[He's quiet for a moment, attempting to gather his thoughts. Pain and anger have now given way to a resigned sort of sorrow, settling in him like a great heavy stone. The brand's advancement is a painful but necessary reminder: do not succumb to despair.
It would be too easy to paint Aerith as a scapegoat, just because she was there alongside Lightning, but it wouldn't be right. If Lightning herself was powerless to what had claimed her, there was no way Aerith could have stopped it either - and she would have done everything in her power to do so. Hope already knows that much about her, at the very least.]
...is she really going to come back? [He shifts as if he were to look up at her, but stops partway, leveling a gaze on his own hands instead. His voice is barely audible, reflecting the numbness inside, but it's still earnest.]
[Action]
It would be too easy to paint Aerith as a scapegoat, just because she was there alongside Lightning, but it wouldn't be right. If Lightning herself was powerless to what had claimed her, there was no way Aerith could have stopped it either - and she would have done everything in her power to do so. Hope already knows that much about her, at the very least.]
...is she really going to come back? [He shifts as if he were to look up at her, but stops partway, leveling a gaze on his own hands instead. His voice is barely audible, reflecting the numbness inside, but it's still earnest.]