Hello everyone! If you follow any sort of HopeLight tags on tumblr, you may have seen all of these fics, but if not, welcome. This is one of those 100 Theme Challenges, and it'll be 100 different oneshots for this pairing. As of now, they're all already on tumblr (I have the same username there). I'm just putting them here for safekeeping, I guess.

They'll range in ratings and a lot (most) of them will be AU. I'll always make a note of the theme and whether it's AU or not. Without further adieu...

introduction; au

The first time he met her, it was incredibly noisy and the music was loud. Waaaay too loud. He wondered how the hell people could stand to listen to it at this volume night after night and figured this was a reason Snow pretended not to hear him half the time.

But Hope managed to speak to the woman that intrigued him, much to her obvious displeasure. She didn't seem to want to spare a moment for anyone, much less an obviously well-off pretty boy.

"They call me Averia," she'd said in her low, seductive tone that just made him want to hear more. Apparently, he was the only one, since she hadn't seemed to care for his pleasantries about how it was nice to meet her.

Maybe it was because she knew he really wasn't meeting her. The next time he saw her, it was without a doubt the same woman he'd met that night, but her introduction was a lot more subdued - a little sadder, somehow.

"Lightning. Call me Light."

There was no way that was her real name…but then again, his name was Hope, so who was he to judge? Despite the ridiculousness, though, somehow he just knew. Every name was a hidden layer - Avera, the breathtaking seductress; Lightning, the beautiful ice queen…

It was only when they found themselves clinging to each other after a terrible, unsettling night that he heard her murmur in a helpless voice he never would have imagined in her tone:

"I never wanted you to see Claire. I left her behind for a reason."

Hope's armed tightened around her trembling frame, unable to help the slight smile on his face, honored that he could be introduced to every part of her. His lips brushed her ear, murmuring quietly, "She's a part of you, and no matter what, I want all of you."

No matter how many layers there were, she was herself in the end, and that was what mattered to him.

I like reviews :)