A/N: Poor Hope feeling sick last night, isn't it sad. I can't imagine how the kid feels being bathed by Lightning. He probably wishes that moment never happened. I wanted to have Lightning become the sick one, but I figured I've already done that since she was weak from Cain's poison attack. I certainly hope (Pun right there) that he'll feel better for the concert tonight. It's bad enough he couldn't go to any of the concerts cause of tickets being sold out, but now he has to fight sickness.

Day 12

Vanille spend the night over at Lightning's house, knowing that Hope is going to be in need of taken care of, and she's right. Overtime at night, the kid is waking up constantly, needing stuff like water or an extra blanket or to cool off. The kid does feel bad for waking up Vanille all night, but she didn't mind.

It's now morning. Vanille is fast asleep in the guest room. Lightning was the first to wake up. Before she does anything, she checks on Hope. She enters the kid's room to find him peacefully asleep in his room. She stands right beside the kid. Lightning feels his forehead, it's a little warm. She listens closely to his breathing, it's pretty steady. She smiles, he's doing just fine.

Lightning decides to let Hope sleep in, knowing that some extra rest will make him feel much better. Lightning walks down the hallway. When she's by the guest room, Vanille walks out, yawning and stretching her arms in the air. Vanille notices Lightning and greets her with a friendly smile.

"Morning, Lightning." Vanille says.

"Hey, Vanille." Lightning answers. "I see you've been taking care of Hope overnight."

Vanille nods. "I hope he's doing well."

"I just checked him. He's doing just fine." Lightning says.

Vanille smiles and nods. "I'm glad to hear that."

In the morning, Lightning gets dressed and returns to her duties at the Guardian Corps. Now that Hope's feeling better, she has no reason to stay home. Hope and Serah wakes up. They all went downstairs and heads to the kitchen for breakfast. Snow arrives just moments when the group started making breakfast.

Vanille's pretty excited, she can't wait for the concert tonight, nor could Hope. When the group got their food, they sat on the dinning room and eat. As they eat, Snow starts up a conversion.

"So, Hope." Hope looks up at Snow. "You heard of Mazes and Dragons?"

Serah seems a bit surprised to hear that. Mazes and Dragons is a fantasy board game where you have to fight your way through a maze and trying to reclaim a castle that's being under control of a deathly dragon.

"Uh, no. Not really." Hope says. "Why?"

"Well. My NORA gang are gonna play it in the cafe. I was wondering if you want to join." Snow says.

Hope seems blink, he isn't sure if he would want to. He looks at Serah, asking for her option. Serah smiles and nods. "It's really fun. Plus you can get to meet the NORA gang."

Hope looks back at Snow then nods. "Okay."

Snow smiles. "All right. We'll leave right after breakfast."

"It's not gonna take all day, is it? Cause I do have that concert to go to tonight." Hope says.

"Don't worry, it won't take that long." Snow says.

Right after breakfast, Snow, Hope and Serah walks to the NORA cafe by the shores. Vanille decided to join in, figured that she could cheer for Hope. Hope thinks it's nice of her, but the last thing the kid wants is a distraction, even when he's trying to learn something new.

The group arrives at the NORA cafe, where they are greeted by Gadot, Lebreau, Yuj and Maqui. Hope remembers the NORA gang, only a week ago on his second day living in Bodhum. He didn't really get to know them personally, just made a quick visit and had some lunch. Hope and Vanille meets the NORA gang once again, a couple of hand shakes, and a ruffle in the head for Hope from Lebreau.

"So, shall we begin?" Maqui says, walking to the table that's holding the board game.

Hope is surprised at the Mazes and Dragons board game. It's like a five floor level game, with a large castle model in the middle. It's more then he was expecting, though it should be interesting.

"Let's." Snow answers.

Since there are six people playing, the team divides into teams of two: Snow and Serah, Maqui and Gadot, Yuj and Hope. Yuj feels unfair since he's been paired with a newbie. Serah plays the white wizard, Snow's the black knight, Maqui's the dark mage, Gadot's the dwarf warrior, Yuj's the shadow shaman and Hope's the crusader hunter.

