A/N: Chapter 9 of Howling Star II: The Search for a Storm. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except my own. FFXIII-2 belongs to Square Enix.
Special thanks to the reviewers, I truly appreciate it.
Chapter 9: The Oracle Drive
Star's POV...
We followed Hope back to his Academy and the rain was still drizzling from the sky. The guard that was on duty a few minutes ago hurried to deactivate the floating rocks...or whatever you call it. Point is, they were in the way.
"I'm sorry for being rude to you four, especially since I hear you four are the time travelers the director was waiting for." She apologized with a bowed head. Hope told us that the troops around the Academy are mainly former Sanctum soldiers, go figure.
"Do you always have to work in such dangerous areas?" Serah asked her.
"We didn't feel in danger...since the army was always there to protect us. But we were too confident; we got too careless." Leaving her to her thoughts we followed Hope to his research facility. Of course there were a lot of researchers who stopped to talk with us mainly because we're with the Director.
"How long has it been? Five years?" Alyssa asked before smiling when we spotted her. "You four haven't changed at all."
"I hope not." Noel scoffed. "And here we are, meeting in ruins again." He makes it sound like every little event always happen in a ruin-like environment, who could blame him?
"Ruins are places where memories gather like dust. So many layers of time...Probably the easiest place for a paradox to occur. We've made significant progress these past five years. This is the front line of paradox research." She replied.
"They put the future in our hands." We turned our attention to Hope as he addressed us. "We're in a position to build a society based on human technology, no longer subject to the whim of the fal'Cie. That's the gift we've been given. Serah, you've just stepped into the near future. You must be curious about a few things."
"What's Alyssa doing here?" She asked hoping that the question wasn't considered rude.
"I'm assisting the director with his research." Alyssa replied, puffing her chest out with pride. "We're analyzing the gate mechanisms and the paradox effect. Isn't that right Director?" She turned to Hope and he nodded.
"Thanks to Alyssa, we've been making rapid progress. It was her research that allowed us to calculate your exact arrival and point of entry."
"Huh, I'm impressed." Noel said. Turning to the guard who stood before us, Hope gave us permission to enter. We followed him up the worn-out stairs to a massive structure.
"It's hard to believe it's really been ten years. So much time has passed." Hope shook his head with disbelief.
"Hope, do you still think my sister is trapped inside that crystal pillar?" Serah asked in a small voice.
"I always had doubts. And it wasn't just me. Sazh had them as well." He admitted.
"Really? Sazh, too?" The thought about the old pilot disapproving objections to things that he refuse to believe in was a little shocking to Serah but to me it was the usual old man's attitude.
"I miss that old man, I wonder what he's doing right now." I sighed as I thought back on the first time I met the man with an afro and the tiny chocobo. It was when I stepped paw first on the purge train. Then we met Lightning, the soldier on a mission to save her sister Serah. I felt my body tremble as the nostalgic feelings coursed through me.
"Yes. He couldn't believe that Lightning would just 'up and leave Serah like that'. After all, she was the one who said we shouldn't face things alone, that we should stick together."
"I wonder how Sazh and little Dajh are doing." Serah said.
"We've been out of touch." Hope apologized. "Sazh took Dajh to live on Gran Pulse, and he was flying airships the last I heard. Then suddenly, they both disappeared. I...I searched everywhere but never found them."
"Look at us—all gone our separate ways." Serah replied.
"Yes, and I can't tell you how much it means to have you here now. Sazh and Snow may have set off on different paths, but I've started to think that in the end, we're all headed towards the same goal." Since we're talking about our old friends, I had a hunch on what Serah's next question would be.
"So, Hope, have you heard anything from Snow?"
"Nothing. I'm sorry to say. Not a single word, not since he left on his mission. No sign of him for ten whole years? Sounds like we're not the only ones traveling through time. You might be right, considering Snow's uncanny ability to find trouble, he's almost certainly aware of these temporal aberrations."
"This is some kind of ancient city, right?" Serah asked as she looked up, as far as her eyes could see.
"The city of Paddra, or so we believe. It was the center of a great kingdom built by a nation known as the 'Farseers.'"
"The Farseers?" The name captured Noel's attention immediately. "You're telling me there used to be enough of them to build this entire town?"
"According to our research, we believe they constituted an entire nation, a polity that was ruled by a seeress."
"Can you see me now? Standing here in this place..." Noel whispered as he stared up, his eyes fixated upon one particular point...or not. I'm not sure where he's looking but it didn't matter because Hope lead us to another area of the building as he continued talking about the seeress.
"You've traveled through time. I suppose it's not surprising you know about these things. The power to rule was passed down from one seeress to the next. She was always called 'Yuel'."
"If they could read time, why did they die out?" Serah asked, "Surely they could see the danger coming, and do something to avoid it."
"No, they were destroyed because they could see the future." By this time, Alyssa took over the conversation stepping out from behind Hope to share her own thoughts.
"Why?"
"The seeress Yeul foresaw the future destruction of this city." Alyssa stepped aside to let Hope speak. "Some citizens wanted to try to avert the disaster. Others felt that they should simply abandon their homes and run. A few fell into despair, and took their own lives. The divided populace clashed. The nation was torn apart by civil war."
"Suicide is never the answer." I stated bluntly but Hope ignored the comment.
"Being able to see the future is awfully dangerous. It can mess with people's heads." Alyssa chuckled in slight amusement.
"Tell me about it. The nation fell apart, and the survivors fled into the wildlands, avoiding contact with others." Noel said as he let out an exasperated sigh. Hope looked at him in slight shock.
