These early chapters might get really long because of the sheer number of live triggers and dialogue options here in New Bodhum. I'm trying to weave all of them into the conversation, but it does come off as repetitive in some situations. Other times though, there's new information or good points made depending on the choice, so I'm just gonna include everything.

"Noel, is that all you're going to tell me, your name?" Serah called. "Like, who are you? What do you do?"

"I'm a hunter," he offered.

"I feel like an interrogator. Do you mind me asking?"

"Shoot."

Serah had so many questions. Lightning, Valhalla, where Noel had come from, being a hunter?

She didn't know there were hunters like that. There were some hunters on Cocoon, but not a lot. All fighters were part of the military, and they'd been given new jobs trying to form a quasi-government while the population was trying to regather itself. Of course, it wasn't as though she didn't know what a hunter was or anything, but Noel's outfit looked…odd for a hunter.

"Where are you from?" she decided to ask. "Somewhere inside Cocoon?"

"Cocoon? Huh. So I guess it still exists in this age," Noel muttered. He shifted, placing his hands on his hips with a shrug. "Uh, I've traveled around a lot, following the herds. Ever since I was born."

"Wait, what do you mean? You were born on…Pulse?"

"Hey, you two," Sai called. "With me. Hurry up."

He chuckled. "Guess I'm not that good at small talk."

"No, no, it's fine," Serah assured him. "Maybe I'm just not understanding everything."

"How about you ask easier questions," Sai suggested. "What's your favorite food?"

Noel laughed. "Any sort of meat, really."

"You would get along with Shu."

"Hm… But if I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be Adamantoise if I can get it."

"You can eat those things?!" Serah exclaimed. "So, wait, you're a hunter, right? Is that, like, your job?"

"Well, less of a job and more of a way of life. In the era I come from, if you don't learn how to hunt, you don't get to eat."

"Like hunting Adamantoise to eat…" She shook her head. "Are you really from a different time?"

"I know it sounds a bit absurd. I'm not asking you to believe me instantly. But ask more if it'll help you understand."

"Well…uh…how about…Valhalla. Tell me about Valhalla."

"I don't know much about it myself," he shrugged. "It's not like I lived there or anything. The legends say it lies at the end of time, in the distant future; that it's the realm of the dead."

"The realm of the dead?" Serah frowned. "Does that mean Lightning is out of my reach for good?"

"Lightning didn't seem very dead to me. It seemed less like she was trapped there and more like she had a reason to stay."

"You said you met my sister," Serah said. She tried to keep her voice from sounding skeptical and more intrigued. Still, she had to ask. " What did she look like? What was she wearing?"

"She was covered by silver armor decorated with features. She looked like a goddess out of some fairy tale."

"Just like in my dream! Maybe you really did meet her…"

Serah had dozens of questions, but she wasn't sure how to phrase them. Noel was trying, she could tell, but he wasn't very good at explaining his answers in ways that didn't open up even more questions in Serah's mind.

They followed Sai up the path towards the mountains where the meteor had landed. They'd built a wooden walkway that led up to a stone arch ramping up to the mountain path that was normally inaccessible from the beach level.

This area had monsters such as Gorgonopsid wolves and some old Pulsework Soldiers. Serah used the time to practice more with her new weapon. She reached out to her new moogle, who was learning to transform for her at a moment's notice. Once in weapon form, it seemed the moogle wasn't capable of moving independently (or it was too difficult to), so Serah had full control.

"What is a moogle anyway?" She tapped her new companion, who wiggled as though tickled from the touch. "The moogle doesn't seem like an animal. Is it like, a fal'Cie or something?"

"A beast? A fal'Cie? A servant of the gods?" Noel asked with a light grin. "How 'bout it, Mog? Which is it?"

"Kupo!" the floating creature replied.

Serah tilted her head in confusion. "Wait, what? Which one was right?"

"Looks like there's a meteorite shard up that way," Sai muttered. "We'll have to take a bit of a trip."

"Wow…" Noel was saying. He wasn't paying attention anymore.

"Hm?" Serah glanced back at him. "What's up, Noel?"

"I…I-I just didn't think it would be that beautiful. Cocoon, I mean. In the legend…"

"What do you mean by 'in the legend'?" Sai asked.

"The legend about Cocoon and how it was held up in the sky by a crystal pillar. We all knew that story."

"Seems funny to call it a legend. It's only been three years. So you've heard stories about Cocoon?"

"Stories, yeah… More like legends or myths. 'The goddess showed mercy to the sisters, and the sisters became one with eternity.'"

