Hey guys! Sorry! I was busy trying to work out something for my other fic that I didn't have the chance to start this chapter until a little later, but I had planned for this chapter to be kind of a short in-between that is no less important, just a shorter portion that is Noel-centric. Next chapter will definitely be longer, and it'll have a lot of action and important plot points in there! Thank you guys for being so patient, and I hope you enjoy!

Thank you to Meyneth24 :)

Summary: "Why do you build cities only for them to be swallowed by Chaos?"

Disclaimer: I don't own the Final Fantasy XIII series

Luxerion – 502AF (One Thousand and Three Days after the Chaos)

The city made of brown stone and muted steel would have felt welcoming with its neutral tones and riverfront if Noel didn't feel slightly creeped out by it. Luxerion was a new city, all things considered, but it felt ancient to him, with its cobblestone paths and back alleyways, the open meadow that, he had been told, was meant to be a cemetery. The dead from the deterioration incident on Bhunivelze a little over a year ago had been the first to be buried there.

As he walked along the avenue with black-and-white checkered floors, he absorbed the architecture, comparing it to everything he and Serah had seen on their journey lifetimes ago.

Noel's heart broke a little bit more, like it did every time he thought about the girl who was once so vibrant and full of life, now laying still inside Hope's laboratory encased in an AMP field and with Mog for company. No matter what she said, no matter what Snow or Hope or Sazh said, he felt the heavy guilt and burning anger at himself for what happened to her. Serah was his partner and his best friend, the one he continually saved and the one who continually saved him. She was the one he watched over on the nights where she despaired at finding her sister, at Caius and the destruction he wreaked on the timeline, the one who watched over him on his nights of loneliness, when he felt the ache of missing Yeul and Caius before his desperation to destroy time, the nights he felt the burden of being the last human at the end of time.

Serah was the one who ran headfirst into battle with Caius and didn't back down, the one who dove straight into his nightmare just to pull him out. She was the one who reassured him with nothing more than a smile on her face, and again and again he wondered just how he could have ever risked her just because she said she understood and wanted to save the world anyway.

"I still want to change the future. I understand, Noel. But it doesn't matter. I've already made my decision, and we're going to change the future."

"If we hurry, we just might do it in time. Then I wouldn't have to have any more visions. I'm going to believe that I get to Valhalla."

Okay, he had told her. I'll make sure you get there.

"We have to stick together, Noel. I've got no one else I can count on but you."

The river winds blew his bangs back as he reached the waterfront in front of the monorail station that was currently under construction. Would Serah have liked this? Is this the world she died to save? His thoughts drifted to Hope, to the two crystalline figures in his lab he spent time with nearly every night, and the one waiting in the Temple in the Wildlands. Would Fang and Vanille and Lightning want to wake up to a world like this?

Noel rubbed a hand over his face, barely suppressing a harsh chuckle. What irony. In the end, they had lost Serah and failed to save the world. He was ready to let it go to hell if it meant that she would live, and he had lost them both.

As he made his way across town, the bells in the enormous cathedral rang, marking the hour. Noel walked on to the outskirts of town, to the edge of the monorail where the tracks were being laid. Pandaemonium lifted the foundations and the metal, placing them together piece by piece.

The fal'Cie didn't acknowledge him when he approached; Noel took the opportunity to watch it work as he leaned against the side of a large boulder a few feet away.

"Why do you build cities only for them to be swallowed by Chaos?"

His question came out of nowhere, the thought flitting into his mind and out his mouth without being filtered. It was not information directly released to the public; Hope, Snow, and the other Academy higher-ups were doing a fantastic job with panic control, but there were rumors and leaked news circulating around nonetheless.

Pandaemonium worked in silence for another moment before it answered, its normally booming voice toned down a notch.

"We await the Savior."

Noel looked sharply at the towering figure, eyes narrowing. Of all the things he had expected to hear- that the fal'Cie built them to lure mankind into cities only for them to meet their end in the Sea of Chaos, for them to die suffering as they waited for the end of time- this cryptic response wasn't it.

"The Savior?"

"The Maker has revealed to me the end of time," the fal'Cie replied. "The end of the world, and the plans that he has for the new world."

He pursed his lips into a thin line; this was stuff he needed to tell Hope and Snow. Why had Pandaemonium never told them any of this? And why was it telling him now?

"What do you mean 'new world'?" Noel asked, putting his hands on his hips.

"The new world the Savior is meant to bring."

"Who's 'the Savior'?" the brunet pressed, eager for answers.

Pandaemonium turned away from him, putting another piece of the track in place. There was a tone of finality in its otherwise-monotone voice, a signal to the end of their discussion.

"She is coming."