27 Fractures

Even in the thick ambient haze of the chaos, Lightning could still think clearly, even though her memories seemed to come much easier with it enveloping her on all sides.

Meeting Snow for the first time, unimpressed with his boisterousness and confidence, slowly growing to despise him for taking Serah's time in such a pointless manner.

Laying him out flat on the floor of the Pulse Vestige, trying desperately to cope with the nightmare that had unfolded before her eyes, breaking apart at the sight of her crystallized sister.

Half-panicking at the realization that she had unwittingly turned Hope onto a destructive path of revenge and not knowing how to stop it from ending in Snow's murder.

Apologizing profusely for her behavior, and resolving to build a new future.

Following him when he insisted on soothing the endless, pained cries of the Cie'th-stones.

Giving her blessing on the plains below the crystallized Cocoon, and smiling for real when he assured her, with as broad a smile as the sky, that he would make her sister happy.

Asking him to stop the flan from destroying the pillar, and knowing that he would.

Watching him fight his life away in the Coliseum, under the watchful eye of the Arbiter of Time, hoping against hope that the skills he honed would never need to be used.

The memories formed, perfectly clear, within her mind. Though so many of her emotions were gone, the memories invoked feelings so strong that she felt their pressure on what remained of her heart. It was on her to save Snow from this fate, as it had been her fault to begin with.

Hers, and Caius's as well, but she was the one who hadn't listened to reason.

The marble floor and vaulted ceiling amplified her pounding bootsteps until each one sounded like a gunshot, and she knew he could hear her, wherever he was. Caius was right behind her; she felt the fringes of his chaos around her, enveloping her. This was the sensation that prevented Hope from keeping an eye on her, she knew, even if he could still track the gloom wherever she went. He could hear nor see nothing with Caius nearby, and she wasn't sure how to feel about that. She wasn't sure she cared.

The further they went from the entrance, the stronger Snow's chaos became. When they suddenly ran across a threshold onto a balcony overlooking a huge atrium, she didn't think before leaping over the railing and landing on the floor below. Enormous windows greeted her with sunlight and blue sky, and above them glimmered the chandelier Lumina had broken five days ago, suspended in the grip of silver-blue crystal.

She stood from tucking and rolling, straight into a blast.

Barely deflecting it with her shield, she dropped to one knee behind its comparative safety and peered through the white flash at the room itself. The chandelier and its slender crystal pillar – so much resembling Cocoon, she thought now, in its final moments – still stood, casting a long, gray shadow across the floor. The rest of the place was filled with color and light, except for the chill in the air.

"Snow? Snow!" she called out, desperate to get his attention, praying she could pierce the crystal shell to get to the man deep inside. "Where are you? Come out!"

The Cie'th cried out again, a shrill wail that made her head swim; dizzy, she fell back, catching herself with a hand, but the world spun around her, rocking her until she felt sick. To her shock, the windows didn't shatter, though she saw a crack form across one of them.

She remembered her brief stint as a Cie'th – dark, cold, painful. She remembered their battles against the ancient, powerful Cie'th that had lived for untold centuries, fueled by envy and anger and grief. If Snow was still in there, he could no longer control his own body and wanted to be free of his prison. Her blade could give him the end he so desired, and he knew it. What was worse was that she was compelled to give others the desires of their hearts, and in this manner she found herself drawn to that final fate.

Bhunivelze wants this? The thought soured her stomach. Bhunivelze would want me to kill someone rather than find some way to help them?

"Snow, please." She fought against that drive and rose to her feet, eyes sweeping the room, searching both shadow and light, trying desperately to find the man whom her sister's soul loved. "Please. Come out, please, let me try to save you from this fate. Let me try." But what could she do? Could she reach his heart, encased now in cold crystal, and somehow force him to reverse his fate, or would he remain a monster, with no Etro to turn him back into a human being? "Snow, where are you? Snow!"

Again came the wail, right before something dropped off the balcony to her right, so heavy that when it landed, it cracked the floor underfoot, and she stumbled back.

In just a day and a half, the Cie'th had undergone a noticeable transformation, more crystals shooting off from its body, one arm having grown large, thick, coated in crystal formations. The face in the middle had frozen into an expression of horror, its eyes covered by sheets of black crystal. Streaks of color had appeared on its limbs, and the checkerboard pattern had spread further across its body.

Lightning stared at in shock for a moment, and it was long enough for it to race toward her, chucking out pearls of light, and ram right into her. Caught completely off guard by how fast it had moved, she scrambled to get out of the way, but it suddenly went flying, crashing into a pillar and cracking it. As she climbed to her feet, she saw Caius a short distance away, knees bent, just lowering one hand from where he had blasted the monster away.

Lightning looked at the Cie'th, feeling a war brewing inside her. It was Snow, but it was a Cie'th powered by huge amounts of chaos, which had apparently accelerated its normal transformation. Now, all of that chaos was encased inside its body, swirling and building ever further into a singularity fit to burst. Horror had begun to creep over her as she realized what exactly she was looking at.

Etro is gone. There was no Etro. There was only her, and the immense power Bhunivelze had given her.

Yet Bhunivelze, she knew, couldn't touch the chaos.

The fringes of anguish squeezed her heart as the Cie'th came back up onto its feet, and she raised her shield... only to watch as it heaved a slew of powerful blasts at her companion instead of her, apparently deciding that he was a more worthy target than her. That, or it had remembered something from Snow's memories and instinctively knew that he was to blame for its current state.

