The sunlight came into your room in a hazy way as dawn slowly broke. Lightning looked out the window at the beautiful scenery. Bodhum's beaches were gorgeous, with the light filtering down almost lazily to them, reflecting off the water and sand in the oddest way.

She had always thought the dawn was the nicest time of the day. It was when darkness and light danced together over the sky and the land. Until the darkness took its rest, leaving the world to the lights warm caress, waiting for the night return so they could dance together again.

"Ngh." However as Hope groaned her eye's tore from the dancing world and to his barely breathing form.

"Hope.." Lightning said in a breathless gasp as she ran to the side of his bed. "You're alright." The biggest smile crept its way unto her face, as pink hair fell around her head.

"Yeah.." Hope looked up at her, his eyes misted and face unreadable.

Lightning stared down into his eyes, looking for the wisdom and love she knew. His misted green eyes stared back up at her, seeming to slowly scan her face. He was trying to discern something, as though he was seeing her for the first ti…

"Who are you?" That sentence rang like a gun shot.

Lightning stared down at Hope, still smiling, as those words took root in her mind. Her hair fell in her eyes, obscuring them from his vision. Her lips twitched oddly and she drew in a low, sharp breath.

"N-no one.."

'She sounded so broken, her pink hair falling into tear filled eyes. Her image still hangs in my pained dreams like a spiders silk, spinning a fragment of my past just out of my reach, and even if I did somehow manage to touch it then that thread would break and I would lose the last visages of who I once was.'

"J-just.. Wrong room. Sorry to b-bother you…" The pink haired girl said as she backed away from Hope.

"Wait.." Hope started to say, but she was gone before he could even shakily stand. The last image he had of the girl was her tears as she ran away as fast as her panicked body could take her. "I didn't even get her name…"

Hope sunk back to the white hospital bed, feeling as though something important had just slipped from his grasp forever…

"Hope."

In a dark room laid the white haired teen, snoring softly under covers that were messily strewn about. Magazines of varying descriptions, from gaming and automotive magazines to manga and business, dirty clothing tossed half haphazardly across the room, a pair of white boxers even clinging desperately to the ceiling fan as it spun around in a painfully slow circle.

"Hey, come on man."

Two beds were in the room, tucked into opposite corners. One was made perfectly and, judging from the thick layer of dust that resided across it's top, had not been slept on in a very, very, long time. The one Hope laid on however was a proverbial train wreck, dozens of bloated pillows, with ugly clashing colors, and blankets layered at least seven inches thick covered everything but the one messy cowlick that protruded obscenely from the mess.

Between the two beds was a large dresser, with a proportionally large TV prominently sitting about the middle, wires running from the mid set of drawers and going all over the room, from filling every open port on the television to dozens of small silver speakers that were held up along the roof by thin wire, tape and string in a display that looked less then safe.

Though at the moment none of these things particularly stood at, as the oddest thing in the room happened to be known as Snow. A six foot tall hulk of a man with tufts of blond hair sticking out from under a black beanie. A goofy, though entirely sincere, smile split his face as he smoothed out his uniforms white coat, hands trailing down its front and to the pockets of his stylized dark blue, almost black, blue jeans, a white cat having been stitched into the left shin of the large breeches.

"Hope come on man!" Snow shouted, which caused his deep voice to echo off the walls like a gunshot, making Hope's cowlick twitch wakefully.

"Go away…" Hope groaned out sleepily from under the covers, his cowlick moving like a sharks fin as he moved about under the covers, trying to fall back to sleep.

Snow sighed, hands moving up to his hips, as he walked to the side of Hope's bed. The blond man tilted his head slightly to the right in thought. Perhaps in contemplation of how anyone could sleep as long as Hope, close to twelve hours now, or whether it was worth all the effort it to took to even wake him up in the first place.

"Man you need to get up." Snow leaned over the bed, giving the cowlick a stern look. "It's time to go over to Bodhum and meet the new students!" The cowlick drooped disinterestedly as the blonds grin bled even into his voice making it into a happy sound. "Come on, we need some more students to join our dorm if we want to compete with Raines this year."

