Make it Better

Summary: Exploring was one thing he loved. But he never thought he would be able to explore more than just the world that day. All because of a misplaced step. He had to be the luckiest I'Cie out there.

Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed Antidote and Left Behind. I told you I would make more Lightning x Hope didn't I? Well, here it goes. Enjoy! *wink* It's getting hot in here...

He continued walking along the dirt path. Everyone was searching for a new camping spot today and they had moved across the plain to the tunnels. Lightning was walking along ahead of him as he dragged behind looking at the high stone walls that curved into a ceiling above them. There were strips of unharvested gold and silver veins running up and down the surface. It made the whole place seem to glow when he bounced a light on one.

He kept admiring this as he walked and eventually drew closer to the wall touching a vein with his bare hand. Hope took a step back and edged his weapon of choice in a small crack. With some applied force a chunk of silver came off and he picked it up from the floor before retrieving the weapon from the wall. He put it into a pocket as he walked already wondering what he could possibly due with it. Quite honestly, he hadn't expected it to come loose from a simple boomerang applied with his strength.

Hope smiled at this as he walked. He had gotten stronger though the journey and that alone proved it. His face fell a moment later though. Yes, it had, but there was the time in the cliffs along the plain when he screamed like a child. He shook his head wanting to get rid of the memory of that thing jumping out at him, eating him. It was only thanks to Lightning that he was still alive and that moment had seemed to put a lot of preasure on her.

It had been the one time he had seen her cry. Though he was sure she didn't notice that he had caught sight of that falling tear while her hands glowed with the healing properties of a I'Cie. The moment he saw it he had felt bad for getting injured and causing her to cry because of it. Perhaps he shouldn't have gone on that patrol he had kept thinking to himself that night back at camp. Perhaps he shouldn't have survived the Purge at all. He never wanted to be the cause of her crying again.

Not her. She was too beautiful to cry, and the way she had brushed it off with her shoulder quickly as if not wanting him to see it wounded him.

Of course, the real reason the memory kept coming back to him these days, and nights-he had dreams of that for a week straight-was after the healing was done. She had looked drained of all energy and life. He had been hating himself for not paying attenssion and from the look in her eyes when she did look at him finally she was beating herself up over it. Hope had tried to comfort her, and that's when time had seemed to stop.

His fingers still tingled from being pressed up against her hand and his mind wandered whenever he thought back to that look in her eyes. As if she had almost lost something precious to her when he was bleeding out on the ground.

Since that day every time he went out he kept would have his weapon at the ready to kill the creatures of Pulse, to defend himself and therefore her. Each time he showed at camp he felt eyes on him and he was proud that they never found so much as a scratch from the shrubbery or the one time he ran into a rock while fighting. He could always heal himself but lately he had simply been working on not even getting hurt in the first place.

His mind bent away from the current thought process when he heard running water. A bit peculiar that he could hear such a thing undeground. He rushed forward to see a waterfall coming off the rocks after starting high in the ceiling. His gaze was drawn to Lightning crouched next to it gathering some water in the palm of her hand before drinking.

Hope stayed still when a moment later she dived into the water, it wasn't that surprising to him after seeing the sweat on her skin. It was rather hot down here. He walked slowly over to the edge of the pool and glanced down, it might as well have been a bottomless pit he couldn't see very far in with the current lighting even if the light seeping from above did help a little.

After awhile of waiting and not seeing her reappear he put down his weapon next to hers along with the light he carried and got into the pool. He turned to face the ceiling once under the water and smiled at how it looked. For such a dank place it was quite a sight to see. Perhaps the could be their new camp, there was afterall fresh water and no creatures in sight of the place. It would be perfect.

Turning with a sweep of his arm he caught sight of her red cape along were the water was chruning out white froth. Kicking his legs and moving his arms seemlessly through the watter he followed her beneath the waterfall to the otherside. Upon not seeing her he swam back to the surface. His lungs had started to burn from the lack of oxygen.

Hope's head broke the suface first followed by the top of his shoulders and he stayed there kicking lightly, just treading water as his eyes adjsuted to the unusual light. The waterfall didn't allow anything to pierce beyond it so the only source was in the rocks which were just hazy blots in the dark, glowing very soft gray hues devoid of color. Catching sight of movement when one was blocked out he looked up to see a partail silhoute of Lightning standing and heard the soft clicking of her boots.

He kicked a few times and brought his hands up infront of him until they felt the hard suface of more rock and crawled out of the water ontop of one. At the same time their was a small surprised gasp, the sound of wet leather along the rock, then an oomphf. Hope huried over to the rocks simply crawling as not to do what she must have just done, slip.

"Light?" he called out to the shadows having lost where her form had gone.

"Here." her voice responded exceedingly close. He crawled over the next rock to feel the red cap beneath his fingertips the next time his hand moved. She emitted a sharp gasp and he wished he could see what was causing her the pain.

"Where?" He asked hurriedly wanting to help her.

There was sound of gritting teeth. "My foot."

