Epilogue – Never Kiss a Sergeant And Walk Away

Have you ever had one of those mornings where you don't actually move out of bed, you just keep replaying different moments in your head?

"Lightning Farron, I'm in love with you."

The ceiling fan spun and spun and spun as she watched it whirl slowly above her.

"Lightning Farron, I'm in love with you."

She sniffled, wiping excess snot with an already abused tissue.

"Lightning Farron, I'm in love with—"

She bolted into seated position, the springs of her bed creaking in protest.

Her week just hadn't gone well. Work piled up because of recruit training week, and not to mention her leg was still a tad sore when strained from the minor accident the month or so before. And then she had to get sick.

In that sense, she was grateful for Hope's random pop-ins. It was a relief, a break. Because really, as far as the GC know, Sergeant Lightning Farron hasn't taken a break in about five plus years. She took comfort in his presence. He wasn't overwhelming like Snow or Vanille could be, and he was easy to make conversation with. He could fill a room with a smile, like Serah, and had a subtle maturity that at times could rival Sazh.

And, back then when he was younger. . . he was kind of like . . . like a . . .

A sheep.

Easily frightened and in need of herding. Pure and white and protected by a thick coat called the walls in his mind. And when he wouldn't listen, all you had to do was bark enough to frighten him into submission. He could be fluffy and comfortingly cute (Did I really just think that?) and with his size, it would be easy to lose him in a herd – well, crowd.

Lightning sighed, and laid back down.

He wasn't a sheep any more. Every time he visited, he was taller, or broader, or his voice a tone deeper. His face matured a pinch every time he turned around, but his eyes still held the gleam of youth.

"I sound like Sazh, talking about youth . . ." She expressed to the ceiling fan, its quiet hum her only comfort.

And now, this fully grown sheep – A goat, maybe? No, he's not obnoxious or creepy looking – came and professed his love to the sheep dog that herded him for so long. Correction, continued to herd him. He so seriously looked into her eyes, and all of a sudden the sheep was staring down the dog, and the dog was going to dissolve with the command from his emerald eyes.

"He has worse timing than Snow," She smirked to the fan.

A little before he came to her door, she had woken up after about 30 hours of sleep. Her eyes were puffy and it took four tries to get out of bed, stuffy head vertigo her worst enemy. If she didn't have what little consciousness she had, she would've downed the entire bottle of night time cold formula. She remembered lamenting after hearing the buzzer, hoping it wasn't someone coming to see how she was faring because she was not faring. She was going to sleep, and that was it.

Hope's urgency had convinced her. She opened the door, he came straight in, and got down to business. (In reality, he was lucky she even comprehended his confession, considering the minute she opened the door she started yawning.)

How had she never picked up on this . . . admiration? He was so serious about it. Now she felt a bit detestable for being so . . . naïve? No, oblivious. In a roundabout way, she walked over his feelings without noticing it. Like gum stuck to your shoe that you only notice when it's covered your sole, only less annoying.

"Not annoying at all," She mumbled. Lightning flopped a hand on her forehead. No fever any more, but her face was warm for another reason. She sat up again, this time confident.

Who knew an epiphany could give someone a resolve.

Sound familiar?

"Where's Sis today?" Snow asked casually over the table, he and his wife eating breakfast. "I heard she got over that cold."

"Dunno," Serah hummed. "I called her this morning to check up on her, but she said she was on her way out."

"Out?"

"To the train station," she said between bites. "On her way to Palumpolum."

"Palumpolum?" Snow repeated, not between bites, "What for?"

Serah set her fork down. "You really have to ask? She hasn't seen Hope since she collapsed on him."

"Oh? . . . Oh—oh." Snow grinned.

Lightning made it. It was the afternoon still, too. The trip was shorter than she had suspected. Of course she never forgot the route to the house – it was one of the ones on the highest part of the cliff side that Palumpolum was built on.

She rung the doorbell. The automatic chime rang through the house, muffled by the door. Looked like the house didn't have an intercom. No matter, She'd just talk to him face to face when he came to the door. Or when his father came to the door and called him down. Or or or. . .

She was there for about four and a half minutes. Nobody came to the door. More impatiently than she intended, the sergeant pushed the doorbell again. No answer. Again. Still nothing. Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring –

"Light . . . why are you abusing my doorbell?"

