This is the story that made me realize that despite of what I thought, I have a soft spot for love stories, at least of some kind. Even if this is not a reader insert, I swear I've had my guts strangled for most of the story, but particularly this last episode. What if Lightning repents. What if she had not actually been there. What if the conversation had gone in one of the million possible ways for the change of a word. I am glad it ended this way, because I was afraid, I imagine not unlike Hope.

Both characters have their issues, but their past is a burden that few would tolerate. Easily bith oof them could have been empty shells of their former selves, unable anymore to connect should they even wish. Yet somehow Lightning does not run. Hope gets to say what he means; both problems confronted yet still present after centuries. Possibly one of their still unfinished figths.

And maybe, maybe, they could get to be happy for the fact of just being together.

god bless this fic yoooooo thaaaanksss

Ahhhh, the confession (or post-implied-confession) is so beautiful it hurt my heart. I love this!

How beautiful was that? My eyes began to glisten several times and I had this tight, burning feeling in my chest. I can see how you had a blast writing Hope, he was an absolute pleasure to read, to the point I think I fell a little bit in love with him. -coughs!- I quite liked the shift of POVs between this and its prequel - having read the two stories in chronological order, I could see a very clear and intense build-up to the incredibly hot and touching explosion of chapter II. And by the way - that was one of the greatest smut scenes I ever read - passionate and meaningful and desperate and through. You conveyed Hope's feelings perfectly. I do agree with Lightning, he was being a bit mushy in chapter 3, but that was completely in-character! What would you expect from a man who held a torch for his ideal woman for a thousand years, after all? Haha.
I loved every second of this story, really - thank you for sharing it with us.

Oh and you also brought back to my mind that I've yet to read the post-Lightning Returns novel, so thank you again!

For everything you wrote here I'd like to thank you. I really enjoyed it so much the emotion wheels of hope and light. I dont know what to say, but you really did a good job on digging their emotion. You did it very beautifully. Once again Thank you very very much for your hard work on writing this.

Great fic, Quandary. I like how you put it in your closing paragraph, regarding this story as a "character study." Your angsty take on the two is quite believable, though at times feels a bit unfamiliar to the Hope and Lightning I've seen in game (I think that is due to the fact that we haven't seen them in a domestic/romantic relationship setting). I like that you delve into their thoughts and make very real problems that reflect the darkness they encountered on their journey. Even 'Reminiscence' -while discussing the pains the characters went through- did not detail their thoughts nor discussed how they were coping with their memories of the past. So I really like that your study tackles this. Your writing is beautiful, painting a picture of environment, character dynamic, and thought process.

I think if there's any critique to provide, it's during their conversation in the final chapter. Although the dialogue provides valuable insight into the Hope and Lightning you have created, it doesn't always feel like a natural conversation. The characters wind up exposing every motivation, work through feelings (forgiveness for Hope, and willingness to give love a chance for Lightning), and determine solutions that are satisfactory to both parties moving forward, all within one conversation designed to resolve each misgiving of the past. It's almost too focused in its purpose, with one's dialogue segueing perfectly into a point that needs covering on a bulleted list.

That said, I'm looking forward to reading your prequel and learning how you've decided to develop Lightning's feelings behind the scenes. You have a knack for creating a strong narrative on characters' thoughts!

I can't put how much I loved this into words. It's beautiful! Incredibly fleshed-out, too. It was a blast to read. :)

Ah, this was intense, like seriously it felt like the culmination of a 1000 years of searching, waiting, hoping and then despairing. It just was wonderful. In a way I really do like how Older!Hope is mature enough to navigate through Lightning's emotional problems and his own to try to make this work, specially since by now he has experienced a lot of those things. I do like how Lightining is here, you can tell she has been opening up, but it's not easy on her, and she is still wary enough that opening up completely is something she will do soon, which is super believable for me. Honestly, I really would love to have more of this, because I really would love to see where these two go from here, but I guess that is a story for another time. Anyhow, thanks for this, I really enjoyed it.

