Cater took them near to Esthar's borders before they finally stopped at a swirling, frosty orb. "Ready?" she asked.

"Ready!" Selphie said.

Irvine hesitated. "You sure we'll come back?"

"No," Cater said. "But the odds are in your favor unless Bhunivelze wins. We'll drop you both off on the world of your choice and communicate with whatever connections we have there to get you sorted."

"What," Selphie said. "We choose? How?"

"Etro left us a bunch of gates we can use. Those that haven't been blown up by their planet provide safe and neat entrees. Don't ever try to use them without an escort, though, or you might blow yourself to pieces."

Selphie tugged at Irvine's sleeve. "I saw these! They're really cool, but I didn't think anyone used them. Oh! Cater, can I see Jack before we leave?"

"That… would be difficult."

"Why?"

"Because he's preoccupied on another world."

"Then let's visit that one!"

"… Still difficult."

"Aw." Selphie huffed and folded her arms. "That's not fair."

Cater gestured. "How about you at least see your options?"

"Fine."

Cater held her hand out and Selphie took it. She reached for Irvine and he hesitated. Imagined never seeing his home again or Quistis—

"I'll get you back," Selphie said. "I promise."

Irvine smiled to her and took her hand. Together they stepped forward and watched this world fade from their eyes.

Space met them and Irvine flailed at the sight of planets and stars zipping past them as streams of light. Massive, spinning gears formed a hazardous tunnel that led out toward various, branching paths. The air twisted and warped in color to show almost a patchwork of space stretching out before them.

Selphie held him too tight to let him loose and Irvine gripped her back.

At least he wasn't alone.


Zell pushed the last tube away and let them all clatter to the floor before taking the crutches they left against the wall. The shift change only bought him two minutes, but that was all he needed to grab what he needed, maneuver to the window, and pry it open. By the time they noticed he was gone, Zell found a path down the wall to shimmy his way to victory. Honestly, it was almost like they encouraged faculty and students to break out with the pitiful security they had.

He avoided the front of the hospital and instead maneuvered beside a side wing of the school that didn't see as much traffic. It also didn't have as many windows.

Zell paused and took to an alcove snuggled between two buildings to check his orientation. The station waited further to the north and the telling sound of distant horns told him he'd just missed one.

He leaned against the wall and pulled out his clothes. Best get dressed sooner rather than later.

The painkillers faded faster than he expected and he opted not to bother bringing the rest of the bag to lighten the stress on his wounds. The wounds that hurt again like he'd just been shot all over.

He kept only his identification and cash before discarding the rest inside some bushes and returning to the path northward.

Only now, he at least looked like a civilian, so he took his chances in getting back on the road where he blended in with the rest of the students. Mostly. The crutches had most giving him berth.

Moving aggravated the stiches, but he held out until he got to the station and found a chance to sit down and examine the damage. He didn't bring extra bandages, so repair would have to wait and—

Damn, that was a lot of blood.

Zell groaned and covered it again. No point to fussing with it now—the trick was keeping it hidden until he found Irvine. That and keeping his weight off the stressed bones. Probably should have paid more attention to the "operating while injured" class.

By the time he found a seat on the train, dizziness made it hard to move straight. Not to mention the sickly sweat that soaked his clothes. But he just had to survive the train ride and then he'd find Irvine and fix this.

Or collapse while trying. That sounded nice.

Someone asked if he was okay and Zell brushed them off. Just had to make it to Galbadia.

He zoned in and out during the ride and almost missed the Galbadian stop. Each time he thought he might drift to sleep, though, he thought he felt the bullets hit again. Thought he saw someone with a rifle only to realize the train was full of them.

When he hobbled off, one crutch caught on the step and tripped him.

Students reached out to help him and Zell did his best to shoo them away. One insisted and he let them guide him toward the hospital.

"I know your friends," the girl said. "I can take you to them."

Zell managed a nod and she guided him through some hallways before showing him through one door and closing it behind him. Zell stopped once he saw the man in the hospital was Raijin—one of Seifer's gang.

"What?" he groaned before taking a seat. "Where's Irvine?"