As Caius toppled back, he vanished in midair and reappeared behind the monster, a flash of light knocking the Cie'th to the ground. It heaved itself back upright, distorted groans filling the air, and turned on him, shambling forward with more speed than its bulk belied. Caius attacked it again, and it swung around and bashed him into the far wall. It cracked; he fell to the ground, but wasted no time getting back upright.

Lightning pulled a blast of her namesake out of thin air; tiny crystals popped off its body and scattered across the floor at the explosion of energy. It wailed, falling to its knees.

She ran forward and swung her blade in a cross-cut; it fell onto its back.

For a moment, she saw him from centuries past, shouting that he could save Cocoon and everyone on it, and her crystallized sister, and her striking him, twice in a row, both times taking him down to the frozen lake. Both times he had stood up with fire in his eyes, and somehow, he had either convinced her of the truth, or she had realized it was futile to try and discourage him anymore.

We will see her again, right, he murmured to her, head down, staring at the grass.

"Caius!" she shouted. "Tie him down!"

Instantly, a lattice of shadowy tendrils appeared from the ground, holding the struggling, groaning creature down on the polished marble. The bonds were powerful, she saw, easily pinning its body down, but that didn't silence it, still screaming, still wailing. Battling the wave of dizziness that overcame her, she approached the creature and stood over it, sword at the ready, staring down. Caius appeared on the other side, eyes narrowed, and his body language made it plainly obvious that he was concerned.

Into her sling she reached, withdrawing the pendant she had taken from Snow's bedside, and held it over the beast, letting it hang free as the Cie'th writhed beneath her.

"You promised eternity to Serah," she told him. "You promised never to abandon her, and yet here you are, a Cie'th, a monster, and of your own choice." She thought she felt the pendant prickle against her fingers with warmth, but it emitted no light this time. "Look at this pendant, Snow. Remember what it means? I don't think you really know how much my sister loves you." She hesitated, then said, "You are precious to her. You protected her from my wrath and kept the bad dreams at bay. Don't you abandon her now."

The Cie'th had quieted, and though it still twitched, it seemed to be listening to her, if she dared hope.

"Who is she supposed to come back to, Snow? Me?" Her chest felt tight. "Right. Sure, I raised her and protected her and all, but I'm not the first one she went running to when she woke up, was I?" And there it was – the admittance, the knowledge, that she could never be what Snow was to her, that she would probably never again be the shield that protected her sister from the dangers of the world.

Her fingers tightened around the chain; the pendant clinked quietly as her hand trembled.

"She won't be dead forev–"

The Cie'th roared in her face, forcing her back, overcome with dizziness again. Unable to think, she nearly fell onto the floor, seeing through the haze as it abruptly stood and struck her with a backhand. Before she could recover, she saw it turn and go after Caius instead... and to her shock, he didn't make much effort to move out of the way and took the full brunt of the one-two punch, skidding across the floor.

Though her throat burned, she choked out his name, wondering what could have possibly possessed him to do such a foolish, pointless thing.

Distorted groans filling the air, it ignored her, bringing its stony arms down, again and again, on her companion's shoulders until he was on the ground, expression twisted in pain and eyes shut. Lightning scrambled to her feet, forcing herself through the haze, and made a wild grab for a formation jutting out of its back.

When her fingers wrapped around it, she yanked hard.

"Why are you doing this? Snow!" She clawed at its back, pulling as hard as she could. The Cie'th groaned loudly and lit the floor around her on fire; she grunted from the sudden flare of heat and pain, but didn't let go, quickly dousing the flames with a thin puddle of water. "Don't you abandon Serah," she demanded of him, "and don't you try to tell me you deserve this end! You can't do this to us!"

The Cie'th backhanded her again; she landed on her feet and slid, feet nearly shooting out from under her, but she snapped her hand out and pelted him with pearls of light, followed quickly up by a thunderclap that left her head ringing. The Cie'th cried out and fell to its side, flailing about like an upended beetle.

It'd have been comical but for the circumstances.

A swirling mass of shadows surrounded the creature, lifting it off the ground, and gravity seemed to reverse, raising the beast high into the air. A heartbeat later, it suddenly returned to normal, smashing it into the floor. The marble cracked, pieces of stone showering the floor, dust puffing up into the air. Just as she started to approach, a sudden wave of terribly frigid air chilled her to the bone and stopped her dead.

She gasped; Caius unleashed a fierce battle cry, and a wave of warm air chased away the chill. A flash of orange light flared on the other side of her eyelids; she opened them in time to witness a flame puff out of existence and saw scorch marks on the marble, surrounding the crater. At the same time, the sound of shattering glass came to them as the beast screamed again; one of the windows simply came apart. Bits of glass sparkled in the air like crystal before landing and scattering across the ground.

Crack – the chandelier suspended in the air suddenly rolled off its perch as the crystal pillar snapped in half, some of it dissipating into chaos. The whole thing came down; Lightning gasped and scrambled to get out of way, and she looked back in time to see some of the long, slender formations shatter across the ground. The sound of cracking crystal rang through the air; streaks of sunlight scattered through the crystal, colors briefly painting a chaotic pattern across the floor, before it all struck and stopped.

The Cie'th, bowled over by the impact, climbed to its feet and screamed again. She reeled back, but saw through her pain as Caius suddenly brought it down with a snap of the wrist, tendrils of darkness wrapping tight around it and yanking it down into the floor and opening a crater in the marble.