"Don't care, need sleep." The cowlick disappeared under the covers as Hope sleep whined at Snow, who let out another long, belated, sigh and stood up to his full height.

"Oh well." Snow shrugged as he turned to leave Hope's room, casting a hand in an uncaring fashion over his shoulder. "I guess that means I'll have to greet our adoring fan girls all by myself, since my wing man 'just couldn't be bothered' with talking to those poor girl." Snow closed his eyes and started counting down from five in his head as he could practically hear Hope freeze.

"…Girls?" One of Hope's large, innocent, green eyes peaked out from the bottom of the covers at Snow.

"Yeah. Girls." Snow confirmed with a single nod. "The boys from fal'Cie Academy are always flocked by a sea of the prettiest women in Bodhum." Snow's voice had a note of dramatic flair, matched by the way he turned to look over at Hope. "But I know how much your sleep means to you, so I won't disturb you… I'll just tell you about it when I get back."

Without another word Snow walked out of the room, the door making a soft click behind him as he gently closed it so it wouldn't disturb Hope's obviously important sleep.

With the door shut silence descended over the hopelessly messy room like an overtly warm, uncomfortable, blanket. Hope's emerald green eye slowly narrowed at the door, as though willing daggers to fly from its handsome pupil and impale the man who just left through the wooden portal to the wakeful, outside, world.

But then, with a heavy sigh, the eye closed and covers were tossed carelessly into the air as Hope rolled out of bed. He landed softly on the floor, wearing nothing over his gently muscled body save a pair of silver, knee length, boxers and a tight fitting, long sleeved, sleep shirt.

His shoulder length shiny white hair fell down around his head in what could perhaps be described as a handsome mess. His face carrying an elegant slope about his nose and a certain strength in his cheeks, emerald green eyes staring tiredly up at the dresser, dark circles running under them.

With an odd, caterpillar like, motion Hope tried to waddle up to the dresser without having to stand up. Unfortunately for the teen fate seems to have decided otherwise, for as he neared the desk, bumping into it lightly, a magazine fell down and hit him in-between the eyes.

"Ow, ow." Hope muttered, rubbing the spot between his eyes.

With a glare at the offending magazine Hope grabs the top of the dresser and pulls his lanky body up to a standing position, only a barely noticeable wobble coming into his knees. The upper half of his body slowly sank down on top of the dresser, next to the TV, as he pulled a drawer open carelessly, hands reaching down into the clothing rich space in search for something to wear.

With a light grumble Hope stood up, pulling a black shirt over his pale skin. The material's silk like sheen was a fair match for the pallor of the boys skin. And the pair of black dress pants which he retrieved next only served to accentuate this.

With one hand clasped on the waist band of his pants, so they wouldn't fall down, Hope stumbled over to a spot on the floor, picking up a thick black choker belt, which he looped through his pants and tightened the two sizes to large breeches to his body.

With a little scrounging Hope found his white jacket, the stylish item of clothing wrinkled oddly. Which only fed into the messy rock star look that Hope had inadvertently, quite accidentally, formed about himself. A look that was oddly offset as he pulled a leather shoulder plate up from the ground.

The device fixed firmly around his right shoulder, a small copper circle rested firmly against his chest. A leather strap running across the buttoned up jacket and down his back, another around his side and a last strap over his shoulder all of which connected with a worn iron clasp on his back.

Along with the shoulder plate was a holster with Hope's folded up Arwing boomerang, painted a sleek silver color. It's black holster clipped easily to Hope's belt.

With one last visual sweep of the room Hope let out a belated sigh before tiredly trudging through the doorway and into the dimly lit hall. Where Snow waited, leaning on the wall across form the door, with arms crossed and grin affixed to his face.

"It's alive." Snow's voice called in mock surprise, echoing off the empty dark halls of their dorm.

"No, I'm actually dead but my spirit wanted to tag along, tell you you're an idiot, you know that kind of thing." Hope muttered in a sleep filled grumpy voice.

