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rainbowserenity · 5 years

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*sends pigeon w/ note* royal au and/or #18 on the sappy line prompt if that gives you inspiration ;)

18. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

(royal!AU tag) this isn’t a continuation to the last part I did forever ago, and tbh I’m not sure if this is the direction things will go in, but I’ve been stuck on the next part for months and months so please enjoy this random blurb that may or may not eventually become part of that universe 8D;;;;

There were things about being the crown princess of the most populated kingdom into the world that Lightning would never get used to, even after all this time - maybe her roots steeped in poverty and working hard for nothing was just too ingrained in her.

Though people knew an accepted her past - within reason; Sazh still looked like he was going to blow a blood vessel every time she veered off-script and mentioned it - it was still ridiculously weird to her that everything was celebrated with such grandeur.

“All righty,” Sazh muttered under his breath, going through some lists. “First through sixth course are done, dessert’s nearly made, place settings are down, orchestra’s tuning up, got that one guy to clean the chandeliers - “

Gods forbid they celebrate her second year of ascension with a barbecue or whatever.

“Sazh,” Lightning said her in usual no-nonsense tone. “Stop it.”

“Like hell.”

She rolled her eyes. From the start, Sazh had been her most trusted advisor, but seriously, enough was enough. “Can’t you talk to yourself somewhere away from me, then?”

He barked out a laugh, but then glanced up at a clock and did a double take. “Looks like you’re gettin’ your wish. Go get dressed or you’ll be late.”

“I thought royalty was never late. Everyone else was just early.”

“Stop quoting at me.” Sazh smirked and gestured in the general direction of Lightning’s walk-in closet. They’d been sitting in her receiving room, but now he stood up to leave, hopefully to pester someone else.

She shook her head and headed to the closet, pressing the button to call one of her maids on the way. Typically she didn’t need them for day-to-day dressing, but gowns were always a pain in the ass to put on by herself.

This one, though, she wouldn’t mind wearing. Serah had actually picked it out for her, and Lightning had to admit that her sister knew her taste. It was a flowing purple gown with a sweetheart neckline, embellished with floral designs and tasteful ruffles.

Of course, since this was an official function, the gown had been modified to show off the symbol of Phoenix, Eden’s fal’cie - it was studded in diamonds on the back of the dress. Since a tiara was required, she’d chosen a bandeau covered with diamonds and amethysts.

Once she’d unlocked the tiara from the vault - stored there only for this evening, so she could have access to it - and pulled the gown from the garment bag, she heard the closet door open. She turned, expecting to see one or two of her maids, but her eyes widened when she instead was greeted with -

“Hope?”

“Good evening, Your Highness.” Hope Estheim, her....personal bodyguard, stood with his hands behind his back. It would have all been very official if not for the glint in his eyes and the tiny smile curving the end of his lips. “I hope I didn’t startle you.”

“Maybe a little.” She smirked, stepping forward to close the door behind him. “I was expecting Yeul or someone.”

“Should I go get her?”

“Don’t you dare.”

As soon as the door closed, Hope’s hands were immediately on her waist. They surged forward at the same time, their lips meeting as they kissed hungrily, desperately. Crazy how one touch could drive her so much.

It had been nearly a day since she’d seen him, though.

When they paused for breath, they were both smiling. The glint of her tiara managed to remind her of why, exactly, she’d called someone up here and she lightly slapped his chest. “Don’t distract me. I need to get dressed for this dinner.”

“So I noticed.” Hope’s eyes raked over her now-disheveled outfit, which was a skirt and a blouse. Designer brands, yeah, but not exactly official royal function material. “It’s why I came up here.”

She quirked a brow. “You came to help me get dressed?”

“Among other things,” he admitted.

She smiled again, unable to resist tugging him close for another kiss, this one much sweeter. It was always so difficult to find privacy when she was surrounded by people at every moment, but - as ridiculous as it sounded - it make the moments they did get all the better.

How long they stood there in her closet, surrounded by very expensive clothing and jewels but only wrapped up in each other, was anyone’s guess, but eventually she forced herself to pull away and flicked his forehead affectionately. “I still need to get dressed.”

“Oh.” He looked dazed, but so happy. Kinda like how she felt, really. “Right.”

Luckily, the gown was easy enough to slip into after she’d put on the proper underthings - those she managed without him, though she’d admit to nobody, ever, that she wished she’d needed help with those. Ahem.

However, once she’d carefully pulled on the gown, there was a complicated mess of closures and laces that needed to be done just right, lest something poke her in the back for the rest of the night. Why these things couldn’t just have a zipper was beyond her.

Lightning turned her back to Hope. “Are you sure you won’t need help?”

She heard rather than saw him smile. “I think I can handle it.”

A shiver went down her spine as he gathered her hair and brushed it over her shoulder, his fingers lingering over her bare skin. Though the clock was ticking, Hope took his sweet time doing up all the hooks and laces. It took all of her self-control not to keep shivering every time she felt his fingers on her back, but she couldn’t hide the way her breath kept catching in her throat. By the time he’d gotten the dress all the way on, her skin was burning and Lightning wondered how the hell she was supposed to get through this function now.

