Author's Note: I know, I'm sorry! I shouldn't be making any more stories but I really can't help myself. The basic idea for this one belongs to my brother. He was the one who came up with it. I'm just giving it my own twist! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Warnings: Nothing much. Maybe language and OOCness.
Word Count: 4,021
"This is it," Lightning says, turning to look back at the smiling faces of her friends. Her family. Beyond them, is all of the souls of the people she saved, and those that Vanille saved from the Chaos. They change back into glowing orbs of light, easier for transportation to their new world. Their new world. Her bright blue eyes, newly brightened with the return of the piece of herself she's been missing for so long, she forgot that she had been missing it in the first place.
Lightning catches a movement. Serah, beloved and beautiful Serah alive again, was bringing her hand back for that fool of a fiancée of hers to grin broadly - an unquestionable smile filled with relief, happiness and love - and reach out toward her too and take her small hand in his larger one.
Odin and his fellow eidolons - along with Mog - head into the light. The light that will become the path toward their new world. Their new universe. Away from gods and the age of the crystals. The age of fal'Cie and l'Cie. The age of the Ceith and Chaos. All of that was over. It was time for them to move on to a new planet. A fresh start for everyone, but the memories will always exist, as they were always meant to.
Lightning smiles.
Vanille and Fang both turn toward each other, faces nearly splitting in half with their smiles. Their fingers are interlaced and they are floating around in small circles linked together. The tremendous weight of the voices of the dead finally released from Vanille's shoulders has left her blindingly happy and relieved. No longer does she feel responsible for all of the horrible things of the past. Because of her, all of the dead are able to move on to the new world to be reborn. Fang no longer has to fear losing her long-time friend to her own sadness. Vanille has finally found peace, and with that, so has Fang.
Dajh and Sazh are united again. Dajh sits upon Sazh's shoulders, looking around at all the pretty lights, dark eyes wide in amazement and awe. He's young, very young, and may never truly remember the world that they came from. No like the rest of them will. Even other children had been alive for hundreds of years and were able to retain the memories forged during those times. Like Luka. But little Dajh has been sleeping for so long it's hard to imagine much of this world will stick with him, but perhaps that's not completely a bad thing. Sazh will remember. Lightning can see it in his eyes. Sazh will remember almost losing his son - twice - and still managing to find hope and keep living on long enough to get Dajh back. In this new world, it'll be a safer - hopefully - and kinder world for Dajh to grow up in. For him to peacefully forget the woes of the world he came from before.
In this new world, Serah and Snow can finally marry. They have been waiting over five hundred years for this moment and Lightning doubts that they will wait much longer for the moment once they get to this new world. Should they all remember one another. Should they somehow go to this new world and remember everything from the world they came from, Snow and Serah will finally be together. Their star-crossed romance will finally find a conclusion - not in death - but in marriage and hopefully a long, blissful life with one another.
Their love can survive anything now. For over five hundred years they've waited for one another. For the life they felt they could only share with each other. Now they will finally have the chance to settle down and make their shared dream a reality. The way they look at each other, even now, after so long, is filled with so much love that has transcended their time apart. It's like those hundreds of years were only moments.
Noel and Yeul, floating hand and hand, stare into the bright light with eager anticipation. After so long in being apart, they can finally be together. Two friends ripped apart by destiny, a Goddess and time. Something that Lightning, at one point, thought was impossible to deny, to somehow get the upper hand on. But then she, along with people she later would never trade for the world, became pawns in a large game of gods and they had no logical choice but to deny their destinies and fight back with every fiber of their beings in order to protect themselves, each other, and everyone they've ever loved.
And Hope. A child again with eyes wide and wiser than Lightning has ever seen in someone his age. Throughout most of this, while everyone was tossed and twisted one way or another by gods of all kinds of statures, Hope has probably had it one of the worst. The mind of an adult stuck in the body of a child and the memories of being the voice of Bhunivelze. His parents are gone, but now their souls wait for him on the other side, in the new world. Maybe he'll see them again. Maybe he won't.
Lightning doesn't know what will happen, but she hopes that somehow, what transpired on this planet will somehow remain with them forever. She doesn't want to be haunted by the lives she took, or the people she failed to save, but she doesn't believe they should be forgotten. They deserve to live on somehow and be learned from.
"We're ready, sis," Snow says, bring Lightning from her thoughts. She looks over at the Patron, smiling faintly, when he grins back at her. "We're all ready to go home."
Serah draws her eyes over to Lightning and nods. "We're here with you."
