Originally a series of One-shots where I could add in Hope x Light moments into the game, but I'm just marking it as complete, since it's been a while, and I don't know if I'll be doing more for this. In the meantime, it's certainly up for adoption if somebody wants to expand on my terrible work.

Snow, the afro guy, and Vanille quickly set out to find Serah, the monsters that Lake Bresha held not seeming to faze them in the slightest. Hope almost turned to go following them, when he realized the the pink-haired woman wasn't yet following either. He turned around to approach her, and as he looked into her eyes, they almost looked completely vulnerable and weak.

"U-Um... I-" he tried to speak, but he stopped when she abrubtly turned around. Letting out a deep breath and crossing her arms over her chest. Hope blushed, though he didn't even register why. He thought about leaving for a moment, he didn't need this after losing his mother. But something stopped him. He remembered the other girl, the one who just turned to crystal. It seemed like this woman had just lost her sister, so... shouldn't she need the same comfort he did?

"What do you want?" she asked suddenly, apparently realizing his approach. He almost smacked himself in the face after realizing she had a soldier's insignia on her shoulder armor . Of course a soldier would hear him coming. Hope stopped a foot or two away from her, hoping she wouldn't deck him like she had done to Snow.

"I-I uhh... that girl. Was she your sister?" Hope asked, closing his eyes in preparation for the hit that would surely come. When no such thing happened, he opened his eyes to see that the pink-haired soldier had turned towards him. Her icy blue eyes sparkled in the wonderland around him, and the young boy felt his cheeks turn scarlet.

"Yeah, what of it?" she replied, her commanding voice almost scaring him. Hope pushed past it, though, hoping it was just her being defensive.

"W-Well, I-I just thought I'd say I'm s-sorry you couldn't save her." he said, making her eyes widen. He almost thought she was going to hit him, but instead the woman dropped to her knees, and then fell to her bottom, leaning her back against one of Lake Bresha's many frozen waves. He saw her eyes glisten, and realized she probably wouldn't have done this if anyone else had been there.

"You... You're right. I couldn't save her and now she is- and now Serah..." She closed her eyes, trailing off sadly. Hope felt bad for bringing about this small breakdown, and so against all the warning signs going off in his head, he moved and sat next to the soldier, their shoulders touching ever so slightly.

"My mom died." he said simply, not really knowing why, but just hoping she would open up to him if he did to her. "We were only visiting Bodhum when they forced us on the train, but I already told you that, didn't I?" He was speaking retorically now, and he knew it. She wouldn't answer, she would merely listen to the rest of the story as he gave it to her. "I... I was so scared, sitting on that train. 'Pulse is hell on earth!' everybody always says. I didn't want to be forced there, for mom to be forced there. And so, when all the battles started with the rebels and the sanctum, I took her hand and tried to hide at the back of the crowd with her." He stiffened as he felt an unfamiliar weight plop down on his shoulder, and turned his head ever so slightly to meet a curtain of pink hair.

"I'm still listening, you know." the woman told him, startling Hope into continuing the story. Her voice was softer now. She almost seemed to be falling asleep, but either way, his story was calming her grief.

"Then... that man, Snow, came." Hope continued. He heard an angry sound from Lightning at the mention of the blond man's name, and he figured that Snow had something to do with Serah, too. "Him and his gang had a pile of guns with them. People wanted to fight, so... they just handed them out. When there was only one left, he gave the crowd this disappointing look, and told us nothing was happening until somebody took the last one." Tears sprung to the boy's eyes at this point, but he felt comforted by the weight of the woman leaning on him.

"He... He didn't protect her. Not a single argument when she got up or when he saw me sitting there. When he failed to grab a rocket launcher to take down an airship she had to. And when that ship accidently shot the bridge... he let her fall. There weren't even any serious wounds on her! H-He just let her fall! And now I'm alone!" Hope was shouting by the end. Tears were coming down his cheeks and his body trembled in a heated mixture of rage and sadness and torment. The woman didn't remove her head from its' resting place on his shoulder, but she did, however, wrap an arm around his middle to grab one of his hands.

"Our lives suck." she said solemnly. Hope would have laughed had it not been completely true, but something was bothering him now that he'd told the story to the woman next to him.

"What's your name?" he asked, just sitting and looking around at the sparkling sea of crystal around them.

"Lightning." she said. "Lightning Farron."

"Hope Estheim." There was a comfortable silence between the two l'cie for a while, during which Lightning kept on resting on Hope's shoulder, and the young boy tried to think of something to say.

"I... uh... Are you going to be alright?" he stuttered out, beginning to become unnerved by the silence. After a few minutes of Lightning remaining silent, Hope craned his neck slightly so he could see her face, and was surprised to find the woman asleep on his shoulder. Instead of freaking out and waking the woman up, Hope decided to take this time to study her.

Lightning seemed completely relaxed and comfortable sleeping on his shoulder, not scowling or frowning for the first time since he saw her. There may have even been a hint of a content smile on her face. She looked beautiful to Hope. He would even say she looked cute, knowing it would get him killed, the way she kept her lips ever so slightly parted as she slept. Hope just watched her for a few minutes before realizing the position they were in wasn't the most comfortable one to sleep in. Lightning's back was twisted so she could lay on him, and he himself couldn't rest for fear of sliding on the slippery crystal surface of the ground and wall behind him. Carefully, so as not to wake the beautiful woman sleeping on his shoulder, Hope shrugged off the yellow jacket he wore, folding it up and placing it on the ground next to him.

He made sure his movements were slow and precise as he lowered Lightning's head onto his makeshift pillow. She made a weird sound, something between a cute squeak and a yawn, before rolling over and wrapping her arms around Hope's waist.

His face lit up scarlet as the pinkette cutely hung on to him. With no other choice, Hope placed his head next to Lightning's on the folded up coat. His blush wasn't about to let up anytime soon, as Lightning's face was mere centimeters from his own as she pulled him closer in her sleep. He gave up any hope of escaping this situation, and since Lightning seemed ever-so comfy sleeping next to him, Hope decided to sleep as well, closing his eyes after giving the woman a slight peck on the forehead. As he closed his eyes, only one thought remained prominent.

Was that a blush dusting her cheeks?