Review Thanks!

thewhitespirit: Yes got have the fluff but now back to the drama.

ben4kevin: Love the fluff but...

xXAngelWithDragonWingsXx: gald you liked!

animedprincess: thank you very much :)

rebirth-flame: Understandable I get lost playing old games too. Currently playing FF IX with my 8 year old nephew. As for the ages of the boys. They should be the same age. There is over a five year gap between Noel arriving in the future and Hope arriving. So they should be the same age at least they are supposed to be. Might have my timelines a little off. I liked the idea of Hope being younger too ;) Happy to hear that he's going to be in the next game!

Thank you to guest too!

AN: Alright here's the real chapter 18. Back to the drama. Just to warn everyone I slightly mixed mythologies a little bit but it won't go beyond how the magic works. I have it based on more how FF III or FF IV works. Sorry in advance if it's confusing have a bad head cold on top of allergies. Now on with the chapter! Please leave a review ;)

Chapter 18 Goodbyes

Darkness. Everything was covered in darkness. This darkness though was different than the last one. This darkness had a mind. Had a goal. And nothing was going to stop it from achieving its goal. What that goal wasn't Hope wasn't sure. What he did know was that it was nothing good.

There was something in the center of the darkness. Alyssa. She was working with this darkness. What the woman did not realize was that the darkness was using her. Using her wants, desires, and anger to its advantage. Right now the darkness needed her but as soon as it no longer did, it would turn on her.

The darkness was waiting for something. Again Hope didn't know what. He tried to listen. The darkness was whispering something. He thought that if he listened hard enough that he might learn something about its plans.

The darkness though noticed him. Hope swore that it looked straight at him and laughed.

"You cannot stop what is coming," the darkness whispered. Its voice was cold and full of malice.

Hope didn't want to be around it any longer. He could feel it stretching out towards him. He wanted to know what he knew. And Hope could not let that happen…

Noel wanted things to be normal or easy for them at least for a little while longer. Him and Hope had a good night. A really good night. Hope had done a very good job of reminding him that he was definitely not a child.

When they got up this morning though Fang and Vanille looked stressed and said that they would be out most of the day. Him and Hope then spent a pleasant morning together. Noel hadn't felt that happy since before Alyssa's appearance. The last time he felt that happy was the night that Hope stole his favorite shirt. The exact one that Hope put on this morning with a smirk.

It was after lunch that things became uneasy. Hope became quietl while they ate and looked ill. As soon as they finished he said that he was tired. Noel watched as he slowly made his way to their couch and laid down. Hope was asleep instantly.

Noel was worried that Hope might be having a relapse but when he put his hand on the smaller man's forehead it felt normal. He let out a sigh of relief. At least Hope wasn't ill again. This sleep though was not a normal one. That much Noel knew for certain. Hope was never that still when he slept. After all that they had been through Noel was not about to leave Hope alone so he sat in the chair and read a book or at least tried to read. He spent more time glancing at Hope than actually reading waiting for the other man to wake up.

"Something's coming," Hope said as he suddenly opened his eyes. Noel was at his side in an instant looking into his eyes. He was not going to lose someone else for seeing the damned timeline! Hope's eyes held a lot of determination and some fear but they looked normal.

"He didn't see the timeline," Vanille said making Noel jump. He hadn't ever heard the women enter.

"But he did see something," Noel said as he faced Vanille and Fang. Vanille nodded.

"It's time we had that talk," Fang said.

"This isn't going to be a pleasant talk, is it?" Noel asked. He had been dreading it since Fang mentioned just about a week ago. Fang gave him a sad look.

"I'm going to make us some tea," Vanille mumbled as she headed off to the kitchen.

Soon all of them were sitting around the kitchen table; Noel had a tight grip on his hand. The other man hadn't let go of him since he woke up. Hope knew how much Noel was afraid of losing people when they saw something. Even though Hope and Fang reassured him that it wasn't the timeline that he was seeing.

"Let me reassure you again that Hope can't see the timeline," Fang said as Vanille passed out the cups of steaming tea. The young woman looked nervous and upset so Hope knew that Fang was going to be doing most of the explaining.

Noel nodded at what Fang said but gripped his hand tighter; he was gripping it so hard that it was almost painful. Hope wasn't going to complain though. He knew that Noel needed that contact and truth be told so did he. It reminded Hope that he wasn't alone and he had a feeling that it did the same for Noel.

"Then what did he see?" Noel asked his voice clipped.

"I should probably explain things first so it makes sense," Fang said her voice also clipped. The two were glaring at each other and Hope was worried that they would have a fight right there in the kitchen.

"It's alright Noel," Hope was quick to intervene not wanting that to happen. "I promise I'll tell you what I saw after Fang tells us what she has to tell us and it wasn't the past or future that I saw, alright?" Noel gave him a long, hard look before his face finally softened.

