Forget Goodbye

 

Disclaimer: The characters in the story aren't mine. They belong to their respected owners, I do however take ownership over the plot of this story but not on the plot of the original story in the FFXIII game. Thanks... :)

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Forget Goodbye

Snow x Hope

Chapter 4: Just a Little Downtime

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

"Tell me again why we're heading to whatever's left of Cocoon?" asked Snow as he trailed behind Lightning, Hope, and Kirin. Snow was still a little unsure about the new guy, but he chalked it up to his pride being threatened due to the fact that he had gotten so used to being the bigger man in the group. With Kirin present, it felt like he had a rival in both the height and looks department.

"Because Hope said that he had a vision about Fang and Vanille and he wanted to check up on it," said Light evenly and continued, "but I want to talk to you about Kirin." Light slowed down and took pace with Snow to take their conversation seriously.

"What about him? Hope seems to like him well enough," said Snow with a slight annoyance tinged in his voice. Light nodded in understanding. She knew that it was true, the two seemed to have hit things off without a hitch, but Lightning was still wary since none of them knew about Kirin up until just about a couple of days ago before leaving Oerba.

"That's the thing, no one in Oerba knew anything about him," said Lightning.

"You checked up on him? I guess that's to be expected," replied Snow in turn.

"You act like that surprises you, I did the same for you when you and Serah got together," said Lightning nonchalantly.

"You did? Damn, how did I not know that?" Snow chuckled a little before diverting back to their previous topic. "So what do we do about him then?"

"Nothing for now, but let's just keep an eye out just in case," replied Lightning. Lightning seemed to take the stranger's sudden appearance in stride but then again, Light never was the type to just lose control of her emotions unlike Snow who pretty much was like an open book.

"Snow, Light! Hurry up!" Hope called out to the other two since they had just arrived at their intended destination to rest for the night. It was originally Snow's plan to just rest and set up camp on the Northern Antrepass of the Archylte Steppe since they were coming out of the MaH'Habara from their way back from Oerba.

Normally, Hope would have agreed with Snow since it was more convenient to just stay in the Archylte Steppe since that was where Cocoon fell and remained suspended in a wrapping of crystal that Fang and Vanille had woven. But this time, he followed Light's idea to set up camp in the Base Camp of Vallis Media where they had set up camp before when Hope had first acquired Alexander. The reason being is that the monsters living in Archylte Steppe had grown larger in number during the past couple of years, and for some reason they gathered near the crystal pillar where the remnants of Cocoon perched. They would be about a day and a half behind schedule, but that was better than the alternative of having been accidentally stepped on by an Adamantortoise while they were blissfully asleep or worse, ambushed by a pack of Behemoth Kings or Megistotherians.

The team had only encountered a few random monsters on their way so far so they weren't tired out by fights, but it was actually Hope and Kirin who did most of the work and the other two did the clean up to whatever baddies got past Hope and Kirin. Hope insisted on taking the lead since he was a L'Cie and Kirin took point with the silverette since Snow and Light couldn't do anything to dissuade the young man.

After setting up camp, Snow gathered up some wood for fire and Light took out the necessary items to cook something for dinner. Kirin, on the other hand, took watch and propped himself up on rock nearby. Hope took the spot next to the taller male when Light insisted that he rest for the moment and just sat back to watch as the night sky glittered with the light of stars unreachable.

"Hope is kind of clingy towards him, don't you think?" asked Snow as he rooted his spot next to his soon to be sister-in-law.

"Yeah, I think he likes him," said Light without having to look up at the two whom Snow referred to.

"You don't think it's kind of weird?" asked Snow. He waited patiently for the other woman to reply, and all the while his curiosity over the woman's lack of surprise grew as well.

"Not really, Hope had admitted to me before that he's into guys," said Lightning in one uninterested breath. Without breaking a beat, Light cooked some meat over the previously lit fire in front of her, only stoking it when needed.

"He did? How come this is the first time I'm hearing it?" asked Snow in obvious disbelief. If one looked closely enough, they would have seen Snow's eyes gleam with something other than surprise but no one was paying that much attention as of the moment.

"That's because for the past year, all that you've heard only had something to do with you and Serah," bit out Lightning in annoyance. Really, it annoyed her that they can be so close to each other, but when other people need to let out some steam and talk, she always seems to be the only one they come to. In Hope's case, his father already knew it prior to coming to Light, but for anyone else who knew they hadn't mentioned a thing. She thought about it for a moment and came to the conclusion that even if Hope was still young, gossiping within earshot of the young man could have probably left them hurt or worse. Ofcourse, everyone in Oerba knew that Hope wouldn't hurt a fly unless it happened to grow a million times larger and started to attack, but being a former L'Cie put everyone else on their guards regardless.

"I'm hurt sis, you know that's not entirely true," quipped Snow back as if to deflect some of the accusation pointed at him, but even he, in his heart of hearts could deny that he had been a bit neglectful of everyone else besides himself and Serah. In fact, if Sazh had asked him how old his son was, Snow wouldn't have been able to answer correctly which could result in a couple of stray bullets his way since the man loved his kid so much he'd be willing to fight the world if necessary.

"Whatever," breathed out Light before adding, "just shut up about it when you speak to Hope, there's really no denying that Hope is attracted to him. So don't say anything that could make them so conscious of you alright," chastised Light in hopes of keeping the tall blonde quiet long enough for her to assess if Hope's new friend was as trustworthy as Hope thought he was.

