Blessed Chapter 1: Memories
Author's Note: Welcome to the first chapter of "Blessed". Just a few reference things I should clear up before you guys start reading….. any words in italics are memories or flashbacks. In addition this story takes place during the fifth book of Harry Potter and after Caius attempts to trap Noel and Serah in the Void Beyond in FF13-2. Hope you guys enjoy the story! Happy Holidays~!
Disclaimer: I own nothing expect the original plot of this story. I do not own Harry Potter or Final Fantasy 13-2
3rd Person P.O.V
As they drifted through the Historia Crux in direction of Academia, Serah couldn't help but let her mind wander to the events that had just transpired. She knew that Noel had already let his mind go astray because a deep vacancy had entered his gaze as he tried once again to retreat into his mind and retrieve his lost memories. Serah followed suite and allowed her conscious to be washed away into the wave of her recent memories.
Her feet scuffed hollowly against the stone terrain as she ran to the figure in the distance. Serah Farron ran desperately to growing vision of the next Yeul. Would this Yeul finally tell her how to escape from this prison?
"Yeul!" Serah called to the young girl. The girl in question did nothing in response besides stare vacantly into the black depths of the Void Beyond almost as if there was no one talking to her at all.
"There once were six and one l'cie, and their story is a miracle." She recited still staring into the depths of the Void not bothering to face the person to whom she was addressing.
"The six…that was Lighting and Snow and the others! And the one… that must be me!"
"They were all bound to the same focus, one which they completed and led them to a horrible fate. But the Goddess Etro saw their courage and released them from that fate. The Goddess blessed the six l'cie and the one, and another one, a child." Yeul explained.
"So it was the Goddess who saved us that day?" Serah asked
"Yes."
"Is that why I can time travel? Wait Snow can time travel as well! Does that means anyone blessed by Etro possess the gift?" Serah deducted putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
"You are correct."
"Are we the only ones beside the Seeress who have ever been blessed?" Serah questioned. If there were other people who had been blessed perhaps they had also been meddling with time.
"Yes…." Yeul replied finally turning towards Serah. The look in her eyes was definite and there was no dishonest in them but suddenly her stance began to soften, her knees began to buckle and soon she was seated on the ground, her eyes wide open and glowing with a new vision.
" Wait…. That's not- It can't be!"
"Yeul? What's wrong?" Serah asked as she kneeled beside the Seeress.
"I –I see a baby. He-he's crying because his mother is putting him down." She gasped sharply and his voice was etched with effort, she almost looked in pain. "Someone- someone's coming."
"Who?" Serah asked in concern but to no effect, Yeul as too deep in her vision to hear her questions.
"No! Don't do it!" The young girl cried. "The mother she's dead and the killer- he's going for the child!"
"No!" Serah yelled as if her cries could change what she knew was coming next.
"What's happening?" Yeul asked her hands shaking from some unknown amazement.
"What?"
"The flash…. it just bounced off!" Yeul explained her full body trembling. Finally the glow from her eyes disappeared and she was once again brought hurtling back towards reality.
"It appears that we're not the only ones who have received Etro's blessing." The young Seeress announced as grabbed onto Serah's outstretched arm and helped herself to her feet.
"The boy in your vision… he was blessed too? Who is he?"
"I don't know. He had this strange scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt."
"How could he have gotten that?"
Suddenly, as if the wave of the memory had finally washed over her, Serah found herself once again drifting in the Historia Crux with Noel calling her name as he floated in front of her.
"Serah are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine Noel. Just thinking is all." Serah waved off trying to smile as a cold chill shot through her spine as a side effect of the unpleasant memory.
"I know what you mean." Noel sympathized as he allowed himself to float back towards Serah's side. "I can't help the feeling that Caius is going to do something awful to that kid."
Both of travelers once again allowed the ocean of memories to pass over them as they eased into yet another unpleasant memory.
Noel and Serah had finally escaped their nightmares and found Noel's dream world desecrating back into the Void Beyond and were surprised to see Caius and Yeul still there. Caius held Yeul as she lay on the ground and withered in pain as yet another vision came to her.
"The boy," Yeul whispered. "That boy with the scar….what a poor boy." She whispered as she reached a hand to the sky. "His other world where is it?"
"I know Yeul." Caius said as his brows furrowed together and he tried to still her shaking body. "It's alright; it'll all be over soon. I'll make sure of it."