I don't even know where to begin when it comes to reviewing this story. There were so many moments where I had to stop reading and walk away to collect myself so I could finish this chapter. While I love a happy ending as much as the next most stories that involve post LR Hope and Light never address how truly messed up these characters probably are and those that due tend to gloss over it. This is one of the first if not only that in my book that gets it right. While every other character in the games had an anchor (Serah/Snow Vanille/Fang Noel/Yuel Sazh/Dajh) a reason to keep fighting Hope and Lightning were in a way forced together not by love but by tragedy. They were used by beings greater than themselves and thus screwed up to a level that can only be understood by each other. That is their bond at the end of the game not so much love but a longing for someone to understand them. Hell reading "Tracer of Memories" alone you can tell how screwed up Hope is, you don't just get over that and live happily ever after and the details you put into addressing the repercussions of changing the nature of there relationship were spot on. These two people have been through so much that them getting together normally is almost impossible so I love when I find a story that tells a unique way of how it could've happened. I'm gonna stop this right now before this review becomes an essay but feel free to pm me if you ever need an ego boost as I will continue to sing your praises.

Well, I liked the way you portrayed their relationship. I just don't like, when people write Lightning as lovey-dovey person. Like "Oh, I live you, Hope" and "I love you too, Light." So, their confused relationship was more realistic for me. Good job.

Turns out you can't review more than once with a registered account on the same fic. LAME. Anywho...

The edits were pretty enriching, it seems to tie in more with Light and how she is en Efflorescence. I think you were able to marry that well.

By the way, did you add the part of Light walking in on Hope while in his happy moment? Because that gave me a REAL good chuckle. Ironically, that adds more to the story, which is pretty awesome.

You better put that scene where Light and Hope go to dinner and look at her with her sexy dress in your new fic, I demand it! LOL. No pressure.

Also that little bit of being "best sex is an understatement" was cute and nice. I think is just made your story more well rounded, if anything, these edits were able to make your story much richer and complete although the previous version was complete and well organized but the new changes, little as they are, added more warmth to the story.

Hope this helps!

...the emotional catharsis and the light, fluffy interactions at the end. Even if painting Hope as the insatiable one seems a bit off, I don't really care enough to call it a serious issue. Kudis.

Overall, this was beautiful. Keep writing, for you have talent. :-)

Well, this is gonna be an eyeful...

Once more, Hope's anxieties and insecurities are a perfect indicator the amount of sway Lightning holds in his thoughts. Not in the sense that she has him under her control, obviously, but more that when it comes to her, he is willing to make certain sacrifices and jump to conclusions. This is something I see as an understated showing of one of the darker sides of love. The fact that Hope's "prided rationality", as you so elegantly put it is easily forsaken, albeit briefly, when it comes to the possibility of Lightning's intentions and feelings not being as genuine and true as his were, regardless of how tall an order that is, is a rather dead-on showing of the idea that love makes you crazy. As much as he does love Lightning, and as healthy a relationship as it is, there's always a possibility that things could go terribly, irrevocably wrong. Now after all that, it shows just how deep Hope's perceptiveness and emotional maturity are since he is aware of such a thing, and unlike in "Misguidance", he doesn't blindly follow his irrational heart's train of flawed logic and much everything up further. Not sure if that's what you were going for, but that's what I took out of it.

Also, the fact that Hope is certainly matured beyond the adolescent that he was in the first game, but is still prone to insecurity and doubt regarding Lightning does also paint something in an understated manner: the crux of whether or not they even have a chance is Hope's ability to convince her he's not a child. At the same time, despite his noticeable disconnect from those days of his life, Lightning can still bring the out of him. The fact that this is the only real relationship he's ever attempted to pursue is a good candidate for why he can slip back to his immature fears, but the fact that it's Lightning makes it even more prudent. It could be some subconscious attempt to appeal to her protectiveness over him, but one that would certainly fail in this overcomes this, and that is ultimately what lets Lightning see him not as a child; not something that needs protection, but an autonomous, insightful, intelligent man that she can both possess and express feelings for.

Lightning being unsure on what love even is, and moreso on whether or not what she feels is love are also good points. Lightning, for all her positive attributes, tends to lack a certain insight and awareness that Hope has, so of course she would assume that love would have to be as idyllic and saccharine as Serah and Snow's for it to be "true." And, concurrently, sleeping with Hope, someone she knows she cares deeply for, and being unsure of the nature of those feelings would definitely lead her to believe she took complete advantage of him. Her desire for him, as well as her selfish desire to feel loved combined definitely seem like they would manifest themselves as coming onto a person who was a sure thing, and she would feel horrible about doing that to Hope. There is a real pathos to her emotions there, and a simultaneous sympathy, because no matter how objectively selfish her actions were, it's not something many people wouldn't fall victim to were they in a similar circumstance. The only real flaw I see there is that it feels like Lightning let of of that feeling too swiftly. I don't think, even with constant reassurance from Hope, that she would be able to shrug such a terrible feeling of guilt and self-disgust. If you were trying to imply that she didn't then you didn't do a good enough job dropping hints, and if I was supposed to take it as is, I didn't. The one OOC moment I feel has been displayed.

