shamera | Story Archive for FFXIII series

Entry tags:

➥ Final Fantasy XIII:

Affection (Or, On Chocobos) - Lightning's just a little reluctant to let Hope ride alone at first.
Candlelight - You light a candle for lost souls to find their way home.
Feline Takedown - Where Fang is the crazy cat lady, and the rest of them are cats.
In the Bleak Midwinter - Winter-time on Gran Pulse, and the Farron sisters are prepared for everything bad... but not anything good.
Resemblance - Some days, Bartholomew Estheim couldn't stand to look at his son.
Scintilla - Fang and Hope on building a good fire.

Kinematics: Exordium - (2/5 finished) Prelude to Kinematics. Maqui's account of the move to Gran Pulse and after.
Kinematics - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 ; Post-game. Maqui may be older, but Hope was somehow the more mature one. Still, teenage boys will be teenage boys.
Derivation - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 ; Sequel to Kinematics - Maqui has to learn politics now that Bartholomew Estheim has entered the government.
On Video Games - Kinematics-verse, stand alone. Lightning's still got a few more lessons to teach Hope, even regarding video games.
Apokalupsis Eschaton - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 ; Kinematics-verse. Ten million people decided to remain on Cocoon, until one day they all disappeared without a trace, leaving residents on Gran Pulse bewildered and terrified.

➥Final Fantasy XIII-2:
Anonymous - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4a | Part 4b | Part 4c ; Hope's got a secret admirer who only leaves presents on Valentine's Day.
Fall Another Moment - Lightning and Hope's brief reunion between thirteen and four hundred years after the Fall.
In Medias Res - Hope's first time meeting Noel is not the first time Noel met him.
Slow Path - While everyone else zooms around the timeline, Hope takes the slow path. (PE: The Future is Hope)
Sunrise, Sunrise - According to Hope, Noel's natural bed hair is enough to send monsters running.
Test Subjects - Augusta Tower was their home now. (PE: Test Subjects)
The Wedding Dress - Vanille explains how everyone helped out a little with Serah's wedding dress.
Try and Try Again - Prompt: Noehopu, first kiss. (aka all their kisses, really, because they're dorks.)
When Skies are Grey - You are my sunshine, my only sunshine... The assassination succeeded. (PE: The Future is Hope)
White Noise - Scenes from after the ending. Noel and Hope attempt to adjust their lives to fit the chaos, and each other.

➥Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
A Different Choice - Lumina leaves Noel with a very different prophecy in the Oracle Drive.
Ever After - Noel and Yeul as adopted siblings growing up in the new world.
Family - where family is more than just a six letter word, and Sazh gets some help in the search for soul fragments.
Five Minutes - New World AU. "Do you mind if I just sit here and pretend to be your boyfriend for five minutes?"
Inverse Theory - According to video game mechanics, female armor tended to have an inverse graph where less mass signifies more defense.
Night Out - Serah gets a call from Noel during Girls' Night out.
Sickdays - Hope is insufferable when sick, Noel is worried, and Snow is surprisingly insightful.
The Other - where Lumina is not the only look-alike because God needs the perfect host.
♥ Art for The Other by ghostofcrux
zero probability - Noel, Hope, and the relationship that never was.
Zombie Tag - flashfic, New World. The group decides to play games on a picnic.

First Impressions - New World where Noel is a mouthy brat, Hope is the replacement babysitter, and Serah thinks it's hilarious.
Second Impressions - sequel! Ten years later, Hope is called to babysit again.
Food for Thought - Impressions-verse; Noel ends up a better cook than Hope thought.
Art of Coquetry - Impressions-verse; Noel learns the art of pick-up lines.
Something about December - Impressions-verse; Serah's Christmas party ends with Noel stealing all her good luck.
Autumn Rain - Impressions-verse; photography on a rainy day with Noel.
♥ Art for Food for Thought (1 | 2) by ghostofcrux
♥ Art for Art of Coquetry by i narex

➥Crossovers/AUs/Etc
Anamnesis - Caius and Noel use Yeul's memories to find the moment in history everything went wrong.
Awakening - ffxiii/fea crossover. Noel as Chrom, Hope as Robin, and Yeul as Lucina.
♥ Art for Awakening by Crispy
Before Closing - Noel gets a customer on Valentine's Day five minutes before closing.
Black and White - Brooklyn99 AU. Noel meets their new substitute Deputy Chief.
echo - Joining the war against the Gods, Noel will find out just how outmatched humanity really is.
echo, second - Noel starts on his training, and Fang isn't playing around.
Metagame - TEASER. MMO inspired, XIII-verse being a video game. ...Or is it?
Nexus - In a happier time, Yeul and Noel stumble upon the town of New Bodhum.
Second Coming - ffxiii/merlin crossover. Morgana calls upon a valkyrie for help to become the legendary Morgan le Fey.
Upon A Shining Star - crossover with Resident Evil Revelations 2. Natalia wakes up too early, and finds a garden of crystal statues.
♥ Art that inspired Upon A Shining Star (1 | 2 | 3 | 4) by i narex

NaNoWriMo 2014:

Dare Disturb the Universe - Days 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 11 || 12 || 13 || 14 || 15 || interlude

19 || 20 || 21 || 22 || 23 || 24 || 25 || 26 || 27 || 28
(Camp NaNo) Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5 || Part 6 || Part 7

Wishes are powerful things, especially from the minds of those who are powerful enough to take down gods and change the future. When multiple wishes converge, Hope Estheim wakes up after the fall of Cocoon with memories he couldn't possibly have.
side fic 1
♥ Art for Dare Disturb the Universe (1 | 2) by angerliz
♥ Art for Dare Disturb the Universe by Crispy

Drabbles in comments.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Snow/Serah
Road trip / bodyswap:

"Okay," Serah said cheerfully, "I can see the appeal of this."

She twirled in a circle, surprisingly dainty even as she twisted and turned to admire herself. Snow looked on uneasily, shifting from foot to foot as he waited for his fiancée to stop preening and notice just how uncomfortable he was. As much as he loved her…

"Uhh.. Serah? Sweetie? Honey-munchkins?" He tried, and cleared his throat, wincing at just how pitched his voice was. "Maybe we should head back to that town and see if they can reverse—?"

It was eerie how fast Serah could move now, as there was quickly a grinning face before him, a finger against her cheek in a way that would have normally been impishly sexy for Serah but was now just eerie because Snow knew that smile and yet he didn’t — it was the same smile he knew and loved, but on a face he wasn’t familiar with seeing that smile on.

"How about we do that tomorrow?" Serah suggested, still as cheerful. "I mean… we’ve been on the road all day! We should probably find somewhere for the night, call Lightning to remind her we’re alright, and then, hmm, take advantage of this situation."

Serah raised her eyebrows (Snow’s eyebrows) suggestively, and Snow (now so much smaller than he was used to, frailer, but wow did he have a nice complexion and what delicate wristbones) found himself torn between the eerieness of the situation, a love and appreciation for Serah’s adaptiveness to the situation, and a growing curiosity that agreed with Serah’s suggestion.

Hope/Noel
Be care what you wish for / accidental baby acquisition:

Noel answered the phone on the first ring, fumbling only the slightest bit now with the technology now that he had a few days to get used to it. Despite the whole assassination plot being resolved, Serah and Snow still weren’t back yet and that meant he was on bodyguard duty until then. Which made it difficult to have to leave, but…

"Hope?" He gripped the phone hard. "What is it? What’s wrong?"

There was an uncharacteristic pause before the scientist responded, much calmer than Noel had been expecting. “Hi, Noel. Regarding the supplies I needed, I —” there was an uncertain noise, which only amplified Noel’s apprehension. “I may need to trouble you with picking up several other items. There’s a list.”

"Yeah, but…" Noel frowned. He wasn’t overly fond of the idea of being away for longer than he had to be, no matter how much Hope insisted the supplies he needed were vital to his work and the future and that there was no one else available at that moment he trusted to retrieve them. His frowned deepened as he heard something in the background. "Is something crying?"

And now that he mentioned it, there were the muffled sounds of what could be an animal or small child wailing in the background.

"About that." Hope cleared his throat, and Noel could finally hear the note of uncertainty. "Remember how you spoke of children in Academia yesterday?"

Noel remembered that conversation. They had been out in the city and there were several children running about laughing and tripping over each other, and Noel commented on how Academia must be an ideal environment for children. He sidelined a bit into his own childhood and then tried to laugh off goals of raising children himself, all the while keeping an close eye on Hope’s reactions to the conversation.

