Hope Estheim

>>L'CIE<< L'cie on Nova Chrysalia are gifted with the ability to use magic. On top of that, they are able to summon beings known as Eidolons. Hope's summon is Alexander, although he doesn't know that he can call upon him with half of his memory missing.

Class/Classes:
>>RAVAGER<<
>>MEDIC<<
>>SYNERGIST<<

Hope and his mother Nora are on a ten day vacation in the seaside town of Bodhum to see the annual fireworks show. His father, Bartholomew, is due to join them, but calls at the last minute to cancel much to Hope's relief. On the sixth day, they visit Euride Gorge but with the heavy security and buzz still circulating about the incident four days prior, they return to Bodhum.

Two days later at the fireworks festival, Hope laughs at his mother's belief in the wish-making tradition, since he believes it is for children. He is disappointed his mother wished for his father to be with them next year, saying they are better off without him. Unbeknownst to them, PSICOM discovers the Pulse fal'Cie Anima within the Bodhum Vestige that night. The next morning, the Sanctum announces the discovery and Hope and Nora are caught within the town's subsequent quarantine. At the station, a frantic Nora begs with PSICOM that Hope be allowed to return home but her pleas fall on deaf ears and they are forced to spend the night in the barricaded town. The following day, as they wait in line for the Purge train in the station, Hope and Nora meet Vanille. Then they board the train with Vanille accompanying them.

When the Purge train enters the Hanging Edge, it is derailed by Lightning and Sazh Katzroy. Hope, Nora, Vanille, and the rest of the Purgees are rescued by the resistance group NORA and their leader, Snow Villiers. Some Purgees choose to fight alongside them, including Nora. From afar, Vanille and Hope watch the bridge with Nora and the other volunteers destroyed in an army attack, and Nora fall to her death after saving Snow's life. Hope blames Snow for his mother's death and so Vanille encourages him to approach Snow but Hope hesitates long enough for Snow to leave for the Pulse Vestige.

Vanille and Hope steal Gadot's airbike and follow Snow. They crash-land within the Vestige and are ambushed by a group of Cie'th. Snow saves them and tells them he is about to save his fiancée Serah, a Pulse l'Cie. Hope yells at Snow for wanting to save an enemy of Cocoon but, out of concern for their safety, Snow has Hope and Vanille accompany him deeper into the Vestige. They meet with Lightning and Sazh and find Serah outside Anima's Throne, who crystallizes, and the army attacks the Vestige. When Lightning, Sazh and Snow awaken the sleeping fal'Cie, Hope tries to run away but his path is blocked off. Anima brands everyone in the group a l'Cie and the damaged Vestige destroys the Hanging Edge and falls to Lake Bresha below, crystallizing it on impact.

They decide to work together to solve their Focus and identify the legendary beast Ragnarok from a shared dream vision, believing their Focus is to destroy Cocoon. The group finds Serah's crystal form stuck in the crystallized lake and Snow remains to dig her out while the others continue onwards. Hope tries to tell Snow about Nora but Snow tells him to hurry or get left behind. In the abandoned ruins at the edge of the lake, the party finds an airship. Sazh attempts to pilot it, but it sustains damage from a PSICOM pursuit and crashes in the Vile Peaks.

Lightning plans to get revenge against the Sanctum by destroying the capital city Eden's namesake fal'Cie that runs the government and leaves the group. Drawn by Lightning's determination and strength, Hope follows her, seeking to gain battle experience and toughen up. The two are separated from Vanille and Sazh and decide to go through the Gapra Whitewood and Hope's hometown of Palumpolum to catch a train to Eden. Against Lightning's orders, Hope takes control of a Pulsian Dreadnought and clears a path for them. Lightning's patience runs thin as Hope fails to keep up with her and she threatens to abandon him, inadvertently summoning her Eidolon Odin, who attacks Hope. Lightning saves him and his aid in defeating the Eidolon persuades her to have faith in the boy and help him 'toughen up'.

In the Gapra Whitewood, Hope asks to take the lead and Lightning lends him her survival knife to boost his confidence. Hope reveals to Lightning his reason for following her: he intends to become strong enough to face Snow and make him pay for his mother's death. Taking Lightning's advice to form a plan, Hope conceives 'Operation Nora', his plan for revenge. When Lightning claims the Sanctum killed his mother and not Snow, Hope makes both Snow and the Sanctum his targets. To dissuade Hope, Lightning suggests they see his father and tell him about Nora.


