Shout outs to HurbrisP and Mikigirl18 for their aweosme reviews. I'm not very picky or a person that needs reviews before I post again... But I thought I'd start saying thank you to some of the people that keep sticking it out for this monster.
The slums of Luxerion were the providence of the lesser known cults but also more importantly, the Children of Etro who ruled with an iron fist over what little land that they've manage to hold on to against the larger strength of the Order of Salvation. And while the headquarters were very deep within the slums, Noel Kriess, the defacto leader lived quite close to the edge, to the battlegrounds for lack of a better term. The Inquisitors were a nasty bunch naturally and he wouldn't tolerate them preying on the weaker members of any of the cults or other groups with in the slums.
The Shadow Hunter was out on patrol strolling around those barrier lines. Waiting for information. There had been a lot of gossip stirring among the people. Word of God's champion, the savior, being sighted around this time. While Noel was pretty sure that was bullshit he had cause to be wary. If the members of the Children of Etro got too excited it could lead to mass murders and he didn't need that among all his other problems.
Plus there were other strange rumors to investigate before he went to see Vanille again. The older Pulisan woman had become something of a comfort as he waited for the countdown to begin. She was one of the few of them that had a purpose that transcended. That knew what they were going to be doing going forward. As far as he knew, his whole purpose was to corral the different fanatical groups and keep them from causing too much damage.
So lost in his thoughts, he almost didn't notice that he was about to step into a chaos infusion. He sighed wearily and lifted his head up. Inside the infusion seemed to be no other people and with his own powers of Chaos, the chasm within him that was meant to house the heart, easily absorbed enough of the power within the chaos that he could easy fight whatever was inside.
Still Noel was not suicidal and there was no point in actually braving an infusion if no one was inside. Power absorbed he about faced and started to head back towards his apartment. He'd done enough wandering for the day. It was on his path back that he'd come across two unusual people. Chaos walkers to be exact. Or at least he thought they were chaos walkers.
It was the nickname given to the few who could flourish in chaos. Those that were dead, but retained their consciousness even while existing in chaos. Like Hope's parents who he often kept a close counsel with when he was outside of the city. But these beings seemed unusually solid. Once was a pink haired girl, glad all in black. A stylish black skirt that belonged in a place like Yusnaan, not Luxerion. And a young man, who looked rather like an assassin. Something about the young man sparked familiarity in Noel.
Not that he could see much to tell. The young woman did as well. But something inside him seem called to the young man. He was wearing standard work pants, something that harkened to the days when the Academy was in power. But what made that different was the cowl that covered his face. A dark green that covered most of his face. It made Noel unsure of how the man could even see. But when the man turned to his companion there was a flash of silver hair.
Noel felt his knees weaken. Since the chaos flooded, silver hair had become very hard to come by. In the riots and the chaotic rise of the Order of Salvation many who had silver hair had been killed for it's association to Hope and well the concept of 'hope.' And in Luxerxion it was common for the few that might have silver hair to dye it any color but such.
"You're kind of an odd pair." He called out to them. It wasn't uncommon for people to pass through Lexerion. But this was too strange of an occurrence for him to pass by.
"We might be." The girl stuck her tongue out at him and Noel couldn't help but laugh. The girl had to be naturally older then him. She walked up to him, almost carefree and peered up into his eyes. Her blue eyes though showed brightly with intelligence and chaos.
"Sooooooooo you're the Shadow Hunter?" She asked quietly. "We were sent by Lightning. Care to give us a place to stay?"
Noel felt gut punched. Why would Lightning suddenly trust outsiders. Were these people even real. He reached for his swords but a hand was suddenly over his wrist, fingers nimbly playing with the beads on the twine that wrapped around his arm. It was some familiar that his heart-ached.
"We have a lot to talk about… but not here. Forgive my escort for being rather immature.
"That's not very nice." The girl stomped her feet. But Noel wasn't paying any attention to her. The man beside him was Hope. There was no denying it. And he wasn't sure of what to do. His mind felt as if it were moving much slower then the rest of the world. He trembled and the chaos walker, Hope wrapped his hand around Noel's.
