"I'm going to do it," Noel muttered to himself as he gripped the handles of his swords. He rose up slightly from his crouch and peered over the edge of the sand dune, glaring down at the snuffling Lobo with a hunter's focus. "That monster's as good as mine!"

"You may not wish to exert yourself too much, Noel."

Looking over his shoulder, he met the steady gaze of the Seeress—she had opted to tag along during his hunt that day, with Caius's permission—perplexed. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Well…That monster…"

"Is it special? Or diseased? Something wrong with it?"

"No," Yeul said slowly. She turned her head and he caught the glint in her green eyes.

Noel's expression slackened with shock. "Wait just a moment. Are you telling me that it's going to escape? That I'm not going to catch it?"

Yeul's amusement was becoming clearer by the moment. She picked at the hem of her skirt; a second later, she had placed that oh-so-serious "Divine Seeress" mask on. Her face was so still that it could have been carved from stone…or porcelain. Beautiful porcelain.

Noel shook his head. Focus. That's what every young hunter back at the Settlement had to learn. Focusing was key. Eyes on the prize.

"Then what is it?" He asked at length when Yeul didn't speak.

She lifted her chin, sitting there on that rock, and said in her most solemn tone, "Can you defy your fate, Noel? Can you defeat that monster?"

Noel let out a snort of laughter once his mind had registered her words. "I thought the mighty Seeress had to ensure that the timeline never deviated from the set path?"

"What if this is your path? Something momentous could happen the instant you decide to face the monster that awaits you at the base of the hill."

Folding his arms but keeping his grip on his blades, Noel grinned. "C'mon, Yeul. Now you're just making fun of me, right?"

She stared back at him with the most intense, unblinking look he had ever witnessed. A hundred thousand lifetimes seemed to be visible in the irises of that ancient gaze.

Blink. "You're…You're not kidding?"

"Hunt the monster, Noel," Yeul said calmly in response. She folded her hands primly in her lap and regarded him with an expectant air.

"If it's my path, how am I supposed to be defying my fate?"

She just kept watching and waiting instead of offering up some kind of response, so Noel shrugged and set his sights back on the beast. It was a ragged, scruffy thing like all the monsters at the end of the world. Caked with dirt and sand…but at least it still had some meat on its bones. With any luck they'd have a good dinner that night.

Still relatively inexperienced at hunting, Noel had to steel himself for an instant. But with Yeul present and observing, well—there was no way he could lose! Throwing himself down the slope, he raced at the Lobo, kicking up grit with every churning footfall.

The wolf-like creature whipped around to face him. It had been picking at some bones earlier but now its attention was entirely on Noel. He swung one sword at its skull and the other was lifted in a bid to block the arcing strike of its claws. Nails scraped along sturdy metal, causing the steel to scream in protest as it deflected the attack. Noel felt the vibration rumble all the way down his arm.

His initial swing connected and tore into the Lobo's skull. It was tougher than he had anticipated though, letting out a howl before charging at him with a furious desperation. It was obviously starving and probably wanted him to be its next meal.

Falling onto his back, Noel kicked up, pounding away at the Lobo as he held its snarling face away from his throat with the flat sides of his swords. Eventually he wore down the monster's defenses and it stumbled away, letting out a pained whine.

Noel jumped back to his feet and made a flying jump, driving his swords home. They sank so deeply into the Lobo that they vanished halfway in, causing dark blood to pulse out. Yanking his blades free again, he spun his weapons and sliced out in an X-shaped motion, catching the beast right as it staggered.

With a final tired cry it slumped into the sand—rather decidedly dead.

Pleased with how relatively simple that battle had been, Noel turned back to Yeul, beckoning for her to come over. She stood and calmly approached him, sliding down the slope. He kept a cautious eye on that limp in her step but as usual she paid it absolutely no attention, so used to it was she.

"See? That wasn't even a challenge! It was already half dead, on top of that." Noel placed a foot on top of the Lobo and posed dramatically, hands on his hips. He smirked in a friendly way at his best friend. "So, was that what you saw? Did I make your vision come true?"

"No," said Yeul with the hint of a smile. "I never saw a vision. There was no future to defy."

"Wait…what? So what was with that comment you made earlier? About the—"

"Noel. Do you see what happened here?" She began to slowly circle him, hands clasped behind her back, gazing at nothing and everything. "You were willing to pursue what you wanted. Even if there was no promise of the future holding that which you desired. Despite my attempts to cast doubt and confusion onto your actions…you still persevered. And victory was yours."

She looked at him again.

"Do not forget that, Noel."

"I…I won't." He passed a bewildered hand through his hair. "I've gotta admit, sometimes what you say goes right over my head, but…I'll keep it in mind."

"Do you promise?"

He placed a fist over his heart. "Promise."

"Good." She smiled, and Noel returned it without even thinking about it. He still didn't fully understand, but if it satisfied her then it was good enough for him. "We'll need to get this back to the Settlement, won't we?"

And just like that, her tone was light and casual again. For Yeul, anyway.

Kneeling down beside the Lobo, he smoothed a finger across the rough crags of its face, silently thanking its spirit for the upcoming meal. He wasn't terribly into these rites himself, but he knew Yeul was, as were several others.

"So...I don't suppose your visions have shown you any plants, huh? The only thing we ever really have to put on meat anymore is…salt." Water was already rationed as it was. Tossing salt (as the only seasoning around) onto all things edible really wasn't helping matters.

"Well…"

Noel looked up at her, startled, and the Seeress brushed a strand of hair behind her ears.

"It's not impossible," she said simply.

"Yeul. Come on. This is serious business here. Don't you get tired of the same taste on everything all the time?"

"That could be the case..."

Her vague answers were going to be the death of him, and he was willing to bet everything he owned she was doing it on purpose. "Yeul!"

Yeul flashed the rarest of her smiles—the largest, the brightest—turning and ambling slowly away as Noel lugged the monster behind him. He called out to her again in joking exasperation but she just hummed in near-silent amusement.

They laughed the whole way home.

Author's Note: So basically I beat Lightning Returns and decided to throw out this fanfic to show I'm still around. I'm intending to write something else but thanks to how LR ends, it'd be a little...tricky. We'll see though! Thanks so much for reading this little aimless drabble~