Betas (Many Thanks To): 0erbaYunFang, Cromag Ravenstaff
Introduction
First Serious, Lengthy Planned out Fanfic. I will make mistakes. Strongly want everyone IC. I will need lot's of reviews, PM if you want to be my beta. This is a prologue, first couple of chapters will be also. Hope you enjoy! M for DGLSV. Eventual Pairings: Romantic Pairings - Hope x Light, Snow x Serah, Noel x Yeul - Familiar Pairings - Sazh x Dajh, Sazh x Vanille, Vanille x Fang, Snow x Hope
Jour Un: La Terre de Nos Rêves
If there were one thing I could do to save this world, no matter the cost, I'd do it.
The dimly lit analog television flickered, centered against the wall of the poorly illuminated room. With subtle movements, a pale finger clicked upon the plastic buttons that framed the bottom of the monitor. A luminous discharge of static electricity snapped in the air. A feminine figure emerged upright, silhouetted, as the early morning light filled the room. Her mind wandered. Frustration boiled on edge; she could not take it anymore.
It will only delay the inevitable.
Her arm swiped across the table in front of her. The television crashed to the ground with a shatter. "Aaaagh!"
Nothing… No matter what we do… None of it will help.
Hope stirred in his bed with a groan. Bringing his arms above his head, he let out a deep sigh. The sun had just risen, but not enough to make the ceiling hold color other than a low light grey. He rolled over on his side, picking up his phone off the dresser next to him. "Ugghh… 5:13."
Well now that I'm awake… might as well…
He adjusted himself so that he sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing his eyes and face. He heard a low-volume humming of indistinguishable voices, presumably coming from the apartment adjacent to his.
Light's awake… As usual… Wonder what she does this early in the morning.
He smiled at the thought.
She'd look nice in a robe… and cat ears... It'd probably… Don't think like that... You're gonna die if she found out you saw…
He walked into the kitchenette of his apartment, opening the fridge taking out the carton labeled Florida's Own. He took a cleaned glass from next to the stainless-steel sink adjacent to him and began to pour the orange fluid.
I wonder how she is considering yest- what the hell was that?!
A loud thump came from behind the wall next to him. He walked over and put his ear against it.
Probably tripped or something… No, on second thought… Well whate-
With the shout through the thin wall, Hope dropped his glass on the floor. It shattered into finer shards as the carton of orange juice fell atop it. With a stagger backwards, his foot stepped on his slipper. "Ow!"
He grabbed the side of the counter next to him. Pulling himself up, he worriedly wobbled to his door.
A light knock and equally light voice came from the entryway. "Light? You all right?"
She sat in the chair, head in hands, gaining her composure; she was frustrated with herself. With his voice her head shot up. He was the person she wanted to see least right now. He, out of all was the most against her. His futile illusions.
"If you don't answer me I'm going to…"
"Look. Hope. Leave me alone."
It upset her talking to him in the tone she did, it was out of her character even, but she couldn't stand to talk to anyone right now.
He sensed the tone of despair in her voice. "Light, if there is something wrong, you know you can tell me."
"Hope. Just, drop it. It's not a good time. Just go back to your apartment."
"Light… If you need anyth-"
"Hope!" Her fist slammed into the table, rattling the glassware atop it.
"Look, Light! I'm not leaving." His voice rang with determination.
She rose from her chair with a swift and fervent movement, her hands slapping down upon the chilled marble countertop. Her rosette mane veiled around her head as it sank downwards.
His hands fiddled with lock on her door. "We have each other's backs remember? I know what's going on in your mind right now, it's not as if I don't feel the same way… But, Light, the things is, I know that you and I, together… just us… we will overcome anything."
"This isn't just anything Hope. There is no cheating fate, not special tricks, no stopping time, no magic. There will be sacrifices, perils, destruction. What's worst of all, what can we do to stop it? Just sit by and watch. That's it. We fight it… we lose… we retreat… we die." She jumped at his touch, his hand upon hers, hot, as if she had been frozen in a tomb of ice.
