abandoned; in-game verse kinda
It had been centuries, but he could still remember all too clearly what she'd said to him in the Gapra Whitewood.
"I won't abandon you. I won't."
Hope's fists clenched slightly. Yes, for a long while, Lightning had made that promise come true - she'd protected him from the PSICOM soldiers, looked after him during their first trip to Gran Pulse, and consistently watched his back during all the ensuing battles.
But even though he knew it was through no fault of her own…she'd broken her promise. It wasn't just her, he knew - everyone had left, one by one.
And yet it was Lightning's disappearance that hurt the most.
It wasn't simply because of her never-ending crystal stasis, though of course that was a big reason for it. Her crystalized face never failed to send a stab of agony into his heart.
Along with that, it was the dreams. A part of him wanted to believe that Lightning was speaking to him from Valhalla, just as she had back when he'd first time-traveled, but he knew that was impossible. Her soul was imprisoned. She could not reach out to anyone.
That thought just made the dreams even worse. Almost every night, without fail, she'd come to him. They would be in some sort of vague, foggy area, but neither of them would seem to care. They would simply be in each others' company; sometimes talking about things that were going on in the world, but Hope could never quite remember the exact words.
The dreams that hurt the most, however, were when his soul dared to open up. He told her everything - his admiration turned love, how so much of what he'd done with his life was for her, how he hadn't stopped thinking of her for a moment all these centuries - and had even gotten the courage to pull her close, their bodies fitting together so naturally, even in their dream consciousness.
He could never remember if she said anything in reply. All he could recall were that the dreams never lasted long enough, and too often, Hope would wake up alone and full of longing.
Through no fault of her own, Lightning continued to abandon him.
Night, after night, after night.