"There may have been a scientific mishap." At this point, Hope’s calm tone finally broke. "There’s an urgent need for baby supplies, and I really need your help."

Hope/Noel
Fake dating trope:

Hope gave a strained smile. “My apologies. I’m afraid I’m busy that day.”

The woman (young mother, which threw Hope’s mind in a loop) pouted, eyes wide as she pressed, “It’s a mandatory holiday, isn’t it? The Academy gives everyone the day off. Surely you can spare some time…?”

"Yeah, sorry about that," A voice interjected, and Noel walked forward to to place a hand on Hope’s shoulder, smiling at the woman. "He’s right, we already made other plans."

The woman’s eyes darted from Hope to Noel, and then back again, and her mouth formed an ‘o’ in understanding.

—

"Thanks." Hope murmured to Noel as they walked away, the younger man giving the woman a cheerful wave goodbye. "I guess she didn’t know."

"I thought the entire city figured we’re dating by now." Noel turned his attention away from the stranger and back to them. "Isn’t that what Alyssa’s been telling everyone?"

Hope let out a strained breath. It was useful, to be sure, ever since Alyssa got it into her head that the reason Hope never returned her attentions was due to an already developed attachment to someone else. Serah had laughed herself silly when she found out, but Noel had taken to the role like a duck to water. Hope only wondered what would happen when people actually realized that Alyssa’s gossip had been just that: gossip.

"Hey, we can make plans for that day so it’ll be the truth when you say you’re busy. Isn’t there that new film coming out? Or, hey, we can hit Archylte Steppe! It’s been a while since I’ve gone hunting."

"Sure," Hope agreed amiably. He paused as he eyed a brightly lit sign. "Figure it out over dinner?"

"Sounds good."

Hope/Noel
Secretly a virgin:

He couldn’t have imagined a time or situation where he would end up in this mess, and that was probably why he was there in the first place. Hope tended to prepare himself mentally for numerous scenarios and outcomes, thus effectively shielding himself from the worst of messes. It was easier to deal with a situation, after all, if you’ve already run it through in your head several dozen times and examined just how each choice and phrase could make a difference.

This, however, was far out of his normal jurisdiction.

The sad part was, it was probably a very normal conversation most people had in their lifetime.

"I, uh," he stammered, and stopped, flushing darkly. How could he have possibly had prepared himself for this situation? There was never a proper time and place to reveal the information, and thus Hope had never gotten around to it, always figuring a better time would come along later. He was ill-prepared, and it was his own fault.

Everything was just so… easy with Noel. Laughing at his antics, answering his questions, agreeing on the dates… for some reason, none of that was complicated in the least, unlike much of Hope’s life. It made it easy to believe that would last forever. Except he was supposed to be the older one, the more experienced one, the knowing one, and while knowing that Noel wouldn’t have a basis of comparison was a relief, it still didn’t help his anxiety any.

"You should probably know," Hope breathed out, voice husky from the prior kisses. "I—"

He cut off again, although this time not of his own volition as Noel took that opportunity to steal his breath away.

"Hey," Noel whispered afterwards, breath warm against his lips. His eyes were close, too close, and barely the recognizable bright blue Hope was used to, pupils blown wide enough that the scientist could have sworn it was easier to say he had black eyes. But thinking about it scientifically, he probably wasn’t any better. Noel stole another kiss, and the leaned back just an inch, grinning. "Well, come on then, Director, aren’t you going to direct me?”

And here it was, because Hope worked for the past decade to make himself good at everything and here was something anyone could do and he —

"I’m not sure what to do." He blurted out, tone as even as possible even as his skin flushed a deep red. It was embarrassing, it felt impossible, especially since he was supposed to know what to do in every situation, but for some reason Hope had never thought to actually research what came next because he had always been so busy and a relationship with Noel had always been so easy and honestly this was basic human nature, wasn’t it? He just… never had the time nor patience for the stiff awkwardness of relationships, and now he realized that was a huge oversight because if he had at least experimented or done his research, he wouldn’t be as stiff and awkward right now.

Of course he understood the basic gist of it, had agreed when Noel suggested, but basic knowledge became nothing but a pile of mush when faced with the reality of everything. Basic knowledge wasn’t enough because what if he did something wrong? Not only that, but everyone had personal preferences and what if he did something that Noel didn’t like, or if —

"Me neither." Noel admitted, although he didn’t sound anywhere as upset about it as Hope felt. He reached for one of Hope’s hands from here it was previously tangled in Noel’s soft brown hair, sans gloves on this rare occasion, and lifted it to cup his face, turning to press his lips softly against Hope’s palm. Hope felt a different heat surge through him, one that had less to do with embarrassment this time. "So let’s figure it out together. You tell me what you like —"

Noel lifted Hope’s hand higher to nip at the pulse point on his wrist, soothing it over afterwards with a swipe of his tongue, and Hope pulled him immediately after into another kiss, doing his best to steal Noel’s coherency just as the younger man was slowly stealing his. That action felt easier, more familiar, as Noel conceded, laughing into the kiss.

It was a full minute later that Noel drew back for air, looking immensely pleased with himself. “And I,” he continued, “I’ll tell you what I like.”

"So," Noel leaned in to press the whisper against Hope’s ear, warm breath tickling his skin. "First question: what would you like me to do?"

"I’m a super tough punk who hates authority. Your older sister is a cop who has met me more than once but I like you a lot."

Serah Farron had long since gotten used to rocks denting her window ever since she met Snow Villiers down at the local sheriff's station after bringing her sister lunch once. The 6'7 blond mountain of a man had still been a teen then, attempting to slouch lower in the (what must have been quite uncomfortable) chair with his arms crossed over his chest and pouting, of all things.

It had been a rather dubious beginning for them when Snow first saw her and his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree before Serah's sister Lightning caught the expression and not so gently escorted him to a nearby holding cell while she spoke with her sister.

From then on, Serah kept 'accidentally' running into the other. After a few months, the 'accidents' tended to happen at home and usually involved a pebble that Snow had very obviously 'accidentally' thrown at her first story window.

(Why he did such a thing when he could just knock, Serah didn't understand. Still, it was romantic and charming!)

"Psssssssssst!" Came the loud and not at all hushed sound from the bush right outside her window as Serah abandoned her homework to hurry her way over to the window and unlatch the lock. "Serah, let me in!"

She had to push a little as the window got stuck halfway up in the nick that occurred years ago when this had been her sister's room instead.

"Are you crazy?" Serah found herself hissing as she watched Snow grin up at her from his place in the bushes, dirt smudged all over his clothes and twigs in his hair. She worked very hard not to grin smittenly at him, insteading trying for a reprimanding frown. "If my sister catches you--!"

"She just left." Snow was brushing off the twigs in his hair as he stood up, and then tried to shimmy his way through her half open window, grunting as he got stuck several times and Serah heaved to to and lift the window higher. She really should be stopping him. She had other things to do and he was nothing but a distraction. Lightning didn't approve of him at all! "I created a brilliant diversion."

"Oh, yeah?" She couldn't keep the amusement out of her tone even as he continued to squeeze himself through the small window opening. Serah frowned harder, berating herself for not taking this more seriously and wanting to smile every time she saw Snow. At at the very least she knew that the feeling was mutual. "And how did you pull that off this time, Hero?"

He didn't answer until he was fully in the room, spreading his arms and preening at his successful entrance. "You know the faulty break Hope has on his bike? The one everyone's been trying to get him to fix but he always forgets about? I had Maqui on the case so the kid doesn't actually crash and kill himself. He might get a few upgrades from that, too."

That didn't explain anything, although knowing that the break line would be fixed was a relief. "And?"

"And, well," Snow drew out the word with a smug grin, raising his hands to link together behind his head. "I might have sent Maqui in since it's definitely an emergency -- we don't want Hope to get hurt, do we? So Hope might have thought his bike was stolen, and that's why Lightning went to pick him up. But don't worry -- he'll get it back tomorrow, good as new."

"Sneaky." Serah accused, and stepped over to smooth down the crinkles in Snow's shirt, biting her lip in attempt to hide a smile. That was the Snow she knew and loved: always causing what others thought to be trouble but actually going around helping people all the time. "But you know what?"

Snow smiled at her, lowering his arms to circle her waist and hug her close. "What?"

Serah raised herself on her tiptoes in his embrace and smiled at his adoring look. "If my sister's gone, you didn't have to hide in the bushes or get in through the window. You could have just knocked on the front door."

He froze, dirt still on his clothes and the remnants of twigs and leaves still in his hair, and Serah laughed into his jacket.

