The Hidden L'Cie

Du-duk. Du-duk… 

It's been a while, hasn't it? Since they'd met each other. Four or five years? Hope looked beyond into the rolling scenery. 

Du-duk. Du-duk. Du-duk… 

From all the times she came to the Rest to visit her sister and fam, Hope hadn't planned anything. 

Whenever he travelled to the Rest, with the desire to see everyone—only to end up being roped into whatever Snow and the stray cat gang were doing, eventually seeing Sazh and Dajh, then lounging around the giant's and Serah's home in the evening... Light wasn't there. 

And—only a third of the time had their calls connected through, whenever she was at the Rest, and tried to call him. On the insistence of her sister, she would mention; sometimes it was he: calling her on the insistence of Snow, whenever news of her arrival reached his ears. Like he needed the extra motivation. 

What were they talking about, the last time? Hope couldn't remember, though it was only a couple of days ago. 

His memory certainly wasn't his strong point. Rather, was his stretched-out memory capacity affixed to all the scientific knowhow of his work and education: where at the end of every day an ever-building backlog of study material lay waiting for him, to devour. Sometimes life was monotonous, but whenever his study focussed on ancient Pulsian technologies or robotics, stuff he loved, Hope could very much feed on it for days. 

Ah! He remembered. 

They were talking about frogs, of all things. About the different species that lived around his and Lightning's old home. Light knew so much about the natural sciences, not on a cellular level, but much more than he, due to her work and those expeditions she was a part of, led by the Academy. It was very enjoyable talking to her about any science, whenever the rare occasion arose… 

Hope had often fantasised about becoming one of those scientists, cloaked in the sun, on those remote Pulsian expeditions working alongside Light. There, researching Pulsian technologies perhaps; though Hope had always been tied-up to where he currently lived with his father. And to move would mean to make a lot of sacrifices; and cause a big wave in the process… He put such a plan in motion anyway, asking his superior about it, all until he found out about Light's own change of heart. 

There was one thing Hope remembered, at the end of that phone call, which he indulged in replaying over and over again. 

"I miss you Hope," said Light, after a little pause. "Let's meet each other again soon," she added. Then a pause. Then beeps. 

Hope chuckled, feeling a tinge of his ever-present good nerves, there ever since boarding the train. Why they hadn't seen each other in four or five years—maybe it had been just that—bad luck, and neither having the willingness to make plans in concrete. …Or more, Hope not having the courage to make it happen. 

Lightning's arrivals were unpredictable due to the nature of the wildlife that surrounded the Western tracks and the very length of her trip, but he, upon knowing she was there with Serah and co., could pack his things immediately and make the journey straight, going on a day's worth of travel just to see her face. He felt a little pathetic. 

But now, they had no choice but to meet. For today, was the day of their inevitable l'Cie meeting. 

"Attention all passengers. Please stand and wait outside the yellow line," sounded a voice from the station beyond. The train's doors opened, then elongated their metal safety footings over the concrete, closing in on the line. Hope stepped out of it. He assumed Snow would be waiting for him on the other side of the small market, near his bike. He should call him. The gregarious oaf occasionally would rough up his hair whenever he'd see him: and treat him like a kid, basically. But more like that of a little brother, Hope added nicely. He suspected he was the closest thing Snow had to one; even though there were those two young members of the gang he was closest to. One of which, Maqui, Hope had a budding friendshi— 

"Hey," said a black-haired woman. She stood by her chocobo at the end of the platform. 

Surprised, he adjusted his eyes on the woman, who had nice blue orbs under her black bangs. But only for the very briefest of moments—as immediately, at further inspection of those blues, the position of her arms and waist, her widening smile—he recognised her. 

"Whoa! Light!?" 

"Hey, you don't recognise me?" Her lips widened to a smirk. 

"Whoa—it's you—" She offered him a hug. 

