I have NO excuses. Except I've been falling madly in love with a bunch of Mobile Suit Gundam series, especially Zeta Gundam, G gundam and Gundam Wing. Lots of pretty anime boys in there and badass mechs fighting. I'm a robot fan. I have to admit it. And I'm not ashamed of it!

And FFXIII-2 is finally out. I love Noel! But I hate how they say his name! It actually means Christmas in French, so it's kinda funny that he takes the place of protecting Serah. I've almost finished the game, I should be done by the week and I need to write at least one fic over it. And over Hope! Did you knew I loved Hope? You gotta know, I rant on it from time to time. Anyway, I've finally decided to get back in Black Faction. My terrible cliffhanger wasn't enough to keep me into it. I finally decided how to kill the one character I had to kill in the name of fandom. So here I come. This will be highly violent and possibly ghory. There's death in it, but I think you'll like it. Still don't know if I'll talk of Cloud or Squall in this. We'll focus on Noctis, Lightning and dear little Storm

By the way, I know I hit the wrong buttons in last chapter with Storm seeming only to care about Stella's safety. Well, it is his mom, so it's only normal if she's a priority to him. Still, Storm seems to be the one big cause of trouble in this fic. I swear, if I haven't done the impossible to get you to like him a little more by the end of this fic, then I don't know how to write a good dramatic story. This being said, I'll let you read the conclusion of the March mission! Enjoy!

Episode 3 – White maiden –Part X

Time: 19 028 A.D. day unknown

Location: March

Mission: infiltrating the headquarters of March's Black Faction base and rescuing Stella Fleuret, if possible.

Agents: Lightning Farron, Noctis Lucis Caelum and Storm

Warning: It seems our agents have been separated. They no longer work under our orders. The top bosses were in fact working with the Feds all this time and Barthendelus showed up. They could need reinforcement, but the question is, do we have any to sent them?

Message from Rufus Shinra. End of transmission.

…

She was tied to a wall, standing in a translucid pillar that isolated her from the rest of the room. Her chains seemed heavy and her feet didn't even touch the ground. Her hair was a mess, but she still looked beautiful. There were unknown stars in her eyes. Tears. Countless tears pouring from her dark blue eyes. Noctis shivered as he stood in front of the devices recording the live action going on somewhere else inside of the base. Stella was there. Right there, on that screen. He was still mad at her, but his heart was still torn. To think his poor son had to see his mother in such a shape. It wasn't fair. He remembered his own mom, lying lifelessly on the floor. And the blood. He hated himself for remembering everything so well.

He shook his head, trying to focus. Storm and him had been separated just as Lightning had been taken away from them a few hours ago. Noctis had tried everything he could to stay close to the kid. But an instant of inattention had been enough. It seemed the rooms from this base could be switched as their owners' willed them to. They had been lead from trap to trap until he finally reached the commands room. Of course, he wasn't left alone in the room. He was surrounded by heavily armed men.

I can't recall when it was the last time I had one normal day in my life, he wondered.

"So, Raven, you thought your little rebellion would go unnoticed? You really thought that the very organization you've been working for the last six years can't look after itself on its own and needs correcting?"

"I still believe that you do need a correction," he acidly retorted to the man standing in front of him.

It was none other than Caius Ballad. The Feds top leader. It also happened to be the founder of Black Faction.

"Well, I'm not here to give you a choice. You can't use your Radiance in this room. And even if you could, we've got your dear Lightning hostages."

"What are you intending to do with her? And what about Stella?"

"You can forget about Stella. Whatever you do, she's going to die. As for Lightning, it's all up to the way you'll answer my next question."

With a smirk, Caius raised his hand, as if to order one of his goons. The wall in the back of the commands room turned transparent and Noctis gasped from surprise as he saw Lightning, floating in front of Barthendelus who was conjuring some sort of weird magics. The woman of his dreams had her eyes closed, her pink brown hair floating around her head. She was just as motionless as Stella, but also unconscious.

