Freya jumped up Burmecian architecture toward the top of the palace. Rain clouds in the distance—which before looked like they would slide right past the city—now moved en-route to drench them. Those clouds looked more bloated than the mist-clouds that used to hang above the city. The smell of moist air hung heavy and inviting.
She found Puck sitting and watching the sky. "Your Majesty," she said.
"You can't tell me you don't also miss the rain."
Thunder danced on the horizon. "That cloud is more violent than you know."
"Oh, I know." Puck grinned at her. "I can feel it. Like, in my bones. But it'll be over with by morning."
"It will interrupt construction."
"We're used to working in the rain."
"But not lightning and thunder."
Puck folded his arms. "Come on, Freya. Stop being a killjoy. Can that be an order?"
"… Yes. But it won't change my mind."
"That kind of kills the point." Puck reached and a deafening blast sounded. Lightning arced. "It just does stuff."
"You should not play with the power of gods."
He looked at her, offended, and stood. "Then maybe they shouldn't have given it to me." He leaped from the building.
Freya cursed and jumped after him.
Thunder rumbled. Puck didn't fall fast, but Freya wouldn't let him touch the ground. If she ever found out what was to blame for this newfound power, she would stop it ever doing something like this again.
Freya's ears popped. Winds picked up and threatened to knock her off course. Puck kept falling.
Blood raced in her ears and Freya tucked herself in. There was no way she'd—
Puck flailed and slowed. He almost stopped.
Freya grabbed him and he shrieked. Then she caught a ledge on the palace and steadied herself on top.
"Hey!" he said. "Why did you—?"
"You know very well why."
He glowered and fought free of her. Then launched again.
Freya chased. They passed by scaffolding and darkening streets. The storm approached and Puck jumped after it.
He went too fast for his size. No doubt he used that same power as he demonstrated on the rooftop.
"Majesty!" she called. "You'll only hurt yourself!"
"Says you!"
Freya pushed against a watchtower and came almost within reach. "Where went your resolve? Where went your honor?"
"I still have it!"
"You would call this honorable? Toying with your life doesn't betray your integrity!"
"I'm not toying with it!"
Freya jumped again and snatched Puck out of the air. He yelped and scrambled against her hold. "No fair! Stop!"
"You toy with otherworldly power and claim to understand it out of ambiguous intuition. A proper king does not take such risks. Or will you claim yourself above your studies?"
Puck pouted and folded his arms. "Fine. I'll be more careful."
"For your own good, I'm returning you to the castle."
"Come on, I've done my studies!"
"I don't believe you."
"I'm serious! I stayed up all night!"
"When you should have been sleeping."
"I don't need to sleep!"
"Power comes due, Prince. Whether today, on the morrow, or next week, it will take its toll from you."
"I could go for months!"
"I'm sure."
"… Fine. I'll take a nap, but after that, I wanna fly more. I'm not lying, I did finish my studies."
"Only under supervision. And you'll heed them. Or I'll have the cook restrict your desserts."
"You wouldn't!"
Freya jumped, already weary. "Until you learn the value of consequences, I would."
He wailed in terror at the thought and Freya felt a small relief that she could still influence him. The power of gods and kings couldn't put him beyond the same influences as other boys his age.
Freya might have found the thought more amusing if Puck didn't shiver in her arms so. He blamed it on the rain, but he barely suffered a few drops.
She would yet have words with this power's originator.
"We've got a problem."
Jack's heart dropped at Queen's words. "What?"
"We didn't synchronize," Queen said. "Not quite. Feels like Lightning on our trail."
King put himself between Yeul and the tail of the group while Cinque took the front. They floated in a side channel not accessible by what remained of the main Crux, which meant a quicker and more direct path, but also less space for error.
Jack eyed the rift that gaped open to take them from the Crux's safe-ish paths and shuddered at the thought of getting stuck out here.
"Bring her on!" Nine joined King and summoned his spear.
Yeul moved to Jack. "Don't let them kill her," she said.
"Why does killing matter?" Jack asked.
"Because going back to Valhalla strengthens their link to Bhunivelze. The less time they spend in that place, the better chance we have of taking them back."
"We still want that?"
"Yes." Yeul looked about them. "And if any of us die, we go there, too. We should capture Lightning and take her with us."
"I don't think we can do that," Jack said.
"We should." Yeul moved to speak with Trey and Jack joined King.
"Yeul says we can't let anyone die," Jack told him. "Including Lightning."
"Easier said than done," King said.
