Chapter 18: Darkness In The City of Light

Day 2, 04:30

For her divinity, Lightning was not easily overpowering Noel, who himself had faced godlike beings before. Their blades danced across the Warrens, in a deft waltz of near misses and singing steel. One particularly brutal strike hit blade against blade with the two atop a nearby roof. Noel pushed hard against Lightning's sword, but her resolve was superior. She pushed him over the edge of the roof, which served as only a minor inconvenience as he flipped in mid-air and landed, albeit roughly, on his feet.

Another pass lead to another crashing of weapons, but this time Noel had the upper hand. A quick spiral came which Lightning only barely dodged as the razor edge of the lance grazed right in front of her eyes. Closer still was that a gash appeared in Lightning's cheek. Noel had no time to celebrate his minor victory as Lightning retaliated with a jab of her own, cutting through his pant legs and leaving a gash in his knee.

Noel rolled back to avoid Lightning's secondary strike and in a bid of desperation threw his lance at her. It missed wildly. Lightning approached with her sword raised before her. A more cowardly individual would have surrendered but Noel merely sprinted around her, rolling once more to dodge her wide swing.

He had his weapon, but Lightning had closed the gap. This time, the blow was far more than a scrape. His lance found her stomach, but her sword hit his shoulder, rendering his blade arm useless. Lightning pulled away from Noel. Her wound was deep, but survivable. She would be treated on-board the Ark. Noel, however, was now at her mercy. Effectively disarmed. One good swing of the sword would end it.

Does he really have to die for his soul to be saved? Lightning wondered as her sword rested in her hand, unwilling to be part of the final blow.

"Your dream is over Noel," she said. "Let it go. The Hunter has failed to kill the savior."

Noel shook his head furiously even as his arm hung limply at an awkward angle, his lance now acting as a crutch.

"Your prophesized future won't come true. It's all over now."

"You think I'll give up that easy, savior?" Noel said amidst gasps. "I'm not done yet. I am going to kill you."

Lightning's callousness served her well. "Sure. Do your worst. Yeul's still waiting for you."

"That's right. I'll do it for Yeul's sake. Even if it means having your blood on my hands." Noel lifted his head. Lightning saw the look of fury on his face, mixed with something she now understood to be self-loathing. "I knew if she was here, she'd try to stop me. She's going to be disappointed as hell in me, at least for awhile. But she'll get over it. And I need this future. It will be done!"

Noel threw his sword this time. Despite his wounded arm it flew straight and true. She deflected it with her sword before bringing it back down to meet Noel's lance. But it was not there. She looked around quickly and saw Noel just above her. He was wide open and clearly prepared to attack. Then came the mental image of her old PSICOM commander drilling into her head: look for an opening and take it! They're not gonna wait for you!

One clean shot to the heart and Noel would be a memory. But in that split second of decision making she saw his hand falter, and saw the sorrow his face. She took a chance.

The lance flew just over her head to the Oracle Drive behind her, slamming into the crystalline machine and impaling it. Noel landed at roughly the same spot he'd been when he jumped and was now without any weapon. Lighting's faith had been rewarded.

"Why didn't you do it?" Lightning asked.

Noel lay on the ground, leaning over resting on his good arm. "Because Yeul... She wouldn't... This isn't what she would want." He stood up slowly after catching his breath and elaborated. "She had the power to see into the future. Every terrible vision she saw, one after another, whittled her life away. She must have known, all along, when she would die. And how she would die. But even so, she never gave up hope."

Noel lifted his head and sighed deeply. The regret of his former life washed over him. That he hadn't been able to protect the one he cared about most.

"She didn't stop trying to make things better, for all of us. She didn't stop smiling. Yet what did I do? I saw one prophecy, and I let it control me. I didn't try to fix anything, just tried to kill you to make it come true!" He clenched his fists in front of his shaking head. "I can't do it. I wouldn't be able to look her in the eye if I did."

Lightning was glad to see that Noel was finally coming to reason, but one thing still confused her. "But... you destroyed the machine."

Noel turned around to face Lightning. His eyes were swollen from held back tears. "Maybe that prophecy was my last chance to see Yeul, but maybe it's better this way. Maybe it's better to never see her again than make more mistakes."

At this the tears flowed and Noel bowed his head silent and defeated as the last whirring from the Oracle Drive ceased and its light faded away.

Then suddenly, it flared back up to life for a moment, the sound of static screeching through the alleyway.

"Did you hear that?" Noel asked, turning his head back to the device.

The Oracle Drive returned to life, shining brighter than ever. Noel rushed over to it, his hand reaching towards the device. "Yeul!"

In the light shone the image of Yeul. Noel's hand held the light of hers. No tangible form was given, but Noel could feel the surge of her existence rush through him in the single moment of their reunion. 500 years now seemed as a day in the wake of her return.

"Noel," said Yeul through the device. "You did the right thing. Your soul will come to me. We'll meet again. Sooner than you think, I promise."

And the moment was over. Yeul disappeared as the Oracle Drive finally shut down for good. A spark of white emerged from Noel, unseen to all except Lightning. Perhaps the hardest soul she had yet to save, but she had finally pulled through. Noel had pulled through.

Noel turned to her. "I'd say sorry, but I did try to kill you. I don't think a simple apology is going to cut it."

But that wasn't quite the truth. Lightning approached Noel. "Even if I pushed you into it? You've had five long centuries to brood on what happened. Then I come along and force you into a corner. Maybe I'm the one who should apologize. But Yeul was right. You belong in the future- and I can take you there. You deserve a new beginning, in a new world."

Noel scoffed despite himself. "A new world. So is your god building us a paradise?"

Lightning shook her head, drawing the lance from the Oracle drive and swinging it about casually in her hand. "Not exactly, it's just an ordinary place, with ordinary people, working hard together to make it as good as it can be." Lightning extended her hand, offering the lance back to Noel.

Noel let out a dry laugh. "Doesn't sound like the Shadow Hunter would be welcome there." He began to walk off, but stopped abruptly and turned back to her. "Hey. But if I'm gonna get a second lease on life, maybe it's time I stopped living in the shadows. Right, Lightning?"

Noel smiled at her and in another strange moment she felt the welling of her former humanity, a strange long forgotten emotion overtook her as she smiled back for just a moment.

Her revelry was interrupted by Hope.

"Uh, Light. How did you know he was going to do that? I was sure he was about to kill you. Did you sense something?"

"I didn't know. I took a gamble on him and hoped he'd come up with the right answer."

She looked back to where Noel had been then once more to the Oracle Drive.

"Lucky for us, he did."