Anger rising within him, Noctis jumped forward, ready to fight his way through, oblivious to the guns aimed at him. None of them fired anyway, but two tall men with the built of Rude blocked him and contained him, almost breaking both his arms in the process. He squirmed helplessly, and stopped only as he saw that the guns were now aimed at his dear Lightning.

"What are you doing to her!"

"You know mako is getting scarcely rare, don't you? And her blood has absorbed mako. We're currently trying to gather up some of her energy. By keeping her here and stealing her modified mako, we could extract a lot of it in a really short time. If we have to kill her, we would only get a little mako, but it's still better than nothing at all."

"You monster!"

"Look who's talking." Caius snickered. "You've came all the way here thinking about destroying us, ain't I right?"

"Why do you ask me if you already know?"

"I ask because I'm the boss around here. But I don't have time for idle chitchat. So let me cut to the chase. I have one offer for you, that could save both yours and Lightning's lives."

"Whatever it is, I won't…!"

"Listen, Raven! If you don't, my men will fire. Or maybe you need to see what I'll do with your kid first? He's been running around crying like a baby since he got separated from you. I should grant him the chance to see his mother one last time, shouldn't I?"

Noctis tried to summon his blades out from thin air. He tried to get his mind around anything in the room that he could crush to ruin this maniac's plan. But there was nothing to make his power get to work. Nothing that he could do to help his own son. He could only watch the boy walk into the room where Stella was being confined. His heart twisted as he looked everywhere but at the hated screen from where Storm's yells were coming. He stared at Lightning, still unconscious, still beautiful and still desperately in need of rescue. He couldn't fail her this time. He couldn't fail Storm either. But he was surrounded by all those armed man. His real sword and gun had been removed from him as soon as he entered the room. He could still feel the bruises on his whole body, where the metal rods and boots and fists had hit him. He had been surrounded right upon arrival. No chance to look around. Not even a chance to breath in and out.

"Mother!"

Storm's voice was breaking his heart. It sounded so hurt, so desperate. It reminded him of his own past. He wanted to die right on the spot, so that this nightmare would end. He couldn't stand helpless once again in front of another tragedy. He couldn't let the Faction toy with what was left of his family.

"What do you want from me?" he asked.

He sounded defeated, but it was just a mask he kept on. He still had no way out of this, but as soon as an opening would be left, he'd seize it and rescue both Lightning and Storm. As for Stella, he wasn't too sure of what he could for her. But he was still going to try his best.

"You're coming to your senses, Raven. You have great powers, thanks to us. We can nullify them here. We can remove them from you and turn you back into a simple human, though the process would certainly kill you. You gave us, unwillingly, but gave us nevertheless another pawn with the same powers as you. Asking anything more could sound wrong with all that said, but we need more cooperation from you and project Storm."

"How did you call him?"

"Project Storm. That's what he is, Raven. A mere clone of your mutated organism. A contradiction in this era. We thought it would be easier to manipulate a child. But we were naïve, or so it seems. Or maybe does this kid just take a little too much after his father. I should either break him down or erase him here and now."

"How can you speak that way of a mere child? He's just a kid, for heaven's sake!"

Caius raised on eyebrow, and a red glow came from his chest, as Storm kept on yelling in the wide screen in the center of the room. His small fists hitting the pillar were his mother was kept prisoner was the only noise in the room except from Noctis' fast breathing for a while.

"There's no such thing as a kid around the Faction. Storm is only a test subject. He obeyed once and he will obey again. Willing or not."

"But what's the point when you can ask me to do your dirty job?" Noctis asked.

One of his worst nightmares was turning into reality. The last thing he wanted was for Storm's hands to be tainted by the blood of others. The poor kid was already confused enough as things were. If they made him a killer at such a young age, it would destroy him.

"Why would I only ask you when I have two Raven?"