When it tried to stand one more time, she slung a large pearl of white light into its face. It hung suspended in the air a moment, collapsed on itself, and exploded.

The Cie'th groaned in pain and fell back, its movements weak.

Lightning gasped air back into her lungs, regaining control over her body, and stalked over to it. Ignoring the uneven ground caused by its plummet, she fell to her knees, laid a hand on its chest – the cold, hard crystal a harsh reality, batting aside her wishes – and held the pendant out once more.

In silence, features completely unreadable, Caius lowered himself to one knee at her side, laying one hand on the torso of the Cie'th, helping hold it down.

She opened her mouth, and the words did not come. If she were not missing her heart, she knew she would not be able to hold back the tears. Reality faced her, cold and hard – this was Snow's corpse, sprawled out before her, his grave littered with crystals, lying in a vessel choked with chaos. It was an end unbecoming of such a cheerful man, whose heart was too big for her cynicism, who smiled in the face of opposition and demanded the very best of the people who came across. And he rewarded them in kind.

"Snow, if you're in there, then..." The pendant glittered in the light. "...then listen to me. Listen to me. Serah is not gone forever. She's going to come back, and she needs you to meet her with open arms. The one who's gonna bear her to the shores of a new world is..." Her grip tightened. "...it's not me, Snow. It's you. It's always ever been you, and you can't leave her. You can't leave her."

The Cie'th groaned softly, and the face embedded in the crystal gaped.

Out of her peripheral vision, she saw the exposed skin of Caius's hand turn pale, fingertips digging into the divots between twists of crystal, nails catching on minute imperfections. She followed the line of his arm up, but his face was hidden from her, bent down toward the Cie'th, hair falling to hide his expression.

She looked back at the monster. "Snow. Can you hear me?" Her voice was quiet. "Can you... hear me?"

One arm moved weakly; she moved her knee to pin it down.

"Snow... Snow, please... no..." Barely above a whisper, feeling something sting her eyes, she moved her hand closer to the face in the crystal. "It can't end like this. It's not over. Why..." Her throat tightened; she shook her head and battled past it. "Why don't you come back? Fight your fate, you've done it before. You're too... you're too..."

The Cie'th groaned; the pendant glittered.

"...aren't you too... stubborn... to die?" The words came with so much difficulty that they felt like daggers on her tongue. They would cut her, she knew, and leaving her bleeding out words that no longer meant anything. He could not hear her. He was too far, his soul and his heart wrapped up in an indestructible shell.

You know it's what he wants. The voice came from the back of her mind; she pictured Lumina, head tilted, smirking at her, and closed her eyes, but the images only became clearer.

How can you hope to save everyone when you cannot even save yourself?

Defeat came in the form of the pendant slowly lowering to its rightful place on its chest, the glitter of the ancient silver too heavy to bear any longer. For a long time, she just sat there, sitting back on her heels, unable to believe that she had actually managed to fail this quest to save her sister's love. This sad, pitiful creature was the way Snow would die, and if she could not save him, he would be lost to the darkness.

Then her companion said, broken-voiced, "Lightning, I... I am..."

She slowly raised her eyes to find him looking at her; her chest tightened at the emptiness that stared back, a pain she could never name etched deeply into his features. All she found was the endless void in his eyes, with no stars to guide her. For a moment, she saw with clarity, and understood.

Not trusting her voice, she only stared back, feeling hollow and, for the first time, truly grateful for the inability to feel any real emotions anymore.

The pendant moved, coming to rest beside the face that stared out into emptiness.

And slowly, Lightning, the Liberator, raised herself to her feet, her hand drifting to Caius's shoulder as she did, and for a moment, she rested it there, for the first time truly recognizing the power in his body, the strength hiding under the ancient armor, feeling the powerful, painful knot that was his heart scald her fingers and flow through her like a great river that threatened to sweep her away into its chaotic depths.

And then her hand fell away; she took a step back. Though Snow had been her friend, her comrade, once, that time was over. There was no returning to the past. Her sister had more strength of heart than many gave her credit for. She would live, and she would move on. Her heart would be scarred, and she would cry in the night, but she would have to live on, if only just to honor his memory. Snow Villiers would never want the love of his life to go on and live a completely empty life; she had to give her heart again, and love again. And she would.

Her lips formed his name, but no sound came.

Caius withdrew his hand and rose, armor creaking in the silence, stepping back.

Feeling as though she gazed at herself from very far away, Lightning brought her hand over her shoulder, took the sword in her grip, and raised it, the broken end shimmering in the warm sunlight. The Cie'th – Snow Villiers – had not come to rest in the shadow, but in the dappled sunlight, a fitting resting place for someone whose smile had been able to bring light to the deepest shadows on their long journey. Its body glittered like the stars in the heavens, a strangely beautiful, peaceful sight for her heavy heart.

Her other hand came up, trembling, before she steadied it; she raised the sword over her head.

The Cie'th groaned, and even though she knew the end that awaited him, she had trouble doing what needed to be done, fulfilling the promise she had made. Perhaps this would save him, giving him the end he wanted. Perhaps he would see Serah again. Perhaps, in the darkness beyond, he would find some semblance of peace. Maybe she would find him again, somehow, in some form she didn't yet know.