"Got it!" said Snow enthusiastically. He even added the gesture of zipping his mouth and locking it just for show. Although as soon as he did, he realized that there was some fascination growing on him about Hope due to the newly acquired information, but his being was telling him that it was only because this was the first confirmed gay man he has come across.

"Hope, Kirin! Food is ready!" called out Light as she finished preparing the meal. It wasn't a big meal really, just a couple of cooked fish that they caught from the Sulyya Springs along with some heated canned stew they had brought along. Nonetheless, Hope and Kirin took their place on the opposite side of Light and Snow and silently threaded through their meal.

Snow, on the other hand, was silently watching the two interact. He noticed every gaze that Hope placed upon the taller raven haired man who happened to meet the silverette's own. It annoyed him for some reason that he couldn't quite explain, but then again, it might just have been his pride talking. After all, if he were to ask himself then he'd have to say that he looks much better than Kirin ever will on a good day.

"Alright, I'm turning in," announced Lightning. She got up and went to her tent but not before, "Oh! Kirin, would it be alright if you bunked with Hope since we had only brought three tents?" Kirin answered with a brilliant yes which made Snow bristle silently without anyone noticing. Hope smiled in turn beaming at dark haired Fal'Cie. This only caused Snow's face to sour and made him turn in earlier than he had wanted to.

"Good night Claire!" yelled out Hope as the woman retreated into her tent, but followed it up with a, "good night Snow!" when he noticed the man get up to do the same. Snow answered it with a scowl but since he had his back turned, no one noticed. So to reply, he held up his hands and waved to say his intent that he was turning in for the night, as if it wasn't the least bit obvious.

"You can go to sleep first since I'll be taking first watch," said Kirin.

"Okay, but don't you need to sleep too?" asked Hope in curiosity.

"No, I'm a Fal'Cie remember?" answered Kirin in the form of another question. Hope blushed in understanding and chuckled lightly to cover up his faux pas. To further run from his slight miscalculation, Hope headed for the tent set up for him and bid the handsome Fal'Cie a goodnight.

Hope, now finally away from prying eyes, giggled in delight as he recalled the way Kirin looked in the harsh bright of day. Being true to himself in the confines of his own tent, he openly admitted to himself that he was very much attracted to Kirin's human form. He could feel himself harden to the thought of someone as gorgeous as Kirin holding him and taking him to extreme heights he'd never had the chance to explore before. But reality struck a chord when a rather strong gust of wind breezed by his tent. He quickly sobered up to the fact that he was out in the middle of nowhere in a tent with no way to clean up if needed. Groaning in obvious discontent, he let his heated body cool down enough so that he could try to get some sleep.

It felt like an hour later to Hope, though it was really only about half an hour later, that Hope concluded sleep would not be reached since his mind kept conjuring images of him and a colony of anonymous guys with hard bodies and stiff erections in various positions that his subconscious desires wished to happen. When frustration won out, Hope left his tent to get some air and maybe clear his mind off of the perversely delicious things that he could be doing. Upon noticing that Kirin hasn't seemed to have budged from his spot on the rock overlooking the rest of the area, Hope joined him and took up the space next to the taller young man.

"Can't sleep?" asked Kirin while he scanned the area for immediate danger.

"Yeah, I have a lot of things on my mind, so I thought I'd come out for fresh air," answered the other.

"Well if you want, I can cast sleep on you so you'll be able to," said the elder male.

"No, it's okay, I'll just stay here until I get to sleep," muttered Hope.

"Okay," said Kirin as he felt Hope lay his head on his shoulders. They both shifted a little until they found a comfortable spot where Kirin was still propped up against the boulder on his back with Hope sitting next to him with his head on the crook of his neck.

"The stars are beautiful tonight," murmured Hope as he felt a wave of drowsiness course through him.

"You know, it's funny because from my birth, this is the first time I've ever just stopped to look at the stars at night like this," said Kirin sincerely to the younger man next to him.

"Really? That reminds me, I was meaning to ask you but what did you usually do in the times when you're not needed?" asked Hope. His questioned was followed by a soft yawn that wracked his entire frame in a small chill. Without being asked to, Kirin produced a small blanket from out of nowhere and blanketed the smaller man next to him. Hope thanked him in return and urged the other to answer his unanswered question.

"Well, I don't really do much of anything besides dream," answered Kirin. "I mostly remember the times where I used to mingle with people and Fal'Cie from Gran Pulse, but when something started changing between them, the Creator put me to sleep."

"Why?" asked Hope who now closed his eyes as he listened to the other's tale.

"He said I'll be needed in the future, so from then on I only awoke in times of great danger," supplied the Fal'Cie.

"Just like now," muttered Hope, "but what changed between the Fal'Cie and the humans?"

"Well, I guess people call it evolution but all I know is that the Fal'Cie started to gain more power while the humans lost their innate abilities to conjure magics," Kirin paused as he felt Hope's breath even out against the skin on the nape of his neck.

"Good night Hope," muttered Kirin lowly to avoid waking the other. Figuring out that Hope had finally fallen asleep; he ruffled the silverette's hair in amusement then went back to scanning the area like he was supposed to.

He just hoped that nothing would bother them for the rest of the night so the little one would be able to sleep, after all, when day break hits, a wave of spiraling events would be set in motion.

TO BE CONTINUED!

A/N: Sorry for the late addition to this story but I was on vacation! YAY! I finally got my ideal tan while swimming and cruising! Anyway, reviews would be greatly appreciated! Thank you again for reading!