“If you start singing again,” Noel swore while jabbing a finger up at Snow’s face, “I swear to Etro I will leave you here and finish this quest myself.”

Snow’s response was merely loud laughter at Noel’s (far too overused) threat that wasn’t really a threat seeing as the two of them had been travelling together for the past two weeks already and were doubtful to actually leave each other seeing as they were both heading towards Caius’s territories in order to rescue Serah and Yeul from the madman who seemed to have gone off his rocker recently to subjugate half the world within a three year period.

“I think it’s worth singing about,” Snow responded rather cheerfully while he pulled their chocobos along, (and the birds were being cooperative for once but that might just be because the two of them were finally nearing Lightning’s territory where Snow was certain that she and Hope would be a huge help to their quest… well, what did he know when the birds had been uncooperative the entire time with them but suddenly decided to be as docile as anything), “So todaaaaay’s the daaaaaaaaay– hey, Noel, where are you going?”

They had a system worked out, because pagers were outdated and yet the easiest way for doctors to find each other seeing as cell phones usually weren’t allowed on the floors they tended to work on. It was something Hope designed when he was younger, more akin to a walkie talkie than anything else, yet transmitting nothing but clicks for a short range. It would work when they were both on shift, and Vanille had long since learned how to click in Morse code as fast as she could text someone. What made it easier was that they had shortened patterns for catchphrases so that they didn’t need to write everything else: things like ‘where are you?’ and ‘need some help’ and 'call me’ or even 'I’m going to be late don’t wait up’ were all neatly shortened into five patterned taps on a clip that Vanille kept pinned to her collar.

So she wasn’t at all surprised when Hope knocked on the door after she tapped at her collar over and over again, although her patient was certainly surprised.

“I’m sorry,” Hope said politely as he opened the door to find the two of them in there. He looked entirely professional, if a bit young, with the white coat and clipboard, his smile polite. “I’m here to relieve Dr. Oerba. I believe you have a phone call waiting for you at the front desk.”

“Ah, yes!” Vanille chimed in cheerfully, forcing a smile as she stood up promptly from her chair and then patted her patient’s hand (cautiously, and with as little contact as she could even with the white latex gloves in place), “I’m sorry. Gotta let people know I’m a-okay.”

It wasn’t the first time they had this routine plotted out, because Vanille was pretty and cheerful and liked to keep her short skirts and thin shirts despite being told numerous times from above to dress more appropriately, and she was used to when patients ended up leering at her, even if it upset her a little. For the most part, people were respectful and supportive, but there were always the few who would end up gawking, or sometimes worse.

Sometimes, she’d feel the hair on the back of her neck stand up while eyes would stray down her shirt or someone’s expression would twist in a manner that meant they had stopped listening to her (expert advice!) and instead began thinking things that Vanille didn’t quite appreciate.

Of course, she could just change her style, but she didn’t want to. Her job didn’t require it of her, and she was more comfortable being herself, and Hope agreed with her. So they had a system in place.

“Aw, that’s too bad, sweetums.” The man who had initially came in due to a rash he had yet to show her (and she didn’t think she wanted to see it) drawled out, reaching for her hand before she had a chance to pull back entirely, making Vanille cringe just slightly as he cupped her hands within his own very very warm ones. “Thought we had something goin’ on there, yeah? You come and check up back here when you’re good and ready, and meanwhile…”

The man eyed Hope, and Vanille could see Hope’s polite smile falter slightly.

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll be in good hands until then.” The man leered, raising an eyebrow in Hope’s direction. "You gunna be my doctor too, sweet cheeks?“

Vanille yanked her hand away from the man, feeling a rush of protective anger suddenly that now had nothing to do with how slimy he made her skin feel.

“On second thought,” She said with forced cheer, noting how Hope was leaning away slowly. “I need to talk to Dr. Estheim about some very important things. Super important. Sorry to make you wait!”

She rushed out of the room, dragging Hope along behind her, and decided that she could just reassign this patient to Jihl. Dr. Nabaat would straighten the man out, and she’d have to rethink her and Hope’s little rescue code to add another pattern that might say something more like 'send in the cavalry; no, don’t come yourself or you might be in danger as well.’

“I’ll give you ten bucks if you can tell me his locker combination.”

Yeul rolled her eyes, pulling another card from her tarot deck and placing it carefully on top of the table between them. “That’s not how this works, Noel. I can’t just give you a series of numbers. Why do you think we haven’t won the lottery yet?”

“Because Caius is a jerk who thinks we need to work hard for ourselves instead of showering us in the luxuries and gold that we obviously deserve?”

“Besides,” Yeul continued, ignoring Noel’s whining as he slumped over the desk in obvious melodrama. Being the school’s football star had certainly gone to his head, if the past year was any indication. “You’re a boy. You’re not supposed to ask anyone out for Sadie Hawkins, that’s not how it works.”

“That’s not true,” Noel protested, sitting up. “It’s about being asked unexpectedly! It might have started with girls asking guys out, but we’re past that now! Gender equality is a thing, and girls can ask guys out any time–” Yeul rolled her eyes at him again, he was obviously implying the amount of times he’s already gotten asked out for that dance by other girls, “and so this dance has to take on a new meaning. Keep to the spirit of things. Be unexpected!”

“You guys have been dating for two months.”

“And it’s perfect, isn’t it? I mean, sure he’s a bit of a quiet nerd–”

“He’s the school council president.”

“–so it’s like a perfect trope, and we’d look good together. I just need your help so I can leave a note in his locker, and then I can–”

“Noel.” Yeul interrupted suddenly. “You do know that you can just slide a note in from the top, right?”

The brunet stopped short, and then tilted his head back as if he hadn’t realized that before then.

“Besides,” Yeul continued, turning her attention toward her cards. “Ten bucks says you guys would be going to Sadie Hawkins together, anyway.”

At that moment, Noel’s phone buzzed for his attention, and the teenager pulled it from his pocket to check the message he got. He blinked, and the scowled, and eventually ended up with something closer to a pout as he caught Yeul’s expectant expression and told her reluctantly, “…Hope just texted for confirmation that we’d be going to Sadie Hawkins together. I didn’t even get to ask him!”

Yeul just held out her hand expectantly.

“You know, not eating isn’t going to change the fact that the food was stolen in the first place.”

Snow watched from the doorway as the teenager tensed where he was curled into a defensive ball, and turned away from him to face the dark. The small and rather stark plate of food was left unattended and untouched still after their last fight the previous hour where the teenager had outright refused to eat due to the food being stolen in the first place.

(“We don’t exactly have the luxury of meals given to us or a real home,” Snow had vented characteristically after that to Gadot. The two of them were in charge of the kids on the streets they could find, and it was infuriating to see a kid who wouldn’t eat because of his own goddamned MORALS. Maybe it was because there was a chance the kid’s father was still alive somewhere, or maybe it was pure spite like the hateful words he had flung at Snow just previously, but the older man couldn’t stand it any more. He gesticulated wildly towards the crumbling room in the back, “Anyone else would be grateful just to get something to eat!”

“He’s just a kid,” Gadot reminded him patiently, understanding his friend’s outburst to be concern rather than anger. “Let him adjust.”

Snow breathed out loudly, and ran a hand through his hair to calm himself down. That was true. Hope was just new to this lifestyle, that was all. If it weren’t for the fact that Snow made a personal promise to the boy’s mother that he would care for him…. No, that wasn’t it. Snow would have done this nevertheless, but now it just hurt a little more that the boy refused to respond to anything Snow tried. “A kid. Heh. We were way younger when this started for us.”

“Yeah, but things have changed, right? For the better. Now none of the kids go hungry, and it’s ‘cause of us. You don’t want to compare him to us and say that we’re better at this. He’s the youngest here now and the most inexperienced, so he’s the kid we gotta be patient with. Who’s to know? Maybe in a few more years, there won’t even be kids in the streets any more. Then we wouldn’t have anyone to compare ourselves to. Won’t that be a treat.”)

“Go away,” was the hoarse whisper that greeted his words. “I hate you.”

“Yeah?” Snow asked pleasantly. “Is it because I stole the food, or because I’m giving it to you?”

That prompted no verbal response, although Hope’s head disappeared further into his arms.

Snow sighed. This wasn’t working out the way he’d hoped. He took a step into the room and noted the plate of bread and fruits, and then crouched down several steps away from the teenager, just so he wouldn’t crowd him. Hope was a pretty small kid for his age, but that probably just meant he’d need more food the average soon if he wanted to grow any bigger. That also meant it was far too easy to Snow crowd into his space unintentionally, the man towering over the teenager by over a foot and a half.