I know some people may have issues with how he fell for her, but I really don't. While a tad cliche, there still is some weight to a love that lasted as long as it did while he was just waiting for her to return to him. And, on Lightning's side, it was great that she still couldn't technically say the three magic words. Hope has had centuries to come to grips with his feelings, whereas Lightning is both worse at handling them in general, and hasn't even remotely close to that measure of time. Each of their stances feels genuine and natural.

And, saccharinely, their banter at the end was utterly adorable. I'm sure writing such a mountain of angst and pain was worth it for the emotional catharsis

Hmmmm... How to review this one... Oh, I know!

The foreplay. Admittedly, this is most of it, but as any good writer of erotica will tell you, foreplay is the most important thing to get right. You apparently felt that this was also the case, because this part of the chapter definitely feels like a lot of care was put into it. The meaning behind that will become pretty clear later, but let's focus on the topic at hand. Overall, despite how obviously careful you were with your wording, events here felt spontaneous. Definitely the culmination of long denied feelings, but it still felt like it happened naturally, as opposed to a predetermined event contrived by some benevolent, perverted God. The sheer ferocity that overcomes Hope when Lightning makes it clear that she wants him is a magnificent way to fully emphasize how deep his desire for her runs, as well as something that Hope would need to hear. Until then, he would have some measure of doubt; the kind of niggling, all too often right, voice in the back of his mind saying things like "this is too good to be true". The instant Light's blunt, uncompromising denial of said notion comes through and lifts the veil to reveal that intrusive thought for the lie it is, is the moment that Hope can finally allow himself to with nary a doubt or a guilty conscience. You also did a good job of portraying Lightning's own desire for Hope. From straight-up shoving him onto the bed and aggressively undressing and fondling him, it's clear that her desire is true, and she's going about fulfilling it in her way. The thought of Lightning being completely passive during sex is not one that really fits, and it's good that you see that. The fact that she is quick to assure him that he is appealing to her is also a nice touch, especially when considering how she described him as "too thin". This, to me at least, signifies how, as much as she is drawn to him physically, it is him as a person that inspires these feelings. As much as she does worry about him and his unhealthy habits, she cant help but be drawn to him on both a physical and emotional level.

The intercourse, while briefer than the aforementioned foreplay, carried its torch high and slow. Really the best part of the sex scene as a whole was how it progressed. From the flurry of passion in the beginning, to the brief lull in the action, to the resumption of the same frenzied pace, before slowing to a more torpid pace once the clothes started coming off, to even further stilling as the initial penetration occurred, and then building back up nicely, slowly as the passion and desire overwhelmed them, finally combusting in a series of deep, passionate thrusts, begging, and swirling vortex of emotions brimming to the surface, all before - pardon the pun - climaxing brilliantly. In short the progression of the entire thing was masterful, and every sensation that hope felt was described superbly.

The afterglow, as it were, was easily the most tender part of the chapter. One theme I'm getting from this is acceptance: her acceptance of his feelings and flaws, his of hers, Hope accepting that he doesn't have to live in a world of stifled love and terrifying nightmares. The closing line is rather poignant: "he did not dream". It is rather on the nose, but it serves as a perfect symbol: the nightmares are a representation of his unexpressed feelings, or even a symptom. The worry that once rested malignantly upon his shoulders has been cast off, now that said emotions were expressed and returned. Lightning only saying "I know" is also a great character moment; even some fantastic coitus isn't enough to drag such vulnerability out of her, though Hope has certainly set that ball rolling.

The fallout has high standards to match. This was brilliant.

I don't know if I can heap enough apologies on this review to account for my delay, but life has made a robust effort to kick my butt these past couple of weeks. In any case, I've finally read your story through TWICE to be sure of my impression and comments :) I hope you've gotten other helpful feedback in the meantime - especially seeing that you're working on a prequel now!

