Author's Note: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII-2 or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.
Notice: The part we've all been waiting is here, and so here it, and along with replies to the reviews!
Rsdk525: Thanks
G.S. Phoenix: While it won't appear this chapter, rest assured that it will appear next.
And now, here we go! (In this chapter the narration will alternate between Lightning and Deiru with each italicized paragraph.)
Ch.38 Lightning
After what seemed like a long time of walking, we finally made it back to the Farseers Relic, and I examined the Oracle Drive that sat there. It flashed and began to show us the images it possessed. "Look!" Serah said. The images were, to my surprise, from all across our journey so far. Yeul had seen everything that we would do, and the future we would fight to protect. She believed that someday, they would meet again. The image ended with one of Noel and Yeul reuniting in the middle of a grassy field. Noel smiled. "Yeul, I'll never say I regret knowing you. I'm not going to rest until I find you again," he declared. "That's the spirit," I said. "Come on, let's change the future," Serah said. The suddenly the Oracle Drive flashed, and a very familiar moogle materialized in front of us.
"Kupo!" Mog said. "He's back!" Serah said, smiling happily. "I think he got scared and was hiding here the whole time," Noel suggested. "What?! I would never, kupo!" Mog said, crossing his arms. I chuckled at his show of pride, and said "So where were you then?" "My spirit was stuck in the Void Beyond, kupo! Although I could see all of you, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't make you see me! But then Lightning came to my rescue, and that's how I got back here, kupo!" he explained. Then he stiffened and said "Oh, that's right! Lightning told me to give you all a message! She told me to tell you the truth about Caius!"
At that we all froze, before Noel said "The truth about him? What do you mean?" "Mog, tell us what you know," Serah said. He nodded. "I know all about Caius now, kupo. The Farseer Guardians were given a mission. They had to protect the seeress. They were l'Cie, kupo," the moogle told us. I gasped. Caius was a l'Cie? "The Guardians were servants of the fal'Cie. Can that really be true? Does that mean Caius is a l'Cie?" Noel asked, echoing my thoughts. "Not anymore, kupo. Etro freed him, and now he's not a l'Cie anymore, kupo," Mog replied. "That just what happened with Serah, me and Lightning. We were l'Cie, and the goddess intervened to set us free," I said. Mog nodded.
"Yep! But Caius became immortal too, kupo. He's lived for centuries and centuries at the side of the seeress. He protects her always, the undying Guardian, kupo," he explained. Noel put his hand to his chin. "He's heard every prophecy that the seeress had ever seen. He knows the entire timeline. Those memories and his immortality give him tremendous power. Someone like him can easily move through history and mold events as he wants," he said. "So he's been plotting for centuries!" Serah said. "Yes. He's been behind everything from the very beginning. Now we know who the enemy is. It's up to us to stop him," Noel concluded. "And don't forget Uried. He wants nothing more that to dissolve this world into the Chaos, and he'll do anything to make that happen," I pointed out. Noel nodded. "Right," he said.
Serah looked at Mog. "Mog, where did my sister go? After she helped you, I mean," she asked. "She's waiting for you and Deiru and the end of time, kupo," Mog told her. I smiled. So Lightning was still alive, and awaiting our arrival. All of a sudden the ground rumbled, and a temporal rift appeared. "I guess that's our exit," I said. "So, this is how dreams end," Noel said. "No, this is just the beginning," Serah said. We both nodded and walked through, our team whole once more.
New Bodhum 700 AF
When we passed through the rift we ended in another ruined landscape, only this time it looked very much familiar. Serah gasped. "Is this... my village?" she asked. "It looks a lot like my era," Noel said. It did. The piece of wood that would have originally led to lower ground was twisted and malformed, the lower half gone. The trees were all barren and like skeletons, and the water from the sea was completely gone, leaving an empty pit with formations of rock. "I wonder if anyone alive is here," I said. "Let's look," Noel suggested. "Kupo," Mog said, while Serah and I stood. We reached the end of the path and jumped down. The sand had turned ashen and like dust, not too different from that a desert, rather than a coast.
Despite the differences though, there were definite similarities. The general layout was alike, there was a dock reaching out into the remnants of the sea, and in the back there were even the ruins of a building in the same place as NORA house had been. "There's no doubt about it. This is New Bodhum," I said. "Yeah. But the time period... this is far into the future, after mankind is gone," Noel said. "This can't be the fate the world is moving towards," Serah said, frowning worriedly. "Unfortunately, it is. And unless we stop Caius and Uried, nothing will change that," I told her. When we reached the center of the village we came upon another time rift- one that seemed different from the others. "What is this?" Serah thought aloud. When we got close the rift flashes, before someone stepped through it. Someone whose very appearance took our breath away.