Noctis realized at this point that it meant that he was also a hostage. He hadn't think about it this way until then and his eyes went back to the screen were Storm was looking even more desperate than before…

…

"Mom! Can't you hear me, mom? Are you awake? MOM!"

Storm couldn't think rationally anymore. There was too many thoughts in his head. He was worried about his dad. He was worried about Lightning. He was worried about his mom. And he was also worried about himself. His radiance wasn't working anywhere anymore in this building. He knew he was trapped. He knew the Faction and the Feds were just messing around with him. His logical mind knew all of that, but he just couldn't stop to think about it. He couldn't find a plan, he couldn't see anything through his tears, why was he crying when he finally reached the place where his mom was being held prisoner?

"Oh Storm." She sighed. "You shouldn't have come. It's all a trap."

"Mom…"

He managed to see the tears in her own eyes. Trailing down her pale skin. She looked different. He recognized her, but at the same time, her stare felt like the stare of a stranger. Her body looked cold. He shivered. He wanted to hide in her arms and think foolishly that he was safe. But she needed help more than he did. He tried to control his shakings. And then the voice started to speak.

It seemed to come from another world. It had to be inhuman. It was a machine. Its ton resounded through the whole room, reaching Storm deep to its core.

"Welcome S.T.O.R.M. I'm glad to see you're back."

He looked around, remembering something that he couldn't put into words. But it was something he didn't want to remember. He tried to chase the feeling away, and his tears dried as he looked around, trying to be rational.

"How can I be back? I never came here."

"How would you know, S.T.O.R.M.? It has little importance now anyway. You're here. And I'm your matrix."

Storm felt a long shiver running down his spine. He knew what she meant. He remembered that voice. It was the first voice he ever heard in his life. It was from that frightening machine that had him growing up at an accelerated pace. It was the one who taught him everything he knew about sciences and rationality.

"Why are you here? Let my mom go freely, she hasn't…"

"Now, now, you're doing it again, S.T.O.R.M. Making inferences is wrong. Why do you keep on calling that pitiful human your mother?"

"Because she is!" he retorted angrily, his voice growing steadier.

"That's false, dear boy. She never was your mother. It's a lie your creators asked me to tell you since she was the one who was going to take care of you once I gave you birth."

Storm felt like throwing up. That sounded so wrong. So cold. He felt so lonely and different when his matrix would put it like that.

"Want an explanation, S.T.O.R.M.? You're old enough for the truth. And maybe will it help you controlling your pathetic emotional reaction later on to learn that your biological mother isn't Stella. The Faction used Raven's mutated cells and mixed them with Lightning Farron's DNA."

Storm looked up, shocked to say the least. He looked at Stella, still chained inside of her pillar, as if to see if it was true or not. She sighed deeply.

"Does blood and DNA really matter to us, Storm?" was all the woman asked him.

It was all the answers he needed. So Lightning was, technically speaking, his real mother.

"As you must understand, there was no way the Faction would only create a copy of Raven. They wanted to try and get something even stronger. So why not had the blood of a human who had merged mako into his organism? The real signification for the M in your name stands for Mako and not Magnification."

"Why did they lie about it? Why did YOU lie, mom?"

As Stella didn't answer, the machine acted as if the last question had been asked to her.

"My master thinks that there's a time for every truth. I was programmed to give you a role that would fit in the situation you were given. You had to be persuaded of being Stella's son, so we told you that you were. Now, the Faction doesn't need Stella anymore, so they want you to know the truth. Because they have both your true parents prisoners. Ain't that just marvelous, dear S.T.O.R.M.?"

"Oh, just shut up, matrix. Let my mom go if you don't need her anymore."

"But you should know that we can't do that. She knows too much."

"Please, don't…!"

The voice of the machine screeched as it echoed through the room in an uproar.

"Are you begging S.T.O.R.M.? You were never taught to beg. You're not a weakling. Don't embarrass me in such a fashion."

