I LOVE when tight-knit siblings (often twins, but also close friends, lovers, etc.) get separated by forces far beyond their control. Where one side believes the other dead, or at the very least has every right to believe they are dead. ESPECIALLY when space-timey-wimey nonsense is involved.
I love when someone has mourned and moved on from their missing loved one, only for them to show up again ripping that wound open again. I love when someone tries desperately to get back home, only to find that their home has scarred over the place they used to belong. When one person refuses to believe the other is dead and somehow manages to follow them into metaphorical hell.
I love when characters miss each other but can't enjoy the reunion because of what the reunion represents, be it the safety of their loved one, the world, or their own happiness.
Like when someone is lost in another world, with their only solace being their loved one is safe at home and then they're NOT.
I love when a loved one just suddenly changes into someone else because they left and returned without them even knowing.
I love when when a protective older sibling gets lost, and all the sudden their younger sibling has grown up without them and doesn't need them anymore when they reunite. When the younger sibling has grown up and the older sibling who used to look after them is now a traumatized child they need to raise in a world that moved on without them.
I love when a new environment gives someone access to resources or opportunities they didn't have before. Allowing them to be someone that they, and their loved ones, never imagined they could be.
I love when pairs of characters are forced to redefine themselves as individuals. And then they reunite and have to redefine their relationship with each other all over again after everything about themselves has already been mixed up.
I love it when characters love each other deeply but don't even know who the other is anymore.
