I am so very profoundly sorry for the extensively long wait. Yes, yes, I know...pelt me with rocks, because I said this would be updated by Thanksgiving. *Cringes and waits for the punishment* Gah...I don't blame any of you for being angry with me. Still, I hope this chapter somewhat makes up for it. Please forgive my hiatus. I have no excuse, but for those of you wanting the reason, it was college-related.

At least, though, I do return from the dead to bear excellent tidings. One: I've updated this story! Two: MY HOPE WAS NOT A LOST CAUSE. THERE WILL BE A FINAL FANTASY XIII-3! I was jumping for joy when I saw the article...erm...several months ago. *Looks down awkwardly*

Personally, though, my joy diminished when I read the rest of the article. The premise of the game is personally not very appealing, since it seems to be a short game with a lack of FFXIII and FFXII-2 characters and imitating a classic: Majora's Mask…not to mention Square Enix seemed a bit bipolar in making decisions on continuing a game until this announcement. But I shall say no more. If you want to take a look at the new game coming out in 2014 (supposably), look up Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

Anyways, thank you to my reviewers. I must mention again that I'm very, very, very penitent. It was wrong of me to make you wait this long. :( But now, I present Chapter Six!

Note: With obligatory repetition, this game belongs to Square Enix and I am only expanding on this plot as I please.

Chapter Six: The Borderlands

Existing in this place now are uncleanable lies.

I wonder when it has begun.

How far do I have to go to see the light?

- Xepher, Tatsh

"What's happening?"

She left his question to hang in the rippling air about them. Fang was studying it as if it held hidden patterns. He sighed and waited.

Earlier, Fang had warned him that sleep may never come to him. "Sleep was a variable under time, because it's over time we feel the need to rejuvenate our bodies and sleep. Sure, we expended energy earlier, but slumber sometimes doesn't come," she had told him. She had said, however, that if Noel managed to fall into a somnial state, she would stand watch.

He had lain wide awake until he presently witnessed the air wavering around them like ripples in the water.

Fang observed the air for a moment longer before replying, "Looks like a distortion's forming."

Noel whipped his head to look at her with some surprise. "Well yeah, I figured that. I just thought you said higher layers meant less chaotic effects," he said.

She performed a simple shrug of her shoulders. "I said less. Not completely," she said with some indifference.

"What were you waiting for?"

"I was analyzing it to get a sense of where it might lead." Fang smiled grimly and added, "Doesn't seem like anywhere good."

"You can still tell where it leads without Bahamut?" asked Noel.

"Bahamut can do his job guiding me to other layers just as easy inside of me," she told him, casting a quick glance at the air, which seemed to be gaining more ripples. "We can't stay here."

"What do we do, then?" he asked.

"Well, that's obvious enough. We find another layer."

He puffed away at a stray strand of hair from his face, hands on his hips as he looked at her. "So you'll summon Bahamut?"

Fang shook her head. "Nah…we'll walk. Bahamut may need to conserve his energy. We might need him later."

Noel caught her drift and nodded solemnly. "So where are we headed?"

"I think this distortion shows us we had enough of a breather. Time we go back to pandemonium. You really that determined to find that girl?" asked Fang suddenly, cocking her head as she appraised him warily.

He nodded. She grunted. "You just might be the death of both of us, kid. But we go into a lower layer, then. They're the ones closer to the Unseen World, the place of the dead and unknown. And where things that ought to stay there are. She'd be there. Past Valhalla, where no one living's been." Fang indicated to the warping air. "This here's a lower layer…but not the best place for a first trip to the Unseen World. We'll find another one."

They hastily grabbed their things and packed them into their bags. As the two left the area, they walked briskly on the grass bejeweled with dewdrops, dewdrops that shivered in response to the distorting air.

The presence of the dew somewhat perplexed him. Wasn't that a sign of morning? Maybe it was supposed to be morning in this layer? His brow creased. Fang was right. He really was a babe when it came to this world. Noel had only her to guide him through it.