He put his hands on her shoulders, giving them a gentle squeeze. “Need help with the headpiece?”

She let out a breath, ignoring his little chuckle. “If you don’t mind.” Putting them on herself was always a pain.

There was a little area in the closet with a chair and a mirror, with hairpins and whatnot set on a desk for this very situation, so Lightning sat down, trying to ignore how it felt with Hope’s fingers in her hair. Even though his motions were professional and gentle, it was a thousand times more sensual than when one of her maids did it.

No amount of gentle touches could help her escape from all the inevitable hairpins, though.

She carefully nodded when he finished and asked if she liked the placement. Serah had done her hair earlier; she’d simply curled the longer pieces so that the tiara would be the focus. Hope, of course, had positioned it perfectly on her head and managed to hide all the pins anchoring it down.

He insisted on on getting her shoes - purple heels that had been dyed to match the gown - and knelt down to slip them on her feet. When he was finished, he stood and stared at her, his expression soft but otherwise unreadable.

She carefully got to her feet, mindful of the gown, and smoothed down the fabric. “What is it?”

Hope stared some more, his expression morphing into one of awe. He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. Lightning hoped her blush wasn’t totally obvious.

“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he murmured, his eyes meeting hers again.

And now the blush was obvious. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

He grinned. “You’re supposed to thank someone when they compliment you.”

“Yes, unless they’re speaking nonsense.”

“I would never.” He dropped his arm but didn’t let go of her hand. The look on his face was making her heart pound. Had he ever stared at her like that before? “Shall we? Any longer and you’ll be late.”

One day, maybe, she’d figure it out. There was a part of her that almost didn’t want to, like knowing would unravel a carefully sewn thread.

Or maybe it would just unravel the dress she was strapped into.

Lightning took Hope’s arm, willing her heart to slow. Maybe the answers would come in time.

“I’m never late. Everyone else is just early.”

#hopelight #hoperai #hopurai #hopelight fic #royal!AU #i got three requests to go back to this AU lololol #I'M GLAD YOU GUYS LIKE IT SO MUCH~#i've been meaning to do the next part for ages but like #idk man writing it hard!!!!#plot things are hard!!!!#it's nice to do just a little moment like this #even if it doesn't become a part of my ~carefully crafted canon~#..........lol ahem #anyway i hope you guys like this #my brain has been very stupid lately #so if you like it #compliments will help :')#<333333333 #Anonymous

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hohoz · 5 years

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Lightning Returns : A

Hoperai game

I saw a few posts before playing the game saying that this is a Hoperai game (and how right you were) !!!

Okay, so I have an idea to write every moment that they have as soon as possible,because I'm starting to forget, so after I play I'll be posting the notes that I have here in my Iphone.

Obs: English is my third language*, please be aware of that when you see a mistake :v

By the way guys, both of them werent supposed to have feelings, a few moments in the game Light admits that she is unable to feel anything and that god probably made that to avoid any future problems/Hope is like this as well, but STILL, they demonstrate care for each other. (Later we talk about Lumina and Bhenivelze)

And another thing that gets me intrigade is how come there is not many post about LR here in the hoperai tag ? This game is amazing !! (like, it does have a few times that you get annoyed, but in general is amazing)

First moment: Okay, this is a simple one, after Lightning crash the Patron's party, she refers to Hope as "Mr Hope Estheim", hell yeah. (This is how she is goint to call him in bed) THIS HAPPENS IN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES IN THE GAME, I do believe that this happens because she still doesn't fell really connect with him, its been sooo long since they were together in FFXIII, that she might think that Hope may not like her anymore, so she really is formal here.

Second: (Well, after I went to ark and saw a younger hope I was frustated, nevertheless, its possible to interact with Hope, he explains that he will be there to help us in this task and that he is in his younger body but doesnt know why.

Third: The loading screen saying that she sees Adult!Hope as an equal (Hell yeah) and I think this is quite nice, because Lightning would never engage a relationship if she doesnt see that special someone as a person beneth her, she is a woman of huge morals and we see that she belives that men have to be amazing (this is using her approval on Snow as info, where she said she would never giver her blessing if he was someone that didnt deserve)

Fourth: if you get hurt and dont use any potion Hope will say that he's worried.

Fifth: Welllll, this one I simpled loved, when we have to get fireworks for the play and Lightning is forced to say "Meow Meow Choco Chow" to Chocolina and Hope is listening and tease her.

"Something tells me you're not enjoying this as much as I am"

Sixth: ( mental note - I would pay for hear Hope complimenting her looks on that red dress - WTF WATANABE, WHY HAVENT YOU DONE THIS ???? ) but the fact that he was manipulated by Benivelzhe might have been the reason, because if he been himself (100%himself all them at that time, oh boy, he would fall from the ark -- I know that I would)

Note: Okay, so there is a cutscene where we see Hope, Snow and Noel deciding to save the world after the chaos spread, and Hope is an adult here, I wonder that happened --- Btw, I finished the game and Still dont understand clearly what happened to Hope, I know that there is a Dlc in FFXIII-2 that I havent played (it is in this DLC that adult!Hope see Lightning in Vahalla ?)