She pulled her thumb away from the doorbell like it attacked her, whirling around to face Hope. She never lost composure, though – even when repeatedly pressing a button.

"I thought you were finished school until the fall?" She lifted a brow. He, however, was more confused than she.

"Am I not allowed to leave my house?" He was a little bewildered – but shook his head regardless. "That doesn't matter, at least I caught you now. But, Lightning, what're you doing here?"

She rose a brow. Big of him to ask why she was here, after popping into her place so many times. Whatever. "You really have to ask?" She gave him that look, the trademark Lightning look – a slight angle down the nose, somewhere between a glare and a stare-down that isn't full-frontal and angry, but promising hurt. Hope swallowed and instinctly, his cheeks took on a shade of pink.

"I guess, since you were still asleep, I did kind of leave abruptly . . ."

"Yes. You did."

Ouch, Hope thought. But that's Lightning, after all. "W-well, why don't you come in at least, instead of standing outside my door?"

"So the weird little awkward moments . . ."

". . . yeah."

"And the staring . . ."

"Y-you noticed?"

"And that comment about having children . . ."

"I was hoping you wouldn't remember that."

"Oh I really doubt I could forget it." Lightning sat like she always did – perfect posture with one knee over the other, taking even sips of coffee. Across the table from her, Hope let his head fall to the table with a thud. "So when did this start?" She would be calm about this, strong about it. It was just like everything else. Right?

Hope sat back up slowly. "A while ago, actually . . . not too long after I met you," He admitted, looking up sparingly, otherwise staring the table down with all his might. "You were so . . . admirable. I-I mean, you still are, that hasn't changed at all. You never panicked and faced things head on, while all I could do back then was run and hide . . . I mean, I was practically a –"

"A sheep?"

"What?" He was a little caught off guard by that one.

"N-never mind," She shrugged it off, placing the coffee mug back on the table. "But then, why did you wait so long?"

At that, he laughed. "You really have to ask?" He smiled at her, a small embarrassed one at that. "Let's face it – I was a kid. I . . . I still am. I guess, I just needed to grow up a little." He leaned his head in one of his hands – big hands, she noticed. Not thick, calloused ones like Snow's, but with a wide palm and thin fingers. He opened his mouth again, but closed it.

She raised a brow in question.

"N-no, don't worry about it."

"I'm not worried."

"That's not what I mean, I—"

"Tell me, Hope."

Ack. Out came her sergeant tone again. He shifted awkwardly.

"So, I originally got this idea – a childish one, now that I think about it, ha ha . . ." He rolled his eyes, but not at Lightning. "I was pretty short, right? And not to mention, I didn't have the courage to tell you."

Apocalyptic situations and Fal'Cie be damned.

"So, I decided that I'd tell you when I got to your height!" He admitted, speeding up his speech. "Snow told me you were five foot seven. I was only five foot at the time, so –"

"Why does Snow know how tall I am?"

"Serah told him."

She hummed. "Continue."

"So I would wait however long it takes until I got to 5'7". No matter how long that took," He finished. Silence fell. ". . . And, that's all there was to it."

Lightning honestly didn't have much to reply with. Hope decided to keep talking.

"So . . . besides getting the whole story," Hope ventured, "I'm going to assume you came here to give me your answer too?"

"Never assume things," She said evenly.

"Assumption or not, I want to know." He took her free hand. She held in a hiss.

"You want the truth?"

He nodded.

"I always thought I had to look after you." She was honest and blunt. Nothing new. Though he was expecting something like this, Hope admitted it still kind of hurt. "You were a comrade, a friend, and good back-up once you got used to battle. You were a kid thrown into peril who needed a helping hand in climbing out."

"But I—"

She held up a hand, stopping him. She stood up. "But you've grown out of that. You've climbed past the hand I held out to you, and even pulled me along with you. All of a sudden, you were an. . . irreplaceable presence."

He stood up this time. "So you –"

She nodded slowly – not gravely, but it had gravity to it. She was blushing – god, when was the last time she did that? Never, that's when. "Hope, you didn't need to grow up for me to return your feelings. I just –"

"Frick, Snow, stop taking up so much room!"

"Hey hey, don't judge me! It's all muscle!"

"Hush, guys! It's getting to the good part!"

"I can't see, Fang!"