It was just like the dying land he had been born into. He would just have to adapt to it.

They kept their quick pace until the ripples of air began diminishing. When the wavering air about them ceased, the silence between them did as well. Noel said to Fang, "That layer back there looked like the time I was born into."

"That'd be because what's left of time is all muddled up." Fang, who was leading, gave him a sidelong glance. "I figured that part out because I entered a layer where Oerba wasn't a place run by Cie'ths." She paused for a moment before continuing, "I was almost tempted to stay there, too…my people were there, and they recognized me—begged me to stay with them and not leave them again."

"Was it the past, or just some mind trick played on you by the chaos?" Noel asked her critically.

"Dunno. Bahamut took me somewhere else, probably because he figured I shouldn't stay there. Past, present, future… reality…everything's losing definition." She looked at him seriously then. "Time, too. It's another reason why we gotta be careful."

Noel understood her meaning. "All our progress could just suddenly be erased…like it never happened."

"Exactly. One moment we're walking, the next we could be back in the battle fray where we officially met each other. Or you—even me—could just suddenly disappear—gone from existence or just sent to another layer. It could happen. In higher layers like this, it's highly unlikely."

"But we're entering a lower layer," he analyzed.

Fang nodded, her arms crossed. "That's why I'm telling you this now. Either one of us could up and disappear at any moment."

"What if one of us—" He tried rephrasing his question. "What about death? If time's losing definition, shouldn't death, too?"

"Good question, Noel…I'm just not sure how to answer it. I don't know what happens if we do happen to 'die' here. And I plan on never finding out."

Noel flashed her a small grin. "Well, that's a good answer," he responded.

Fang suddenly halted then. He looked back at her curiously, cocking his head to the side. "What's up?"

Those green eyes did not appear to register him for a moment. Fang furrowed her brow at him, no sign of recognition in her visage, and worry began to build up inside him.

"Fang?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She shook her head abruptly then, shaking off his arm. "Nah…what? I just remembered something about going into lower layers is all. Remember when I told you about the Unseen World bringing other things with it?"

He was thinking that hadn't been the reason for her puzzling behavior, but he let it go and answered, "Yeah."

"Some of those things…they'd be a much greater reason why we have to be careful."

"Where have you taken us?" Lightning asked him.

"An area in the Unseen World. This is where you wanted to go, is it not? You vehemently declared your intentions on finding your sister, after all."

She gritted her teeth at his caustic remark. "I know that," she hissed. "I'm asking where we are in the Unseen World." Not one minute, she thought. Not one minute I can't go without regretting I didn't decapitate him.

"Asking that is like asking for our location in the abyssal depths of an ocean."

Lightning held back her own sarcastic reply, knowing it would only accomplish an unneeded and time-expending altercation. She quelled the desire to attack him from behind, and wondered if she was foolish to do so. He would only take her silence for victory.

She seethed at the thought. She was often wondering if she should just abandon this absurd quest she was on, along with her companion. Every second with this man was a dance with the devil.

Not far from the truth.

A dusky landscape expanded endlessly in all directions. They walked upon what Lightning took for black sand by the way it shifted under their feet. Jagged shapes would sometimes take form in the distance, but when the two of them came within good proximity, they turned out to be misshapen stone pillars. Still, she keenly surveyed the area in the case one of the shapes would begin to move.

After all, they were entering the realm of the dead.

Caius briefly glanced back to assess her. "We are in the borderlands. You need not be concerned."

She glowered at the nape of his neck. "I was never worried. But thank you for your concern." She huffed, eyeing the gloomy environment for a long moment before reluctantly mumbling, "What are borderlands, anyway?"

She knew she didn't imagine hearing a hmph ahead of her. "The areas where both the realm of the dead and living clash," Caius answered her.

He had told her—if in a vague fashion—the present state of life as they had been traveling through the rift between worlds. Caius had described how many places in life were afflicted with chaos, some of them crawling with otherworldly creatures or numerous with distortions leading to the Unseen World.

