"So we just have to clean up time? That sounds easy."

Hope ignored Noel's sarcasm.

"That does seem like the general idea, but..."

"...how?"

Hope knelt down and ran his fingers across the inscription.

"I wish I knew."

Noel felt the same way. Unfortunately the answer was probably not just going to come to them that easily.

"Want to just walk around until we find another clue?"

"Why not?" Hope shrugged and got back on his feet. "That seems to have worked out for us so far."

They searched the area around the throne room in silence, each of them lost in his own thoughts, wondering what they would find and what it would bring next, and trying not to think about what it would mean if they never found whatever it was they were looking for. That thought was probably the most frightening of all, so the sight that greeted them when they entered the courtyard brought just as much relief as trepidation.

The courtyard was a circular space filled with dead plants and broken statues. But what caught their eyes was a large mosaic in the center shaped like a large clock with a wedge missing where the ten and eleven hours should have been. It looked like the ground there had just collapsed, leaving a hole with no bottom in sight. There were gates at each of the remaining hours and an artefact sitting in the middle. They were both frozen for a moment as they took it all in before they ran towards the structure. Noel went for the artefact and Hope ran to the gates, inspecting the engravings beneath each of them. He stopped at the five o'clock gate.

"This is when it happened. This gate leads to the year Cocoon fell. This is my time. Well, originally anyway."

Guessing what was going on, Noel walked to the last gate. "And this is my time." Noel peered into the chasm next to him. "The end of the line."

Hope walked over and stood next to Noel. Noel barely succeeded keeping the trembling out of his voice when he spoke.

"Do you think...do you think this means we can't stop it? That the end is coming no matter what and all I did by trying to save to future was to destroy the past as well?"

Hope crossed his arms and took his time before answering, so Noel knew his answer would be honest. No matter what Hope would have to say he appreciated this far more than baseless encouragement and meaningless reassurance.

"I don't think so, Noel. Even if the world is doomed, I don't think it's supposed to end here. Let's go with the theory that time is just an endless loop that repeats itself - as the clock formation would suggest. If we look at it that way," Hope walked around the circle to demonstrate his point, stopping in front of the missing section. "then it becomes obvious when you look at this particular arrangement that part of it is missing. Something must have happened to break the cycle and the goddess sent you back to fix it. Maybe it just means postponing the end a little longer, but it would also complete the loop, allowing things to begin again."

It took a few seconds for Noel to run the theory through his head a few times before he could accept it, but when he did he felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. If what Hope just said was true then he really could fix that past and still change the future. In that moment he was more determined than ever.

"You're a genius, Hope! This means we can still fix things. Everything even. But how did you get all of that by just looking at this?"

"I didn't become the director of the Academy by skipping classes," Hope said with a smirk.

"Point taken. Just don't let it go to your head," Noel said as he ruffled Hope's hair.

"Hey! You're not supposed to do that to your elders."

Hope's objection was less than half-hearted, but it still reminded Noel that Hope was older than him. Hundreds of years older by some counting methods. They didn't belong here at the same time. If they did manage to fix things it would most likely mean they'd never see each other again, or possibly ever have even met in the first place.

Noel pushed the thought out of his mind and stepped back, this was no time to be thinking about such things. He quickly took the artefact out of the pocket he had stuffed it in and waved it around.

"So let's use this, huh?"

"Yeah, no time like the present...whatever that currently means."

The wistful way Hope spoke made Noel wonder if he had been thinking the same thing.

"Which gate do you think this opens?"

"I'm guessing the first one." Hope adjusted his tie and made his way over to twelve o'clock.

Noel joined him at the top of the clock and they activated the gate.