"Surely… you can give an old friend a place to stay?"
Noel's apartment wasn't a place to really house guests. But he had a feeling that this set wouldn't mind. He gestured them to the threadbare couch and collapsed on the floor. Every inclination he had within him was to swept Hope into his arms. But the other had acted downright cold. As if Noel was nothing more then a reluctantly met subordinate.
Once inside the pink haired girl, that Noel had finally truly looked at. She looked so much like Serah that he wondered how he didn't even notice it before. But he knew he'd been preoccupied with Hope. That and the real Serah was obviously safe in Yusnaan. Finally though, Hope took off the cowl. His sliver hair was ruffled from the hat and the cowlick immediately moved into place. His eyes were different, shinning not with intelligence but almost with malevolence. Noel felt trapped in place.
"So I guess I should explain who we are." Not Serah spoke as she titled back on the couch. "We are pure chaos beings. Or as I think I heard people around town say… chaos walkers."
"But Hope isn't dead." Noel gasped unable to control himself. He willed himself to still and to listen because obviously there was more going on then he thought.
"Neither is Lightning." The girl shrugged. "When you separate the soul from the mind… the chaos from the organized if you will… I am Lightning's chaos and he is Hope's. It's really a freak accident that this happened but I guess nothing is impossible with Bhunivelze mucking around."
"It would be preferable if you called me Utopia and her Lumina." Chaos Hope murmured. "After all, it would be bad if certain people realized that such a thing could happen."
"Really? It would undermine the Order of Salvation!" Noel jumped up. "Maybe cause a big enough of an obstruction that we could change things!"
"Or…" And chaos Hope, Utopia looked downright enraged. "It could steel the Order in their beliefs and they could slaughter a majority of the existing people. More souls for the great purge!" His tone took a further downward shift. "And then there will be more chaos… More souls to be extinguished for Bhunivelze's whims."
"WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!" Noel yelled as he got into Utopia's face.
Faster then the hunter was expecting. He'd forgotten about Hope's reflexes. He was punched in the face and sent sliding down the wall startled. "We have thirteen days. I have a plan to say the world. Do you?"
Noel could only stared at this man stunned. He was wrong. This wasn't Hope at all.
"Lumina… could you please leave?" Utopia's tone turned soft, almost gentle. The pink haired girl huffed and stalked into another room. Utopia kneeled down and gently rubbed Noel's face, healing the bruise that had been rapidly forming on his cheek. "I'm sorry… I have missed you so much and the first thing I do is slam my fist into your face."
"But you aren't Hope." Noel whispered weakly as he closed his eyes.
"I am not fully Hope." Utopia corrected as he tilted Noel's head up. "I am the emotions, and so much more. I… I am the love he has for you."
"The love?" Noel finally opened his eyes.
"I won't ask you to accept me." Utopia smiled at him gently and stoked his healed cheek. "But if things don't work out… This is our last days togeher and I'm glad that when he and I become one again… I'll have memories of you."
Noel couldn't help himself as he dragged Utopia to him and kissed his hard. It made things worse. He tasted like Hope and he felt like Hope. He pulled the shade into his lap and held him tightly. The dark haired man never wanted to let go. Finally Utopia pulled back and everything. Noel wasn't sure of what to do.
"I don't know what to think of this." Noel murmured softly. "But… I've missed you so much." Tears were in his eyes and buried his face into Utopia's neck. The silver haired man wrapped his arms around him and laid his head on top of Noel's. The two of them had gone through a lot of pain in their separation. Utopia closed his own eyes. The guilt of not being fully Hope weighed heavily on his mind.
Utopia relaxed his grip on Noel. He regretted the pain he saw on the other's face. He just wanted to be with the other. But he wasn't fully Hope and he would never act exactly like his true form would, far too overruled by his emotions as he was. The rejection that Noel was going ot give him wouldn't be swift.
"Do me a favor." Utopia murmured into brunette hair. And let me be with you. We have 13 days before the world ends. Can I be with you until then?"