"Yeah, yeah." Snow poked Hope in the forehead before walking briskly down the hall. "Come on we don't want to miss the boat to shore…"

Snow… I've never been sure what to think of him. He was one of the first people I met when my dad enrolled me here. He had been kind of intimidating when we first met, he's so tall and muscular and the serious look he wore when he saw me just gave my gut a sinking feeling.

But then he smiled and asked me if I wanted to join the PSICOM dorm. Having absolutely no idea what that meant, and having the pleasure of accidentally being intimidated by the man, I said yes.

It's been almost five years now, and it still feels like the first few moments of my life. It's like just moments ago the pink haired girl was running away. I see it every time I close my eyes, every time I sleep. It's getting fuzzier as the days pass, but her image, as degraded as it's becoming, still makes me feel… alright, like I'm normal for reasons I just can't define in words.

I wonder who she was, the pink haired girl from my dreams. I couldn't help but wonder if I'd ever get the chance to meet her. And, looking back, I can't help but admit that fate has a funny way of making life interesting…

"Man…" Snow breathed in heavily, his boot planted on the front edge of the schools white ferry boat. "You just can't beat that Bodhum smell."

"I don't know." yuj shrugged, his light blue hair brushing against the tops of his shoulders as he shook his head. "I like the malls and boutiques out in Eden a lot better. Not to mention the people they're dress better then these… backwaters hoodlums."

Hope glanced at Yuj from where he sat, legs dangling over the front of the boat with Snow standing above him. Yuj wore stylish dark slacks that were completely and utterly outshined by the magnificent pair of white boots he wore, an intricate style of buckles holding the seemingly oversized boots in place.

His white jacket featured custom stitching. Supple black cloth was sewn along the shoulders and all the way down the arms, silver lines, made of some kind of soft shiny material, etched gentle patters across his shirt and up to the pistol holster at his side, holster empty of it's training fire arm.

"Hey." Maqui piped up, jogging towards the group and pulling his orange goggles out of his eyes "Bochum's a wonderful place to grow up in."

Maqui wore loose black pants that bunched up about his ankle, falling over his comfortable skater shoes. A heavy duty tan belt ran around his waist, tools and contraptions of all descriptions sticking from it's deep pockets, his white dress shirt, stained with a myriad of colored stains, was lazily tucked under the belt, his trademark goggles resting atop his hair.

"Now, now." Snow winked at Hope as he turned to face Maqui and Yuj. "We don't have time to argue. We're here on a mission." Snow's hands came to his hips as he sternly looked around at his team. "Today we need to recruit people for our dorm if we want to keep up with everyone else."

"And not get disbanded." Hope added, looking back towards the distant Bodhum. "If we get disbanded we'll be split up into the other dorms."

"That's right." Yuj crossed his arms and nodded. "And I've seen the way the rest of them dress, I wouldn't be caught dead hanging around people with such… droll attire."

"…" Maqui and Snow both looked at Yuj in unified silence, slightly befuddled looks cross their faces in a comically matching manner.

"yeah… that's what we're worried about to." Maqui said, quietly taking a step away from Yuj. "I'm more worried about having to… interact with them." He added shyly.

"Don't worry." Hope's calm voice was met by the other NORA members turning to look at him. "We'll find enough people." Hope glanced at them over his shoulder. "we'll split up and get as many people to sign up as possible, we just need a dozen or so more applicants to keep our dormitory open."

Hope stood up, hand's lazily finding their way to his pockets, as he turned to face NORA. His emerald eyes scanned over the lot of them, coming to stop on Snows before rising to the sky, a smile splitting his face.

"We're team NORA." Hope made a fist with his right hand and held it out towards the others. "And no ones going to stand in our way."

"Ha-ha." Snow laughed as he bumped his fist against Hopes. "Spoken like a man Hope." Yuj and Maqui joined in, the four's fists touching.

"Attention." The four broke apart and turned to look at their headmaster, Cloud Farron. "We will be making landfall within the next half hour. We will stay in dock for the next four hours, giving each dorm leader and their administrative team a chance to get students signed into their respective dormitory's."

