X Battleground

She was back in Valhalla, and Lightning hoped it was just a dream. Looking down, she saw she was back in her armor, but couldn't feel its weight or uncomfortably on her at all.

Please be a dream,She thought.

She let her feet slowly carry her where they wanted to go, looking around as she walked. It was Valhalla alright, silent as always.

Moments later she found her self in front of Etro's throne, which was as empty as the last time she saw it. She knelt and placed her hand over her chest for respect even though she wasn't there, then slowly stood up and reached her hand out as she closed her eyes. This was where she was able to trace the time line in Valhalla, and see everything she wanted.

She saw Caius in Paddra, but not by Yuel's side. Instead he was fighting an army of enemies that she could only assume wanted to get past him and harm the young Seeress. He was wearing down, that much was certain. For a while it didn't look like he was going to win, but then he closed his eyes and did something that would not only end the battle, but life as well: He would perform the spell that would make him one with his Eidolon. He would give his life up to protect Yuel, as any guardian would be willing to do.

Etro was moved by this, and gave him the Heart of Chaos, making him immortal so could protect all the future Yuel's. If only the Goddess had known at the time that it would be her doom...

"Lightning!"

She looked around as she pulled her hand away, hearing Hope call her name sounded alarmed.

"Lightning!"

She heard it again, and listened as it seemed to echo off the walls, but sound far away.

She awoke with a gasp, feeling Hope hold her in his arms, with a worried look on his face. She sighed from relief, glad that it had been a dream after all. But she felt weak, light headed and a little nauseous.

"You ok?" he asked worriedly.

"Think so," she said as he slowly let go of her and placed her back on the bed. "What happened?" she asked, remembering she had fallen asleep with his arms gently wrapped around her as always.

"You suddenly started to feel cold, and looked pretty pale..." he said softly. "Then I noticed you weren't breathing and I panicked."

"For how long?" she asked, sitting up.

"Just a few moments I think," he said.

She frowned. Her dream certainly seemed longer than that, and so real too...

"I think part of me was in Valhalla..."

She looked down at her brand, frowning when she saw the eye had appeared and began to open, but she still had time.

"Is that possible?" he asked.

She shrugged.

"If it happens again try not to freak out, I think I was supposed to be there to see something."

"Did you see anything?"

She nodded.

"Just another clue to the puzzle..."

The word of Yuel predicting that the nation would fall came the next day, and spread like wild fire.

I should've killed him when I had the chance.

Lightning was right about them being caught in the middle of the civil war that would soon erupt, and now she was hating herself for not pulling the trigger on him when she could. Not only was the city was slowly erupting into chaos, but since she had been branded sooner than everyone else, her Cie'th clock was ticking down faster then everyone else. She often heard arguments of whither to flee or stay and defend their homes from the citizens, and wondered when it would escalate.

Some people had already begun to pack up and leave without a word, while another few had fallen deep into despair and ended their lives over the situation.

Yuel and her guardians hadn't been seen outside lately either. There was talk that they too had fled, but many assumed they were just discussing about what to do.

Lightning just sighed and shook her head at it all, amazed at how many people were losing it.

"I guess being able to see the future is a bad thing after all," Hope muttered.

"It really can mess with peoples heads," Noel commented.

"Do you think we should leave?" Serah asked, worried about the twins more than anything else.

No one had pointed any fingers at them and accused them for bringing the catastrophe upon them like they might have thought, but rather the opposite. Some of the families that had fled already had warned them that they too should get out while they could, and were sorry that they couldn't figure out their focus while they were here.

"I think we need to face the obvious now," Lightning said catching their attention. "We need to kill Caius as soon as we have the chance now."

Noel stood up and glared at her, while Snow and Serah each picked up their children and took them upstairs to another room. They knew an argument between them was sure to come, and didn't want them to be woken up by it.

"But we know how he becomes immortal," he reminded her.

"Preventing now doesn't mean he won't try it later on Noel. Killing him will secure the time

line for sure."

"But we don't know if he has some important role in the time line! Killing him now may do more harm then good!"

"Well we can't just sit around and wait to see what happens forever Noel."

"And arguing is still not gonna solve things either." Zack added, causing him to receive a glare from Lightning.