The game begins.

The game goes on for half an hour. Vanille is in the back, cheering Hope on, but that's not really helping him out. Hope and Yuj are falling a bit behind, still on the first floor. Yuj is currently dead, either trying to roll an 18 to continue or hoping for a Resurrection from Hope. Gadot and Maqui are in the beginning of the second floor. They are right now fighting a rocky-dragon. Snow and Serah are on the near end of the second floor.

Lebreau walks in with a tray of drinks for everyone. The game is getting pretty crazy, figured they could use a beverage. It's currently Gadot and Maqui's turn, and they're fighting the rocky-dragon. Gadot rolls the dice for the creatures attack, and he rolled a 13, which means the beast chomped off Maqui's head. Maqui is dead, and his game character is sent to the graveyard. Yuj smiles seeing that, that means if he becomes resurrected, then he and Hope can catch up. Gadot rolls the dice for his attacks, and receives a 17, which means he critically hits the beast, slaying it.

Now it's Hope and Yuj's turn. Yuj begins rolling the dice in his hands. "Come on! Give me an 18!" The dice rolls on the table, but he gets...a 3. Triple snake eyes. "Oh damn!"

Hope worries about Yuj's frustration. The kid hopes to get a good roll to cheer his partner up. Hope takes the dice, rolls it in his hands then releases. He rolls a 10, and moves his character ten paces. Hope lands on a 'treasure chest' space, and he draws a treasure card.

"Strength boost. Triples the damage you inflicted on a creature." Hope reads.

"Man, you're lucky kid." Gadot says.

Hope sets that card in his pile. Now it's Snow and Serah's turn. Snow takes the dice, rolls it and release them, rolls a five. Snow's character piece takes five paces, it lands on a 'Bad luck' space. Snow draws a bad luck card.

"The villagers believed you are a witch. You are put into a stockade." Snow says.

That means that Snow have five turns to roll greater then a 12 or he's going to be hanged and sent to the graveyard. "Don't worry, Snow. You're gonna be okay." Serah says.

Serah takes the dice, rolls them in her hands, and releases them. She rolls a four. How pathetic. And just her luck, her character lands on a 'battle' space. Serah draws a battle card, and she has to face a level 8 Goblin. Serah rolls the dice, gets a 9, which allows her to use her Holy Bolt.

"Looks like you've got yourself some trouble." Yuj says, taking a sip of his beer.

"Look who's talking, Mr. dead guy." Gadot says.

"Shut up and make your move." Yuj says.

Gadot takes the dice, not taking his glaring eyes off of Yuj. He rolls the dice and rolls. A 13. Gadot moves his character and it lands on a 'Treasure chest' space. Gadot picks up a card, and it's a resurrection card. Gadot uses it on Maqui and he's back in the game.

Yuj isn't too happy to see the resurrection card. "Oh come on!"

"Well, you snooze you lose." Gadot says.

Yuj groans in frustration. Now Maqui makes his roll. He rolls a 16, moves in that many paces. He lands on a blink space. Now it's Yuj's turn, he violent shakes his dice like it's the only solution to get what he's after. Yuj slams the dice onto the table, which bounce off the board and aims directly at Serah. Serah flinches back, but luckily, Snow saw it coming and was able to block the dice from making contact of his girlfriend.

"Easy, Yuj." Snow says, dropping the dice.

Yuj reaches for the dice and takes them. "Sorry." Yuj rolls the dice again, this time, gently then before. He releases the dice, but gets a 17. "Are you kidding me!?"

Hope sighs. "This is getting crazy."

"It happens all the time." Serah tells Hope. "You'll get use to it."

The group is nearing the end of the game. Hope and Yuj have managed to check up. Maqui and Gadot are both stuck in a trap on floor three. The rest of the gamers are on floor five. Snow and Serah take the lead while Hope and Yuj are behind.