Serah and Noel pushed these thoughts back into a deep crevice of their mind and focused on what was ahead. They had faded back into the Historia Crux before Caius detected them but now they needed to find Hope back at Academia in 4XX to tell him what they had learned.
"We've got to get back to Hope. He might know something about this other world Yeul mentioned." Serah inquired.
"I'm starting to think that might not be such a good idea…." Noel trailed off a familiar tone of anger lacing in with his words.
"And why not?"
"Think about it Serah. We've never had anything bad happen to us in the Historia Crux before and suddenly when Alyssa gives us an artefact free of charge after she had a change of heart we end up in the Void Beyond with Caius hot on our tails? Coincidence?" Noel questioned sarcastically.
"You think Alyssa sabotaged us?" Serah cried in disbelief.
"That's what it looks like."
"Only one way to find out, kupo!" Mog chimed in as a light from the end of the tunnel began to block the travelers' sight. "Here we go, kupo!"
Soon the world around Serah and Noel turned to a bright white light as they noticed their bodies start to shimmer. Within a blink of an eye the whiteness gradually began to gain colours and those colours soon formed shapes, and soon the streets of Academia formed around them.
They fell onto the surface of the street simultaneously and were glad to see that Academia seemed the same as had they had left it. The constant chatter of the busy bodies who inhabited the city still buzzed around in the atmosphere and in the distance the Academy building still stood strong and tall; impressive as ever.
"Come on Serah, we have to get Academy headquarters." Noel called back as he began to run.
"Right behind you!" She replied easing into a run herself.
"Wait for me, kupo!" Mog cried as he failed once again to keep up with his human companions. Once the team finally managed to navigate through the bustling streets of the city into the headquarters they found Hope and Alyssa already waiting for them behind the entrance doors.
"Why are you guys back so early?" Alyssa asked her voice completely calm and her eyes steady. If she was lying she was doing a good job at it.
"Don't play dumb Alyssa!" Noel snarled as he stepped forward to look down upon the girl. "That artefact you gave us sent us on a silver platter right to Caius!"
"What do you mean?" Alyssa asked suddenly her eyes growing wide with shock. "What happened?"
"When we got into the Historia Crux everything went haywire and we got sent to the Void Beyond!" Noel explained his voice raising.
"We got separated and Mog disappeared. Caius tried to imprison us in dream worlds but thankfully we got out." Serah continued with a calm voice.
"I had no idea that was going to happen!" Alyssa swore.
"I somehow doubt that." Noel muttered to himself.
"Alyssa…." Hope began turning sharply to face his companion. "You never told me that you gave that arefact to Serah. You said that they found it." Serah and Noel looked at each other in recognition, soon Alyssa's lies would come to an end.
"I did? Well…. I just wanted them to be off on their way as fast as possible so….. I told you that they found it so you wouldn't have to approve the testing I did to clear the arefact through the Academy." Alyssa admitted with a nervous chuckle.
"But you still performed the tests?" Hope asked raising a skeptical eyebrow. Noel started tapped his foot impatiently, did Hope still want to trust Alyssa? He figured that the two of them had formed quite a bond of trust over the many years they had been together but even so Noel knew that when Hope discovered the truth that he wouldn't spare Alyssa of any punishment.
"Yes of course." Alyssa nodded smiling.
"So if I were to look at the file for this artefact the tests would read all clear?" Hope continued as he walked towards a computer.
"Well I think that they may have accidently gotten deleted." Alyssa added awkwardly.
Hope turned back towards Alyssa and his stare was a cold as ice. "Things don't get accidently deleted in the Academy. Nor do they ever get deleted at all," his firm tone leaving no room for contradictions. When Alyssa finally bowed her head in defeat Hope called to the staff.
"Seize her!" He ordered.
"No, Director please! I didn't mean to-" Alyssa yelled as the Academy guards dragged her away.
When they had pulled her behind a corner into the next hall Hope whispered to himself; "It doesn't matter what you meant to do, it was the fact that you did it." He looked down at his feet and for a moment he in took a shaky breathe and his eyebrows knitted together.
Serah and Noel finally decided to enter the conversation again after Hope had a few minutes to recover. "Are you alright?" Serah asked putting a reassuring hand on Hope's shoulder.
"That doesn't matter right now." Hope commented as he raised his head and took another cleansing breathe. "You came back to tell me something?"
"Well despite almost getting trapped by Caius our trip to the Void Beyond was quite productive. We discovered so much." Serah smiled.
"Oh?" Hope asked his white eyebrows rising with surprise.
