Noel swiped the prison key card through the lock. The answering beep echoed through the narrow corridor behind him. Pressurized air whooshed out as the door opened in front of him and he placed a hand over the seal to keep it from closing.
"Last chance. You're sure you don't want to talk to her?"
Hope grimaced and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"I'm not interested in anything she has to say. I'm here for your safety."
"My safety?" Noel crossed his arms and did Hope the courtesy of not laughing. The Academy Director nodded, his gaze on the floor.
"Don't let your guard down around her. Even in a cell…"
"Hope, I get it."
"She let you out of a cell once, don't think you owe her any favors." Hope's gaze met his fleetingly and Noel fought against the answering pang at the memory of Serah. He had barely known her then. He'd been preoccupied with seeing Cocoon for the first time. Unaware of the potential danger in associating with the mop-headed blonde who lied to set them free.
"I won't let Alyssa get the drop on me. She's locked up and that's where she's going to stay."
"I've programmed the lock so it will only recognize your card. It will get her as far as this hallway, no further. Make sure she knows it." Noel saluted him and Hope groaned. "You're not taking this seriously."
"Hope. I assure you, I am. She won't escape." Noel arranged his features into what he hoped were serious lines and stared steadily at the young Academy Director. Hope shifted his weight, seemingly incapable of keeping still, but he said nothing further. Noel nodded and removed his hand from the door seal. Behind him, two of the four guards that had accompanied them into the cells stepped forward to flank him.
"I'm going alone."
He didn't wait for a response but darted through the door and swiped his key to close it before the startled guards could follow. Smiling at the indignant guards, Noel squared his shoulders and began the long walk down the corridor to Alyssa's cell. He was breaking his own rules. Going in alone. He was certain to catch hell for it later. He was Head of Security. He made his own rules. And broke them whenever he damn well pleased. Alyssa didn't frighten him.
Noel's footsteps echoed against the gleaming silver floor as he made his way to Alyssa's cell. He was dressed for the part of inquisitor at least. Ordinarily he shunned the uniform Hope had commissioned for him soon after appointing him head of security. But questioning Alyssa called for a display of authority. The uniform suited that purpose. It was the same as Hope's Academy uniforms, but black with blue stripes along the sleeves. He even had a purple tie. Noel tugged at the offending item and touched the hilts of his blades reassuringly. She wouldn't get the drop on him. Escape was not her plan. Alyssa would accomplish nothing away from the Academy. Even revealed for a spy, she needed to stay close to have any hope of completing whatever her agenda might be. She needed to have access to Hope. Noel pitied the Academy Director's torment where Alyssa was concerned. He believed it paled in comparison to his own, but it was still slowly eating away at Hope.
Noel halted as he neared Alyssa's cell. The force field holding her prisoner was discernible only by the slight shift in the air, a wrongness that didn't quite blend in with its surroundings. Alyssa reclined on the thin metal slab that served as her bed in almost the exact same position as she had in the compact he had watched. A magazine rested across her legs. She thumbed through it idly, her other hand running absentmindedly through her hair. She knew he was there. Her deliberate ignorance of his arrival was a feint if he ever saw one. This was going to be unpleasant. Why had he agreed to this? An image of Serah flashed before his eyes. Her eyes luminous as she looked up at her hero Snow.
Swiping his keycard through the lock with more force than was necessary, Noel stepped through the gap left by the force field and entered Alyssa's cell. Behind him, the force field regenerated and still the blonde did not acknowledge his presence.
"You wanted to speak with me?"
Alyssa's fingers flicked through the pages of the magazine as she looked up at him. Her brows arched at his appearance and one corner of her mouth raised in her trademark smirk.
"Oh. It's you. Just you. Where's Serah?"
"Not here. You wanted to speak with me?" Noel crossed his arms while Alyssa smirked down at her magazine.
"Left you behind, did she?"
"I'm not here to talk about Serah."
Alyssa set aside her magazine, her gaze meeting his.
"Serah is precisely what we're going to talk about, Noel. If you're not up to it, I suggest you leave. Come back when you're ready to talk. Or send the Director."
