insanity; in-game verse
Before he'd fallen asleep in the time traveling pod, Hope's team had warned him and Alyssa both that no one had any idea what was going to happen in the future, despite all of the prophecies they'd found in the Oracle Drives. There were going to be precautions taken to make sure they woke up in a relatively safe area, but whether they would be welcomed or if the Academy would even accept them was another can of worms all together.
Alyssa had cheerfully assured them that it would be no problem. It was a big risk, they knew, but the potential benefits outweighed any of them.
Hope had agreed.
At least…until he heard her voice.
"Hope." Lightning's image was blurry and vague in his dreams, but he would recognize that voice anywhere. It was one he'd been yearning to hear for over ten years now.
Why did he have to be asleep? Why couldn't he answer her, tell her how much he'd missed her and that everything he was doing was a way to bring her, Fang, and Vanille back?
All he could do was listen.
"You're doing the right thing. You're on the right path." A pause, like she was trying to see into his soul. "…It isn't going to get any easier from here, but you have to hold on. Believe in the hope you were named for."
If she'd wanted to say anything else, the chance was lost when Hope abruptly woke up, his heart pounding. The researchers around him took it simply as surprise that he'd woken up 390 years in the future.
But no, it was because the dream was still in his mind, her voice lingering in his thoughts. And as he got himself situated with what was happening in this new Academia, a little embarrassed that he was apparently such a celebrity here, his inward resolve crumbled a little.
He couldn't get Lightning's voice out of his mind, now that he'd heard it again. He needed to hear it in person, even just for one more time. If he couldn't…well, he wasn't sure he wanted to go down in history as the Director who'd gone mad.