Chapter 9: The Thing She's Lost

Darkness surrounded Lightning and after a few moments she was back where she'd begun, drifting through time and space towards the city of Luxerion, and the beginning of her second day.

"Finally!" Hope exclaimed. "I've got a connection again. Light, what just happened?"

If Lightning could properly move during the travel through space-time she would be shaking her head. She didn't really know. How was she able to teleport into her own mind? How was she having a conversation with that girl? Well, she may as well start there.

"I was talking to Lumina," Lightning answered.

"Lumina? That girl? What did she want? And where is she now?"

Without interruptions indeed, Lightning thought. "You didn't hear any of that?"

"No, my sensors didn't pick up a thing. Are you sure she was there? Maybe it was just a dream."

"A dream?" Lightning asked. "Maybe that's what it was."

No it wasn't, Lightning protested internally. But she didn't exactly have a better explanation for what had just happened to her. Lightning landed on the north station platform in Luxerion. Speculation about what had just happened would have to wait until later. She was on the clock again.

"Er, right," Hope replied. "Teleport complete."

Day 2, 06:00

The sun was burning brightly overhead as Lightning stepped out onto the Plaza square. She hadn't been able to notice during the hectic night she'd had previously, but the plaza was actually quite beautiful in the sunlight. A small little collection of shops to greet the visitors to the town, and for the residents to waste their infinite time.

A small chain fence separated the edge of the plaza from the river, and looming off in the distance, now covered in golden daylight, was the enormous clock tower and the distant cathedral.

"Let's review," Hope began. "In order to infiltrate the Children of Etro's ranks we need to figure out their code. The four numbers."

"Right... and if we don't figure it out by tonight, another girl will be sacrificed," Lightning replied. "I don't want that on my conscience."

And besides, Lightning thought pragmatic and yet callous. That would mean one less soul that I can save.

"You need to hurry," Hope added. "Stay alert for the Shadow Hunter."

As Lightning turned to head towards the south side of town, she saw a young girl crying beside the raised platform where Lightning and the Inquisitor had hid the other night.

"I can't believe it... I just dropped it! Now... now I'll never, ever see it again..." She sobbed.

Lightning found this behavior slightly unusual. There was no more aging, but people still matured with experience. This little girl was in fact a 500 year old woman in a little girls body. What could prompt a reaction like this?

"Did you lose something?" Lightning asked. "What was it?"

"I lost my Carbuncle doll... It was the prettiest green color. It was an antique!" She sobbed. "It was my favorite doll in the entire world...

The world is about to end and you are crying about a lost doll? Lightning thought.

"Chin up, it has to be somewhere. If you search hard enough, you'll be able to find it," Lightning said.

And that was about all the time she had to spend on this particular problem. She was about to leave, when the girl chimed in.

"I know where it is. The Chaos took it away from me," she said quietly, calming down. "Anything the Chaos touches just disappears, and you never see it again."

Lightning sighed, and hoped that perhaps by helping this girl she would at least stumble upon the code somehow. She turned back and knelt down.

"Just because you can't see something, it doesn't mean it's gone. In fact, there might be a way to get it back," Lightning realized she was talking as though she were talking to a child. The girl didn't seem to pay it any mind though.

"Really?" The girl asked, rubbing her chin. Finally- pondering – a first sign of adulthood. "I don't believe you." And doubt- there was a second.

"All right. Then I'll find it for you and prove it." Lightning said. She began to look around the stalls in the Plaza.

"Uh, Light. What are you doing?" Hope asked.

"Looking for a doll," Lightning replied as she knelt down to look under some scaffolding.

"Uh... huh," Hope didn't need to voice what Lightning knew he was thinking.

"Look, I'm not exactly sure why I'm doing it either, okay," Lightning replied.

An hour passed in searching. Lightning was able to look on the bright side as she did this by realizing that being around the Plaza was excellent for gossip. Several people began whispering about the Children of Etro and the Forsaken Graveyard. Mostly stuff she already knew. But one man had something very interesting to say.

"Did you hear? Strange glowing numbers have appeared on the wall next to the phone booth in the South Station. Or so they say."

Strange glowing numbers. "Hope did you catch that?" Lightning asked.

"I got it Light. Maybe once you're done your search you should head for South Station. I'd be willing to bet those numbers are the code that the Children of Etro use," Hope explained.

She crossed through a small gate into the Old Town where more of the shops were set up. She saw a large stack of boxes as tall as she was, and at the very top was a small green Carbuncle doll.

"Well, there you are," Lightning said aloud, climbing up the boxes and grabbing the doll.

Lightning returned to the young girl and handed her the doll. "Look what I found. Here you go."

As Lightning handed the girl the doll, her eyes lit up with excitement. She took the doll without a word and was looking at it with nothing short of adoration. "My doll! You really found it! Oh, thank you, thank you!"

"Make sure you don't lose it again, okay?" Lightning said.

The girl stroked the head of the Carbuncle and sighed. She bowed her head. "My mom gave this to me. She's gone now. She got swallowed up by the Chaos. It was two hundred years ago... Maybe longer."

Now it made sense. The panic and fear, to say nothing of the tantrum she had thrown earlier. She had just lost maybe the last bit of her mother. It was natural to think that she would react like this. Lightning's mind uncomfortably drifted to how she'd reacted just an hour ago when she saw Serah again, reflected in Lumina. It had been the first time she'd truly felt something in longer than she could even remember. A mixed wave of love, sorrow and panic all at the same time. Would she have called herself a child were she an outside observer?

"If this doll was safe and sound inside the Chaos, that means my mom is okay too, right?" The girl asked hopefully. "It means she's watching over me from far away, right?"

Light rushed into Lightning's heart. Maybe some good had come from it. People pray for the dead; they pray that even though their bodies are gone their souls still exist. They pray they'll see their loved ones again. That little girl prayed that she would be reunited with her mother.

The same way that Lightning prayed that Serah and her will be together again.

Someday.