"I don't care about what you think. Get out of my head! Get away from me! I don't want to hear you anymore. You're telling lies, nothing but lies."

"Would I lie to my cute test subject? Blasphemy! I, the matrix, would never…"

"Cut it out! Whoever's putting this on, cut it out!" the small boy pleaded, covering his ears with his hands and curling down over himself. "I'll do what you want if you release my mom. I'll do anything!"

"No Storm, please, don't do anything they'd asked you to. They're bad people, you know it."

Storm was on his knees, painfully aware of his helplessness. He had tried to summon anything with his power. A spear, a gun, a blade, any kind of weapon. He had also tried to force the crystal pillar in which Stella was kept prisoner to break under his will, to no avail. His Radiance was utterly locked down. He was a mere child, unarmed and barely dressed in a black suit that protected him from bullets as long as his head wasn't aimed at. There was no protection for his heart which was quivering in his chest from the hurt and the lies and the fear. Could things get any worse?

"Then why d'you got involved with them, mom? I want you to be safe and…"

"There's no where safe and you may never trust a Faction's…"

Stella was cut short by a sudden pain in her back as the white lights from the ceiling turned red. Storm raised his head, feeling in his whole body that the threat was being applied.

"Are you really willing to become our fateful soldier, S.T.O.R.M.?" the mechanical voice asked.

"Whatever they say, you have to refuse Storm!" Stella pleaded, tensing in her chains.

The first drop of blood hit the floor inside the pillar, but Storm heard it as if its sound had been amplified a thousand times.

"You have to tell me now. Make your decision S.T.O.R.M. If you hesitate, it will be too late for her."

Stella shook her head, encouraging her fake son to refuse. His little heart was beating like a drum in his chest.

"I… I'll do it." He said.

He wasn't sure who he was addressing too. He felt so scared. He wished his dad was there. He would have known what to say. He would have known what to do.

"Not convincing enough."

A sword ran through Stella's body, right from her back through her guts. The blood spread from the wound as she hung lowlier in her chains.

"Mom! How could you…! Mom!" Storm yelled as he got back up and hit the crystal pillar once again, feeling his heart exploding from the pain.

It had to be false. It had to be a big lie, he couldn't accept it otherwise.

…

Lightning was lost in a dream. It wasn't a scary dream, but it wasn't a nice one either. It felt lonely and cold. But the voice was still there. She tried to recognize it. And slowly, her mind was filled with light. She felt a little weak, but she understood why. She also understood who it was that had been talking to her.

"The goddess?" she thought out loud.

Her voice was a mere whisper, so low nobody heard it.

"You were chosen, Lightning, to erase the evil in this world. You've already met the few champions I had chosen to help you in your task. I couldn't reach your mind before and talking to you now is putting you in great danger. Please survive, Claire Farron. Please wake up, my dear child, and reduce to dust those who are bringing chaos into my world."

Lightning opened her eyes, suddenly awakening to the outside world. She felt her energy being sucked out of her body. But she suddenly felt something else. A knowledge only her brother had managed to get. Suddenly, she could sense the mako inside of her. And she could taste her own power. The energy already out from her body turned into thunderbolts and killed Barthendelus on the spot.

"What the…"

Caius turned around, surprised and as he let his guard down, Noctis finally felt an opening. He had been trying again and again to use his powers and this time, suddenly, the Radiance worked. He blew up every weapons aiming at Lightning –knocking unconscious every guy holding the aforementioned weapons- and broke most of the machinery in the room, sending it right onto Caius to crush the guy under the material's weight. He then literally blew the room where his fiancée was standing and ran up to her.

"Are you okay, Light?"

She could barely stand on her on, but bolt of energy were still running in the air around her.

"Noctis? Where… Where are we? Where's Storm?"

Braving the savage electricity, Noctis managed to get to Lightning and hugged her tightly in his arms, preventing her from collapsing to the floor.

"Oh Claire, you gave me such a scare."

