The next few weeks are a blur.
Hope is absolutely inundated with boot camp, studying, and trying to figure everything out. All of the pieces of the puzzle are out for examination after his last discussion with Light at the wedding-there are no more secrets. His memories of the past world, his past life, are still fuzzy-but he has now been filled in on all the details that his head can't process.
After the rigorous training, calisthenics, pristine cleaning sessions and grueling workouts, he lies awake in his minimalist concrete chamber, staring at the ceiling. The one blessing about being in the military is that, after his long days, sleep tends to come quickly. There are, however, a few moments where he has his thoughts to himself, and he has the chance to contemplate. Could he possibly be a conduit for Bhuni's power into this world? Is it possible he is inextricably linked with the old god, and always would be?
When he is feeling particularly despondent and homesick, he has macabre thoughts that there is always a backup plan if the God could see through his soul. He could always end himself, and that would be the end of that. He is wondering if that might be the exit plan altogether.
It's definitely enough to make him grow up even more. In the middle of jumping jacks at 0600 his is thinking about just how different he is from the people he used to go to school with on this planet. Most 18 year olds he'd ever heard about were out partying or worrying if they were going to pay their student loans in the future. He was worrying about if his entire existence might be the counter to all mankind's existence. Sort of like he might be the Antichrist on this planet or something. Scary thoughts.
A month goes by. His muscles hurt less. He is the quietest of his recruitment class, and in the mess hall, he swears he can see someone watching him out of the corner of his vision-a few people.
He thinks back to his first day. Alyssa was there, as a guide to tour the grounds. Hope immediately told her, upon sight, that she didn't have to continue the facade with him, and that he could figure out the layout of the school himself, thank you very much. She hissed that there was no way he could get into certain parts of the school without her, and that the moment he might step into places he shouldn't without a guide with him, he might get into trouble. Since that would compromise the entire point of going here, Hope had no choice but to grudgingly agree to have her lead him around. That didn't mean he enjoyed seeing her again, though. She had the nerve to be bubbly and cheerful the whole time she droned on while he tried to blot out the grating high-pitched sound of her voice. He had thought that on his first day, she would try to find him out, and was prepared to see her walking up to him, but it still wasn't pleasant.
After his first day there was the wedding, that day being his only day off.
Until now.
Hope chooses to stay on the grounds, even though he has a pass to leave for the day. He speaks with his mom and dad most nights, and doesn't really feel right driving home and trying to be upbeat about his feelings with them. They are both in the dark about his true reason for joining the school, as they should be. On this, everyone from the old world emphatically agreed. It was the only thing they had all agreed on. The less his parents knew, the better. They were told the half-truth that Hope was originally fed, that he chose to join his old friends in the fight to see if Bhuni had entered the world again, and to observe odd phenomena.
What WASN'T told to them, is that HE is one of the odd phenomena that his friends are wanting to observe. He is going to be a human guinea pig for a while, after completing the prerequisite courses.
The library is Hope's favorite place, because it reminds him of his previous life, and the comfort he used to find in books, when he was growing up in both worlds. It's a way to find a few moments of peace, in between the humiliation, soul-searching, and fear.
Hope has just found a remote corner when a loud Plop! Sounds on the table in front of him, startling him out of his reading.
The sound comes from a huge tome hitting the metal table, and Hope blinks to see a pair of sky blue eyes laughing down at him.
"What are you doing here?" Hope mumbles, pretending to go back to his place. He is proud of the fact that his voice is steady, and that his hands aren't making the book tremble. Her. That is something else he hasn't stopped thinking about in these past few weeks. He hadn't yet gotten the chance to make his feelings known to her, after their one wedding dance.
"I was about to ask YOU the same thing." The mocking, dark voice is saying over the edge of his vision, and there is loud scraping sound that sets Hope's teeth on edge. Looking up, he sees that Light has flipped the chair across from him around, and is straddling it, her hands folded across the chair back.
"Whaddya mean, Light?"
"This is your day off. Why aren't you at home?"
"Wow, prying much? That's my business, last time I checked."
"Okay, just wondering. Thought you might want some company today, seeing has how you're usually spending so many hours in what basically amounts to solitary. If I intruded, sorry. I'll just go now...enjoy your book..."
She's called his bluff, and she's right. Light hasn't even made it up off the back of the seat before Hope is calling out. "Wait!" Seeing that she has won this round, Light smirks and takes her time to settle back down.
"Oh...yes?"