Noel nodded into his skin but it was obvious his heart wasn't into it. Utopia sighed deeply and carded a hand through Noel's hair. He tried to console himself with the idea that he would be long gone before Noel could face the reality of never seeing the real Hope again. A false hope was something that he thought would get the other through. The thought made the grief rear strongly but Utopia figured this his repentance would be the rejection.
Noel would begin to not like the parts that weren't really Hope. Maybe even the stupid code name. And Utopia decided that he would bear the load as long as he could feel this arms around himself a few more times.
Lightning walked briskly through the Patron's Palace to the private rooms of the 'royal' family. There she found Serah quietly watching the garish fireworks that lit up the night sky constantly in that portion of the city.
"So Bhunivelze has made his move?" The younger Farron asked softly. "I can barely detect any chaos in you at all."
"Don't look so sad about it. The idiot God sort of failed actually. My chaos as well as Hope's chaos were removed from us and have taken on human form. They should be useful in the form of allies." Lightning explained quietly. "After all, Bhunivezle cannot see beings of pure chaos… and that means that Hope's true self is safe from him."
"And then what will you do?" Serah asked as she turned to look at her older sister something like hope in her eyes.
"Be a double agent. Bhuivezle wants me to be his champion which will give me free access to the Ark and maybe to his weakness. Furthermore, I'll be close to Hope physical form. I risk being compromised in this case but I believe with my chaos removed that I can be brought back if something goes wrong."
"What exactly are you hoping to find?" The younger woman stood up and approached her sister. "What do you think he has?"
"Bhunivelze has a power source to restart the world. Obviously if there wasn't something of value here then God would have completely destroyed this world when he'd first awoken… While Etro was at her weakest and most of us without access to our powers."
"Then I will warm Snow and the others up to it. But I think you should go back now. It would be too dangerous to give him time to think that you were plotting against him."
Lightning entered Etro's Temple or well ruin would probably be more appropriate. This was where the bastard God had taken her from before. And she assumed that he would be looking for her here again. She found though, that Etro's powers, what little there were, had coalesced around a patch of light that seemed eerie in the darkness that was the shrine. She approached it slowly an cautiously. But it was obvious that this was no attack on the ailing goddess. This was a calling card. She tocuhed it and the light enveloped her.
Once again Lightnign found herself on the Ark. She stood in the center of a room filled with light as the door to the shrine closed behind her. In front of her, Hope was standing at a supercomputer that was watching various parts of the broken world. When she stepped forward he turned to her with an almost fond smile on his face.
"Thank you." He said quietly and she was a little bit surprised by his candor. "For coming back."
She gave her own smirk back. Hope wasn't as nearly far gone as she thought. It was only a little resistance but it was enough to make sure that Lightning could feed information to the others. It had to be.
"The state of the world is dire." Hope spoke again, pulling her out of her thoughts. "With the way things are there is no choice but to let the world end. In this sense nothing can save it. Not Etro and not Bhunivelze. The chaos has become too great, beyond what the world was meant to have. No one knows the source of it though.
"Furthermore, Bhunvielze cannot directly interact with the world as he is a being that cannot walk in chaos. You will be his walker. And you will start the process. God needs you to purify those that you can. To ensure that souls will make it through the destruction of the world into the creation of the new world."
"Wait." Lightning paused and approached Hope. "So God means not to leave us behind?"
"Not all. Hence why he has put so much into trying to get a messenger and a savior. Bhunvielze is unfortunately not very good at making life. His only creations, the Fal'cie were terrible guardians. But he believes that he can trust the world to us."
Lightning resisted the urge to snort. Bhunivleze didn't trust and didn't believe in humans ever doing anything that wasn't controlled by him. She listened more to Hope's boring explanations but she mostly wanted to figure out what was so strange about him. She knew that he had been tortured and so many other problems that just looking at him physically hurt. The bags under his eyes were so thick they almost seemed like permanent fixtures. Back thin, Hope hadn't looked like that all.
"Are you lonely?" She asked as she approached him.
"I… I haven't had the time to be lonely. I have to do my part."
Unsure of what to say to that, Lightning nodded weakly and let Hope continue his explanations.