I do not own FFVII or FFXIII
Lightning stood in the lobby of the Shinra building with her pink hair up in a messy bun and wearing the same uniform as her colleges that worked behind the front desk. Suddenly, her earpiece buzzed to life.
"Lightning? Come in." Rude said. Lightning placed her hand on the earpiece hiding beneath loose wisps of hair.
"Agent Lightning here. Talk." She commanded before putting her hand down by her side.
"The scientists can't decode the plaque you found in Wutai yesterday. Did you see how damaged it was before picking it up?" Rude asked. She placed her hand up to the earpiece again and sighed.
"Yes. It was well preserved." She replied hastily and put her hand down by her side again when a few third class SOLDIERs walked past.
"Well, it has been damaged because the letters are all disfigured." Rude said. Lightning raised her hand up to the ear piece again.
"I'll meet you. Where are the scientists?" Lightning asked and wandered behind the desk and picked up her duffle before heading to the elevators.
"Floor twenty one." Rude replied.
"Roger." Lightning replied and boarded the empty elevator up to floor twenty one.
Lightning walked out of the elevator with her duffle over her shoulder, her hair was let out of the bun and she wore black skinny jeans, a black leather jacket and dark army boots. Her necklace sat over her grey tee, the Blazefire Pistol waited in its sheath that hung behind her and her shades covered her ice blue eyes. She strutted into the room and Reno straightened.
"Rude, what's the problem?" Lightning asked and whipped off her sunglasses and dropped her duffle on the ground next to her. The bald Turk turned around to face her and gestured towards the plaque. The scientists stood around the bench, dumbfounded.
"The plaque is damaged." Rude replied. Lightning looked down at the perfectly preserved plaque; there wasn't even a chip on the five hundred year old stone.
"It's not damaged, Rude. You're just being ridiculous now." Lightning said.
"Then how come the letters are disfigured?" Hojo asked the pink haired l'Cie.
"It's not damaged. It's in a different language." She replied with an unamused scowl.
"It's nothing we've ever seen before." Hollander said. She looked back down at the plaque and nodded.
"But I grew up with it. It's in Cocoon script." Lightning replied.
"Just tell us what it says, Farron!" Reno exclaimed. Lightning glared at Reno and Rude slapped the red headed Turk over the back of his head. Reno rubbed the back of his head as Lightning moved around to see the plaque clearly.
She scanned the letters once and then read through the inscription.
"From the ashes and our ashes alone, she will rise. Ragnarok, the child of our fallen's fury. There will be one among us who will succumb to the darkness of the heart of Ragnarok. Through this one among many, Ragnarok will avenge us, all of us. Cocoon and Gran Pulse shall be avenged, through the blood, tears and the ultimate destruction of Gaia." Lightning recited and then stepped back from the bench.
"This plaque was carved when Cocoon was falling into Gran Pulse... six months ago." Lightning replied.
"No, this was dated to be five hundred years old." Hojo said.
"No, five hundred years ago was the War of Transgression. The bloodthirsty battle between Cocoon and Gran Pulse. Ragnarok was supposed to have taken down Orphan, but only managed to shatter a segment of Cocoon's shell." Lightning replied, her mind turning to her l'Cie friends. Hollander turned to Hojo and they looked at each other in confusion.
Hollander then picked up a file and opened it.
"When we found you in the slums of Midgar, your crystal was dated to be five hundred years old, meaning that when you turned to crystal, the plaque was carved." Hollander said and closed the file again.
"If I'm five hundred and twenty-one years old in reality and Cocoon fell five hundred years ago, then, why is you're technology so far behind Cocoon's?" Lightning asked.
"How advanced were you?" Hojo asked.
"Machines had been running Cocoon and Gran Pulse since the dawn of time. Fal'Cie, the mechanical gods that ran everything and even created it. Well, my gunblade is an example and our cycles didn't touch the ground, they were airborne. This world is so primitive compared to Cocoon." Lightning replied.
"We haven't even looked at developing that technology yet." Hojo said. Lightning ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. She stood at the window and looked out at the busy city below.
"Did you find any other crystals like me?" Lightning asked.
"No, only shards of crystal looking to be carved like a human." Hollander replied.
"Can I see them?" Lightning asked, on the verge of tears. It was too much for her to take, but she had to know which of her friends had died before even reaching Gaian soil.
"Follow me." Rude said and Lightning silently followed him into the next room.
"The scientists tried putting them together, but many pieces were missing." Rude explained and opened the door. Lightning wandered in and stopped dead. There were seven benches, each with blue pieces of crystal put into place, with indeed a few spaces missing. The little light that was in the room bounced off of the crystal pieces and projected onto the walls.
She walked up to the bench closest to the window and looked down at the assembled pieces. She recognised the face and sighed. It was the little boy, Dajh. On the bench next to Dajh, lay the shattered pieces of his father, Sazh's crystal. The bench next to Sazh had the remains of Snow's crystal strewn over it. The crystal that lay over the bench in front of Snow's was that of Hope. Lightning sighed as she looked to the bench next to his, the crystal of Vanille. Vanille's bench was next to Fang's. The crystal on the bench next to Fang's was that of Serah's.
"Serah..." Lightning uttered with tears threatening to spill down her face at any given moment.
"How did this happen?" Lightning asked and bowed her head.
"I wish I had an explanation..." Lightning said and headed up to the window, looking out onto the busy city of Midgar.
"From the ashes and our ashes alone, she will rise. Ragnarok, the child of our fallen's fury... I am now Ragnarok. I am the one that destroys Gaia, to avenge their deaths." Lightning said with realization and sighed with sorrow. Lightning left the room and slammed the door behind her.
"Cocoon and Gran Pulse are no more..." Lightning said and headed back to the plaque.
"The plaque is a prophecy. And I have a funny feeling that it will come true..." Lightning said, fighting back her tears.
"How is it a prophecy? It could just be an old fairytale." Hojo stated. Lightning approached the plaque and closed her eyes.
"This was written by a fal'Cie, not a human. Only a fal'Cie can curse either a person, a planet or a multitude of the two. It seems to me that it was written by a Pulse fal'Cie. The Cocoon ones would have been inactive because their power source, the fal'Cie Orphan was taken out and Orphan was the only thing keeping Cocoon in the sky. I think it was Etro, the goddess of death. She made sure that at least one of the Pulse l'Cie was kept alive to avenge their fellow l'Cie. From the ashes and our ashes alone, he will rise. Meaning that when the planets disintegrated, it formed ash and that ash will fuel Ragnarok. Ragnarok, the child of our fallen's fury. The fallen being the l'Cie and the fal'Cie. There will be one among us who will succumb to the darkness of the heart of Ragnarok. It's one of you, one of the people of Gaia that will connect with Ragnarok. It can't be my people, I'm the only one left. Through this one among many, Ragnarok will avenge us, all of us. Cocoon and Gran Pulse shall be avenged, through the blood, tears and the ultimate destruction of Gaia. I think that is clear enough for you buffoons to figure out." Lightning explained. Hojo nodded.
"Now I see... Thank you, Agent Farron." Hollander replied.
"I better be getting back to the lobby." Lightning said and picked up her duffle before heading to the elevator, trying to mask her pain.