"You're right about this place basically being solitary. It's a nightmare. Hard to adjust to, but I'll get used to it. Besides, this isn't going to be the hard part. I'm just warming up." Hope gives up all pretense of reading his book now, and places it quietly on the table surface next to him.
"I remember having to go through the drills. I thought I was done forever with BT after being in Guardian Corps on Cocoon. Thought once in one lifetime was enough. Nope. Going through the hassle of doing so all over again in this reincarnation was tough-it was a humbling experience, all right."
"So what do you do now for fun?" Hope just throws the question out there. When he knows what he wants, he isn't shy. He doesn't know if there will be another battle tomorrow, so best to enjoy the few moments of time he has to himself now.
Light is a little shocked by the question, and blinks at him, wide-eyed. "Well, I, er...I don't know." A little bit of color comes to her cheeks. "I, um...I haven't been on this Earth for a long time. Just a few months, so I haven't traveled a lot. Most of my time has been spent trying to find all the others from our past lives. And making sure that I got my foot in the military here. And researching my hunches on Bhunivelze. And finding you, and helping with your birthday celebration. Then convincing Alyssa to recruit you, and after that, more work..."
"Sounds like you've had less fun than I have had, Light. A WHOLE lot less. So, since between the two of us, I'm the more experienced with the ways of this world, let me show you what this place has to offer. I DID just grow up here, after all. It's settled. Going out with you would be a lot more fun than this stuffy place, anyway." Mind made up, and glad he could play guide for the day, Hope stands, and stretches a trademark fingerless glove across the table toward Light.
Lightning recognizes the gesture, the moment of Hope extending his hand toward her. It had been the same hand that had literally pulled her from the Chaos not so long ago. Those fingers, slightly twitching out of the material that covers his palm, and the symbolism behind his reach, aren't lost on her.
She can't NOT take them. She rises, and interlocks her palm with Hope's, keenly aware of his warmth, and the dry feeling of the dull leather that wraps around him. She finds herself staring down at their hands. Her fingers are so long and tapered, white and thin.
Hope looks down with her, and one long silvery-white hair strand softly falls against her sea of red. "Let's go." He whispers in the library.
Hours later, Light finds herself trying to shove a huge pink teddy bear into the back of Hope's Nitro. They are laughing and pushing and shoving, each taking turns trying to cram the plush teddy into the back of Hope's car.
Laughing, each giving up at the same time, they collapse against the soft squishiness.
"Well, it looks like we're going to have to tie it on the roof. Let's just hope that there aren't a lot of bugs out tonight."
"It's the end of September. There's no way up here in New York that there can be that many out still this late in the afternoon." Hope is looking at the bright side as he speaks, and takes a lick out of his ice cream cone. His choice was vanilla. He remembered the blush that had spread across Lightning's face when she ordered a strawberry-and-vanilla swirl, WITH sprinkles and caramel. The look she had shot him, daring him to comment or even say a word, had been enough to make Hope burst into laughter. Later, he'd promised to keep her ice cream sweet tooth, complete with a childlike love of toppings, a secret to his grave.
"I will say, that I hadn't thought of Coney Island being a good place for a first date, but I think that it's pretty traditional. I mean, a lot of kids that I went to school with took their girls here, and it's in all the movies...I mean, I couldn't NOT win you a huge prize to take home..."
"FIRST DATE!? WHAT!" Light blusters, spitting sprinkles everywhere. She jumps off the back of the SUV, whirling on Hope. Surprisingly, Hope is still leaning against the back of the vehicle, looking up at her calmly. Innocently, he takes one long lick of his cone, looking up at her over the cascading tumble of hair. She can't find words for a moment.
"Yeah, Light, first date. I mean, it was kind of awkward when you established that morning at IHOP that we weren't on one, so I thought I'd make this one clear. It wouldn't have bothered me even if you HAD wanted to take me on a breakfast date that morning. I think the second time isn't a coincidence. Admit it, what were you doing in the library on our only day off in who-knows-how-long by yourself? Wouldn't you be with Serah?"
"Serah's still on her honeymoon." Light mutters under her breath, almost too low to hear.
Hope nods once. "O-kay, so that still doesn't explain why you came to the library. It's no big secret on campus that the library is where I like to go all of the time. It would be easy, if you had studied where I'd be most likely to visit on my time off, to go. It would be a simple matter for you to wait for me to show up there. So, what is it, Light? It can only be two things. You're A. Lonely that Serah's gone and need someone to talk to. Since Snow IS the groom, that leaves...quite a few people from our old world, actually. I'm one of them. So it IS possible that you just wanted someone to talk to..."
