The One You Love – A different timeline begins…...
The Arbitrator of Time told Serah and Noel when they arrived in the arena, that only the victors would be allowed to leave the Coliseum. They had fought and won each battle up to now, leaving three more battles to win before they would be allowed to leave. When the Arbitrator presented one of the opponents they would have to defeat, Serah had a fit.
"NO!" Serah yelled, "I won't do it! I'm not fighting Snow!"
"We can't leave if you don't!" Noel yelled back.
"Then I'll just stay here. You fight him!" She loudly retorted back, "and I'm not fighting Lightning, either! I'll fight with them, but I won't fight against them! What's wrong with everyone, anyway?!"
"I can't fight him alone, Serah, and I can't solve the paradoxes by myself either." Noel said, raising his hand, and trying to reason with her.
"I've done everything that's been asked of me, but I'm not doing this!" She yelled back at Noel, and turned her back on him, her arms tightly crossed in front of her.
Noel turned to Arbitrator of Time and asked, "Is there another way of doing this?" The Arbitrator of Time paused to ponder the question, then answered "The rules are set; only the ultimate victors will be allowed to leave."
The Arbitrator of Time had never had this happen before, someone refusing to fight. "This is a coliseum of battle, you must fight!" He angrily growled at Serah.
"I'll just stay with Snow and fight with him, and Lightning, until we can all leave together" Serah yelled back, her voice echoing through the large arena. "I've had enough of this, anyway! Every time we fix a paradox, we create three more" Serah said, getting more angry by the minute.
Noel threw up his hands in frustration, then starting pacing, trying to think of a way to please everyone.
"You haven't that choice" The Arbitrator claimed in a roaring voice "Only I can decide who will stay and who may leave!" He then cast a spell on Serah, one that was supposed to make her want to fight – no matter who the opponent was.
Serah resisted the magic with all of her being, "They are not going to make me do this, even if it kills me, they are not going to make fight Snow and Lightning" she thought, "Focus Serah, fight the magic, don't give in."
She fell to the floor on her hands and knees, she was dizzy and her head began to pound with pain. "I won't surrender, I won't give in."The pain was almost unbearable making Serah scream out in agony, but refused to give in to the spell.
The Arbitrator of Time could not believe what he was witnessing. "No one should be able to resist the magic. It had always worked, how was she doing this?"
"Serah!" Snow yelled, he couldn't bear the sound of her screams. "Leave her alone you son-of-a-bitch!" Snow yelled at the Arbitrator, fighting to escape the grip of the chaos that was holding him back from her. "Noel, do something! Help her!" he yelled again, but Noel had his own problems. The Arbitrator had frozen Noel where he stood, unable to move to help Serah.
The chaos crept across the floor and engulfed Serah, her screams of agony suddenly went silent. Rising to her feet, the greater part of the chaos dissipated, she yelled, "Snow!", then began running towards him. He embraced her again, as he had so long ago, before the universe had turned upside down.
"Serah" he said, with a regretful sound in his voice, "You know what this means, don't you?" She looked up at him, and smiled "Yes, I know, but I'm with you, and I have no regrets." He leaned down and kissed her on top of her head. She held him tightly, as Noel walked up to the two.
"The Arbitrator has told me I have to leave, the contest has been corrupted. I'll do what I can to correct the timeline without you, Serah" he said sadly, looking at the streamers of chaos that slowly swirled around the couple. Serah turned to Noel, and said "You know what was going to happen to me eventually, at least this way, I'll be with the one I love."
Noel nodded his head, and turned to enter the gate to leave. "It's all up to me, now."