Chapter 4: Lucky Star

With the timeline distorted as it was, the boundary between the Mortal Realm and the Unseen Realm was blurred. From Academia it was now possible to go anywhere – to Valhalla, to the Coliseum in the Void Beyond, and even to Serendipity Casino. Sazh's ship shot up into the dark clouds. For a while, Noel couldn't see anything beyond the windows of the aircraft, the world around them was erased by the oppressive grey sky.

"Are you sure it's safe, flying into this?" Noel worried.

"I'd bet my life on it!" Sazh laughed.

Sure enough, lights pierced through the gloom directly ahead of them. Noel thought he could see a bird's eye view of Serendipity, but the image was blurry and came in and out of focus. Turbulence rocked the ship as they neared their destination. Still, the view remained fuzzy, alternating between color and black and white.

"Hold on!" Sazh yelled, his knuckles turning white from his grip on the controls.

"To what?!" demanded Noel, looking around for a seat-belt or a handle to hold. The ship was shaking so hard that Noel was bouncing out of his chair. Red warning lights were flashing on the dashboard. The engine was emitting a high-pitched whining sound.

"To your money!" Sazh laughed as the ship crashed through the barrier between Gran Pulse and Serendipity. The turbulence ceased and Sazh landed the ship calmly.

Annoyed blue eyes stared holes into Sazh's afro. "Awe, I was just messin' with you, don't be so sensitive."

"I thought we were going to crash!"

"Nah," shrugged Sazh. "Lady Luck's on my side, remember?"

Sazh led the way into the resort. They were welcomed by a woman with green chocobo feathers. Serendipity was just like Noel remembered it, though it was decidedly busier now than ever before. They made their way through the crowds of people and into the gaming area. Sazh was greeted at the door by a man in a tux and tails – well, just the one tail.

"Mr. Katzroy, back to try your luck?"

"No card games today, Eduardo," he replied, hands in his pockets. "How're the machines?"

"It's like a hot summer's day!"

A greedy grin formed on Sazh's face. He led Noel by the shoulders over to the cashier.

Another chocobo woman, this one with yellow feathers stood at the till. "How many coins would you like today?"

Noel looked at Sazh expectantly. The other man stared blankly back. For a moment, neither of them said anything. Then, Sazh nudged Noel encouragingly.

"Remember, this is for Serah! Don't hold back."

"What? You were the one with the idea to come out here! Are you telling me you don't have any money?"

Sazh put his hands on his hips. "Noel, I'm a single father, I have my son to think about! I can't gamble away our life savings!"

"But you have no problem gambling with mine!"

Noel assessed his gil count. It was well over 2 million. Really, there was no reason not to use his money, but… Noel shook his head in amusement. It was the principle of the matter…

Hope dropped his briefcase as he ran inside the house. "Noel? Noel!" he shouted frantically.

Only yesterday, Noel had fainted right in front of him. He'd been acting strange lately, in many instances seeming distracted by things that weren't there. Now this? Coming home to an empty house was something that Hope hadn't expected to do ever again. As he checked upstairs for his friend, Hope worried that Noel was taken away by force. Why else would he leave the door wide open?

After searching the house for any sign of a struggle, Hope collapsed at the kitchen table with a sigh. As out-of-character as it was, it looked like Noel had just simply forgotten to close the door when he left the house. Hope's silver hair hung in his grey-green eyes, and he brushed it away impatiently. In the last five years, haircuts had been low on Hope's to-do list, and as a result his bangs had grown long and his hair now brushed shoulders in a wavy mess. His fingers raked through the strands while he contemplated where Noel could be.

Out of the corner of his eye, Hope noticed his briefcase leaning against the wall. Frowning, he got up and walked over to it. He'd been in a panic when he'd come home, but he didn't remember bringing the bag into the kitchen. Normally, he'd leave it at the front door, or if he planned to work on something at home, he'd bring his notes into the small office adjacent to his bedroom on the second floor. Now, as he looked at the briefcase, a piece of paper stuck out of the seam at him. Sure enough, when he opened it on the table, papers spilled out in disarray. When he'd left the Academy building, he'd been sure to organize his notes, placing the most recent Chaos Readings on top. What the hell? he thought as he rummaged through the papers. His fingers came into contact with something solid underneath his notes. He fished the item out. When it came into view, a startled shout escaped his lips.