Raijin cracked an eye open. "Why should I tell you?"

"You shouldn't." Zell squinted his eyes shut and leaned back. He had to redress the wound and reduce blood flow. "Man, I wish I could punch you."

"More like the other way around, you know."

"And what, you think you have it so sucky? What are you even doing in here, man?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, short stuff?"

"Don't call me that!"

"And why not? Are you gonna punch me for it? You can barely move!"

"And you can do better?" Zell forced himself to sit straight. "I'd like to see you try!"

"You first!"

Zell stood and blacked out, then found himself on the bloodied floor. Turned himself over and hissed in pain. "I'll have to teach you a lesson. When I can stand again."

"Wait and you'll lose your chance at revenge, you know."

"Revenge? What are you talking about?"

"You want to kill us, right? I'll pay you to take me out right now."

"Yeah, right. What kind of sick joke is that? Sure, I just go around capping people for blood money now. That's what I do. Assassin Zell in the house for one exclusive day, low prices. Tired of your sister in law? I'll take that chick right out just for you, special discount because we're friends. Done with the whole life thing? We're talking business!"

"It isn't a joke!"

"Not a good one, at least! Geez, have some taste for once!"

"I mean it!"

Zell squinted against the ceiling lights. "You're serious. Shit, you're serious."

"Why wouldn't I be? I'm missing fingers, you know! I can't hold a weapon right! Hell, I'm useless without hands! You get your normal life, you know, and that's not right."

"It's not—? Yo, I just got shot! I took half a dozen bullets to my everything, and you're whining about a few fingers? I'm lucky I can still walk, you knob head!"

"You made it back here just fine!"

"I'm bleeding out as we speak! That's not fine!"

"But you walked all the way from Balamb! That's far!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

The door burst open and a nurse asked, "What's going on in here?"

Raijin threw his head against the pillow. "You blew it, you know! Now they're gonna stake us both out!"

"I didn't blow anything!"

The nurse exclaimed in exasperation and rushed to Zell's side. "What's happened?"

"Probably just broke some stitches."

"What kind?"

"I'm not a doctor! I don't know! The stitch-y kind?"

"You have bone damage?"

"I said I don't—"

More people came in and next thing he knew, Zell was surrounded by equipment and medical staff that put him in a bed near Raijin and shoved a mask over his face. The last thing he saw was Raijin shaking his head.


Time and space and every responsibility he ever held and managed meant nothing. Not here. Not the Gardens, not Nova Chrysalia, not Gran Pulse, not Cocoon, nor the weight of his failures. Instead, Noel lost himself to the quiet emptiness of death.

"You should stay," Caius told him.

Noel blinked and found the wispy scene of this purgatory that kept him from moving on. Caius stood before him without looking Noel's way. "Why?" Noel asked. "Since when did my life or death matter to you?"

"You know precisely why and the fact that you do not admit to it is why I didn't burden you with Etro's heart. So long as you remain untrue to yourself, you'll find confusion and darkness for as long as your consciousness remains."

"I'm plenty honest with myself, thank you very much."

"She is coming for you."

"Who?"

"The last of the Yeuls. You wish to see her again, do you not?"

"You mean she's dead? What the hell, man? The whole point of—!"

"She's not dead. She comes to claim you." Caius shook his head. "Alas. It is not my job to present such a one to another. Do not lose yourself, Noel."

Caius winked out of existence and a warmth surrounded Noel. He turned to find Grandmead watching him with young eyes framed by full, dark hair and looking all the world like the lithe hunter he imagined her to be in her youth.

"It's not your time, yet," she said. "Why do you linger where you don't belong?"

"You don't want me?" Noel asked.

She shook her head and took his hands. "Just the opposite, young wolf. I imagine you have a thousand tales to tell and I'd love nothing more than to hear them all."

"Why can't I find rest with you, then? Why can't I leave like I'm supposed to?"

"Oh, you can. And your parents would be so proud to meet you." She smiled and it reached her eyes for the first time that he saw. "But you'd be turning down quite the offer."

"Responsibility and duties."

"Power, too. And fun, by what I've seen of your party."