But enough was enough. The dream had to end someday, and her oath, her obligation, would cause her to act.

You can't do this, a voice cried, but she silenced it.

Dimly, she knew of Caius gazing at her. Lightning took a deep breath, braced, forced her mind past all barriers – control your emotions – and made her choice, swinging the blade down with all the strength she had, as fast she could, knowing the blow would be final and fatal.


Five hundred years ago, Caius Ballad made a choice. Though his body had faded away into nothingness on the graying shores of Valhalla, he had known, even then, that he would be revived and live on to greet the eternity that would come. For him, it was an absolute victory, a final triumph, that would finally bring peace. His eternal charge would never again endure the pain of a short life, and he would never again have to endure the pain of having to be separated from her, over and over, knowing he could do nothing to even ease her suffering. He had watched Valhalla's chaos devour Gran Pulse, taking its form into its own, flooding the world, space, and all of time, wrapping up all of existence in its iron grip. The end came swiftly.

And, one by one, the Yeuls had risen out of the chaos, freed from their chains. Most had decried what he had done, but others had come to him, promising never again to let him go, never again to leave him. Soon, others had come to accept their fate, and they too had allowed their affection to become bonds.

Over it all had sat Lightning's crystal statue; there had been many a time when he had laughed at her for thinking her tenacity could win against his power, reminding her over and over – and hoping she could hear him in her dreams – that no one had been able to stop the end from coming.

And then the bonds became chains. In a few centuries, he was screaming, but there was no one left to hear him, no one who cared.

Again and again had he cracked his own body open. Again and again had he been revived.

They pleaded with him not to leave them. Then they demanded.

Watching Snow, who had always been willing to sacrifice so much of himself to help those around him, be reduced to a mindless monster, felt like a knife in his heart, one more of thousands. Another cold reminder that what he had done was unforgivable. That it had been evil. Snow would have sacrificed his very existence to save those he loved, or even those he had never met, and never would have fallen to his level to accomplish it. Never would he even had considered ending millions of lives to save only a single soul.

Caius had spent five hundred years facing up to it, every waking moment pouring over it, dismantling his motives and his foolishness, and the firestorm of bitterness became darkness. He deserved this fate. He deserved worse. To go on and exist in the new Valhalla that would come, existing eternally with the knowledge of what he had done, the pain and the guilt gnawing away, sunk into a pit of self-hatred... this was what he had earned.

And he deserved no forgiveness, no hope. He had raged at the darkness, at his own wildly chaotic heart, and fate had spat back in his face and forced him to submit.

So he did not ask for forgiveness. He did not ask for salvation. That was for those with gentler fates, who had created far less grievances, who had not ruined countless lives in their vindictive quest for respite. He was reminded of it every day, bitterness always flowing through his blood, pain aching in his bones, his heart bound up and closed off behind steel walls and rings of black fire. Not even Yeul could pierce the upper layers to reach the core deep within, the one part of him no one yet knew. And even could he be granted any of those things, they would only follow him to the new world and slowly infect it as well.

And now, because of his crimes, Snow would be forced into nothingness. He would not even be able to see Serah again. He would go into the darkness and fade away.

He moved back, out of Lightning's peripheral vision, to hide his countenance from her. For her, and for Yeul, he had to be strong, could never allow his weakness to bleed through. Lightning must always see him as cold, malicious, and withdrawn, because if she was ever allowed to see anything else, he did not dare think what could happen. He did not want to consider what she might think of him then.

He had grown quite practiced at hiding his feelings, and though his features tightened and the familiar burn of his heart came to his eyes, he let none of it get any farther.

The woman beside him moved with purpose, with great reluctance, her broken sword shining brightly in the sun as she raised it high. Perhaps, after this, she would turn him away– but no, he realized, she would not. Her hand on his shoulder had told him that. He had felt the intent behind it. He knew what it meant. The damage was done. He never should have told her anything. He never should have admitted to the hurt that so grieved his soul and strangled his heart. But it was too late to take the words back.

As she held the sword up, she seemed to freeze in place, time standing still, and he gazed at her, unbidden thoughts rising and threatening to slip through to be voiced – memories of her crystal statue going from a monument of triumph to a reminder of his foolishness, of the Yeuls yanking him back from the brink again and again when he tried to escape his self-made prison, of pieces of the world he had once loved falling into the darkness and too many lives ending when they plummeted into the Sea and were devoured.

It took more effort than he expected to keep the dangerous, traitorous words from falling from his lips.

Lightning, I am sorry. I am so sorry.

Quick as her namesake, Lightning brought the sword down, a cry wrenching itself from her throat, and the blade flashed bright as it arced through the dappling of light toward the pitiful monster on the floor. Time seemed to slow; he could see every microsecond tick by as the razor-thin edge cut the air in two, and the blade took form as another in his heart, joining the multitude already gathered.

But then, something happened. Before her blade could meet the monster's body, a brilliant spark of light flared in the air, and her blade struck, then was repelled with enough force to send her backward. She could not even so much as cry out in surprise when her back landed on the floor, eyes shut tight, an expression of pain on her face. The force that had driven her blade back also pushed him away, and he landed beside her. A sudden surge of power split the air as easily as a galvanized blade and bloomed bright in the shadows, like a match lit in a dark room, forcing all of the shade to leap away as though scalded.

For a moment, there was nothing. The brilliance lingered, so bright that he could see nothing else, and he shut his eyes, wondering what this could possibly be now.

