Lightning stepped onto Ivalice and wondered at the odd technology that met her. Hope chose this place? People wore dress shirts after an olden fashion while ships flew in the sky beyond the windows of the Archadian palace, the ships being made of metal and looking almost like floating blocks.

Snow joined her, intent like Sazh on helping out the kid that couldn't keep Bhunivelze away for five minutes.

People stopped to ask after their purpose, but Lightning ignored them and walked toward the signal, following Serah's directions. Sazh tried to dissuade the increasingly hostile servants and guards, but to no avail. When someone grabbed Lightning by the arm, she shocked them and kept moving.

Finding the hospital didn't take long, but it felt like an eternity from all the pestering questions and accusations of trespassing and junk.

Lightning asked for Hope and the doctors and maids sputtered about before gesturing to a bed at the end of the ward where a small form laid, unwrapped yet barely moving. Others about him wore bandages, and one man with hair down past his waist yelled at a nurse that tried to keep him down.

She strode on and finally the posse they gathered gave up and hung back as she, Sazh, and Snow approached Hope.

He didn't look away from the ceiling.

"Hey," Lightning said. At the word, Hope shuddered and curled in on himself.

Snow's brow furrowed in confusion before he stepped closer and took a seat on the bed. "Yo, kid. Been a long time."

Hope squinted his eyes shut and Snow looked at Lightning as if she could tell him what to do.

"Maybe we should give him some space," Sazh said.

"No one's gotten him to talk since we left."

Lightning looked at a pale girl that sat on the bed next to Hope. She bore no obvious marks on her skin, yet her eyes showed dark circles and her hands looked frail. "Did he take your shards, already?" Lightning asked.

The girl nodded too slowly. "Not deliberately, I don't think, but when Bhunivelze left us, I think he sucked them out when he summoned the portal. They took us here to rest and Hope hasn't said a word since."

"What's there to say?" snapped the guy with the hair. The nurse must have won because he stayed in his bed. "God left. We broke. That's that."

A flash of light and Snow asked, "What did you just do, Hope?"

Lightning snapped back to them and kneeled on the side that Hope faced. He didn't move at her approach though his eyes opened again. He looked past her like he didn't see her. "Hey," she said, "what did you do?"

He said nothing. Kept staring.

"I don't like this," Sazh said.

"Well, it doesn't help for him to hear that," Lightning hissed.

"Doesn't help to hide it, either."

"We can't ignore this," Snow said.

"Can't do much about it, either," Sazh said. "What are you gonna do, son? Chase Bhunivelze down and punch him? Make him take it back?"

Lightning felt a tingle down her spine and watched Hope. His eyes flickered and his breathing quickened. His small body shivered under the blanket and she reached to pull the covers over his shoulders only for a hand to snatch her wrist.

She hummed in interest and leveled a steady gaze his way with the cooling anger that awoke a tremor in her feet and a rush in her blood. "Still got some strength, then? That's good."

He stared at her and she noticed a murkiness to his eyes.

"You can't hide it from me forever." Lightning pulled herself loose and Hope dropped his limp arm. "I can see you're in there."

No response. Out of the corner of her eye, Snow and Sazh watched. The other people in the room probably did too.

"I caught it last time, too, you know. I knew there was something wrong. I was just too stupid to think about it. Thought that maybe you were just older. You know, cause you grew up but stayed young. Remember that?"

Another flicker in the eyes. Twitch in the lip that hinted at a grimace.

"I never got to see the world you made, not in person. Serah told me about it, though. Told me that you saved humanity and raised cities and led generations. Told me about the stories that passed through the years because you knew how to guide people. What happened to that?"

Closed his eyes again and curled away from her. Fingers trembled and lip quivered.

"Not even Bhunivelze can take that from you." She put a hand on his shoulder. "Nobody can—"

Flash of movement. He threw himself at her and wrapped his fingers around her throat. Fingers that were too strong for their size and shook with all the emotion of a child in a fit despite the silence of him.

Shouts from the others.

Lightning didn't choke. He may have picked up more energy for his ascension, but she was larger and healthier. She took his wrists and shoved them back enough to breathe.

He renewed his grip and Lightning struggled under his hold. Hope showed murder in his eyes. Lightning pushed back, but his determination grew with every attempt.