It's now Snow and Serah's turn. They are close to the castle and they'll soon have to face the final boss: The Ruby Dragon. Snow rolls his dice. He receives a 9, and moves his game piece in that many paces. Snow lands on a dungeon space and has been send to the dungeon. Now he's behind bars for the next three moves. Serah's nervous, if she gets to the castle without Snow, she's gonna have to face the dragon herself, and that's a problem for a White Wizard.

Serah takes the dice and rolls. She recieves 18. Usually, people would be pleased to receive that number, but Serah's not. Her piece is 15 paces from the castle. Which means she has to face the dragon. A pop-up cut-board of the dragon appeared right in front of the castle gates.

"You're doomed." Yuj says.

Serah know's he is right, but she has no other choice. Serah rolls her attack dice, a 5, which means she does her weakest of attacks: Shadow Word: Frost. Yuj rolls the dice for the dragons attack. It was a 47. Searing Gorge: Critical Hit. Serah was killed and her piece was sent to the graveyard.

"I can't believe that just happened." Serah says.

"Hey don't feel bad, babe." Snow says, putting a hand on Serah's shoulder, and giving her a smile. "When I get out of prison, I'll resurrect you and we can take on the beast together."

Serah looks up at Snow, smiles and nods. "That's right."

Now it's Maqui and Gadot's turn. Maqui is still in a paralyzed trap, so he cannot make a move. Gadot is in quicksand, so he needs to roll a 14 or greater. Any less would cause him to sink until he's dead. (3 sinks is roll a 4 or less, 2 sinks if roll 5-8 and 1 sink if roll 9-13) Gadot rolls his dice. Just as he fears, he gets a 3. Which means he's completely sunk, and the 1 leftover sink caused his death. His piece has been sent to the graveyard.

Now it's Hope and Yuj. Hope's a little nervous cause he's soon gonna face the dragon, and that thing recently creamed Serah in just one turn. Yuj is excited cause he thinks he's actually gonna win, since he still feels at an unfair advantage with playing along side with a newbie.

Hope makes his roll, a 7, and moves at that many paces. Hope lands right in the front steps of the castle. Now Yuj rolls his dice, he receives a 13. Yuj is excited, it's dragon time. Since Hope was at the front steps of the castle, he gets sucked into the battle.

"All right, let's do this!" Yuj says.

"Uh...Sure." Hope says, a little uncertain.

Vanille stands up beside Hope, she has to get a good look at this. Yuj and Hope now face the dragon. Yuj rolls his attack dice. A 21. Twisted Lightning. Now it's Hopes turn, he rolls his dice, a 10. He could only shoot at the dragon twice. Snow takes the dice and rolls for the Dragons attack. To everyone's surprise, it was a 67. Which means the dragon would unleash Death Word: Apocalypse.

Death Word: Apocalypse is where the dragon unleashes a powerful nova that wipes out anything within four floors (Those on the ground floor would be safe) Death Word: Apocalypse kills Yuj, Snow and Maqui. Hope survived cause he had a Holy Clavis card, which would protect him from any harmful magic. Alas, it wasn't enough. Hope's character was only sent to near death.

Everyone, mostly Yuj, have hope for the battle. "Come on, Hope. You can do this!" Snow says.

"Are you kidding? The dragon's health is still too high for him to finish it in one turn." Gadot says, smirking, arm crossed. "The kid's toast."

Hope knows the Gadot is right. There's no way he can defeat the dragon in just one turn, at near death. Hope looks over his deck of cards for anything that can help. But all he could find are some equipment and some potions that can be used at the cost of a turn. At the end of his deck, he noticed one card can be useful.

Hope sets his deck down, rolls the dice. Everything seems to be slowed as Hope released the dice. Everyone gazes down at the table as the dice rolls and spins, until it lands on...a 25. That unleashes Hope's powerful move: Divine Arrow.

"That's a good move, but it's not enough to win." Maqui says.

"Not yet." Hope says. He places down his card, to everyone's surprise, it's the Strength Boost card he won earlier. The card increases Hopes damage on the dragon by triple the amount.

"A Strength Boost and the Divine Arrow?" Serah says, shocked. "Those two combine...that would mean."

Snow pulls the dragon back down onto the game board. "The dragon is slain."