Nine harrumphed and said, "We should send Yeul on with someone else. Hey, Seven! You wanna get the girl out of here?"
Seven nodded and took Yeul, who fought with her. Ace joined in and they took off with Yeul in tow to find Eos.
"Odd," Queen said, "but my connection to them must be weaker than I thought. Lightning's moving in such odd ways, I—"
Bolts of lightning crackled about the Crux and struck Sice. Deuce rushed to her side. Jack joined King along with Cater, Eight, Trey, and Queen.
Lightning herself appeared out of a mix of dust and nothingness. "Out of my way," she said.
"This isn't your way," Jack said, "this is Bhunivelze's way. You wanted his head! What happened to revenge?"
Lightning said nothing. Trey aimed his bow, but King kept him back. No one moved for the longest time.
Queen whispered dynamics between them until Cater broke the stalemate first.
Lightning readied a bolt but Cater didn't summon her gun. "No one hated him more than you!" Cater yelled. "Remember what he did to the others! What he's doing now!"
She released the bolt. Cater moved, but it caught her ankle and burned her leg. A shell sprung up on her too late. The rest sprung into action.
A resounding laugh echoed about them.
Jack wished he could pull the same tricks he had back on Gaia II, but he didn't know Lightning's weaknesses anymore. He summoned his blade.
The downstream provided enough space to move, but not enough for mistakes. Jack watched his siblings first and gauged their movements before finding his place to target.
Eight and Queen distracted Lightning with melee while Trey and Cater took shots from a distance. King waited opposite Jack.
Cater yelled, "This isn't going to help Hope or Serah!"
"She doesn't care!" A younger clone of Lightning popped in. "She's been cleansed of such pesky things as familial bonds!"
That caused enough of a pause for Eight to tackle Lightning and kick her toward the void.
"We shouldn't be doing this!" Cater continued. "Whatever happened to watching each other's backs? What about your promise to Snow?"
"I don't think that works anymore," Jack said.
Cater ignored him and kept talking. The twin cackled and redirected wayward bolts. Jack redirected one from Trey. Eight moved to distract the twin and King helped. Queen directed Jack and Deuce to help Cater. Trey switched in intervals.
Lightning barely reacted to her words and yet she hesitated enough for Trey to land an arrow in her chest and for Queen to stab her through the abdomen.
"No!" Cater grabbed Lightning. "Damn it!"
The twin spun away from their reach. "Wasn't that fun?"
Jack watched Lightning's bleeding form fade into nothing before he turned to Cater. She didn't meet his eyes.
"I know you really want her back," the twin said. "But I'm afraid I'm gonna keep her around a little longer. Our friendly neighborhood tyrant doesn't much like losing people like us and it's not as simple as confusing us with a few turnarounds, okay?"
"What do you care?" Jack asked. "What do you have to do with Lightning?"
"Oh, I'm her everything! Everything that made Lightning and her connection to Serah imperfect is what made me! So, you know what that means?"
"You're what she hates?" Cater asked.
"Nope! I get to wander about without Bhunivelze caring about me! And Lightning is untouchable with me around. I'm the only one that cares about her family! And I'm the only one that cares about the worlds! Bhunivelze kept the coldest, hardest parts of her and discarded the rest!"
Cater threw herself at the lady only for the twin to dance out of the way.
"Don't disappoint me, now!" The girl said before zipping off into a branch of their stream.
"That doesn't lead back to Valhalla," Jack told Cater when she floated back to his side.
"Who cares?" Cater asked. "She's just gonna make us more trouble."
"… Maybe."
"Not just maybe. People weren't meant to be broken up into pieces like that. If they're each only half a person, they're gonna make things uglier."
"Weren't they gonna do that anyway?"
"Not if I have anything to say about it."
"We move on," Queen reminded them. The rest already moved ahead.
Cater reluctantly agreed before going ahead. Jack stared after where both Lumina and Lightning disappeared a little longer.
Lightning pulled herself free of Valhalla's waters to find the place freed of its old clouds and grey atmosphere. Now the sky shone with clear rays of sun and sparkled against the ocean.
She trudged forward and passed the Center of Vision where Bhunivelze kept Vanille and worked to uncover the secrets left by Mwynn. No screams sounded her way and Lightning wondered if Bhunivelze found a less painful way to dig about Vanille's head.
That left an odd ringing in her ears. Lightning paused to steady herself before continuing to Etro's Walk, the wall surrounding the Palace.
Hope stood at the edge of the Walk, watching the ocean and talking to someone who wasn't there. Lightning considered joining him before Fang strode up and slapped Lightning in the face.
