Hi! So I'd really like to thank everyone who took the time to read my first fanfiction! I'm surprised I got more than 1 review! I would like to update as soon as possible as much as I can because I'm on spring break, so I really don't have an excuse to be slacking on the story. And I can listen to the song the Gates of Etro from the FFXIII-2 soundtrack and feel so inspired! And I don't have writer's block like I usually do 75% of the time lol, so, enjoy the next chapter, and I'll continue to write!

Hope quietly followed Serah as she unlocked the door and stepped into the room. It looked a little bit brighter since the windows were open. Serah looked over at Hope, realizing she didn't know what room to put him in since her boyfriend was staying in the room beside hers.

"Would it be ok if you slept on the couch? Just for tonight? Then we could think of other plans, or, maybe Light'll grow on you? You never know!" She laughed quietly and watched Hope nod.

"Oh my gosh! I didn't realize, I haven't gotten your name! I'm Serah, if you didn't know already," she said, holding out her hand. Hope reluctantly put his hand out and shook it slightly.

"I'm Hope. It's really nice to meet – I mean, thanks for… letting me stay with you." Serah nodded sympathetically and stepped into the kitchen to make breakfast. She figured she should get some training when she married her man. Hope. Figures. That would be the reason, names are always ironic when they're adjectives. She usually doesn't wish someone's name was despair, but, in this case…

"How old are you Hope? 16, 17?" She didn't expect him to be younger, even if he was short and looked younger, she wouldn't believe that he would be going to a prestigious school with a lot of 20 to 25 year olds.

"I'm 14. Why do you ask?" Serah felt bad as she realized Hope still sounded nervous. She would have to do something to make him more comfortable. She stepped back into the little living room and looked over at him, sitting on the big couch fit for her boyfriend, not some little boy. She realized how young that was to be at such a big school, but she figured that he must be a smart kid. But he looked almost as if he was going to blow up any second, and it made Serah feel like crap. She tried to loosen up the conversation, but failed miserably.

"So… Hope, where are your parents? Did they decide to bring you here-" She stopped immediately when she saw the look on his face as if he was slapped. His eyes welled up with tears and instantly began to fall down in little droplets down his face. Serah didn't mean to, but she began to cry a little as well. She ran up and wrapped her arms around him.

"I-didn't mean- Hope, I'm so sorry, I didn't know-" Hope looked up at her and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"It's ok, Serah. You didn't know. I figure I can tell you the story now, so you won't have to know. My, my parents died. First my-my mom, a-and she… she… my dad died in car crash on his way home from work. So, I figured instead of staying in an orphanage or foster home I could come here." Hope wiped his final tear and Serah continued to hold onto him.

"I'm sorry about everything that happened with Light, Hope. She's-she's been through a lot, and I think that she'll like you soon. She's just not used to, people, I guess. But she's not too shabby once you get to know her." Hope looked at Serah sweetly then saw her eyes widen and gasp. She got up like a rocket and sprinted back into the kitchen.

"Oh thank God! I forgot to turn on the stove in the first place!" Serah began to laugh hysterically, and Hope couldn't help but stifle a chuckle from his mouth.

After eating breakfast, Hope finished getting ready and Serah thankfully wrote down on an index card where each of his classrooms were. Hope started his classes a little later since Serah had more than him.

"Hope, I'm leaving now. We're allowed to come back and eat lunch in the dorm rooms as long as we come back on time for our next class. So I'll meet you back here around 12:40, but here's a room key in case I don't get back in time," Serah realized Hope could take care of himself, so she took one last look at him and then left the room.

Hope stared at the floor for a minute before continuing on to the kitchen, and observing the house a little bit. He found a room that he hadn't been yet across from Serah's, but it was just a plain room with a bed and a ton of papers and clothes on the floor. He turned on the TV for a little bit and finally picked up his backpack and headed for school.

Hope took a deep breath and slowly opened the door to the classroom, with loads of other kids 10 years older than him moving their head to see who it was. It felt like forever to walk the 8 feet to the teachers desk. All the girls in the class were immediately adoring how cute and little he was, and the boys were wondering what the little kid was doing in the class. The teacher looked at him politely, then she took the note from his shaky hand. After reading it for a minute, the class staring silently the teacher smiled back at him then whispered for him to take a seat in the back. Hope slowly walked toward the back of the classroom, hearing whispers of 'cute', and 'student?', and 'little!'. He tried to ignore them, and he quietly took a seat and unintentionally stared innocently at his desk.

After the long hour class, he began to stand up suddenly felt something tap his back.

"Hi! What are you doing here? You look so young! Or are you SUPER brained? Oh, I'm Vanille! It's nice to meet you! What's your name?" Hope stared a bit frightened at the very straightforward girl and finally grinned shyly.

"I-I'm Hope. It's nice to meet you," Vanille stared back in complete adoration of him, then ran away to tell her friends about it. Hope sighed and picked up his stuff to go to his next class.

And time continued onward. Hope still had to deal with all the whispering and talking about him in every class, girls waving at him from the other end of the classroom as if he was a 2nd grader. Hope would smile back and girls wanted to adopt the little boy with his green orbs and innocent smile.

He finally looked up at the clock and saw it was 12:30. Perfect. Hope slid out of his last classroom avoiding any curious people and made his way back to the dorm room. Just as he was about to use his key, he heard Serah call his name.