The sudden commotion outside interrupted them, and they all fell silent. Cautiously the group walked out, curious to see what was going on. A crowd was gathered in the Square, where Yuel stood on a platform surrounded by her guardians. Whatever she had just told them had caused them to begin to argue with each other, and take sides.

"If Paddra is destined to fall for good then we should flee!"

"This is our home! We should stand and defend it!"

If Lightning had her gunblade she would've fired it into the air to get them all to shut up.

"Excuse me, but what's going on?" Hope politely asked a citizen beside them who was not participating in all the shouting.

"The Seeress had a vision warning us that the city would be invaded," he said.

"This is ridiculous," Lightning muttered as she shook her head at the crowd.

No wonder why the nation fell.

She was amazed at how people could panic about some sort of catastrophe so easily, like Cocoon's old fear of everything Pulse related, bringing on the Purge and it's eventual downfall. It seems history really did repeat itself...

Sighing, she raised her hand to the sky and cast thunder, silencing and startling the crowd as she caught their attention.

"What are you doing?" Noel whispered harshly to her.

"Be quiet and follow my lead," she whispered back.

All eyes on her, she calmly and quietly approached the platform and looked up at the Seeress.

"This may not be my home, but I am still a soldier. Should you chose to defend this place, I will fight with you, for this may be our focus."

Now seeing what Lightning was getting at, the rest of the group nodded in agreement when eyes turned to them. It was a smart move on her part. She saw Caius narrow his eyes down at her in full suspicion of her actions, but she ignored him. Yuel smiled and nodded, then turned back to face her citizens.

"I will not force anyone to chose, those who wish to leave have the right to do so, as do those who wish to stay and fight."

There were quite a few handfuls of people that chose to leave. There was some talk behind their backs that they were traitors or cowards, but no one seemed to care other than that. Things had changed in the past couple days. Since they were now expecting to be invaded, everyone was allowed to carry their weapons with them inside the city for self defense.

Lightning and the others were no exception to this, but Caius had warned her personally that he would be keeping a close eye on her if she tried anything fishy.

"Are you planning something Light?" Hope asked her as he followed her outside the city for some training.

"I just thought if Paddra was going to be invaded soon then that could be when he becomes immortal," she said.

Hope paled at the thought.

"Are you saying we're running out of time?"

She shrugged.

"I don't have all the answers, but if I'm right then we might be able to intervene a bit and buy us a bit more time."

"But wouldn't that be meddling with the time line then?"

"Look let's not talk about this right now," she said as she stepped away from him and drew her gunblade. "You need to be focused right now."

Nodding, Hope drew his own weapon and waited for Lightning to strike. She charged at him at once, and their blades clashed as he defended against her slashes. Knowing he couldn't be on the defense forever, he quickly reached into his bag and threw her boomerang at her. She dodged with ease, giving him an annoyed look, but then quickly realized it was nothing more than a distraction as he flipped his sword back into it's gun form and pointed it at her head. She blinked in surprise, not expecting it, but then smiled at him.

"Nice move," she said.

He smiled back as he lowered his weapon, glad she noticed he was still improving. He certainly had grown from the whiny scared kid she had first come to know.

"I still think you need to ditch that thing for good though," she added as he caught his boomerang.

He frowned and gave his fiancee his puppy dog eyes, which didn't have any effect on her. He was just so attached to his old weapon it was hard to let go of after all that he went through with it. It was like a kid and a favorite toy that was loved beyond belief.

"Well get to that later though," she said, taking her fighting stance once more.

Each round she went a bit harder on him, pushing him to his limits. Their magic had even come into play, for he needed to get the feel for it once more if he was going to need it in the upcoming battle. They both noticed out the corner of their eyes that Zack and Aerith had joined them in the area, Aerith collecting flowers and Zack silently watching them from the distance.

They opposed no distractions, so they both let them be. But before long Hope was completely worn out, panting heavily and sweating while Lightning was barely getting warmed up. He still had a lot more to go.

"You ready to call it a day?" she asked.

"Yes please," he said between breaths, at his limits.

Nodding, she glanced over at the deceased couple, wanting to talk to them for a bit.

"You go on and head back, I'll catch up later."

Nodding, he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, making her blush slightly, then slowly walked back towards the city while Lightning approached the couple.

"Serah told me what you did for her." she told Aerith. "I just wanted to thank you for that."

