Episode 1

A World Without Cocoon

New Bodhum 003 AF

'Time flows without pause. In a world where I no longer exist, the future is about to change.'

Up in the sky, a bright star in the sky grows bright. Brighter. Closer. It is an enormous rock filled with and surrounded by distortions of time itself. And it's falling.

'Serah. The truth still survives. But only you remember it.'

"Lightning…"

"Serah?"

She sighed weakly and opened her eyes. "She was fighting…I guess it was just…a dream…" She rolled over in her bed to face Shu, who was across the room in their own bed. "Sorry, did I wake you?"

"No," Shu shrugged. "I was having my own dream. Dreams are nice. I was having a dream that this boy got transported to another dimension and met his boyfriend but they didn't know each other! But of course they still fell in love anyway. They were cute."

Serah chuckled sleepily. "Yeah, dreams are nice…"

"Sorry. Now I'm the one keeping you up. I'll go back to sleep now."

"No, it's…" Serah's eyes were already closed again. "It's fine…"

Shu giggled and pulled the covers up, but then they sneezed. It came out as a weak "A-chu!" no bigger than a mouse squeak. They would have ignored it, but suddenly the whole room smelled funny. Shu sneezed again.

Shu sat up, intent on leaving to grab a tissue and not disturb Serah anymore, but then they saw the strands of distortion swirling around the room. And they were all coming from Serah.

"Ah!" Shu tipped over and fell out of bed with another sneeze. The whole room was pushing with an odd scent, one that ticked Shu's nose to no end. "Choo!"

"Such a strange dream…" Serah was muttering.

Upon closer inspection, Shu saw that it wasn't Serah who was distorting, it was her clothes. "Hm?"

An enormous impact shook the whole area. Serah shot out of bed, sitting up and throwing her legs off the side of the bed as if prepared for both fight and flight but unsure of which. "What? What was that?"

"Something's smelly," Shu said, which did not explain anything.

Serah looked down at herself and hopped to her feet. "Wha — where did these…clothes come from…?"

Shu moved to the window to see the security drones and the neighborhood watch gathering outside. There were strange noises, and soon there was the sound of shouting and then gunfire.

"What's happening out there?" Serah muttered.

"Nothing good. Mat!" Shu hurried towards the door. "I'll go get Rei. Sai was out with the watch tonight!"

Shu dashed off down the hall further into NORA House. Shu had wanted to become independent from Rei and Sai and let them have their own room since they'd had to babysit Shu for so long. Shu decided they would move into Serah's room since both of them would do well to not be alone. Tonight, Mat was staying with Rei so that Shu could get some sleep.

"Sister!"

"Shu? Are you okay?" She was already on her feet, blades drawn.

"Yes, but did you smell—?"

"Distortions, yes."

"Where's Mat?"

"He went to meet Sai when he got back from work. The—"

"Garden!" Shu finished.

They were both moving, heading to the back of NORA House and to the large Garden Shu had cultivated over the years living there. It was Mat and Sai's favorite place to hang out, and so Sai would often meet Mat there for little 'secret' meetings in their hideout.

Shu pushed open the door and connected to the plants, quickly finding Mat hiding in the heather. Shu knelt before him and held their arms out. "Hey, little bug. Please come out. It's important."

A small head popped through the bushes. "Uncle Tama not home?"

"He'll be home soon. But there was a big quake."

"Kweh?"

"Quake. The land did a big shake. He has to see why it did that. Did the quake scare you?"

"No!" the boy protested. "Kweh no scare." Mat had been frightened by a chocobo once, but after that he had declared he would never be scared by one again.

"Of course not, silly me. But it scared me. Susu needs a hug." Shu held their arms out.

A little boy barely a meter tall slipped out of the foliage and into Shu's arms. They held him tightly and hefted him into their arms.

Rei held up one of her blades to look through it. "Sai's on the beach," she said. "No one can beat him on the beach. He'll be fine."

"Wanna see Uncle Tama," Mat protested.

Shu ran their hand through Mat's thick black hair. It needed a cut. "He'll be home late, but he'll be home. We should go to—"

Gunfire. Closer to the House now. There was shouting amongst the watch.