"One with eternity?" Sai repeated. "That's a nice way of putting it."

"Noel…" Serah whispered, more to herself than to him, "where did you come from?"

Cocoon's fall had certainly been a major event, and no doubt it would become nothing but a legend one day, but how long would that be in the future? A few decades? A few centuries? Would people eventually forget about Cocoon and what it used to be — a home for millions of people who would one day migrate to Pulse and forget what it was even like to live on a (formerly) floating shell?

"Not used to seeing Cocoon, then," Serah said.

"No. Well actually, this is the first time I've ever seen it."

"The first time? You can't be serious. Like, the first time seeing it from the outside?" That was common for those who were first traveling down to Pulse. Even after three years, there were still plenty of people who hadn't yet taken to migrating down here. They were still getting settled, after all.

"You seem a bit shaken there, Noel," Sai noted. "It's not just Cocoon that's getting to you, is it?"

"That obvious, huh?" He shook his head. "I thought I knew what to expect. Being thrown into w world you don't understand is a lot more terrifying than I imagined."

"I'm not sure I get what you mean," Serah admitted.

"I mean what I said."

"Well, all of us had to go through a big change recently," Sai pointed out. "Not long ago, everyone living on Gran Pulse had lived on Cocoon; migrating to the new world and settling down in a dangerous environment after living basically our entire lives under the shelter of the fal'Cie…it's not quick to adjust into."

"Bodhum, the town we used to live in up there…" Serah mused. "It's gone now."

"Lost during Cocoon's fall?" Noel guessed.

"Yeah. That's why everyone moved here, to this place. To build a new hometown. It's been fun. Everyone will miss Bodhum, but we've done a great job of recreating it here, and making new memories. It's scary, being forced into a new world, but it gets better, I promise."

Serah's smile slowly fell, illuminated under the brilliant light of the crystal pillar. There were theories about how crystal glowed so brightly, but no one had confirmed the science behind it yet. Magic was sometimes unexplainable.

"My sister is somewhere inside that pillar. At least that's what everyone says. She and our friends transformed into crystal, and kept Cocoon from falling."

"Really? Is that what happened?" Noel asked skeptically. "Then how was I able to meet with Lightning?"

"Good question. But my sister never came back. It's been three years without her. I wish it weren't true."

"There," Sai exclaimed.

They made their way down the mountain path towards one of the meteor shards. This area was filled with old ruins combined with newer Cocoon technology and homes that had been salvaged and used to help expand the territory of New Bodhum and help the neighborhood watch keep the area safe.

By the sea, a large oddly glowing rock had embedded itself in the rocky paths. It was bigger than a doorway and definitely some sort of foreign crystal of sorts.

"That's one of the meteor shards then?" Serah asked.

Sai reached out to touch it. The rock reacted to his touch, shining brighter at the point of contact and then spreading outwards among the rest. Slowly, the entire meteor itself turned to pure light and then dissolved. In its place, a person dropped free. Sai quickly caught them before they hit the ground.

"A person?" Noel exclaimed. "Well…I admit I didn't know anything about that."

"So you weren't the only one brought here on that meteor then," Serah muttered. "Do you know them?"

The person appeared to be a man. He physically looked young, but it was difficult to tell. His brown hair fell across his face, though not enough that they couldn't confirm that none of them knew who he was.

"Get him back to the village!" Sai ordered some of the nearby watch members.

"R-Right!" He let them take the man back to the village to the town.

Serah sighed. "This night just keeps getting weirder and weirder. How many meteor shards came down? Do you think they all contain people inside them?"

"I only sense a couple more along the mountain path," Sai announced. "Then, of course, there's the biggest one further down towards Cocoon."

"Are Rei and Charon going to investigate it?"

"It's best to assume so."

"Are they able to open up these rocks as well?" Noel asked.

"Yes. Let's keep a lookout for if the watch is transporting any more unfamiliar folk to safety."

They made their way up the mountain path. About halfway there, Gadot noticed them and hopped down from a higher path. "Serah! Still in one piece?"

She nodded. "Don't worry, Gadot. I'm being safe. Promise."

He turned and nodded further down the path. "We're seein' lots of unfriendly critters around that meteorite."

"Gets worse the further we go, I assume," Sai said.

"It certainly gets weirder, that's for sure. You going up there?"

He nodded. "Rei went on ahead to check it out. We wanted to investigate as well. I'll look after —" Gadot turned and noticed Noel staring up at Cocoon again. It was really impossible to avoid staring at if they were heading in that direction to find the meteorite. "Oho… Who's this?"