"You mean Serah?"

"I mean all the former l'Cie. And Yeul, of course. Do you have any idea how much that girl resembles the Old Goddess?"

"The l'Cie and I aren't friends."

"You might tell yourself that." Grandmead took him in a tight hug. "But it'll be harder to convince them, I think."

Noel returned the hug but couldn't think of how to respond before she faded away. In her place, nine figures formed in the surreal mist

"Noel!" Yeul broke out from their ranks and sprinted through hazy fields with no sign of her old limp. He reached for her and she threw her arms around him.

They were supposed to live a life together as brother and sister again. But instead they were expected to fight side by side for the rest of eternity.

Serah stepped forward, hands clasped behind her back, while Snow and Lightning kept close to her. Mog floated lazily forward and Dajh bounced in place and Sazh tried to hide a smile. Even Fang and Vanille were there. He felt like they missed someone.

"Looks like we're all good here," Fang said. "I'll go on and head back. Make sure we've still got the body."

Yeul and Noel released each other, and she gripped his wrist.

"The body?" Vanille asked. "You mean Noel's?"

"Is there a chance you've lost it?" Sazh asked.

Serah grimaced. "I don't think we've lost it. But it's decaying pretty bad and… it's kinda ugly. Not that your living self is ugly, but the body is in bad shape—"

"Kupo!"

Lightning said, "Should be easier when he's walking on his own and we're not hauling a corpse."

"Shouldn't you be bringing someone else?" Noel asked. "What do you plan to do with my rotting corpse?"

Snow shrugged. "Got it out of the morgue and get it to Valhalla, duh."

Fang shook her head and zipped out of there.

It didn't sit right.

"When we leave, we'll show up where we left, right?" Sazh asked. Lightning shrugged. Sazh took Dajh's hand and said, "Great to see you Noel and looking forward to seeing you for real. Come on, kid."

They left. Vanille waved and relocated a moment after.

"No," Noel said. "I can't go."

Yeul went stiff beside him.

"I don't want to live," he continued. "I've earned this. In fact, it's about time that I finally got out."

Snow threw his hands up. "Come on, man! Why are so many of us so stubborn?!"

Lightning folded her arms, expression darkening. "Because we're morons who don't know when to give up."

"That's what's kept us alive," Snow said.

Serah winced at that and asked, "Noel, are you—are you sure?"

Noel couldn't look at her. "I don't know what to say. I don't want to live forever and I was never meant to. Kinda wasn't supposed to make it out of the paradox adventure, either, so I've long outlived my expected span."

"I don't understand," Yeul said. "You accepted such a fate as ours before."

"When?"

Yeul looked down. "You tried to stay behind with me. Caius released us, but it is no longer his choice to make."

"You mean you're still okay with it?" Noel asked. "Living forever?"

Lightning said, "Eternal life is an unavoidable side effect. Assuming we even make it that far, and that's a big 'if.'"

"We're not giving up on each other," Snow said. "Everyone's coming home and that includes you."

"Then where's Hope?" Noel asked.

Serah sucked in a breath and Lightning's eye twitched. Snow looked away.

Yeul finally answered, "He is once again serving as the Vessel."

"And what do you plan to do about that?" Noel asked. "Or is that why you're bringing me in? Because someone screwed up and I'm your last resort?"

"You were never a last resort," Serah snapped. "And I'm offended that you would consider yourself such to us. After all, what does that make us to you? What does our journey together mean to you?"

"Everything," Noel said.

Serah strode up to him. "Then why won't you act like the savior that you are? Without your work, we wouldn't be here!"

"And that's a good thing?"

"Yes! If we didn't change time then Nova Chrysalia would have happened later! We fixed our world because it was doomed to die eventually, only this way Bhunivelze didn't succeed in taking the new world! We all lived separate for a while, yes, but we lived! And now we have a better chance of beating Bhunivelze for real!"

"And we're gonna win," Snow said. "You can bet on that."

"Not going by these odds." Noel gestured about them. "How is it that a dozen gods haven't dealt with him by now?"

"It's more complicated than that," Lightning said.