“You might not like it,” Snow told him, careful to temper his tone. “But the shops won’t go under just because we took some bread. You can see things in good or bad if you really want to, and say that stealing is bad no matter what it’s for, but… think of it from our view. If we don’t take this food, the kids starve. If we do take this food, they don’t starve. That’s pretty straightforward to me.”

Hope finally peered up from the sanctuary of his arms, pale green eyes glaring at Snow. “Then find another way.”

“We’re doing that.” Snow agreed, reminding himself that Hope really was just a kid. Even when he and Gadot had been younger, they had never been as naive as Hope seemed to be now. “But that takes time. And people still need to eat during that time. One day, if things work out right, I’ll make it up to those shops. Good karma and all. But until then, I gotta remember that I’m working up to that day. And if I don’t…”

Snow nudged at the plate of food, pushing it toward the kid. “You eat. And you survive. If I can’t change anything, then you’ll be able to. If you don’t like how the system works now, then change it when you grow up. Remember what you’re feeling right now, but also remember that without this food, a lot of kids would just starve. There’s no one else to look after them.”

Hope was a smart kid, from what Snow could gather. Light fingered and swift as well, although clumsy, and had it been someone else, they might have trained Hope to work to those strengths. But he was also something more than that; the kid was actually smart. Real smart. The kind of smarts that would make a difference in the wider world one day.

As the boy’s glare tapered off, Snow reached out a hand to rest atop of Hope’s mess of pale hair, and gave a reassuring quirk of his lips. “Eat. And then we’ll work on changing the world, alright?”

“Lilies,” Nora insisted with a smile as she inhaled the steamy fragrance of tea and relaxed into the couch, “they were the centrepiece at my wedding and I have pictures of it– they looked stunning!”

“I have my coins still,” Mrs. Kreiss said after a murmur of agreement, also looking quite content with her tea, “los trece monedas de oro, but there is only thirteen: I will need another set; never did get remarried.”

They would have continued the speculative conversation had Bartholomew not interrupted the both of them (much to their dismay and to Nora’s protests) with, “It’s not your wedding, and we don’t even know if they’ll get married yet!”

“Can anybody hear us?!”

Vanille dropped her hands from where it had previously been cupped around her mouth and pouted, glaring up at the open sky far above them. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t seen that old trap in time– Fang would never let her live it down!

On the plus side, thanks to just how old the drop-pit trap was, anything sharp inside had long since been worn smooth, and there was plenty of moss and other greenery that had taken hold at the bottom so that the drop hadn’t been painful at all.

On the downside, the walls had also been worn smooth and there were plenty of bones in there with them from the various times some hapless creature must have fallen for the same trap.

“Do you think anyone heard us?”

…On the plus side, she wasn’t alone.

Vanille turned and smiled widely at Hope, who had a smudge of dirt on the side of his face that must have been spread by this gloves trying to wipe it away. The teenager was staring up at the sky as well, squinting slightly at the light and reaching to shield his eyes slightly.

“I’m sure someone did.” Vanille reassured him cheerfully, raising a hand to lick at her thumb before wiping the dirt on his face away, giggling at his distressed noises. “And even if they didn’t, they’ll come look for us soon! Fang’s very good at tracking– we’d be out in a jiffy for sure! Worst comes to worst, we can always summon our Eidolons. Although…” She smiled at him. “It’d be a bit cramped to do that in here!”

“I think Alexander would crush us.” He agreed, wiping at his face with the palm of his glove again where Vanille had just cleaned, once again smearing a smudge of dirt despite her tiny sigh of disapproval. “Can’t we just use magic to get out, though?”

If Vanille had her weapon with her, getting out would have been no problem at all. But she didn’t (and no doubt Fang would berate her even more for that mishap) due to having it dropped it in favour of catching Hope’s hands when he first slipped and fell. Not that it helped, seeing as she hadn’t been able to pull him up but instead had slipped and fallen in alongside him.

She hummed thoughtfully, and then pointed down to the ground where she nudged a pile of still rotting bones with a shoe. “We probably don’t want to flood this place when we don’t know what’s under our feet right now. Better safe than sorry, you know!”

Not to mention she wasn’t sure she wanted to expose Hope to any diseases that might have struck the sickly animals down here. Not when he had collapsed once on Gran Pulse already.

“How about,” she suggested brightly, clapping her hands together at the idea. “I’ll teach you some of the songs we sang back in Oerba? That way Fang’s bound to hear us!”

There was something nostalgic about the idea of sharing those songs with someone from Cocoon, when just weeks ago (for her) that idea would have been sacrilegious. But that was five hundred years ago, and Vanille didn’t know what managed to survive the grasp of time. Not only that, but she wanted to teach her heritage to her new family, wanted them to know more about her and for her to learn more about them because–

…Because she wasn’t sure just how long they could stay together.

She pushed back those thoughts and reached for Hope’s hands, delighting in his surprise.

“Let me tell you more about Oerba.” Vanille said with a soft smile. “Where it all began.”

Noel should have predicted that Serah’s first reaction would be to encourage him, followed closely by telling Snow everything so that the next time Noel saw the blond man (which was mere minutes later seeing as gossip, or Serah, worked quickly), the giant of a man a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Soo…” Snow enunciated carefully, looking more than a bit smug. “Hope, huh?”

“Not you.” Noel told him, because, damn it, he had meant to talk to Serah about this, not Snow!

And of course, once Snow knew, it meant that everyone knew within a short period of time. It meant that within the hour Fang managed to track him down and sling an arm around his shoulders with a smirk, shoving a finger in front of his face and saying, “My advice? Be direct about it. And get to it before Lightning gets to you.”

Vanille was much nicer about it (since where Fang was, she was never too far behind), suggesting, “Letters might work! It’s something Hope can read again and again, and you could always sneak it into one of his reports! Then there’s no way he wouldn’t read it. There’s something awful romantic about hand-written letters.”

“Don’t look at me,” Sazh commented in response to Noel’s baffled look over Vanille’s head, the man raising his hands in surrender. “It’s your decision. First rule of relationships is that you can’t have other people making your choices for you.”

“But he’s asking for help!” Vanille protested, even as Sazh wheedled her away to give Noel some time to think.

Lightning didn’t show up to confront him, although he nearly jumped out of his skin when Noel realized that was because the soldier had been waiting for him. In his room. In the dark. Glaring.

“You will be respectful.” She told him (told, because it was in no way a question). “Honest. Do not be an idiot like Snow, and do not get in over your head.”

Too late, Noel thought somewhat fearfully at Lightning’s sharp look. And maybe he was an idiot and in way over his head, but the hunter nodded in agreement because at least Lightning wasn’t holding a weapon to him and that had to be a plus somehow despite how frightening she looked at that moment.

“Good.” She told him, and then stood from the chair to leave, looking satisfied. “I’ve left you the number for his direct line, and he has two hours free after lunch tomorrow. I expect you to convince him to take the rest of the day off.

“And Noel?” She said at the door, finally quirking an amused smile. “Don’t let me down.”

“Sweet Etro,” Noel exclaimed as he opened the door to outside. “…that is a lot of snow.”

“You’re letting the heat out.” Hope complained from further in the compound, but Noel could only stare in bewilderment at the solid wall of white before him, with only a few inches off the very top of the doorway free to allow sunlight inside.

“How is this possible?” Noel asked nobody in particular, although he directed the next question for Hope, despite not turning around. “Is this even scientifically possible?”

The night prior had the two of them wading around in knee-deep snow, bundled up until Hope burst out laughing from Noel’s awkward waddling movements, the latter complaining about just how the clothing restricted his movements, how the snow restricted his movements, how the weather restricted his movements…

“We’re stuck here forever.” Noel declared, and leaned forward suspiciously as he poked a finger at the wall of snow. He made a startled noise as the portion of snow started to collapse into the room, the circumference much larger than the area he poked. Noel slammed the door shut immediately, thoughts of tunnelling out halted for the moment. “And now it’s trying to attack us!”

His first encounter with frigid temperatures had been with Serah at the Bresha Ruins, and that hadn’t been a very fun experience. Noel had been fairly certain the only reason the two of them hadn’t frozen to death in that time was because of the amount of running and fighting they had to do there, although Serah mourned for the nerve cells on her skin then.

“It won’t attack if you don’t attack it first.” Responded Hope, who sounded much closer now. Noel turned to find the scientist with two steaming mugs, smiling. “Tea?”

“Thanks.” He took the offered mug, but then his head to give the door another suspicious glare. “So much for all those things we had to do today.”