"Oh." Serah moved to his side so she could wave her hand out to placate what could easily turn into a disastrous encounter. "This is Noel. He helped Lebreau and me out of a tight spot."

Noel held his hands on his hips proudly.

Gadot stepped forward. "Is that right?" He demonstrated that he was far taller than Noel. And he was holding a gun. "I'm Gadot."

"H-Hey." Noel took a wise step back and held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, take it easy, big guy. I…am not here to make trouble for anyone."

"You better not. Anything happens to Serah and the boss'll string your carcass out to dry."

Serah simply smiled and nodded at her friend.

Noel moved to step in front of Gadot, with interest, with bravery? "The boss? Who's that?"

Gadot scoffed. "He ain't here right now."

"Oh. Aren't you the boss? You sure seem like one."

He shrugged. "Ah, gee, thanks, but I'm his right-hand man."

"He's been off on a trip," Sai explained. "Gave a quick declaration that he was leaving and then left. Been gone for years now with nary a word about his travels."

"Ha. Sounds like a tool. I can deal with him."

"Huh?!" Gadot exclaimed. "Just who d'ya think you are?!"

Noel didn't back down. "I'll be the one to take care of Serah. You've got my word on that."

"Words are cheap, kid."

Noel ran his fingers through his hair. "Ha, you got me there. But it's a nice place you got here. Everyone looks out for each other. I won't be the one to cause trouble; I'm sure the whole village would be behind you if I let anything happen to Serah."

Gadot grunted, though he seemed amused. "You keep safe, kiddo. All of you." He dashed off up the path.

"Snow's a touchy subject," Sai explained. "They've been friends for a long time, but we've been holding down the fort without him for a while now."

"Snow?"

"The leader of NORA. Snow Villiers." Seeing as Noel didn't recognize the name, he simply gave an inquisitive look. "Maybe you'll meet him one day, but it won't be today. Let's continue onwards."

The neighborhood watch all had the same mind as Gadot. Upon seeing Serah venturing into the mountain path, they kept calling to look after her and keep her safe. Rift Beasts started appearing as they went further upwards. They had to hop from a few branches that had been placed to connect the paths, supported by some scaffolding.

By the time they made it to the ground again, distortions had twisted the area heavily.

"Huh? What's going on here?" Noel grumbled.

"Am I dreaming…?" Serah wondered.

"I see it too. Pretty sure it's no dream."

"Come through it," Sai said. "It seems to be harmless."

The area around them twisted and warped like a mirage, but at least they could still see the path in front of them. It wasn't long before the world stabilized again.

"Hey, we've got a civilian!" someone called. A pair of the neighborhood watch members came running up to Sai. One of them had a sleeping person in their arms.

They had long pink hair, thicker than even the Farron sisters, which flowed like silk past their shoulders. Their clothes were further from Cocoon fashion than the first, more closely resembling the elegantly hand-woven fabrics of Pulsian attire — similar to what Fang wore. They were wrapped in a shawl and puffy pants that appeared more suited to colder climates, but it had a floral rose pattern possibly for spring time.

"Be careful taking them back," Sai said. "I'll clear you a path." He held up his hands, forming a water path down the mountain that handily avoided the dangerous distorted one.

"Appreciate it! Oh, your wife is up ahead!"

He nodded. "I'd assumed so."

Making their way to a safer area after hopping over more scaffolding, they saw Yuj's signature blue hair just up ahead.

"Oh, hey, Yuj," Serah greeted.

"Hey. So, this is the famous Noel, huh?"

She nodded. "Yup."

"I guess news travels fast," Noel muttered bashfully.

"Rei told me how you helped Lebreau out. I'm Yuj. Nice to meet you."

"Hey, likewise."

He turned back to her. "What's with the new stylin' threads, Serah? Not exactly a 'dress up and hit the town' kind of occasion."

"Yuj, you're not really one to talk, you know."

"What? These are my regular clothes. Can't help looking fabulous."

"He's a bit of a fashion nerd," Sai informed Noel.

"I prefer the term fashion expert."

Serah giggled. "You want to try them on? They might look better on you!"

Yuj laughed, carefully concealing the nervousness in his voice. "I don't think so. Wouldn't want to show you up or anything!"

"Well, to be honest with you, I don't remember putting them on."

"Oh, I know how that goes. Hard to resist trying out a new outfit!"

She shook her head. "If I told you they fell from the sky, you probably wouldn't believe me, huh?"