"Stay in the Garden," Rei demanded. She had taken on her serious tone. She was normally very gentle and very careful with her words, but when she busted out the serious tone, it was like she was using some power to physically compel victims into obeying. She claimed she had no such power. Mat claimed otherwise.

Shu nodded. "Okay."

"Tama!" Mat protested.

"I'll bring him back, little one," she promised. Then, she turned and dashed away.

Shu closed off the Garden and increased the thickness of the plants. They closed their eyes and concentrated on the foliage, stretching their roots to try and see what was happening and if anyone needed help.

"Tama?" Mat said.

Shu nodded. "Tama will be home soon. Mama will find him."

Mat wiggled in Shu's grip. They sat down so that both of them would be more comfortable. "Kweh are scary," Mat admitted.

"Yes, they are."

"Mama and Tama fight the Kweh?"

"Mama and Tama fight all the bad things. They're good at protecting things. And people. They have to go protect everyone now, but they'll be back."

"Mama and Tama awesome."

Shu opened their mouth to respond, but nothing came out. They tried again, but the air seemed to get caught in their throat. Shu couldn't speak. They couldn't breathe.

"Susu?"

Shu tried to reassure Mat that it was fine, but they couldn't make any sound.

"I get Mama?"

Shu held onto Mat before he could move to leave. They shook their head and pulled Mat close. They tried to convey their message. 'It'll be fine. Just stay with me. Stay where you're safe.'

Mat wrapped his small arms around Shu's neck. "I protect Susu from the Kweh."

Shu nodded.

They focused and found they were able to breathe, they just couldn't make any noise. There was just silence. This utter, horrible silence. It sucked all the life out of the air itself.

Shu closed their eyes and tried to focus, but the smell was still there. The horrible, metallic, sharp scent of distortions. It was only growing stronger. It was consuming the whole area.

Then, Shu opened their eyes. There was nothing. No life. They were kneeling in a dead, dirt graveyard. Mat was gone.

Shu tried to call out, but the silence was still there. It sucked up their voice.

Shu looked around. NORA House was in shambles. Shu could see right over the remains of it. They frowned, squinting at a figure in the distance. Serah was wandering the barren wasteland, stumbling about blindly. Shu couldn't blame her for looking like she was going to throw up. Shu's head was pounding horribly.

Shu could see beyond Serah, all the way to the remains of the ocean. It was drained dry. Sai was standing at the edge. He was walking forward, towards the empty sea that left nothing but a cliff into a formerly diverse and beautiful reef. He threw his hands over his ears like he was in pain.

'Sai!' Shu tried to scream. He was going to fall. They tried harder. "…ai!" Their voice came out in a painful, cracked wave, but it was coming out. Shu tried once more. "Ssss…aaaaiiii! Look oooo-uuuut! Sai!"

Shu could see Rei. Or rather, Shu could see her blades. They were hovering all around. In their reflection, Shu could make out Rei's form. There were so many of them, everywhere at once, that they could form an entire mirror so that Shu could easily pinpoint her location.

She turned to look at Shu. Or at least one of her reflections did. One of her blades raised without her command.

"Sister!"

Nothing could defeat Sai at a beach. He waved his arms and sent a column of water shooting high into the sky to consume a Rift Beast before twisting it and sending it smashing into the beach.

He flicked his wrists and only subtly moved the rest of his body or arms, working a dozen snakes and hands of water in all directions as more of a puppet master pulling strings than a bender of the element itself.

He sent high-powered blasts of water at enemies further up the beach, but any enemy that came close to him, no matter how many, were quickly consumed and overwhelmed by his abilities. Some of the civilians and the wounded were coming towards him so that he could create a safe barrier around them.

Saitama had gotten better at using Styx's power ever since she gifted it to him along with helping bring Etro's blessings to this world. She saved the whole of Cocoon, protected and returned Rei and even Shu to this world at some of their darkest hours, and she'd given her power to Sai. Rei said it was to maintain the balance of the world, but they all knew she wasn't entirely sure. She was just happy that Sai was stronger now, that he wasn't as delicate and breakable. She always worried about how delicate humans were.

He was learning to enjoy being blind, or at least blind by conventional standards. He could still see, just in a new way. He could keep track of so much at once — mostly water and rivers and the ocean, but he was getting better at everything else too. He could keep track of this whole battlefield and everything he was doing all at once.