She felt him trembling and understood something was wrong as he kissed her forehead. He would never do that in the middle of a mission unless he was really shaken.

"I'm sorry, darling. I…"

"Mooooooom!"

Storm's yell coming from the screen felt so heart breaking that they both dropped dead silent. Lightning tried to look up, but Noctis held closer to him, forcing her to bury his head into his chest, preventing her to look anywhere at all.

"I don't want you to see this." He whispered. "It's all my fault…"

She'd never felt him shake like this. He seemed just as traumatized as Storm. And though she could bet what had happened, her mind was still too foggy for her not to ask:

"What have they done?"

"They killed her."

…

"Your creators said I could let you see her now." The machine said.

The pillar vanished and the chains were unlocked, letting Stella fall to the ground. Her legs folded under her weight and Storm stood in shock for one instant, before to be crushed to the floor under the weight of his false mother. He didn't move or made a noise at first, too lost and confused to react.

"Storm…" Stella whimpered.

"Mom, don't… don't talk, don't try to move, you're only going to hurt yourself more. If we… Maybe I…"

"I know I don't have much time, Storm. I'm really sorry to put you through this."

She tried to move, so that she would be able to see his face, but her body was still sore from the chains and all.

"I love you Storm, please, don't ever doubt it."

"I love you too, mom, so please, don't go."

He knew that was unrational. He hated her for making him feel this way. He hated the matrix for killing her. He felt like hating the whole wide world.

"Oh Storm, you're the dearest thing I have in this world. I wish I could have been a good mom…"

"Don't say that!"

Despite the pain and agony she felt, she managed to wrap her arms around him. Storm felt her blood on his clothes. His overall was already getting wet because of it and the taste of metal in his mouth was almost just as bad as the smell in the air.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart…" she exhaled on last breath as she apologized and then, she fell silent.

He felt her weighing down on him entirely, almost crushing him to the floor. He was breathing so fast, he was surely hyperventilating, that's why he couldn't hear her heartbeat anymore. The pool coming out from her wound was forming a pool on the floor. He could feel it in his hair. He was going to drown in it!

"Mom!" he cried out!

"She's not your mom," the matrix said with her cold voice.

He shrieked in response, his heart broken beyond mending, his soul wounded beyond healing, his rage expanding beyond any boundaries. The body of Stella was thrown to the ceiling as he realized he could use his powers at new. The noise of her bones breaking at the harsh collision made him yell even more, like a wounded animal. And Noctis remembered his son's nightmare and how he'd yelled and broke everything in his room the other night. And now, it was becoming a reality.

Storm couldn't see through his tears. His throat hurt from yelling so strongly, but he kept on, raising his arms in the air, furiously looking for the place where the hated matrix could be hidden. He pointed one hand to the wall on his left and the wall simply turned to dust. He point to the right and the wall was also disintegrated. His eyes were bright red and a silver glow surrounded his body.

"Give her back! Bring her back! If you don't, I'll … I'll kill you!" he shouted in a roar that was far from human.

Lightning felt the floor shaking under her feet and tightened her grip onto Noctis. She felt so weak. Barthendelus was dead, alright. Stella was dead too and Storm was running amok!

"We have to do something, Noctis. We can't…"

"But how can I face him after saying I would rescue his mother, now that she's… How could I let him go through the very same thing as me."

Seeing Storm losing his mother only reminded Noctis of his own personal loss. And he felt as if he had been taken years in the past.

"Noctis, please, you have to stay focused! Your son needs you! And I need you too." She reminded him. She slightly pinched his arm just to make sure he would really snap out of his reminiscing.

"Ouch! Okay, you're right, Light. I'll… I think I got a way to do this…"

He eyed the wide screen once again, focusing on Storm who was destructing everything around him at a terrible pace. The chance that he hadn't killed anyone already was pretty slim, but still, he'd better be stopped now, before that any harm got done.

Suddenly, a globe of light surrounded the small boy, separating him from the outside world.