"Are you telling me the meteorite is a fashion critic?"

"It's got nothing on you, Yuj. What if I said I was wearing this to get your approval?"

"Well, um, I'd say you have it. But don't let Snow know I said that!"

Noel glanced at Sai. He simply shrugged in response. While Sai paid attention to his attire, fashion wasn't his passion like it was Yuj's.

"It might be another weird phenomenon," Sai suggested, "what with all the odd occurrences happening tonight."

"Hm, well they do have this strange lettering…"

"Something to do with all this craziness?" Yuj agreed. "Hm, that design is pretty unfamiliar. But I'd say getting free threads certainly isn't the worst thing to happen from a magic rock in the sky."

Serah laughed. "Maybe you'll get something next time, Yuj."

"One can only hope. Okay, I better get going. See you guys later."

Serah waved him off. "Bye."

They were nearly at the meteorite now. They made their way to a fork in the road, one of which contained Maqui standing before a few distortions with interest.

"More of them," Noel muttered.

"Maybe it's an illusion. Like some sort of mirage showing scenery in the distance."

"It's like temporal fuzz to me," Sai admitted. "I can see shapes that definitely aren't real, but the shapes are there nonetheless. As if there are layers of objects overlapping, with the real ones being solid and the others made of smoke."

Noel tilted his head in confusion. "Er…what?"

"Sai is blind," Serah explained. "He navigates through some fal'Cie magic and has power over water."

"Huh."

"These distortions look like…a lot of fuzz and vaguely-formed shapes made of smoke. It makes everything a blur the closer we get to the meteor."

"Are you doing okay?" Serah asked.

"I'm fine. I know what's solid and what's not."

As they moved to follow Maqui, the air around them twisted with images hovering in the air, some of the locations before them but barren and lifeless. Standing right in the center, the distortions grew thick enough that it was near impossible to see past into the outside world.

"Are these dangerous?" Serah wondered.

"Doesn't seem like it," Sai said.

"Weird…" Maqui was muttering. "How did these plants grow so fast? I don't get it. Must be pockets of unstable time or something."

"More meteorite phenomena?" Noel said.

"You got that right. Look at this stuff!" They could see the meteorite clearly from their position. Gadot was guarding over the entrance to the crater it had made, still steaming from the impact. "Ever since that rock came down, we've been seein' all kinds of aberrations."

"Do you have any idea what's happening?" Serah asked.

He sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Not the slightest clue. Some spots seem to have sped forward centuries. But other parts haven't changed at all…"

"So these areas are from different timelines," Noel surmised. "Realities blending together. Like two ages overlapping. That about right?"

"Right! It's exactly like that!"

Serah smiled. "Well Maqui, if you don't understand this stuff, then nobody else will."

Maqui rubbed his head bashfully. "You're just tryin' to make me feel better!"

"Must be tough being the resident genius," Noel sighed.

"Hm…" Serah's eyes wandered to her floating companion. "Is the moogle from another dimension, do you think?"

"Hmmm." Maqui took a step closer to Mog. The moogle stared back as though attempting to study Maqui in return. "Well, I'd have to dismantle it to know for sure…"

"Kupokupo?!" Mog dashed behind Sai, peeking out his large head from over his shoulder.

"I think he understood you," Noel grumbled. "In any case, we can't go breaking Serah's good luck charm."

Mog nodded enthusiastically. "Kupo!"

"I'm starting to wonder where Noel came from," Serah admitted.

"His clothes are pretty funky," Maqui said, "but he seems normal enough to me."

"I stepped right out of Serah's dreams, and rode in to the rescue on the back of a meteorite."

"I wonder," Sai said, moving the subject along, "did that meteorite come from another world?"

"Like…another dimension, or another time?" Maqui asked.

"It fell here from Valhalla," Noel said confidently. "Let's keep moving. If we learn more about the rock, then we'll know more."

"Are these creatures from another world as well?" Serah interjected.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out!" Maqui exclaimed.

"I think it's safe to say they're from another world," Noel said. "I mean, you haven't seen anything like them around, right?"

"Certainly not! They're pretty resilient. We need to know more about them if we're gonna keep the town safe."

"Maybe we can get some sort of expert to come in and take a look at this stuff," Serah suggested."

"It's possible," Maqui admitted. "I hear they've founded a new organization of scientist-types up on Cocoon."

"You mean the Academy?" Sai recalled. "I heard Hope saying he was going to apply for an internship and eventually get a job there. If Hope's on the job, I've no doubt they'll make great advancements in technology."

