HopuRai

"Keep your eyes front, I’ll watch the rear."

- Lightning.

HopuRai is the het ship between Hope Estheim and Lightning Farron from the Final Fantasy fandom.

Final Fantasy XIII
When they first team up, Lightning sees Hope as a burden and makes several attempts to scare him away. When her Eidolon appears and tries to kill him, Lightning blocks the blow with her saber and promises to "toughen him up".

After reaching the Gapra Whitewood, both Hope and Lightning reveal things about their pasts and realize that they are very similar in their pasts and motivations. Lightning lends Hope her survival knife, a gift from Serah on her birthday, as a means of completing "Operation Nora" and as a promise. They form a partnership, and Lightning allows Hope to take the lead for most of the chapter.

They continue on to Palumpolum, where they are briefly separated because Lightning wants Hope to talk to Snow before being reunited, where Hope retracts his plan to kill Snow after a failed attempt. Lightning is relieved, and the two make a mutual vow of protection. Afterwards, the l'cie (minus Vanille and Sazh) meet at Hope's house.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
While Lightning remains in Valhalla throughout the game, she is mentioned in almost every conversation with Hope. In 10AF, Hope shows Serah and Noel an Oracle Drive with Lightning as its focus. In 4XXAF, Hope says that while he was sleeping in the time capsule, Lightning visited his consciousness and told him he was on the right path. Before the final battle, Hope tries to join Sarah and Noel in hopes of saving Lightning, who is told to worry about the others.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Hope and Lightning reunite 13 days before the end of the world, both transformed into servants for the god Bhunivelze. As they talk, they both discover that they are missing their emotions. Hope explains Lightning's role as the savior and his as her guardian, watching over her from the Ark. The Ark serves as their home base, where Lightning must return every day.

On day eight, Lumina and Lightning have a conversation in Lightning's mind, discussing her possible plans to betray God. Lightning claims that she is prepared to kill God, prompting Lumina to ask if she is prepared to kill Hope, since the two are interconnected. Lightning reflects the question back and Lumina calls her out for being evasive before leaving.

On the last day, Hope visits Lightning in her mind as his true self. After a long conversation, Hope confesses that he was glad to have met Lightning and trusts her to make the right decision for the new world. During the boss battle with Bhunivelze, he will make lewd comments to her. Since Bhunivelze is a god and cannot create feelings himself, these feelings will come from the part of Hope's soul that he has combined with his own.

After the battle, Lightning uses her survival knife and Hope's ultimate ability, Last Resort, to free the remaining part of his soul. Lightning then offers him a new life with his parents, something Hope has wanted since the day his mother died, but when she begs for help, Hope is the one to save Lightning and lead her to the new world, giving up life with his parents. When the group of eight reunite, each travels to the new world with a partner; Lightning and Hope go together with an encouraging nudge from Snow.

Reminiscence: Tracer of Memories
A reporter on the new world, Aoede, collects stories from people who remember their old lives, and Hope, still an influential member of society, is her first story. On the new world, Hope has returned to his 27-year-old body and continues his work as a researcher. Hope recounts his memories from the thirteen days before FFXIII and how Lightning was a key figure in making him who he was. He briefly talks about how she protected him during that time, and how he wanted to return the favor, but ultimately couldn't because Lightning was taken to Valhalla. Hope mentions that everyone but him and Serah, Lightning's sister, believed that she was in the pillar holding Cocoon with Fang and Vanille. Eventually, Hope grew up determined to bring Lightning back to the world of the living, along with Fang and Vanille. Hope is about to mention Lightning's role as savior, but pulls back, telling Aoede that she should hear the story from the savior herself.

Later, Aoede returns for a second interview with Hope after having no luck finding Lightning. Hope then presents her with new information called "The Chaotic Era," which correlates with the aftermath of FFXIII-2. While the rest of humanity moved back down to the remains of Pulse, Hope and a small team of researchers remained on Bhunivelze, the planet they had created. Eventually, the research team disappeared, and while investigating the disappearance, Hope became depressed and began hallucinating a "rose-haired phantom" that he identified as Lightning. This led him to relive past dreams until he could no longer tell illusion from reality, and he reveals that the phantom was a ploy by Bhunivelze, the God of Light, to lead him to the Ark. Guided by the phantom, Hope disappeared, leaving behind a message to "beware the fake Lightning," though the phantom wasn't used on anyone else. Hope, meanwhile, spent 169 years being tortured and transformed into God's servant, leaving him emotionless and reverting to his 14-year-old body.

With no new leads, Aoede gives up trying to find Lightning. Several months later, Aoede sees her getting off a train and asks for an interview. Lightning refuses, saying she doesn't have time to fully reveal her time as a savior. Aeode decides not to follow her and wishes her luck, especially in finding Hope, as Lightning finally has a life of her own - without the gods interfering.

Quotes
"You and I are partners, Hope."

- Lightning, FFXIII Chapter 5

"Even if the world hates you, I’ll always be by your side, Light."

- Hope, LR: FFXIII

"As long as you were with me Light, I didn’t have to fear anything. I’m not scared, not even now, because you’re here."

- Hope’s goodbye to Lightning, LR: FFXIII

"The moment I realized this(Lightning was suffering), I knew that I didn’t want to only be protected by her. I wanted to protect her too."

- Hope, Reminiscence: Tracer of Memories

"May this woman, who was once a brilliant beacon of light in “that other world”, chance upon Hope - this was my wish, and it was like a prayer, a promise."

- Aoede, Reminiscence: Tracer of Memories

Fanon
On AO3, is the most written ship for Hope and the second most written ship for Lightning.

is the second most written ship in the Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy XIII Series tags and the most written ship in the Final Fantasy XIII-2 and LR: Final Fantasy XIII tags. has 316+ works in its romantic/het tag, and 20+ in its platonic/general tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Hope/Lightning tag on FanFiction.net
 * Hope/Lightning tag on FanFiction.net

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * HopuRai is derived from their Japanese names, ライトニング (lit, Raitoningu) and ホープ (lit, Hōpu).
 * Hope is the only person Lightning allows to call her "Light."
 * Hope and Lightning are the only ones other than Fang and Vanille to show concern for each other when their health becomes critical (by calling out the injured person's name).
 * Before Lumina's identity was revealed, the most popular theory was that she was the daughter of Hope and Lightning.