Title:
To Learn Something New
Author:
Vianna Orchidia / Annasthacy Chashyme
Fandom: Final Fantasy XIII
Series
Character: Lightning Farron, Hope Estheim
Rating:
K+
Genre: General
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XIII is property of
Square Enix. I do not own the series and the characters, and I do not
gain any profit from this fanfiction
Warning: soulmate!AU
letter /let·ter/ n a
direct or personal written or printed message addressed to a person
or organization
Hope Estheim never fancied himself as a
supernatural believer—no, quite the opposite, he's a man of logics
and answers and it was his job to decode the impossible into
possible—but for this time, just this one time, he knew there would
be no logical answer.
It started on one rainy afternoon, his
apartment offering shelter and warmth after a field day at work (he
would never, ever understand the higher-ups who insisted on doing a
field day under pattering rain). Everything seemed normal—he
unlocked the door, turned on the air conditioner, and peeled off his
wet clothes. After a nice hot shower he went to the kitchen to set up
a mug of steaming tea. Then, with the mug in hands, he sat down in
the living room and got his laptop started.
That was when he spotted an envelope on
top of a shelf.
It was weird. He was fairly sure there
was nothing there that morning, when he went to work. With questions
still racking his brain, Hope took the envelope and carefully opened
it. The envelope itself was plain white, the kind you can buy at
convenience stores, but the letter inside was a little different. The
paper was gradient pink in color, and it had a faint scent of roses.
The writing was ink black, shaped like it was done with an ancient
pen rather than modern-day ballpoint. But more than anything, the
message was what did Hope in.
「She
is near.」
What? Who is near? And
why is it important that she is near? Baffled, Hope slouched back
on the couch with heavy breaths. Who in earth could have sent this
message? How did they put it inside my apartment? When? What does
this all mean? His mind's gears worked in full speed trying to
decode this phenomenon, but as he listened to his own breath the
solitude of his apartment, he found no answer. And like any other
human being when facing a weird condition with no explanation, his
brain unconsciously resorted to the primitive solution: this was
supernatural.
If he thought that would
be the end of his supernatural experience, well, he was wrong. It was
only the beginning.
When Hope got home the
following day, this time a little after dusk and way more exhausted
than yesterday, he was greeted by the same white envelope sitting
conspicuously on his shoe rack. He immediately tore it open and
pulled out another gradient pink paper with a short sentence written
on it.
「She
is almost here.」
Yeah right. Hope decided
not to give too much thought into the message (mainly because he
needed a hot shower and dinner and sleep very soon) and threw the
letter onto the living room's table where yesterday's letter was
still on. As he sank his head on the pillow later that night and
drifted slowly into slumber, somewhere in the back of his mind he
wondered what tomorrow's message would be.
Sure enough, an envelope
sat waiting for him on the shoe rack again (perhaps the sender
finally understood that the chances he found the letter would be
higher if placed on that particular spot). Today he's not so tired
and there was no homework, so he picked up the envelope and read it
on the couch, mimicking his posture at the first day.
「Tomorrow.」
It was almost like a
promise. Hope felt his heart beating a little faster at that. What
is going to happen tomorrow? Is it about that 'she'? He should
have been a little concerned—he didn't know whether this letter
spoke of good things or bad things, after all—yet he felt strangely
happy with the prospect of something happening tomorrow.
That night Hope fell
asleep with pleasant expectations. That night he dreamed of a
promise, made in the far away past and possibly different universe.
The following day was
Sunday. Hope spent a good part of the morning for sleeping in and a
lazy breakfast. He had no plans for today except doing some reports,
maybe making some progress at that journal he started a month ago,
and waiting for this 'tomorrow' the letter spoke about.
At eleven, his doorbell
rang once. It was a rare sound, because as a single man with few
friends he rarely had any guest. It crossed his mind for a second
that this was his moment of truth, his answer for the letters. The
doorbell rang once again.
Hope didn't even bother
with the peephole before opening the door. There, in front of his
apartment, a woman stood with a scrap of paper in her hand, the
perfect figure of someone looking for an address. With a quick
glance, Hope took in her appearance. Her white coat reminded him of
the white envelope and her rose-colored hair was the perfect same
shade of the letter.
This is the 'she'.
“Light,” he muttered,
out of breath all of a sudden, as that woman smiled at him. He didn't
even know where that name came from, his mouth just moved.
She shook her head, almost
exasperated but still smiling widely. “What, so it's you, Hope.”
Her tone took him by surprise. She later explained, after making herself comfortable on
his couch, that there had been this letter giving her an address. His
address. That's why she set out to find this address, wanting answers
for her own questions—about who sent it to her, and how she knew
his name like they're the best of friends even though it's not even
included in the letter.
Hope couldn't answer. She
didn't mind.
So in the end,
supernatural things had played a big role on his meeting with his
future partner for life.
A/N: I... have no answer. This was 'supernaturally' written after a session of frustration breakout this morning.
Maybe, just maybe, this is inspired by soulmate!AU prompt I saw on tumblr about a compass.