Cloud had long silver pink hair that was tied in a battle braid behind his back. An elegant face it's sharp crystalline blue eyes gave him an air of power and prestige, one that was further enhanced by the way his black trench coat flowed about his thin figure, gold stitching making it seem a piece of truly regal attire.

Patches adorned the left shoulder and breast of the coat, marking him as a former high ranking officer of the military. Medals were pinned across the right chest and made quite the display as the glinted under the sunlight, black canvas trousers and sturdy combat boots rounded out the appearance of some kind of royal knight.

"As you all know the Guardian Corp was last years highest ranked dormitory, coming in first place in five of eleven category's." Cloud stood on the highest deck of the boat and looked down at the collected students. "As such they are permitted the first pick of the new students."

Cloud's eyes scanned the students of the Guardian Corp dormitory. They were dressed in a uniformly immaculate manner, school uniforms each having the blue patch of the Guardian Corp displayed proudly on their left shoulder. Amongst them stood Cid, a tall male, over six feet in height.

His black hair was cut close to his handsome head, white cape enfolding his shoulders and falling down his back and around his shoulders to just above sturdy white boots. The sun created a glimmer as it reflected off the hilt of his powerful sword, the Lindblum.

"Remember." Cloud looked over at the four NORA members. "While we are docked you represent the finest of the fal'Cie academy. I expect you to be on your best behavior this year, understood?" A chorus of yes sirs rose up to grace Cloud's ears, along with a salute from Snow. "Then I wish you all good luck."

Hope watched Cloud walk towards the cabin, Cid falling in step beside him, talking about something probably related to recruitment. Until he turned his head back towards Hope. The two shared a stare for a moment before Cid waved and resumed his stride next to Cloud.

Cid Raines. leading member of the Guardian Corp dormitory, leading combat specialist and one of the five best tacticians in school. I met him a few months after I first arrived, back then we were all part of the same dormitory, PSICOM.

We met because our birthdays fell on the same day in the spring, and as such when the dormitory leader made a surprise party we both met, and we were almost instantly rivals. I can't say exactly how, or why, but me and him have been in competition ever since and because of that competition have both wound up the school brightest students.

PSICOM, on the last year before it disbanded, came in first in ten of eleven category's. This was thanks mostly to me, Cid and Snow. But then Drysley, the leader of our dormitory, quit suddenly leaving his adult staff to pick up the pieces. Jihl and Gadot were the most prominent figures left and the staff split around them.

Eventually Gadot left the PSICOM dormitory's, taking Snow, Yuj and Maqui with him. Jihl renamed PSICOM into the Guardian Corp's, a name Cid suggested, while Gadot formed NORA, with Snow acting like the unofficial leader.

I stayed with the Guardian Corp for the first month or so, hoping Snow and the others would come back I guess. But as management changed it became more like a military then a bunch of like minded students, so I left.

NORA went on to take up residence in the old dormitory and try to be competitive in the school. But with our utter lack of members we lost almost everything. To make it worse we need at least sixteen members to not be disbanded. If it wasn't for Cloud owing Gadot a favor we would have been disbanded before last year was finished.

Back then the only thing I was worried about was keeping NORA from being disbanded. I never imagined just how much NORA would change my life… for better or worse may have been up for debate.

Lightning stretched leisurely as she set out from the house. The boat would come into dock in about thirty minutes, which gave her plenty of time to walk to the pier, sign up for one of the dormitory's, probably the Guardian Corp because of what her father had said about them.

The chirp of birds caught Lightning's attention. A pair of cardinals were fluttering through the leafless trees, making happy, lover, like sounds as they raced across the air above Lightning. Her blue eyes traced the pair like a gun sight, tooth pick poking out from her frowning lips

Love. She thought coldly as an eagle swooped down and grabbed one of the birds out of the air. It's so temporary and painful. The other bird flew away as fast as it's wings could carry, Lightning could almost see the fear in it's little eyes. It only leaves us hurt…

Lightning looked forward again, hands in her white vests pockets. She trudged forwards lost in thought over the last five years. How difficult it had been, with her father gone most of the time Lightning had wound up pseudo parent to Serah.