This was what it was like, being a fal'Cie then. It was terrifyingly stable. He was in control of so much, even when he felt like he was in control of so little.

They were taking back the main residential area of New Bodhum. The watch and the security drones had been utterly unprepared for these odd creatures that began appearing all across the paths around New Bodhum, and then eventually in New Bodhum itself. They didn't even have to bust down the fences or barriers, they just appeared.

Sai was getting a migraine from their annoying chittering, the awful buzz in the air that turned his sense-vision into static, like they were disrupting his signal. He just kept on crushing everything that was buzzing like that and he seemed to be clearing out the town of enemies.

"Sai!" Rei was running towards him, blades drawn. She sliced through a Meonekton without even realizing it.

She was so elegant in battle or out of it. She didn't realize how beautiful she was. He wouldn't get tired of watching her, of reminding her how wonderful she was and how she brightened the entire world around her.

"Nearly done here!" he said. "Are the others okay?"

"Yes, Shu and Mat are—"

Silence. Sai was suddenly hit with an awful wave of silence. It pervaded his very soul. His heartbeat pounded in his ears because it was the only thing left that was making any noise.

No, wait. There were…bells. They were growing louder. Large church-bells of sorts. They were getting louder.

Sai couldn't see anything but dirt and haze and death. There was nothing but the bells. He couldn't feel any water — any life. He couldn't even feel the flow of time.

He pressed his hands over his ears. They were so loud now. They were the silence. They were consuming everything. Nothing. They were the nothing, nothing but the bells, the loud silence.

"…ai!"

"Shu?" He couldn't even hear his own voice. He could feel the rumble in his chest, the tickle in his throat, but he couldn't hear.

"Ssss…aaaaiiii! Look oooo-uuuut!"

"Shu!"

"Sai!"

He was snapped back to reality. The world came back. The sound came back. The bells were still ringing, but the world was back. Everything was frozen. The people of New Bodhum were fighting or running.

Serah was standing dazed in the middle of it all.

Rei was running towards Sai. Shu was in NORA House, looking their way as if they could see through the buildings and plants that separated them.

Then it all snapped to life.

Rift Beasts were taking over the entire village. Civilians and fightiners alike were struggling to hold their own. How long had he been gone? Had he even been gone?

"Sister!"

Sai threw his arm out violently. His powers had always required a delicate touch, a fluid motion, some precision, but he panicked.

Rei was grabbed by a giant hand made of water and wretched out of the way of an enormous rift tearing open beside her on the beach. "What the…?"

Sai pulled her close and then threw his arms out. His water spouts shot to life in all directions, firing on or grabbing and crushing Rift Beasts from all directions. He swirled his arms around him and established a new safety perimeter, grabbing civilians and pulling them all into his safe zone within a protective water spout.

Rei leaned close and kissed his cheek before diving through the water, blades raised to join the fight. He let her go. He knew she could handle herself.

"Gadot!" Serah screamed.

He was somewhere in the center of the scuffle along with the rest of NORA. He threw away a beast and urged her to get to safety. "Serah, come on!"

"Everyone, this way!" Yuj cried.

"Get out, get out!" Maqui was urging.

Sai pulled his fingers into a specific shape and flicked his fingers forward, expanding his water spout as far and as fast as he could.

Through the rift that had nearly sliced open right on top of Rei, an enormous portal came through instead. A large beast reached through the void, some sort of mechanical nightmare. It was only a torso, barely half of one at that, with a glowing red eye, a tear where its heart would be and an awkward protrusion that got cut off inside the portal. Its one free arm reached out with glowing clawed talons that were thin as bones made of wire. When it opened its mouth to roar, its teeth were too small for its jaw, which was thin and crushed as if it were being invisibly gagged. In its mouth was simply another red glow, and out of it came a deep, empty roar of desperation, pain, and madness.

"What is that?!" Maqui exclaimed.

"Get back!" Rei shouted in that demanding voice of hers that made everyone obey before they even knew what they were doing. It wasn't a power of hers, she insisted, it was just her voice.