“Oh,” Hope responded casually. “I can think of a few other things we could do instead.”

“This is without a doubt the stupidest plan you’ve ever had.” Hope announced bluntly, watching as Snow’s expression wilted slightly at his words and Lightning nodded in agreement next to them, frowning at the mere suggestion. It had been a stupid idea, because taking on an Adamanchelid when they didn’t have to was a stupid idea, but taking on a Long Gui? It was tantamount to suicide if they just charged in like Snow was prompt to do. Lightning wouldn’t be happy about his decision, then. “Of course I’m in.”

Snow’s demeanour changed immediately, the giant of a man beaming brightly, and even Lightning looked startled by Hope’s support. She gave him a long look, but Hope only shrugged in response, slightly embarrassed to admit even in his thoughts that he was fairly certain Snow could do just about anything he set his mind to.

“...Fine.” Lightning finally said, and sighed, shifting her weight as she gave the both of them a pointed look. “But the others won’t be here as back-up. It would just be the three of us.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Snow waved off her concerns, “Be a little more careful. I got this!”

“If you die, we’ll just leave you there.” Lightning deadpanned.

Hope gave a nervous smile as the two adults quipped at each other. It was going to take a lot of strategy, skill, and even luck to take down a Long Gui… not to mention endurance. The battle could stretch into any length of time, especially if they missed a single cue from each other. It would the ultimate test on whether they could all work flawlessly together, one that they probably desperately needed before heading back to Cocoon and facing their Focus.

Not to mention, Snow was right— they really needed those Trapezohedrons. Hope, on the other hand, was eager to prove that not only could he hold his own in a fight now, but he wouldn’t bring anyone else down. He wanted to prove that he would contribute to the team seamlessly, and Snow’s suggestion meant that he wouldn’t have to suggest a dangerous fight on his own.

“I think I’ve got a strategy for this.” Hope told them, and then amended his statement. “No— I do know what to do.”

Lightning gave him one of her rare, sweet smiles. “We’ll be counting on you.”

“Hey! I’ve got one too, you know.” Snow grinned at them and reached to wrap an arm around Hope’s shoulders and pull the boy in to ruffle his hair. “The hero will save the day!”

“Snow. Steelguard is not a strategy.”

Hope just chuckled quietly as Lightning punched Snow on the shoulder hard enough to make the man yelp.

In the New World, Nora Estheim took Hope to be fitted for glasses three months after he turned sixteen after a long period of him squinting at words and then denying that he was having trouble reading at a distance. Hope repeated again and again that he didn’t need them (and why would he? He had never needed them before his previous life, and if he included Nova Chrysalia, then he could say that he lived hundreds of years without needing assistance with his eyesight).

Of course, actually getting glasses didn’t mean that Hope would wear them all the time, and he still wasn’t that sure about the idea of contacts because… putting something on his eyeball? That sounded like something out of a horror movie. Nora would eventually throw up her hands in resignation and demand that if her silly son was going to refuse glasses which he had brought upon himself thanks to all his hours on the computer and then reading in the dark, then he would at least have to carry them around everywhere and have someone make sure he didn’t just walk into traffic by accident, since she didn’t have that much confidence in her genius son’s common sense.

Vanille was the first to volunteer, cheerfully informing Mrs. Estheim (amidst ignored protests from Hope) that she would make sure Hope didn’t walk into any telephone poles while buried in a book, either— a common occurrence ever since Hope had his tablets taken away from him due to eyestrain and he decided that he would continue his reading in the original heavy tomes borrowed from the library instead.

The arrangement wasn’t anything out of the ordinary seeing as the both of them were attending classes at the local community college and Vanille tended to already walk with Hope to and from school, anyway. Now it was just be a bit more official and she would have the excuse to link her arm with his while they walked so that he wouldn’t wander away by accident.

Of course, she would have linked arms with him nevertheless but it seemed like the younger boy was so oblivious when it came to anything outside of his classes.

“Hopeless,” Vanille giggled to herself as they stopped at an intersection, having to tug Hope back slightly to make sure he actually stopped. He had only just grown taller than her, and she smiled fondly as he turned another page, book a little too close to his face so that he wouldn’t have to squint at the words. That was fine, though, so long as he stayed with her like he promised to before.

She leaned closer to him, intent to wrap her free arm around him for a surprise hug and rub her cheek against his hair since recently it seemed he stood just a bit too far for her to do that as often as she used to, but miscalculated when Hope actually lowered his book and turned to ask her a question.

They pulled apart immediately after the accidental kiss, although with their linked arms, they didn’t get very far. Hope flushed a bright pink that went to the tip of his ears as he covered his mouth with a gloved hand, and Vanille squeaked and stammered a moment before licking her tingling lips and watched as Hope turned redder.

“Ahh—” She pouted, and looked away in embarrassment, feeling her cheeks heat up, feeling as warm as the first day he had told her that he liked her smile an age ago. That wasn’t how she had their first kiss all planned out at all! Well, she hadn’t exactly planned it, but… “Sorry, sorry! I swear it was an accident!”

Maybe if she laughed it off, everything would still be okay between them? Vanille was patient, and she was happy to wait for Hope to grow up so long as she got to grow up with him—

She didn’t see him finally lower his hand, and close his book. She did, however, feel the radiating warmth and softness against her cheek, soft hair tingling against her temple and lingering for just a moment before he pulled away again just as she looked back with wide eyes, her free hand coming up to cup her cheek as if trying to preserve that bit of warmth.

Hope was still quite pink, but smiled at her just as brilliantly as he had that day on Gran Pulse, and told her, “Well, that one wasn’t an accident.”

Snow raised an arm as greeting when he walked into the compound and saw as Gadot nodded his way in acknowledgement before going back to guarding the entrance. Lebreau also looked up from the stove where she was cooking as he passed to put down a bag of slightly withered ingredients.

“How’s Maqui?” He asked cheerily, pulling out a slightly bruised apple from the bag for himself before Lebreau could whap him for the action. He was out of her reach by the time she noticed, and saluted her as she frowned.

“...He’s better.” She relented, moving to gather the rest of in the ingredients— not a lot, but enough to make a hearty stew that would last everyone for the night. Soups and stews were always the easiest to stretch out for the amount of mouths they had to feed. “Hope’s been staying with him. That kid has a good head for medicine.”

“Oh?” That was a curious, but lucky, thing. While Gadot was good at soothing and had the patience of a saint with sick people, none of Team NORA knew more than the basics of anything beyond first aid. It was usually Serah who snuck them what little supplies she could manage to spare, and it was usually her they went to when they needed help because Serah at least had access the to knowledge that they didn’t.

“Yeah.” Lebreau nodded to herself, returning to her cooking. “...Should send him for schooling.”

“Yeah, I’d send them all for schooling if I could.” Snow told her. “You know that.”

She pursed her lips, but only nodded in agreement to that statement. They were all already doing well for themselves, but it was easy to believe that they could have achieved more if they just tried a little harder. That wasn’t always the case, though, and she understood that. At least they had their home, and full bellies before they went to bed. That was a lot better than it had been only a handful of years ago.

“You should take some of that fruit over to the boys.” She told him instead, purposely ignoring the rest the of the contents in the bag. “They both deserve something good to eat.”

“I’m sure you’ll make sure they have a good dinner.” Snow told her brightly. It was always a good idea to suck up to Lebreau, especially since she controlled the meals around the home. Either way, he stepped back to pull out two of the less bruised apples before giving her a sloppy salute and grin before making his way down the shabby hallways to the room designated as Maqui and Yuj’s.

Yuj was currently out, likely trying to find work already in one of the shops at the marketplace. Snow thought that there was a good chance the boy would get one too; he always had a better fashion sense than the rest of them.

He knocked pointedly at the wall before peering into the darkened room.

“Hey, kids!” He greeted them, voice muted just in case Maqui was still asleep. Hope was sitting on a stool next to the older boy’s bedside, and it was a good thing he softened his tone because it looked like the teenage boy had completely crashed with a wet towel on his head and his precious goggles on the wooden crate that functioned as the bedside table. Snow tried to tiptoe his way in, knowing that he wasn’t the quietest of people but caring enough to ensure not to wake the sick boy. “How’s he been doing?”

Hope looked up for a moment, then looked away quickly, still unable to face Snow after— well, what happened those weeks ago. It takes time, Snow had to remind himself. Maybe if the boy had been allowed to vent all his pent up emotions, it might have taken less time, but then again, Snow might have been in serious danger if Hope had chosen to do that.

