I think I'd like to play Hope from sometime after 13-2, but before he loses his mind. Maybe the Conseil de Renaissance discovers a super special time gate, keyed to Hope, which works despite Etro being dead. A la Terminator, Hope agrees to go back in time to try to change things. (In comparison, a 13-2 Hope would probably be far more unwilling to screw with history since he feels like Serah and Noel are on top of things. Also, sorry for elaborating at length like this; I just want to get my thoughts in order.)

One more point of interest: do you ship Lightning and Hope at all, or would you prefer something platonic?