Taking care of Serah had become the driving focus of her life. Making sure she was fed, getting her to the doctor, keeping her safe. Then there was the help she had needed in math, and knuckle headed males who made passes at her, passes which ended in their own broken noses.

But in a couple years Serah had become mostly self sufficient, even managing to do more around the house then her ever busier older sister. And this hurt Lightning, to see how Serah out grew any real need to have her around.

So while Serah grew up Lightning became more and more distanced from her. Eventually taking up with a motorcycle club, which was more of a gang then anything else.

The adaptable girl had risen through their ranks and easily rested as their leader. With both finesse of mind and strength of body she proved herself a capable leader. But leader or not her control over the club was scathingly limited. Half of it's members were captured by police in a drug bust three years ago.

Lightning, who was unaware of the drug business her club was apparently perpetrating, left. The rest of her group either disbanded or was arrested in the following weeks, the only reason she wasn't arrested to was her father's influence.

As it turned out fal'Cie academy had come to a prominent position, her fathers former military record and general charismatic aura had made it a household name in a few short years. The money it generated, and the quality of it's first graduating class, marked Cloud as a very successful man.

Lightning honestly didn't care one bit at the time. All she cared about was the fact losing Hope still hurt so bad, the fact her sister didn't need her anymore, and the fact that her father was almost never home more then a day every couple of months.

The next year seemed slow and painful. Her grades slipped to barely passing and her attitude switched from violently angry to morbidly depressed at seemingly odd times. But she slowly built up walls of ice, walls that protected her from the pain and left a cold calculated person in their wake.

That cold person's grades easily became one the highest at her school, became a presence in her sisters life that was valuable again and managed to live easily without her father having to be there at all.

And then, last winter, out of the blue Lightning's father showed up. Just days before the new year he spent the weekend with them, asked if she had heard anything from Hope, how school had been and a plethora of question Lightning was fairly certain he cared nothing about.

And then he decided to make the bet. Lightning's lip twitched upwards into a cold representation of a smile. If I can pass for a male student in fal'Cie academy I'll graduate with enough credentials to protect Serah… maybe even someday protect Hope to.

Lightning was so lost in these thoughts she didn't realize she'd accidentally walked off the sidewalk and into a park that was close to the pier. And as she looked around she really didn't care, it would be easy enough to get to the dock from here, and besides she enjoyed the way the leafless tree's looked around her, the frigid touch of the wind that chilled her very bones.

It all felt very nice as she walked down the concrete path that wound through the park. It was a place she used to come with Hope when they were little.

That realization left a painful pang in her chest. One that grew as a particular tree caught her eye, one she approached with slightly less then steady legs. The tree rose up a good twelve feet into the air, tall and sturdy but still young and small compared to the hulking giants that surrounded it.

Lightning stopped in front of it, looking up at it's top while a hand slowly moved out to touch the tender bark. Her eyes fell down to where her hand was, watching the limb as it trailed around the side of the tree.

A memory of her and Hope came to mind. One where they were planting a little tree here, laughing and throwing clumps of dirt at each other over the small thing.

At the end of the day, when the tree had been planted perfectly and the landscape around it successfully un-rooted, they had lain down beside it, Hope ever so innocently holding Lightning hand.

He had said something dopey, and with that big innocent smile of his, took Lightning's knife and carved a heart into the tree. He said it would grow, just like their love, or something like that.

Lightning's hand ran across the heart, which was now above her head. She had to take a step back to view the small heart, and when she did she frowned distantly.

It wasn't a perfect shape. It was clearly drawn by a Childs hand, it's line squiggled and zagged a bit, the distinct 3 like shape at the tope came out closer to a V. But it was somehow wonderful in it's imperfections, complete in it's utter simplicity… and utterly painful.

A single tear formed in Lightning's eye, slowly sliding down her face and falling to the ground as her sharp blue eye's watched. The drop of moisture landed with a quietly loud sound on her boot, at the base of the tree, letting a small design catch her eye.