“...The fever’s going down.” Hope finally said after a moment of uncomfortable silence, and the boy shifted in his chair, the last rays of sunlight from the window making his pale hair look almost a brilliant orange. “He should be feeling better enough to start complaining by tomorrow.”

Which was a near miracle, seeing as when one of the crew usually got sick, they would be bedridden for well over a week before they go up again even with the help of Serah’s snuck medication. If what Hope said was true, then Maqui would probably be almost completely over his illness by the third day. Maybe Lebreau really had a point there.

“Thanks for the hard work,” Snow said instead, keeping his tone light as if this wasn’t that big a deal at all. He had learned the first week Hope came to stay with them that the young boy didn’t like being thought of as unusual in any way, and was usually uncomfortable in situations which involved anyone else thinking him special, or even different at all. Instead, Snow arced his arm to catch Hope’s attention and tossed the apple when he was sure that the boy would be able to catch it. “Here. A reward.”

He wondered how often Hope had gotten to eat fresh fruit before he came to them, remembering the meager rations he had barely been able to provide the past few weeks, not having anticipating taking in an extra mouth to feed. He’d have to do better somehow, if the startled look on Hope’s face when he caught the fruit was any indication.

The pale boy stared at the apple, and then slowly lowered it into his lap, murmuring a faint, “Thanks.”

Well. Getting him to accept food that easily at all was a huge step in the right direction to Snow.

Despite the reassurances, Snow made his way to the bed and pulled up another rickety chair to sit down on the other side, lifting up the wet cloth slightly to press a hand against Maqui’s forehead just to make sure that what Hope said was true. The skin of Maqui’s forehead was slightly cooled thanks to the cloth, but for the most part didn’t seem to be immediately radiating the fever heat from the day before.

“Man,” Snow commented lightly, “Lebreau was right. You’re a miracle worker, Hope.”

The teenager looked away, clearly embarrassed. “...It was just a fever. He wasn’t dying or anything.”

Snow chuckled, and then noticed that Hope hadn’t eaten his apple yet. Did he get something wrong, and the boy had an allergy to them or something…?

After a brief moment of panic, Snow remembered a moment he had seen in the richer neighbourhoods, and he reached out a hand with a careful smile. “C’mon, I’ll cut that up for you.”

Hope startled, looking somewhat distrustful before handing the fruit back over to Snow, who pulled out a pocket knife to slice up the bruised fruit into several pieces, careful to cut as close to the core as possible to avoid wasting any food but at the same time keeping the seeds out of the pieces. The kid had some an amazing job at adapting to the situation the past several weeks if Snow really thought about it. Despite the tantrums and the sullen disregard, Hope had been… well, he had come from a very well to do family. To have faced such a change must have been extremely disrupting, and while Snow had been irritated the first few days because at least Hope had a roof over his head and food on his plate!, he was slowly coming to see just how hard the kid was struggling.

A little bit of fanciness never hurt anyone, he thought. That tiny bit of luxury might be just what the teenager needed.

He looked up at the last moment and nearly froze at the strange expression on the boy’s face before grinning widely, unable to help himself. “Whoa there. Am I dreaming? Does Hope Estheim actually know how to smile?”

At that, the boy tensed up and immediately frowned hard. “—You’re delusional, Snow.”

Snow laughed, careful not to be too loud, and after putting away his knife, he handed the de-cored apple back to Hope, only to pull the boy over the bed slightly before the teen could pull back, ruffling his hair thoroughly while Hope squawked in protest.

...It would just take some time, Snow reminded himself, although this time the thought was lighter than before. Hope would be just fine.

No one had specifically told Hope that his job at the Academy would mean that he would work the same hours a doctor continually on call would work, although to the honest Hope really should have realized that long before he even took the first job at the Academy, what with the way that his father worked. Still, he assumed that it would be a normal day job with the normal morning to evening hours depending on promotions and which way he decided to go.

What he hadn’t known was that as a Director (and now an advisor), that meant his direct line was on speed dial for the majority of important names on the Academy roster. It meant that he would be called in to negotiate between frazzled scientists and angry politicians, and asked to double and triple check a nervous department head’s work, or that he might even end up locked in quarantine after 28 straight hours of one meeting after another, because a poor young intern knocked over a vial of something that really shouldn’t have been left unprotected.

Now, after 28 hours of exhausting meetings, 4 hours in quarantine, and another 2 hours for on site doctors to check him over thoroughly and ensure that there wasn’t the slightest bit of spill on him (and not allowing him coffee or sleep for their own selfish, selfish reasons), Hope was ready for the soft comfort of his bed. Any bed, actually, would do at this point, but he felt grouchy enough that he really just wanted his own.

So it wasn’t hard to imagine his very (unpleasant) surprise at finding his bed already occupied somehow.

It also meant he wasted no time in shaking Noel awake to demand, “Is there a reason for why you’re in my bed?” And naked, was the rest that Hope felt didn’t need to be said aloud because it was quite obvious when the younger man was practically sleeping half on top of the blanket cover.

The hunter squinted bleary blue eyes at Hope (and no, he wasn’t going to give in quietly even if Noel did look remarkably adorable like that, because Hope wanted his own bed back, thank you very much), and then stretched his arms over his head for a few moments before asking, “Wazzit?”

“You.” Hope glared, although he felt too tired to put too much effort into it. “Are in my bed.”

Noel only made a sleepy sound of affirmation to that, so Hope assumed that the other knew he was in the wrong room, least of all the wrong bed. But when the younger man didn’t offer anything more than that, Hope huffed out an irritated breath and instead asked, “Where are your clothes?”

“...Wash.” Noel managed to murmur into the pillow (Hope’s pillow), before squinting up to look at him. “...el’come home.”

As nice as it felt to hear those words (and it did leave a pleasant flutter in the back of his mind), he didn’t have the patience for pleasantries. “Go back to bed, Noel.”

“Okay.” The younger man agreed, and then closed his eyes again, snuggling into the blankets.

“Your own bed.” Hope specified this time, and then moved to push at Noel again with a frazzled sleep-deprived noise of frustration. “Noel!”

Instead of managing to push the other man off the bed (and he was honestly tired enough that the thought didn’t sound mean at all in his own head), Hope instead yelped as arms wrapped around his waist and he was pulled down instead, half landing on the other man and half struggling to find a way to get away.

“Sleep.” Noel demanded, voice still hoarse and slightly muffled by the pillow. Hope froze up a moment as the man pressed his face against Hope’s neck, pulling them closer together.

What— why—

But he was so tired, and the lack of caffeine was starting to give him a headache already, and the bed was not only soft and yielding but already warm thanks to the body on it, and Noel was somehow even warmer than that, and really— any bed would do at this point. And he was already in his own bed, which had been his first choice, even if the bed was already occupied. Just the sensation of being horizontal, of the soft mattress against his side, was turning his bones into jelly now that he didn’t have to hold himself up.

“Remind me,” Hope murmured, already feeling himself dozing off now that the comfort of his own bed was there and Noel was so, so warm, “to yell at you for this tomorrow.”

Noel only hummed in agreement, and as Hope closed his eyes, he could barely make out the response.

“Yeah, got it. Remind me to continue seducing you once you’re not so tired.”

Snow had his own reasons to stay in Yuusnan.

“Hey,” He told a dubious Hope, patting the other man soundly on the back and grinning as Hope was forced a step forward before he turned a scathing glare in Snow’s direction. “You’re looking after Luxerion, right? And you’ve got that whole world in the skies of yours to tend to! You’ve got enough to worry about, so I’ll look after the rest. The hero’s on the job!”

“I’m more worried about you destroying the entire city of Yuusnan by ‘accident’,” Hope told him dryly, moving his shoulders and wincing slightly. “That would create a bigger mess for me to clean up.”

Snow just laughed, but didn’t deny it. “I’ve learned quite a few tricks in the time I’ve been away— don’t worry, I’ll take good care of this city. You can’t be expected to do everything, Hope. Let the grown ups do some of the work, alright?”

“I am grown up.” The other groused, although the glare softened as Hope shook his head. “Fine. If that’s what you decided, it’s not like I can stop you. You always do what you want anyway.”

“Hey, that’s not always true.” Snow tried to deny, but then raised a hand to scratch at the back of his head as he tried (and somewhat failed) to think of a good example to back up his protest, “I, uh… There’s been lots of people who stopped me from doing stuff— all the time!”

It would have been too easy to force Snow to name even one person (although he supposed he could bluff and say that Lightning could force him to do things), but Hope didn’t seem to take the bait despite giving him a knowing look. It was little moments like that, when Hope wouldn’t openly snark as much as he used to as a teenager, that made Snow acutely aware of the passage of time. Sometimes it was just— hard to remember that Hope wasn’t the little kid he met back during the Purge anymore, even if Hope was much taller now and moved more gracefully than he had all those years ago. It was strange to think that the once sullen and sharp-tongued teen was now some world leader responsible for… just about everything.

