I've been gone over a month and have no good excuse other than the fact that this chapter was terribly difficult to write. I'm so sorry!

But I am also very encouraged by the feedback I've gotten from multiple people, so thank you guys so much for keeping me on my feet and helping me see this through :) this chapter is the SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER! And then it'll be the first completed work in this series of three. I'm beyond excited to start exploring what happens in the second arc as more time progresses and changes Nova Chrysalia into the world we see in Lightning Returns. I hope you all enjoy this second-to-last, and to know that this sets up a precipice that our characters will be thrown over as we move on in the 500 years of Chaos.

A huge thank-you to Meyneth24, for always being so patient with me and my updates, and never fails to drop a review. It's so encouraging, and has definitely gotten me through some rough patches with this fic.

Again, thank you SO MUCH, and I hope y'all enjoy! See you in the next installment of this series! ;)

Summary: In the span of fifteen short years, no one lived on Bhunivelze anymore.

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

FINALFANTASYXIII

Bhunivelze – 515AF (Five thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Four Days After the Chaos)

The wind scattered dry, dead leaves along the asphalt, scratching the road in staccatos before lifting them in a swirling pattern above the once-magnificent city of New Academia. In the tallest building in the heart of the city, Hope Estheim looked over the abandoned metropolis of his own creation from the Academy HQ. His face was carefully blank, no emotions leaking through as he tuned out the small beeps and hums from the machines behind him. Instead, he could only look out to the distance in an attempt to gather his thoughts.

Fifteen years. That was all it took. Fifteen years to undo his life's work, ten hard years of continued research and misadventures, ten years of yearning for his mother, for Fang and Lightning and Vanille and someone to look up to, to fall back on, and nothing to show for it. This wasn't the first time he had this talk with himself.

Bhunivelze was built to be the new haven for mankind, but it had not been built to withstand the might of Valhalla and onslaught of Chaos.

No one lived there anymore.

The Chaos ate away at Bhunivelze like it ate away at Nova Chrysalia, the world shrinking and shrinking with each passing year.

With a heavy sigh, Hope closed his eyes, ten years' worth of work and weariness now evident on his face. He couldn't stop now, even to mourn the lifeless Cocoon he himself had created. Snow was still doing what he could on Nova Chrysalia, in Yusnaan, between running the city, distributing supplies, and working with the Academy Board. Noel was continuing his self-taught education as best he could, helping people in the Wildlands and Luxerion when he had the time. Sazh and Dajh were still out there, transporting supplies and distributing medicines all over the continent, having settled in the Wildlands.

Dajh- he was all the proof they needed. It had been fifteen years since the Chaos flooded into the world, but Dajh Katzroy remained at the age of six, exactly as he was when Hope had met him for the first time.

Stacks' theory had been right all along, and they had concrete proof of it now. No one was aging. No one was being born. And people were still dying.

Even after the evacuation from Bhunivelze due to its abnormal deterioration, Hope and his classified team stayed behind in their Ark, continuing their research on Chaos and AMP technology. Not even the Academy Board knew of anything they conducted up there, high in the sky above everyone else. Clenching his fists, he took a deep breath, exhaling and releasing the pent-up tension and anger and disappointment from his body. He turned from the enormous window in his new lab to look at the bright crystal- Fang and Vanille- that he had moved there, next to the AMP field that housed Serah Farron's body, as if to remind himself what was at stake for them all if he didn't succeed, if he didn't hurry.

Hope had to continue his research.

Screams pierced the air, fear pulsing like a heartbeat all around them. Hope's aquamarine eyes burned, but there were no tears. It was happening again, this nightmare he and the others never wanted a repeat of.

"Hope!" Sazh yelled from the airship comm. Gritting his teeth, Hope gripped his boomerang tighter as he raised his left hand, summoning a powerful aeroga spell and carefully lifted a screaming group of people who had been caught when the ground fell from underneath their feet. The very next minute, Sazh swooped in, positioning the airship right under them to catch them when Hope gently released the spell.

A heavy hand landed on his shoulder, and his head immediately turned to see Snow, an expression of sorrow on the man's face. He didn't have to say anything; Snow had known him since he was a boy. They had known each other for more than five hundred years. He knew. The blond's blue eyes were full of grief, knowing nothing he said would help now. No matter Hope's dreams, his goals and intentions, sometimes, things just…

They agreed with the evacuation immediately. People would have to rebuild their lives, their homes, again, but they all knew it was for the best. They couldn't rebuild anything if they were dead.

In the span of fifteen short years, no one lived on Bhunivelze.

It wasn't often that Hope left Bhunivelze and his research to spend time on Nova Chrysalia, if only because he wanted to safeguard Serah, Fang, and Vanille, all of whom were left on Bhunivelze in the thought that they would be safer there, without interruptions, and with Hope and his highly-trained, highly-classified team. It was even rarer for all of them- Sazh, Hope, Noel, and Snow- to be together in one place outside of work anymore, each of them being so busy on a day-to-day basis.

"How's research going, Hope?" Noel asked over dinner at Sazh's one night when Hope was persuaded to take a break. The man in question sighed.

"There's still a lot we don't know, even though it's been so many centuries since we first started research on the Chaos," he replied tiredly. Snow and Sazh stopped eating their food to give Hope their undivided attention. "Of course there's been a lot of good progress- we haven't yet managed to recreate another echo or anything, but the theories of the Anti-Matter Principle tech has such a large impact on the Chaos that it creates virtually limitless possibilities."

Despite himself, Snow chuckled. "Sounds like you have things under control, then."

Hope sighed, looking down at his plate. "The only thing I feel like I can control is the well-being of Serah, Fang, and Vanille," he admitted quietly. "The Chaos is constantly moving and stirring. It's unsettling, and has only been increasingly so the past few years."

"Hope," Sazh spoke up, his voice taking on a fatherly tone as he took a good look at the dark shadows underneath Hope's eyes. "You're doing everything you can. You can't control everything, or be expected to. You're not God."

Noel took a swig of water. "What about that Savior that Caius and Yeul and Pandaemonium were talking about? Maybe if we can find them, they can help!"

Outside Sazh's windows, the leaves on the trees shook gently in the wind. The quiet of the Wildlands was a different sort of quiet than on Bhunivelze; where it was a peaceful sort of calm in the vast plains of Nova Chrysalia, it was still up there, lonely, isolated from the world. Hope's eyes hardened, hearing a faint ticking of a clock in the distance.

"If there really is a Savior," he murmured. "They need to be here now."