"What the hell?" Fang asked. "We gave the path right to them, didn't we? What did you do? Throw yourself on their swords?"
"You had the element of surprise," Lightning said.
"Yeah, right! Just because you got split in two doesn't mean you lost your edge, princess! You've still got it and I don't see how an exposed exodus got past you!"
"I didn't understand how they made it past you."
"Stop playing around!" Fang moved to hit Lightning and stopped. She went still for a long moment and perked back up as if someone pressed a reset button. "Oi. This whole thing has got us in a twist, eh? So much for just saving the world, easy-peasy."
"Where's Noel?" Lightning asked.
"He went off in a huff. I think Snow's talking to him, but I've given up understanding that man." Fang leaned in. "I know you were slower than the rest of us to do the good thing, but could you at least get your head in the game? It would make our jobs a hell of a lot easier."
"I am in the game."
"Then how did Yeul leave our sight? God can't see her anymore, even."
"I don't care about that."
"Then what? What is it that's got your attention more than us, huh?"
"Where did they go?"
Fang stilled. "What?"
"It doesn't matter if we lost them." Lightning glanced toward where He kept Vanille. "If we find out where they went, then they're as good as ours. The galaxy's only so big, right?"
Fang shook her head. "It won't be easy."
"Do you have a better idea?"
"Maybe. Follow me."
Lightning followed her to the war room.
Yuffie walked across the little hallway in the tiny spaceship for what had to be the billionth time. Each step sent the metal echoing all the way down to the cockpit, where she knew Cid heard her. The air all but crackled with dry electricity and it smelled of stale sweat brought on by the engines' heat. She scowled as boots much heavier than her own pounded across the ship, headed her way.
"If you don't have anything better to do, how about you clean up the bunkroom?" Barret asked as he passed by her.
Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him, then followed him to the cockpit.
"We getting anywhere, yet?" Barret asked Cid. Yuffie dropped into a chair and kicked her feet up over the seat in front of her.
Cid said, "Given directions, we've got at least two days left. But we're in the right system."
Barret leaned back and shoved Yuffie's feet off his chair. "Only a day?" she asked.
Cid didn't respond immediately and Yuffie got impatient. "I asked a question!"
Cid snorted, but didn't say anything. Barret muttered something under his breath.
"Good news?" Vincent asked. Yuffie jumped—she didn't hear him come in.
"Depends on how ya take it," Cid said.
Something beeped in alarm. Cid cursed as he examined his instruments. "Hold onto your socks, looks like we've got a bigger fellow bearing down on us."
Vincent sat in the chair beside Yuffie. Barret looked out the window and back at Cid. "You're saying it's close?" Barret asked.
"Only the closest would show up on anything Cid makes," Yuffie said. "I bet it's right on top of us."
"It's moving fast as hell—shit, that goes past the measure. Some fool out here figured out how to travel the speed of light."
"You don't know how fast?" Barret asked.
Cid chuckled. "Ain't got numbers on the dial that high."
"Told ya," Yuffie said.
Cid flicked switches. "It's headed our way. Buckle up!"
"What?" Yuffie asked. "Can't you outrun it?"
"What was I just saying? If we ain't got the number on the dial, we ain't reachin' that speed without some sort of ludicrous gravity-assist."
Yuffie yelped as a dark shadow fell between them and that misty star they headed towards. It floated there for a moment and Yuffie felt frozen to the spot. That ship was huge.
A thin shadow slid out and Yuffie blinked. Licked dry lips and asked, "Is it a gun-port?"
Just as she asked, it lit up and showed an empty airlock.
"That's a port, for sure, but it's for ships." Cid huffed. "What's that supposed to be, an invitation?"
"Where they can kill us and eat us?" Yuffie asked.
"What kind of choice is this?" Barret asked. "Guess if they wanted to kill us, they could've done it by now."
"Unless they don't got guns," Cid said. "Then again, if'n they don't got guns, then they probably wouldn't be out and about trying to kill folk like us. But they've got the resources of everything else, so I wouldn't count on it."
"Come on, that's not friendly!" Yuffie said. "Maybe they're gonna string us up on a space-rock somewhere as a warning to anyone else who comes here!"
"Odds of anyone flying past our corpses are pretty low," Cid said. "Anyhow, I can't maneuver past this thing. I'm gonna go ahead and accept the invite. Hold on tight, folks."
Yuffie swallowed and collapsed into her chair. She couldn't swallow her nausea—for once, not even from seasickness—as they floated along those guide-lights.
