Chapter 19: In Between Time

Day 3, 06:00

Once again came the sensation of being ripped out of the world and thrown about through time and space. But with it came another darkly familiar experience. The ark was once more shrouded in darkness, and Lumina sat atop the same crystal throne Lightning had once inhabited.

"So!" She said with a grin. "Making a triumphant return."

Lightning scoffed. "You again."

"Light can you hear me?" Came Hope's voice. "I'm getting interference."

With a wave of Lumina's hand, the voice in Lightning's ear vanished. "Buzz off, Hope. He does like to talk, that one." She then folded her arms and looked at Lightning. "But jeepers, that was some showdown. Didn't go like I thought."

"How so?" Lightning asked.

Lumina raised her hand to the sky and put on an infuriatingly singsong voice. "Okay, pop quiz! You get a special treat if you can tell me who showed Noel the Oracle Drive recording."

Lightning put her hand on her hip. "... I'm guessing, you?"

Lumina smirked and continued, punching her fist into her palm. "Boy, I really underestimated the Shadow Hunter. I never expected he'd sabotage the prophecy himself."

Lightning was not amused. "After you went to all that trouble to set it up. My heart bleeds for you."

"Hey don't get me wrong," Lumina said in defensive tone. "I didn't want it to go down any more than you. I'm happy it didn't."

Lumina rested her head in her hand and leaned in towards Lightning. Her mood seemed to have on the drop of a hat shifted from mocking to obsequious.

"The world in that prophery wasn't real," Lumina explained. "It was just a pretty fake. Like this god of yours, Bhunivelze. You know he's not omniscient. There are some things even he can't see."

"Things he can't see," Lightning replied. "Things like this?"

Lumina smiled again, her former tone having returned. "You're sharp as a knife, aren't you? When did you get to know so much about things?" She stroked her chin. "Still... I wonder if God knows his servant has her own agenda."

Lightning leaned in. "You don't know what you're talking about," she spat.

Lumina giggled in malice glee and then disappeared in a bright white fog which enveloped them both. When Lightning came to, she was once more in the Ark, alongside Hope.

"Back again," Hope noted. "Been having more trouble?"

"No more than usual," Lightning nodded. "Noel is saved, and with him the hope of many in Luxerion."

Hope nodded. "Once upon a time, Noel was one of the leaders. He helped us in the struggle against the Chaos. When the Order took the reins of power, he went underground, but he didn't disappear. He worked from the shadows to help keep the peace."

Lightning took the opportunity to express a doubt that had been nagging at her ever since she first saw the Oracle Drive. "If the prophecy in the Oracle Drive is true, then maybe I should have died. That would be the best, if it brings out the best possible future for everyone."

Hope shook his head. "I'm not so sure about that. The moment you die, you'll have failed in your mission as savior. And that in turn means you could not have saved Noel's soul. What would happen to him then?"

"You're saying those images in the Oracle Drive weren't real. Those scenes where everyone looks so happy and safe..." Lightning recalled the words that Lumina had spoken to her. "They were no more than just a 'pretty fake'."

"They were just pictures," Hope elaborated. "There's no way to see into the hearts of the people you saw in them."

Lightning understood what Hope was getting at. There was a time not too long ago when everything had seemed perfect. Where her sister Serah had stood alongside Noel under the new sky of the world. A falling Cocoon and a rising Ark. The harbinger of chaos, Caius, defeated at their hands. Had Lightning foreseen that image she would have thought it to be a happy ending.

But it was not. Caius's death meant the freeing of Chaos, the death of the goddess Etro and, most importantly to Lightning, the death of Serah. Prophecies were not to be trusted. They were just visions of one potential future, and even those are never fully complete.

"So, what now?" Lightning asked.

"It would seem the Saint of the Order has taken notice of your deeds within Luxerion. She wants to meet with you. For tomorrow I would return to Luxerion. Tie up any loose ends you might have and be sure to meet with the Saint."

"Very well," Lightning nodded. "And then?"

Hope rubbed his chin, looked to the monitor and then back to Lightning. "And then, it may be time for you to return to Yusnaan."