She flicked her arms and her blades shot into her palms. Her powers were far more deliberate, every motion of her blades calculated and nuanced and yet somehow still flowing as if she were simply following a stream. Rei was a marvel to watch when she got serious in combat. Often she held back a lot, and she had been ever since she first arrived on Cocoon and regained her strength. She never wanted to hurt anyone.

Her swings were powerful and enormous, whipping out energy arcs with every swing that seared clean through the monster. It roared in pain, swiping at her blinding with its one arm, but Rei slammed her blades into it and basically shoved it back into the void from whence it came with an earthshaking strike. She swirled her blades around and pressed the tips of the weapons inwards, and somehow, she managed to close the portal behind it.

Sai couldn't help marveling at her. Outside of combat, Rei was one of the most gentle people he knew. She wasn't a fool and she clearly knew what she was doing, thinking through her every action and taking very deliberate steps, and yet still she still managed to come off as relaxed, level-headed, and even innocent — in a more mature way than Shu, of course.

It was very easy to forget that she was the most powerful of her kind and could crush most enemies under her blades without even flicking her finger.

She swung out her sword just as a Rift Beast formed, slicing it in half before it had even fully formed. "Nuisance."

Sai frowned and renewed his efforts. The big one was gone, but more of the buzzing annoyances were appearing, and at a rapid rate.

Serah sprinted to the safe zone and the NORA members, but before she could get there, a Meonekton formed in front of her, hissing and chirping with its sharp forelegs raised to strike.

Serah slowly backed away. "No. Please, no…"

She tripped over one of the fallen Deckdrones as the Meonekton raised to strike. All she could do was throw her arm up in a futile attempt to protect herself.

"Lightning, help me!" she shouted on instinct.

Lightning had always been there to help her. Ever since they were young, Lightning had always been there. It didn't matter if they were fighting or if they were far away or if Lightning was on duty. She had always come when Serah needed her — sometimes even when Serah didn't need her. But that was preferable to her never coming at all.

It didn't help that Serah had so many dreams about her sister. It was hard enough to move on from losing someone (she'd had experience with that before, her and Lightning both), but it was made far more difficult when every night it was like Lightning was still there. In her dreams, Serah found herself forgetting if Lightning had really disappeared or not.

The Meonekton raised its forelegs to strike, but then it was blasted back. Through the chaos and explosions, Lebreau was charging across the beach with her automatic in hand, unleashing hell upon the beast and blasting it away.

She knelt beside Serah, snatching her wrist. "Get ahold of yourself!" she bellowed. "Lightning can't protect you anymore! You have to look after yourself now. Do you hear me? Your sister's dead! She can't help you—!"

She was struck violently by another Rift Beast, her gun flying out of her grip and across the beach.

"Lebreau!" Serah wailed.

A rain of arrows shot across the sky and dispatched a pair of Meonektons looming over Serah. "You want her? Then you're gonna have to go through me!"

Up above one of the watchtowers built for overseeing the town and the wilderness around them, a figure was standing with a hybrid bow on their shoulder. A second figure appeared and grabbed the first, jumping then down and safely dropping them on the beach beside Serah.

"Get up, Serah." Charon held out his hand.

"You're…you were in my dreams. I saw you. I know you."

"Save it for later." The boy with the bow held out the weapon to her. "Can you fight?"

Serah pulled herself up, taking the weapon with a hesitant nod. "If I have to…"

"You're gonna have to."

He reached up to grab the thick blade on his back. It was an intricate blade made with many thin curved sections layered and weaved together; it almost resembled someone freezing a raging fire in time to transform it into a sword.

"One more thing…" He pulled the weapon free and reached for a second hilt with his other hand. It was revealed that the larger blade actually held a scabbard for a second smaller one, this one a straight, double-edged sleeker short sword. "Don't ever lay down…and wait to die!"

Rei calmly stabbed her blade into a Meonekton and then flicked the dying being away before its body faded entirely. "Sai! We need to form a barrier so they can't spawn in the town! I need a river!"

"Got it!" He flexed his wrists and set out waves of glowing blue water to start making a perimeter around the area.

Rei went around slicing down as many of the Rift Beasts that she could while he went to work.

"Ready!"