As it dissipated, he opened his eyes to see her stirring and sitting up. She rubbed her eyes, a soft groan leaving her, taking deep breaths, before lowering her hand to look over at the Cie'th again.

It was the sharp intake of breath that made him follow her gaze.

The brilliance was fading, slowly receding into the pendant that still rested on its chest until it became a pinprick of blue-white light. At the same time, the body crumbled into crystal sand around him as a ripple of light spread out like a flame devouring paper; the sand gathered at his sides before vanishing in ghostly flickers. From the sand appeared the body of Snow Villiers, still clad in the same black suit, but it was him, in human form, eyes closed and breathing coming in, slow and deep.

Lightning could not find words, he soon saw, and he was at a loss to explain it. Etro, the only one who had this power – she who had reversed the crystal stasis of the heroes on the Day of Ragnarok, who had brought the party back to human form in Orphan's cradle, who had scorched Fang's brand and put her to sleep with her fellow Oerban native within the silent ruins of their village – was dead. He had ensured it. There was no one left alive who still had the power to manipulate chaos and crystal in such a way.

And yet, he could not deny what had happened. There indeed was Snow, in human form, not moving except for his breathing – as though he slept, but was about to wake.

Lightning did not stand. She climbed instead to her knees, hands reaching out and fingers grasping at empty air in his direction, as though uncertain what to do. He saw her trembling as she moved closer, half-crawling across the cracked marble to his sides. At last, her hand found a place to land, on his arm, near his elbow, and he saw her fingers close around it. She whispered his name, over and over, more and more urgently, and then she shook his arm, trying, as he could see, to rouse him from his sleep.

Snow stirred in the crater formed by his landing, hair shimmering in the sunlight, eyelids twitching.

Again, she shook his arm, saying his name, now louder.

Eyes as blue as ice finally opened, partially shadowed from the angle; he stirred again, groggily but not weakly. The pendant shifted across his chest as he moved, the light no longer shining from it. As though he had always known it was there, he moved his hand with some difficulty to grasp it, closing his fingers around it.

"Sis?" he murmured. "Is... that... you?"

Lightning didn't seem to know what to do or what to say, still kneeling, still gripping his arm, still staring at him without any evidence of understanding on her features. Her mouth hung slightly open, and evidence of feeling could plainly be seen on her face, which was paler than normal.

Snow groaned and looked directly at her. His eyes had not completely focused as of yet. "Wait, weren't you about to kill me? What, uh... what happened, sis?"

Her lips parted a few times. "I... you... remember that?"

"Yeah. I remember all of it. I remember transforming into a Cie'th and everything. And coming back. You beat me up... pretty good there, you know? Just like old times, huh?" The humor in his voice was light and forced; his lips twisted into a smirk without amusement.

Caius remained where he was, perfectly still, half-hoping, though knowing it to be futile, that the man would not notice he was still there. If the very sight of him and understanding of what he had done had been enough to turn him Cie'th, he did not dare risk triggering another episode.

"Snow." Lightning stared at him.

Snow held up his hand and opened his fingers, letting the pendant dangle from his grip. "This little thing seemed to be the catalyst," he murmured, "but I have no idea who or what did it. Maybe it was Serah?" At this, he chuckled a little and shook his head, then sat up. "Well, maybe it was. Stranger things've happened."

Lightning moved her hand from his arm at last to gently touch the pendant. "I don't think it was," she said, "but I couldn't tell you what it was, either."

The smirk vanished. "So, I was wrong, you didn't betray us. But..." Snow looked at Caius now; he felt dread creep into his heart, but allowed none of it to reach his countenance. Whatever Snow felt was just punishment, he would take it, and would take it in silence. It was the least he could do – and it truly was all he could do; there was nothing greater that he could offer but to be a whipping boy for his failures.

Lightning also looked at him; he met her eyes, but thereafter returned them to Snow.

"You brought Serah's killer here." Snow's eyes grew dark and as deep as Valhalla's Sea. "This man killed the whole world, and Serah, the love of my life and your beloved sister, yet you've allowed him to take up arms beside you, to help you. Why..." Now he turned his hollow eyes back to Lightning; the hand grasping the pendant lowered to his abdomen and rested there. "Why would you do that?"

Lightning spoke gently, carefully, enunciating each word. "Caius is here to help me, and that is all he has done and tried to do. He's hurt no one else." Her eyes were fixed on Snow's; they did not waver in the slightest. "And he's also here to protect me when I need it. His power has been a great asset. Please, Snow, trust me when I say that he is not here to cause trouble."

Blue fire ignited in the other's man eyes, a firestorm he turned on Caius, but Caius only stared back, still without expression, waiting to see what would happen.

The patron slowly climbed to his feet, wavering as he moved, obviously finding it difficult to stand in his human form after having spent so long shuffling about as a crystalline beast. His arms trembled, stilled, and his back straightened out, shoulders squaring. For several heartbeats, the two men leveled each other with stares, but each of a completely different nature – Caius did not miss the hostility and grief in the other's eyes, while aware that his own were cold and dark, betraying nothing at all.

The ambient chaos chilled. Caius instinctively braced.