Seven(THEIR DAUGHTER): this is not a nice one, because after we see Vanille, Hope ask of her to Lightning and she tease him with something like "Someones got a crush" BUT not long after that we get a HUGE moment where Eclair is worried about the plan (where she will play a role in front of a crowd and it might fail) and Hope basically quotes her saying "Its not a question of can or cant" and then she asks if he is going to watch her back (PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GAME DOESNT SHOW HER FACE IN THIS MOMENT, I WONDER WHY ????? WE ALWAYS SEE HER FACE ON THE INTERACTIONS WHY IN THIS ONE WE CANT ??? ITS BECAUSE SHE IS WAITING FOR HIS ANWSER ??? I WAS NOT READY FOR THAT)

And guys, even tho Hope is there to assist the player to finish the game and keeps saying what we have to do (And I find this utterly annoying) they have some incredible casual talk, like, "I dont care if the whole world hates you Light, i'll be by your side"

Lumina cutscene

THAT WAS SUPER GOOD, HOLYYYYY.

Well, in one of the interactions with Lumina where she is trying to convince us that Benivelzhe is manipulating us with a Fake Serah, Lightning starts to belive her and gets really mad at her god saying that she was building a contigence plan and is willing to kill Bhenivelze, until Lumina says that Hope is a fake too...

Lightning reaction... DAMNNN

And then Lumina asks

"Would you be able to kill Hope if you need ?"

Lightning close every glimpse of feeling and answer:

"Do you think im not ?

Lumina is so clever that she reads her in a instant and starts to laugh --- BTW, Lumina is nothing but another part o a whole, she is Lightning aswell, WHY WE HAVE THIS REACTION by her part ?? (hehe)

Lumina says : "Answering a question with another question"

That was so good, after this we can interact with Hope but Light never says anything about him being a fake, but still he says that if she wants to betray god he will follow her no matter what. (Guys, do you understand that he is saying that if she want to go in a suicide fucking mission he will go with her ???? AGAIN)

And then, the last day finally arrives, we are going to Luxerion but before we leave the ark Hope says:

"It really feels like the end now. Soon it will be over now"

Lightning then anwser

"Its been dying for 500 years"

His tone of voice slightly change

"I wasnt talking about the world..."

"Then what?"

He accept that is not the time.

"Nevermind. Time is short. Every minute counts, lets no waste any"

BTW IN THE SAME ARK MOMENT, if you ask about Serah being stuck in the chaos (considering that all souls go to chaos after dying) Hope promises that if he dies, he would find a way to save Serah's soul...

(YOU HAVE TO LOVE A LOT A WOMAN, IF YOURE WILLING TO SAVE HER SISTER'S WHILE BEING DEAD - RIP HOPE)

FangxVanille moment in the cathedral (I know that this is my Hoperai post, but that was lit )

Hope (God Mode) I kind knew that he was going to be used by Bhenivelze as a vessel because I saw a few spoilers, but there is one thing that I dont understand --- WHY THE FUCK NO ONE SAYS ANYTHING WHEN THEY SEE HOPE ?? THEY WERE FRIENDS FOR FUCKING SAKE--- Even when is just Fang in the wildlands, Hope and her NEVER interact, she doesnt it even bother to ask " who are talking to Lightning in the phone?"

And finally the ending, Lightning defeat the evil god of light, and is willing to be the new Etro taking care of the darkness flow, but there is something here, a moment where she sees fake Serah and Lumina, and we discover that God never took her feelings, that was always her, she had shut down her feelings a long time ago to become stronger

Note: In the middle of the game we see that she is willing to die, and if you see the loading screens you see the same info.

And she fuse with Lumina, and after all the things she heard from fake Serah she is scared... Her feelings that she always repressed was back to her and she felt alone, darkness consuming her and there is tears, so many tears until...

"Hope : I can hear you Light "

FINALLY, FINALLY, the one who saves everyone was saved, he sacrificed his chance to be born in the new world with his parent, to save the woman that he lovessssss

I dont know what to say, this is just a bunch of notes of me bamblimg some things, but im so glad that she was saved, that she didnt feel scared, that he came back for her.

There is that quote from FFXIII where Vanille talk about Eclair.

"When the fear sank in, it tore us apart. Lightning was hurting but none of us could see it"

This is different now, he can see it, he knows that she was scared, that she deservs to be saved and loved, that she needs someone to watch her back !!!!

Hoperai is kind of Canon and I loved thst ending, most amazing CGI ever.

Side quests: I know that with the timer this game gets a little trick with the side quest, but there is some random moments here.

But these called my attention

Olga, the singer

I've encountered a quest about a woman looking for her lover, and we learn that she is a singer but cant sing without the lyrics of the man she loves , after we find him we complete the quest, there will be a song (requested by Lumina) and I saw Hoperai all over it, okay, Light says "Serah loved this song" but the lyrics were all about Hope and Light.

