Wristband | Hope Estheim x Reader | FFXIII

Even in such a time of chaos, the world could be so peaceful.

Gran Pulse wasn't the hellhole that people on Cocoon painted it out to be. You had been told story after story all throughout your youth of how it was a nightmare incarnate. Foul beasts roaming freely with rampant bloodlust. An air that was dense and acrid, plains of acrid rock stretching on for miles like a landscape from a nightmare.

What you found instead when you actually came here was that Gran Pulse was a peaceful place. Sure, you had to watch where you wandered, and there were certainly monsters about. Yet it was so beautiful.

Before you, a cloudless blue sky met with an uneven array of sandy rocks and lush emerald grass, dotted with wild plants, the kinds of which you could have never even fathomed. Beside you, your trusted companion Hope. His pale silverish locks gently swayed in the light warm breeze that blew past you both, his gloved hands stuffed tightly into the pockets of his pants.

His eyes were distant, focussed on some far off place. You must have both been standing here on this sun-warmed cliff in Yaschas Massif for what had easily been ten minutes, but neither of you had spoken a word. After all that had happened...turned into l'Cie, escaping the prison that Cocoon had become, taking refuge here on the world below...

No wonder you needed a moment of silence. No wonder you needed some rest.

Yet after a while longer Hope did finally talk:
“You know I...kinda wish it had happened sooner...”
“You wish what had happened sooner?” you looked over at him curiously. He still didn't look back, but did turn his head down a little, holding out his wrist.
“Becoming a l'Cie. If I had been turned before Mom...before what happened...I might have been able to save her.”

Though it had become easier for him to talk about with time, you could still hear the wavering pain in his voice. Pursing your mouth you also looked down and scuffed your shoes through the grass blades for a bit.
“I guess it's not all bad being a l'Cie when you can help people because of it...but you can't turn back time...”
“Right.” Hope sighed and suddenly lowered himself, taking a seat on the grass. He removed his other hand from his pocket and pet the spot next to him, encouraging you to join him. So you did.

It was warm and soft. Your palms pressed down either side of you and you leaned back a little, looking up at the sky in a melancholy way. “I wish it had never happened to any of us. I wish that The Purge had never happened. I wish that you were back in Palumpolum, and that I was back in Bodhum, even if it means we would have never met.”

Hope did look at you then, with eyes akin to the deeper shades of grass around you. His hand raised to the silken neckerchief he wore and he fixed it a little, all the while nodding in slow agreement. “Yeah I...I wish the same. But I care about all you guys. Lightning, Vanille, Fang, Sazh, even Snow. And you especially...”
A light blush touched upon your cheeks and you glanced at him, before smiling gently. “Well if we stay strong and keep going we'll find a way to save ourselves.”

Whatever happiness had been in his expression soon faded again, and he turned his attention back to his wrist. This time around he reached for the band he wore on it and tugged it down, revealing that familiar black l'Cie mark in all its intricacy.
“It makes me sick, every time I look at it. I get so angry thinking about how I never asked for this.”
“None of us did.” you leaned over a little closer to him. Your own mark was burning your back just speaking about it.

Hope ran a thumb against his skin and grimaced as it graced the unmistakeable stains. “Every day it looks worse and worse, I'm scared that I'll-”
You cut him off by simply reaching out and grasping it. His wrist was taken in your hand, your fingers wrapping snugly around the brand he so reviled, covering it from view. Hope's eyes cast over to you in surprise, but you simply placed your other hand gently on his shoulder and looked him right in the eyes.

“Hope. It'll be fine. None of us are going to let anything happen to you, least of all me. Besides, Fang is keeping an eye on things, and she says we've still got time. We don't need to worry.”

Your kind words had him reeling a bit. How could you look at him so honestly and speak so confidently? Before it may have upset him, but now it just amazed him. There was nothing arrogant about your optimism though, he knew you only said these things because you cared about him.

Looking back at his limb again, he pulled the wristband to where it would usually be, covering the mark once more. Looking at you again he smiled, weakly but genuinely.
“Thank you.”
“Heh, it's okay~” you beamed, then looked out at the wilds again. “Man...I know we have to keep moving but I'm gonna miss this place.”
“Me too, I think.” Hope spoke.

Only this time he didn't look away in the distance. He kept his eyes on you, taking in the sight that to him was far more marvellous than anything that Gran Pulse could ever offer. Your eyes more entrancing than any clear blue sky. Your face, prettier than sunlight glittering on the water. That soft, hopeful smile you carried, one of those rare things that actually made him feel...

Swallowing, he wondered if he was rushing into things, yet he was already closing that gap between you both. His hands moved across the grass to steady himself, his eyes fluttering shut as he tried to keep his confidence.

Something soft and warm pressed against your cheek. Initially it surprised you, but soon enough you were calm again.

His kiss was chaste, but not fleeting, and though you may not have known it before, you soon realized it was exactly what you had needed. For all your positive thinking, it was still a tough thing to go through for you too. And for him to kiss you...it was also a confirmation that he felt the same way. The same way you had felt pretty much since that awful day you first met.

Yet another thing surprised you still. Something soft slipped around your arm out of the blue. As you slowly turned your head to look, you could hear Hope's voice near your ear:
“I'm not going to hide it. I'm not going to be afraid anymore.”
Your eyes looked down at your wrist, as his soft tone continued:
“So I want you to have this.”

There it was. Yellow as the sun above you, and yours to keep.

His wristband.