“I’ll leave you in charge here, then.” Hope said, frowning. “Since you can’t seem to grasp the concept of ‘working together’ anymore. But Snow…”

Hope pointed to the brand on Snow’s arm, glaring fiercely.

“If you die because you made some stupid, avoidable mistake… I’m going to kill you.”

Then again, Snow thought as he burst out laughing and reached over to drag the smaller man into a one-armed hug despite Hope attempting to shove him away and protesting loudly, world leader or not— it was still the same Hope after all.

Hope wasn’t at all fond of the cold; of winter or frozen earth that felt harder than concrete or even the wet snow that usually tried to bury him alive and drip from his tuque as it melted on top of his head. He didn’t like having to watch every step for black ice, or waking up to darkness in the morning and knowing that he would have to come out from the warmth of his bed into the freezing cold.

He particularly didn’t enjoy having to drag himself out of bed because he promised his friends that he would meet them outside that day. Couldn’t they have arranged some— some indoor meetup? He would happily accommodate everyone in his house and clean up after they left, just so he wouldn’t have to go outside on a day when he didn’t have to go outside.

Of course that never seemed to happen, though, since the majority of his friends loved the outdoors and somehow thought that winter was a magical time filled with happiness and joy.

It just meant that Hope was usually left to huddle at the back of the group, arms around himself with his gloved fingers under his armpits to conserve warmth, and trying to pretend that the skin on his face wasn’t freezing off (with very little success, seeing as he could see just how bright red his nose and cheeks were on every reflective surface he passed).

“Ha!” He could hear Snow exclaim from a bit away, the blond man beaming over his massive creation— a snowman of towering proportions, lopsided with different sized stones painting an expression on the white face. “Top that!”

“It looks terrible.” Noel commented instead, revealing the small army of perfectly tiny snow bunnies that he had been making. “C’mon, Serah, mine is cuter, right?”

He didn’t hear Serah’s response, instead distracted by the nudge in his side that nearly toppled him over, definitely not squeaking as he turned his head to see Lightning smiling at him and then nodding toward where Dajh and Sazh were busy making different snow angels in the area that they claimed as their own (and therefore Snow couldn’t steal the snow from their area to work on his monstrosity).

“You’re not going to join them?” She asked, looking entirely at ease in the winter air despite the thin coat that she was wearing and the lack of scarf or hat. Hope felt a moment of envy at that, knowing that he probably looked like a marshmallow with the amount of layers he had on.

Hope thought about it a moment (only because it was Lightning who asked), and then shook his head. “...I’d probably just mess it up.”

He could see her about to disagree with him before he was yanked off to the side by a laughing Vanille, who had been running around the entire park with Fang earlier to step in every patch of unmarked snow that she could find.

“C’mon, c’mon!” She told him giddily, nearly pulling Hope off balance entirely as he flailed and tried to regain his step, only to be thwarted as Vanille yanked him along with her. “There’s a place we found that you really need to see!”

“W-wait, but—!” His protests died off as Vanille grabbed his hand and dragged him along, unwilling to hear any sort of protest as she spoke chipperly over his words.

“There must have been a pond here behind the trees,” Vanille explained to him as she pulled him away from the others off the grassy slopes covered in snow and through a scraggy copse of trees, “But it’s all frozen over or still freezing over because you can see the water moving underneath the ice and there are things living down there still!”

“That’s nice,” Hope breathed, not sure why he needed to see that. He frowned as they got through the small area and it didn’t look like there was a pond there at all. in fact, the ground was entirely disturbed and it looked like someone created a fortress out of the snow to— he turned suspicious eyes to Vanille, who had let go of his hand to crouch down where there was already a pre-made mound of snowballs. “Oh, no— don’t you dare throw that snowba— Vanille!”

The last exclamation was one of exasperation as Vanille giggled when the white flakes hit him right in the neck and he yelped at the cold that seeped through his scarf.

“You won’t mess anything up in a snowball fight!” She informed him cheerfully, grabbing another one of her pre-made arsenal and throwing it even as Hope screeched and threw his arms up against the splatter of snow that hit him in the hair. “And if you win, I’ll convince everyone else to go for coffee instead. I’ll even buy you hot chocolate!”

She paused in her throwing, her smile wicked. “That’s if you win, of course!”

As Hope was pelted in the head with another loose snowball despite blocking the barrage of snow with his arms, he finally gave in to the urge and kicked a wave of snow at Vanille, watching in satisfaction as she squeaked and dropped her own snowballs to defend herself.

“Oh,” he told her brightly, already planning ways to steal her pre-made stash, “I’m definitely going to win.”

The worst thing was that no one would believe him whenever Snow complained that Hope was such a little brat every time the man had to watch over the quiet teen.

“You’re exaggerating,” Lebreau would tell him after she whapped him over the head with a rolled up menu. “Don’t be so harsh on the poor boy! You’re the one who wants kids in the future— if you can’t handle someone as sweet as Hope, how do you think you’ll be able to handle your own children?”

“I’m not touching the subject,” Gadot would claim whenever Snow went to him for some sympathy. “I hate to say it, boss, but while you were off chasing Serah, we were the ones left to deal with Maqui’s teenage tantrums. I’m sure you’ll be able to handle a little kid like Hope.”

“What could possibly be so bad?” Maqui insisted when he caught Snow despairing after having to watch over the younger teen for a day. “I mean, I’d love to hang with Hope more! I could babysit him instead— man, we’d get so much done!” Which was to say that Maqui was never allowed to go watch over Hope because the two of them would probably create enough havoc to break Gran Pulse in two… or at least that seemed to by what Yuj was trying to convey by the wild ‘NO’ gestures he was throwing behind Maqui’s back as the younger teen went on about just what he and Hope could do together.

Of course, there was no way that Snow was going to say anything about it to Serah, who thought Hope was a precious little angel that Lightning had found and taken under her wing. But then—- Serah had a weak spot for all kids (which Snow thought he did as well!), and babysat Dajh whenever she could.

“Mr. Estheim just called,” Serah told Snow sweetly from where she was leaning out from the kitchen and holding the phone against her chest to muffle her words, “I told him you’re free to look after Hope this weekend, is that okay? I mean, I could always—”

“It’s absolutely fine!” Snow reassured Serah, more an automatic response than anything else when it came to seeing the love of his life in any way uncertain. “You prepare for that teaching interview of yours. Your hero’s got this.”

Which meant, of course, that his weekend was now entirely booked with trying to keep a snappish, mercurial teen from doing anything that would otherwise injure himself or destroy the world as they know it while simultaneously attempting to keep his own sanity in tact.

Which was… not going very well, if Snow could admit that to himself.

“Hope!” He had to shield his eyes from the setting sun on Gran Pulse, grimacing as he observed just how high the boy managed to climb on one the young saplings that had recently be transplanted from Sunleth to a protected sanctum down on Gran Pulse to observe how the plants would grow in an entirely different environment. “Kid, get down from there! You’re going to break your neck!”

It was something he hadn’t worried about back when they were l’Cie, but back then all of them faced much worse on an hourly basis and Hope’s healing abilities had been impeccable.

Now, though…

Snow felt his fingers twitch in fear as the boy just ignored his words and continued to climb up higher, burdened by a backpack that looked almost as big as he was and trying to shake him off. Snow had merely turned his gaze away for five seconds, looking for one of the scientists at the reserve so he could inform them about the baby Wyvern and—

“Hope!” Snow called up in a panic as he watched the boy slip slightly, only managing to catch himself against a branch at the last minute. If the trees were bigger like they were back in Sunleth, then Snow would have gone up himself, but right now— “What did I just say? Get down from there!”

If anything happened to Hope… Lightning would wake from her crystal sleep just to kill Snow. It wasn’t even that he was afraid the teenager would fall (since Snow was sure to catch him), but it was that Hope was climbing ever closer to the cliffside Wyvern nest filled with shrieking, meat-eating babies… carrying one of those man-eating babies (newly hatched and almost as big as the boy already) on his back.

If those baby Wyverns didn’t kill him, then Snow was certain something terrible would happen and the Wyvern parents would come back just as Hope got too close to the nest.

“Yeah?” He heard Hope huff under his breath, and Snow shifted restlessly back and forth underneath the tree trying to figure out the best angle to catch the boy should Hope actually fall. “What, you’re going to—” There was a grunt as Hope made his way up another branch, “Come up here and make me?”