"Lead the way, Soldier-girl," Sazh says, hands of Dajh's knees to keep the boy on his shoulders balanced.
Vanille and Fang both straighten out, looking over at Lightning and smiling brightly at her, heads bobbing encouragingly. Noel gives Lightning a thumbs-up and Yeul dips her chin a bit, green eyes wiser for having lived more than a thousand different lifetimes.
Hope smiles up at her. "Let's go, Light."
Lightning nods slowly, her eyes scanning her friends, each in turn. Her eyes land on Serah's for a split second longer, taking in the fact that her little sister was finally there with her. Serah was finally safely back with her. They could finally be together. Then her eyes landed on Snow and she nods slowly at first, then once more, sharply and surely.
"Come on," Lightning says, giving her friends and family a half smile, "let's head on home."
Everyone nods in agreement and float after her. Lightning turns toward the light and as she gets closer, she closes her eyes, not sure what else to expect. But her forehead bonking against a smooth, invisible surface wasn't one of the many different things that passed through her mind. Lightning opens her eyes and pulls back, looking at the light in front of her, confused.
"The hell?" Lightning mutters, wondering if she had imaged her head hitting something.
"Somethin' wrong, Ligh'?" Fang calls out from behind her.
"Um...no," Lightning says softly, reaching her hand out in front of her, wondering if she would touch an invisible surface again. She didn't. Maybe she did just imagine it. Yes, with everything she's gone through - especially in the last thirteen days - it's expected that she's going to be slightly losing her mind. Lightning shakes her head, trying to clear her mind. It's stress. It's got to be.
Lightning starts to move forward again only to stop again when a shadow appears in the light, approaching them.
"What?" Snow says softly.
"Someone's coming here," Vanille says, a hint of warning in her voice.
"Again?" Fang says sharply.
Lightning backs up a bit, hoping that this wasn't another person - certainly not Bhunivelze, not with Caius and the rest of the Yeuls watching over him now forever - that wanted to fight them. This was suppose to be the end. They were suppose to be heading to the new world, to start their new lives. This had better not be someone else with a chip on their shoulder.
"So tense," the person says, and their voice is familiar to Lightning. The shadow appeared in front of them, obviously a man, but Lightning couldn't immediately place his voice. But someone else could.
"Dad?" Hope says, breathlessly.
Lightning glances back at the wide eyed white haired boy before squinting forward again. "Bartholomew? Is that you?"
Bartholomew looks between all of them, looking the exact same as the first, and last time really, that Lightning saw him. He smiles, but it's strange. It doesn't look like a real smile.
"Hello everyone," Bartholomew says calmly, looking at them. "It's nice to see that all of you were able to make it this far. You finally did it. You finally beat Bhunivelze, Ms. Farron. The Creators will be most pleased. But for now, you'll have to go back."
"What?" Lightning says sharply, eyebrows pulling together tightly.
"Dad?" Hope asks, a mixture of shocked and confused. "What are you talking about?"
Bartholomew shakes his head. "Sorry Hope, but I am not your father. I am merely a program made in his image."
"What are you talking about?" Hope asks, shaking his head.
Bartholomew's smile falls into cold detachment. "I am a failsafe put in place by one of Creators should you have managed to made this far - and he was smart to have put me here, or else you all would be stuck here at the end with no idea on what to do next. I'm here to congratulate you now and let you know that you did a wonderful job. Wonderful. Now, you will go back to the original first thirteen days and start the trial over again. Once you return to this point, there will be something for you to move on to. Perhaps a new trial."
"What does that mean, 'something to move on to'?" Snow asks, pulling Serah behind himself a bit. She looks up at him with wide eyes before looking back over at Bartholomew.
The image of Hope's father tilts his head tot he side. "Unfortunately, no one thought that you would be able to make it to this point and so there is nothing beyond this point for you to go to." He makes a gesture toward the light and stars beyond. "It's all just data creating a background. Nothing more."
"Data...?" Serah says slowly, glancing over at a narrow eyed Noel. "Like... a computer? We're in a computer?"
"A simulation, Ms. Farron," Bartholomew says, this time to Serah, "is more precise. You are in a simulated world."
"Are you saying everything is a lie?" Vanille asks, horrified, her hands flying up to her face in shock.
Bartholomew glances over at her now. "I'm not sure I understand. Lie? No. It was all a simulation. Everything but you. Everyone here now, was all part of the simulation. You are the only real things here. Everything - situations, conversations, places - were all constructed by the Creators. Even the people. Although most, unlike myself, are just situational programs whereas I am a complex virtual intelligence."
