Please read!

Hi! Sorry it's been a while, I got pneumonia and I'm in the hospital. How lovely right? lol So I am recovering so my mom brought my laptop for me so now I'm just gonna keep writing! Thanks for waiting!

P.S. Sorry if my grammar's bad or if the story stops making sense at some points; still recovering from surgery, and I'm super tired! (But my mind is full of thoughts…)

Hope stared out the window with his eyes planted on a tree. He noticed Lightning was staring at him, but he just tried to ignore it and continued to look outside, his bag sitting on the floor next to him.

"Are you ready to go?" Lightning asked, kneeling down on the floor beside him.

"No," Lightning stared at Hope in small shock.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm embarrassed, Lightning. I died in the middle of class," Lightning chuckled a little bit then wrapped her arms around him in a comforting hug.

"Then you'll be the center of attention, kid," Hope stared annoyingly but sympathetically at her then stood up and went towards the door.

"Oh, and um… Hope?" Lightning stuttered, walking slowly behind him.

"Don't… please don't tell anyone about what happened at the hospital. You know… me.. you know… ki-"

"It's fine, Light, I mean, we don't even like each other. You were scared and you… don't worry about it," he sent her eager face a lopsided grin and shakily ran himself out into the hallway.

"HOPE! GOOD LUCK!" Hope shot his head back and smiled as he saw Serah standing in the middle of the hallway and Snow's head poking out tiredly through the door of their room. Hope nodded and went down the elevator to his first class, determined again to get there early.

Hope sat in the middle of the classroom with kids staring at him. Some looked like they felt bad for him, and others looked happy to see him back in class again with them. And others looked downright frightened of him, which he thought was understandable since he came back to life. But he did find it quite funny that 21 year olds were scared of a 14 year old. When the bell rang, the teacher looked up and noticed Hope sitting in his chair, slightly nervous looking.

"Hope," she said excitingly, but calm at the same time. Of course, everyone shot their heads to the seat he was in.

"It's good to have you back," she said, giving him a soft smile. Hope nodded and smiled ever so slightly that you would have to look closely to even notice. The teacher hesitated and then spoke:

"How… how are you?" Hope blushed slightly.

"I'm… I'm ok." Girls smiled at hearing his voice again and the got the continuous feeling of wanting to run up and hug him and take him as their own child.

"Are you- you're staying with Lightning I heard?" Everyone, even the people who weren't females, looked up in horror. Hope just smiled bigger and smiled.

"I can't help asking," a girl yelped from the corner of the room, Hope looking over curiously. "Is she… treating you ok? I mean, no offense, but, you kind of are still little, you kind of have to pretend your roommate is a parent?" Hope laughed silently and just nodded, wanting to finish the conversation. He said he wouldn't say what happened at the hospital. He was still trying to get rid of the fact that he liked Lightning, let alone unconsciously made out with her. He sat and stared anxiously at his book, trying to ignore the stares of other students and listen to his History lesson, feverishly taking notes.

When the bell rang, he saw people beginning to look over at him, ready to have a conversation. He smiled at everyone then ran out of the class. He knew Lightning was in his math class and all he wanted to do was just be next to someone he knew, someone who was familiar with him, and, someone who didn't stare so oddly.

Once he got in the class, he sat close to her and looked up at her. She looked as serious and as scary as ever, but Hope could see through those big grey walls and was able to spot warmth. He tapped her on the back and saw Lightning turn around alert and annoyed, then saw her expression change to concern at his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, making sure there was nobody around her.

"People keep looking at me, like I said they would. And it's really getting on my nerves." Lightning rolled her eyes playfully and put her hand on his shoulder, not noticing the other students walking in and staring in awe. How was Hope not getting slapped in the face by trying to have a conversation with her? And what was she saying to him?

"Don't worry about it," she whispered, smiling slightly. "If they keep staring at you then I'll fix it. Just sit down, okay?" She chuckled to herself then slumped down on her chair, Hope sitting two seats behind her. She flung her head back to tell him something.

"Meet me in front of the fountain at break, okay? It's not a date, I just need to talk to you about something important." Hope nodded and curiously wondered what was going on, and, why did she look upset when she said it. A girl sat down quickly in between both of them, waiting for them to say something. Lightning completely ignored her and continued her whispering, students slowly sitting in seats around them. They've never really heard her talk that much before.

