*Picture edited by the awesome FantasyStories14
I do not own Final Fantasy or that picture above*

Characters:

Vanille and Hope are from the video game trilogy Final Fantasy XIII.

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It was a dark and stormy night.......

Rain poured, lightning cracked, wind blew... Hope had never seen a storm get this bad. He jolts when a stream of light flashes through the window.
"Awww... Is someone afraid of the thunderstorm?" Teases Vanille.
"No!" Hope pouts, crossing his arms tightly. Vanille tries to hide a snicker.
"Come here, I wanna show you something." Vanille signals Hope to come over. Hope sits down next to Vanille on the floor and sees a large chest.
"Uhh, what's that?" Hope asks. Vanille opens the chest.
"Board games!", She exclaims, "We can play with these until the storm is over!"
Hope isn't exactly thrilled with the idea. "I don't know... What if the power goes out?" He worries.
"Well...", Vanille grabs a couple lanterns from under the coffee table, "We'll just have to make the most of it, and pretend we're camping!"
Hope cups his chin, thinking on the idea.
"We can sing songs... and tell ghost stories..!" Vanille goes on.
"Okay! I get it!" Hope laughs. Even though he's laughing, he doesn't wanna hear what comes after ghost stories.
Vanille and Hope start rummaging through the chest. They try out every game that they came across. Go Fish, Candy Land, Snakes and Ladders... Vanille won most of them. Except for Go Fish. Hope got the pleasure of winning that one.

The night goes on... And after eating some homemade s'mores, Hope and Vanille were tuckered out. Laying on a bed of pillows on the floor, Vanille noticed something. She was laying on her back, facing the ceiling and Hope was lying next to her.
She sat up and turned to Hope, shaking his shoulder lightly. "Hope! Wake up..!", she whispers, "Do you hear that?"
Hope didn't turn to face her. "Hear what?" He asks, rubbing his eyes.
"The storm! I think it passed!" Vanille scrambles out of the mattress of pillows and hops onto the couch. She flings open the curtains and sees a calm -- but also wet -- outside view. The sky brightening slightly as morning draws near. The streets and sidewalks shine from all the rain that's fallen.
Hope crawls onto the couch next her, resting his head on folded arms. He smiles as he looks out the window, not a storm cloud in sight. Vanille turns to him, acting like she wants to say something.
"Hope.", she starts, "Thank you for spending time with me last night. It was a lot of fun!" She giggles.
Hope turns his head to face her, still a bit sleepy. "Thank you, Vanille. It's nice to have a friend who can turn terrible nights into fun memories."
"Aww!" Squeals Vanille. She wraps Hope in a warm hug.

When stormy nights threaten to dampen the mood, you can always count on a good friend to get you through it. --And it's a good excuse to stay up past your bedtime..

~End~

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Credit to "642 Big Things to Write About" for the inspiration of this story. And a thanks to the creators of Final Fantasy XIII for making such lovable characters!

Thanks for reading!

~Ciara