A/N: It's nice isn't it, to have some to help you with your sundering, even through they're people you've just met. Hope's lucky to have Lightning and Serah to take care of him. I wonder how the kid's doing after the events that just happened last night.
DAY 2
Hope was able to get some sleep that night, thanks to Serah and Lightning. Lightning wakes up early in the morning, to find Hope and her sister laying close to together. Lightning also still has her arms around the little boy. Serah is smiling in her sleep. Hope looks really peaceful. Lightning smiles, she's happy the kid's doing just fine.
Lightning gets out of bed. She takes a shower, get dressed. Serah wakes up while Lightning's getting ready. Serah almost didn't want to leave Hope alone in bed, but she had to get dressed up as well.
Lightning returns to her room, dressed in her Guardian Corps uniform. She sees that Hope's still asleep in bed. Lightning puts a hand on Hopes shoulder, gently shaking him.
"Hey, Hope. Wake up." Hope moans. He turns facing Lightning and opens his eyes a little. "Come on, it's time to get up."
"Why?" Hope says tiresome.
"Cause if you sleep in, you're not gonna get any sleep at night." Lightning says.
Hope can't argue with that logic. "Okay." Hope sits up in bed, stretching his arms in the air.
Lightning helps Hope out of bed. "You feeling okay?" Lightning asks.
"Still bummed. But a little better then I was yesterday." Hope says.
Lightning heads downstairs, and Hope goes into the guest room to get dressed. After he's dressed, Hope goes downstairs, enters the kitchen to find Serah making breakfast.
"Morning, Hope." Serah says.
"Morning, Serah." Hope says.
"Breakfast is almost ready, why don't you go sit in the dinning room?" Serah asks.
Hope goes into the dinning room. There, he finds Lightning sitting down, waiting for breakfast as well. They both just sit in silence. Lightning constantly looks at Hope, just making sure he's doing fine. The kid's still upset, but not as much as he was before. If anything, he's doing just fine.
Serah walks into the dinning room with breakfast, and they all eat together.
"So, Hope. Is there anything you want to do today?" Serah asks.
Hope looks at Serah, then back at his food. "Uh...I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."
"Well, if you want to, we can go on a tour. Show you around Bodhum." Serah says.
"Uh, well..." Hope thinks for a moment. "I guess since I'm gonna be around, might be nice to see the city."
Serah nods. "Okay. We'll start right after breakfast." Serah looks at Lightning. "Lightning, would you like to join us?"
"I can't. I have work to do." Lightning says.
"Aww, can't you take a day off?" Serah asks.
"Sorry, but I have a lot of paperwork to do, thanks to that accident in Canyon Gorge." Lightning says, taking a sip of her coffee.
Hope wasn't too happy to be reminded about the accident. "Okay. Can you at least have a day off in two days?"
"I'm not gonna make any promises, but I'll see what I can do." Lightning says.
Lightning was the first to be done with her breakfast. Serah and Hope finished theirs as soon as Lightning was ready to leave. Just when Lightning's by the door, there was a knock. Lightning answers it to find Vanille.
"Oh, hello there." Vanille says.
"Hey...who are you?" Lightning asks.
"I'm Vanille, your new neighbor." Vanille answers. Serah and Hope walks up to the door to see Vanille. "Hey, Serah."
"Vanille. What are you doing here?" Serah asks.
Vanille walks in, and Lightning was out the door. "I was just stopping by." Vanille looks at Hope. "Oh, who are you?"
"Uh...Hope." Hope answers.
Vanille turns to Serah. "I didn't know you had a brother."
"Oh, he's not my brother. He actually lost his mother and...me and Lightning are watching over him." Serah says.
"Aww, that's so sad." Vanille faces Hope. "You okay?"
"Well...I'm still a little upset about it." Hope says.
Vanille hugs Hope. Her hug did surprised him a little. "It's too much, isn't it?" Vanille steps back, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Face it later." Hope doesn't say anything, just looks at Vanille. He's having mixed emotions about this moment. Vanille turns to face Serah. "What are you doing?"
"Well, I was just about to show Hope around Bodhum." Serah says. "Would you like to join us?"
"Oh! I do!" Vanille says, jumping and clapping her hands.
Serah laughs at Vanilles excitement. "Okay, let's go right now."
Just like that, Vanille skips right out the door. Hope just looks at Vanille as she leaves. He's mostly confused about the girl. "Uh...is she always like this?"
"I guess. I only just met her yesterday." Serah says.
Serah and Hope went out the door. Serah locks the door from behind, then she, Vanille and Hope goes for a walk.
Lightning arrives at the Guardian Corps station. Few of the victims of the accident are still at the station. Apparently, they aren't really heading for Bodhum, they were actually heading to other places. General Amodar and the other soldiers are helping them get to their places. Leaving Lightning all alone to do the paperwork.
Still, this isn't the worst day at work for Lightning. At least she doesn't have to train those idiot rookies. When Lightning arrives at her office, she's not too happy. Her desk is loaded with mountains on paperwork.
