I've been having a hell of a time with writer's block. Not with just my fanfiction, but with my original stuff, too. I've decided to attempt a 100-theme challenge to work on between different projects to /hopefully/ alleviate my stuckness.

Watch it totally fail. xD

Anyway, enjoy~!

A/N: These won't be in any particular order. As shown by my starting with the tenth theme. xD

10. I Do

For as long as Hope had known Lightning, the idea of said soldier wearing a dress was ridiculous. The miniskirt that served as part of her uniform was one thing, considering that that hadn't been negotiable. Deep in the recesses of his mind, Hope occasionally jested that if Lightning were ever to lose her mind and get married, she would be the one wearing the suit. His condolences to her husband.

But that didn't change the fact that she was beautiful in the dress she and Serah had agreed for her to wear in the wedding procession. It was a relatively simple number – runched, iridescent powder blue, strapless and formfitting from the chest to the bottom of her torso, where it smoothly flared out, accentuating her curves without appearing suggestive. The skirt fell just below her knees, and under normal circumstances, that would have been fine. But over the years, Hope had become so accustomed to seeing so much of Lightning's legs that not seeing them was more awkward than their exposure. The white sandal-style heels on her feet put him somewhat on-edge. Miniskirt. LEGS. Boots. That was the pattern he was accustomed to, and they had grown on him so much that their absence almost disturbed him.

Despite his misgivings, she looked beautiful. The subtle touches of a blush on her cheekbones, a soft brown eyeliner on her top lashline and the outer corner of her bottom, a generous application of mascara to her already-lengthy eyelashes, and a stain of soft, luscious pink on her lips brought Hope's heart to a quick tempo in his chest, even from across the room. Somehow, he managed to focus most of his attention on the happy couple standing at the altar – for the duration of the ceremony itself. During the reception, Lightning was fair game, Hope figured.

However, he soon learned that deciding to talk to her and drop hints pertaining to his feelings and actually doing it were two different things entirely. Before he knew it, the reception had begun to die down, and as the sunset dances began, Hope noticed that Lightning was nowhere to be seen.

Whoever decided that high heels were a good idea ought to be shot.

Said accursed shimmering, white footwear had grown unbearable during the ceremony, and Lightning was sure that removing her shoes during Serah's reception wouldn't exactly be appropriate. During the entire affair, she'd remained seated politely in her chair at the table designated for the family, which had been occupied by herself, NORA, Sazh, Dajh…and Hope.

As he'd gotten older, they'd grown closer, bit by little bit. Lightning wasn't sure how to handle the flutters in her chest when she realized that she wasn't the surrogate mother or older sister figure she thought she was. When she realized one day that Hope's feelings had progressed into something much more mature, more involved than the crush she'd suspected for a while when he was fourteen.

She'd tried not to notice, but she knew that in order to ignore something, you had to know it was there. She was acutely aware of Hope's every word, every action, what the insinuated meaning behind each one might have been. Soon she'd found herself invested in interpreting his behavior, and had discovered the butterflies that had apparently taken up residence in her stomach.

Still, she continued to play dumb. She was edgy as ever when it came to social exchanges, kept to her no-nonsense mentality, but still ended up with her guard down whenever Hope was around.

She couldn't help herself.

As the reception stretched into evening with no end anywhere in sight just yet, Lightning found her mind wandering as she stared down at the glass of wine sitting untouched on the table in front of her. She looked up once, breaking free of her thoughts to see Snow and Serah having their first dance. Surely she was happy for her sister. For years she'd fought to support her – keep a roof over her head, keep food on the table every night, maintain a sense of security…and now, Serah radiated more happiness in one day than she had in the five years after their mother died.

It was then she realized that her little sister didn't need her anymore.

In the middle of a crowded courtyard, it was too much to take.

Lightning waited until the majority of the guests were caught up in the dances to seize the opportunity and leave. Serah wouldn't notice – she had her sights fixed on Snow for the night.

She'd managed to walk calmly around the courtyard to the hotel exit, but once she was out of sight, her feelings took over and she began walking faster than she'd previously ventured to in heels. She had to get back to the prep rooms before things sank in.

