Chapter One

The creature was silent in its prison, bubbles escaping from its nose as it breathed; a living thing it was, yet it floated unmoving in the cloudy, oxidised liquid. Its body was limp. It seemed as though the creature would float up, up into endless space but for the wires that held it in place.

A young man gazed at it dispassionately, seeing it as a mere subject – an experiment took for granted. He glanced towards the holographic screen, and typed in something – a password, a single word that all the scientists were working around.

FALCIE

The liquid bubbled as it was drained, and the creature drifted to its feet. It stared blankly for a moment through the clear glass through ice blue eyes, and then turned its sharp, penetrating gaze on the scientist himself.

The man ignored it, and pressed another button so the cylinder the thing was in slid down into the underground.

The creature wasn't shocked nor afraid of this; it was its life, its entire life revolved around men with needles and hard voices, and, when it misbehaved, pain.

The underground scientists locked the holder around its cylinder, and one of them pressed a button.

A cloud of gas enveloped it, and it succumbed to sleep, willing to get away from the men and their needles.

Something flashed on the screen one of the scientists was monitoring.

Project: LIGHTNING

--

"Light, where are you going?"

The boy that was chasing her called her name, but she couldn't hear him. Why can't I hear my own name?

"Wait up! Li-ight!"

"Come on, slowpoke!" she teased, whipping around so she was running backwards. "I'm in a skirt and you're still slower than me!"

Who was the boy, where was she, why couldn't she see anything she wanted to see-?

"You know I'm not supposed to-"

She was a girl. A girl with strawberry hair tied back with a ribbon – a useless thing, as it floated away a second later. The ribbon's details were sharp, defined – it was blue, and made of satin.

Why wasn't everything else?

"Come on-"

She whirled around in circles, laughing, watching the ribbon-

Who was chasing her?!

-as it floated away, into timeless space...

"Come on, you slowpoke!" At last, at long last, she had turned around and was facing the pursuer, who was too far away to be seen – was he walking? "I don't have all day!"

"I'll make you eat those words one day, Light!" the pursuer, unmistakably a boy, snapped back.

She merely grinned, and bounded forward to join him. Just as she was getting close enough to see his face, the world around her blurred, and the only thing she saw was red. The red of pain.

The red of blood.

--

The creature's body was convulsing in obvious pain – the scientists looked scared from the unearthly sounds it was producing. Its screams bounded off the wall, longer and higher than humans normally screamed.

One man was unafraid. He walked up to it and caught its shoulder. The thing looked up, its hair falling over its face, its eyes diluted with fear and pain – they were lighter than they normally were; the proof of a successful experiment.

"Welcome to the Sanctum... Lightning." He jabbed a needle into her.

Lightning's screams faded away as the anaesthesia worked on her system, and she collapsed in a crumpled heap.

Rosch stood, and looked at her coldly.

"Take her DNA and lock her up somewhere," he said in an even tone, before spinning around and walking away.

--

Tenebrae

"My Lord, you have a visitor."

Noctis was seated next to the window, with his elbow propped up on the armrest, his cheek resting on his fist. His gaze was fixed firmly far away into the distance, where the two planets, Cocoon and Pulse, rested in the sky, side by side, forever in eternity.

"Who is it?" he asked, in a tone that can only be described as bored – his gaze never lifted from those two planets.

"Lady Stella."

"Send her in later. I'm busy."

The servant looked sceptical, but bowed. "As you wish, My Lord," he murmured, and backed out of the room to give Stella the news.

Noctis shifted slightly to keep from stiffening up, and sighed.

Where are you now, Claire? Where did you go that you couldn't take me with you?

--

There was something wrong; he sensed it. He looked around him warily as he sat up in his chair, but nothing seemed to be amiss.

And then something changed.

He heard a scream – one scream, familiar, low and cut off a second later, but it was enough.

Claire.

He leaped to his feet, and sped out the door, blowing past the guards that were posted at his bedroom door. Ignoring them and summoning his sword, Noctis teleported to her room.

She was gone.

Where did she go?

He heard her scream again, a sound of pain, and cursed to himself. If they were kidnapping her, why take her upstairs?

Unless... they had an escape on the roof?

Heart in his throat, Noctis teleported to the roof, but no one was there. No airship, no hoverbike...

