#clive's* that would have to be smth discussed later if anyone was interested ofc

[halchron]

ffxvi: in the spaces between, twilight

( ffxvi spoilers below ! )

pre-timeskip up to cid’s death. ( 13-26 )

hope, by all means, had led a relatively uneventful, but safe life in rosaria. as his family was somewhat high class, he was under the assumption that nothing bad could befall him or rosaria. that was until the night of flames, of course. following the insurrection, hope and his mother had fled to a small village in order to escape. however, that would only be the start of his problems. after experiencing his world change so rapidly and learning the true cruelty of the world, that his life wasn’t as protected as he thought, his eikon began to awaken.

in the following days as the iron kingdom had come to take what they wanted, time was running out for hope and his mother. in this time, hope tried to gain control over his eikon, alexander, though it was met with minimal success. neither he nor his mother could find any records of previous alexander dominants, so he was largely up to himself to figure out how to get prime his eikon. why alexander had chosen a weak and helpless boy for his eikon plagued hope’s thoughts since his awakening. during this time, unbeknownst to hope, his mother was already planning their escape yet again.

when the ironblood had raided their small village and rounded them up, the villagers attempted to resist one last time. hope had tried to fight too, though alexander still did not answer to his plea. just as they were about to surrender entirely, his mother had distracted the ironblood long enough for hope and a few others to escape. nora sacrificing herself so that he may live weighed heavy on hope’s soul, and he saw alexander as a curse rather than a blessing for many years to follow. because of this, he had kept his eikon a secret, not that alexander had fully awakened inside him anyways.

hope then spent the next year or so floating from town to town, never staying long enough to form any connections. that is, until he had a run in with cid. perhaps with foresight that hope wasn’t aware of, cid had took him in. for the following 13 years, he faithfully served cid as an advisor and intelligence gatherer. while he didn’t know clive or jill personally in his past, he gladly offered his assistance to them and their quest to destroy the mother crystals.

as they descended upon oriflamme, and he learned about clive’s own inability to call on his eikon, hope revealed to both him and jill that he to had an eikon. he had wanted to destroy drake’s head with them, he was convinced to stay behind as his magic wasn’t yet up to par for him to defend himself. that, however, was his second biggest regret of his life. he had broken down in tears at the news, the knowledge that he had lost the last person he considered his family nearly breaking his heart in two.

then, in some cruel twist of fate yet again, his eikon fully awoken within him. while he still viewed his eikon as a curse, hope realized that if he wanted to be more of a help to clive, he would have to train and become stronger

post second time-skip ( 31 )

over the next five years, hope worked tirelessly to support clive on his journey. much like jill, he had his own reasons for going to the iron kingdom. while he had long outgrew his desire for revenge, he still felt the desire to attain justice for his mother and for the life that they took from him. in this time, hope had learned that he is an outlier of sorts when it comes to his eikon. as there can only be eight dominants for eight elements, the existence of a ninth with holy powers seems to be an anomaly. despite his years of trying to find an answer, he has yet to find one. despite this, he continues to support and fight with clive for a world where branded weren’t revered, nor enslaved, nor used for weapons of war and everyone had the choice to live as equals.

* this verse can be altered to where hope instead travels with joshua and jote, though that’d have to be discussed separately as the joshua’s journey is more of a mystery than clive’s