"Oh great..." This is going to be a long day for the soldier girl. She sits on her desk, getting started on the paperwork. While working, she just thinks about Hope.
Lightning knows Hope's doing better about the loss of his mother, but she still couldn't help but worry. Nora entrusted her to take are of Hope. Lightning wants to keep her promise, fulfill Nora's final wish. But it's really up to Hope.
Sure, even if he doesn't want to stay with Lightning, she can still take care of the boy. Help him find a new family, or help him find a place to stay, get him a job, a good education, drop by to check on him. Now Lightning hopes that doesn't happen, cause it seems like a lot of work for a fourteen year old, especially when he lost his mother.
Lightning remembers being like that seven years ago when her parents died. She tried to keep to her job while going to school. It wasn't easy. She and Serah nearly became poor and starved. Luckily, the Guardian Corps was able to take her in. They understand what Lightning's going through. She was able to go to school, work for three hours after school, and a work day on saturday, and she still made enough money for her and Serah.
After graduation school, or in the summer, Lightning was able to work full hours on the weekdays and take the saturday off.
After getting past that, Lightning goes back to thinking about Hope. She wonders if he's doing fine. She knows that he's with Serah and that she'll take care of him. All though she worries a little when she thought about Serah taking Hope to team NORA. She can't really imagine what's gonna happen when Hope spends time with those kids, and their idiot leader.
Lightning takes a deep breath. "Calm down, Light. He'll be fine. Just...focus on the papers."
Serah takes Hope and Vanille around Bodhum. Once they're in the city, Serah explains everything to them.
"Here in Bodhum, everyone enjoys to have some fun under the sun." Serah says. "It's known to be 'The Paradise City'."
"So I've heard." Hope says. "Do a lot of people come here?"
"Yeah. You meet a lot of new friendly faces on vacations, and during special events, such as the Fireworks festival." Serah walks up to Winter Wonderland. "Over there is the ice cream parlor. They serve the best ice cream you could ever get."
"I know. Your sister took me there before we went to your house." Hope says.
"She did?" Vanille asks. "Did she buy you some ice cream?"
"Uh, yeah. It was like a mountain, with all kinds of flavors." Hope says.
Serah was surprised to hear that. "She bought you the Snow Angel?" Hope looks at Serah with confusion. "That's the name of an ice cream order. It's a very popular ice cream, but it's also a bit expensive."
Hope was surprised to hear that. "Whoa...I guess Lightning was willing to do anything to cheer me up." Hope says with a smile chuckle at the end.
"I think that was sweet." Vanille says.
The three of them continues down around town. Serah arrives at a large high school, Seaside Bodhum High School, just two blocks from where they were at. "Over there is my school. I'm going to become a senior at the end of summer."
"Oh, that's nice." Vanille says with a cheer.
"Hey, Hope. Where did you go to school?" Serah asks.
"Uh...well, I recently graduated from Carbuncle Middle School. My parents didn't really sign me up for a high school just yet." Hope says.
"Oh, well, if you decided to stay, me and Lightning and sign you up to this one. I could show you around, help you out with your studies. You could even make new friends." Serah says.
Hope smiles at the thought of that. "That...would be nice."
Serah smiles as well, then turn faces Vanille. "What about you, Vanille?"
"No thanks. Fang actually home schools me." Vanille says.
"Who's Fang?" Hope asks.
"She's a close friend of mine. You'll like her." Vanille says.
"Well, I hope we get the meet her sometime." Serah says.
Serah, Hope and Vainlle continues down the street. Serah arrives at the Guardian Corps station. "Over there is the Guardian Corps station. That's where Lightning works. Of course, you probably already know that."
Hope nods. Serah takes Hope and Vanille to the park. It's a really big, grass field with a large tree in the middle with a picnic table beside it.
"This is the Central Park. It's a very lovely place to have fun outside." Serah says.
"Wow." Vanille skips off, looking around. "It's so wonderful!"
Serah just laughs at Vanille's excitement. "Don't wonder off too far."
Hope just watches Vanille, he thinks she looks adorable with her silliness. The kid laughs as she skips and spins around. Serah notices Hope staring at Vanille.
"Hope? You okay?" Serah asks.
Hope snaps out of his trance. "Uh, yeah. I was just..." Hope doesn't say anything, he looks back at Vanille. Serah can tell what's going on.
"You...like Vanille, don't you?" Serah asks.
Hope was startled to hear that. He turns to Serah, waving his hands in front of him. "No, no. I was just...Uh..."
Serah just giggles. "Don't be shy. I think it's cute you have a crush."
Hope couldn't help but blush. He rubs the back of his head and chuckles nervously. After that moment's done, he looks around the park. "It's a nice place." Hope says.
"Don't you have parks in Palumpolum?" Serah asks.
"Well, we do. But it's mostly playgrounds for little kids." Hope says.
Serah and Hope went to get Vanille, then they move on with the tour. Serah takes Hope and Vanille to the shores outside of town. Vanille is taking the moment to inhale the fresh oceanic air. The girl smiles and exhales, then turns to face Serah and Hope.
