It was late. After a long day at work, assistant to the director, Alyssa Zaidelle was walking home from the Academy headquarters. The streets of Academia were dark, the rain poured heavily and the wind whistled through the city's numerous alleyways. Academia was a place Alyssa loved, through the day it was a place full of prosperity and joy; but, in the evening, the streets were cruel and only the strongest survived. Alyssa knew this better than anyone, the Academy was quite aware of the criminal activity that took place during the evening. With a cowl covering her face, Alyssa made a hasty walk back to her apartment in the city centre. As Alyssa came closer to home, she began to relax, her walk slowed and she took off her cowl and let the rain pour over her face. The door to her apartment block was only a few feet in front of her when she heard something.
"Alyssa" a faint, devilish voice called out.
Alyssa turned to see where the voice had come from, she saw nothing but darkness shrouding the streets. Alyssa turned back towards the direction of her apartment, her walk sped up and she hastily made her way towards the door. She opened it, making sure to shut it behind her.
"Alyssa, stay where you are" the voice called again.
Alyssa's brisk walk turned into a run as she dashed up the first 3 flights of stairs. The steps in her apartment were marble and she struggled to keep her balance whilst running in wet boots. Upon reaching the door of her apartment on the fifth floor, Alyssa fell smashing her elbow on the solid marble flooring.
"Alyssa, you cannot defy your fate, come to me!" the voice said in an abrupt tone.
Alyssa ignored the pain of her elbow and crawled towards her door. Speedily grabbing her key card from her pocket, she swiped in against her door lock, stood up and then ran into her room, making sure to lock it as she entered. Alyssa let out a sigh of relief as she composed herself, removed her boots and her jacket, and then made her way to her bathroom. Relaxed and confident that she was now safe, Alyssa undressed and made her way into the shower. Meanwhile, somebody was at her door! Whilst showering, Alyssa heard the creak of her front door opening! Her heart started racing and her body swelled up with fear. She turned off the shower, jumped out and swung on her grey and yellow night gown, her hair and body still wet. Fearful of what lied beyond her bathroom door, Alyssa opened her medicine cupboard, she pulled out a pair of hairdressing scissors and held them tightly in her right hand. She approached the door with caution, taking deep breaths as she did so. She put her free hand on the door knob and turned it slightly. Alyssa took a peak out of the small opening and looked into her lounge, standing there was a tall, muscular figure with long purple hair and a terrifying sword which was almost the size of her. This man was obviously up to no good, Alyssa knew that if she was to survive tonight, she would have to fight for her life. She bracer herself, plucked up all her courage, swung open the door and lunged towards the back of the figure with her scissors. Alyssa fell, the figure that she saw as clear as day standing in her living room had vanished. Brushing herself off, Alyssa stood up, scissors still in hand. She turned her head to the left, and then to the right, but there was no sign of the man. But then suddenly, Alyssa felt a sharp, painful prick pushing into her back, her heart sank and she began to sweat.
"Is that anyway to welcome a visitor?" She heard a voice ask.
Alyssa looked over her shoulder, behind her stood the man, pushing his sword into her back. "What do you want?" Alyssa enquired, "you can take my money, just... please don't kill me". Alyssa's eyes filled up with tears and she began to cry from fear. The man lowered his sword.
"Child, I come not for your money, I come for your assistance. My name is Caius Ballad. Pleased to meet you".
Alyssa turned to face the man and stepped back a safe distance. "Get away from me, leave now!" Alyssa screamed at Caius whilst throwing the scissors at him.
The scissors hit his hulking chest and bounced off. "Ha, leave? But I've only just arrived.", Caius threw down his sword and put his hands in the air. "Child I bring you no harm, I've only come to ask you a favour".
Alyssa crossed her arms and shot Caius a glare. "Ask me a favour? I don't even know you, whatever it is you want from me, you're not having it!".
Caius grinned, and glared back at Alyssa, "you know of the time travellers Serah Farron and Noel Kreiss am I correct?" Caius asked.
"So what if I do?" Alyssa replied.
"If you do, you could prove to be a very useful resource. Now, I would like you to answer my question, do you know Serah Farron and Noel Kreiss yes or no?" Caius asked, his voice unusually soft and mellow.
A pause. Alyssa continued to glare at Caius, with a moment of thought Alyssa answered his question. "Yes, yes I do. They're friends of the directors and they're staying in the city right now".
Caius let out a snigger and turned his back to Alyssa. "Excellent, Alyssa do you ever worry that the director values them more than he values you?" Caius asked as he paced around Alyssa's room.
A frown dressed Alyssa's face and she scratched her head "Umm... I guess I do. All the director ever talks about are his journeys with these people, Serah, Sazh, I think one of them is called Lightning and some guy called Snow. I bet when he meets other people he never talks about me".
"I think the director under values you Alyssa, he cares more for his friends than he does his caring, funny and attractive assistant. I refer to you as his assistant because he obviously doesn't consider you to be a friend. Well Alyssa, let me ask you this, how would you like to rid your world of these people. I present you this". Caius held out a beautiful jade crystal in his hand.
Alyssa looked at it in curiosity, "Umm, Mr. Caius, what is it exactly".
Caius's evil grin grew bigger with every naivety he spotted, "this is an artefact, a key to another time period! Alyssa, deliver this to Serah and Noel, using this key will cause them to become lost in another dimension. Time and space will fall apart, they will cease to exist, their friends will have forgotten them, the future and the past will change, and you Alyssa, you will have the director all to yourself".
Intrigue, excitement and doubt covered Alyssa's face, "so this artefact has the power to completely erase any trace of Serah and Noel?" Alyssa hesitantly asked.
"As I just said, using this artefact will rid your lives of Serah and Noel and erase any trace that they ever existed" Caius said as he looked directly into Alyssa's eyes.
Still not convinced that this small and beautiful crystal could make her life perfect, Alyssa asked Caius a question! "So say this artefact doesn't work, will I be compensated for my troubles".
Caius frowned and let out a sigh, "it will work, but if you doubt me...", at that moment, Caius snapped his fingers and Gil showered down from the ceiling and began to flood Alyssa's lounge. Alyssa was shocked, she danced for job and clapped her hands furiously. "This is all yours Alyssa. Rid the world of Serah and Noel and I promise you a life of wealth, power and love".
Alyssa, who was still dancing and throwing Gil around her apartment like a crazy lady turned to face Caius with the largest smile imaginable. She ran over and hugged him, "I'll do it, give me that key, I won't fail you... master" Alyssa said cheekily as she gave Caius a wink. He stood there awkwardly, but he kept his composure. Caius pushed gently on Alyssa's shoulder who took that as a sign to let go, she loosened her grip, stepped back and saluted Caius. "Alyssa, don't fail me!" Caius said as he passed her the artefact. "This artefact will only work on the broken gate in the town, make sure you tell them that!".
"Your wish is my command" Alyssa exclaimed.
Caius walked over to where he had dropped his sword, he picked it up and turned to face Alyssa. "If that is so, then I shall take my leave" he said.
And within a second Caius had faded away, leaving Alyssa with a simple task and a promising future.
Foolish girl, you will rid the world of Serah and Noel. If Serah had ceased to exist, Cocoon would never have fallen. Your future will not work out the way you planned it to!