Btw, I can totally see mama Farron singing this to their daughters, and Lumina kind is Lightning, so she knows that this is her favorite song aswell.

The one that we have to find the special flower for the chocoboo

Ha, who would say that we would be hearing that Lightning sucks at cooking ? Well, she admits that the only thing she knows how to cook is Beheamoth steak in a campfire

And we get to hear she trying to talk to her chocoboo saying "Kweh Kweh" such lovely moment and Hope was hearing everything

Gordon Gourmet

Well, this quest has and amazing ending, like super wow, after we taste the the gourmet recipe Lightning is amazed, she says that is probably the best thing she ever ate, so, Hope got curious and they start a conversation: (my memory is not great, but it goes like this)

Hope: That food is that good ?

Lightning: Do you want me to pack some for you?(such a wonderful waifu)

Hope: No thanks, but sometime I want to taste something made by you

Lightning: Well, Im not the best chef... I never spent much time in the kitchen, but if you like, I do a Behemoth steak by the campfire that is really good.

(This is the SECOND TIME in the game that she says that she can cook Behemoth) 😂

Chocoboo clothes

After a lot of "Chow chow choco chow" we win a nice outfit from the Chocoboo girl, Hope got a little bit excited and says that she must look really good on it, they have a nice conversation after.

Adornments

Hope jokes that Light should wear a lot of endornemts, to attrack more people to save.

Here we see that Light is pretty humble when people say that she is beautiful, she doesnt see herself as the perfect looking woman that she is.

Sazhs quest / Kid who always steals shit from us

I like this moment for a reason, thoose quests make Hope and/or Light relate to their situation, I will make a super post about this later and this is pretty important.

After Sazhs quest, in Ark Hope stops Lightning and revels a little bit about his situation with his father and how he was raised, Lightning stands quiet and just listen.

After we see a kid (the little shit who steals from us) and deliver the letter from his father, Lightning says how hard was for her to lose both of her parents, Hope just listen.

Soooo, this is it, I loved the game (hope you loved too), I still feel that Watanabe was not brave enough, he could made Hope an a adult in the thirdy game and put some scenes where he save her with a KISS (FRENCH PLEASE) but he made Tracer of memories to make more clear that Hope really have feelings for her and that she is going after him in the new world.

Note : im making a super post about them and I just want to thank this amazing tag/fandom, I know that this game is old and not so many are here now, but you all left soo many good things here and im really thankful.

#hoperai #otp #hope estheim #lightning farron #final fantasy #final fantasy xiii #me #canon #ffxiii #hopurai #light #lightning #ship #fanille #dlc #game #shipper #love #moments #quotes

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vampxrebarbie · 7 years

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it is the year 2017 of our lord why am i still seeing lightning shipped with hope

#hoperai is an abomination and i need it to Stop #ishusteedus #the worst part is that in canon bhunivelze latches onto hope specifically because hope has feelings for lightning in the japanese version #ITS........NO???#HES LIKE FIFTEEN #SHES IN HER LATE 20S AT LEAST #i actually dont know what canon age she is but god anything less than 25 makes utterly no sense

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fantasyresident · 4 years

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HopeRai Week!

Every year, I make sure to post some kind of tribute for this highly underrated couple, so this year will be no different. I normally do some kind of drawing/photo edit to celebrate, so here’s this year’s tribute!

Happy Hoperai week to those of us who celebrate! And remember, while it may not be canon (or accepted) in America, it is in Japan. 😉

#hoperai #hopurai #hope x lightning #lightning x hope #final fantasy 13 #final fantasy 13 lightning returns #lightning returns #ff13 lr #hope and lightning #lightning and hope #hope estheim #lightning farron #claire farron #final fantasy shipping #hoperai week #hopurai week

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aesirfalling · 4 years

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“I said shut up. Here.” She crouches down again, this time to pick him up. She’s never done it before, picking him up as an adult; she’s positive that she’ll struggle a bit with it, if just because he now has several inches on her. The fireman’s carry is the first thing that comes to mind - it’s how she should carry him, long distance, ragged terrain, with the added benefit of a clear line of sight and all - but something about his vulnerable position and continued pained coughs give her pause.

He can’t be that heavy, and two whole hills can’t be that hard, right?

She still has precisely zero idea on how she’s going to not fall down herself going up with him over these snowy hills, but she’ll be damned if she doesn’t at least try.

Her hands make gentle contact with the smalls of his back, the undersides of his knees. He doesn’t resist, though he’s really trying to turn away from her to cough. His form just barely fits in her arms and the vulnerable balance brings her heart up to her throat, keeps it there. That strange impulse has flickered to life again just underneath her skin, tingling against this brush of intimacy. It goes ignored.

He weighs like nothing despite looking as if he’s gained some weight since Paris, and that hurts her.