Snow squeezed his fingers tighter around the pendant and turned his hand over so that the image of the broken Cocoon lay against the side of his fist. The chain twinkled in the light. He raised his other hand, fingers closing into a tight fist. "Serah, the love of my life and Lightning's beloved sister, died because of you. I became a l'Cie so that when the time came, I'd be able to save her, but..." Hesitating, his eyes closed; he took a deep breath. "Now I know it wouldn't have made a difference. At all. She traveled through time to solve paradoxes you caused. Nothing could have prevented her death, because wherever they solved a mystery, you just created another. Even if I'd been there, I would've only been able to watch her die." His voice cracked, and he hung his head.

Caius focused on keeping his face neutral, but his heart constricted, the guilt and anguish he always felt building up until his chest began to feel tight.

"This is your fault. I believe that. I will never not believe that."

Fearful that his voice might betray him, he still spoke up. "As well you should, Snow."

Snow suddenly looked at him and opened his fist, slashing his arm from left to right in a single quick motion. A blast of ice collided with his chest, knocking him down to the hard marble floor, and for a moment, he couldn't breathe, lungs frozen by the freezing air. As he fell in a graceless heap, he made no effort to get up when he ended up splayed out on the floor on his side.

When he was finally able to look up at his assailant, he found to his surprise that Lightning had seized Snow's arm and locked it in place, fixing him with an unamused expression that dripped with displeasure. Snow was looking back at her, but his countenance showed anger and shock. For a few moments, there was silence; Caius had enough time to move to one knee, but otherwise stay on the floor.

Snow's eyes were feral and as cold as the element that gave him his name. "I can't believe you would–"

"Believe it," she told him. "Back off."

His captured hand curled into a fist; a flare of icy white light appeared on his arm. "You would let–"

"I'm getting tired of this," she interrupted him again. "What do you gain from hurting him, huh? You think you can somehow make him 'understand' something he doesn't already? Is it for some sort of vindication, or just so you would feel better? It's not like you, Snow." There was a pause; her eyes never left his. "You wouldn't be telling him anything he doesn't already know. Back off."

Snow growled softly, but with great and obvious reluctance, he did as she requested. She released him; he took a few steps back, tucking the pendant into a pocket of his jacket, then raising his left arm and examining it. A sigh left him. "I'm almost afraid to look," he muttered, and used his now-empty right hand to tug the sleeve up, rolling it when the fabric resisted him. "Let's see what w– huh?"

Caius eased himself to his feet while Lightning reached out to brush her fingertips over Snow's brand. Instead of the inky, angry black arrows, red lines, and single eye of a brand in its final stage, it had been replaced with a white, scorched, faded mark that glittered faintly in the center. While evidence of progression was visible, it seemed to have halted, or even lost its ability to progress altogether.

"That... doesn't that... that looks like, uh..." Snow stared at the brand, fascinated. "It looks like... Fang's brand."

Lightning frowned. "But Etro stopped Fang's brand."

A hand moved to pat the pocket where he had stowed the pendant. "Did she?"

"From what I understand, yes. She reversed Fang's transformation into Ragnarok, sealed the brand so she still had her power but didn't run the risk of turning into a Cie'th, then put her and Vanille to sleep." Lightning lowered her hand. "That seems to be what happened here, too. But how?"

Snow looked at her. "Whatever brought me out of my Cie'th form used the pendant to do it." Pause. "Could... could it have been... could Serah have done this somehow?"

Lightning looked at a loss for words.

Caius examined the mark from where he stood and considered what had happened – the flare of light, a brief feeling that something had split the chaos and surged into the void left behind just long enough to return him to his human form, and witnessing the power of Etro at work. He knew, beyond all doubt, that Etro was gone, yet something had manifested her power and granted Snow a great blessing.

"I don't believe so," he said, quietly, drawing their eyes to him. "Serah is tenacious and strong, yes, but she would not have the ability to do this, even from within the chaos."

Lightning said, "What about Yeul? Could she do this?"

Caius considered this. "It's... possible," he admitted, "but I don't think she did it, either. I did not sense her power when it happened. Rather, I felt something I did not recognize."

"Something you didn't recognize?" The incredulous look on her face matched by the confusion in her voice. "That doesn't seem possible. You and Yeul are part of the chaos now, through and through. There shouldn't be anything that escapes your notice. There has to be some other explanation."

"Perhaps it was something we did not know existed."

Snow still looked hostile, but not as openly as he had a few moments ago. "Guess we'll find out when we find out, right?" he said. "Anyway, it doesn't matter now. I'm back here, alive, and human. Can't argue with that. I need to go out and be the Patron again." The dappled sunlight scattered through his hair when he turned his head toward the window. "Been a long time since I saw the sun."

"The captain will be glad to see you're alright," Lightning said.

The patron did not move. "Talking about Cora, right?"

"Yeah." Her brow knitted. "How did–"

"You notice things even when you're shut up in the dark." He did not look at her.

Caius thought of the Yeul of War, gazing at him with determined eyes full of feeling and remembering her final moments before passing and the way she cursed fate for taking her away from him. He wondered, too, how Cora would take knowing that, like that Yeul, her feelings would go unrequited. She would probably handle it better, but no doubt she would carry the sting of it into the new world, at least for a time.

"So," the warrioress said after a time, "what will you do now?"

Snow placed his hands on his hips, still facing the window, still gazing out at the sun. "I'll live for Serah's return. I won't give up this time, I promise." His head bowed. "I would say to keep an eye on Caius, but... you don't seem to be having much of a problem with him. It's weird." Blond hair shifted, revealing brownish hues beneath the upper layers, when he turned his head. "I knew him as a monster, but it looks like that isn't the case."