"Awesome, you made it! My boyfriend'll be here soon to meet you, so we can just chill for a little bit, I guess." Hope thumped down on the couch, exhausted. He didn't get much sleep the night before, and his whole day so far was stressful, let alone horrifying. Let alone he wasn't even feeling well last night when he first came, and being smacked in the head, and skipping breakfast… he realized life was a bit sucky at the moment. Hope snapped out of his mini trance and heard a door unlocking. A man Hope didn't expect to look like he did stepped into the dorm room. He threw the backpack that was almost too small for him on the floor and sat at the table, then getting up a few seconds later, heading to the refrigerator.

"Snow, I want to talk to you about something. I-"

"Oh my god, are you pregnant?"

"NO, Snow, jeez! I just want to tell you about our new roommate,Hope." Hope suddenly heard they're voice lower and Serah speaking solemnly about something. He already figured what it was about.

"Oh, where is she?" This 'Snow' asked, Hope resisting a grin.

"Snow, Hope is a boy."

"What do you mean he's a boy! I don't want a MAN staying with us! What if you too are alone, at night, and you're drunk, and then-"

"Snow. Calm down, he's a little kid."

"Oh… he walked into the living room and saw little Hope sitting on the couch, and formed a lopsided toothy grin.

"Hey kiddo. You must be a little brainiac, huh? I'm Snow. Snow Villers. Hope shook his giant hand and Snow chuckled at their size comparison. He walked back into his room and Serah smiled to herself. Looking over at Hope, she walked over and felt his forehead.

"You feel clammy. You alright?" Serah stared in concern. Hope nodded nonchalantly, and grabbed his things, realizing he didn't eat, but he wanted to get to class early so he didn't make a scene. He ran out without saying another word and went on his way to his next class, missing his old family.

In the middle of his Calculus class, Hope glanced up and suddenly saw Lightning staring at him. Her eyes darted away instantly and she stared at her book, trying to pretend that Hope didn't notice, but he could see the stress in her eyes. When he went back to look at his book, he saw that his vision was clouded. He shot his hands up to his eyes and felt no tears. Then why were his eyes so foggy?

"Hope. Hope, honey, look at me. Hope." Hope heard something in his ears but was too tired to open his eyes he ignored it.

Lightning was the only one who noticed since she was staring at him. She saw him stare at his book for a couple of seconds, his mind focused, but his eyes weren't moving across the page. She noticed his eyes starting to blink disorientingly… and then close. And then she saw him starting to tip over and fall off his chair.

"HOPE!" Lightning screamed, feeling extreme worry for some reason, for some little kid she barely knew. The teacher looked up and gasped, running over to Hope, unconscious and innocent looking on the ground. Half the kids stood up and craned their necks to try to see around all the other kids, mostly girls, rushing over to help him. After waiting 30 seconds for him to wake up and realizing he wasn't, the teacher began to panic.

"D-does anybody know him?" A ton of girls began to take a breath, but Lightning came out first.

"He's my roommate," she said. She was glad her voice came out calm and monotone considering her emotions inside."

"Do you know why he would faint?" Lightning shook her head.

"I'll call my sister. She's been with him all day."

Lightning picked up her phone and began to call Serah.

"Serah? Hope just fainted. Yes, right now, in the middle of class. Is there a reason? He wasn't feeling well? He looked stressed? He hasn't eaten? Well, that pretty much sums up everything. Could you- come down, Serah. Could you come down here? K'. Bye," Lightning hung up the phone and stared at Hope. She felt this weird feeling of wanting to run and up and take him in her arms to wake him up. But all she could do is wait. She had never felt so guilty about hitting him this morning.

She suddenly heard Hope take in a sharp breath and slowly opened his eyes slightly. Lightning couldn't take it anymore. She ran up to Hope and stared right into his eyes.

"Hope. Hope, honey look at me. Hope." Hope finally felt the urge to open his eyes barely, and, to his surprise, saw Lightning's icy blue eyes staring down at him. He suddenly began to notice the large amount of people all staring at him in fear and concern. Why was he on the ground? He would've gotten up and started to ask a ton of questions, but his body felt so tired that he couldn't really move anything but his eyes. Serah slammed the door open, with Snow following behind with only a little worry since he didn't know Hope very well. They both crouched down. And looked at him. Snow began to speak.

"Hope, you're gonna be ok. I don't think this was too serious because there are logical reasons you're on the ground right now, but just stay with me." Snow went to lift him up bridal style but Lightning stopped him.

"I'll do it."

"Oh, no, Light, it's fine. It's easier for me anyway." Hope heard the words slightly echoey, since he still has all messed up, but relaxed again when he felt arms lift him up and carry him out quickly, everyone staring in shock and in fear. Lightning wiped a single tear appearing on her face and sat back down, and the teacher shakily continued her lesson.

As soon as Snow got out the front door, he started sprinting towards the door, Serah not far behind.

"Why are you running so fast? I thought you said this wasn't serious?"

"I was trying to keep everyone calm. His fever's rising by the minute; we need to get him to a hospital. His pulse is slowing down. Stay with me, Hope," Snow said. Serah ignored the tears running from her eyes and obediently followed Snow to the hospital. Hope barely heard any of this. He just wished that Light wasn't so sad all the time.

Thank you for making it to the end! It's 12:05 AM and I have the stupid Spring flu, so I should get to bed before I turn out like Hope lol. Thanks for reading! I'll put up the next chapter either tomorrow or the next day. But probably tomorrow unless I have a brain fart. Sorry to leave ya at a cliffhanger! I hope (lol) you enjoyed the story! Talk to you guys later!