Still, he obviously took pleasure in keeping her in the dark when she asked questions by cleverly evading the answers. It often provoked her, which she was resolved to conceal from him to avoid his further amusement. This was one of the seldom times he gave her a direct response.

Lightning had to continually remind herself that—regardless of the amount of disdain she bore towards him—she needed his help. This man alone could guide her through these low layers. She just hated admitting that fact.

"You're walking rather slowly," Caius commented in that irritating voice. "It makes one think you are not entirely desperate to save your dear sister, after all."

Lightning gritted her teeth. "That does it, Caius," she said, and stormed past him without another word.

She heard him chuckling behind her. "Well, it appears you can walk faster. But I am curious. Where do you think you are going?"

"Moving ahead so I don't have to look at you."

"I believe even you would see that as somewhat childish, Lightning." She could hear the smirk in his voice.

Lightning did not give him the pleasure of a response. Rather, she was considering the extent to which she really needed his aid. He had already brought her to the Unseen World. She could protect herself, could eventually learn to navigate through its mysterious layers to find Serah. Then she simply needed to seek out distortions to get to a higher layer. It wouldn't be impossible. Just exponentially more difficult.

Minutes had passed and she no longer heard Caius's footsteps behind her. Lightning did not give in to the temptation to turn her head in the case he was still there. She didn't know how much distance she had put between Caius and herself, but she frankly could care less. If he decided to leave her here, then at least she would be rid of him.

A noise suddenly broke the silence and her train of thought. It was the sound of a someone weeping. She tensed, both on guard and concerned. It could be a person trapped in this lower layer. Or it could be a creature trying to lure her in.

Concern overrode caution as she walked towards the source of the crying. She nonetheless crept her fingers toward her hip where her sword-gun was strapped, her eyes darting about and seeing nothing but the dusky light and the pillars of stone. Should she risk calling out to the weeper? How much attention would she be bringing onto herself from things in this place that would wish her harm?

"Mama…where are you, Mama?" a child's voice cried out.

Her heart dropped. The likelihood was that this child was harmless. Still…

"Where are you?" Lightning called out carefully.

She heard a shuddering gasp somewhere in the dimness. "Mama? Mama, I'm here! Please! It's so dark here…and I'm scared…"

"I'm coming," she said, following the sound of the child's voice. He was close.

The terrain underwent a change during her search. The black sand underneath her feet began hardening into gravel, sharp rocks jutting out from the ground. She took care to not fall and would walk around or step over them.

She found the child, a little boy, huddled behind a stone pillar. She had first mistaken him for part of the pillar until she caught a glint in the darkness. What she had seen was the flash of the ruby amulet hanging around the boy's neck. He had not seen her, his head lowered as he hugged his knees and shook uncontrollably.

He looked up quickly when he heard her approach. Alarm initially crossed his tearstained face, but it faded somewhat when he saw her more closely.

Lightning knelt before him, slowly and carefully as to not frighten him. Still, he warily watched her every movement. She softly said to him, "What is your name?"

"J…J…Jack, miss," he whispered with wide eyes. He sniffed and rubbed his nose with the sleeve of his shirt.

"You don't need to be afraid, Jack. I'll get you of here."

He furrowed his brow in curiosity. "How?" he asked with a clear note of doubt.

Good question, she thought wryly. But she instead gave him a reassuring smile and said, "Don't worry about it. I can protect you."

The boy stared at her for several seconds, his eyes uncertain. Then slowly, his trembling lips lifted into a smile. He shakily got onto his feet and flung himself at her. Somewhat taken off guard, she hesitantly held him in his arms as he sobbed.

"Thank you, miss…" he whispered in her ear, his grip tightening. His sobs sounded odd to her ears. It sounded more like…

"…But can you protect yourself?" he asked in a hiss.

Ah. That's what it sounded like. Laughter.

Again, I am so very sorry for the very, very long wait. I will update when I can. I make no promises to update soon, but I will make the honest attempt to do so.