"Oh you don't need to," Aerith said sweetly.

"But I do," she said. "I don't really know what I would've done if I had lost her, I probably would've ended up blaming myself..."

She heard Zack stifle a chuckle, and looked at him with folded arms.

"Something funny?"

"You just remind me so much of Cloud..." he said, chuckling a bit.

"You do!" Aerith agreed, noticing it as well.

She blinked in confusion, obviously knowing that they must be referring to someone they knew.

"Ok..." she said.

"He was a good friend of ours." Aerith explained.

"He unfortunately fell into depression after we died and blamed himself for our deaths."

"Oh thanks," she muttered sarcastically. "Compare me to an emo guy, that flatters me so much."

"He wasn't a bad guy though other than his frequent moodiness."

"Maybe you're a reincarnation of him." Aerith joked.

The couple giggled, agreeing with the idea, while Lightning just rolled her eyes.

"Cloud and Lightning, it does make sense..." he said.

"Well thank you Aerith," Lightning said again, hoping to change the subject.

"Just don't go blaming yourself for things you can't help ok?" Zack said.

Nodding, she turned to leave. She really wasn't sure what to think of him. He reminded her of Snow, sometimes obnoxious, but at the same time he appeared to be far more mature than him. It was also obvious that he had been a soldier, and while she couldn't be certain she was sure that he had died on the battle field. It was because of that she had respect for him.

"Looks like there's a storm coming..." she said as she noticed the sky had darkened.

"Doesn't look to good that's for sure..." Zack muttered.

"You're sure about this?" Gorgyra asked the stranger.

"Yes, they'll attack from the west."

She frowned as she looked at him closely, still not sure if she should trust the man. He said he had come from a neighboring city to warn them of an attack. The news of Yuel's unfortunate vision had apparently spread like wild fire, and citizens all across the nation were planning to rise up against the Seeress. This man had apparently heard of their plans, and wanted to warn them so they could protect Yuel, as well as the civilians.

He didn't appear to be lying to her, but part of her mind was nagging at her not to believe him entirely. She trusted most of his words, but not all.

"Do you believe him?" Caius asked her with his arms folded.

"Yes." she answered.

Better to be safe then sorry...She thought.

Caius may have been Yuel's true guardian, but the Seeress was a dear friend to her. She would die if something terrible happened to her. She would protect her at all costs, and he hoped that one day she would be strong enough to surpass Caius' strength. One of these days she would challenge him to a duel, and if she won, then she would kill him and become the true guardian in his place, gaining the powers of chaos he currently possessed. It was a brutal tradition, but one that they followed.

"Thank you for the warning," Caius told him. "We will prepare to defend."

"What's going on?" Lightning asked no one in particular when she reentered the city with Zack and Aerith.

All around them people were moving in an organized chaos like fashion. Most of them were taking up their weapons and armor and moving towards the west gate, while mothers and those who either were not able to fight, or didn't want to seemed to be seeking shelter. It was clear that a battle was about to begin.

Not seeing Hope or the others, she quickly wormed away around the swarms of people back to the house they were staying in, hoping they were all there. They all flinched when she practically barged in, but relief quickly followed when they noticed it was just her, followed by Zack and Aerith.

"Where's Serah?" she asked when she noticed she and the twins were missing.

"She's safe with with the other families." Snow told her. "Nora, Claire, and Mog are all with her," he added.

"I'm going to go help her," Aerith said as she headed out the door.

"Do the rest of you have plans?" she asked.

"We were discussing it when you came in," Hope told her.

"Word out there is that we've all been warned we're going to be attacked from the west, but I don't think tip may be entire true," Noel explained.

"A distraction..." Zack muttered.

"Exactly."

"We were going to split up and cover the other areas just in case," Hope explained.

"Noel and I will take the east," Snow said as he pounded his fists together like he was ready to fight.

"I'll take the South then," Zack said before anyone else could speak.

"All on your own?" Noel asked. "Isn't that a little...Stupid?"

"I'm already dead," he reminded them.

"Right..." Noel muttered, forgetting that nothing terrible could really happen to him.

"You and I will take the North then Hope," Lightning told him. "We'll all head out when we're ready then."