"What the…! My radiance! Give me back my radiance! Isn't mommy enough for you monsters?"

Being unable to destroy anything anymore and having his radiance locked once again seemed to bring him back to reality. Storm looked around him and realized the devastation he had caused. He made the mistake of looking at his mom's corpse, which was now covered with blood and dirt and twisted in weird ways, after being sent full speed to the ceiling and having fallen back to the floor.

"Is it my fault, mom?"

Lightning felt her own heart breaking down at the sight of the boy.

Noctis had let go of her and was now looking through the files, searching for a map that would indicate him clearly where the poor boy was. Something stirred inside the rubble of materials that had been pushed over Caius. In fact, it was Caius, who was still quite alive, despite Noctis' efforts.

"You, you think you can just crush me with a some…"

Lightning stabbed him with her sword before that he could end his sentence, still barely standing up, but having all the strength she needed to kill that awful man who directed the Faction and the Feds.

If it was him who had planned all her past misery without even caring about the damage he caused, she couldn't care less about his dead. She walked up to Noctis and leaned on to him.

"Did you find where he was?"

"Yes. Let's go and get him home."

She nodded. But she couldn't forget about the words of the goddess, saying she was supposed to erase the evil in this world. How could one single human, never mind all the freaking power he was given, could do that? The goddess had mentioned champions she had already meet. Was she referring to Noctis? And maybe even Storm? No, Lightning thought. The kid has already faced enough hardship. Maybe Cloud and Squall could be involved as well. After all, stopping the Feds and the Faction would take a lot more than just killing the head ordering the arms and legs.

…

Time: 19 028 A.D. day unknown

Location: down on Earth, Boston

Mission: ending the Cetra's chase to prevent Aeris from suffering anymore

Agents: Squall Leonheart

Warning: Our agent has gotten closely involved with the cetra. We don't know if he'll let her cooperate with her. But at this moment, the internal fights within the Black Faction is taking too much of our time and personnel. We can't do anything about it…

Message from G.I. five. End of transmission.

…

Squall was the second to wake up this morning. Aeris was sitting up by the window's side, her eyes lost in the sky. Just by opening his eyes and seeing her, Squall could tell she had been doing nightmares all night long. He breathed in and he could almost see the pictures from her nightmares. Sephiroth. He fell the same confusion as her for an instant, before that he was able to close his extra sensitivity to the feelings around. Her bed was filled with sorrow. The air was tensed in the room. And the fragile hope of their brief embrace from yesterday seems like a forgotten promise that could be crushed by the future.

"Are you still peeking in my mind?" she asked, not looking at him.

"Good morning to you too." He retorted with a smirk.

"Squall, you know I hate when you do that."

He got up and went to sit by her side and wrapped his arms around her. She immediately leaned into him and he was quite happy to feel her so comfortable next to him.

"I was able to control it yesterday. It just seems hard to do it this early in the morning. Give me time, and I'll be perfect at not looking in your heart and mind. But you shouldn't cry out what you feel either."

"I'll do my best." She said.

Then she looked up at him, raising one hand to caress his cheek.

"Squall, I can't believe we're talking as if that was normal."

"Well, I sure hope you don't think I'm an alien or something." He joked.

"Why would I think that? And anyway, I'm an alien myself."

"You look perfectly fine to me. Unless you say you're hiding some tentacles or anything out of ordinary under your clothes."

She didn't laugh, but she didn't look away either.

"When did you become so carefree, mister gloomy?"

"What's with the nickname? I'm not…!"

"You sure were gloomy during the first days we spent together…"

"Guess I'll have to amend for that."

He gently kissed the back of her neck, but that got her to tense up in his arms. He had reached the limit.

"Aeris, I didn't mean… You know I don't want to hurt you."

"I know, Squall. But I don't think I'm ready now. Aren't you feeling a little tired still? You just got back from this awful mission."

"You healed me, Ris."