"Not this time!" he hissed. "You won't fool me again!"

That sparked a flicker of a reminder and Lightning shoved him back.

Snow leaped in and grabbed Hope, who flicked his wrist and darkened the room. Everyone else panicked and shouted for lights. Lightning reached out to dispel the checkered fabric of space before she blinked and found only darkness.

Snow shouted and something crashed. Murmurs of disquiet. Footsteps out the door.

Sazh lit a fire in his palm but Hope snuffed it out with a fog of black. The room soon drowned in a non-tangible pitch that coated the walls and cast the others from her view.

Lightning breathed and closed her eyes. The powers of light. Or, the power over light to control the balance between it and darkness. And Hope didn't have the mind to control it.

Snow knew better and called, "Hope! You're not gonna push us away!"

Quiet. Sazh muttered something across the room and Snow's heavy footsteps started toward her.

A yelp sounded. Lightning straightened. She couldn't make out one side of the room from the other, but she took a step toward the sound, hand out, and light flickered in and out of sight—the beacon made by his divine power.

Serah had tantrums, too, as a child. Hope may not have displayed the same violence when they traveled together, but Lightning knew irrational anger borne of fear. She knew pain and abandonment and vulnerability like she knew the back of her hand. That was why she cast it from herself as a kid and learned to emulate the behavior of adults. That was why she forced herself to grow up.

"Okay," came Sazh's voice, surprising her. His shards glowed distant. "Come on, kid. This isn't helping anyone."

"He's right," Lightning said. "You're just putting all of us at a stalemate. You remember what those are like? I don't know, in politics, or something?"

"I don't remember!" Hope screamed. His young, broken voice re-awoke that rage inside her.

"No, you do remember, you're just trying to shove it away again." Lightning kept her arm out and a large, gloved hand found hers. Snow. "We all wanted to do the same. We all moved on."

A broken sob before a faint light faded in and barely illuminated Hope's person amidst the black void. "No."

More anger, roiling deep inside her like a rabid animal ready to run free and destroy. Lightning reeled it in and forced herself to save that energy for Bhunivelze. "Talk to me."

"No!" Hope caused another flash and covered his eyes with his hands. "I don't want to see! But he's healing me again! Please! I don't want this power!"

"Not even for revenge?"

"Revenge won't work! I'll only be free for so long before he takes me again! You're not real! You're just—!"

"I'm not fake."

"You say that every damn time! You say that and then he hurts me and then you come back and tell me that everything will be fine even as the roses drip with blood!"

"I don't understand."

Hope sobbed. "I can't keep doing this! I can't stay in this nightmare forever! But he'll do it anyway! He'll revive me again and again and again and again and keep me just on this side of alive! I can't die! I just want to die!"

"He hurt you."

"Did—? No. I hurt myself. It was my fault. I didn't serve him like I should. I'll do better. Oh, god. I promise I'll do better. I can… I can try again."

Lightning felt a cold pit settle in her stomach. "… This isn't an illusion, Hope."

Sazh lit another fire and it illuminated him and Hope in full. Sazh was the closest of them.

Hope bent over and buried his head in his hands, body racked with sobs that bounced off the walls. "I'm sorry. Whatever it was, I won't do it. Just don't show me this again!"

Lightning felt frozen to the spot.

"Kid," Snow whispered, voice hoarse. "Hey, Hope, how often did this happen?"

Hope said nothing. Just cried and curled up.

Sazh moved first and bent over Hope with one hand on the boy's back and said nothing. Snow fell to his knees beside the two and punched the ground hard enough to crack it.

"You're with us," Sazh said. "From now until forever. And we're not going to let that change. Right, Lightning?"

Lightning dug her nails into her palm until it bled.

The dark faded and afternoon light flooded the ward again. The remaining handful of medics watched them with wary eyes before returning to work. The guy opposite Hope's bed evidently braided his hair during the incident and now looked Hope's way with narrowed eyes.

"I'm gonna kill him," Lightning whispered. "I'm gonna kill him."

"I'll join you," Sazh said. "But we can't do it yet."

Hope's body stilled, but he didn't move. Snow pulled the boy against himself with his large arms like he carried a wandering dog.