The stinging heat of the showering water sent needles into her skin with each droplet. She could not feel anything else, just the heat of the water. It helped release her from the currents of chaos that once dominated her life, and the ones churning, once again assuming command. They began to once again pull her away, forming a new reality: a reality where only pain existed, the water being only another reminder of that. Even with a defeated enemy, moments of bliss were just that, moments. This lead to the thoughts: was it their destiny to be eternal warriors, was it impossible to escape the fate of l'Cie after all? She and the others were destined to be servants, not to fal'Cie, Chaos, nor Gods; but to humanity, to be its shields, its guardians, she knew that now.
Whorls of steam surrounded and consumed her flesh with heat. Entropy, an aspect of heat, and of the law of thermodynamics, but not to be confused with its role in physics, is also that which holds her to the role of servant.
Humanity will continue to be threatened. It needs servants to balance the world; to protect it, not only from the outside, but from itself as well. That role of servant once belonged to the fal'Cie and Gods, but they failed in their servitude. Yet, that role, that torch, had to be taken up by someone else; Etro was the first to see it. And she saw the torch within me, within Serah, Hope, Snow, Noel, Sazh…
Now without her to guide us, we are destined to live out life through the experiences of pain, loss, and suffering. That's what it is to be a servant, to brunt the forces of emotion that are too hard for humans to contain, to fight the enemies that humans can't see, to oppose the enemies that they cannot fight by themselves, to help reason upon themselves to disrupt inner conflict; most of all to constantly fight the inevitable, the destruction of humanity, of its freedoms and ideas, values and beliefs, cultures and ways of life - all that which humans hold dearest. 'Humans' not 'we', for I am no longer one.
Her sigh fogged up the droplet-covered shower door as she leaned into its refreshing coolness. "We are no longer human."
No doubt that the others, perhaps even Snow in a way, were suffering from the same depression, confusion, and despair that she was enduring. She thought of what Hope had said earlier, his words still ringing through her ears. "We will overcome…"
Through her thoughts of their argument, the coolness of the glass door no longer became refreshing. She stepped from the shower, dripping water on the floor before wrapping herself in a white towel and wringing the water that was absorbed into her pale fuchsia hair. The steam was swept away by the whirring of the fan overhead as she flipped its switch before stepping out, "You're still here?"
His face framed by his hand as he was presumably in deep thought as she interrupted, "Ye-yeah… Yes… I guess I lost track of time."
She's beautiful… So- Hope, get it together… It's not like you haven't seen her figure before… but… this… this is different… this is…. so…
"Enchanting."
A single tear tore itself from her eye, "Hope… I've lost you."
Authors Note:
That's a wrap, as you can probably already tell, from the chapter, and the summary, this will be a story about the clashing of morals, beliefs, and ideals of our characters. That was Lightnings. Next couple chapters will explain Hope's and how his relate to hers. From there more gritty details of the story will be revealed, as in, what are the actual physical enemies of humankind, who or what is pulling the strings, etc. After that sequence of events more of our characters morals will be displayed for all of you to see. After that we will be getting into the real story ;) which I've got some sinister plans for.
Estimated Story Length & Layout (Potential Spoilers for the Story)
Length, It's an estimate remember: 500k words
Story: Split into three parts
Part One: This Part, Lvl 1 - Easy (Kind of an Introduction but still could be a whole story on it's own, like FFXIII-1)
Part Two: Lvl 2 – Intermediate (Time travel involved but only once, the future, 24th century)
Part Three: Lvl 3 – Hard (Finding source of enemy, getting better at what they are doing, achieving neutrality with the enemy, being able to hold own)
Plans to have 2 sequels.
~ You may try, but you will not always succeed.
Additional Thoughts/Beta's Note:
Beta's note: Looks like Lightning's having an existential crisis. All godliness or magic she might have had, however, would have been removed as she was reborn into the new world, however, so she should have nothing to worry about, right? Same goes for everyone else, because magic doesn't exist in our world; not their brand of magic, anyhow. I'm guessing she hasn't come to terms with it yet.