:'^) post LR AU.
It was strange, Hope thought.
Recently, he'd been remembering things. Things that didn't really make sense. Things that, well, scared him. He felt as if he should at least remember taking down monsters— at least they looked like monsters— and being held prisoner by some divine figure.
(The last bit especially scared him. The things that thing did to him… he wakes up in a cold sweat every time he dreams about it.)
Besides the horrifying things that he had apparently gone through, there were good things. Like the people he kept seeing in these memories, bright faced and determined. Hope could tell these people were important, he knew they must have all been close, but how can that be when he'd lived an ordinary, dull life for twenty-seven years? He's never even left his hometown before, never mind leaving this universe.
There was also a constant face in his dreams and memories. Rose haired and strong. Gentle yet fiery. After spending decades trying to bring her back, he lost her to crystal sleep for five hundred years. She'd helped him when he was young, and he'd helped her navigate through the end of the world. He loved her.
A better word for this would be concerning, Hope decided.
He was so busy telling himself to forget everything he'd remembered that he almost didn't realize there was someone waiting outside of his apartment one evening, leaning against the banister, a small briefcase sitting on the ground next to them.
She wasn't paying attention to him, either, instead typing away on her phone furiously. Pink hair cascaded down her left shoulder, bright blue eyes looking down onto her screen.
Rose haired and strong.
She looked up, and upon seeing it was him, smiled brightly. She pocketed her phone, taking a step towards him, "Hope."
He wanted to shake his head and turn away, turn away from a past that scared him yet excited him, a past that filled him with guilt and joy, sadness and hope. It was too much; she was too much.
Hope knew it would be painful to go back. Yet he did, anyway, throwing any doubt or fear out the window as he dropped his bag and ran towards her, hugging her tightly to his chest. "It's you. Lightning."
Her initial shock wore away quickly, and she wrapped her arms around his frame just as tightly as he did. "It's…well, I go by Claire, now," The rosette said, laughing lightly. Her voice was muffled slightly through the fabric of his shirt. "I figured I could stop being Lightning, you know?"
Hope hadn't noticed the wetness of his eyes before he had to sniffle, laughing along with her. "Yeah." He pulled away, but held her at arm's length. "Yeah. I like it. It suits you."
"Don't go crying on me, Estheim," Claire reached up to wipe a tear away from his cheek. "You know I'd never leave you."
He nodded, then swept her up into another hug, laughing into her hair.