Footsteps sounded and a large man in armor strode into the room. "Are you come from Valhalla?" he asked, voice muffled by his helm.

"Yeah," Snow said. "For whatever that's worth."

The man dipped his head. "Archadia offers its resources."

"At least we have one ally," Lightning said.

"We have more than one," Sazh said. "Finally got things sorted out with the Council and everything, you know."

"Hope arrived with three traveling companions," said the man. "You'll find the third in the library, where we've failed to retrieve him since he stepped in. His excellency, Larsa Ferrinas Solidor, would convene a meeting with your people and whatever forces you employ to coordinate further retaliation."

Snow whistled. "I don't know, Sazh, I might like these guys better than the others."

"A word." Lightning made for the exit and the armored man followed her out. She paused just outside. "What resources do you have to fight gods?"

"Our own."

"Your own people?"

"No. We have our own gods."

Lightning paused. "You what?"

"The Occuria, whilst neutral in the happenings of our own planet, cannot abide the meddling of foreign deity. They have sworn their hands in this fight."

"You know how this all works already?"

"Both my emperor and myself have housed this very being. I have glimpsed his plan for myself and I'll not allow it to happen."

"Too bad it's not that easy."

"The emperor and I have fought to regain normalcy and we've won. This is not an unwinnable fight."

"Yeah, I get the feeling that Hope's a different case."

"Difference is all too often an excuse made. A mountain may stand steeper, yet there is always a climbable route to take."

Snow joined them. "Who else got taken?"

"This world's emperor," Lightning said. "And him."

Snow took the guy's hand. "I'm Snow, by the way."

"… Judge Magister Gabranth."

"Sorry to bother your world with our problems." Snow looked between them. "We're not trying to make trouble, I promise, but we won't leave this place until Hope stops hurting himself. I'll talk to you later about finding a safe place to settle."

The Judge didn't have a chance to respond before Snow left again.

Lightning told him, "You'll get used to that."


Snow went back to join Palom and the others. Eventually they'd retrieve Arc from the library, but that would wait. Seeing Hope as he was provided enough tension for one day.

Sazh talked with the kid and though he didn't get any response, Snow could swear that Hope eased up as Sazh told him about all the stupid, mundane stuff they did.

"What's up with the knight?" Palom asked when Snow approached.

"Another ex-possessee. Don't know how long he had it, though. Wasn't exactly obvious, you know what I mean."

"Many aren't." Ellone joined them. The staff around here gave up bossing them around. "Only those he intended to hold kept his influence. Toward the end, he left traces in hundreds if not thousands."

"Yeah," Palom scoffed. "I swear all the random memories I picked up from the spares could form its own lifetime."

Snow perked up. "You remember the others?"

"Not quite," Ellone said. "It's more like… feelings. And sometimes I'll see things differently. It's rare that I'll form a coherent thought and connect it to one lifetime or one person. Not like it was with Alyssa."

"Alyssa?" Palom asked.

"My previous possessor. She worked separate from Bhunivelze, but he cooperated with her in exchange for me and… I prefer not to think about her so much."

"You mean she was worse than Bhunivelze?"

"… In some ways."

Snow scowled. "I should have killed her when I had the chance."

"Her being dead was part of the problem," Ellone said. "There wasn't much you could do to prevent her becoming a vengeful spirit."

"I had one job." Snow looked at Hope. "I could have made a lot of things better."

"I wouldn't say that," Ellone said. "Bhunivelze's planned a lot of this since before things went wrong on Nova Chrysallia. He accounted for your influence and went ahead with it anyway, which shows a certain rigidity to the timeline. Fate and destiny tend to be exaggerated in the power they hold over us, but there is a certain inevitability to the flow of events and time."

"Destiny is changeable," Snow said. "I can fix it again."

"I'm not saying you can't—"

"But we need a way to hurt this guy." Palom kicked off the bed and worked his wrists. "Let's first find out how we're gonna make him regret ever screwing with us in the first place."

"You shouldn't worry about it," Snow said. "This is my problem."

Palom sputtered, "Forget that! I'm not going to let you leave without me!"

"This is between gods, you know. You'll just get hurt."