"We finally know what Caius wants now." Noel continued. "He's trying to make the world into Valhalla so that time will stop."
"Why would he want that?" Hope volleyed.
"He's trying to stop time so that he can save the Seeress, Yeul." Serah elaborated.
"Because if there's no time…. She wouldn't have to have any visions anymore!" Hope gasped making the connection.
"Exactly." Noel confirmed.
"That's sickening." Hope stated his eyes darkening. "If Caius truly cares about Yeul he would listen to her. She wanted the future to be better didn't she? Imagine how sad she'll be once she sees the damage Caius has caused."
"He just doesn't seem to understand what he's doing to her. That or he doesn't care." Noel snorted.
"On a more positive note!" Serah interjected. "We have important news."
"Which is?" Hope inquired.
"Your dream of time travel might not be far off." Noel responded
"How so?" Hope asked.
"Well we found out why Snow, Lighting and I can all time-travel." Serah announced. "That day when we all woke up from our crystal sleep it was the Goddess Etro that saved us."
"That's the same Goddess the Seeress was blessed by!" Hope remembered.
"So when she saved you guys, you were all blessed by Etro and given the ability to time travel." Noel clarified.
"Which means because you, Snow and Lightning received the gift, so did I?" Hope asked still not quite sure that what he was hearing was actually true.
"Yes." Serah giggled as she observed Hope dumbfounded face. But after the shock finally wore off on Hope, he came to the same conclusion that Serah had reached not too long ago.
"Were there any others who received Etro's blessing?" He asked the two travelers.
"Yes there was this boy Yeul mentioned." Serah informed.
"What boy?" Hope asked. Serah opened her mouth to answer but reframed, the boy's story sounded all too similar to Hope's.
"A boy with a lightning scar. Someone tried to kill him and his mother sacrificed herself to save him." Noel answered obliviously. Hope eyes immediately downcast and suddenly he felt the need to swallow frequently.
"I see then. His mother was a brave woman." Hope remarked his glance still cast on the floor. Serah looked to Noel and found a confused expression glazing his features. He obviously hadn't realized what his comments had meant to Hope. Serah side stepped once and jabbed him in the side sharply with her elbow.
"What was that for?" Noel demanded.
"You're really oblivious aren't you?" Serah whispered back.
"What?"
"Hope's mom died in the Purge!" Serah explained keeping her voice hushed.
"Oh." Noel remarked his lips forming the shape of the letter he had just said. "Hey Hope?" Noel called snapping Hope back into the present reality.
"Oh sorry. I appeared to have lost my attention for a moment." Hope chuckled nervously. "So when the mother saved this boy… the goddess blessed him?" Hope asked his normal composure returning.
"Yes, or at least that's what we believe." Serah confirmed.
"Yeul was having a vision of him when he got out of the nightmares." Noel provided. "She said something about 'his other world'."
"Is it even possible for him to be from another world?" Serah asked Hope, hoping for some incite.
"The Academy hasn't found any evidence proving or disproving the possibility of other worlds. So I guess that doesn't mean it's impossible." Hope shrugged.
"I'm starting to feel really worried about this boy." Serah trailed off.
"Why?" Hope asked.
"If Caius wants to take away Yeul's suffering wouldn't he do anything to eliminate the cause of said suffering?" Serah explained.
"You think that-?" Hope began.
"Caius is going to kill him? You can count on it." Noel finished smugly.
"We have to do something!" Serah cried.
"How? We don't even know how to get there!" Noel reasoned.
"But hopefully neither will Caius. We'll just have to bet him to the method." Hope offered helpfully.
"If either of us ever find it." Noel groaned.
"We have to try! We have to warn them before Caius arrives!" Serah insisted.
"You're right, but we still have to find a way to get there." Noel agreed. With the argument settled Serah turned towards Hope and prepared once again to bid him farewell.
"I guess Noel and I will go back to the Historia Crux and look around." She stated. She was used to seeing the disappointment in Hope's eyes whenever she and Noel left him but this time was different. There was a new fire in his eyes which she had only seen a few times before.
"No. I think I should go." Hope said with conviction. "I can time travel after all."
"But Hope-" Serah started.
"You two need to solve the paradoxes in the timeline. You can't be off doing anything else." Hope reminded her.
"What about your projects here?" Noel asked.
"The Academy will take care of them for me." Hope covered. "Besides….." he trailed off looking towards the corner in which they had dragged his traitorous companion not too long ago. "I think I need to get out of here for a little."
~END OF CHAPTER! HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!~