She tossed her blades into the air and they rained down on Sai's river, embedding themselves at equidistant points around the perimeter. She whispered a few words and then held her blades out in front of her, the tips pointing up. Then, she flipped them both and stabbed them into the ground.

A shockwave blasted out from all directions. The area became locked in motion, creating a temporary safe zone to ward off distortions. Time would flow here without any interference.

Noel moved with the skill of a trained hunter, but still a young one. He knew how to use his two blades for speed and agility, but he could put his weight behind an attack for power as well. He seemed to know the technique of throwing a Ruin spell before beginning a physical combo to test the enemy's resilience to magic.

Serah proved herself adept at throwing Ruin spells, carefully testing out the bow and testing her aim. The bow was easy for her to adjust to. When the Meonekton before her went down, she lowered the bow and the body flipped inwards to transform into a sword form. The handle that she had pulled on to fire arrows became the hilt of the sword, and the wings of the bow came together to form a sleek blade.

"Whoa," she muttered.

"You know how to use that thing?" Rei asked.

"Sort of. Lightning wanted to make sure I at least knew how to use a sword in self-defense." She shrugged. "Not that I had a lot of combat training back on Cocoon…"

"We've stopped the creatures from spawning here, but we still need to clear out the area. Let's go." Rei walked up to Charon. He opened his mouth, trying to come up with something to say, but she brushed past him, slipping her hand into his armor and pulling out a pair of his Kozuka. "I need to borrow these."

He shifted. His armor itself was layered with his Kozuka to create a fish-scale-like pattern where they were laid all across his torso, arms, and legs. She'd pulled a few of his scales off, so now he had a small hole where his true black armor was piercing through.

Rei couldn't control Charon's blade like she could hers, so instead she opted for the more straightforward route of just charging in and stabbing and slashing. Nothing stood a chance against Rei when she was armed, no matter what the arms were. But blades especially. She was the Blade Phoenix.

Serah and Noel ran around together assisting NORA and the other fighters in clearing out New Bodum of the Rift Beasts. Charon and Rei focused on civilians who were actively being attacked, helping move them to Sai's safe zone.

By the time they'd finished, a great deal of the town was damaged, but overall it was still salvageable. Sai helped bring everyone to be healed with magic and then transferred them from his safe zone by the sea over to NORA House and the residential area.

Deckdrones and Pantherons laid strewn about the beach, some still smoking from the destruction and carnage. The recovery camp was so large that they couldn't house everyone in one building, so they were also outside on the grass near NORA House.

Finally, Rei handed back Charon's Kozuka. She was shorter than him, but not enough that he couldn't notice her deliberately looking down to avoid his gaze.

"Rei…"

She poked him with his Kozuka. He reached up to take them back.

Her face never got angry. Sai had never really seen Rei mad at anyone or anything. She was usually just…sad, as if she were blaming herself for someone else not being happy or having made mistakes.

"You're angry," he guessed.

"I'm not angry," she stated. Her voice was very even. Too even.

"Disappointed then?"

"I don't know, Charon." Oof, he didn't know if he should be concerned about how she said his name.

"Look, if you're angry, just get it out already. Okay? I'll take any punishment —"

She moved with frightening speed. Charon was slapped, his neck snapping to his left. If he were human, his neck might've broken entirely.

She sighed, shaking out her left hand. "Okay, that's out of my system. We'll see how long it lasts."

Charon had to reach up to twist his head forward again. He probably didn't need his hands' assistance to right himself, but he wasn't taking chances because honestly he couldn't feel anything above his shoulders at the moment.

"I'm good," she promised. "For now."

Before Charon could make an awkward attempt at a reply, she surged forward and crushed him in a hug. Hotareichan was really strong. Like, really strong. Like Charon knew he would never beat her in a hugging competition kind of strong. Like, he wasn't even sure this mystical armor would protect him from an angry Rei hug kind of strong.

But to his surprise, he didn't get completely crushed in two. She was hugging him at a regular level. She was relaxing against him. He carefully pulled his arms up around her in return.

"How long…?"

"Three years."

"Three years," he whispered. "Just three years…"

Rei retreated, but it was slow. She carefully slipped free, but she ran her hands down his forearms, keeping a tight grip on his forearms. Her eyes were dark. He thought that it'd be easier to see her than it would be to see Shu. He was wrong. He thought he was more experienced from Valhalla, but somehow, Rei proved him wrong.