From What We Cannot Hold - Chapter 12 / ? (Sora Wa Takaku Kaze Wa Utau)

[Read FWWCH Here]

[Read my other XIII works here]

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIII Series Rating: Mature Warnings: Major Character Death, Graphic Depictions of Violence Relationships: Hope Estheim/Lightning Characters: Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII), Hope Estheim, Snow Villiers, Bhunivelze (Final Fantasy XIII), Serah Farron, Alyssa Zaidelle, Paddra Nsu Yeul, Oerba Dia Vanille, limited OCs Additional Tags: post!LR universe, heavy angst, Slow Burn, Deconstruction, Real world (I dunno if that part counts as AU since that could be canon), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Summary:

In which one key element of Lightning Returns was different - what if Hope had unhappily but willingly forged a covenant with Bhunivelze to try to save the world?

Hoperai, post LR, basically set in our world. Heavy on character exploration and angst. Going to be long if I can write it properly.

Chapter Summary:

Lightning has a pretty heartfelt short conversation with Serah before she leaves to go on the Hike That Was Promised with Hope.

#ao3 tag #ffxiii #hope estheim #lightning farron

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aloice-talks-about-games · 6 years

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The Hoperai Salt Masterpost, OR: Hope deserved better in Lightning Returns.txt

I’m not going to put this under the Hoperai tag because yes, it is ship salt... I am aware that Hope has his own flaws and problems as well in LR (that warrants a whole other masterpost by itself) so the salt doesn’t just go to Lightning, but I’m going to focus on Lightning in this post.

Thesis: Hoperai is a great ship that can, under certain circumstances, work out (and work out beautifully!) in the post-LR new world, but it has a lot of issues within Lightning Returns and I highly, highly doubt that Lightning reciprocated Hope’s feelings within LR, or even treated him well as a friend, partner or surrogate family member.

I’m going to address this in three and a half parts, with the parts discussing Lightning’s knowledge, Lightning’s heart/compassion, Lightning’s plans and possible dev intentions respectively.

Part One. Lightning’s Knowledge

Argument: Lightning doesn’t show a lot of care RE: Hope’s well-being in Lightning Returns because she couldn’t tell he was in a lot of trouble.

Answer: uhhhhh, about that.

In the beginning of LR, Hope shows confusion about who he is or why he’s at the Ark, saying:

Of course Lightning is also a little dazed at this point since she also just woke up, but at least she knows her terms with Bhunivelze, while Hope doesn’t seem to be aware of his. She doesn’t think or comment much about Hope’s confusion (or his suddenly-child-again-form, or why he, as the most human-oriented of the entire XIII cast who was the only cast member in XIII-2 to not be granted time travel by Etro, is suddenly serving God) and simply goes on as if it’s normal. Perhaps this is because she doesn’t yet have reason to think that Bhunivelze means ill towards the two of them (she did serve Etro willingly, after all) - so let’s give her the benefit of the doubt for this one.

She does learn about what actually happened to the adult Hope she knew from Vanille (mysteriously disappeared from the world 169 years ago before ending up in his current situation with no memories of anything), but makes no comments about it.

She also has this conversation with Snow regarding how odd it is that Hope is barred from leaving the Ark to do things such as talking to Snow (which, from the tone of this conversation, both Snow and Hope would enjoy), but doesn’t comment on it.

She also makes no comments about this.

She acknowledges and feels hurt that he has forgotten, but doesn’t think about why that may have happened.

Here she learns that even Hope’s colleagues have no idea what happened despite wanting him back, but no comments either.

She also doesn’t say anything when he blatantly talks about dying.

She also doesn’t seem to catch on the meaning of this (”It’s really nearing the end now. Soon it will be over.”) being Hope’s existence will also be over.

Sure, we can argue that Lightning is just not the most astute of people and these hints all flew over her head. But then there’s the nail on the coffin:

If she didn’t know before, Lumina’s forced her to know now - that Hope is wrong somehow and that to achieve her goals might mean turning on him and killing him. Which, of course, is fine if Hope is a fake - but where is the real Hope then, the one she knew she cared for and could trust, and shouldn’t she care about saving him, since she puts so much effort into saving everyone else and tries to save even Caius?

Or, alternatively, if she believes the real Hope is dead/gone, shouldn’t she show some sign of grief or disappointment over it?

This is the first and only time in LR Lightning explicitly discusses the problems with Hope before Hope’s final farewell; she does not talk about (her thoughts on) him to anyone otherwise.

Part II. Lightning’s Heart/Compassion

That brings us to our second point.

Argument: Lightning’s a fine companion to Hope during LR. If she was cold to him, it’s because her heart (Lumina) was missing, so you can’t fault her for that, and she’s cold towards everyone, really, it’s just a part of her character.

Answer: uhhhhh, about that.

Let’s put aside her lack of reaction towards all the alarming stuff covered in Part I for now (especially the part where her heart, Lumina, seems particularly sardonic in tone while grilling her about the possibility of killing Hope). Let’s just look at the moments when Lightning showed she was perfectly capable of compassion in LR, even to street NPCs.