It couldn't be. He knew Noel had stashed it away in the top drawer of his desk. A year ago, he'd stumbled across it by accident while cleaning. He hadn't told him that he'd found it. No one else knew that he had it. Despite all the times Snow had implied that it had been stolen, not once had Noel admitted that he'd kept it for himself. But why was Serah's necklace now in his briefcase?

"Is anyone there?" Hope demanded to the empty house, suddenly on edge. "Hello?"

No one answered.

Maybe Noel was feeling devilish and decided to pull a prank on him? But – this didn't feel like something his friend would joke about. Since she'd died, Noel fell silent when they talked about Serah. Without her around, Noel had changed into a different person. Sullen and quiet, he became completely removed from everyone else. In spite of his aversion to anything that reminded him of her, or maybe because of it, Hope was sure that Noel thought about Serah every day. So, bringing her up like this, with an item that symbolized so much pain, was not something Noel could ever do.

"Ser-ah?" Hope whispered hesitantly, as if afraid to say her name.

Serah stood across the table from Hope, tears welling in her eyes. Hope hadn't changed one bit. He was just as smart and hardworking as before. And he cared so much for the people around him. "Hope. Yes, I'm right here!"

But, to her distress, Hope made no indication of having heard her. He looked down at the necklace in his hand once more before sliding it into his coat pocket. Then, with sudden inspiration, he took out his comm device and called Sazh.

"No, no, no," Sazh was yelling in Noel's ear. "Wait until you see a flash of red, then stop the reel. If you're too early, the best you'll get is three chocobos! We need Nines to get to Victory Mode. Nines!"

Noel sat in front of a slot machine that reminded him vaguely of a velocycle. Sazh stood next to the machine, bent over at an awkward angle so he could also see the panel of lights and levers. For the past hour, the older man had been shouting advice at him – advice that was often incorrect or contradictory to something he'd said previously. First, it had been 'stop all the reels no less than three seconds after pulling the lever'. Then he'd said 'wait for the "ping" sound', which was apparently an auditory cue that signified a winning pull. Now it was 'wait for a flash of red'. Noel was nearing his limit. The next time Sazh opened his mouth, he was going to stuff their remaining casino coins in it.

As Noel pulled the lever again, a strange ringing sounded in his ear. Could this be the "ping" Sazh had mentioned? he wondered. It didn't really sound like a 'ping' though. It sounded more like bells chiming. Also, wasn't it getting louder every time he heard it?

"Uh, Sazh?" Noel asked, glancing over his shoulder at the man behind him.

"Ah, you missed it!" Sazh said, his face glowing in the flashing lights of the slot machine. "There," he said, pointing his finger at the screen, "Noel, the red! Arg, missed again!"

"Sazh!" Noel shouted, waving his hand in front of his face. "Sazh, I think you're getting a call. Hey, SAZH!"

Finally, his friend seemed to snap out of his daze. Sure enough, the ringing stopped when Sazh pulled out the device and answered the call.

"Hello? Oh, Hope!" Sazh said with a smile, patting Noel's shoulder as he spoke. Noel shrugged him off in annoyance. He was beginning to think Sazh had a bit of a gambling problem.

"Yeah, yeah, he's here with me. Yes, he's O-K. We're at Serendipity Casino right now. Oh! You'll never believe this, we're here to grant Serah's-"

Noel dove for the phone, wrenching it from Sazh's hand. "Hi, Hope. Sazh has to go right now. He's got a lot of money riding on this hand. Talk to you later, bye!"

After he hung up, Noel tossed the comm device back to Sazh. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he demanded.

"What do you mean?" Sazh replied innocently. "I just thought he'd want to help grant Serah's wish."

