Pain. Peace. Then flooding pain. And peace. When it seemed every fibre of his being would be burnt by the cold it would vanish as if it had never been, only to start again. An endless repetition continued and he clung to his sanity doggedly. Courage, he needed to find courage. Light! The sensations shifted like a kaleidoscope. Death, dying, everyone was leaving him. He was all alone and he would be alone forever. Light!
"I'm here."
The pain in his head receded and he became dimly aware of a firm pressure on his hand. Warmth spread across his cold skin. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and blinked. The night was extremely dark, but he thought he was able to make out Lightning's blue eyes peering into his, almost able to discern some anxiety in them. He tried to speak, but he couldn't make any sound come out, so he focused on shaking off the dream. Concentrating on the sound of his breathing, the scent of dirt with a suggestion of rose petals and the warmth of her hand he reminded himself which was reality. She waited silently while he stared into the night. Eventually his breathing and heartbeat slowed and he tested his voice again.
"Sorry. Did I wake you up?"
"No. I was awake."
Through their linked hands, he realized she was trembling slightly, so he tightened his grip on her hand. Part of it was a wish to reassure her, and part of it was due to a small fear, that if he let go now he would never be able to find her again. He would be alone once more. He was afraid, so he held on to hope.
"You were having a nightmare?"
"I thought… that I was back there."
"You aren't. You're here now." As always, her words were short and to the point, but that was in itself reassuring. In a world of uncertainty, it was a steady beacon of light to hold on to. Light would always be Light. Though she couldn't see him, he nodded, and managed a weak smile.
"Thanks. You weren't sleeping?" Her voice came out so soft he suspected he wouldn't have heard it if it hadn't been so quiet around. "When I close my eyes, it's like I'm still fighting." So, he was not the only one who couldn't shake off the past.
"Then we can both stay up together."
"Yeah."
With the spell of the nightmare broken, he felt a strange sense of security though he was still afraid to sleep again. In the darkness he listened to the sound of her breathing, but he did not after all stay awake. Slowly, he felt his consciousness ebb away and he slipped into a deep sleep this time, without any dreams at all.
He awoke feeling completely refreshed to the smell of something burning. Stretching a little, he looked around to find the source, and found a couple of birds roasting and burning over a small fire. Lightning was not around. Hope hurried to save breakfast from becoming cinders. He wanted to pick off the blackened bits, but half the meat was uncooked, so he turned them on the sides instead and sat down to watch. The morning was beautiful. It seemed that overnight, trees of a good size had grown up around them, and flowering bushes had appeared in full bloom. Monsters of a small harmless size scampered around the area, unafraid and unthreatening. He gazed upon everything with a kind of awe and nearly ended up letting the other half of the meat burn as well.
After a while, Lightning returned with strange fruits that strongly resembled the variety they'd had on Pulse. Her eyes were strained and had dark shadows beneath them. He said nothing about it, for what could he do to help? He wanted to do something, anything, but he was not sure how. He hoped that with time, the past would be easier to set aside. She seemed to be half-asleep and they ate silently before moving on. The food in the new world tasted like a hybrid of flavours from the old one. Back in Pulse, the meat was extremely gamey and had overly powerful flavour while the tastes in Cocoon were very mild. Now, it seemed a strange balance. Walking was pleasant in the early morning, but Hope soon noticed something strange.
"Hey Light."
"Hm?"
"I've been wondering this for a while, but you seem to know exactly where to go." She had been heading in the same direction for some time, never wavering.
"Huh?" She thought about it for a while before answering. "It's funny, but now that you mention it, I feel like I know where Serah is. It's like I'm connected to her now. It feels like I will always know where she is from now on." At this she looked ahead again, as if she could see Serah in the distance, and as if the knowledge made her happy.
It was very strange indeed. He spent the next few hours pondering theories on how this was so. A side effect of being reborn in the new world perhaps, or maybe the intense concentration of creation magic within the crystals had resulted in a spatter effect and forged strange bonds between people who were already linked. He shared some of these views with Lightning, who looked vaguely interested, but only commented that there was currently no way to know for sure.
"When everything's settled down, you can form your own research facility again, and find out what you want to know."
At this he fell silent. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go back to that life again. Every waking moment had been spent studying, researching, working to inspire others and achieve a goal. It had been a fulfilling life, but at the same time he felt a tiny bit of regret at missing out on everything else life had to offer. He wanted to know more, and see more. Now he wanted to experience everything there was to experience in this new world, he didn't think being a researcher was something he still wanted to do anymore. And yet, he had been enjoying himself. Research was fun, and meaningful in its own right. He was confused, and so he said nothing more. Presently she broke through his reverie by commenting "let's hurry."
He gave her a questioning look, which she responded to by pointing at the sky. A spire of smoke stood out, grey against bright blue and he started to run. Lightning had begun running before he did, but he was still able to catch up to her and match her pace. They reached the encampment at the same time and something short and pink cannonballed into him with a squeal and a scream.
"You guys are here!"
"Vanille! It's good to see you." She was as cheerful as he'd remembered her. There had always been a hint of sadness about her smile, but it was gone now as if it had never been. He found himself smiling helplessly in response.
"We've been waiting forever! You have to come and see, we've already built a house! Well, sort of! Anyway, come!" She tugged on his arm excitedly and he let himself be dragged away. He glanced back before he was pulled out of sight and saw Lightning and Fang roll her eyes and shrug respectively.
The 'house' was in fact a kind of makeshift shelter, formed of uneven bits of wood tied together in a most ingenious manner. It had a fairly large interior and was reasonably neat and tidy. Of course, no one had any belongings beyond the clothes on their back so there was nothing in the way of clutter. The fur of a large-sized monster sat bundled in a corner, and fruits of some kind were piled up at the other end of the room. Vanille spun around with a flourish and a 'ta-da' look on her face.
"So, what do you think?"
"It's really nice." He replied honestly. The simplicity of it all was soothing. "How did you build it so fast?"
"Well, we worked really hard, and we had to use some magic, of course!"
"Magic?" He blurted out, surprised.
"Yup!" she nodded happily. "We can use magic. Didn't you try?"
"Huh… no, I didn't. So magic exists in this world too."
"Maybe! Fang said the world hasn't settled down yet, so there's a lot of energy in the air."
"I see." The new information was surprising, and he sat down on the ground.
"Are you alright?" Obvious concern was written in her eyes as she frowned at him, her face just centimeters away from his.
"I am. It's just… everything's so different now. I don't know if I understand anything."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I…" If he tried to put his thoughts into words, would they seem clearer? Still, he did not know where to begin, so he shook his head. "Sorry, maybe later."
"Hmm." She seemed unconvinced, but let it go for now. "I know!" With surprising strength, the petite redhead pulled him to his feet. "Let's go on a spying mission!"
"What? Wait – huh?"
Greater height did not come with increased autonomy, he reflected, as he was pulled away yet again.
A/N: I figured that since L'cie come out of crystallization with their clothes reformed, the same magic could apply to their reborn souls.