Zack left without another word, simply just dematerialized before them and they assumed he would just rematerialize where he needed to be. Knowing he would be perfectly fine, the rest of the group began preparing for their own battles. Hope took a few minutes to gather up some potions, elixirs, and phoenix downs he had all bought a while back in the market place and rationed them out to everyone evenly, then like Noel and Lightning began checking to make sure his weapons were all ready to go, before taking a few deep breaths to calm himself for the up coming battle and nodding to Lightning that he was ready to go.

The couple left in silence, leaving Noel to hear Snow loudly pop his knuckles, neck, and anything else he felt like popping. Noel stared at him with a raised eyebrow, slightly disturbed and wierded out that it some how all seemed natural to him.

"You ready?" Noel asked him, hoping he was.

"Yep," Snow said energetically as he pounded his fists together once more. "Time for the hero to save the day!" he shouted, causing Noel to just roll his eyes.

Noel took the lead calmly, but naturally Snow kept popping his knuckles behind him as they walked in silence. Even when they researched the eastern outskirts, his annoying popping continued as they began cautiously scanning the area for any signs of attack from that end.

"Will you stop that?" Noel finally asked, getting rather annoyed. "Not only is that annoying, but it's really starting to freak me out!"

"Alright, shesh..."

Noel sighed as he turned away from him, glad to finally have peace and quiet for a moment. That moment was ruined when Snow purposely did one last pop right by Noel's ear. Noel flinched at it, and turned to glare at him.

"I'm done now," he assured him with a smile as he raised his hands.

Noel didn't say anything, but his eye twitched. Part of him wanted to yank his own hair out, while the other wanted to punch him. He guessed Lightning felt the same way most of the time about him too.

What does Serah see in him? He thought. He's an obnoxious idiot...

He didn't understand why Lightning allowed them to marry either.

As long as Serah's happy it's ok... He told himself before pushing those thought aside, knowing he had to be completely focused right now.

"Looks like there's no one around here," Snow said a few minutes later.

"It's to quiet..." Noel muttered.

As if on cue, an explosion sounded in the distance, not from their area, but from the north where Hope and Lightning were.

"We better go help them." Noel said before he took off in their direction.

Snow nodded, and was about to follow after him, but then something caught his eye on the horizon. His eyes narrowed, then he pounded his fists together, knowing he was going to fight. It had appeared that he had spoken a bit to soon...

The explosion had been a mere accident. They had been right about the tip being false, while they had no clue what was going on in the western part if anything, a battalion had come from the north in hopes to take the city by surprise. However they didn't expect Hope and Lightning to be waiting for them.

Hope had patiently waited on high ground for his moment to attack, boomerang in one hand and gunblade in the other. He was ready to use one, both, or his magic. Any one of them would do for him.

Lightning on the other hand boldly stood blocking the entrance to the city, while the battalion slowly and calmly approached her. Most of them raised eye brows at her, after all she was a lone woman standing guard with only one weapon in hand, so she shouldn't pose a threat. How wrong they were.

"Stand aside and we'll spare you," one man said.

"Make me," she challenged.

She roughly estimated about fifty people before her, a bit of a challenge, but nothing she and Hope couldn't handle with their l'Cie powers.

The man before her raised drew his sword, intending to take her down and get on with their part of the invasion, but he wasn't expecting Hope to intervene as well. Seeing it as his moment to strike, he quickly cast fira and threw it down at the man.

He stumbled back at the sudden burn, and with many others began looking around to see where the magic had come from. In their distraction, Lighting quickly summoned Odin in his gelstate form to aid her.

"Come on then!" she said as she sheathed her gunblade and began wielding Zansuken instead.

"She's a l'Cie!" someone shouted.

And you won't get past me, She thought.

All hell soon broke loose. Hope continued to cast his magic from above also summoning his Eidolon, Alexander, to help him. One of the invaders spotted him, and darted around his spells until he tossed a primitive bomb his way. Seeing it at once, Hope quickly sent a fire spell at it, causing the explosion that Noel and Snow both heard.

He flinched at it, but it still hadn't come close enough to harm him. Looking down, he saw that Lightning was winning. Having Odin had given her the upper hand of course, and as she slashed at her opponents mercilessly some had actually begin to back away. How wrong they had been about her, how humiliated they felt to be defeated by one person.

"Retreat!" One of them finally shouted.