"There we go," Noel said. "Let's call those guys in. And tell them to bring an armed escort…"

"Rei should be around here somewhere," he sighed. "Let's see if she has any answers."

They made their way down to the final stretch where the main meteor had landed. Rei was waiting for them, kneeling with another unfamiliar person in her arms.

"Rei!" Serah called. She led the trio over to her.

Upon closer inspection, the boy she was holding had an odd pattern on his skin, sort of like…electronic threads. They thickened around his eyes, which were closed, and almost seemed to be coming from his eyes.

"Noel, this is Rei. She and her husband Sai are…well Rei is a born fal'Cie, and Sai got transformed into one."

"Fal'Cie?" Noel's eyes scanned Sai first, then Rei. "I…wasn't aware you would be so…human."

Rei tilted her head with a smile. "Yes, well, me and my kind are a unique race of fal'Cie. We were born capable of understanding emotions and feeling them ourselves. We mimic what you humans would call a soul. There are other fal'Cie, ones who are capable of looking human, but certainly not acting like it. I assume you know fal'Cie only to be enormous beings of immense power?"

He nodded. "They were described in the stories…they could run the entire world with their power, but they weren't always predictable. They caused the fall of Cocoon."

"One fal'Cie did, yes. The rest were built simply to sustain it. The fal'Cie of Lindzei and Pulse were born for…" She shook her head. "That's a story for another day."

She rose to her feet, hauling the boy in her arms with her. Rei rarely struggled to lift anything. The only exception was Shu, who, like her, had a true form that was far greater than the tiny mortal form they condensed into.

"That boy…is he a fal'Cie?" Sai guessed.

He looked young, barely older than twenty, but looks could always be deceiving. He was breathing, but it was very faint. It was more like air was simply flowing in and out of his nose without his chest heaving alongside it.

Sai had never met any other fal'Cie beyond Rei and Shu in the past couple years, so he still didn't know how he was supposed to be able to sense them, but he could just feel something…different about this person. It was odd, like he was drawing Sai's attention without even meaning to. Like Sai had to remember to tell him something, so he had this bookmark in his mind.

She nodded. "It would seem so."

"Another human one like you?" Serah asked in awe.

"I don't know that." She frowned. "But…he seems lost. He makes the third person we've found tonight. I cannot bring him to the village. When he wakes up, he may be destructive. Even if it is simply caution, waking up in an unfamiliar place and being unaware of who is hostile and who is not, I cannot risk bringing him to the village to blow something up before we manage to placate him. If we manage to…"

"You think he's like you," Sai realized, "just like when you first woke up in the Vestige on Cocoon?"

She nodded solemnly. "I'm going to take him somewhere safe where I can wake him up and explain everything. Sai, I leave you in charge."

He nodded. "I'll look after everyone."

Her face relaxed into the gentle smile that Sai always managed to bring out from her. "I know you will."

Rei bent her knees and then pushed off the ground to fly off with the new fal'Cie.

"I never thought I'd meet a fal'Cie like…that." Noel watched Rei fly off in wonder. He looked like he had many questions to ask her.

"Noel?" Sai snapped his fingers. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…I just thought she looked familiar."

"I wonder if she existed in your…era," Serah suggested. "She is immortal and all that. Well, she did die that one time, but she came back."

"She can die?"

"Everything can die, silly," Sai said. "Some of us are just stubborn."

Just as they were about to leave towards the crater, the sky flashed.

"What the —?"

The bright glowing crystal pillar holding an entire world in the sky flashed like a lightbulb dying. It was consumed by a distortion, the beautiful blue glow flashing for a moment and the enormous structure vanishing in an instant.

"Cocoon is gone!" Noel exclaimed.

"The meteorite," Serah said. "Maybe it's doing this. We should hurry —"

They were pushed back by a portal bursting to life in front of them. The monster from before that was half-formed through a portal now reached out, its portal blocking their path forward.

"What is that thing?!" Noel shouted.

"It's a…I think it's a Gogmagog," Sai muttered.

"What's that?"

"Some sort of monster trapped between timelines or something. It's said to be eternally searching for its other half in the Voids Beyond Time."

"Yeah? Well it's certainly not gonna find anything here!" He drew his blades.

Serah held her hands up and Mog transformed for her in one swift motion. She was already a pro.

Sai reached one hand towards his forearm, clenching his fist around his wrist and actually pulling out a whip made of water. It solidified into a leather weapon that he snapped before pulling it into a coil in a single motion.