"Alright," Noel finally gave in and gave him a quick kiss.

"And Fang you need to remember that Noel's just worried," Vanille said as she gave the other woman an imploring look.

"Right, right," Fang said as she rubbed the back of her neck looking the most embarrassed Hope had ever seen her. "Now then where should I begin…Hope you can still use your magic."

"Yes but it exhausts me. I can't use it like I could when I was a l'cie," Hope told her. Fang nodded.

"How should I explain this…there was a time before the Fal'cie when everyone lived here…"

"There was a time before fal'cie?" Hope cut the woman off surprised. As far as he knew the fal'cie always existed at least as the history he was taught was concerned.

"Yes. This was a very, very long time ago. When they showed up we had a war with them. Obviously we lost and they made sure to destroy that history…" Vanille said looking sad.

"Then how did you learn of it?" Noel asked with a look on disbelief on his face.

"When we chose to become what we are," Fang said looking frustrated.

"I know it's hard to believe but it is true," Vanille said. It looked as if Noel was going to ask another question but he didn't so Fang continued.

"Anyway before the fal'cie showed up some people were born with the ability to do magic although like Hope they couldn't use it without limitations. They could only cast so many spells before they needed to rest," Fang explained.

"What kind of magic are we talking about?" Hope asked curiously. People that weren't l'cie weren't suppose to be able to do what he did.

"All kinds but these types were the most common. Only offensive spells like fire or ice; this was commonly known as black magic. Others could cast only defensive spells like cure or esuna. This was white magic. They could specialize in their magics and cast extremely powerful spells in each but never cross over. You Hope can cast both, correct?"

"Is that bad?" Hope asked.

"Not at all," Fang said with a small smile. "It just means that you can't specialize. Comes in rather handy in a though battle."

"Why can I use magic and no one else at the academy could? I mean I had to hide it from them?" Hope asked remembering how hard that had been. Especially when they had their base on Pulse and they would occasionally get attacked by monsters.

"When the fal'cie took over they repressed our ability to use magic. So we forgot how and the ability went dormant unless that person was made a l'cie. Then it woke up," Fang finished.

"What about Noel?" Hope asked. "He used magic when he fought with Serah."

"But I've only been able to use my magic once since then and that was right after Alyssa…" Noel said as his voice trailed off looking upset and angry.

"I'm alright Noel," Hope tried to reassure him. The taller man gave him a sad look and shook his head.

"Noel is a special case. Technically he doesn't exist so…"

"He what!" Hope shouted as he cut Fang off. "What you do mean he doesn't exist?"

"Noel was the last person born in his timeline. People were in all purposes extinct. Because you built the new ark and the timeline was fixed Noel's timeline disappeared and so did the people he knew. He was never born," Fang told him.

Hope shook his head at what he was hearing. Because of what he did by saving everyone he also essentially killed the person that meant the most to him. It was a very conflicting feeling. It also made him feel sick.

"You never told him that," Vanille said and then bit her lip.

"It never came up in conversation," Noel said through gritted teeth.

"So you knew…" Hope said at his looked at Noel.

"Yeul explained it to me when she brought me here five years ago. She said that if I didn't exist that it would cause a paradox because I was so involved in fixing the timeline so she brought me to the future I should have had," Noel said with a small smile.

"So you aren't just going to disappear on me?" Hope asked quietly. He couldn't handle it if he lost someone else.

"Of course not! What made you think that?" Noel asked looking shocked.

"Everyone else did," Hope said as he threw his arms around the taller man's neck and in doing so he missed Vanille's sad face and Fang's wince.

"I'm not going anywhere," Noel said and Hope felt the other man's arms tighten around him. "And I'm just as worried about you when you see whatever it is you see. Now let's let Fang finish her explanation."

"Right," Hope said as he let go of Noel but made sure to grab his hand once again. "Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt."

"It's fine," Fang said with a smile. "It's good to see actually. It's comforting to know that you two care about each other so much.

"As for what Hope sees it goes along with his ability so sense things," Fang said. "He eventually gained the ability to know when our enemy was close and then he would see what we had to do to fight it," Fang explained.

"You mean no one else could tell when the fal'cie was close," Hope said surprised by the answer. He just assumed that they all could.

"No just you. Both those abilities were unique to you much like Vanille's ability to communicate with animals," Vanille gave a shy smile when her ability was mentioned, "of course according to Lightning you got along with someone of them too."

"Those were just machines," Hope mumbled embarrassed; Lightning hated when he rode them.

"What does this mean exactly?" Noel asked looking even more confused.

"Honestly I don't know. Vanille's gift was very similar to what Serah could do with the monsters and given enough time it would have turned into that but Hope's…there's been nothing like his abilities as far as we know," Fang said with a shake of her head.