Lightning moved away now, closer to Caius. "It's not."

"Then, I won't interfere. I'll trust you, Light." He turned back to the window. "Have you seen Hope lately?"

"Yes," she said. "He's up in the Ark, with me. He's safe."

Snow nodded. "Good. Tell him I said hi, and tell him not to work himself to death before we meet again."

There was a long pause before Lightning nodded and began to leave the room.

"An imposter wouldn't have known what to do with a trinket like that. They wouldn't have known to use it to break the seal on the room, or what it could possibly mean to me." Though he stood a good distance away now, his voice carried easily to them. "I'm sure now, you're the real deal. Thank you."

Lightning half-smiled. "Of course."

As they left the room, Snow said to himself, just loudly enough to be heard, "So... what to do about that window..."


Lightning strode out into the sunshine of the courtyard and welcomed the sweet, heady scent of the blooms that filled the gardens. The courtyard was enormous, a narrow stretch linking the front gate to the main entrance that then expanded out into a well-kept garden, as bright and colorful as the Sunleth Waterscape in the glory days. Though she knew it best to leave and return to her duties, she found herself drawn instead to the colors and scents, fascinated at the contrast of the bright gardens with Snow's just-ended gloom.

Caius said nothing and made no attempt to dissuade her, following in silence as she wandered across the worn stone to a willow-like tree heavy with soft pink flowers. Their scent was mesmerizing, as sweet as honey yet as soft as dewy grass; she was standing beside it before she really understood what was happening, raising a hand to take one of the long fronds and slide her fingers down it.

When she glanced at her companion, his eyes had wandered away, actively taking in the scenery. He was still paying attention, of course, but at least he wasn't concerned for their safety.

"This feels nice," she murmured, and wished she could feel the flowers with her bare fingers.

There was a pause, then, "Are you alright?"

"Mmm..." Her hand stopped partway down one of the fronds before she released it. The frond quickly returned to its original position, heavy with blossoms. "I, ah... I'm still feeling..." She looked away from the willow to see more bushes and green shoots springing out of patches of rich soil. "I guess... overwhelmed."

"What is it that ails you so?"

Lightning took note of the softness of his voice as she turned her eyes to meet his, searching them. They were as vast as the cosmos, hollow as the Void, and she could not read the emotion that flickered in the shade. "What happened to Snow... I wish I knew how he'd come back." Turning slowly, she made her way over to a bush a short distance away, thick with white flowers streaked with sunset hues. "And then there's other things, like Dajh, and the whole thing about Vanille and the people in the chaos, and the clavis. I mean, I still can't believe it's all true. I'm hoping it isn't, but I just..."

"Lightning," Caius said, "what are you talking about?"

She clenched one hand into a fist and stared at the center of a flower. A butterfly, very small with jeweled wings, fluttered past, too busy to notice her. "Hope told me that... Bhunivelze, he– he wanted those people to die and for us to forget about them. He didn't want them going to the new world. And then, well..." She reached out a hand to cradle the flower. "You know those times when I appear, but I'm out cold?"

"Yes, several times," he said.

"Lumina intercepts me when I come down from the Ark. She said that she's pulling me into my own heart, the only place Bhunivelze and Hope can't hear us. She told me not to trust Hope, and now I'm wondering if..." For a moment, she didn't want to finish that sentence. So long ago, she had trusted Hope with her back, trusted him to take care of the world, and now her confidence had begun to falter. Lumina had split open the foundation of her trust and her affection for the young man in the body of a boy, and with a little more impetus, the halves would move apart. "If... she's telling the truth. Maybe I really can't trust him. I don't know." She hung her head.

Caius's chaos enveloped her as he moved closer to her; she felt him at her shoulder, closer than usual, and saw in her peripheral vision as he reached out for a flower.

"Lumina is a trickster," he said in a quiet voice, "but perhaps it would be wise not to discard her words."

Lightning rubbed her forehead. "If it's true, then I am just a pawn."

The stem of the flower broke with a soft snap; he withdrew his hand, holding the flower cradled in his fingers. "I can't tell you what is best. That is up to you. With that being said, I know these gods. They are never fully honest, and they will manipulate and bend others as they will for their own ends. Pulse and Lindzei worked in tandem to bring about Cocoon's end. Bhunivelze slew his mother. Only Etro was truly kind."

At a loss for words, she stared at the ground.

The flower appeared in her peripheral vision, an almost comical contrast to the black, worn armor, looking like a tiny sunset frozen in place; she stared at it without comprehending for a time before raising her eyes to his. Instead of the stoicism he'd had a moment ago, he looked softer than usual. Warmer.

She took the flower from him and raised it to inhale its scent. It smelled warm and sweet, like the air as the sun sank into the earth at the end of the day.

"Sunflowers," he told her. "They always grow in direct sun."

"They smell like the sun." For a moment, she rubbed her cheek against its wonderfully soft petals, enjoying the sleepy fragrance it released. "You're right." She closed her fingers gently around it. "Maybe Bhunivelze does have him trapped. If that's the case, I might be able to pull him away before it's too late." Her eyes rose to his again. "I have to try. He is my friend, always has been, and he always will be."

"Then you are obligated to save him," he said, "if he is indeed under Bhunivelze's thrall."