Underneath his bomber jacket, he could feel her lithe, womanly, but compact, knowingly muscular form. The moment was blissful. Her shape: felt a bit shorter. They broke off. 

 "I haven't seen you in like five years!" he said immediately. Why was she here! 

"Yeah. You've grown a little bit—nice continued late growth period." 

Hope phalange-d the side of his head. "Yeah, I might have—didn't really notice to be honest," he chuckled. He still couldn't believe it. "Why... wasn't it Snow—supposed to pick me up? Wasn't he planning on it?" 

"Aren't you happy that it's me?" She humoured. 

"No, no!" Hope raised his hands. "Of course I'm happy—glad you did! I'm just... well... it's good to see you! I didn't recognise you, because..." 

"…because of my makeup, right?" she chuckled. 

"Yeah, kinda," Hope admitted, "your hair too." Which looked amazing. "You wear makeup now?" He said mindlessly. 

"Of course, I've always," she levelled, "but I'm wearing a lot more of it, you know, for work." 

"Ah, I see. To keep your identity under wraps, huh?" 

"Mm-hm. Exactly, and I'm getting better at it. I even fooled you." 

Hope laughed. "Yep, you did." He didn't know what else to say. Thank you? 

"So, Snow is left fixing his bike. Apparently, some toy or something-a-rather flew in, caused a lot of mischief. Then it broke. Thus, I was ordered by Serah to pick you up," Lightning matter-of-facted. 

"Ah, okay." It made sense. For just a moment there, Hope felt like he was one of the luckiest guys in the world. 

"One more thing." She, looking tired, grimaced. "I just got back from a long day at my new job, so I apologise if I'm not in the best social mood to talk to you. I'm basically out of gas. But I promise I'll make it up to you," she added solemnly. 

"That's alright," Hope said, sympathetic to those long, arduous days of work and training. The spirit of toil was well-ingrained in New Pulsian society, widespread to every inch of it. And Light's work would be very different to her previous'. 

"But I'd love to hear about it, soon. How your day went. It's been such a long time. We definitely need to catch up soon, Light." 

"Yeah—sorry. We will, of course. I'd love to," the brunette said, half-smiling, half-tired. Her face then hid behind an ear as she turned to the chocobo, presumably Serah's. She jumped on top of it. No other words needed to be said. They had such a precious friendship. Noted from their eye contact earlier, Hope knew he had something amazing to look forward to. 

Before getting on, he greeted the bird gently—as one should whenever someone new did; just in case—but only once up there, parked behind Lightning's keister, did he realise that he needed to put his hands around her waist. As awkward as it seemed, it wouldn't be the first time. 

The chocobo ride was made in silence, initially. A strange but comfortable silence, as they rode through the evening suburbia of Tonberry at the pace of a light gallop. Without much surprise, his good friend and comrade showed no complaint. What was, however, was that he didn't have to wait long for their face-to-face conversation. Light had fired him question after question. One of which was if he met any new people: if there was new girl in his life. Of course, he answered no. 

"School's been fine. A lot of hard work. But it's all worth it." 

"What are you aims? Like, what are you trying to accomplish?" asked Light. 

"Well, I want to cross the finish line that I now see," Hope said with a chuckle. "The job that I want, I've almost racked up the necessary experiences and referees for to make a successful application. I just need to finish this project. Which reminds me: I have some good news to share with everyone." 

"Really?" she was piqued. Should he share it with her? Maybe he'll just share a small snippet. Such news felt great to tell. 

"Yeah. I bought a new house, here in Tonberry." 

"Oh, wow," said Light, surprise arresting her quartered visage, suddenly. "Really? So, you'll be living here then? No longer with your dad?" 

"Well, yeah…" It seemed—unfortunately—that one snippet had spoiled the entire thing. "I'm planning on living here. I picked out a science market and namely a job here in the Rest which I'm going to apply for work for." 

"Amazing," she commented, followed by a short silence, shared, barring the chocobo. "I'm so glad for you. Well done." 