She held his gaze for several moments longer and then picked up her magazine. Noel watched her as she pretended engrossment in the magazine, her gaze occasionally flickering in his direction before returning to the glossy pages. Noel moved to lean against the wall and crossed his arms.
"Where would we have gone if you and Caius had succeeded?"
"Uh-uh. I ask the questions."
"Come on, Alyssa." Noel threw her one of his most charming smiles. Alyssa looked up, her brows drawing together as she took in his expression.
"Charming me won't work." She flipped through the magazine again and Noel ran a hand through his hair.
"For old times' sake then. We were allies once. At least I thought we were." Her fingers stilled on the pages and she stared down at them. Noel tried the smile again, less charming this time, more sheepish, combined with an careless shrug. "Consider it a fair exchange of information. I'll let you say whatever it is you're supposed to say to manipulate me into doing what Caius wants. And you answer my questions about what he used to want me to do."
"Just you? Caius manipulated Serah, too, remember?" Her gaze was still riveted on the magazine but her fingers didn't turn the page.
"Serah became part of Caius' plans only because she was with me."
"Are you so sure about that?" Her gaze slid from the magazine to meet his. Noel's fingers twitched with the desire to strike her.
"Where did Caius intend to send us? Somewhere we couldn't return from?"
Alyssa sighed.
"An alternate reality of your own making. One where neither one of you existed to the other. You would go back to your time. Back to Yeul. Back to Caius. Serah would marry Snow. Reunite with her sister. No resolving of paradoxes. Caius would be free to rearrange the timeline as he pleased." Noel's brows arched, one hand at his mouth as he considered.
"Where is Serah now?"
"With Snow. He showed up, spouting something about finding thirteen crystals and she went off with him." Noel saw no harm in telling her—even if she hadn't known, he didn't doubt Caius did. Alyssa tilted her head to one side and pretended to ponder this piece of information.
"Huh. After everything…she just left you? Here. Alone. To babysit the Director."
"You knew about the assassination attempt."
"I knew the Director could stop any attempt on his life. Well…any attempt that wasn't orchestrated by artificial intelligence he created." Alyssa smiled at him but Noel didn't return it. "I wasn't responsible for it," Alyssa added. "I knew of it, but I didn't order it. I actually am fond of him, you know."
"I didn't know." Noel imagined Hope was cringing right now. Noel was equipped with hidden recording devices. Alyssa was certainly aware of it.
"Why are you still here, Noel?" Alyssa crossed her legs and leaned back on her palms. Noel shrugged.
"Hope's guards needed a little fine-tuning." Alyssa snorted.
"The Director can take care of himself. You're not hanging around here in case Serah comes back, are you? You know she won't."
"Where should I go, Alyssa?" Noel met her gaze head on and she blinked, momentarily startled by his direct attention.
"Wherever you want to, silly."
"Maybe this where I want to be." Alyssa snorted a second time.
"Here? Waiting for Serah? Babysitting a man who doesn't need babysitting? Noel, we both know you deserve more than that. What happened to the Noel who left everything he knew behind on the off chance he might be able to change the future?"
He stared at her. Where had that Noel gone? With Serah, a voice answered and he scowled. Maybe the part of him that cared about the paradoxes and the future had gone off with Serah, never to be seen again. His scowl deepened. Alyssa rose and took a step toward him. Noel stiffened.
"Caius doesn't want me to loiter here anymore. Why?"
"Caius wants what he's always wanted from you. That hasn't changed."
"Noel. If you wish to succeed me, you must kill me." Caius' voice echoed in Noel's mind and he turned away from Alyssa, moving to stand in front of the energy barrier that trapped them inside her cell. He touched a finger to the barrier and shook it as pain lanced through him. Alyssa pointed a toe and pretended to dig it into the unresisting floor.
"Why should I leave?"
"The future isn't going to change itself."
"Funny words coming from a woman who didn't want me to do just that."
"I've seen the error of my ways?" Noel choked back his laughter. Alyssa observed his struggle with a perfect expression of false innocence.
"Caius told you to goad me into leaving."