She blushed and looked straight outside the window, hoping he wouldn't notice the reaction she had when he would call her "Ris".

"Stop being so cute, Squall."

"Why should I stop?"

"It's not like you to be so… open about everything."

"I'm not open at all right now. I'm messing around to forget all that happened to us lately. I thought things were cleared up between us. I love you, Ris, and you said you also loved me."

"Things aren't that simple." She sighed, putting her hands on his arms.

"They don't have to be complicated either." He said, brushing his face against her hair.

She could feel his breathing in her neck. It was warm. She felt so well in his arms. So protected. She wanted to turn around and kiss him. But then, she felt something different.

"What's this?"

"What's what?"

"There's something new about you. Like a… new strength that wasn't there yesterday." She said, looking up at him.

He looked confused and then, his face darkened a bit as if he understood something. It didn't look to be anything good.

"I… Don't laugh at me if I tell you about it, okay?"

"Why would I laugh?"

"I had a dream last night. I met a giant thunder birds, or something like it. Its name Quezacoltz. It said that it would help me. And I think he kinda became my summon spirit."

"Okay…"

"I know it sounds crazy, especially coming from me, but… With that hyper sensibility I got myself, I seem to be able to travel far distance when I'm unconscious. I don't if I travel through time, space or memory or if it's just my mind playing trick on me. Maybe the drugs the doc game me were too strong or something, but I… I'm sure it was real."

Aeris turned around in his arms, raising one hand to touch his chest.

"Quezacoltz huh? I know that name. I met that giant bird once. He's a good spirit. But if he's come to you, than that means there will be more hardships for you."

"Guess that can't be helped. After all, I still got to beat Sephiroth to make sure he won't ever come after you again."

Aeris' face turned white as a ghost. Squall bit his lips, regretting he mentioned the albino's name in front of her.

"You don't have to be scared, Ris. I'm back for good, and I'll protect you from now on." He tried to encourage her as she hid her face against his chest.

She felt so small and vulnerable in his arms. So alive. He was glad simply to be with her.

"I don't want to be a burden to you," she mumbled, forcing herself not to cry.

"You will never be, Aeris."

"Oh Squall. Don't talk to me like this. I don't owe this. I'm a cetra, all I mean is trouble…"

"That's what they got you to think."

He held tightly against his heart. And at this moment, when she heard just a flicker in his voice, she realized he was acting so nice because he needed her to hug him back and not to ever let go.

To be continued…

I have to say that Stella's dead was certainly the most unneeded abuse of violence I made since a long time in fiction. But it took out a lot of rage I had in. And I did say I was going to kill her. Thus, now, it's done. Noctis doesn't do a lot in this chapter. Everything that's happening is just a little too much for him… Or maybe I just want to have him crying in the next chapter. I made him so overpowerful in this… Miss the whole fight he got in with Seymour. Now that was epic. I don't know if I'll manage to make anything this epic in the last three chapters. I think there's a lot of hurt/comfort to be done. Plus, now that the worse is done (or is it?) we have a wedding to celebrate, remember?

Oh, and Caius is totally OOC, but I needed another villain and he was the only one I could think of. I liked when he said that Storm is a contradiction. I was about to say he created a paradox and that they have to turn history back to what it was supposed to be, but that would be way too complicated. And I'm not going to drag anything from FFXIII-2 into this, even if I really contemplate the idea of starting a fic over that game once I complete it in its entirely. All I will need is time!

As for Squall's part, I must say I've been reading fanfics over gundams for two weeks. Lots of fluff and mush. Sorry if Squall was OOC. We needed some cuteness after all this heartbreak, didn't we?

I seriously don't know what to think about this chapter. I get the impression I went quite over the top with many things about it. I want to wrap up the story nicely, but lately, I have the impression I'm scribbling nonsense. It could also be the fact I just finished writing this chapter. So please, tell me what you think. This could be edited in the future. But I'll need your help and critiques to do so. ^ ^