Nothing.

He started to panic.

And heard her scream again, a distant sound from above and behind him. He whipped around and stared in horror at the tower that held the Crystal of Tenebrae, the only thing that was keeping him and his family alive.

They were going to destroy it!

But why did they need Claire?

She can take them through the enchantments because you took her through them. Noctis, you're an idiot.

He growled to himself, and teleported midway up the tower – the enchantments prevented anyone from teleporting or using a teleport stone near the Crystal. Not only that, but the Crystal itself would make the trip dangerous. He had risked teleporting there as it was.

He flew up the steps, waving his sword, Somnus. "Claire!" he called up. He was answered by a low, harsh growl of 'Get on with it!', and the cries of her pain.

He cursed, and pressed himself faster. "Claire!!"

His voice echoed up the steps, and this time he was answered by the sound of sobbing.

Oh damn, oh damn...

The door was shut – he flew into it, trying to break it down with sheer force before remembering that the door was meant to be pulled, not pushed. Cursing to himself, he grabbed the handle and tugged it open, and burst into the room in time to see Claire's hands connect with the Crystal, her eyes shut against the bright light of it.

Two people swathed in black from head to toe were watching, waiting; their eyes snapped to Noctis when the door flew open, and the smaller one crouched in ready to attack.

The Crystal flared brighter, dazzling all of them, and a strange phenomenon occurred before them. The Crystal darkened slowly but steadily, and then started to blacken faster and faster. Claire's hair blew around her like a halo, and a place in the middle of her chest glowed brightly, as though the Crystal's power was entering her heart.

Noctis' breath hitched.

"Claire..."

She opened her eyes and looked straight at him, seeing him, but not seeing him.

He recoiled.

She had no irises. Just a strong white glow.

She didn't recognize him.

"Claire-!"

The light of the Crystal sucked out completely, and Claire's hands snapped to the bright spot in her chest. She gasped in pain – the Crystal's unused power was too much for her to handle – and looked down at her chest.

Both her hands left her chest, and spread as though she was holding something with a strange power in between them – and she was. A rose-shaped Crystal, glowing a bright pink, floated in between both her hands, and she looked down at it, her lips parted slightly, her eyes half-lidded as she gazed at the Crystal.

And then the smaller kidnapper grabbed her arm pulling her away. The Crystal fell, and though she gazed back at it with a kind of trance, both of the black-clad people pulled her through the window. Noctis raced after them, and threw himself from the building as they did.

Halfway down, a large, winged creature snagged the three of them from the air, and shot away through a floating green portal in the shape of an insignia that disappeared into the night, leaving Noctis alone, flying down through the air...

--

"You call this busy?"

The teasing voice of his fiancée caused Noctis to turn around in surprise. "Stella- How did you-?"

"The guards let me into your room," she explained, going over to stroke his hair. He closed his eyes, sighing.

Claire...

"What were you thinking of?" Stella asked, running her hands lightly through his spikes. He opened his eyes and looked at her upside down face.

"Nothing," he murmured.

"Liar."

"Believe what you like."

Stella shrugged, and Noctis closed his eyes again. Was it wrong to keep Claire from Stella's knowledge? After all, she was... dead. He bit down on his lip to keep himself from gasping aloud.

"What's wrong?" Stella demanded, but Noctis ignored her as he spiralled down into another memory...

--

"Noctis..."

"I don't care! Send someone after her – she's alive, I know she is! Why do you think that we are alive, Dad?" the seventeen year old demanded hotly, slamming his hands down onto the table. His mother looked at him in concern. "She has our life in her – we have to take care of her!"

Orien looked weary. "Noctis, it's not her that's keeping us alive."

Noctis stared at his father, unable to believe it – not wanting to believe it.

The King took from his side pocket the rose Crystal Claire had seemed so attached to. Noctis paled, and took an unsteady step back. No...

"It's this Crystal. Our life is in this Crystal, Noctis, yours and mine. Your mother is not part of this; she is not Caelum by blood. Somehow, when Claire took the energy from our Crystal, she produced this one in its place – or the Crystal produced it in her, none of us know." Orien looked at his son steadily and warily, wondering if he would explode.