To avoid the PSICOM troops stationed throughout Palumpolum, Hope leads Lightning underground into the Nutriculture Complex where they see the fal'Cie Carbuncle that provides Cocoon with its food. Upon hearing Hope talk about the fal'Cie treating humans like their pets, Lightning realizes they have been fal'Cie pawns since birth, and fighting blindly to make up for doubt and confusion is not the answer. She tells Hope to abandon Operation Nora and talk to his father to find a new reason to keep fighting. Returning to the surface, Lightning and Hope are ambushed by Yaag Rosch and his troops. Snow and Oerba Yun Fang arrive and Lightning forces Hope to escape with Snow while Fang goes with her.

On a wireless communicator, the groups agree on Hope's place in Felix Heights as their rendezvous point, but Hope still intends to complete Operation Nora. Snow's optimism and obliviousness continue to anger Hope, as he unknowingly insults Nora and the events surrounding her death. Hope asks Snow a series of personal questions to justify his belief for revenge, only to be further aggravated by Snow's answers. After making their way through the Rivera Towers, they are attacked by an Ushumgal Subjugator.

Hope confronts Snow about Nora, unleashing his rage and blasting Snow off the roof of the building, leaving him hanging from the edge. Before Hope can kill Snow, a Sanctum airship fires shots behind him, knocking him unconscious and blasting him off the building. Snow catches Hope in midair and shields him from the fall with his body. Hope awakens on the streets below to find Snow had saved him. Snow apologizes for endangering Nora and being unable to save her. He returns Lightning's knife to Hope, giving him a second chance for revenge, but Hope confesses he knew nothing would bring Nora back and used revenge to cope with her death. The Ushumgal Subjugator returns and knocks Snow out, prompting Hope to fight it alone until Lightning and Fang arrive to help. Hope returns Lightning's knife and ends Operation Nora. After they promise to protect each other, the reunited party heads to the Estheim Residence and meets Bartholomew.

Hope tells his father everything that has happened and the two repair their relationship. Bartholomew forgives Snow as he had fulfilled Nora's dying wish of getting Hope home. PSICOM attacks the house and Snow confronts Yaag Rosch. Under Lightning's orders, Hope ties up his father to make him look like an unwilling accomplice. Rygdea and more of the Cavalry soldiers arrive and Hope and the others leave with them, boarding the Lindblum. With the Cavalry's help, they infiltrate the Palamecia upon learning Sazh and Vanille are being held captive onboard. They reunite with the prisoners and face Primarch Galenth Dysley, who reveals his true form as the fal'Cie Barthandelus. Barthandelus claims their Focus is to become Ragnarok and kill the fal'Cie Orphan, the source of Cocoon's power.

They escape the Palamecia into the Fifth Ark hidden beneath Eden where the party's l'Cie powers are fully awoken. They are confronted by the Cavalry leader, Cid Raines, who reveals himself a Sanctum l'Cie branded by Barthandelus to help them destroy Cocoon so the mass of expiring souls would open the Door of Souls and summon the Maker back to the world. They defeat Raines but he turns to crystal despite going against his Focus, inspiring the party to do the same. After Fang tames her Eidolon Bahamut, Hope resolves to make his own decisions without influence from the Sanctum or the fal'Cie, and see what Gran Pulse is like for himself.

Using an old Pulsian airship, they exit the Ark out into Gran Pulse. After falling under attack by a wild wyvern, they land and create a base camp in the Vallis Media. The party searches Pulse for days but find no traces of human life. While gathering food, Hope's brand advances and he falls unconscious. Coming to later at night, Hope says Fang and Vanille's hometown of Oerba might have the answers they are looking for. Fearing for his friends' safety, he implores the others to go on without him but his anguish summons his Eidolon, Alexander. After Hope tames the Eidolon, the party comes to believe the Eidolons appear to give l'Cie hope, not to end their journey through death. Hope says he will ask for help earlier next time and decides to continue on the journey with the others.

The party crosses the Archylte Steppe to the Mah'habara Subterra, where Hope tampers with another Dreadnought and falls into the path of the incoming fal'Cie Atomos. A group of Dreadnoughts stop Atomos and save Hope. The party uses the fal'Cie to travel to the Sulyya Springs and ride a capsule from atop Taejin's Tower to the dilapidated village of Oerba. The party is confronted by Barthandelus, who claims he has appointed a revived Raines as Primarch and tricked the Cavalry into destroying Orphan.

The party returns to Cocoon to foil Barthandelus's plan and fight their way through the city to Orphan's Cradle, where the party fights Barthandelus. Upon Barthandelus's defeat, Orphan is awakened and everyone except Vanille and Fang are transformed into Cie'th. Remembering everything they went through on their journey, the group reverts to normal, believing it to have been another fal'Cie trick. They save Fang from her cycle of torture at Orphan's hands and say they now have a new Focus: to save Cocoon. Hope concludes that if they have the power to destroy Cocoon, they also have the power to save it, after which everyone's l'Cie brands turn white.