To the boy playing Serah’s theme (I think) in Yusnaan, she makes a remark that shows caring for Snow:

She shows empathy regarding the ghosts of the murdered women in Luxerion, wishing to save them despite knowing she had no powers over the dead:

She is quite unhappy about that one fireworks guy’s story in Yusnaan:

We know how emotional she got in person with Snow:

She understands Luka’s pain about crying solely for others:

She helps the girl who claims that she used to be a chocobo despite agreeing that it’s logically absurd:

She quite obviously cares for Sazh and Dajh:

And so on and so forth (too many screenshots.)

In short, Lightning’s perfectly capable of caring and worrying for others, especially her friends and allies. She even muses about love and dependence, but those thoughts are purely introspective, making no mentions of Hope even though he could fit right into them:

She explicitly wonders if she’s unable to love. She likely comes around to the idea by the end - I’m in no way against Hoperai post LR, I’ve written fics on it - but here, she isn’t there yet, and her thoughts don’t even drift to Hope when she thinks about her feelings (even though mutual dependence is like, basically the nature of her relationship with Hope in LR).

Now, her lack of action or commentary regarding Hope’s impending problems with Bhunivelze notwithstanding, (and Hope deliberately trying to mislead her into not trusting him notwithstanding - that still doesn’t explain why she wasn’t more upset and proactive with either him or the “real” Hope, though,) she also snaps at Hope a whole lot. Of course Hope goes overboard with protectiveness and I’ve also heard that some of it is due to the translation from Japanese to English, but just look at this.

She isn’t very subtle when she lies to him about trusting him, even though she was trying to keep her agenda secret:

She basically blows up on him when he circumvents a lot in his explanation of where Serah might have gone, and doesn’t say anything even after in response he makes the extremely morbid promise to look for Serah and reunite the sisters after his own death:

And, of course, even though Hope sounds absolutely dejected with this line, no investigations or words of comfort either:

Part III. Lightning’s Plan

Argument: Lightning did all of that above because it didn’t matter, she had a plan and she saved him in the end.

Answer: I don’t like thinking of “murder” as a plan.

Lightning makes a vague mention of a “last resort” when talking to Lumina. The problem... this occurs right before the conversation regarding killing Hope, which then means

1) Her “last resort” involves willingly killing Hope (which really does not show her care for his well-being) OR

2) She knows Hope’s going to end up needing to be saved somehow (in which case she’s... basically waiting for the end to happen, and risking the success of saving him in the process) OR

3) This is strictly talking about her ability to fight Bhunivelze and has nothing to do with Hope (which also doesn’t help our case RE: caring about Hope).

I’m inclined to think she didn’t really have much of a plan, going by how shocked she seemed to be at their final conversation:

She straight up admits that she’s not been the greatest with him even just as a friend and partner.

... And even when she goes to fight Bhuni it seems to be more about Serah and the world than about Hope.

And this is not even going into how Lightning feels about Bhuni’s more lewd words to her in JPN, which she definitely knows to have come from Hope because she tells Bhuni that his downfall is due to having a human’s heart within him...

Part III.1/2 Possible Dev Intentions

Now, perhaps a lot of these happened the way they did because the devs 1) didn’t want Hoperai to become “too” canon (due to pedophilia reasons and to keep Lightning open for fandom to ship her with others) or 2) wanted to keep Hope’s problems mostly a surprise until the end. However, I’d argue that you can easily still do 1) while showing Lightning to care about him even just as a friend (asking him if he has any theories of his own on why he ended up the way he did at the beginning, for example; Hope doesn’t even have to answer correctly, but just showing her asking shows that she cares). As for 2)... I’m really upset with the Lumina scene LOL if they’re going to be so explicit about Lightning having to (at least try to) kill Hope, then why don’t they give us a single throwaway line where either Lightning OR Lumina considers some kind of alternative? They really don’t talk about saving him at all before they actually do save him, while everyone else (Sazh, Snow, Vanille, Noel) etc all have a lead up section where Lightning contemplates how she used to know them and how they may have been affected by everything that’s happened. As LR was made by the devs, we skipped any potential thoughts Lightning could have had regarding Hope’s adult life, his feelings of abandonment, and extremely difficult leadership for hundreds of years. It would have been so interesting to read. But we didn’t get any of that - and nothing explicitly romantic from Lightning, either. So anything between them has to fill in those gaps on their own - and they have to do it in the new world, after that train arrives, and after they see each other again. Within LR Lightning and Hope are not romantically linked, but that should not stop anyone from exploring their romantic future together in the new world they both fought so hard to create, especially when it’s filled with so much potential for soul-searching, for honesty, for understanding, and for happiness.

#I played LR you guys #and if I didn't care about LR or didn't care about Hoperai I wouldn't have spent so many hours collecting screenshots and writing this #the more you love something the more you hurt over it #I want them to be happy; and thus I do not want to write them as happy when they're not there yet #It's not *WRONG* of Lightning to have done all of this either #Her life and her feelings are her own #if she finds it difficult to care or simply failed to see things it's not on anyone to force her to care or see #that's on her and if in some cases things don't work out that's just how it is #long post #Lightning Farron #Hope Estheim #ffxiii

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finalfantasyandnerdiness · 6 years

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2, 10, 13, 14, 18, 20, 22 *v*

Ooooh, thank you for asking!!

