This is my first attempt at Final Fantasy fic. If it doesn't suck, I'll continue it. ^.^
"The goddess is dead..."
The words echoed in the empty realm, yet it was clear that the speaker expected someone to hear him. Violet-blue eyes scanned the area, flashing briefly to an infernal red when all he saw was empty space.
"Yuel?" he almost whispered. "Where are you?" He rose from the crystalline throne of Etro and moved forward, his grace tempered by a sense of urgency. She should be here, damn it! He'd succeeded! The damnable goddess was gone, her champion lost in crystal sleep... and the other two, well, one was no longer a factor, either!
He supposed he should feel bad about that, but nothing was more important than her. Nothing at all. It was Etro who had killed Serah Farron, not him. His responsibility to that was limited to the barest echo of remorse, and that, too, was all right.
Valhalla seemed to be empty, though, and Caius wondered why.
The realm seethed with chaos energy, and though events had weakened his bond to it, the travellers' efforts had reversed that to an extent. Everything was paradox, time's paths riddled with holes and breakages...and then there was this place, which would now destroy time itself with no further barrier.
She should be here. He KNEW she should be here; his past selves had all but confirmed it.
He wasn't the Seer, though- only the Guardian. The Eyes of Etro were closed within him; only the gifts given by the Heart of Chaos and the blessing/curse of being a l'Cie were his.
Caius knew he wasn't yet done; he wasn't in stasis. At least, he was fairly certain he wasn't in stasis, anyway. One could never be sure of that. As thoughts of crystal stasis ran through his mind, he looked behind him... and immediately noticed something was missing.
Lightning was gone.
Caius looked to the sky, expecting to see her above him, riding the eidolon Odin as she'd done far too many times. The only thing above him was roiling entropy, though- no sign of the rose-haired warrior-maid that had made his life interesting in so many ways.
With no imminent attack, he tugged lightly on the strands of Chaos and cast them out in a sort of net, searching for Yuel.
The silvery-haired seeress wasn't even ON Valhalla, as far as he could tell. Caius grew angry, eyes flashing crimson, and he turned once more to where the crystal statue of Lightning Farron had sat. The platform was still there... until suddenly it wasn't, obliterated with a burst of energy that expanded as it detonated.
"Yuel!" he cried, hoping against hope that someone would hear him... someone other than a rift-beast, or some other creature that fell from the cracks in space-time.
"The goddess is dead. Lightning is gone. Why is Yuel not here with me in this place?" The words echoed flatly in the ruins, the wind carrying them to the shattered edges of what was once Etro's gate.
A low, soft voice came from the ruin.
"Not as gone as you think, Caius Ballad."