Hope reached out a trembling hand that fell onto a bare thigh. His heart pounded straight into his ears so loud he thought she might hear. He slid it down her leg until meeting the leather of her boot. His other hand came forward searching as well now. His fingers brushed against a sharp edge just above the leather and he realized she had gotten it stuck in a crevice. He wrapped his fingers around the skin where the boot started and pulled. There was a heavy breath from Lightning but soon he could feel her own pull on the foot to get out of the boot. He rested his other hand along the crevice and pushed up at it when he heard another sharp gasp he stopped and leaned down wishing he could see properly.

He stuck his fingers into the crevice and slowly the rest of his hand going even deeper with his skinny arm that barely fit in the small confined space. He felt around blindly for something that would give. Every once and awhile his fingers came across loose bits of rock and he would clear it away before pushing up with his arm but the stone refused to move. Hope sighed reaching back over to where her boot was he pushed up at the bottom while his other hand pulled from around her skin.

"This is ridi-" Lightning started to murmur then gave a small shout when the rock moved further down on her lower leg. "-culous." she finished.

Hope glanced back to where the rock was located then over at her. "Pull as hard as you can on the count of three." he said an idea forming in his mind. His hand below the rock began to glow red and he counted slowly. "One," His fingers prickled while they pushed up at the rock, "two," the stone shuddered above his hand, "three." As a surge of strength came over him he pushed up while consentrating it all into his hand beneath the rock. It moved up a couple inches before stopping, he could hear the top of the large stone hit the ceiling, but it was enough. Pulling at her leg it came loose and darted his hand out from the crevice so the rock could fall back into place without crushing anything.

They were both breathing heavily and the light from Hope's hand lit the place up just enough so he caught sight of her chest rising and falling rapidly from the corner of his eye. His mouth felt dry and he licked his lips quickly so they wouldn't feel so cracked. He couldn't just tear his gaze away from her though, seeing her pant like that made his gut turn over. His fingers were getting tempted to reach out and just hover over her chest. Hope quelled the thought down and kept his hand placed firmly on the rock. As her breathing slowed and the light from his hand went away he turned back to her leg. Grabbing onto the boot he pulled it off now that it wasn't stuck. Setting it aside he gripped the thin sock and took that off as well.

Lightning hissed softly as those two actions and he rested his hand along her skin and began gliding it over the surface until she gasped in pain again when his hand came to her ankle. He began to summon his I'Cie medic powers now but hesitated. It was pitch black in here, sure when the power caused his hand to glow it would light up again but otherwise... He wrapped his fingers around the place above her ankle and drew it up into the air a bit. He clamped his jaw shut so if his breathing did increase it wouldn't be as noticable. He felt around with his fingers as if inspecting for more damage while lowering his head. He bent his left hand down on it's back so the light green from his Pulse Mark wouldn't make so much light. The power flowed through him settling in the soft tissue of his lips making them glow a soft green. Keeping his head bended so it wouldn't be noticable he moved the last few inches so his lips touched her ankle softly.

First he tasted bits of rock and moved them away from the spot with his tongue where he noticed bits of water from the pond had gathered. He was aware of the tightning muscles that his hand held of her leg. Hope pushed the knowledge that Lightning could tell it wasn't his hand there away. The healing powers still seeped into her skin and he was hardly even thinking about it even though in a corner of his mind's eye he was imagining it healing. Little bits of bone coming back together, the bruise that had been forming there and all along her leg disapearing as if her foot hadn't almost been crushed by rock moments before.

With that in the corner of his mind he kissed the skin softly. Temptation kept growing inside him to turn and kiss her directly but he pushed it down focusing the center of his lust on the small part of her body he had. If he moved now he was going to lose this moment. His opened his mouth slightly, teeth gliding out to nibble softly on the wet skin. He drew the droplets of water into his mouth with his tongue, catching the aftertaste of her sweat each time.

He raised his head moments later so his lips were just brushing the surface. Hope skimmed his way a few inches up to where a bruise would have been and kissed the skin again but didn't contniue his assualt any further like he had done with her ankle. This time he raised his head up fully to glance up.

It was brigther, the soft gray glows in the cave had turned into light purples, blues, and greens throwing light around the cave and onto the pond that reflected it back. To him it looked like something from a dream with the way it made the room glow. He could see Lightning hair highlighted by a nearby purple, and her widened eyes reflected the collection of colors in the pool below. His heart beat rapidly aware that a green light nearby highlighted the edges of his hair from the bit that was in the way of his eyes.

A wave of regret crashed over him. What had made him do this? He should have just healed her leg like any normal person would do but instead his lust for her had taken over and drove him over the edge. By the look in her eyes it was far over the edge. "L-light," his voice trembled. "I..." Her leg disapeared from beneath him, getting slipped into the boot in a matter of seconds. She stood fast and he tried to hurry on but stumbled over words, not sure what to use, how to say what needed to be said. "P-pl-ease, Light I-i," The clicking of her boots drowned out his small scared voice. "'m sorry." He could hear the splash that signaled that she was in the water, and probably going under the waterfall moments later. "come back." he muttered in the empty glowing cavern.

Isn't he adorable? So, please leave a review if you liked it, or even if you didn't, my marshmellows need fire so i can make smores. They are cocoa-delicous