"Screw you!" Palom steamed at the edges—quite literally. "You can't throw us in bed to heal up and leave without us! This stopped being a gods-only club when he took me!"

Ellone shifted and looked toward a door.

Snow cooled himself and looked Palom in the eye. The man's nostrils flared and the ground heated under his feet. Snow said, "You want to join the fight?"

"I'm not gonna join, I'm gonna head it! You're an idiot if you think I'm just going to request a spot in your party! I've got my own back on Blue Terra!"

He hated the thought of dragging another person into this. It was hard enough for them as partially ascended gods to fight the thing that owed them its power. But that was the same look Hope had when he pulled out Lightning's knife. The same look before Noel cut off contact with him in Chrysalia. And the same look Lightning took before storming out of the room with Gabranth. Snow opened his mouth to respond, but Palom—warped out of there.

"Wait," Snow said. "He—come on, he wasn't supposed to leave like that!"

Ellone said, "He's afraid. Just like the rest of us."

"Fear isn't going to get us anywhere! If we give in to fear, then Bhunivelze wins! I won't let that happen!"

"But you're not… We're not…"

"We're not what?"

"Hey!" Sazh called. "Watch your volume!"

Snow lowered his voice. "We'll win this, I swear to you."

"I'm tired. I'm hungry. I'm hurting. I caused a lot of pain in a lot of people and I can't sleep knowing that. I'm stressed, sir, and I need to express it."

"You don't. I'll stop you from worrying ever again."

"Thanks for your efforts." Ellone heaved a shuddering breath and pulled her knees up to her chin. The frayed hem of her skirt barely kept her modest and her bruised feet showed a stark contrast to the pristine sheets beneath her. "I'll take what hope I can from them."

Snow swore and joined Sazh by Hope's bed. The kid barely breathed, and he shivered despite the layers over him.

"What are we gonna do?" Snow asked. "Wait around?"

"Not even close," Sazh said.

"Then what?"

"Give us a moment and we'll figure something out." Sazh rubbed at his eyes. "Time works differently for us, son. Impatience won't make things better."

Snow hated how reasonable Sazh was. How calm he kept despite the half-dead child beside him. "We can beat this guy, right?"

"Since when were you one to even ask?"

Lightning entered the room without that Gabranth and glared daggers where Palom was. "The twit left?"

"Yeah," Snow said.

"Good. Because we're going where he doesn't want to go."

"And where is that?" Sazh asked.

"Eye of the storm. But someone's gonna stay with Hope."

"And if I'm not the go-to for that," Sazh said. "Fine, you two go do your heroics and I'll watch the kid."

"Keep him safe," Snow said. "We need to get him home when all this is done."

"Wait," Queen said before she appeared with King and the two touched mortal ground for the first time since Snow met them. "Call in Vanille. She's the best bet we have for connecting with Estheim."

"Vanille?" Sazh repeated. "Why? Cause she had her own divine thing inside her?"

"Partially," King said. "But it goes deeper than that. Once Vanille arrives, the rest of you can join us on III."

"I'd still prefer to stay," Sazh said.

Lightning rolled her head. "I'll go. Hey, Noel—tell Vanille to come to Ivalice. I'll leave after."

Snow clenched and unclenched his fists. "I'm going now."

Queen held out her hand. "Then come with us."

"I'll be back, okay?" Snow said to Hope, who didn't respond. "Just you wait. You'll wake up to a better reality before you know it."


Arc pored over at least a dozen tomes by now, the written language of the world barely a hindrance. It was intuitive and after the first couple books, he found himself engrossed in the culture of this world, whose vast map of warfare and prosperity across the years laid open and available to him in carefully written words and neat illustrations.

He set aside the history of the Judges and took up one on the country of Rosara. It served as this palace's enemy, yet he heard little on the cause of their animosity outside of territorial motivation.

"You're interested in Rozarria?"

Arc snapped the book shut and looked up to see the child emperor they found their home under, robe trailing like an oversized coat. "Sorry!"

"Why apologize?"

"They're the bad guys here, aren't they?"

"And if we thought it evil to speak of our enemies, we wouldn't keep a thousand volumes full of their information."