"What do you know?" he asked.

She sighed, dropping her gaze. "Unfortunately, a lot." She released him, sticking her hands into her pockets.

Rei looked nice. She was just wearing a purple blouse and loose jeans. She was barefoot. Her dark hair was pulled into a ponytail. It didn't look longer than before, but maybe Charon was just imagining it. Or maybe he wasn't. Fal'Cie could choose their appearance, after all. Rei said she had taken that form from a human she'd met during her travels of Gran Pulse before the War of Transgression, but Charon had a sneaking suspicion that she had made that form her own in many ways over the years.

Rei looked normal. She looked human.

"I am…I am Creation. You are Destruction. We are the two ends of the cycle, the connections between Valhalla and this world. It could've taken either of us. It just happened to…I'm sorry."

"For what? Rei, if it had been you…" He sighed. "Look, you're better than me. You always have been."

"I don't feel like it," she admitted. "I feel like I've been doing nothing, that I've been worthless. It's all been Sai. He's been holding us together."

"You're the strongest fighter out of all of us. The wisest. I'm jealous of you in so many ways."

"All the more reason why I would've made a better warrior. You didn't deserve it. You should've been here. I've been useless, you've been suffering…"

"It happened. That's how it is. I'm…I made it back."

She nodded curtly. "You are, aren't you?" She stared up at the glowing crystal pillar in the distance. It was like a second, perpetual moon, always glowing, always illuminating the world below. "You are back. I am glad. But I worry what you might've brought with you."

"What do you mean?"

Her nose did this little crinkle of displeasure. For some reason, he felt like he was seeing a new Rei. He hadn't gotten to know her very well during their journey with the l'Cie, but he had felt like he had gotten to know some of her. Now, she felt like she was wise as the goddess Etro herself, and Charon was just struggling to keep up. Something had definitely changed about her, and Charon wasn't sure if it was good or bad.

"Care to join me for a little investigation?" she asked.

Charon had a feeling that even if he said now, she wouldn't be giving him an actual choice, so instead he just said. "What do you have in mind?"

Serah stared, dazed, at the sight before her. New Bodhum was a wreck, and the worst of it might not even be over.

Still, it was better than that horrible nightmare she'd had. Or…had it been a nightmare? Maybe she'd been sleepwalking. Anyway, it wasn't the reality before her now. That cold, dead, empty, silent wasteland wasn't New Bodhum.

New Bodhum was here. It was alive, and maybe it was in rough shape but it would recover. It was alive.

"Hey Serah, are you okay?" Maqui snapped her out of her stupor.

She turned towards him and nodded. "Uh — yeah."

"Maqui!" Yuj called.

"Y-Yeah!" He called. He offered a smile and pumped a confident fist for Serah. "Gotta go!"

She nodded. "Okay."

The rest of NORA and the town's watch gathered up their uninjured troops. Rei helped them make sure all of them were properly armed and healthy enough to go forward. They organized themselves by their normal team leaders, a couple extras getting rearranged so that they could even out the teams without the injured folk.

Gadot raised his hand for attention. "All right, everyone, listen up. The meteorites hit over there. Looks like there was one big one and a lot of smaller fragments too. This attack started when that thing touched down. We're gonna check it out."

"Team Yuj ready to roll," he announced.

"And careful," Maqui warned. "That area's crawling with monsters."

"We'll be joining you once we finish securing the town," Rei announced. "We can assist with the threats. Don't hesitate to call upon us."

"We don't want anyone else to get hurt," Sai said. "Look out for one another, and be prepared for any abnormalities. We have protected the town from those spawning bugs, but we can't expand the borders."

"So stay close," Gadot agreed. "C'mon."

"You heard him," Yuj said. "Move out!"

"With you!" The regular townsfolk bid farewell to the others as they left.

Noel had brought Lebreau back to the recovery area where Sai was bandaging some people up. He'd helped cast some rudimentary healing magic on her before letting her get some rest.

"Looks like we're good," Sai said. "She's stable."

Serah sighed in relief. "You're okay," she said lightly, reaching down to wipe her hand across Lebreau's forehead.