"Please come," Serah said. "Without you, we stand weaker. With you, we can turn the tables and kick out this guy for good."

"She's right," Yeul said.

Noel looked between them. "Fine. But we need a plan."

Snow grinned. "Oh, we have a plan."

"We have an outline of a plan," Lightning said.

"Zero was blessed with the power of Mwynn," Yeul said. "They have ascended and trained under the Old Goddess before Her passing."

Snow said, "Moving forward, we need to save Hope and the rest of the corrupted. We also need to find a way to corner Bhunivelze. Besides that, we're set."

Lightning shook her head. "As I said, we have the beginning of an outline of a plan."

"There's more to it than that," Snow said. "Let's get back to Valhalla and figure it out there."

Yeul stepped back from Noel. "I will see you there." Then she vanished.

"See you down there," Snow said before disappearing with Lightning.

Serah caught his eye. "I'm sorry it took us so long."

"Don't sweat it," Noel said. "The universe is evidently determined not to see me get what I want. I never said I'd go, you know."

She took his hand. "I'd love it if you did."

"I wouldn't."

"Then it's perfectly valid if you don't come. But I'll certainly rest a lot easier if you did because you're really good at what you do. Just saying."

He tried to respond, but words caught in his throat as she grabbed him in a hug and then left all too quickly.

Noel looked about him and found the faint, ghostly echoes of his old family on Pulse. Grandmead gestured toward where Serah disappeared. His parents put out their arms.

"Can I see you after?" Noel asked. "As one of these Ascended?"

"In all the ways that matter," said Grandmead.

Noel let them fade. Then pulled away from the release of death and back to the battlefield of life. All it took was one step.

Gods didn't die.


"Class Zero."

King resisted the urge to pop into formal posture. Kurasame was dead and no longer their C.O. He deserved respect, but he wasn't higher on the chain of command. Pointedly, they were no longer on the same chain.

"Uh, C.O.?" Cater asked.

King asked, "What do you want?"

Kurasame appeared much the same with even his Tonberry by his feet. "I requested your presence because I thought we should talk." He remained stiff, hands clasped behind his back, shoulders straight, looking for all the dead like he headed the army. "You did the right thing in meeting with the dead, but you should have done it earlier. You failed to take proper assessment of your resources and plan your priorities accordingly."

Trey said, "Such a point is arguable. Much has cleared of late, such as the indisputable fact that priorities are rarely black and white. Queen and King spent some time and thought on ours and there is little we could have improved on. Yet I worry about the behavior of our fellow pantheon—"

"We're doing our best, you know," Cinque said.

"Yet," Kurasame said, "you still do not realize that connections with others are the most powerful resource any have, including yourselves. Just as at the school, you don't acknowledge the other classes despite having the same goals as you, with resources you do not. You focus on being what you see as the best and strongest with no thought for those you see as below you."

Jack said, "That's kinda what we were trained to do."

"The Classes were meant to work as well-oiled gears in a clock. Each fit together and together they kept the machine running. You started out under Arecia and then you moved to your Class, with which you agreed to abide by a higher law. A law that applies more than ever."

"We ain't on Orience anymore, yo," Nine said.

Sice said, "We talked to them. Now we can shut up about it and get back to work."

"A last resort, was it not?" Kurasame asked.

"There's only so much we can do," Deuce said. "With everything else so pressing—"

"We're scrambling to keep up with everything," Seven said. "It's inevitable that something will fall through the cracks eventually."

Kurasame gave them each a long look. "I ask that you keep this in mind. You are meant to work with, not ahead, of others. If it helps you to think of it this way, those with allies are stronger."

Nine stiffened. "We're not your students anymore."

"Nevertheless," Eight said, "we understand." Nine shot him a dirty look for that.

"Keep it that way. Dismissed. And King—" Kurasame looked his way. "… May the Bird guide you." Then he vanished to mist.

"I doubt the Bird is gonna help us here," Sice said. "What we do now, we do without higher help."

"Isn't that the way we've always been?" Deuce asked.

"Yeah," Nine said, "we were the higher help!"

King couldn't take his eyes off where Kurasame disappeared.