"So you know the story?" Suddenly Alyssa's face lit up and she let out a squeal, latching onto Hope's arm.
"Come on, Director Hope! I want to show them! It's okay to show them isn't it?"
"Looks like someone has an overly attached girlfriend." I snickered as Hope uncomfortably shrugged her off. He showed us the way to another room. It was filled with technology of all shapes and sizes which I decided to ignore and paid full attention to the device in the middle.
"Here, this is what lies at the heart of our paradox." Hope presented us what looks like a crystal ball. "The Oracle Drive. We've been giving it careful study."
"But, how did you—?!" Noel took a step closer to see the technology with his own eyes.
"Wait, you know of these devices?" Hope asked.
"Oh, uh..." Noel looked around like he was trying to hide something, "yeah I've heard of them. In...books and stuff."
"The Oracle Drive appears to be some kind of recording apparatus from ancient times." Hope continued his lecturing. "We've excavated a number of the devices. However, the recordings depict...things that cannot be possible. Perhaps you should see for yourselves."
"This is how it works." Noel stepped up and raised his right hand toward that weird ball. It started glowing green and this projector unleashed a blue beam onto a back-drop. Immediately scenes flashed before our eyes...I remember them clearly: Our branding, Fang and Vanille turning into Ragnarok, Cocoon falling, Ragnarok rushing to hold up Cocoon, our Circuit race with all of the Edolons. Everything was just as I remembered, every little detail. The scenes vanished and we turned our attention to Hope.
"The device was excavated from an ancient part of the ruins. We used carbon dating methods to determine age. The device and the recording stored within are several centuries old."
"But it shows Lightning." Serah said, seeing her sister again must've been a huge impact on her.
"Someone in the past recorded this vision of the future. Perhaps it was the seeress. Yeul, herself." Hope logically deducted before he frown. "What we're concerned about, however, is this. You'll have to excuse the image quality." He willed the Drive to give us another scene...this time a scene of which we had no clue. The vision depicted was from the future, it must be Valhalla as Noel told us. Lightning was still there but in a totally different outfit...that or my eyes were playing tricks on me because it was fuzzy. I heard Odin's whinny followed by a giant burst of energy like a nuclear bomb. There were monsters that I've never seen before at war with each other; a man with purple hair that conjured a massive spell was fighting with Lightning. And then the scene faded to black.
Serah's POV...
"Was that my sister?" I was even more puzzled at what I just witnessed. Earlier shots I could see Lightning clearly there was no way I could mistaken her combat uniform from back when she was in the Guardian Corps. Now that the image was a bit grainy I couldn't see as clear. I am positively sure that it was my sister fighting against this man.
"Yes, I think so. We need to conduct further analysis to be certain." Hope stated.
"No...you don't." Star spoke up. She's been quiet since she saw these scenes and I could see, from her expression, that she was dead certain. "There is no doubt in my mind that Lightning was there. I can feel it...that tingling thing in my mind that allowed me to connect to her. It's still there. There is no mistaking it!"
"That aside...is the Oracle broken?" Noel asked as he looked at the item.
"No. We've tested both device and data and everything is normal. Yet, when we try to view the recording, we get this. Perhaps it's not the recording that's broken...it's the immediate spacetime in which we are located." Hope gestured with his arms at the ruins.
"You mean it could be the paradox." My eyes lit up and I got excited. "Because the surrounding spacetime is twisted, that might be directly affecting the device. So if the paradox is eliminated, spacetime will return to normal. Then we could see the prophecy, and find out where my sister is!" I'm such a genius!
" Yes I believe so." Hope nodded his head and went to retrieve something from his desk. He came back and held out his hand, an item rested in the palm of his hand. "Here."
"An artefact." Star looked at the object in wonder. "So you had it all along Hope."
"This object serves as a key, is that right? We tried to make it work ourselves, but with no success."
"Yeah, we can use that to travel across time." Noel said.
"Then you may have it. I think it'll be far more useful to you than us." Hope placed it in Noel's hand. As I watched the two converse in their own conversation while Star and Alyssa looked, I couldn't help myself but wonder: During the years that passed as we traveled outside time and space...Hope had devoted himself to his research, trying to unlock the mystery of the paradox. If the gates are the cause of the puzzle, they might also be the key to unlocking it. But I wonder, am I getting closer? Will I find Lightning in the end?
"Time to find that gate." Noel's voice brought me back from my thoughts and I looked up to see my companions smiling at me, waiting for me. I wanted to talk to Hope one last time though, never know when I'll be able to see him again.
"You understand why I wanted to show you the Oracle Drive?" He asked me.
"I think I do. You've been looking for Lightning too, all this time."
"It's not much of a clue, but I thought you should see it all the same. And I wanted you to see how far we've come."
"I wonder what kind of person the seeress was. What does she have to do with Lightning?"
"We're still not in a position to say." Hope said with disappointment. "All we know is that each successive generation of seeress went by the name 'Yeul'. Anything else is pure conjecture."
"What happened to her after the city was destroyed?"
"She either shared the city's fate, or left for good. In any case, her end was not recorded. Serah," He gripped my shoulder tightly, his eyes searching mine. "I want you to know that I believe in that Lightning is still alive Oracle Drive or not. Remember what Star said earlier? I remembered that she had this special bond with Lightning that no one else had. It might be weak due to the paradox but in good time it can be brought back. She'll lead you back to Light, I'm absolutely positive."
"Thanks Hope for everything." I gave him a genuine smile that resembled Light's. "I'll definitely meet Light and we'll stop the paradox together."
"Thanks a lot Serah." Hope called out as I walked back to Noel. "I give you the best of luck."