They began battering the Gogmagog with attacks. It roaring in protest, raising its clawed hand. Noel jumped up to attack with his blade in close range while Serah's bow and her magic kept her a distance away. Sai flicked his whip and was able to attack from a mid-range between the two of them.

The Gogmagog was luckily too slow to hit Noel normally so long as Noel was careful to avoid being in a position where the monster's arm could get a good hit. It continued to roar, raising its hand but not making any motion to strike with any precision. Almost as though it were only charging —

"Sentinel up! You both know how, right?"

"I-I think so —" Serah stuttered.

"You got it!" Noel called.

Noel and Sai both moved to block Serah as she shifted to assist them. The Gogmagog raised its large hand, this time charged with an enormous gathering of energy. When it unleashed its Swipe, the entire battlefield was struck with a big hit.

"You know how to stagger, right?" Sai asked.

"Use spells to overwhelm the enemy's defenses and break past their guard," Noel said.

"Right. Serah, you and I work on spells. Noel, we'll need you to keep it stable with some physical hits."

"You got it!" "On it!"

Working as a team, the trio was able to push the Gogmagog's stagger while defending against its Swipes. It didn't seem to have any other moves beyond that, trapped within its portal only half formed.

"Must be weak," Sai guessed.

"Better news for us then," Serah said.

She threw a final Fire spell and the Gogmagog flashed as its defenses were compromised. Noel took the opening and began striking with all he had. Sai summoned a second water whip from his other hand and Serah switched to Commando to get more damage out of her Ruin spells. Enduring another one of its Swipes, they were able to quickly dispatch the Gogmagog. Its portal collapsed in on itself, taking the roaring Gogmagog with it, as if it were raging at being pulled back into the Void from whence it came.

In its place, where the black hole had sucked away the creature, a small crystal hovered in the air, surrounded by a weak bubble of magic that kept it suspended within. As it fell, Sai retracted his water whips (which turned to their liquid state and were sucked back into his skin) and held his hands out to catch it.

"What's that?" Serah asked. She released Mog and stepped closer to investigate.

The crystal was black, a large central column with a few smaller crystals festering outwards like a star near the center. "A fragment of time," Sai said. "Memories, solidified into shards, each containing valuable pieces of knowledge or a slice of history. Byproducts of all this time manipulation, I'd wager. It's like all those distortions that were showing us images of different times. These are just…fragments of memories from those times."

"What's this one a memory of?"

"It looks like…it's explaining the Gogmagog. 'A giant of the Void Beyond. Banished from this world for violating the laws of time, forever wandering the Void in search of escape. Many enchantments were needed to contain its immense power. The charms and magic seals that cover the beast are mute testament to the courage of those who banished it.'"

"I can hardly imagine how you use magic to capture and imprison something like that within time itself."

"Yet you don't seem too surprised," Noel pointed out.

Serah chuckled breathlessly. She shrugged. "I suppose there's so much going on tonight that I've run out of shock for now."

"Speaking of which," Sai huffed. He slipped the fragment into an Inventory spell that could carry as much as he needed and turned his attention towards the sky. "Look at the distortions. They're practically blanketing this place."

Patches of a different area were practically covering all of the sky. Images of a ruined world, with no more life, no more people. It was all just silence.

"Is it because of the meteorite?" Serah wondered.

"Let's go find out," Noel urged.

They had to carefully form a path down the crater to the still steaming meteorite. Gadot was standing at the edge of the meteor, muttering, "What do I tell everyone?"

"We're gonna go investigate," Sai announced.

"Are you sure bringing Serah's a good idea?"

"I wanna know what that thing is too," she insisted. "I'll be fine. I'll retreat if there's anything dangerous."

"I'll keep her safe," Sai promised. "We can't just hide from it forever. With everything that's happening, we might as well take a look to see if we can stop all this chaos. If distortions like this keep happening, we'll hardly be able to live here anymore. That meteorite's the cause. There must be a way to turn it off somehow."

"Besides, I'm sure I can handle myself, Gadot," Serah chuckled.

He sighed. "You got a point. Serah's tough, like her sister. You take care. I'm gonna go round up the others. We'll try and figure out what to tell the townsfolk. If you guys figure anything out, tell us."

"Of course."

Noel was already climbing down into the crater. "We made it," he sighed in awe.

"Wait up!" Serah called.

They made their way down, Sai carving a bit of a makeshift path to make it easier to descend into the crater. As they got closer, the distortions around them got stronger. Soon, they weren't even able to see the real sky. It was all a dome of darkness and a future of death.

