A/N: Chapter 3 of Howling Star II: The Search for a Storm. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except my own. FFXIII-2 belongs to Enix Square.

Special thanks to the reviewers, I truly appreciate it.

Chapter 3: Snow's Necklace

Serah's POV…...

After that talk with Noel, I had a sense of peace. With all that I have learned about the whole time-traveling fiasco and jumping through gates, it was a relief to hear about other people's ambitions instead of my own. Noel wants to prevent anything bad to happen to this part of the timeline. I still have to wonder about Noel's past; he is still foggy about his memory and he clams up whenever I ask him about it. There is one thing that I know for sure: Lightning is alive. My heart beat pounds heavily against my ribcage at the thought of meeting my sister again.

"Miss Farron!"

I looked up to see some of my students from the morning class running over to me. Noel gave me a puzzled look but I told him that I was a teacher at a nearby school. Guess I forgot to tell him that part when we first met.

"A school teacher huh?" He mused, giving me a smirk. I glared back before looking at the students chattering around me.

"I am glad that everyone is not hurt but did everyone do their homework?" I asked.

"I did mine." A girl piped up. "Cause I didn't want you getting mad at me like the last time." I couldn't help myself but laugh at the thought.

"Seems like you'd be soft on the kids, but you're pretty strict, huh." Noel smiled as the children agreed with him.

"Meanie Miss Farron! Meanie Miss Farron!" They chanted before rushing off.

"You know, I'm only strict because my teacher was strict." I pouted. "Lightning must've rubbed off on me."

"My grandmother was a teacher, too." Noel spoke. "She taught me everything I know. She taught me about Gran Pulse and its history."

"Do you know what happens next?"

"Well, I'm still not sure this place is the past world of my time. But assuming it is, chaos rains down on Cocoon, and the disaster in the prophecy comes to…." He stops, gazing off into the far distance.

"What's wrong?"

"Comes to….." He pondered a moment before looking at me with a puzzled expression. "It's weird. It's like my memories are slipping away from me. Sorry, I don't mean to be cryptic. I'll let you know if it comes back to me." We dropped the subject and continued to scour the area for any more clues.

"That's the kid I was looking for!" Maqui's voice rang out. "I knew my eyes weren't playing tricks on me!"

"It's Maqui!" A boy looked in fear before high-tailing out of the area. "I better get outta here!"

"He's certainly faster than he looks." Maqui stomped his foot angrily in the sand and walked off.

"Mog! Follow that boy." Noel ordered while I decided to have a little chat with Yuj who was on patrol duty. He told me that Maqui has been acting really strange lately and promised to keep a close eye on him.

"Kupopo~" Mog quickly flew off after the fleeing child. Noel and I quickly followed, stopping once in a while to clean up any stray monsters that came through a time gate. We finally caught up with Mog and the child.

Noel's POV…...

Who knew catching this kid was such a pain? We had him cornered and he looked really guilty about something.

"Why did you run away? I promise I won't get mad if you tell me." Serah spoke in a soothing way, like a mother talking to a baby.

"I know you say you won't get mad at me, but I can't tell you. I don't wanna get yelled at." The boy shook his head and zipped his lips shut.

"That kid was trying to get away from Maqui. I bet you anything he was up to no good." I looked at Serah and she nodded in agreement.

"You really can't tell me?" She asked, almost in a hurtful voice. "Oh, well. Then I guess I won't force you to."

"Really?" The kid's eyes sparkled with delight. "Thanks! Maybe I'll tell you later!"

"When's that gonna be!?" I couldn't help but asked quite harshly.

"You were running from Maqui, weren't you? Did you do something you weren't supposed to?"

"I was watching him work on the robots, and then I saw it and I just couldn't help myself…I'm sorry Miss Farron." The boy hung his head in shame. "The truth is, I stole something from Maqui.

"And that's why he was chasing you?" I was a bit perplexed. Usually Maqui was okay with a missing nut or bolt but this must be one of those special cases.

"What did you take?" Serah asked.

"This necklace. It belongs to you, doesn't it?" He placed the item in Serah's hand and bolted off. She tried to call the boy back but hesitated and he disappeared out of sight.

"What was he doing with this, anyway?" She stared at the necklace in wonder.

"That belongs to Maqui, doesn't it?" I asked, confused on who the real owner was.

"No, it's mine. It's a reminder of a promise a good friend made me." She started to tell me about Snow and his promise to bring Lightning back. According to Serah, Snow was the only one who believed that Lightning did not die, thus he went off to search for her.

"That's why I've been waiting here."

"And doing nothing, right?" Serah paused mid-step but I continued to speak. "Lightning and Snow are long gone, but you still sit here and wait. Why didn't you go after them?"

"I wanted to go." She answered. "I wish I had."

"It's not too late. You can leave now, if that's what you really want."

"I know….but I just can't!" She turned to face me, guilt written all over her face. She looked like she was about to cry really soon because she felt so helpless.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't pressure you. In the end, the decision has to be yours." She smiled and continued down the path. I fell into step right behind her. After a while, I got really curious and decided to ask her something.

"Who's this Snow person? A boyfriend?"

"He's just this super cool guy, you know!" Serah's emotional level rose really fast at that question and her demeanor changed dramatically. She starts running her mouth like Niagara Falls; a diarrhea of words flowing endlessly. "He doesn't care about the way he looks, but that makes him so much cooler."

"Oh, huh." I replied, completely unimpressed. "That's great, I guess. Maybe we should–"

"And he's not just kind," She interrupts me. "he's reliable too. He always means what he says, and you can totally trust his words. I-mean-he's-my-hero-oh-and-I-know-you're-thinking-no-one's-perfect-I-know-he-has-his-flaws-and-sometimes-he-makes-me-so-mad-but-I-love-that-about-him-too-no-other-guy…..."

"I get it, can we just get back to–" I tried to make her stop but she kept on going.

"He-has-this-amazing-body-and-his-face-is-so-handsome-he's-tall-and-broad-and-makes-me-feel-so-safe! Oh, and even though he's big and tough, he can be so adorable. That's my Snow" She sighed with adoration before smiling. "You done asking?"

"I'm done, yeah." Holy crap, I regret asking that question. "Thanks for all the detail." We made our way down to the docks and I signed. "No artefact yet, huh?"

"No, instead, my things are showing up in places they shouldn't be…" I thought about Lightning's knife and Snow's necklace; two items that ended in places where they shouldn't have been.

"I wonder if someone's trying to mess with us."

"I doubt it. No one here would do something like that."

"I guess not." I nodded in agreement but something in the back of my mind told me otherwise. I felt like something was wrong but I couldn't put a finger on it. "Unless they think they're doing the right thing."

"It might not be a person at all. I mean, with time and space being warped everywhere, anything could happen, really."

"Right. And that's how your things ended out here? It's not a bad theory. Okay, so maybe we should ask if anyone else is missing stuff."

"Let's head to the house and find out."

A/N: It's been a while since my last update, really sorry! Hopefully this week, I'll be able to write some more and update more chapters for the other stories. Until next time~