Noctis wetted his lips. "But I know she's alive..." he got out, and reached for the rose Crystal. His father gave it up to him readily, and he stared at it, wondering if he would find her in its depths.

"She's not, Noctis."

It was his mother who spoke, and the teen looked at her.

The dark-haired woman was crying, tears running down her face in steady streams. Of course. Tatina had loved Claire like she was her own daughter.

Noctis felt the dread of truth creep up on him just as his mother said in a slow, careful voice, "She's dead, Noctis. Whoever it was who caught her sent a lock of her hair covered in blood. She's dead, or dying." The Queen closed her eyes as her son's face crumpled in misery.

His closest friend, gone.

Dead.

He couldn't believe it... yet there it was, Tatina had stood and held the lock of her hair wrapped around her fist. Noctis opened his free hand and allowed his mother to drop it into his palm.

Her blood. He stroked it for a moment, unable to believe his eyes, and pressed the clean end to his nose. It was her scent.

She was dead.

He dropped the Crystal, and stepped back. His legs were weak.

"I'll be in my room." His own monotonous voice reached his ears, and both his parents looked after him worriedly as he hurried out the door. Once out of their vision, he broke into a run, fleeing to his room, his place of sanctuary.

She was gone.

--

"Do you want me to call the doctor? Noctis? Noctis!"

Stella was slapping his face; he blinked at her blearily.

"I'm fine, Stella," he murmured, brushing her hands away. "Can you leave me for now? I'll come by and see you before you leave."

Stella nodded, and cast him a worried glance as she slipped out the door.

Noctis sighed, and resumed staring at the two worlds.

Claire, my Claire.

My Light.

Um, so yeah, this is the remake of Eclipse.

Sorry to everyone who wants to know what happens in the sequel . I just had to rewrite it, I hated the content that much...

Ugh.

So anyway.

Hey everyone!

I'm going to start putting my author's notes in the foot of the page. I notice I tend to ramble more after I finish writing something...

Yes, yes, you all hate me for rewriting Eclipse.

But seriously, I hated it. So. Much.

And then I got inspired to redo it.

So I did.

Love me? :D

... Okay, fine, don't love me.

BUT YOU WON'T HATE ME FOR LONG! D

... Okay, fine, be that way. Don't love me forever. –sulks-

I did add in more detail, scenes, and a different twist. Our dear 'Claire' wasn't attacked by some mysterious person after all! (I was debating whether to call her 'Eclair' or 'Claire' or just 'Clare' because that name's unique, but then decided on the original, ordinary one. How boring I am) I also changed Lightning's part a bit, if you noticed. In the original, she was being worked on already, but in this one, she was doing a Jenova at the beginning. I mean, she didn't destroy anything using some long-haired freak –ducks Masamune- but... yeah... well... Oh you get my point.

I really loved writing this chapter to be honest. ^_^ It feels SOO much better than the first version of it... I also find it a little less confusing, although that could just be me.

The questions are – who are those two people? Will they be revealed later in the story... or will they be revealed in the sequel? What do you guys think? Also, give me feedback on this chapter – did you like it, or am I just deluding myself into thinking that it's way better than the original? Was it too angsty? Did I make any of them OOC (as far as you see anyway)? In general, did you prefer the original or this version?

The green button is somewhere at the bottom... CLICK ON IT TO ANSWER ME! :D

Question of the day: How long do you want me to keep Noctis and Lightning away from each other? In the original, it in the chapter after this, but I plan on making this less rushed and more awesome. I was thinking to keep them away from each other for a few more chapters... You can tell me how long you want them to stay apart in your review ;)

This is one LONG author's note...

Oh oh! I also decided to just restart it now - I figure the reason why I can't write Eclipse was because I left too many holes :/ Sorry about that, but I hope you enjoy the remake anyhoo~

Line of the day:
A: Oh my God, Manchester United fan, Manchester United fan!
B: -turns around- Yeah, he's not going to get a lot of chicks like that!

Playlist:

She's a star – Will.
Thoughts Unarrived – Anime School Days
Sleepwalker – Adam Lambert
Tong Hua – Guang Liang
Unknown Soldier – Breaking Benjamin
To Zanarkand – Nobuo Uematsu
Gentle Hands – Hack://

See you at the next chapter!