Carefully Lightning kneeled down to get a look at the small, new, engraving against the trunk. With a steady hand she brushed the dirt away and marveled at the intricate carving.

It was of a girl with long hair, running away with tears streaming down her face. It was so beautiful in it's artwork, intricate in it's carving. Someone with indomitable skill had to have done this.

As Lightning looked down the carving she saw some words on the bottom. With a little more digging she cleared them away enough to read, and then freeze in place.

'I'm always thinking about you, I wish I could have known you. -Hope Eshtiem.' It was dated last year. Hope had been here last year, been here thinking about her, last year.

Hope… Lightning touched the carving in an almost obsessive way. I'm so sorry….

"Hey, hey, hey." Lightning frowned angrily at the annoyingly weasely voice. "What do we have here?" A voice that, as she stood up, was already grating on her nerves. "One of those fal'Cie academy rich boys."

Lightning looked over at the source of her annoyance, to see a group of gangly punks walking her way. Their leader, a man with a ridiculous red Mohawk, sneered at her as he approached, hands in his worn out pockets.

"I'd suggest you running away." Lightning growled, her sharp canines showing as she barred her teeth like an animal. "If you leave now I'll even forgot your ugly faces."

"I'm afraid that just ain't going to cut it." The man said as his thugs surrounded her.

The mean leaned towards Lightning, about to say something, when a silver blur flew past his face, cutting off a few locks of his hair. The object made a wide circle, bashing the thugs in the head and knocking the unconscious as it arced through air, heading back from where it had been thrown.

"Wh-what the hell!" The leader shouted, hopping back from Lightning and looking down at his injured comrades. "You… you'll pay for this!" The man shouted as him and his goons got up in a hurry, running in a decidedly retreat like direction.

Lightning meanwhile looked sharply towards where the boomerang was thrown, ready for a fight. Her eye's found a figure walking towards her, the sun eclipsed behind him causing hi to look like a shadow with messy hair, and a very bad cowlick standing up on his head like an antenna.

"Sorry about that." Lightning's eyes went wide, her body slackened, as she heard 'his' voice. "Are you alright?"

The sun moved aside, letting Lightning look out at the white haired man that stood before her. His eye's the kindest green she had ever seen, slightly taller and leaner then her, his lips curling up into the gentlest of smiles that just served to make him look like some kind of saint.

"Hope…"

I have to say, Lightning, that this, meeting you in that instant, was the beginning of the most interesting school year of my life.

(A/N)

Alot's changed since the first chapter, alots the same to I guess. I'm still depressed, more then I was when I wrote the first chapter, but the girl I was talking to who I liked is my fiancee now. She makes me feel better most of the time so that's good. My suicidal friends have all either finally commited the act or are now trying to talk me out of my own depression (which is nice and annoying at the same time) College, isn't so bad, I want to finish it as quickly as possible since my fiancee and I agreed to not get married until after I graduate (since my father agreed he'd help pay for it if I didn't.

A summers day is the next title I plan to update, if I hit writers block on it you'll see another chapter of this in about a week. This chapter was supposed to be done yesterday, but my fiancee came over and wanted to hang out (Ironically we played the ps3 all day, including FFXIII Which she likes now) so I didn't finish writing till late last night. I'm sick today so I'm staying home from school (besides I have everything I need to do turned in and all my hours are accounted for) and edited this a couple times. I didn't catch all of the grammar mistakes I know, but I think I generally did better then the last chapter.

Disclaimer: Yes, all copy right was intended and is obviously being used for malicious purposes since I posted it here, we all know that you make gold bars by posting things on . Seriously though, I don't own it. I'm just writing because my fiancee told me to get out of bed and start doing things I enjoy again and writing is something i like so... here I am.

As always I hope you enjoyed your read, for those of you who've been waiting I apologize, there is no good excuse for being gone this long, but at least new content is being released now, thank you all for you patience and thank you everyone who reviewed, favorited, and subscribed.

Laters.
Chazz