"Don't be upset about it, seriously. Just ignore it. Oh, and make sure when you go to that location that it's not bad news." She say Hope's face change to relief and focused on getting his book out. When he noticed all the people staring, he sunk down in his chair, wishing he never spoke in the first. He saw Lightning looking around, then she stood up.

"REALLY? Can human beings not have a conversation anymore without you assholes trying to listen in? Go! Sit somewhere else!" Everyone stared in utter horror for a couple of seconds then all sprinted to the far corners of the room, looking sympathetically at Hope's face, his mouth gaping open. Lightning walked up to Hope and went to whisper in his ear.

"I told you, I would take care of it." She grinned slightly at Hope's face, now grinning and starting to spurt out laughter. Everyone calmed down at the sight of Hope's cute chuckles then turned to face the teacher who was now just walking in.

She took notice of Lightning looking slightly satisfied but annoyed, and all the other kids all sitting at the back right corner of the room.

"Hope, sweetie what are you laughing at?" The class remained silent except for Hope, but all the students were slightly smiling, finding the whole situation quite funny. The teacher raised an eyebrow and then moved on to his lesson after hesitation.

After his Physical Science class Hope stepped out and walked towards the fountain and found Lightning sitting there, one leg bent and one leg straight, her uniform tie hanging out of her back pocket and fanning herself with money. Hope walked up to her and she smiled. Without speaking, she stepped over to the food station and bought two smoothies. Hope followed curiously and sat down with her by the fountain, a couple of students watching behind the bushed surrounding it.

"I need to talk to you about something."

"I know. What did you want to say?" Lightning set her smoothie down in the water, the cup floating perfectly like a little boat, waiting at the dock to be picked up.

"I may not be here for the entire school year. In fact… I may not be here to tomorrow. Don't give me that face. You know that I work with the police, and, they need me to investigate something that's been going around the city. People are saying that citizens are being attacked and having burglars in their house. And.. rumors of a fal'cie here. I know none of us have been branded before, so… And, I'm supposed to take care of it. And… I may not come back. So just in case, I may need you to stay with Serah and Snow if- until I get back, okay? I don't really want you in the hotel room in case you get sick again or, you need help with something. Hope. Hope, don't." Hope's eyes began to water. The students behind the bushes still couldn't hear what Lighting was saying, since the roaring of the big fountain. They just saw Lightning speaking, and Hope beginning to cry. What mean thing was she saying to him now?

"Why are you crying?" Lightning asked, trying to make herself stay calm so she wouldn't cry, too.

"I don't want you to die. Or become a l'Cie," he began to cry harder as Lightning wrapped her arms around him, her eyes finally giving in to the tears.

"If you really don't want me to go, I won't. But our safety, your safety most importantly, is in danger, and, I don't know what I would do with myself if something happened to you because of me." She wiped the tears from her eyes and continued to hold Hope. She had never realized how little he was compared to her. He was like her son, her baby in a way, and she loved him so much.

"I honestly don't want to go that much, either." Hope continued to sob as he worried that he would lose the only family he had left.

"I love you, Hope."

She kissed his forehead and finally sat up, and ran back to the dorm room. Hope stood up quickly, not even noticing his smoothie being knocked over as he ran away, tears, still falling from his eyes. The students behind the bush stared in shock as they stared the empty fountain, Lightning's drink now sunken and at the bottom of the fountain, its lid the only thing concealing it from the world.

Hope stepped into the dorm room, ignoring the echoes of the school break ending and class starting.

"L-Light?"

There was nothing but the echoes of his voice vibrating through the walls. Hope shut the door.

"Lightning?" He leaned back against the door, waiting for an answer.

"LIGHTNING? WHERE ARE YOU?" Hope fell you his knees as his tears began to fall heavily again. He took in another shaky breath.

"Come back…"

Wow! It's already been 2 hours? Wow, I've been taking a while to work on one chapter. Normally I just zoom through these things.

ALERT: The next chapter'll probably be up in the next couple of hours, actually, Since I have nothing else to do in this stupid hospital bed and I would've made this chapter longer, but I thought where it ended was a nice spot. My mom says I should stop doing whatever the heck I'm doing (I don't think she knows I'm writing this lol) and sleep. And I'm not really going to deny that I want to sleep. :) Talk to you guys soon! Please review otherwise I have no clue if anyone's really reading this! Hehe

*Passes out on the hospital bed after turning computer off* XD

I love you for reading this!