No one seemed to argue. Those who had not been severely wounded or killed had turned and ran. Some paused to help carry the wounded or dead away, hoping they wouldn't be cut down while they did so. They spared them once the retreat was called, and they stood in silence. Lightning waited a few minutes to see if any of them would come back in case they were waiting for her to let her guard down, but no one did.

Deciding it was indeed over, she dismissed Odin, and went to join Hope. He was of course unscathed, but worn out from using all that magic, and simply resting on the ground.

"You ok?" he asked.

She nodded, and sat down beside him. She had gotten a few minor scratches and bruises, but was otherwise fine.

"You did good out there." she told him. "I'm proud of you."

Smiling at him, she gave him a quick kiss. As much as she wanted to calmly stay by his side and rest from their battle, she knew there was no time. They had to make sure everyone else was doing ok too after all.

"If they attacked from here they could've else where too," she said.

Upon catching a glimpse of the battalion retreating and Lightning with Odin was more than enough to assure Noel that she and Hope were alright. It was then when he noticed that Snow wasn't around, and that probably wasn't a good thing. Had he just run that much ahead of him and Snow had fallen behind, or had Snow been engaged in his own battle?

As much as he would like the first option to be true, he had a feeling it was the latter. Remembering how he tried taking on the giant flan all on his own, and getting pretty beat up because of it. The guy just didn't know when to call it quits...

He bit his lip, and decided to go back to look for him. As much as he didn't like him, he knew Serah would be heart broken if he got seriously hurt, or worse. He didn't want to see that, especially if it meant seeing her break down in tears...

As he began to turn back, something caught his eye that made him stop: A man sneaking around through the shadows, glancing around cautiously at every turn. It was obvious that he was up to something, that and he didn't belong. He hadn't seen Noel, for he was to far away to notice him.

Noel watched him with narrowed eyes, wondering if he was one of the invaders that had some how slipped through into the city. His eyes widened when he realized he was heading to the center of town, right towards the building Yuel was being protected. He was after the Seeress.

Snow forgotten about, Noel quickly ran after him, determined to stop him. He wasn't going to see another Yuel die again, not if he could do anything to stop it.

This is how Caius felt...He realized.

He had only seen a couple of Yuels die before him, and Caius had seen thousands. Maybe he wasn't insane, but just desperate to stop the endless cycle of pain.

Through the twists and turns of the city, Noel lost sight of him multiple times. He guessed that either he had noticed Noel's presence and was trying to lose him, or was lost himself in the unfamiliar city. Deciding that either way he had had enough chasing, he ditched the man and began heading straight to where Yuel was being kept. If he couldn't catch him, he could at least warn her guardians.

"What are you doing here?" Gorgyra demanded when she saw him quickly approach the building.

She stood outside on guard duty, so Noel guessed that Yuel was indeed inside.

"I saw someone suspicious coming this way," Noel quickly explained.

"What?"

They then both heard Yuel let out a terrified scream from inside. Gorgyra dashed inside, her sword in hand, while Noel quickly did the same. Yuel was on the floor, frozen with fear, and bleeding from a minor scratch on the shoulder. The man a Noel had scene sneaking around was in front of her holding a dagger stained with fresh blood, and yearning for more. The window behind them was open, and Noel guessed that's how he had gotten in behind their backs.

"You tricked me!" Gorgyra shouted as she charged at the man, for it was the same one that had warned her about the attack. It really had been a distraction after all.

Noel decided to let her take care of the intruder, and quickly ran over to Yuel.

"Are you alright?" he asked, relieved to see that her wound wasn't anything to worry about.

"Look out!" she said.

Looking behind him, he saw that Gorgyra had been momentarily knocked down, and now the man was going to strike him next to get to Yuel. Noel quickly raised his sword in defense to block the blow, but instead he ended up accidentally stabbing the man right through the chest. Noel froze at once, realizing what he had just done as his blood began to flow. Seeing it made Noel quickly pull away, taking his weapon out of him in the process.

He had hoped that the man would simply stumble back and some how recover, but he fell to the ground at once, eyes void of life, and a pool of blood slowly forming around him. Noel stared in horror as he slowly back away, his surroundings and everything else forgotten now. He had killed someone, he had ended the life of another human being.