"She took a hit, but she's gonna be fine," Noel announced, rising to his feet. "She just needs some rest."

Serah sighed in relief. "Thank goodness." She grabbed her new bow and rose to follow him out of the recovery zone. "And that you…Whoever you are."

"Noel," he introduced, pointing to himself with a thumbs-up. "Noel Kreiss."

Serah frowned. He said his name confidently, as though she should know who he is or something. "Okay…"

"And before I forget," he went on, "it wasn't just me. You should probably thank this little guy, too." He pointed at her bow.

"Hm?"

The weapon surged to life, humming with a bright pink glow and rising out of Serah's hand. It spun dramatically and then the solid weapon transformed into pure light. In a poof, a moogle burst from the light, spinning and flying upwards with a small "Tada! Kupo!"

With a big white head bigger than its body, a big pink nose where it's mouth would be, puffed cheeks, little lines that emoted like closed eyes, and tiny pointed ears on top, the moogle was generic as they came. It had signature little bat wings flapping behind it, though they seemed to be doing little in the way of actually holding it in the air. In its right hand was a staff with a clock on top, though since the moogle lacked any sort of fingers, it was almost as though the staff was permanently attached.

Serah smiled in awe as the moogle floated back down before her. "Wow. Is that a toy moogle?"

It shook its head with a small, "Kupo," in protest, as if to say 'No, silly.'

She reached up to tap its belly and it squirmed away in surprise, making a small noise of protest once more. Serah's small tap was enough to push it back where it hovered in the air, and it flailed its small arms and legs in protest.

"He's supposed to be your lucky charm," Noel explained. "Your sister gave him to me."

Serah's eyes widened. She snatched the moogle into her arms (to its dismay; it wiggled furiously to try and escape her grip) as she stepped forward with interest. "Wait, you know Lightning?!"

He nodded. "She's the one who told me to come here."

Serah paid no mind to the protests of the moogle in her arms. "Where? Where did you see her? Was it…Valhalla?"

Noel's face twisted in surprise. "Yeah. How'd you guess?"

Her face fell solemn. She relaxed her grip enough that the moogle was able to slip down and out of her arms. "I saw it in a dream. I saw my sister. She gave you the moogle. Charon was there, then the meteorite came…"

"And dragged us along with it, I guess."

"Do you mean… you actually rode here on that meteorite?"

"Maybe, I don't know. Damned if I can remember. I think that other guy —" He glanced around. "Where'd he go?"

Sai wandered up to the pair. "It seems as though he and Rei went to investigate the meteor and its fragments."

"Wait, you mean…Charon?" Serah said the name hesitantly, as though afraid no one would believe she even knew it in the first place.

"You know him?" Noel asked. He shouldn't be surprised. If Lightning was Serah's sister, it meant that Lightning (and likely Charon too) had come from the same place.

She nodded. "I've never met him, personally. But…I've heard so many stories about him. I remember him helping my sister, helping all of my friends. But I thought he…"

"We should join them," Sai announced. "I think we all have many questions that the two of them can answer."

"Let's go check out the meteorite then," Noel exclaimed.

"Okay…" He was already off and running by the time Serah had found the strength to move and follow.

"Kupo!" the moogle said as he flew along.

Now I know for sure. Lightning is alive. She's in a place called Valhalla.

I'd only just met Noel, but I believed him. I believed every word he said. Even though it couldn't possibly be true…

It seems like only yesterday. The smile on Lightning's face when she gave her blessing for Snow and me to get married. But…I'm the only one who ever remembered that. No one believes. It's just a dream, they say, from when I slept in the crystal. An illusion.

Shu says they believe me, that I'm not crazy or anything. Rei tells me to keep faith. I always find myself wondering what they know. I always wonder if they believe me, that they know something, but they're hiding it from me. Maybe, they have no choice. Or maybe even they don't know, and that drives them mad.

Still, they never tell me to give it up. Everyone else does. They tell me to keep hope. And I have.

They say my sister is gone. That three years ago, she sacrificed herself to stop the fall of Cocoon. She turned into the crystal pillar that holds Cocoon above the surface of Pulse, and saved both worlds.

That's what they say. But even so…