2. things that motivate youI’m not sure, actually. I suddenly get an idea and then I just have to write it down. Sometimes the inspiration comes from things around me, like tv shows, books or real life interactions. Other times the inspiration comes purely from canon. Sometimes I want to change things, other times I want to add. Follow a plotline that was dropped somewhere along the way. I get an idea, and then I go for it. Not gonna lie, I’m pretty motivated by feedback as well. A nice comment can make my week.

10. how do you do your researches?Depends on what I’m writing, but I always google a lot. I ask people around me, friends and acquaintances, for advice if they’ve got experience with the subject. I borrow books at the library. For original works I’ve gone even further. I’ve been to museums and on several sightseeing tours. I’ve been on roadtrips to visit the places I plan to write about - and taken shitloads of photos, to help with describing them later. I really, really love researching.

13. hardest character to write That’s a tricky question. I think I’m gonna go with Bhunivelze, honestly. Like, he’s a god. A pretty shitty god. Bhuni!Hope is interesting to write, but Bhunivelze? I generally have no idea what I’m even going for when I write him.

14. easiest character to writeIt’s a tie between Lightning and Hope. Lightning was the first character I started writing about, so slipping into her POV is like coming home. Writing Hope took me a little longer to get the hang of, but it’s always been easy for me to understand him as a character. He’s a lot like me.

18. favorite pairing to write To the surprise of no one: hoperai. Main OTP, now and forever.

20. favorite character to writeHope. Especially post-LR. There are so many layers to that character. So much depth. And if you’re into a little more introspective pieces, he’s your character.

22. favorite story you’ve ever writtenWhile I’m fairly proud of Savages, The nameless soldier, and the little drabble collection Afterlife, I’m gonna have to go with Underground. It’s far from perfect even now, but I love it. I love all the happiness it gave me. I will always remember how I every Sunday afternoon had the privilege of receiving dozens of comments and reblogs that made the whole week more bearable. And the fan art, oh god, I still keep them all in a folder on my computer. Underground will always be my baby, and I will always treasure those months I got to share it with you all.

Thanks again for asking, this was a lot of fun!

#jayceofpiltover

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ff13fandom · 7 years

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#HOPERAIWEEK2017 FINAL DAY: BECAUSE YOU'RE HERE

HOPERAIWEEK2017 DAY 7: BECAUSE YOU'RE HERE TITLE: TAKE A BREAK Hope just went back from work, its been 3 days he haven't come back home because he was too busy finishing all those worksheet that let him slept at his own office. He was now sitting on the chair at the balcony of his house. Closing his eyes because of his tiredness. Suddenly... "Ouch!" He shouted in pain when his shoulder got hit by someone hand. "You are making me worried sick Estheim!" And now Hope finally realized that he lived with someone. He titled his head upward and saw two pair of aqua blue eyes. How could he forgot that he shared the same house with this beautiful young woman. And looks like this woman really was mad at him. Then he continued closing his eyes. "Well you are the reason why i slept at my own office" Hope responded. "Hope.... i told you... i dont reject you... i just refused to go on a date with you because i still need to think about it" Lightning explained to him the reason why she refused to go on a date with him. "That's another way to reject someone Honey" said Hope, he was still closing his eyes. "Fine... then i will go on a date with you.... Are you satishfied now???" Said Lightning while her arms crossed and her head faced away from Hope. Hope opened his eyes and glare at the woman he loves. He have to admit she looks really cute when she was sulking with him, he came forward later he grab her right hands then gently rubbed her hands and said: "I was just kidding... im sorry i was acting like a jerk and made you worry about me, i have a lot of works to do until i forgot to come back home" Lightning slowly turned her head to Hope, they both starimg at each other for a minute later Lightning began to speak "Why are you became a researcher again if you know there's alot of burden that you need to carry on??" Hope looked at his lover and said. "Because Of You..... If i dont get famous... you will never going to find me again and if i dont work hard for a better future... i might loose you again" Hope finally confess what's inside his heart. Lightning was brushing Hope's hair while saying. "Hope... we deserve a break after a long fight...There will be nothing that can take me away from you...Even if we are apart, we will always ended up together.. So come on Hope... quit this job and spend more time with me, i thought you want to go on a date with me" Her voice was like a heaven to his ear, her words conviced him enough to quit from his job. "Let's travel all around the world together" -Take A Break- Fuhhh looks like Hoperaiweek has reach the end... Thank you for being part of this event... I am glad for hosting this year and i had fun screaming amd squeeling about OTP.... Maybe there will be another HoperaiWeek event for next year i dont know... only time will tell. Remember... always keep this ship sail cause its real (SQUARE ENIX PLEASE MAKE THEM CANON) FOREVER HOPERAI SHIPPER -ADM