"Honestly, Noel, not everything is about Caius. Maybe I have my own reasons for wanting you to leave." He arched a brow and took a step toward her before thinking better of it and maintaining his position against the wall. "I would very much like to speak to the Director. I don't think that's ever going to happen. As long as you're here."
"I've told him to talk to you," Noel replied, holding up both hands in surrender. His mouth quirked imagining Hope's ire. Alyssa smiled to herself.
"The Director doesn't always listen. He'll have to talk to me eventually. He won't be able to stand it. But he won't give in. Not while you're here."
"You want me to believe it's that important you talk to Hope?" Alyssa shrugged.
"Believe what you want, Noel. You have forgotten one very important fact, however." Alyssa put a finger to her lips and smiled her coy smile that Noel was beginning to loathe. He arched a brow in reply and waited for her to continue.
"Serah is still a Seeress. Just like your forgotten Yeul."
"I'm aware she's a Seeress."
Alyssa shook her head again and took another step toward him. Noel kept his gaze on the polished floor, disguising his acute awareness of her every move. He imagined Hope's certain freak-out at her increased proximity to him and his key card and tried not to smile
"Serah? Or Yeul? How long before Serah has another vision? Snow might be thick-headed, but even he's not stupid enough to pass up a chance to prove he can solve the paradoxes as good as you. If not better. And if Serah starts resolving paradoxes…that will lead her straight to…"
"Caius." Noel's gaze darkened, his chin lowering as he stared down at the prison floor, momentarily oblivious to Alyssa's presence. Alyssa nodded.
"Snow can hold his own against Caius…but do you really think he stands a chance of defeating him? Only you can do that. Caius has his own agenda for Serah. That alternate dimension is still waiting for her. Stay here and you leave Serah wide open to Caius. Leave and your actions will distract Caius from her. Temporarily at least."
"He threatened to go after Serah if I stayed here."
"I wouldn't say threatened. More inferred." Noel stepped away from the wall, striding to the humming barrier that entrapped them and swiping the keycard through it violently. Alyssa's eyes widened, gleaming briefly at the sight of the card, before she resumed a blank expression.
"I'll try to convince Hope to talk to you," Noel said as he stepped through the barrier. Alyssa's fingers twitched at her sides but she made no other movement. "When Caius returns…tell him he could murder Serah before my eyes and I still wouldn't give him the satisfaction of killing him. I'll leave. Did he tell you where?" Alyssa shrugged.
"Something about Oerba." Noel nodded and started down the corridor.
"She doesn't deserve it, Noel. She left you without even looking back. She'd do it again if given the choice. Don't forget that," Alyssa called after him. Noel stiffened but kept walking, his fingers clutching the keycard. Alyssa stood at the force field barrier, her head tilted to one side. Noel imagined if there were bars she would have been clutching them.
Hope waited for him on the other side of the cell block door, his features agitated, his right hand regularly slapping his book into the palm of his left. Noel reached into the front hidden pocket of his uniform and removed the listening device. Swiping the key card, he handed the card and the bug to the nearest guard and kept walking.
"Noel?" Hope questioned, wrenching the cover of his book between both hands.
"I'm leaving, Hope. I won't risk Serah."
"Noel!"
"End of discussion."
"At least tell me when." Noel paused and put a hand to the back of his neck.
"Soon. Not tomorrow. By the end of the week." He glanced at Hope over his shoulder and smiled weakly. Hope's mouth opened and closed, one hand lifting in the air before it fell back to his side and he nodded. Some of the strain vanished from Noel's smile and his shoulders slumped as his tension ebbed away.
"I'll discuss it with you, Hope. Later."
"On the paths?"
"But I'm still leaving."
"I know." Noel nodded and resumed walking. This time Hope didn't call him back. He was leaving. Even if it might not save her. He had to try. And Serah…would never know.
A/N: I apologize for the long wait between updates. The good news is the next chapter should be up fairly soon. It's already started. I have an easier time with the Serah ones for some reason. Noel gives me fits. Thank you everyone for all your reviews and please keep reading! :)