Dropping his weapons and hearing them clang to the ground, he turned and ran, as if running away would make it all go away for good.

As Zack had predicted, handling the soldiers invading from the north end hadn't been a problem. Like Lightning and Hope, he had struck them, but tried to only wound them to avoid blood shed. He had killed enough when he was alive, to kill more when he was dead didn't seem right.

He had told them from the beginning that he would let them all walk away if they wanted to, but naturally they didn't listen, at least not until they all realized they were no match for him, but who would be? His last battle had been when he gone up against hundreds of ShinRa infantrymen, and had survived until the final three finished him off.

Compared to that, facing a few dozen that didn't have the modern weapons he was used to was nothing. Child's play even. In the end, most had chosen to retreat just like the battalion Hope and Lightning faced, and he let them.

He was glad, and he didn't sense that many souls fading into the life stream. However, something bothered him in the east. It was a feeling he didn't like, his old SOLDIER indicts telling him to go and check it out. Remembering that Snow and Noel were supposed to be in that area, he didn't waste time

rushing over there.

What he found made his eyes widen, and bring back the painful memory of his own death. While the other areas had been attacked, the invasion had been focused on the east, not the west. While he, Hope and Lightning just had to defend against a few dozen, Snow had to so the same against a couple hundred, and alone too.

He wondered where Noel was and why he wasn't fighting beside him, but since he didn't see him among the dead and wounded along the battleground he put that thought aside.

"Get out of here!" he told Snow as he drew his buster sword, ready to take his place and finish the rest of them off.

Aerith I need you! He telepathically shouted, knowing she would hear him. Snow's hurt!

Snow was taking a pretty bad beating. He had various cuts and bruises all over him, and was panting heavily as he tried to keep up against the army.

"I'm not done yet..." Snow muttered softly.

"Yes you are," Zack said as he shoved him back as he walked in front of him.

He caught Aerith materializing out of the corner of his eye, and glanced at her briefly.

"Get him out of here," he said.

Nodding, she helped Snow back to his feet and away from the battle without any further protests. Zack couldn't help glaring at him, but he would deal with him and his carelessness later. Turning back to the half beaten army before them, he placed his sword on his fore head for just a moment.

"Never forget your SOLDIER honor..." he recited to himself before charging at them at full speed, memories flashing back to him as he did so. "Come and get it!" he told them.

He still tried to have mercy on them, slashing at them only to wound and not kill, but with more numbers coming at him then his previous battle he couldn't get around the unwanted bloodshed. His energy was almost completely drained by the time they were all down for the count, some for good while others would survive.

He sighed as he put his sword away, then looked down at himself noticing he was beginning to flicker between materializing and dissolving into the lifestream. It had definitely worn him out, that much was now obvious.

Not looking around at the state of the battleground, he made his way back into the outskirts of the city, where Aerith had just finished healing Snow.

"You ok?" Snow asked him, seeing his flicking state.

Zack didn't answer as he approached him, but when he stood up he couldn't help punching him in the face. The blow knocked him down, and caused him to look up at him rather surprised at his action. Sure he was used to Lightning pulling that sort of thing on him, but Zack?

"What the hell were you thinking taking on that many alone?!" Zack shouted. "That was a death sentence!"

"I don't go down that easy," Snow told him as he got back up. "Heroes don't die."

His last comment hit a spot in Zack that earned him another punch, this time a bit harder.

"Heroes always die!" Zack shouted as he picked him back up by shirt. "If I hadn't shown up when I did Serah would be alone, and your children would grow up without a father." With that he let him go, and began to walk away. "Remember that before you risk your life like that again."

His words left Snow in silence. He was right, he knew he was, he just didn't want to admit it. Noel had yelled at him before as well, but at the time he had just ignored him.

"Zack died in battle didn't he?" he asked Aerith softly.

She nodded silently.

"He went up against more than you did all on his own..." she muttered.

He was a bit surprised to hear that, but at the same time he realized that it was why he seemed to take his actions so personally.

"I guess I should go apologize..." he said

"We probably saved a lot of lives today..." Lightning muttered as she and Hope walked around to see what the overall damage was.

They had been attacked from the west, but as predicted it had just been a distraction to cover the attacks from the other sides. Their main focus had been from the east, but thankfully Zack had taken care of that. If it weren't for them the streets would have been invaded. Who knows what would've happened after that.