The reels continued to roll in front of Noel, casting multicolored shadows on his face. "Don't you think he'll find it a little weird that all of a sudden we're hanging out and talking about Serah?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"It didn't go over very well with Snow, remember?"

Sazh gave him the sympathy of his brown eyes. "But Noel, this is Hope we're talking about. We all loved Serah, but Hope isn't Snow. He'll have an easier time accepting this."

"This?" Noel slumped down in his seat. "I don't even know what 'this' is. I thought I saw Serah, no, I believe I saw her, but that doesn't mean anything. Except maybe that I'm going insane..."

A large hand clapped down on his shoulder then. "It's more than that, Noel! You told me yourself, she moved things! Don't worry about what our self-proclaimed 'Hero' thinks. Just because I can't see her doesn't mean I can't believe that you do!"

"Right…"

"Now, as for Hope, he was just calling because he was concerned about you," Sazh said, his tone turning serious. "I think you owe him an explanation. I mean, this is the first time you've left the house in… I don't know how long. You should have left a note or something."

He was right. Noel exhaled through his nose bitterly. After what Sazh had been about to say over the phone, Noel didn't want to talk to Hope again for a while. As good as it felt to finally unload his secret onto someone, it was one thing to tell Sazh – an eccentric pilot with a strong sense of humor – and quite another to tell the Director of the Academy that he was seeing the ghost of their dead friend.

Just one more pull, Noel reasoned. Then I'll call Hope back.

He stopped the reels, which had been spinning the whole time, in quick succession. Ching, Ching, CHING! Three 9's lined up in the center row. The lights flashed happily.

"Victory Mode!" Sazh nearly screamed in his ear.

In their excitement, any intention of calling Hope back dissipated from their minds.

["…you'll never believe this, we're here to grant Serah's…"]

Again, the mention of Serah put Hope on edge. Why was Sazh talking about her? Did he somehow plant the necklace in his briefcase? But no, that didn't make any sense. It hadn't been there when he'd left the Academy building, but appeared when he'd returned home. Also, he was pretty sure he'd dropped the briefcase outside in his rush to find Noel. Something strange was going on.

It was no surprise that Sazh was at the casino. In fact, it would have been more of a surprise if he wasn't. Hope figured that, with a professional gambler in tow, Noel wouldn't return home anytime soon. And, since he had nothing better to do, and was quite curious about what they were up to, Hope decided he'd join them.

With great interest, Serah watched Hope retrieve a golden coin from his satchel. As he balanced it on his thumbnail, Serah leaned close to him. Then, with a flick, Hope sent the coin flying. It flipped end over end as it reached its apex and began to fall back down, into his upturned hand. He slapped the coin onto the back of his other hand, and Serah placed her hand over his.

Together they shouted "Serendipity Casino!" and they both disappeared from the kitchen.

Materializing just outside the gates, Hope and Serah wasted no time, running straight for the games room. There, they found Noel and Sazh in the center of a huge crowd of people, pulling the lever of the slot machine. With each action the crowd cheered or sighed, depending on the outcome. Loud electronic music crashed into their ears, and its pitch and energy told them both one thing: the men had made it to Super Victory Mode!

Hope pushed his way through the people until he was next to Noel, on the opposite side from Sazh.

"Hey guys!" he shouted over the music.

"Hope!" Noel said excitedly, with a huge grin on his face, "We're in Super Victory Mode! Can you believe it?!"

"That's great!" Hope replied, his own face lighting up with a smile. The fact that Noel was genuinely enjoying himself meant more to him than any number of coins they could possibly win from the machine.

"Do you think I could try it out?" he asked, reaching for the lever. "I feel lucky all of a sudden."

Sazh nodded, and handed him a 100$ casino coin. Noel showed him where to insert the coin and how to stop the reels.

"Here we go!" Hope shouted, dropping the coin in the slot.

Serah moved closer to get a better view of the screen. As she moved, Noel caught sight of her in his peripheral vision. His eyes widened in surprise. He gestured for her to come closer.