He would. He really would, if only the trees here were older and bigger and able to hold his weight rather than tilting dangerously under Hope’s slender frame. If Snow went up himself, the branches were bound to break. If the Wyvern parents came back, then there was no way that Snow would be able to get up there in time.

He paced back and forth below the tree, biting back whatever remarks he might have and instead keeping a very keen eye on the skies as Hope finally reached the nest, tensing as the boy managed to dislodge the fallen baby Wyvern that had curled up in his backpack and place it back in its nest with the rest of its brothers and sisters, somehow managing to avoid the snapping jaws the entire time.

That boy, Snow thought as Hope finally made his way down without further incident, steps this time much steadier coming down than he had been going up thanks to the empty backpack, was going to give him a heart attack one day.

It took a further three minutes before Hope managed to make his way down the tree, jumping the last two meters to land somewhat gracefully on his feet.

Snow reached out, and then reluctantly pulled back before he could actually shake the teenager.

“We’re never coming here again, school research or not.” He said instead, doing his best to keep his tone even. “And your dad is hearing about your little escapade. You’re so grounded.”

“Would it help if I said that I knew you had my back if anything happened?” Hope asked innocently.

“Nice sentiment.” Snow told him. “Still grounded.”

(Of course, Lebreau later thought that Snow had been too harsh because Hope was just being the sweet boy he was and returning a baby back to its nest.)

In the end, it all came down to the two of them.

Hope wasn’t in the least bit surprised, though if he were asked he would at least feign some semblance of shock. Crouching now in the middle of the firefight, zoning out the yelling and sounds of shots going off… of course it would come down to the two of them again. In the end, he couldn’t help but feel proud that he lasted this long.

“Do you have a plan?” Lightning asked from next to him, dusted with fleck of red from where shots had ricocheted badly. He wasn’t any better, but the adrenaline rushing through his veins negated any bruises he might have gained.

Hope shook his head, and then winced as he felt a shot go over their heads. It seemed that the enemy was closing in on them.

“Not really,” He admitted, feeling grim. “At this rate, our best bet may just be to rush them.”

“Negative.” Lightning told him, equally grim. “They have us surrounded. We’d be shot before we could ever make it. Unless…”

She looked pensive now, and Hope had to shake his head rapidly because he knew what she was thinking, of course he did, and it was a terrible, terrible idea that he couldn’t endorse at all even if he was completely out of other options—

“You’re the only one I trust to do this.” She told him, the words stilling him immediately. She reached to tap under his chin fondly, and Hope was sure that she could see just how tense he was; how much he didn’t want it to end like this— “You keep your eyes front. I’ll watch the rear. You won’t make it without a distraction.”

But they’d come so far.

“We can both make it.” He insisted, but then flinched as another shot grew ever closer to his scalp.

“Don’t argue with me.” She said firmly, and then readied herself to stand from their hiding place. “When I give the signal: run. And don’t look back. Do you understand me, Hope?”

He pressed his lips together tightly, all too aware of just how close they were to failing. He gave a single nod, and watched as Lightning smiled at him in response.

“Good.” She hefted her gun up, and then took a deep breath before diving out from their hiding spot, immediately shooting in the direction of their attackers and reveling in the started and pained shouts that she heard. “Now, Hope! Go!”

He ran. Faster than he had ever run before, Hope dove out opposite of where Lightning had emerged and sped toward his destination, stumbling once as the shots turned in his direction but rolling with the impact so that he could get back to his feet faster and continue running. Just a little further— just a little— He jumped, arms stretched out in front of himself and all too aware of the shouting behind him as the sounds of gunshots increased, and—

“Yes!” He exclaimed, and then let out a loud and pained ‘oomph’ as he landed on his belly, flag in both hands. He was definitely going to get a bunch of scraps from that. “We won!”

The gunfire ceased immediately, and he could hear Serah also cheer from where she had been eliminated from the paintball fight, and Vanille letting out a noise of protest because ‘that’s not fair! Hope was the only one left on the other team!’, but it didn’t matter because he could see Lightning standing up again from where she had previously fallen to the splatters of red paint, and he could lift the enemy flag above his head because it might have been a Pyrrhic victory to sacrifice everyone on the team, but at least they managed to win when Fang, Vanille, and Noel had been left on the other team.

The Void Beyond wasn’t as… empty… as he thought it would be.

He wandered around in a circle, trailing gloved fingers over worn furniture and little trinkets that Lumina seemed to have collected— worn down baubles and defective fireworks, books with torn pages and an entire couch set splattered with paint that someone must have thrown away because the colors couldn’t be washed off. There were piles and piles of just… junk, to be put nicely, decorating the eerily haunting space void of sun and stars.

The ground beneath him was worn down, and the walls surrounding them were crumbling into bits and pieces, but all the items the other ethereal girl had gathered here made the place seem almost like a… home.

The said girl was following along behind him smugly, humming lightly with her hands clasped behind herself as she watched him examine each object she collected.

“Do you like it?” She asked eagerly after they made a full circumference around the place, and she lifted her arms above her head to spin in a circle around him, looking immensely pleased with herself. “I’ve been here for a few years more than you, you know. Humans throw away the silliest of things. Things they could still use, or even still need! Isn’t that funny?”

Somehow, the sly smile on her face didn’t make the statement sound very funny at all.

He didn’t answer, instead opting to look back at a pile of clothes that didn’t seem to be in Lumina’s size of taste at all, all of them a little worn and maybe with a tear here or there. There were so many items there of various shapes and colors that he wasn’t sure why she wanted them in the first place.

There was a limit to collecting things that didn’t want, but… surely there had to be a reason for all of it? He could understand, of course, and sympathize. Lumina really wasn’t as bad as some people thought her to be. As someone with a power as strong as hers, she could cause a lot more chaos than she chose to. Instead, she played relatively harmless pranks and— and collected things that people didn’t want anymore.

(Like her.)

He felt her slip her arms around his shoulders, leaning up to press her face against the side of his jaw, close enough that he could feel her smile and hear the huff of air as she spoke. “You can have anything from here too, of course. We’re the same, you and me. I’ve never shown anyone else this place before.”

“...Why?” His voice felt thick from disuse, and he wondered what he would see if he could see his own expression right now. He shifted, turning his head to look at her, watching as she smiled and leaned her chin on his shoulder.

“We all know what’s going to happen at the end. It doesn’t matter if Lightning ends up saving everyone or not. She can’t save you and she won’t save me. We’ll be the only ones left after everything is over.” She looked surprisingly calm about that.

He turned to look at the piles of (not) junk with a new eye. It wasn’t just her collecting, then. It could be that Lumina was saving all the things she could from the end of the world.

“But that doesn’t matter.” She continued, and her fingers dug into his shoulders slightly, betraying her nonchalance. “Because I won’t be alone. You’ll be here with me. And you won’t be alone, either, because I won’t leave you.”

“You always wear the same thing.” He observed, not wanting to think about that. “Why do you want all this?”

“The clothes?” She asked, and let him go so she could skip in front of him and swing her arms out wide. “They’re all for you, silly! And— you like reading, right?” At that, she gestured toward the piles of damaged books. “I’ve got old holovids and music, too. Hmm. What else do people need?”

You did all of this for me? He held his breath, wondering if what he felt was a surge of fond affection or fear. Perhaps it was both, as Lumina’s fondness was hard to keep and the thought that it would be nothing more than the two of them past the end of the world meant that he would have to step lightly for the rest of his life.

(He wasn’t sure he could do that, not when he was made up of human weaknesses and childish insecurities.)

Lumina laughed and ignored his musings to skip her way to play with a box of broken dolls she collected.

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Story Archive for FFXIII series

Also, drabbles and flashfics

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Snow/Serah, New World AU

Snow & Noel, Galavant AU

Vanille & Hope as doctors in a hospital AU

Hope/Noel popular-jock-having-a-crush-on-unpopular-nerd AU

Snow & Hope street rat AU

3sentences w/ Nora and Grannie Kreiss from Impressions-verse

Vanille & Hope, stuck in a hole

Noel/Hope, everyone's reactions

Hope/Noel, Snowed In

Snow, Hope, and Lightning gen

Hope/Vanille, "I swear it was an accident!"

Street Rat AU, continued.

Hope/Noel, naked in bed

Snow and Hope, "If you die I'm gunna kill you."

Vanille & Hope, snowball fight

Snow + Hope, COME HERE AND MAKE ME

Lightning + Hope, you're the only one who can do this

The Other snipped