"Thanks. I couldn't have done it without my father, to be honest. My career and all the money. I owe him a lot." 

"Yeah, you should thank him," she said with a smile. "Where is it? Your home?" 

"Not too far from your and Serah's place actually. Maybe five or so minutes in that direction." He took his hand off her hip to point at some place to his right. 

"We should go there and have a look," Light suggested. "Has it finished construction yet?" 

"Not yet, but it's getting there." 

"Ah, okay." 

"But I want to see your house first," Hope steered the conversation. "I haven't seen inside it yet; only heard bits and pieces from Snow's one description of it—meaning I have no idea what it looks like." They both laughed. 

"Alright, I'll take you there… Oh, hold on, we can't. Damn. I have to show you off first to my sister. A receipt for all my hard work. Then, we'll eat." 

"That's fine. We'll do it afterwards, then. After the meeting." 

"Yeah, after. And then you can share the good news with everyone." 

"Yep…" 

The duo arrived within view of the familiar terrace, night well and truly in being. The bright windows of the home were easily seen through the small thicket of woods via the leading dirt path. "Here we are," she said. Hope finally released his hands from her waist as they halted. At the times he used his arms, wrapping them around her, he had to shift the lengths of them just to avoid constantly brushing against her breasts, as Cordelia pushed them up and down. Highlighting to him indeed of this supposed late growth, perhaps as well causing an inconvenience. One mild inconvenience, for Hope, certainly was downstairs. No real complaints though. 

Serah opened the door with a click, stepping down the couple steps with her husband lagging behind. 

"Welcome back!" she greeted, as Light got off Cordelia. Hope jumped off after, and at landing Serah offered him a hug. When it was the blonde's turn, he yanked his opposite shoulder then ruffled his hair—just the usual. "Good to see ya, kiddo," he remarked, in seeming good nature. Hope swatted him away, grinning. 

"Not so much of a kid anymore though," Hope retorted softly. 

"He's a grown man now. Can't you see?" Lightning scolded. She actually looked unimpressed, glaring at the giant. The slight stick-up had visibly taken the wind out of Snow's sails, and mildly surprised Hope too, coming out of nowhere. Snow put a finger to his chin. 

"Say," he started. "When was the last time that you two actually seen each other?" 

"Anyway—" perked up Serah "—everyone's here. First things first, before you start your meeting, you guys better eat up!" Her interruption was to some of Hope's relief. 

"Sazh and I have been saving you the last of the seafood chowder," Snow now had a muscular arm wrapped around Serah's waist, as chummy as ever. "Wifey did an amazing job, like usual, so you better finish it off." 

"Alright, looking forward to it!" Hope was hungry. 

"Remember our promise, Light?" Serah implored her sister. "We don't start the meeting until you've had plates' full." 

The brunette beside him still looked somewhat annoyed at Snow's behaviour. It made Hope feel good, knowing she cared that much about it; though it, didn't really bother him at all. But, at the very end of her scowling, she relinquished her crossed arms, and—maybe as a sign of the times, out came a small, beautiful smile of hers. 
"Yes, of course. Let's eat." 
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 

Eyes behind a mask watched the startling scene unfold. Refracted flames lightened the two orbs' wide, speckled surfaces. 

Another explosion was imminent. 

BBOOOOOUGSHHHHH!! 

Another device of unknown description inside had blown up. The pole and communication wires attached to the building's roof—now imploded—collapsed dramatically onto the floor, snapping and quickly catching fire. Flames rose up to rival the heights of all other infrastructure, and black smoke billowed out uncontrollably atop its head, bleeding out like layers upon layers of ash grey and cinder cake. The snapping sounds of flames were everywhere as the structure still stood. Though everything was breaking and moulding into ash within its furnace. 

Mission accomplished. 

Sounds of alarm finally came. 

With them, the masked, hooded form made its retreat into the darkness.