Remembering Noel (A FFXIII Fan Fiction)

Chapter 20

"Noel Kriess." the nurse said to the full waiting room in the hospital after 12 hours.

Hope, Maqui, and Serah stood quickly, jogging over to the nurse. "He's taking visitors now."

She led them into the hospital room where Noel lay, with several casts on and an IV. He looked too pale, too pathetic. He didn't look like Noel.

"Noel?" Serah whispered to him as she took his hand gingerly, sitting very carefully on the edge of the hospital bed and trying not to notice the slightly-too-crisp sheets. This place felt too much like a hospital, and was definitely not where she expected their reunion to be. Until this morning, she'd expected it to be in the kitchen or living room, but as long as she was with him and he was alive, their location was the smallest of objects. Noel's eyelids twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes. Serah let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and chuckled. "You're...you're gonna be okay."

"Serah?" his voice was hoarse.

"Yeah, I'm here, Noel, I--I remembered you. I'm here for you because you were here for me." a single tear ran down her cheek and Noel reached up weakly to brush it off. They didn't notice as Hope and Maqui left the room.

"Don't cry, I'll be fine, I always make it through. I'm tough." he chuckled and Serah chuckled through her tears. He frowned then. "You look tired."

"I thought you were going to die for a while there. I've been awake all night, worrying about you." she brushed off his concern.

"That's my job." Noel smiled. "You should get some sleep."

"Are you kidding? I thought you were going to die right before I professed my undying love for you." she said, her sassy side coming out, as it did only when she had just escaped mortal peril.

"Your undying love?" Noel sat up carefully, raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah, I, uh...was going to, right after I remembered, but then I went downstairs, and there was a police officer, talking to...Hope and Maqui...." she'd turned around and noticed they were gone. "Guess they left."

"They must have been giving us some privacy." Noel said distractedly and Serah nodded.

"So..." she said awkwardly. "Do you...uh...maybe want to go out to dinner? We never really had a real date, and I kind of love you--oh my god, do you love me back? That's kind of important..."

"Serah," Noel began and she took a sharp breath. His tone of voice was sad. "Why would you ever think I didn't love you?" Serah laughed and lunged forward, hugging him gently, trying not to jostle his broken bones. He returned the hug with one arm, the other one propping him up. He buried his head in her hair, he was so relieved to be able to finally hug her again.

"Oh Noel, I don't know what I would do if I remembered you and then you didn't love me like you used to." She pulled back and her eyes were still shining with tears. Her pale blue eyes met Noel's darker ones as she looked up from the ground. He reached up to her cheek with his good arm and brushed off a tear that had fallen onto her face, never breaking eye contact. He smiled and the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly. They didn't even notice their faces getting closer together until their lips were already touching. The fire that burned between the two flared as their bodies melded together for a split second, a split second that was eternity, and yet too short for either of them. They pulled apart as Noel realized something.

"Maybe we should call Hope and Maqui back in here." he said, glancing into the hallway.

"I think they're probably busy making out." Serah chuckled.

"Really? Did Hope finally make a move?" Noel said, sounding genuinely excited for Hope. "I had to hold myself back from just yelling at one of them to make a move. So that's over, huh?"