Lightning.
For a second all was silent, all of us too stunned to speak. Serah managed to snap out of it first, saying "Lightning! What are you doing here?" "This is a future I could not save," she said grimly. Serah's eyes were huge behind unshed tears. "Is that really you?" she asked. "Do you doubt me?" Lightning asked. Ever so slightly Serah nodded, and she cracked a smile. "No, it's good that you doubt. You're growing up," she said. Those tears began to fall, and Serah said "I knew it. It is you, isn't it? I've been looking everywhere for you! Where have you been? What was that dream you made me see? Why did you make me come out here?" Before she could go any further Lightning placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just listen, Serah. I promise, I'll explain everything-"
"Lightning!" they heard me yell, and they turned to see me run forward. Everything else in the world had faded away the moment I saw her- Lightning was all I could see. Upon seeing me her eyes lit up and she called "Deiru!" In the middle of that dead land I laughed in joy, and spread my arms. Lightning did the same and I ran into her, our arms wrapping around each other as our lips met. On contact we both sighed, before kissing even more fiercely. Nothing compared to this- not thoughts, not memories, not even dreams. Even garbed in her divine armor, Lightning still smelled of roses and cherries, the scent causing my thoughts to burst into waves of pure bliss.
Without my noticing my glows began to glow, shifting back from my regular outfit into the armor I had worn when I had fought alongside Lightning in Valhalla. It was just like Lightning's, except that it was gold, a silver crescent was in the center of my chest instead a golden bird, and instead of covering my leg a trail of pitch-black feathers was attached to my arm. But as I said, Lightning and I were too enveloped in each other to notice. Her arms wrapped around my neck and I had one around her back, the other stroking her pink hair. Every time we even felt like we needed to breathe we broke apart for only a nanosecond, before re-closing the distance and resuming.
As much as Lightning and I would have both continued to keep going, we heard a pair of coughs behind us and were reminded of Serah and Noel. We broke apart and I opened my eye. Lightning's cheeks possessed a dusting of pink and her pupils were huge, every shield let down. I had never loved her more than I did at that moment. After a second I could see those shields return, even though the blush remained, and we both turned back to Serah and Noel. "Um, Deiru? Your clothes kind of…" Serah began. I looked down, and blinked in surprise at the appearance of my armor. I guess being in such close contact to Lightning, who still had her armor near-divine powers, had caused mine to surface.
"Oh," I said, and I snapped my fingers. My clothes shifted before going back to my regular outfit, and Lightning grunted. "Like I was saying before, now I'll reveal everything. Everything that's happened to me in the past. And about the one who wants to destroy the future," she said. I looked at Lightning in surprise. "Light, is it really okay for us to tell them now?" I asked. She nodded, and I nodded as well, trusting her. "Okay" I said.
It was the day of Ragnorak, the day Cocoon had been saved. More than one miracle took place that day though. Cocoon had been saved by Fang, Vanille and Sofia's sacrifice, and Deiru had been allowed to remain within this world. We awoke from our crystal sleep and our brands we gone. It was Etro's blessing that was our salvation. A gate opened into the Unseen Realm, and through it the goddess gifted us with her mercy.
Sazh, Dajh, Serah, Snow, Hope, Lightning and Deiru all walked forward across the grassy plain beneath Cocoon. "Know what this is, Dajh? That's our home, Cocoon. Must be your first time seeing from the outside, huh?" Sazh asked. "Yeah, Daddy!" Dajh said, smiling. Snow looked at Serah. "It reminded me of you, and why I had to go on," he said. Serah laughed, and behind them Deiru looked at Lightning. "Are you really giving them the green light to get married?" he asked, still surprised. Lightning nodded. "I am. I don't enjoy the thought of having that muscle head as a brother-in-law, but I know he'll take care of Serah," she said, whispering that last part. Deiru chuckled. "I guess so," he replied.
That day I felt a stew of emotions. I had bid farewell to my original family, which gave me great grief. But I was also welcoming into my life a new one, and the love of my life. Despite my happiness though, I couldn't rest, and I felt that neither could Lightning. Our next battle was soon to begin.