She considered hiding in the bridal suite, but on the off-chance that Serah came looking for her, that would more than likely be the first place she'd look. Where else would she have washed her face and changed her clothes? The dress bags were all in there. She hesitated at the door for a moment, but turned and crossed the foyer to the groom's suite. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, covering her eyes with one hand and heaving a sigh. She rolled her shoulders back as she stood upright, determined not to cry over something as inevitable as Serah's maturity. She stretched and walked to the dressing table to take the dozens of sparkling pins out of her currently curled, lightly hairsprayed tresses, each one she half-heartedly removed having been dotingly applied by her sister's careful hand.

"Serah, I'm sure my hair looks fine the way it is," Lightning insisted as her sister tugged at the braid Lightning had twisted over one shoulder. Serah chuckled.

"Sis, you have a beautiful dress, beautiful shoes, and a beautiful you. I'm only having one wedding, you know."

"I hope so," Lightning replied in her usual cold attempt at a joke. Serah picked it up and laughed. "And the attention will be on you. You don't have to worry about me," she assured her. "You should focus on letting Lebreau work her magic on you."

Serah shook her head. "Just because you think you'll be in the background doesn't give you an excuse to not look as absolutely gorgeous as you can, Lightning," she replied. "Besides…you could be next."

Lightning laughed as Serah began running Lightning's hair through a curling iron and tucking each curl into specific places in an intricate updo.

"Serah, you don't…" Lightning began, seeing Serah picking bejeweled pins from a crystal dish on the vanity. Serah silenced her.

"I want you to enjoy today, too, Lightning," she murmured, stopping to hug her sister. "Don't pretend that today's going to be a piece of cake for you."

Tears flooded Lightning's eyes all of a sudden, and she fought to hold them back. She hadn't removed her makeup yet.

She stood up once her hair was freed and walked over to the huge couch on one side of the room. It probably counted as a full-size bed, at the very least. She fell backward into its inviting plush cushions, closing her eyes and covering her face with both hands.

"Of all the places to go, I didn't think the men's dressing room would be your first choice."

Light jumped and peeked between her fingers toward the speaker only to find Hope standing in the doorway. She slowly sat up.

"I couldn't breathe through all the perfume in the other room," she answered quietly. She looked down at the floor, looking back up when the couch sank more, indication of Hope having sat down.

"I couldn't help noticing that you left," he said quietly.

Lightning's natural instinct was to defend. "My feet were killing me."

"Oh really?" Hope asked sarcastically. "I didn't see you stand once in the three hours we were there." There were some things Lightning wished Hope hadn't learned from her. Sarcasm was one of them.

"You try parading around in a pair of these and tell me your feet don't hurt like hell," she snapped. The words were out before she could stop them, and she bit her lip. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine…today's not exactly an easy day for you, is it?"

"You don't even know the half of it."

Hope shifted his weight from one side to the other, tucking his hands beneath his thighs, presumably to keep from fidgeting.

"Then tell me."

Lightning shook her head. "Telling anyone wouldn't change anything."

Hope was silent for a few seconds. "It…might make it not hurt as much," he murmured.

"It doesn't hurt, okay?" Lightning snapped, glaring up at him and doing nothing but confirming the truth in Hope's statement. The words escaped before she could stop them, and just seconds after hearing herself, Lightning bit her lip. "Sorry."

"It's no problem. I wasn't exactly expecting you to be Little Miss Sunshine." He looked up at her, a faint blush dusting his cheeks. "Want to talk about it?"

Lightning groaned at herself and returned her hands to her face, falling flat on her back on the couch again. "I thought I was ready for this. I just realized how unprepared I was – am – for this."

"For Serah's wedding?"

"In part…" Hope watched the muscles in her neck tighten and release several times while she gathered her thoughts.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Light," he murmured. "I just don't like seeing you like this."

Lightning sighed. "No…it's alright…"

Several seconds passed in total silence while Lightning collected herself before making several separate attempts to begin. "It's just that…after Dad died…I mean…" She groaned in frustration and ran her fingers through her hair.