"And if he's not, he's probably already saved. I guess I'll find out, then I can stop worrying about him." She tucked the flower into her sling, but lingered, her hand pausing halfway out. Her fingertips curled around the edge of the red leather, squeezing slightly. "Caius, what about my sister? If Bhunivelze really is out to get me or he's got something up his sleeve, and I ruin it, I could lose her."

"You will not lose her. I know you will not falter at fighting him to get her back." Amusement further softened the lines of his features. "That wouldn't be like you at all."

The corner of her lips lifted slightly – no doubt he remembered her ad-lib at the end of the Ballad of the Liberator a few days past. And it had been true. She had meant every word. If Bhunivelze betrayed her, she wouldn't back down. He could send all his armies of all of space and time, rend the earth and boil the seas, extinguish every star and turn the sky into blood, and she wouldn't back down.

But then, she remembered something. "Hope told me Bhunivelze can't see the chaos. You would know – is it true that our hearts are made of chaos?"

He rested one hand on his hip with a thoughtful look, but only said, "That is indeed the case. It makes sense he would not be able to see it – the gods have no hearts of their own."

Unease and doubt slithered through her; her fingers flexed. "So, our hearts let us see the chaos?"

"From what I understand, yes. Without them, the chaos does not exist."

"And what, then, exactly, is the heart?"

The thoughtful look deepened; a twinge of concern entered his eyes. "It is the essence of our individuality. Heart, soul, and body make up each individual. Without a soul to anchor it, a heart simply becomes part of the chaos. Without a heart to quantify it, a soul is formless in this world. And without a body, neither have any ability to exist here at all." He tipped his head. "Is something on your mind?"

There was a long pause. Her eyes never left his. "I have a doubt."

His expression tightened. "Be careful, Lightning. If you confront Bhunivelze about this, be warned that he is the most powerful of these... gods." He spoke the word with a noticeable edge this time. "Though he may have plucked you out of stasis to do his bidding, he can just as easily throw you aside."

"If he was going to do that, he would've already."

Caius shook his head before she had finished speaking. "Not so. He merely had a perfect bargaining chip by hinging your sister's life on whether you would help him."

Something clicked in the back of her mind as he spoke; her mouth fell open slightly. The terrible thought sprung out of the collected doubts in her sliver of a heart, consuming her mind. For a few heartbeats, all she could do was stare at him. Suddenly, the doubts formed with perfect clarity, and she prayed they weren't true. Bhunivelze had to be a benevolent creature, despite his offer of an exchange. And if he wasn't–

She looked up at the sky, now very blue except for a bright golden spot around the sun. Closing her eyes, she let the sensations of her surroundings – bright colors, exquisite smells, the warmth of the sun, the sound of birds in the distance, the faint bustle of the city – sink through to her bones. It distracted her from her thoughts and yanked her out of the shadows in her mind for the moment as she resolved to cage the little sprout, for now. She would indeed go to see Hope. She would confront him, and she would demand answers.

And Hope would either give them to her, clear as crystal, or her doubts would only be confirmed.

She would need to be very sure before she spoke.

Caius was quiet for a long time. His chaotic heart was still tied in a knot, but for now, it felt calmer than usual. It was a comfortable quiet, nothing like the silence that preceded his attacks in Valhalla, or the silence of a man crippled by the pain of what he witnessed. He was simply quiet, and pleasantly so.

When he spoke, his voice was calm, smooth, and only just loud enough for her to hear clearly. "Are you ready?"

She opened her eyes to the blazing sky. "I am."

"Are you certain?" he said.

Turning her gaze to his, she said, "I... I think so." Not liking her uneven tone, she cleared her throat, trying again. "I think I can manage. When I get back to the Ark, I'll talk to Hope. If anyone can clear up my worries about all this, he's the one to do it." Her lungs filled with fresh air; she let it out slowly. "

In the golden sunlight, his hair shimmered, as though strands of gold had been woven into his dark hair. The sun caught the beads and adornments that had been woven into his hair long ago, and they glinted dully. The shadows did not fall across his face quite so readily in this sunny courtyard. And the way he looked at her made her falter, eyes drifting from his again, uncertain what to make of what she saw.

"Let's see if we can get to Cardesia and figure out what's going on with her mystery," she said. "Maybe I can find out where Odin's been off to this whole time. I hope he's okay."

They exited the courtyard, getting a curious stare from the gate guard; the gorgon at his side sniffed the air, but did not otherwise move. Lightning scanned the plaza for Cora and her guards, but saw none of them. They had likely either left, or perhaps they were hidden from view for the moment. Either way, she decided not to try searching and looked over at the gate guard instead.

"Snow is alright," she said. The man's eyes widened. "He's no longer a Cie'th. Please let Cora and the other captains know about this." As he opened his mouth to speak, she turned away and continued on across the plaza.


So, finally, a resolution to Snow's Cie'th situation... but there are still lingering mysteries and effects that will be explored more and more as the story goes on, diverging ever farther from canon. I'm currently replaying "Lightning Returns" right now, after having played the first two games back-to-back, beginning to end, so I would expect the next chapter and upcoming chapters to come ever faster. In fact, I fully expect to be back to my once-a-week updates, since the next chapters have been planned and worked on for... well, actually, many, many, MANY months!

Thanks to everyone who reviews, with particular mention to "i" and "Myahle" for leaving me such detailed and well-balanced comments. I always look forward to getting your reviews (and everyone else's of course!). Thank you so much!