After Orphan's defeat, Cocoon loses power and falls from the sky. Fang and Vanille sacrifice themselves to become Ragnarok and save Cocoon, and Hope is crystallized alongside the rest of the party at the base of Cocoon's crystal pillar.

---

Instead of waking up with the rest after being crystalized and his focus complete, Hope is pulled into the void from his world. He appears in the outskirts of Y'n Bay, still a large chunk of crystal. He's found by monster hunters, who had heard of the crystals strange and sudden-appearance in some woods. He de-crystalizes moments after the men arrive, and they take him back to town.

This isn't Cocoon--he'd confirmed that much. It also wasn't Palumpolum, which is where he was almost, along with some pink haired woman. The boy, left with a strange hatred for a man he can barely recall for killing his mother, and a new landscape surrounding him wherever he turns, lingered in the lively town for quite some time before he was forced to leave it's safe confines, in order to find out more. Trooping back and forth between where he wanders off to, and back to the Bay, Hope is slowly getting to know this place.

Listening for word of his companions, and anyone else that may know what was going on, he continues to trek out into the wilderness. Scared, yes. Brave--not all that much. Desperate, though? Very much so. Hope keeps up his ventures though, with a strong resolution to avenge his mother, get rid of this brand, and... after that, he hadn't figured out that much.

A post taken from: Fallen from Eorzea (Open)

Hope was getting better at this solo-mission thing he had going on. It was a lot easier than relying on someone else, and arguing the entire time. It enabled him to do it at his own pace and not meet other’s expectations, which, as a ‘White Mage’ was to keep them alive and not screw up. Which was a lot of pressure, mind you. No matter how good he was at it.

Healing aside, the solo-mission he was on required that he examine the monsters of the area to check if their numbers were abnormal, or not. He was also going to see if he could find any plants that he’d read about in local books, or heard from more experienced individuals about. It’d help in his study of, ‘What is this Place?’ and ‘How hard is it to Survive Here?’ book that he had going on.

Mount Hotan—a place with long planes and lots, and lots of rock formations filling it like jagged teeth. Hope juggled between the map he had started on, and the compass, checking his direction. So far, so good. There didn’t seem to be many monsters, not as many as there had been in Reikinto Sands. His quiet steps and quick to hide reflexes saved him from many a fight, and soon he felt like he was almost done.

Staying out here too long wouldn’t be a good idea, especially if the larger predators decided to come out and take a bite out of him. The report he’d give them would have to do, Hope thought to himself while folding up the map and sticking it in his large go-to pocket. It snapped closed as he fastened the strap, and he looked about for a moment. “Nothing more here to see,” his body swiveled around, feet turning backwards so he could retrace his steps and head back to civilization.

The boy stopped, though, when he heard something. Quite familiar; like the sound of a sword being drawn nearby. It made him almost dive to the ground, and flatten himself against it in hope that whatever it was, it would go on past him. Hope stopped himself, though. If it was a person, maybe he could talk to them. Find out why the heck they were out here in the first place. Who knows, maybe this would go like it had with Kuja, but… more pleasant.

His hand went back behind him, clasping onto the boomerang that sat, folded in its holster and ready to throw. Better to be prepared, if they were bandits or something. Heavy steps, loud like when he had first alerted her of his presence followed, and Hope stepped out to where the stranger could see him. White hair that usually seemed soft and fluffy had a wild blow to it, from running and jumping and moving about all day, the ends dark with sweat that had yet to dry.

He had the face of a sheltered child, recently brought out into the dark world. Hope’s eyes though, reflected naught fear, but wariness and intelligence. Here was a young child that knew what they were doing, although they may not carry the look of someone that did. Green eyes widened as they focused on the reptilian like humanoid, and Hope opened his mouth to let out a slightly-less intelligent first word than he had planned on, “Whoa.”

What is that? The thought raced through his mind like a chocobo trying to win a race, and failing. He’d never seen something like, like whatever that was. Was it a monster local to the area? Something that had wandered from where it usually inhabits? Hope let the dumbstruck look hang on his face for a moment, taking her in. How interesting—he wanted to know, and it seemed to be advanced enough to not be classified as a monster. It looked human, almost, excluding the horns, tail, and scales. Horns—one of them looked like it was broken. He did a double take on her appearance and took a hesitant step forward, raising his hand. “Curasa,” He spoke, and the healing spell—Etro he hoped that she knew he wasn’t going to hurt her, but heal her—flew forward like a small leaf on the wind, and hopefully restored her somewhat to where she wasn’t bleeding or in severe pain. It looked like, whatever had happened, it had hurt a lot. Maybe a monster attack?

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