Before I started Libera Me, an idea of a Dissidia x Noel/Hope fusion had already been ruminating in my head. As a way of getting the ideas out, I did a 10 song drabble meme with the beginnings of the ideas that would eventually become Libera Me. If you've read that story, you'll see where some ideas made it in and some didn't.

Vague background for this prototype version: After Snow saves Hope's life during the explosion/fall in Palumpolum, Hope wakes up in a pre-12th cycle. And instead of landing in Valhalla after wandering the wastes, Noel was brought by Cosmos to a pre-12th cycle.

I. 구가의 서 (Gu Family Book)

Being unable to remember anything about his past wasn't often a hindrance. They had a purpose here, and a forward purpose negated looking back. But on quiet nights camping like this, with hazy stars and still air, there would come to mind an old, familiar scene.

He was sure he had something like a family—people he loved—as sure as he was that they were long gone.

A small blanket was held out to him; Noel glanced up at Rydia and she nodded toward a thin boy curled away from the others.

Noel didn't understand how anyone would willingly choose loneliness.

II. To the End of the Journey of Shining Stars (Baten Kaitos)

"Hey, if we lose our memories when we come here… do we lose them when we go back?"

They were huddled beneath an enormous tree, rain slanting down across the plains.

Noel smiled at the young boy who had only introduced himself as the Onion Knight. "I don't think you can ever forget the connections and memories you've made. They've been etched in your heart."

"That's really corny," Hope scoffed, side-eyeing the taller boy as he wrapped his arms around himself against a sudden chill.

He didn't miss the quick hurt that flitted across Noel's eyes, even as Noel shrugged.

III. Shadowland (Simon Wilkinson)

Noel wondered how a land could be full of life but still so empty. Scattered were the remains of civilization—the teeth of stonework, the fingers of metal sheeting. Nature had buried most of it in a green deathshroud, bearing the weight of centuries.

In his world, it was simply empty. Nothing green, nothing blue. Just dust without wind, a burning arid sun, stale nights.

But there was something beautifully hopeful about this world, with its living emptiness, because they all stood together upon it.

He shared this with Hope and the boy gazed over the landscape, large green eyes reflective.

IV. Jupiter Highway (Planetes)

The training was brutal. Hope never suspected Bartz to be such a hard taskmaster.

"You're doing much better today." Bartz smiled, crouching by his prone form.

Groaning, Hope covered his eyes with an arm. This was torture, but he had to get stronger. Noel had gotten hurt "protecting" him (again), and it made him angry thinking about it. So he had reluctantly asked Bartz to teach him new, stronger spells.

"No more practice for today." Bartz ruffled Hope's hair. "You can get serious mana burn if you use Holy too much. It should really be used as a last resort."

V. Sacred Distance (Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance)

A hand on his shoulder—a placating touch but all he knew was the weight of it. Words were spoken, but Hope's world was filled only with the pyreflies escaping his fingers.

Hope's inner cynic felt Noel was lucky, finally escaping the cycles.

But Hope would never see him again.

Etched in his heart was a string of quiet nights and wandering days, filled with idle talk and simple songs, gestures of solidarity and arguments of discontent, battles fought and won together. There were many memories (not enough), his life marked by someone he would never see again.

He wouldn't forget.

VI. My Home, Sweet Home (Final Fantasy V ~Dear Friends ver.)

Noel liked to sing. They were sometimes wordless, other times nonsense, but often bittersweet or wistful in sound. His voice was untrained—Hope wouldn't pay money to listen to it—but there was a raw emotion present which made him pause.

Once it was just the two of them—Hope had stopped wondering how it was always at least "the two of them"—in lonely highlands with no end. Noel had suddenly leapt ahead, arms spread, voice lifted in wordless tune. Alarmed, Hope had started to shush the hunter, concerned about enemies—

—when the hills sang back in echoes, alive and less empty.

VII. Let butterflies spread until the dawn (Persona 1 PSP)

Hope had been wandering the cycle longer than his erstwhile companion. He wasn't a hardened fighter like some of the other warriors of Cosmos, but he had a few battles under his belt—both here and from what he was slowly remembering of his own world.

But the first time he had faced a manikin that bore Noel's likeness, he had hesitated.

Afterwards, bruised, battered, but alive, he had a terrible, contrived argument with the real Noel, because it was somehow all the hunter's fault.

Hope didn't speak to Noel for days.

(Hope never apologized either, because it was Noel's fault.)

VIII. Currents (Gensou Suikoden II Orrizonte)

When Noel first met the Goddess, some pieces of his memory slotted into place. He remembered wandering over desolate dunes, a setting sun on a dying world.

He had pleaded, had prayed…

This was his salvation?

The boy he had met enroute to the Sanctuary turned away while Cosmos spoke, as if he had heard it numerous times before. Noel glanced at him—Hope—and there was something bitter and lonely in the boy's expression; a bitter and lonely expression Noel had seen reflected in the rusted metal scrap walls of his village.

When everyone began to disperse, Noel trailed after Hope.

IX. Sacrificial (The Binding of Isaac)

Hope had approached the stream carelessly, but only after he drank his fill did he realize that he was not alone.

Mana thrummed just under the skin of his fingers as he casually splashed water over his hair and neck, cooling overheated skin even as his eyes sought his hidden adversary.

And there—! With surety, learned as a fugitive l'Cie, he shot flames toward an outcropping. There was a startled yelp and a young man jumped away, flipping to his feet, naked blades shining in the sun.

Hope did not hesitate; lightning followed flame, driven by the desire to survive.

fin. My Eden (Yisabel)

Noel tensed as the pale-haired man approached.

"Hope, is that you?" Serah asked, surprised.

"I'm grateful you remember me," the man replied warmly.

Immediately Noel's hackles rose. He cut into that conversation quickly and the man turned green eyes toward him. The introduction was a mouthful—Noel only remembered the important part (Hope Estheim)—when the man's gaze grew sharp.

"And you, you must be Noel."

"Nice guess." Noel was acting tough, he knew, but he was unsettled. "Who told you?"

"I've been waiting for you," and while Hope's smile was directed at them both, his eyes remained on Noel alone.