"YES! That's what I wanted. I had some time off, too, and why do I have to have my motives questioned when I just wanted to visit old friends!" Light vehemently picks up on Hope's suggestion, but, nonplussed, Hope continues on to his next thought.
"OR, B. You were looking for me specifically, without anyone else around. I'm betting it was the latter."
Lightning stands up straight and tall. It's quite an accomplished feat, despite the fact that she's holding that ridiculous melting double-scoop of ice cream in one fist.
"That's quite a bold accusation. It's also one that I'm not welcome to hearing. Just so you know, you're wrong. I don't have to stand here and listen to this."
She whirls on one heel to leave, but Hope continues to sit. "When's the last time you've paid a visit to Sazh? Fang? Vanille?" Hope queries, loudly so that she can hear. "You might as well just tell me, Light. It would be innocent enough for me to just ask them when's the last time you've paid them a visit. There would be no reason for them to hide the truth from me. It'd be an innocuous enough question to ask. Sit down. Let's talk about this."
Light freezes, turns, levels Hope with an icy stare. To her credit, though, she doesn't sit down. "I'm not in the habit of dating little boys."
This stings Hope. The eighteen year old body housing a centuries-old mind bristles at the comment. "And I'm not in the habit of dating, period, just so you know. But I'm at least being an adult right now. Why can't you confront your feelings head-on? I'm willing to talk it out. I've never known you to back away from a challenge, Light..."
"YOU? A challenge?" Lightning snorts. A little dab of ice cream trickles down her cone. Hope watches the progression toward Lightning's fingers with a curious eye. The woman is continuing to talk.
"You give yourself airs, Mr. Hope Estheim. I appreciate today. Hell, I even enjoyed myself. But I wasn't setting myself up for this. This...is an outrage. I'll...I'll just go home now. We...we'll just pretend this never happened, and if anyone asks, nothing did." She pierces Hope with her stare. "Right? So, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to go home now. That is, if you're still willing to give me a ride back to my house..."
"Of course I'm your ride, Light. What did you think I'd do, leave you on the side of the road and take off, knowing you had no way home? Light, that's ridiculous. I want to date you. What makes you think I'd leave you here? I won't talk about dating you anymore, if that's what you want. I'll just drop you off. No problems. And don't worry. None of the others have to know about today, if that's what you want. Just so you know, I'd be proud to have you as my girl. There's nothing to hide from my side. I told you the truth. I'll wait until you want to discuss what you want. Actually, I'm glad this happened. I had a good time too, but I've been waiting to talk to you alone since your sister's wedding..."
"What? Just how long have you been harboring these fanciful notions...OH!" Lightning's stinging rebuke is cut off mid-sentence in surprise as Hope leaps up and takes her hand holding the ice cream. Ever so gently, he lowers his head, eyes never leaving hers, and stoops over to kiss the melted ice cream from Light's fingers. With infinitesimal softness, allowing her to ample time to withdraw at any moment, he hovers his lips over her knuckle, and with one single intake of breath, slurps the strawberry from her hand, never fully making contact.
Pretending that nothing out of the ordinary had just happened, Hope Estheim straightens and nods, as if making a serious scientific observation.
"Good. Very good. I think you might be on to something here, Light. I do believe your fully loaded ice cream is better than just the plain vanilla. Have to remember that, next time I want to get myself a cone."
Lightning Farron's face makes an O, and finally she speaks.
"Damn you and your analytical mind. Damn you to hell."
Hope's eyes twinkle with sheer mischief. "You know you love it. Anyway, let's put it to good use now, hmm? I have to get you home, but we have a problem. We have to tie this thing to the roof. And I need help. Will you help me, Lightning Farron?" Hope calls Light by her last name, and it snaps the old warrior-woman out of her reverie.
"Yes, I'll help. And, er, thank you for keeping today between the two of us. For now. But this WASN'T a date, because I wasn't aware of this being one. I do believe both parties have to be agreeable to the fact that a date is taking place to actually consider an outing a DATE, don't you?" Lightning states, and although she technically asks a question at the end, she doesn't wait for an answer. She is already moving, shoving the obscene teddy bear out of the way to get to some emergency jumper cables and nylon rope on the underneath of Hope's car.
"Besides," she pants, pulling the equipment out from underneath the dead weight of the plush, "I already told you, I'm not into dating children."