Hope and Lightning looked to each other before moving to the window. They were on the first floor, yes, but that didn't mean anything. The double-paned window was open a crack, revealing a shuffling noise. There shouldn't be anything under that window but pavement and hedges.

They opened the window and looked down. If Lightning had her weapon on her, she probably would've drawn it.

Under the window, plastered to the wall was the expected: their friends. (Do friends stalk outside your house?)

Serah waved. "Hi . . . guys!" her greeting was a little lackluster.

"Okay, so Serah told me that you had left for Palumpolum this morning –"

"And then Vanille and Fang came over for lunch today, and asked about you two."

"Well, we asked if you two had gotten together yet—"

"But since none of us had any idea, we decided to come here . . ."

"We didn't mean to end up under the window, really! By the time we got here, you guys went into the house all serious-like."

"So we didn't want to intrude."

"If it's any consolation, listening in was Snow's idea."

"Was not—!"

Lightning, as usual, gave them all the glare-down. They all shut up for the moment, but it was Vanille who cut to the chase, skipping between Hope and Lightning and grabbing them both by the shoulders.

"Have you two kissed yet?"

Hope and Lightning both jumped back like she was poisonous.

"Wha—I, th-that is –"

"Vanille, why would we jump to that—"

She seemed almost disappointed, pouty. "Well why not?" The two of them opened their mouths to speak, but nothing came out. The only logical thing to do then was to close them. "Then at least tell us you're together now, right?" Vanille gave the kind of smile that had a deadly gleam to it. "You know, that kind of together."

There was a moment of silence. Hope volunteered to fill it. Jumped at the opportunity, actually.

The boy – the young man; oh this was going to take some getting used to – slipped his arm around Lightning's shoulders, pulling her into him. He smiled and nodded. "Of course!"

The group all looked relieved in their congratulations for the two of them, the whole lot thinking oh thank god, I hadn't thought of anything to say if she rejected him.

(Lightning in the meantime had elbowed Hope in the side for taking her by surprise. He tried not to cringe too much at the impact below his ribs.)

"Let's go out to eat, to celebrate!" Snow proposed with a pump of his fist. "Hope's treat!"

"Hey!"

"That's not a bad idea," Fang mused. "Let's go then!"

The group nodded unevenly to each other, and began to march to the door. Lightning, mildly flustered, hesitated. Hope looked back to her while the rest of them continued on the move.

Let's cut in to Hope's thoughts at that moment.

Do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it –

Hope took Lightning's wrist into his hand, and as per habit, his eyes shifted about to make sure nobody was looking. She looked down to their joined hands, then up at him. She was very ready to frown at everyone's mirth and go home regardless, but Hope erased those thoughts once he took her opposite hand as well, and kissed her square on the mouth.

He tasted like the coffee they had been drinking earlier. The kiss was very . . . Hope. It reflected his personality: chaste from inexperience, sweet from real emotion, clumsy but doing his best to be meaningful and take charge for once in his life. He closed his eyes, she noticed, probably for some kind of dramatic effect. That didn't stop the surprise coating her expression. He slowly pulled away, a gentle smile on his face in tow with a noticeable blush that mirrored her own.

"I told you not to assume things," She muttered with an embarrassed cough, shifting her fingers to lace them with his own. "But I'll let this one go." Hope, on the other hand, was feeling brave enough to chance another kiss.

Fang and Snow called from the door as Hope leaned forward again. Nosy lot, Lightning thought dryly in the back of her mind.

"Hurry up, munchkin! That food ain't gonna pay for itself!"

"You two can smack all ya' like after we eat!"

Owari. Really.

OHWAIT

Omake:

"I'm 5'8", actually."

Hope nearly snorted out his coffee. "E-excuse me?"

"The GC makes the troops do mandatory health statistic checks monthly. Last month my chart said 5'8." Lightning answered easily.

" . . . God dammit," Hope muttered.

"Watch your language."

"Yes ma'am."

Notes:

Epilogue – I'm finally done, thank god! By the way, my headcanon image of Lightning's thought process throughout the game is that Hope = Sheep. And Chyeah, Lightning so wears the pants. At least until Hope hits like, twenty-something. AND THE SHEEP STUFF IS BECAUSE OF PIXIV. [/shakes fist] DAMN YOU PIXIV.

Omake – Because. . . because I can.

EDIT: PS. THE CAST IS LIKE ONE BIG COCKBLOCK. HA.