"Caius isn't real...?" Yeul asks softly, her eyebrows pulling together slightly.
"Caius Ballad here in the program is not real, but he was based off a real living person, if my data can be trusted, I'm not sure how long I've been in failsafe mode. Just like Bartholomew Estheim in this story is based off of the real Bartholomew Estheim."
"Sorry Hope," Fang say, looking over at the white haired boy, "but I don' give a shit. What the hell do ya mean we're in a simulation? Are you saying that this isn't real?"
"Yes," fake-Bartholomew says. "By my understanding, this has been an advance training regiment for super-soldier sleeper agents. Here you have been taught how to use magic, hone your muscles and mental capabilities to prepare you for your real mission. I'm not sure when you will be finished training, but I assure you, you should be proud of your progress thus far. Impressive."
Lightning glares at him. "You don't understand anything, do you? We are human beings, trapped in a fake world! There is nothing about this that should be praise worthy! This is a nightmare!"
The image of Bartholomew tilts his head again, unsympathetic. "I'm sorry that you feel that way. But don't worry. You won't remember this exchange. You will go back to the original thirteen days and try again, with no memory of the previous time you've been there. If my sensors are up to day, this next restart of the thirteen days will mark the fourteen time that you've gone through the simulation."
"God-damned thirteen!" Fang snarls, pulling out her spear and aiming it Bartholomew. "I fuckin' hate that number!"
Bartholomew smiles, cold and detached. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Ms. Oerba. But worry not, you won't rem-rem-rem-rem-ber-ber-ber," Bartholomew twitches violently. After a split second of him sputter off noises with no tangible understanding, he explodes. Sorta. He disappears in a violent explosion of data before he, and the rest of the universe, including their ticket to the new world, turns to data and disappears.
"What the hell?" Snow asks. Everyone looks around, watching the space around them turn into stings of fata before disappearing into nothing.
Yeul looks over at the disappearing universe with wide, green eyes. "Something powerful is here."
The entire universe goes dark.
Lightning opens her eyes and the first thing she sees is green. She tries to speak, but there is something in her mouth, down her throat. Air is filtering in and out of her lungs, forming bubbles in front of her face every time she exhales. She reaches through the green water to touch the smooth glass in front of her. Through it she can see a man staring in at her, his eyes wide.
His lips are moving but she can't hear him. It doesn't matter, though, he's not talking to her. There is about a dozen different people the room with them, that are Lightning's friends. It's a large, but narrow room that they are in. One both sides of the room there is a line of tubes filled with Lightning and her friends. Slowly, but surely, everyone is waking up and looking around, dazed and confused.
In the tube directly across from Lightning is Sazh. He's awake and looking around. He tries to breath out of sync with whatever has been giving him oxygen and ends up making choking gestures before managing to get back in sync again. Something happens in the far side of the room, a door, Lightning thinks, is blasted up, large metal chunks thrown into the room. Before anyone has any time to really react, bullets go flying into the room, slaughtering the people in front of Lightning.
Vanille, who was to the left of Sazh, jerks violently, eyes widening in shock. Within seconds, everyone, other than Lightning and her friends are dead and strange people wearing all blue long sleeves and pants clothes, a green scarf and a helmet that covers their eyes with three glowing red lights on the front come charging in, guns raised.
As they filter into the room, they check the bodies and look up at the people in the tanks while tilting their heads to the side.
Lightning looks through the opening, past Hope's tank to her left, and watches as a figure dressed in all black with a long red coat and hair, steps into the room, looking around with mild disinterest. He looks to the first tank to his right, it's Noel. He tilts his head slightly, saying something Lightning couldn't hear, before looking over at the tank to his left, Fang's tank and his eyes widen noticeably in shock. His head snaps toward the soldiers in the room and snaps something, waving his hand around and the men start scanning the controls in front of the tanks, looking for something.
Lightning runs her fingers across the smooth surface of the glace in front of her. Who were these people? Were they the 'Creators'? No, it must have been the people who were there before. They looked like scientists. Were they the 'Creators'? If so, then Lightning was kind of glad that they were no longer a problem. By that doesn't stop the issue with what was going on.
Everything they had gone through... it was all a simulation? Lightning just couldn't believe that. How could all of that have been a simulation? It wasn't just a few days... it was their life.
Fang leans forward a bit, looking through the murky green water at the frowning red head on the other side. His face, while devilishly handsome, is unfamiliar to her, but there was something about those eyes. The enrapturing blue, glowing brightly with an ethereal shine was achingly familiar. Something in Fang's chest tightened in remembrance, even if her brain couldn't conjure up any memories of this person. While beautiful, it was strange that only his eyes would be familiar to her.