"After Dad died," she finally managed to articulate, "Mom kind of…lost it. She didn't exactly go crazy, but she just lost her grip on everything for a while. Reality, her health…it got to the point that by the time I was ten, I was the one cleaning house, feeding everyone, and keeping Serah happy because she would get so physically weak from her sicknesses that she was incapable of taking care of us…"

Lightning had downgraded to one hand covering her eyes, so Hope was able to watch the emotion – or currently, lack thereof, on her face as she spoke. She showed no sign of any feeling on her face, but her voice had already begun to betray her.

"I wouldn't have taken matters into my own hands if it was just me…but I knew that if anyone found out about Mom not taking care of us, Serah and I would have been put in the community house. This wasn't the Sanctum-operated orphanage, either. Orphans are cared for by the fal'cie, but foundlings are handled by Bodhum's "social services." I could have cared less about what happened to me, but Serah wouldn't have been able to survive there. I knew kids from the community house, and they were even more poorly cared for than they might have been away from there. They'd all gotten mean, too. I wasn't about to let Serah get thrown into all of that. She couldn't have handled it…therefore I couldn't have handled it."

So she cares way more than she lets on, Hope thought.

"The…the entire time I practically raised her…I tried not to listen to the voice nagging at me from the back of my head, warning me to not make myself her mother. 'She's not gonna need you someday. You're not ready for that.' I ignored it for the longest time…kept telling myself 'that's stupid. Serah's my sister; she'll always need me for something.'" Lightning paused for several seconds, and Hope watched her lips press together in much a way that made him wonder if it hurt her at all.

"That's…what's why I hated Snow so much…he was perfect for her, and I knew it…he could give her everything I couldn't along with everything I could." Hope noticed the faint trembling of her lower lip and gently grabbed her hand, pulling it away from her face. Sure enough, her eyes were watery, but hadn't released tears yet.

"Don't worry," Hope told her. "Serah isn't perfect. Someday she will have had it with Snow and will come to you for comfort. Snow can't love her like a sister. Only you can do that."

Hope had been expecting her to push him away and defend herself, but instead, was surprised with silence. As he expected, however, she wouldn't make eye contact.

"Don't let yourself think that Serah just threw you away," Hope murmured. "She probably would have felt the same way if you had gotten married."

Again, she didn't fight him. If she'd said anything to him, Hope wouldn't have worried in the least. A blow from Lightning was a solid assurance that she really was alright, no matter what someone may have thought. Her lack of response, however, made Hope more uneasy than he'd been since the day they had 500 PSICOM assault rifles trained on their foreheads. In one of his crippling rushes of worry, Hope grabbed her other hand, pulled her up, and held her tight.

"For being ex-Sanctum military, you're losing your touch pretty fast," he whispered into her hair, hoping to stir her up and having no success. His eyes widened when her arms slowly wrapped around him.

"Shut up," she whispered back. It wasn't much, but it was a retort. Definitely not her best, but it comforted him a bit.

"Look," he began, his voice failing. He felt a blush painting itself across his cheeks and fought to stifle it. "I know…I know this probably isn't the right thing to say to you right now, but…my promise still stands," he said, changing his words at the last minute. What he'd intended to say went something along the lines of "I'll take care of you" or "I'll be here for you," but both of those statements sounded even less appropriate. "I'm gonna keep watching out for you, Light."

"Hope, just say it."

"W-What?"

"…do you love me?"

Silence. Earsplitting, heart-stopping silence.

"No."

Lightning began pushing herself away from him, only to be held fast.

"Wait! I wasn't done!" Hope cried, looking down at her. "To say I love you would be an understatement, Light."

There were few things that surprised Lightning Farron enough to bring her eyes to the size of dinner plates, let alone make her gape like a fish. Hope's choice in words was something to be penned into the short list.

After a second or two, Lightning composed herself, her eyes faintly sparkling behind all the unease and sorrow.

"So tell me – do you or don't you?"

"…I do."