The Oncoming Days

Fang and Vanille

When both of the original Pulse habitants woke up they were surrounded by mysterious hooded figures that gave a rather tetric first impression.

Fang dashed to put a protective arm in front of Vanille.

"Who are you?", she said.

They were in a building unlike anything they had seen before. The ceilings were tall, every corner covered in carefully elaborated paintings, benches distributed as awaiting an audience and an altar sat at the front.

One of the figures and said, "This is the Cathedral, and we shall hold the Soul Song ceremony in this sacred place."

Vanille who had remained silent until then, clutched her head as in pain. "What is this?", she whispered to Fang, "I am hearing voices of voices, and they sound desperate".

Fang stepped foward. " Really I need an explanation of what is happening here. And cut the bull."

"We are the Order of Salvarion, and we seek to purify the dead, to put them to eternal rest. After the Chaos set into our world, the soul of every single person who has passed away, remains trapped in this realm within the Chaos, as they continue to exist in eternal suffering. We shall release them when the day the world ends comes, so to offer them oblivion. And she is the who can complete the task."

The wild haired warrior didn't like what she was hearing one bit, but she decided to remain silent, just until she could get them both out of there.

Noel

The passing of only a few more years had taken a noticable toll on Noel. After the announcement from the Order of the looming end of the world, strangely life kept going as it was. People didn't seem to mind the apocalypse any longer, what was it a few more unfortunate events after years in the chaos.

Noel, on the other hand, couln't cope easily with the news. Despite the long centenaries of efforts, all seemed in vain. He thought, if he had been able to complete his mission correctly before the chaos set in none of this would have happened.

And Lightning was coming back, as the savior, the Order had said. But not as the savior they were expecting. Her role would merely be to let the world end. She was meant to save the souls of those who could be saved, but the end was still looming over.

The guilt was eating him over.

"Now they call you the shadow hunter, Noel Kreiss", said the voice of a young girl, perhaps about 12 years old. "They say you spend your days running in between the alleys of Luxerion"

"What do you want?", Noel said.

"Come with me. There is something you will want to see."

The young girl appeared suddenly in front of him, clad in a black dress and her hair in a pink pytail, that resembled her.

"I'm Lumina by the way", she said as she took off. Noel followed suit through various streets and passages until he reached a small square he had never visited before. There lied an Oracle Drive.

"I thought they were gone. What am I supposed to see? Oracle drives stopped working after the fall."

"That is because there was no more future to predict. But something seems to have changed, and it has you in it."

Noel approached the device slowly, not sure to trust the little girl who had so mysteriously appeared. At the touch of the oracle, an imaged formed in front of him, just as it had many times when he was trying to save the world.

"Yeul", his lips started to move. He saw both he and the girl he had once promised to protect, in a meadow, meeting again after all those hundred of years, smiling and laughing. And then came another image, of him attacking Lightning.

He knew what it meant, if he wanted see his Yeul again, he had to kill Lightning

But how could he? Lightning had entrusted him to save the world and protect her sister, Serah. None of which he was able to do. Serah, she would have been so sad to see the state the world was in. And even if Lightning came, how could he face her after he had failed the mision she had entrusted him.

Something was burning inside of Noel.

Nothing, literally nothing he had done had been right. He had only brought more pain to the world.

And in front of him, was the chance of bringing happiness for himself and perhaps to the rest of the world. Maybe for once, he could make things right. He wasn't sure how it could possibly work but he had to try. He needed it.

Snow

As the very last resource, Snow had become of Yusnaan under the rule of the Order of Salvation. After centuries of trying to solve it, to find a way to make the chaos recede, to save the world.

The possibilities had become narrower than ever, and people were desperate. They needed a leader, someone to guide them. And Snow had take upon that task as the last thing he could do for them. It turned out that the Order wanted to get monopoly on the food produced in Yusnaan, because they believed that only the likes of them were deserving of salvation. They would have let the rest of the population starve to dead if it was at their hands.

Then came the announcement of the end of the world coming upon. They only had a few more decades, and all that had been done would mean nothing. It automatically made him think of Serah, all more than the time he already spent thinking of her.

Hope had told him, Sahz had told him and Noel had told him. It wasn't your fault. But deep inside he couldn't help but think what if he had done things differently. Would that have changed the world they knew now? Lightning had tasked him to keep them save, and he had failed to do so.

And what had been an even bigger mistake to him, was Serah. He should have let her come with him when she asked him to in New Bodhum. He should have travelled with her to ends of the world, instead of telling her it was too dangerous. Maybe then, they would still be together. But now, Serah is gone.

The thought still brought tears to his eyes, even after centuries and centuries of mourning. How could I have been so foolish?

Lightning, the Savior, Serah's sister would come soon. But her passing through this realm would only mean a bridge to the end. She was coming to bring the end of the world with her this time.

And what was worse, was that he had nothing to give to her after she had trusted him with such important tasks. He couldn't keep anyone save, when she had confided in him to do exactly that.

The pain was unbearable. He didn't know what he was going to do next.

Hope

After working alongside Snow, Noel and Sazh he came back home, prepared himself a cup of warm milk and lied down in his mattress. The routine that had become habitual for him. Trying to maintain calmness among the citizens, dealing with appearing cults, and finding a way to make the chaos retreat.

They had succeded. They had saved Cocoon, but there was a turn of events.

When he woke up, he found himself in a white room filled with light. The place seemed to be lifted in the sky. The beauty of it was amazing. Then he slowly started to remember: Lightning, Snow, Vanille, Fang, Sazh... Fighting against the Pulse fal'Cie to save the destiny of Cocoon.

And next, there was a blank in his memory. What had happened afterwards? As much as he tried, he couldn't remember. He knew he wasn't the same 14 year old boy anymore but it seemed he was trapped inside that body.

Bhunnivelze then manifested himself and assigned him a task. To help Lightning when she came back after a five century slumber. The savior. But what came after that was the end of their world as they knew it.

Hope closed his eyes to remember. He remebered working alongside Lightning, Snow... How much he had learned and how much he had matured during those times. How they had gone against all odds and saved the world.

He asked Bhunnivelze, "So after it, you promise to create a new world?"

"So will be it", the god answered.

There was definitely something weird about it, like why couldn't they all go to the new world? Why couldn't the Savior rescue them all? Why did she have to do god's work? Why only thirteen days? But one idea was clear in his mind. If this was god's decision, then this is how it should be.

Sazh

From Dajh's perspective,

My dad is the bravest man in the world. He tells me stories about how he and his friend had saved our home Cocoon. And he came to save me too!

And a lot of adults tell me how he is an important man. They tell me, "Boy, this man right here works hard for all of us, so when he gets home make sure he gets enough rest and a goodnight's sleep."

When he is home we play around in our tree house and the huge garden it has. We cook dinner together, he teaches me a lot of things.

But lately he is not the same. Dad comes looking tired from work, and he is grungy, and he has big bags around his eyes. Even when I try to cheer him up, it seems harder to do so.

Tonight I'm going to go to sleep and I hope to see my dad happy again soon. That's what I like to see. I want to laugh with my dad soon just like before.