As Lightning and Deiru kept going, all of sudden threads of energy began to appear. They bled from empty space and swirled around us. "What is this?" Lightning asked. Deiru shook his head. "I have no idea-" he began, before gasping as he remembered. He looked at Snow and the others at the same time Lightning did, and he saw that the energy had nearly reached them. "Look out!" both of them called. They began to rush forward, but then the darkness turned back around and wrapped itself around them. "Get off of me!" Lightning yelled. Deiru yelled and held up his hand, summoning Indomitus. He sliced through the darkness around him and charged at Lightning, calling "Let her go!"
But more caught her and ripped his sword away. The ground groaned before a hole was torn open, widening into a massive pit. The energy pulled at them both, until they both feel through. Deiru caught Lightning and grunted as he held onto the edge, before the pull became too strong and they fell through. They hurtled through the darkness, which revealed itself to actually be the Historia Crux.
The events of that day tore open a portal to another world. And from the depths of that rift appeared a darkness that had no place in our world- an irresistible force that dragged us away to the edge of time. The screams of the dying had unlocked a gate. A door that led directly to the throne of the goddess. Etro waited beyond the gate, and sent her miracles to the human world. But a creeping darkness slipped through, and threatened to devour our reality. Etro closed the gate, and warped the timeline. Time's flow was altered, and existence itself was distorted. We were lost. The darkness caught us in its embrace, and wrote us out of history.
During the fall both Deiru and Lighting had blacked out, and when they awoke they were on the shores of an ash-gray shore. Deiru groaned, standing and rubbing his head. "Where the hell are we?" I asked. "Don't ask me," Lightning replied. They both stood, and looked around.
Valhalla. Beyond time. Beyond life and death. A netherworld of shifting gloom. The chaotic realm of the goddess Etro. What power had brought us to this alien shore? From Valhalla's heart, we could track the entire span of time. Lightning and I gazed upon the future of mankind, and sensed Etro's divine will.
They wandered through the empty city until they reached the Temple of the Goddess, and within they reached the throne room. Light shined down on the throne as it hovered silently in the air. Lightning and Deiru reached towards it, when suddenly black and white feathers began to float down through the air. They both looked around in surprise, before they indeed felt the will of the goddess within them. And they knew what she was doing. They both didn't resist and rose into the air, their bodies glowing as Etro's power filled them. Their clothes faded away to be replaced by divine armor, and in their new near-god forms they slowly fell until they stood on the ground.
The goddess was fading away. Should her spirit cease to be, the world would descend into entropy. We made our choice. We will fight.
Just as in the beginning, both Lightning and Deiru dropped to one knee and placed their hands over their hearts. Their oaths sworn, they stood and walked out. Soon though, they would enter a battle with their fiercest foe of all.
This man, Caius Ballad. He seeks to destroy all hope, and bring an end to the future. Though the battle might be endless, neither Deiru nor I will ever give up. Etro has chosen us- her champions. And we cannot fail.
Noel looked at us both. "It all started with Valhalla, is that right? Whatever came from there created the paradoxes, caused the gates to appear and twisted the timeline," he asked. I nodded. "Exactly," I replied. "So guys, what did you see?" Serah asked. We both shook our heads sadly. "I don't know," Lightning admitted. "We do know it was an enormous power, and that it has no right to exist in this world. Only Etro can control the power and keep it contained in Valhalla," I explained. Lightning nodded. "That's right. If she were to disappear, then nothing could stop it. And that's what Caius wants. He plans to find Etro sleeping in her temple, kill her, and unleash the power. The chaos would be unleashed into the world of humans. Into our world, through the Unseen Gate," she said.
"A gate?" Serah repeated, confused. "I'll explain. When someone dies, there exists a portal, a gate, that there soul enters and passes through. But when a large number of people die at once, the gate has to open wider to let them all through," I said. Noel nodded, the realization clicking. "For example, if Cocoon were to fall," he said. "It would be unstoppable. The chaos would gush through the gate like floodwater through a broken dam," Lightning said. "What would happen to the world then?" Noel asked. "The Chaos would spread like a plague, infusing and infecting everything. It would all dissolve into pure entropy, without life, death or time," I told him.
"No life of death? You mean like Valhalla," Serah said, before gasping. "That's what Caius is after! If he can bring down Cocoon, countless people would die, and the chaos would make this world into another Valhalla," she said in realization. "Yes. Caius is trying to create a world where time does not exist. If he can erase time…" Lightning began. "Yeul would be saved," Noel finished. "And not just the one Yeul. All the seeresses down through the ages- they'd all be released from their curse, He wants to rebuild the world in the image of Valhalla all for the sake of Yeul," he said. "I had always heard the expression 'to love is destroy'. It wasn't until this that I really saw what it could mean," I commented.