Serah couldn't tear her eyes away. It was the same thing she'd seen in her dreams. If they even were dreams. Whatever it had been, she had seen that place before, right when the meteor crash-landed beside New Bodhum. "What is that place? Noel, do you know?"

He sighed. "Yeah."

Sai couldn't see the distortions (blind), but he could feel them. It was slightly disorienting, seeing two different times at once. But he could hear the silence. The terrible silence. It was empty. It was lifeless.

"Wait. What happened to Cocoon?" Serah exclaimed. "It's not there."

"Well… you're looking at a different time. That's the world I come from. "In my world, Cocoon doesn't exist. When I was born, the sky was already empty."

So it wasn't just a dream — or a nightmare. It was real. Even if that wasn't her world today, Serah had seen what her village would become one day. Soon? A long time from now? Did it matter? It didn't matter how far away that future was, it was awful to think that it could exist at all.

"Tell me, how many years has it been? Since Ragnarok appeared and Cocoon fell?"

"Well, it's 3 AF. So that was three years ago."

Noel solemnly turned his gaze to the sky, his eyes sorrowful but familiar with the sight. "For me, all that happened 700 years in the past. I was born and raised in another time. 700 years in the future."

700 years? 700? Even if Serah was willing to believe Noel was from a different time period, she hadn't expected him to be from centuries in the future! Such a distant world, a world where Cocoon no longer hung in the sky, where it no longer sat in its cradle of crystal…

"Yes. I knew it. I knew you weren't from this world."

Noel slowly moved towards the meteorite. He gently placed his hand against the glowing rocks that towered upwards, like a flame had been turned to crystal. "I'm the last of humanity… "

"Hey!" The boys of NORA were approaching, Gadot leading the charge.

Noel turned away from them quickly. "Serah. I can take you there. We can find Lightning together. I know she wants to see you —!"

Gadot interrupted, snatching Noel by the collar of his shirt. "You're full of it!"

"Yeah, that's impossible!" Maqui shouted, though he seemed more confused than anything else.

"Lightning's gone, man," Yuj said.

Serah approached, taking Gadot's arm. Serah always had a way of placating them. "Gadot," she said lightly.

He relaxed at her urging, releasing Noel, but backing away with an angry grunt.

"He's just worried," Sai insisted. "There's a lot happening, and a lot we need to process. But keeping Serah safe is his priority."

"I wanna hear it from him," Serah pressed. "Noel, do you know where my sister is?"

He sighed. He turned to the meteorite with a hardened gaze. "If I can get this thing free, I might be able to prove it."

"I can help with that," a voice called.

They all turned to see a figure in black approaching. No longer wearing armor, Charon had changed back into his normal clothes — military-style pants with plenty of pockets, a T-shirt, a trenchcoat with the sleeves only going down to his elbows, and heavy combat boots. All of it black as the man's soul. His Wakizashi hung from one hip, silver and glinting in the darkness of the night, and his beautiful Zanmato blade in its sheath shimmering with his red, purple, and blue hues with its golden trim and accents.

He didn't look a day older than when he'd left.

"But… aren't you dead?" Maqui asked. He looked on the verge of screaming 'Ghost!' and fleeing.

"Gee, I hadn't noticed," he sighed. "Look, I know this is a lot to take in, but there's a lot going on, so you'd best at least keep your eyes and ears open to try and understand enough to get by."

He walked past them to the meteorite. Pressing his hand against the rock, he closed his eyes. A symbol appeared on his forehead and the rock began to glow brighter. It rumbled to life with energy that began shaking the earth around them. Noel and Sai were the only ones who watched calmly.

"What's happening?" Serah exclaimed.

The stone turned to pure light, sending a breeze across the area as it dissolved completely. In the meteorite's place, an intricate structure now remained, the tear-drop-shaped, winding metal paths cupping and surrounding an orb in the center. Rings spun around the orb of energy, which was leaking weak traces of the timeline's energy before the rings containing it locked it down again.

"Whoa, far out!" Maqui exclaimed. He no doubt wanted to figure out how the extravagant mechanism that worked.

"You see?" Noel said happily. "It's a Time Gate."

"Whaddya mean, 'Time Gate'?" Gadot repeated. It was nothing like any gate he'd ever seen before.

"It's like a portal. Lightning is in a place called Valhalla. She's waiting on the other side."

I couldn't turn my eyes away. I knew the answer lay beyond that gate. The answer to my doubts and dreams.