The tips of her fingers touch the smooth, cool glass separating Fang from the mysterious red haired man staring in at her with angry narrowed eyes. However unnerving that glare and the undeniable intensity behind it is in her direction yet Fang doesn't feel any of the anger. Not really. While he's glaring, and his eyes are staring at her, the glare is directed at something beyond her. Not behind her or anything like that, but like the source of his rage is in the room with them, but he can easily see it in his mind's eye.
The man sighs, creases between his eyes smooth out and he reaches up to touch the spot on the other side of the glass from Fang's fingers. A part of Fang's mind wanted to pull her fingers away. She didn't know this person, while his eyes were familiar, she didn't want to forge some invisible connection between them. She didn't need him. But she couldn't pull away. She doesn't know this person, yet she can't deny him when looking into those glowing blue orbs. They were so achingly familiar that Fang couldn't look away.
There is a loud wailing noise that pulls Lightning away from staring at her dark skinned friend and the strange man to look at the soldier in front of her. He was pressing some buttons on the counsel connected to her pod and the wailing noise began. He steps back a bit, as if worried he broke something, but then the water started to drain from the pod. He looks over at the others and says something, but his voice is muffled, like the siren, by the water.
Thankfully the siren dies before Lightning's head reemerges from the green water. She sinks to the bottom of the tank, her legs shaky and unable to hold her up. She watches as the other pods start to drain as well. Once Lightning's pod is empty there is a pressurized seal that snaps open and the pod slowly splits into two, opening up for the soldier to reach out and take her arm and pull her from the pod and onto the cold ground. The marble floor shocks Lightning's skin, making gooseflesh appear.
Lightning, along with everyone else, was in a pair of white, skin tight shorts to about the middle of the thighs, and all the girls had a skin tight white band around their chest to keep their breasts bound. It was kind of hard to breath in. A different man, this one dressed completely similar to the soldiers but with a white scarf instead of a green one, drops to a knee in front of Lightning, looking at the contraption in her mouth hat leads back up to the pod.
"This may be a bit uncomfortable, ma'am, but please bare with it," the white scarfed soldier says, reaching forward to lightly rub at Lightning's throat. She could feel the tube in her throat, no doubt what he was looking for, and flinched at the strange feeling. She had to force herself to relax her throat as to not work up her gag reflex.
His fingers follow the length of her throat until his finger brush her collarbone before pulling back and laying his gun down next to him. Lightning eyes it for a moment but stays calm and relaxed.
"Can you get it out?" A smooth voice asks. Lightning's eyes flicker over to the red haired man. He hasn't left Fang's side, but was looking at her. At first, blankly, but then he got a good look at her face and a flash of recognition crosses his expression again. Lightning almost expected his eyes to narrow in anger again, like it had with Fang when he seemingly recognized her, but instead of anger, the color drained from his face, as if he's seen something horrible.
"Yes, General," the man in front of Lightning says, pulling her attention back to him. She could see other soldiers pulling her friends from the pods and lowering them onto the cold ground. They shiver just like Lightning did. "Alright, ma'am, I need you to start coughing. Just keep going, don't stop."
Lightning nods slightly before doing as he asked. It was odd how hard it was trying to do that. But as she coughed, he removed the tube from her throat - which was even weirder - but once it was gone, she was relieved to be able to breath on her own. Her throat was horrible sore and raw, but it was something she could overlook if she had to to be able to breath freely. It was some sort of plastic tube that was sticking down her throat. It makes the rose haired older sister grimace at the sight of it.
Lightning looks over at the red haired man, who was still staring at her with this horrified look on his face.
"You..." she croaks, unable to form words. When was the last time she had spoken? How long was she and her friends in those pods? Who were those people that had them? What was real?
The man - a general Lightning hears - holds his hand up to stop her, stepping aside so someone can open Fang's tank. After a quick glance to see them taking care of her, he walks over to Lightning, taking the place of the medic - Lightning assumes - as he moves over to Snow, who was next to Lightning's tank, to help him remove the plastic tube from his throat.
The man puts his hand onto Lightning's shoulder in a personal way that shows a familiarity that Lightning didn't know she had with this person. "Don't try to speak, Claire," the man says. "You're alright now." He shakes his head slowly, eyes scanning her face. "I can't believe you guys were actually here. Sephiroth is going to be so happy to hear that we've finally found you."
Lightning couldn't believe what she was hearing. Did this stranger just call her Claire? And who in the world is Sephiroth? Where the hell were they? What was going on?