Just then, the machine went ballistic. Ching, Ching, CHING! Sirens blared and lights flashed as three 9's lined up once more. Coins poured out of the machine in a seemingly endless stream. The gathered crowd around them cheered. Noel gave Hope a high-five, and Sazh was busy collecting as many coins as he could in his hands.

Watching the men celebrate, Serah beamed sweetly. Seeing them together… it reminded her of how things were before. It was like a glimpse of the past – the laughing faces of Hope and Sazh and Noel…

"I'm so happy," she whispered, smiling along with them.

A coin rolled over to her, falling flat when it hit her foot. Serah looked down at the coin, and was surprised to see it was glowing.

"Hey Noel," she called to him, trying to get his attention. Noel glanced over and then down at her feet where she indicated.

Following Noel's attention, Sazh also looked in her direction. Then he scrambled over Noel with excitement, groping down at the coin on the floor. "Do you know what this is?!" he asked, holding the coin up with reverence.

"The Lucky Coin?" came Noel's hesitant reply.

Straightening up, Sazh gathered both Noel and Hope in a giant bear hug. "We did it!" he cheered. A tear of joy streaked down his face. "Serah, I hope this makes you happy!"

Being crushed in the other man's arms, Hope stiffened. "Serah? What are you talking about, Sazh?"

The jovial attitude seemed to deflate instantly. Noel struggled out of the embrace, again looking over at Serah. She stood next to the machine, smiling brightly. Any hope he'd had that winning the coin would grant her wish now left him. Even though he'd doubted the strategy from the beginning, he'd allowed himself to believe that something so small could bring Serah peace. But there she stood, no different from when she appeared to him in his room yesterday.

Noting Noel's crestfallen appearance, Sazh said observantly, "It didn't work, did it Noel?"

Eyes narrowed in a questioning stare directed at Serah, Noel replied sadly, "No, it didn't."

Again, Hope glanced back and forth between the two men. "What are you guys talking about?"

When Serah gave Noel a shrug, Noel sighed and faced Hope. He had to tell him now. At least the crowd had moved on and the three were left alone – well four of them, including Serah.

"Hope, I…" Noel faltered. He cleared his throat and tried again. "It's just that… I saw Serah in a dream… or something."

Disbelief colored Hope's features, from his furrowed eyebrows to his narrowed eyes. However, rather than arguing with him, Hope let it go.

Sazh interjected, "She came back to have her wish granted!" He laughed, "But it seems she wasn't hoping for the Lucky Coin. A little bit o' wishful thinking on my part, I guess."

They all laughed at that.

As they walked back to Sazh's airship, Noel trailed behind, walking side-by-side with Serah.

"I guess my wish must have been something else," Serah said, nonchalant.

"Yeah," Noel replied quietly.

"But still, all kinds of nice things happened!" Serah said, skipping around Noel. "You got to become friends with Sazh again!"

"…" Noel scratched the back of his head. "It's not like we were ever not friends."

Serah giggled and started running towards the spinning platform in the middle of the square.

"Hey, be careful!" Noel shouted.

"Don't worry!" she called over her shoulder. When she reached the edge of the hypnotic floor she used her anti-grav ability to jump over the entire platform. "There's lot of fun for us ahead! I can't wait!"

"Are you for real…?" he chuckled.

Lots of fun ahead? he thought to himself. Well, I did enjoy myself for the first time in a while, he admitted, replaying the events of the day in his head.

Serah caught up to Sazh and Hope who were walking ahead of them. She linked arms with Hope, who looked down with surprise, but continued his conversation with Sazh like nothing happened.

It looks my stress isn't going anywhere, Noel decided, his mouth forming a small grin. If I get another tomorrow… I think it's safe to take my time in apologizing.

"Coming, Noel?" Sazh shouted over his shoulder.

"You bet!" He ran forward, taking his place between Hope and Sazh, placing an arm across both men's shoulders.

Serah covered a grin under her hand as she watched Noel. Slowly, he was coming out of his shell again. Day by day, she knew he was coming back.