"That's why the two of you were fighting Caius in Valhalla. You were protecting Etro," Serah said. Lightning nodded, and stepped onto the pier. "We have to fight Caius on two fronts: in Valhalla, and in the world of humans. If we don't, we won't be able to change the future. I can't so it on my own. I need your help," she told us, looking back. I smiled and stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'll always do what I can to help you," I declared. Lightning smiled and yes shined with the love she held for me, and I knew my eye showed the same. Lightning and I then explained to Serah and Noel what would happen. In 500 AF the old Cocoon would fall, the crystal pillar finally too weak to support it.
Hope would be there to raise the new Cocoon, but then Caius and Uried would interfere. They would take the new Cocoon and smash it into the old one, bringing down both worlds. "So, we have to travel to 500 AF, and stop Caius from destroying the new Cocoon," Serah summarized. "If we change this prophecy, then the true timeline will finally be restored," Noel said. Lightning nodded. "Yes. Everything will depend on you. I have to go to Valhalla, and stop Caius there. Can you do it?" she asked. I nodded, full of confidence. I would make my dreams a reality. I would stop both Caius and Uried, and bring peace back to the timeline. Serah nodded as well, and Noel said "We can do it." "Good. Your good luck charm will show you the way," she said.
"Kupo!" Mog said, and he flew overhead. The bobble on his head glowed bright, and he said "Leave it to me, kupo!" He flew towards the end of the pier and around in a circle, and a Time Gate materialized from thin air. Serah was silent for a moment, before approaching her sister. "Hey, Lightning? We'll be able to be together again, right? When this is all over?" she asked. My smile faltered at that, but then Lightning placed a hand on her shoulder. "One thing at a time, Serah," she said. Then she walked back into the temporal rift, which flashed before fading away. In its place was the final artefact, which I took. "It's sad, kupo. Lightning can't remain beyond the boundaries of Valhalla for very long, kupo," Mog commented.
"Yeah, but at least I was able to talk to her. And it's all thanks to the three of you," Serah said, looking at Mog, Noel and me. I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly. "Just doing what I promised I would," I said. "Let's go keep Hope's Cocoon in one piece. Then Lightning can return to a fully restored world," Noel said. I nodded; I liked the sound of that. We took the artefact and used it to open the gate. "I guess this is it, huh?" Serah asked. "We've been given a second chance by the goddess herself," Noel said. I nodded. "And now it's time to use that chance and save Hope's Cocoon," I said. "Yep. And the future too," Serah replied. "Kupo!" Mog added. We passed through the gate, ready for the fight beyond.
Our team flew through the Historia Crux, and I smiled. Neither Serah nor Noel were allies I would have expected, but I never once regretted it. There were strong both in body and spirit, and I couldn't ask for anything else. Ahead a light appeared that I knew would take us to 500 AF, and I sighed and closed my eye as I prepared to let the light wash over me.
And then suddenly the entire space froze.
At the sound of the gears around us grinding to a halt my eye snapped open. Serah and Noel had stopped as well, looking around. The gears were completely unmoving and the orange colors in the background had stopped as well. "What in the-?" I began, before suddenly the nowhere space we were in obtained the one thing it wasn't supposed to have. Gravity. I fell through the air and cried out, Serah and Noel doing the same. Before we could hit the gears and end up somewhere below, a huge panel of transparent glass appeared, hovering. We all landed on that and I groaned; I had landed on my side. We stood and looked around, and in front of us the opening that would have led to 500 AF closed.
"What's going on?" Serah said, before an ice-cold laugh pierced the air. I stiffened- I knew that laugh too well. The entire Historia Crux went dark, black mist appearing from thin air and binding us. When it faded the orange of the Crux had been replaced with white, and the gears were now shining black. And standing in front of us was the last person I wanted to see. "Uried," I said. Said person smiled, and with a flick of his hand summoned Calamity. "You managed to piss me off the most you have yet when you escaped from that dream, Deiru. I put a lot of effort into making it believable," he said. Then he moved into a fighting stance, and said "So, in return for putting all of my efforts to ruin, allow me to be the one who puts an end to the three of you."
Lightning has been seen, but now it seems the group has run into yet another problem? Can they get through it?
Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)