Heat rose in his face and Arc opened the book again to look like he resumed what he was reading before. "Rozarria?"

"Yes, the country across the desert, whose people boast the strongest genetics this side of Ivalice."

Arc looked at the words. He mistakenly assumed the pronunciation of that curly letter toward the middle and the accent at the end. "I was just studying."

"I see that." Larsa took a seat beside him and picked up Arc's copy of the world map. "You take an interest in world politics?"

"Not politics so much. Just the world and its history. Magic. Practices and cultures."

"Fascinating."

"How is that fascinating?"

Larsa looked over Arc's looted pile of books. "I've yet to meet someone genuinely curious to the workings of the world instead of seeking education for self-promotion and tactics. Either they care only to their own or work as spymasters."

"It's still mostly for my own benefit."

"I didn't say it wasn't. I said that it wasn't only to your own. Something must have triggered you to seek out enlightenment in the ways of other people and beliefs, and that can never be entirely selfish."

"Oh."

"Something bothers you?"

Arc looked down at the pages of the Rozarria book and struggled to swallow a lump from his throat. "Could it count as penance?"

"For what?"

"For… doing what I did."

"I shan't ask you to clarify, but I can't imagine there's anything you consented to that warrants penance."

"I consented to all of it."

"You really didn't." Larsa set down the map. "Not one person I've spoken with about this has claimed those under his influence are responsible for their actions."

"And yet if we don't take responsibility, who'll handle reparations for the damage done?"

"Everyone. No one. Some in small part, others in greater. You may work toward fixing it, but you cannot take sole responsibility."

"Then who will? If no one takes responsibility it, then won't no one do anything?"

"I should think this not to be a game with limited pieces where each one must be paid for with another. I'm sure there's another answer besides taking all the blame for yourself."

Arc couldn't focus on the words below him. "I don't want to leave."

"Then let's not face that just yet." Larsa pulled out a book on Archadia's history. "You're familiar with our history?"

"I haven't read that one, yet."

"Then perhaps I can summarize it for you."

"I don't want you to—"

"Please. It's one thing they trained me for since my childhood and I should like to use it."

"Aren't you still in your childhood?"

"Our line started so long ago I'll skip the most of it. What I find most relevant is the story of my brother, Vayne."

"You have a brother?"

"Not anymore."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Don't apologize. He committed atrocities for the supposed good of our country and murdered my father to gain control. But his intentions, I think, were good. And he was someone I wished to follow. But good intentions don't excuse poor behavior, do they?"

"… No?"

"I think it depends." Larsa put the book down. "But don't let your intentions misguide you, Arc. Don't earn yourself a gruesome death at the hands of your enemies. Make them fight for justification."

Arc slowly closed the book on Rozarria, feeling like he just triggered another something long since buried. "I won't."

"I don't want to lose another brother to the horror of war."

"Brother?"

Larsa gave him an intent look. "I would do all in my power to save you and everyone else, but I can't do it on my own. So, help me and do what you can to protect yourself and those under your influence."

"Is that why you came to talk to me?"

"Not quite, but it needed saying all the same. Now, can I get you something to eat? I imagine you haven't had a full meal since you arrived."

"No, but—"

"Meet me on the fifth Overlook Arch and I'll bring the rest of your traveling party. I heard rumors you might be leaving soon, so I arranged for a farewell. You shouldn't travel on an empty stomach, especially after everything you all have been through."

"I guess not." Arc got to gathering up the books and felt a pang in his chest at the thought of leaving this place behind.

"Oh, and before I forget. Could you get a message out for me?"

"Yes?"

"You said you know Vaan and Penelo?"

"Oh, yeah. They should still be in Saronia."

"Tell them that they still owe me a thousand-year-old vase and I know Vaan took it on his last trip. Warn him that if he doesn't return it, I'll send Gabranth to make him regret it."

"Who's Gabranth?"

"They'll know the meaning."

"Are you gonna hurt them?"

"Never. But I'd prefer not to lose the rest of my family's heirlooms to his sticky fingers. Perhaps I can convince him into taking some of those things from the first floor, however. I've wanted those gone as long as I can remember."

Arc didn't know if he should find that amusing or nostalgic. Or if he should sympathize for lost things given some of Luneth's habits.