#hoperaiweek2017 #hoperaiweek #hoperai #hopelight #lightning returns #lightning farron #hopeestheim #hope #light #hoperai week

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imlilyyfromff13 · 3 years

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the feels hit hard when you read loving you for a thousand springs translated by our lovely @tensai-shoujo

LIKE THE FEELS HIT HARD

I CAN'T EXPLAIN

BYE I'M GONNA KEEP CRYING IN MY BED

#hoperai #i'm married to ffxiii #ffxiii #hopelight #eternal otp #hopurai #hope x lightning #i can't #hopeestheim #my otp will never be apart #My son is too precious #They are just so perfect for each other #Guess I'll die #Square Enix make it canon end my suffering

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rainbowserenity · 4 years

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I hope you're down for hoperai feels. I was replaying ffxiii, and i thought, what if engagement necklaces are just the norm? Like, that's how people on Cocoon propose and use to signify their marriage. and then I was wondering what Hope and Lightning necklaces would look like. They are probably significant to the two and knowing Hope probably have some sort of sentimentality to them as well...

YES I LOVE THIS AND NEED THISI bet Lightning would love the idea of engagement necklaces for her and Hope because we already know she wears one (her lightning bolt) and besides her navel piercing, it’s her only piece of jewelry….and I bet Hope would wear one too ;;_________;;

besides, rings would get in the way of battle or experiments, whereas you can easily tuck a necklace into your shirt or whatever

I don��t remember if I imagined this or if it’s canon, but I think Snow gave Serah necklaces shaped like Cocoon because he wanted to ~give her the world~, and while I’m certain Hope has the same sentiment, his and Lightning’s necklaces would probably be a lot more subtle and simple….like the kind of necklace no one would look twice at until people realize they’re wearing the same one~*~

I’m not sure of what design it’d be, but of course it’d have to be something sentimental and significant~ I’m kinda thinking of Hope getting a similar or identical lightning bolt?? or maybe he gets new ones with their birthstones on it or something hmmm

either way GIVE ME OTP EMOTIONS FOREVER YES!!!!!111

#whoops headcanon time #i really need to go back and like....#properly tag headcanon stuff someday #but alas i'm lazy :D #Anonymous

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hohoz · 5 years

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I am loving this game so far

When I have time, I'll write about FFXIII / FFXIII-2 and how I started to ship Hope Estheim and Eclair, probably will be after I finish LR and Tracer of memories

PLEASE, I'M NOT SURE, BUT I THINK THEY ARE CANON, AT LEAST I HOPE SO, and if they are not im going to be very upset...

I can't take another Valenfield on my hands.

All I Want is definitely a Hoperai song, at least on FF XIII-2

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hohoz · 5 years

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When you start to play for fun and stay for the OTP, I mean... This game is great but the character development of Hope is awesome, he goes from sasuke to a totally badass Madara !!! I saw a few spoilers in Hope's tag and Hoperai's tag and he is goint to grow up :D holy cow HAHAHAHA, NOW HE HAS A CHANCE WITH LIGHT

Btw, this ship is going to sail ? I havent read any spoiler about this but as a can see here this game has a nice devolpment between the badass couple in Lightning returns

God How I miss those times when it was just Hope and Light with some nice interactions

#final fantasy #ffxiii #hoperai #hope estheim #claire farron #light #lightning farron #otp #my otp #canon #steam #my wayfu #my opinion

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aesirfalling · 4 years

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Snowflakes are drifting down as she steps out the door, casting glances all around her out of habit even though realistically there’s only one person for her to look out for. Her target - a lone, lean silver-haired man - is standing in the center of a distant clearing, a backpack and a suitcase by his feet, his head turned up towards the sky. The sky has taken on a morose, opaque shade of gray - it only makes sense, what with the cascading snow and slightly chilly wind - but as she watches, the man stops, then slowly raises up a solitary hand as if reaching for something. There’s a plaintiveness to the action - a wistfulness? - a wish and a loss, painted more melancholy by the disappearance of the expansive starry night that only hours ago had occupied the scene. As she watches - stops, observes - he simply continues to hold onto the pose, and in the utter silence of the mountain summit dawn, it almost feels like the world would be willing to grant him his wish.

Does he want to stay, to have another chance to see those night skies again? Or does he have a prayer of his own, something he’d like to make right?

It’s only when she feels like she has to break the moment that she exhales and begins to walk towards him.

From What We Cannot Hold - Chapter 13 / ? (To the Beginning / Point Zero)

[Read FWWCH Here]

[Read my other XIII works here]

Summary:

In which one key element of Lightning Returns was different - what if Hope had unhappily but willingly forged a covenant with Bhunivelze to try to save the world?

Hoperai, post LR, basically set in our world. Heavy on character exploration and angst. Going to be long if I can write it properly.

Chapter Summary:

Lausanne University Hospital. A confession and two resolutions, but probably not quite the ones you'd been waiting for.

#heavy hospital and terminal illness trigger warnings for this one #ao3 tag #lightning farron #hope estheim #ffxiii

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