On the broad plain beneath Cocoon, my sister once celebrated my marriage to Snow. I remember her smile like it was yesterday. But sometime, when I wasn't looking, she disappeared. She was gone as if she'd never been there in the first place.

Lightning, are you out there? Did I dream that day on Pulse, or did it really happen? Noel says he can find you. But is he telling the truth?

Noel's world was a terrible place where Cocoon did not exist. He had traveled back in time to change that bleak future. Or so he told us.

"Listen, when different eras overlap, all kinds of crazy stuff happens. Objects from different times get mixed up. If you want to open a gate and travel through time, you have to find one of those objects. They're called artefacts."

"Artefacts?" Serah repeated. She sat along with the other members of NORA and Sai, listening to Noel explain as best he could. Charon was sitting on the roof outside. He didn't want to be in there, he said. Not yet. Not until Rei got back, at least. He had gone to find her.

"The keys to the future," Noel went on. "They're anachronisms, relics of a different world. Basically, things that don't belong in your time. If we can find one, we might be able to use it to open the gate. Then we could cross time and travel to Lightning's world."

All at once, NORA descended.

"You expect us to believe that?" Lebreau said.

Gadot was instantly there to start yelling in Noel's face. Yuj quickly hurried forward and pulled him back before he started a fist-fight.

Sai was trying to get between them to make them hear Noel out. Serah just sat with her moogle in her lap, quiet.

Could Noel be telling the truth? Beyond that gate, in a place called Valhalla…is Lightning alive and waiting for me? Can I dare to hope again, after all this time?

Oh how I want to believe.

I want my sister back.

So many of the lines in this last cutscene are awkward. Like Serah's had plenty of dialogue where Noel is explaining he's from a different time, and yet she treats it like it's a big surprise when he reveals he's from 700 years in the future where Cocoon doesn't exist. Like, yeah, I got that from him saying he'd never seen Cocoon before and how he said he was FROM A DIFFERENT ERA IN THE FIRST DANG MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTION SERAH ASKS HIM. Like, some of it can be played off, "It's a legend, yeah, it was a historic event" or "You've never seen Cocoon from Gran Pulse before", and it's just odd that he's a hunter, but it's not like being a hunter is some foreign thing, hunters exist. Things clash — he's a hunter born on Gran Pulse? Okay, that explains his whole nomadic living, how he hunts to survive and eat, etc. But how could he have not seen Cocoon from Gran Pulse before? But wait, he was born on Gran Pulse, but no one's been born on Gran Pulse except, like, Fang and Vanille. Who were born on Gran Pulse hundreds of years ago. ?

Though the whole thing is supposed to be framed as leading up to Noel's big reveal, it really feels like too much of this intro was made knowing that Noel was from the future and they forgot to make it a mystery but like only half the dev team was in on it, so half the guys tried to make it obvious as if it had already been stated, and the other half kept making it as though it were a big reveal.

Then there's the meteorite scene where Gadot and Co. rush onto the scene just suddenly yelling at Noel. Like, they were chums up until that point. Noel was a stranger, sure, but they trusted him enough to know Serah was safe traveling up a dangerous mountain path during a meteorite distortion phenomena thing with him. He'd helped Lebreau out, meaning the boys already heard how he was a nice enough person, and the only thing that changed was…Noel whispered "I'm the last of humanity"? Then Noel starts bursting out about how he can take Serah to Lightning, but Gadot is already there to pick a fight — even though Noel hadn't suggested he take Serah to find Lightning before that very moment. He'd suggested that he met Lightning, but none of the NORA members except passed-out Lebreau were there to hear that.

Localization is a bitch, as anyone in localization and anyone who makes/plays localized games can tell you, but I worry that even in Japanese a lot of the pacing of this game was off.

Anyway, just remember that I love the potential for this game (more than I love 15 because even all my love and overthinking can't save that game, I'm sorry) as I criticize things that I don't like while using it to make a story that I love in return.

Personally, I only ever trust the criticism of someone who has thoroughly gone through a game. So much criticism of this entire trilogy comes from those who, if they just paid a little more attention, could answer some of the questions and inconsistencies they had if they just focused a little more. I'm not asking you to read every single datalog entry, I'm just asking you to not be stupid. Would you rather have the plot literally spell out for you everything that's happening? Because based on the criticisms of the original 13 game, that's apparently not enough for some idiots out there who point out inconsistencies that were literally just answered but guess you didn't care enough to pay attention.

Rant over

Until next time!