A/N: I guess this is Hope/Light even though Light isn't technically in it. ShadowMeowth ( u/3491479/ShadowMeowth) asked me to write a bit of Hope/Lumina as an under-branch of Hope/Light, so I gave it a shot.

Hope was alone.

He wasn't completely sure exactly where he was. He'd said goodbye to Lightning and then he'd disappeared, dissolving into thin air. The world had turned into darkness. That's where he was now; a dark, empty void between realities. But I got to say goodbye, he thought, trying hard to keep his intensifying feelings of panic at bay. Even if I'm stuck in this nothingness forever, I at least got a chance to say goodbye.

"Wow. It's a bit dark and gloomy in here, don't you think?"

Hope looked up, following the sound of the female voice. A girl surrounded by a shroud of light was slowly descending, illuminating the dark emptiness. She was dressed in a black dress and had her pink hair tied up in a ponytail on the side of her head.

"Serah? Is that you?" Hope asked when he noticed the familiar hairstyle.

"Nope," the girl said with a giggle, her feet connecting with the ground right in front of him. "Name's Lumina. It means 'brilliant lights' in Latin. Look it up."

"Who are you?" Hope looked at her in confusion and wonder. The girl was skinny, slightly shorter than him and probably in her early teens. He looked into her eyes and suddenly realized that he recognized her.

"You're Light," he said breathlessly. "A younger Light."

Lumina giggled again. "You're a lot smarter than the others, aren't you?" she said, neither confirming nor denying Hope's statement. "What led you to that conclusion?"

"The eyes," Hope said, reaching out a hand to stroke Lumina's messy bangs from her forehead. "I'd recognize those eyes anywhere."

The teasing smile on Lumina's lips faltered and faded away. "You don't have to be nice to me. I'm not her," she said. "I'm just the part of her she locked away when she suddenly decided to grow up. I'm the weaknesses she ignored, the emotions she suppressed. I'm the part she cut away from herself to become Lightning."

She looked down on the ground, her eyes – Lightning's eyes – filling up with tears. Before Hope could stop himself he'd wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to his chest.

"What's wrong with you? I tell you I'm not her and this is how you react." Her voice had regained its teasing tone, but her body was still trembling.

"When I first heard about Light's childhood, I couldn't stop thinking about how I just wanted to meet her younger self, hold her, wrap a blanket around her and tell her that everything would be okay," Hope said, soothingly stroking the girl's back. "I don't have any blankets and I have no idea how things will turn out from here, but at least I can hold you. So that's what I'm doing."

Lumina snorted. "You really do have a god complex. You take yourself too seriously, you know that?" She took a step back, ending the embrace. "My time here is running out and I didn't come here to cuddle. I came to prepare you. She's fighting him now, and when she defeats him she's coming for you. You're going to have to make a choice. Make the right choice, and we'll meet again."

Lumina started floating upwards again, her feet no longer touching the ground.

"Wait!" Hope yelled after her. "What choice?"

"You'll see. She'll try to convince you to do the opposite thing, because that's how she is. Do the right thing, Hope. Please, save her. Save us."

Hope could no longer see the girl, only the light surrounding her. "I will. I promise. Whatever the choice is, I'll always choose her. I will save her."

Lumina giggled. "I know you will. You're a fool in love."

Hope shrugged and smiled, not confirming nor denying her statement either. "It was nice meeting you, Lumina."

"It was nice meeting you, too, Hope," Lumina said, her voice no louder than a whisper. "Thank you for the hug."

With those words she left him, taking her light with her. Hope was once again alone in the dark, empty void – but he was no longer afraid. He didn't know what awaited him or what choice he would have to make, but he was ready for it.

I will save you, he thought determinately. Both of you.