel doubted anyone could say no to him.
"Alright. Now let's see…" Noel then told Hope about his grandmother and some of their relationship. Hope had told him a few times how he trusted him but Noel was worried that he would lose that if he let slip that Hope was the boyfriend he was talking about so he tried to keep it vague.
During his stories Hope had scooted closer and closer until he was half laying on top of him. Noel brushed the hair out of the sleeping boy's eyes and frowned. Hope's fever had gotten worse. There had to be a way to break this nightmare's hold over him. He just didn't know what it was.
"I finally see daylight," Hope said has he hurried towards the exit.
"That's good. I don't know how much more of this tunnel I can take," Noel said as he followed a little slower. Hope knew, he didn't know how, but he did that Noel did not like enclosed places.
When they stepped outside Noel took a big breath of fresh air. Hope though this place also looked familiar but he had never been here before. They had never made it this far and now.
"Something happened here," Hope said his as all of these images came flooding into his mind. He heard Noel walk closer to him but he wasn't paying too much attention to the man. He was seeing something that didn't happen.
"Vanille she doubted herself and she…she fought her eidolon here but she," Hope said as he furiously rubbed his forehead. How could she have fought her eidolon here when she had died along with the others. Something wasn't right. Something was giving him false memories. The questions were which ones were true and which ones were false.
If these were the false memories then everyone else was still alive but that would mean Noel wasn't real and he found that equally as upsetting. Even though he had only known Noel for a few days he cared about the man. Then there was the whole l'cie thing. Either way he was doomed. There was no way out for him but Noel. If he was real the only chance the man had to get back to his boyfriend was to get to Oerba. Hope knew that going there was the answer.
"Hope! Hope!" Noel screamed sounding afraid. Hope hadn't even realized his eyes were closed until he opened. Noel was looking down at him his eyes filled with concern. "Thank goodness. Here hold this to your nose," Noel said as he pressed a handkerchief into his hand. "I am going to get you something that should help."
Hope did what Noel asked him to and pressed the handkerchief to his nose. The boy pulled it away a moment later only it see it dark with blood. His blood. That would explain why Noel was freaking out. It looked as if maybe his sickness might get him before he turned. Which would be a blessing in away. If he died from this illness first then he wouldn't have to worry about hurting Noel. The meant that he had even less time though. He had to hurry to get Noel to Oerba or he would never get back home.
"Can you sit up?" Noel asked once again hovering over him only this time he was holding a water flask. Hope tried to push himself up but his arms gave out on him. Noel ended up propping him up. "Drink this," the man said and pressed the flask to his lips.
Whatever the drink was disgusting. It tasted worse than the leaf and broth combined. Hope pulled away after a few sips.
"Drink all of it," Noel insisted as he once again pressed it to his lips. Hope finished it quickly and he had to admit that it did make him feel somewhat better. He was glad though when Noel gave him the second flask and it was filled with nothing but water.
"Thanks," Hope said now able to sit by himself. Noel put his hand on Hope's forehead and shook his head.
"You're fever's higher," the man as he bit his bottom lip. "Maybe we should stay here for the night and let you rest."
"No!" Hope shouted. He knew that he didn't have much time left. He had to get Noel to Oerba at the very least. "We have to keep going."
The man looked torn before he sighed, "Alright but only if we go slow and you tell me if you feel the least bit tired."
"I will," Hope told him.
"Come on then," Noel said as he grabbed Hope by the hand and pulled him to his feet. Once he was standing Noel didn't let go of his hand but Hope didn't mind. It made him feel safe and connected to someone. Something that he thought he wouldn't feel again. "Alright which way?"
"That way," Hope pointed with his free hand. "We have to go through a swamp type area, then a tower, after that is Oerba."
"It sounds pretty far," Noel said once again biting his bottom lip.
"It's not too bad. If these other memories are anything to go by," Hope told him.
"So you are remembering things?" Noel asked looking hopeful.
"Yes but it's painful and also…" Hope started to say and then stopped. He didn't want to tell Noel his fears about the man not being real.
"Also?" Noel pressed.
"It's nothing," Hope was quick to say. "We better get going. I want to get as far as we can today."