"When you became a l'cie and your magic was woken up I think it changed so you could fight back against the fal'cie," Vanille said looking contemplative.

"It's the same for Noel. No one like him has ever existed. What his magic is or what it can do is still unknown," Fang added.

"Sort of like the tw…" Vanille started to say then she quickly covered her mouth.

"Like who?" Hope asked.

"You'll find out soon," Vanille said looking sheepish.

"Hope what did you see earlier?" Fang asked. He felt nervous as everyone looked at him. Once again it felt as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"Darkness and Alyssa was in the center of it," Hope said as he licked his lips. He took a sip of his tea and grimaced as it had gone cold. "This darkness though. It's different. It' aware and it wants something. What that is I'm not sure but it knew that I was seeing it." Hope hadn't noticed that he had been trembling until he felt Noel put his arm around his shoulders. He immediately leaned into the other man feeling safer.

"A darkness that's aware," Fang said with a frown.

"Fang can't we…" Vanille asked looking near tears.

"Vanille you know we can't," Fang said her voice tinged with sadness. "It's part of what we chose." Hope felt upset and a growing sense of dread when Vanille started to cry.

"You can't what?" Noel asked.

"We can't help you fight it. We can guide but we can't get involved in the conflict. The only reason we were allowed to help you this much is because of your unique circumstances," Fang said with a frown.

"You're leaving," Hope said more than asked his heart feeling heavy.

"I'm sorry we can't help you fight," Vanille said with a sniff.

"I don't care about that!" Hope shouted. "I just got you back. I don't want to lose you again." He tried to keep from crying but he felt a tear slid down his cheek anyway.

"You're not losing us Hope," Vanille said as she wiped her eyes.

"Vanille's right. We'll just be going away for a little while," Fang added.

Hope shook his head. He wanted to point that last time they 'went away' it was several hundred years and the time before that was even longer. He pushed those feelings down though. They had more important things to worry about like the upcoming fight with Alyssa and whatever this darkness was.

"I'm sorry," Hope said as he took a deep breath to calm himself down. "When do you have to leave?"

"Now," Fang said with a sigh. "We already spent more time with you than we should have."

"Right," Hope said once again feeling tears come to his eyes and but this time he didn't let them fall. Falling apart now wouldn't do anyone any good.

"Walk us outside?" Vanille asked hesitantly.

"Of course," Hope said as he got up still holding Noel's hand the other man's touch the only thing keeping him grounded at the moment.

The air outside was cool and crisp a sure sign that colder weather was well on the way. They walked not talking until the house could barely been seen. When Hope got up that morning this was now how he pictured the day turning out but in his heart he also knew that this day was coming. He just wished that their peaceful times could have lasted a little longer.

"Don't worry help is on the way and it should be here soon," Fang said as she gave Hope a tight hug. Hope hugged her back just as tightly. She then moved onto Noel.

"It'll be alright Hope, you'll see. Now don't look so said," Vanille said as she gave him a hug.

"I'm going to miss you," Hope told her with a sniff.

"Do you remember what you told me about my smiles?" Vanille asked him quietly. Hope nodded embarrassed by the memory. "Well the same goes for me, okay. I like to see you smile too."

"I'll try to remember," Hope said as he gave her a watery smile.

"That's better," Vanille said with a sad laugh.

"You ready to go Vanille?" Fang asked. Vanille nodded and gave Hope a sisterly kiss on the cheek.

"It was nice meeting you Noel," she said as she gave Noel a quick hug. "You make sure to make Hope smiles a lot."

"That's a promise," he told her and just like that they were gone like then had never been there.

Hope felt a sob escape and Noel once again put his arm around his shoulders and pulled him close. This hurt more than them turning into crystal. At least then he could talk to them now he didn't know when or even if he would see them again.

"Are you alright?" Noel asked as he rubbed soothing circles on his back.

"Not now but I will be," Hope said as he pulled away slightly so he could look up at Noel.

"Come on I think we earned some cuddle time after that talk," Noel said as he led Hope back to the house. He wanted to protest and say they had too much to do but Noel was right. He didn't think that either of them were in the right frame of mind to think rationally anyway.

Later that night the two of them were lying in bed together. Noel was sleeping peaceful but Hope was unable to quite his mind. He knew that Noel had promised, several times, that he wouldn't leave him. So then why did Hope have this terrible feeling that it was going to happen no matter what he did? He wanted to believe it was just because of Fang and Vanille leaving but he knew that it was more than that.

He remembered Fang telling him how Noel didn't technically exist and what the darkness said to him earlier; he shuddered. He had sickening feeling about what the darkness wanted now that he had time to think about it even if he didn't want to believe it. Hope vowed he would do everything in his power to keep that from happening. He would not let the darkness get Noel no matter the cost.