"It's so beautiful." Vanille says.
"Yes, it's a lovely place to be." Serah says. "Bodhum is known to be a city of paradise cause of the beaches here. It's even more lovely at sunset, where the horizon fades, into a rose color." Serah faces the shores, walking up to it until at the edge where the waves kick in. Serah closes her eyes, imagine the very sun setting over the seas. "It's very...beautiful."
Hope walks up next to Serah, he also imagines what it'll be like, then smiles. "I would like to see it someday."
Serah turns to face Hope and smiles. "Maybe you will."
The group returns back into town. Serah takes them to the center of the city, which is currently having a large bubble dome in the middle.
"Here is where the fireworks are gonna take place." Serah says.
"Wow. I can't wait to see them!" Vanille says.
"Me too." Serah looks at Hope. "You gonna come too?"
"Well, um...I don't know. I want too but...I'm still not sure." Hope answers.
It was nearly around noon, so they decided to stop by and get some lunch. Serah knows the perfect place for them to go to.
Serah takes the group outside of town, walking down the shores. "Come on, I know this great place. They have such amazing foods. Plus you can get to meet my friends." Serah takes Hope and Vanille to the NORA cafe. "Here we are, the NORA cafe."
Hope is suddenly depressed to hear that. "N...Nora."
Serah can tell that Hope is upset. "Is something wrong, Hope?"
Vanille looks concern as well. Hope looks down in sorrow. "Nora...was my mothers name."
Vanille feels sad for Hope, Serah frowns hearing that. "Oh...I'm so sorry. I didn't know." Serah walks up to Hope, putting her hands on his shoulders. "We can go somewhere else to eat, if you want."
Hope looks up at Serah, shook his head. "No, no. It's all right. I was just caught off guard, that's all."
Serah smiles a little. They all went into the cafe. "Hey guys." Team NORA sees Serah, they all greeted her. When that's out of the way, Serah makes the introductions. "Everyone, this is Hope and Vanille. Hope and Vanille, this is Gadot, Yuj, Lebreau and Maqui."
"Nice to meet you all." Vanille says.
Hope just gives a small wave. Snow comes right in, passes through his team. "Hey, don't forget the boss of the team."
Serah laughs at Snows joke. "How can I forget you?" Serah reaches up to Snow and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "Snow, you know Vanille and Hope. Vanille you've met Snow...Hope, you've met Snow, right?"
"By that, you mean I heard he's your 'idiot boyfriend.' Then yes." Hope answers.
"Ouch. That hurts." Snow says. "I guess Lightning must have told you about me."
"Don't listen to what Lightning said, she just doesn't like him. Snow's a great guy once you get to know him." Serah says.
"I'll keep that in mind." Hope says.
Serah, Snow, Hope and Vanille takes their seats on a table just outside of the cafe. They order some lunch, now they're waiting for their food.
"So, Serah? You got anything for Lightning for her birthday?" Snow asks.
Serah puts a hand over her mouth, surprised. "Oh my gosh, I totally forgot."
Hope seems confused. "Uh, birthday?"
"Yeah, Lightning's birthday is in two days." Serah says.
"Is that why you wanted her to take a day off on that day?" Serah nods. "How old is she turning?"
"Twenty-one." Serah answers. "We'll go shopping right after lunch."
"Can I join? I'd like to get her something as well." Hope says.
"Sure. The more the merrier." Serah says. "Vanille, you want to join us?"
Vanille shook her head. "No, I should be getting home. I got some stuff to do before Fang comes home. But we will stop by for the party."
"Okay." Serah says.
As soon as they're done talking, their food arrives, and they all eat.
Lightning went to the training room to train her idiot soldiers. Only when she arrived, they weren't there. Lightning waited for them, and still didn't show up. She's pretty mad cause now they're being a bunch of lazy blobs. As if she didn't think they could get any worse. Lightning reported them to Amodar, only she didn't expect to hear the news from him.
"What do you mean they quit?" Lightning asks.
"I mean they quit." Amodar says. "They've been complaining about how you've been training them."
Lightning crosses her arms. "It's not my fault they behave like a bunch of children!"
"Farron, they're still rookies. Don't you remember what it was like when you were in training?" Amodar says.
"Yes I do, sir. It was just that tough and it was no sweat for me." Lightning says.
"Yeah, well, these rookies aren't as tough as you are. Keep that in mind." Amodar says.
"I will, General." Lightning says. "Hey, I'm taking a day off in two days. Is that all right?"
"Two days, uh? Why's that?" Amodar says.
"My birthday, sir. My sister insisted." Lightning says.
"All right, Farron. I'll allow it. Now get back to your paperwork." Lightning stands and salutes, then makes her leave.
Lightning doesn't find it too bad that her trainees quit. At least she no longer has to deal with those kids anymore. Lightning returns into her office and continues with the paperwork. It's still a lot of work to be doing today.
This is going to be a long day for the soldier girl.