To be fair, the fact that you're making a prequel that will finally give us a glimpse into Hope's actions (and Lightning's thoughts) that led to this story is just what the doctor ordered. I don't have as much criticism for the content this time around (maybe?), and what I will shortly say is tied in with the fact that we didn't get the build-up you're making happen via the prequel.

Let's start with this bit - you did an amazing job of inserting little actions all throughout a very heavy thought-and-dialogue chapter. It was nowhere near as heavy a read as it would've been without those touches. Not only that, I detected other details in my second read-through which were not present in the first. I actually did read it days ago, as promised, but didn't end up with the time to leave a proper review. As I've just now read it again, I noticed a few little bits that were new (for example, Hope's inspection of his eyes in the mirror after his shower, less the dark circles, seemed unfamiliar to me).

On to the next - you did tone down the formality of the dialogue. Most segments read very naturally and were 100% believable. Some of their statements were a tad over the top (Hope's especially, and Lightning's maybe a couple of times), as I'm guessing you were going for dramatic flair. Yes he is VERY attached and desperate, and yes he has been working toward this moment for a long time, but it's hard for the readers to really buy in to the authenticity of some of his statements when we didn't experience the subtle, building gestures over time. It gives the impression that he may be untrustworthy in so many lofty declarations. And not a little possessive, which is a dangerous line to toe. I can't blame Lightning for being hesitant, reluctant, disbelieving or scared - even discounting her personality.

I will side with her, actually, in the "pre-conclusion" of their discussion: she doesn't know what she feels for him. Hope's assessments were still accurate, because it's obvious that she cares about him very much, but I thought he came across as pushy in the end and contradicted himself. He claims to not want to rush her or make her uncomfortable, but he goes to great lengths to get some kind of confession out of her to make himself feel validated. I'm sure he meant well, but I came out of the discussion feeling like she gave in too easily, possibly to get him off her case.

I will say that Hope made up for his over-the-top approach by at least being insistent about not letting Lightning blame and degrade herself at every turn. Those parts - where he wasn't trying to charm or interrogate her, but genuinely trying to make her see that it wasn't about who was worthy of whom - struck a real chord.

I'm not sure how I felt about Hope's summary of how he came to love Lightning. On the one hand, I think you do tend to give readers more insight than we need on conclusions we could draw ourselves from context (often through parenthetical notes), or into events and such that we're familiar with from the games/fandom. But on the other hand, with as little room as you had to build up this short fic, having a brief snapshot of exactly where Hope was coming from did help take the edge off his rather aggressive determination to make Lightning address her feelings.

So the next part was where I had an issue. I really do think Lightning drew her conclusion rather quickly and under duress (he was clenching her wrist, and he asked her questions multiple times for confirmation). I just couldn't hear her actually saying the sentence, "I've wanted to all along - you've only just made me realise it." Either not at all, or not without a little uncertainty. Even if she'd said something like "Maybe..." before the statement, as if it were a wistful consideration, I might've bought it. Otherwise I wonder if he slipped something into her drink, too. He was obviously overjoyed with her admission, and it was beautifully described, but I couldn't enjoy that moment because I didn't believe Lightning really said what she said, or that she actually meant it.

Still, even that moment passed, and they started to talk and act like normal people again. I found the humorous insert where they discussed a real life problem in the form of PDA, and Lightning's feelings toward her sister's behavior, more than refreshing. People don't usually hash out the overarching theme or root problem at length - they tend to address the details and symptoms, just like this.

That said, I know the ending is set to play out as romantic, I just didn't think Lightning should've reached that level yet - not over the course of one explosive night and a very in-depth morning after conversation. The verbiage of the end segment isn't problematic, though. You didn't make it some huge declaration of love and instead reflected back on the "partners" idea, which was perfect.

All in all, I think we'll be able to see how the events of this entire story really came to fruition after reading the prequel. Ideally, with as much ground-breaking progress as their relationship is meant to make in this installment, we would've needed to see other chapters of backstory to drive the points home. I do remember discussing with you how Lightning was unlikely to make much progress in this third chapter, given that it's set the very next morning, and we did agree about that. I don't think she should've given full admission, even to wanting to be with him 100%, but at least she didn't outright say she loved him yet.

One last thing. Your description of their small gestures, glances, and behaviors in general was masterful. I hope I didn't come across too sharp, but I definitely wouldn't want to insult you by not being honest about every observation I'd made. I hope it's useful to you, and I will definitely be checking out your new piece!

- Hthar