"Do you think we changed the future because of this though?" Hope asked.

As he spoke Lightning spotted Yuel and Caius calmly walking towards them. She tensed a bit, but kept her cool as she tried to relax. Hope noticed them after a moment, and paled a bit. Neither one of them had a good feeling about this.

"Yes?" Lightning asked them calmly.

"I would like to thank you for defending our city," Yuel began while Caius silently stood by her side. "Especially one of you in particular, I believe his name is Noel."

Hearing her mention Noel made them both raise their eyebrows in question.

"He saved my life," she explained. "I would like to thank him personally."

"Well send him your way when we see him," Hope said.

"Thank you," she said gratefully with a slight bow.

As she and Caius walked away, Lightning caught a worried and anxious look on Yuel's face. She also had noticed a small bandage on her shoulder, and wondered what exactly had happened.

"Noel was supposed to be with Snow..." she muttered as she and Hope continued walking back to the house they were staying in to meet back up with the others.

"Think they're both ok?"

She didn't answer, but when they entered she saw that everyone was there and seemed perfectly fine...Everyone but Noel. Snow seemed a little scratched and bruised up while Serah and Aerith were taking care of the twins, and Zack appeared to be taking a nap.

"Is Noel here?" Hope asked.

"No..." Serah said a bit worriedly.

"I haven't seen him since we got separated in battle..." Snow added.

"I'll go look for him," Zack said as he hoped up from his resting place on the bed, clearly not asleep like they thought.

"If you don't rest soon you won't be able to stay materialized much longer," Aerith warned him.

"I'll rest when I get back," he assured her before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Then he glanced at Snow before he began walking out the door.

"And I'll talk to you later," he said only loud enough for the two of them to hear.

Lightning however caught his words, and couldn't help narrowing her eyes at her guilty looking brother in law. She had no idea what happened, but she had a feeling it had to something with him doing something rather stupid.

Noel hadn't stopped running until he ran out of breath and had to stop. By then, he had left the city behind, and had fled into wilds of the Yaschas Massif. It was then when he realized that dropping his swords like that hadn't been a smart move, but at the moment he didn't care.

His hands were still trembling as he finally sat down on the grass. The moment he had killed that man kept playing over and over in his mind, haunting him. Did he have family? Friends? Children of his own? How many people would mourn his death? What if had an important role to play in the time line?

"I'm sorry..." he muttered to himself as the tears began to fall.

He wondered if his soul was in the lifestream like Zack and Aerith had talked about. Had he already faded, or was he invisibly watching Noel, cursing and hating him for ending his life.

What would the people of his time think? Killing a man was simply unheard of then, after all there were only a few handfuls of people left in the world. Life truly was sacred to them, he would have been shunned for the rest of his life because of his actions.

"I'm so sorry..." he apologized again, hoping, wishing that he could hear him.

He never wanted to lift his sword against another person ever again...

His thoughts and tears were suddenly interrupted by a wave of pain that shot through him. He flinched and rubbed his head, feeling the worst head ache he had yet.

Not now...

Thepain was unbearable. His vision began to blur, and he collapsed onto the ground, suddenly feeling light headed. It had never been this bad before. Groaning as he blinked a few times, waiting and hoping it would pass, he looked at his hands and suddenly gasped as he eyes widened.

"It can't be..." he muttered.

But it made sense, the headaches, the pain, feeling weak ever since he had defeated Caius, and most importantly, his missing memories when he and Serah had began to change the time line.

"You're not even supposed to exist!"

That had to been what Lightning was going to say when she had yelled at him. It all made sense now, and seeing himself flicker between solid and transparent was proof.

He and Serah had changed the future, and now he wasn't supposed to exist anymore because of it.

Author's Notes

Don't hate me! *ducks under table* I mean I HAVE been implying this for a while now...As for the wait, sorry *sweatdrop* But I hope the length makes up for it a bit...

Next chapter has been started, but right now I mainly gotta get my XIII-2 Lightning cosplay done by...Thursday _ DAMN YOU PROCRASTINATION! T_T *Sighs* So much for getting shit done over the summer -_-

Oh and as for the Lightning and Cloud joke, I just couldn't resist XD We all know its true *cough, she's Cloud in drag! Cough*