Hope can't believe he actually won, Yuj as well. Everyone celebrites, mostly Vanille. Hope however feels a bit awkward at this moment.

Minutes later, Hope, Serah, Snow and Vanille makes their leave from the cafe. "So, Hope. Did you have fun?" Serah asks.

"I did at first." Hope says. "But after we finished the game...everything seemed a bit weird."

"What do you mean?" Snow asks.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." Hope says.

"Okay. Maybe you can join us next time we play Mazes and Dragons." Snow says.

Hope smiles a little. "I'll think about it." In secret, Hope really wouldn't. He's not really interested in playing the board game again. If Lightning were here, she would be happy that he wouldn't, since she would only see this as a nerdy board game. The last time Snow offered her to play, her exact words were: 'I'd rather eat a bowl of nails...without milk.' then stormed out of the cafe.

It's about five in the evening. The Yuna Akimura concert is about to begin very soon. But Hope wants to leave early so he and Vanille could meet Yuna backstage. Serah and Snow are happy for Hope, but also admired his excitement. Hope has eaten, taken a shower, dressed in his best clothes (Nothing fancy if that's what you're thinking. It's a concert, not a fancy restaurant in paris) All that's left for the kid to do is to pick up Vanille and head to the concert.

Hope now walks to Vanille's house. Just as he's in front of the door, he stops. He takes a deep breath then knocks on the door. Nothing happens for the first minute, then Fang answers the door. Oh great, just what the kid needs.

"Uh, hey Fang." Hope says. "I'm here to pick up Vanille."

"She'll be down in a minute, she's still getting ready." Fang steps outside, closing the door behind her. Hope feels nervous, he can tell what's gonna happen next. Fang stands in front of Hope. "Listen here, Hope. Lightning, Vanille and Serah might think you're a nice kid, but that doesn't chance anything." Fang leans down, glaring at Hope face to face. "I want no funny business going on, you hear?"

Hope isn't sure how to answer that. He knows what she's talking about, but the confusing part is how would he be doing that at a concert. "Uh...we're just going to a concert."

"You think I don't know that, kid?" Fang asks. "Keep your hands to yourself, mind your own business, and I want Vanille back by eleven o'clock, sharp! And remember one thing." Fang moves closer to Hope, as she does, Hope nervously steps back. Fang points a finger at her eye. "I got my eye..." Fang moves her finger to be pointing at Hopes face. "On. You. Are we clear?"

Hope nervously nods. "Yes ma'am."

Fang just close glares at Hope for a moment, then backs away slowly, then she turns and returns into the house. Hope sighs in relief. Fang is pretty scary, she's like a second Lightning. She's even scarier when she's protective with Vanille.

Oh god. Why does my girlfriend had to have a Lightning for a guardian? Hope thought as he looks at the sky.

The sound of the door opening startles Hope. He thought it could be Fang, but calms down as soon as he realizes it's Vanille. "Hiya Hope." Vanille jumps out and closes the door behind her.

Hope is completely shocked looking at Vanille. She's not really wearing anything special, just her usual light pink halter top, orange and yellow skirt, beige boots, fur pelt around her waist, the numerous bracelets, three beaded necklaces, and an assortment of beads attached to various parts of her clothing. In fact, the only thing that has changed is her hair. Instead of being in her curled ponytails, it's all loose, and a little curly, over her shoulders. With a white flower attached to the left side of her head in her hair.

To Hope, she looks so stunning. No...she's more then that. She's...she's...I would have to make up a new word. She's Pre-uti-ous (Pretty. Beautiful. Gorgeous)

Vanille notices Hope staring at her, wither too long. It doesn't really bother her to anything, she's just concern. "Hope? ...Hope?" Hope snaps out of his trance and shakes his thoughts back into reality.

"O-oh. Sorry." Hope said sheepishly. He rubs the back of his neck nervously. "You look..." Hope shallows hard. "Very pretty."

Vanille smiles, and her cheeks turn light pink. "Thank you." Vanille says. "Shall we go?"

"Uh, yeah." Hope says.

The both of them reach their hands, and they hold pinkies, then walked off.