When they docked back in Academia, Hope noted with a quiet grown that Ulman was waiting for them to see what they found. He patted the pockets that he'd hid most of the information he'd found in. He really wished she'd lay off. Dealing with her on top of everything else was something he wasn't looking forward to and he hadn't fully recovered from summoning Alexander either. Noel who was not so reserved did groan loudly and Arcane out right laughed though it was strained.

"And this is why I like being a lowly soldier." She teased as she turned away. Hope touched her shoulder, she still felt bad about those they'd lost on the Ark. Hope felt it too, it was why he hadn't wanted to bring anyone. And yet, he wasn't sure that a smaller group would have survived at all. He had not expected a Fal'cie and considering the rage that seeing him had brought about.

"20 soldiers went with you." Ulman stated quietly looking at the ragged group that was brought back. Hope nodded wearily but forced himself to stand upright as she stood before him. "And only so few came back."

"There were a lot of complications. It'll all be in my full report." He responded blankly and she nodded but turned to look at him. The look in her eyes was haughty and slightly angry.

"It would seem that you are not the trouble that the Academy suggest you are worth. Including the facility that equals what? Nearly 100 dead to keep you alive?" She asked as she stepped closer to him and crossed her arms. "You've brought a lot of trouble down on our heads."

"You would have had these problems regardless of whether I was here or not." Hope replied solemnly. "If not for my interference the falling of the pillar would not be known. Supposed much of what has happened from my knowledge in the past is what has keep it standing until now."

"Then why haven't you made plans to move our civilization?" She asked cocking her head to the side and glared him down. "I feel like you haven't given the Council sufficient answers."

"Around the year 300AF... There were tests done to check out the viability about Cocoon." Hope stated calmly. He was lying but he was sure there was enough out there to substantiate what he was saying. Even if what he knew actually came from Noel. "If too much of Cocoon breaks up... The crystal dust is poisonous. Without a place to protect us from the dust, it would be kinder to let them all perish quickly then to suffering through the poison."

"And you are sure about this?" She asked quietly, her face wore a mask of thought. Hope wondered if she was looking to use it for good or to use it against someone. He was never too sure with her and it made him nervous. He nodded blankly and she nodded in thought. She crossed her arms and decided to leave it at that.

Hope nodded at her gratefully. After an awkward moment of silence Ulman took her leave and Hope noticeably sagged. Hope couldn't help but find it strange though that no one else was really there to meet them. Arcane ambled over to him and sighed deeply.

"Take Noel and go to your rooms. Nabaat set it up that you were to be left alone until you gave your reports tomorrow. I suggest you take that reprieve before some other nosy asshole decides to show up." She clapped his shoulder roughly and nodded them both off.

Hope moved towards Noel and reached out to touch his shoulder briefly. He could feel his body swaying slightly in exhaustion. The trip had been very hard on both of them. More so on Noel he thought as he lead him to the elevator. Glad to passby normal procedure, Hope hit hit the button that led to the lobby for the residential area. Once in the residential area they crossed the broad lobby that led to the password protected elevators for the important people that lived within the Academia building.

Hope lived in a fancy penthouse up on some high floor that left a beautiful view out towards the skeleton frame of the new Cocoon on on side and on the other, a view of the Crystal Pillar. At first Noel had thought seen such a sight would be depressing, but he found it strengthening his resolve as he was reminded of his mission. That pillar was going to break one day. And without the new Ark, his world would become a reality. The people he knew now would be around to see it but Hope...

Hope would go to the year 500AF most likely to see Cocoon raised and if they failed, Hope would be close. The crystal dust would poison him and-

"Noel?" Hope's voice was worried as heavy hands landed on the hunter's shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"I... I think so?" He asked quietly.

"You started hyperventilating." Hope murmured as he took the still trembling hunter into his arms. "Was the mission to stressful?"

"No I..." He shook his head and wrapped his arms around the scientist. "I thought about 500AF. While neither of us witnessed the fall..."

"Don't think about it so hard." Hope replied firmly and Noel opened his mouth to protest but the smaller man squeezed his sides, silencing him. "Hear me out. Right now, we are working to prevent all of that. To... To change your future. Already we've made a new Cocoon, a safe place for humanity. Right now Serah and Snow are fixing relevant parts of the timeline as Lightning directed."

"You trust her a lot don't you?" The hunter asked quietly.

"With my life." Hope replied. "We all have our own motivations and even our own goals... but they all require saving the future. Saving the world." Noel nodded miserable and laid his head on Hope's shoulder. His body was beginning to lag more. The fatigue from the mission catching up with him in the worse way. Hope laughed softly and kissed the side of his head. "Go lay down. I have a few things to finish up. I'll be there shortly."

Noel nodded as he headed back towards the bedroom. Hope watched after him with a fond smile before he turned and headed for the kitchen. The mage took out a bottle of water and drank from it deeply. He was tired as well but he had his own concerns burning in the back of his head. The foremost being about the Fal'cie that had resided on the 13th Ark. It was something that made no sense to him. Such a thing didn't seem possible at all. The other thing that peaked his interest was the information that they had collected. Making such a speedy escape hadn't allowed him to look at any of the data.

And he knew for a fact that the government was going to quarantine the Ark. Sure the Fal'cie was declared dead by them, but risking the creating of l'cie or more importantly cie'th wasn't something that the Council could risk, especially with the Ark so close to the capital. After he finished the bottle he closed his eyes and thought back on the changes that had happened so far. He knew that he would have a lot of work ahead of him. But if he could find what he wanted...

"Light... I really need your help right now." He grumbled to himself as he closed his eyes. "I'm really not sure of what to do next."

"I... don't think I understood a single word that came out of your mouth in the last fifteen minutes." Noel grumbled as he stared at Hope from the corner of his lab. Hope had been working furiously on the data that he'd recovered from the 13 Ark and his only companion had been Noel for at least an hour.

Which had proved problematic for the young hunter and Hope tended to think out loud when he was alone or truly comfortable with someone. The scientist looked over at him from his desk. Covered in blueprints and formulas... as well as a holocomputer that was displaying information from the data he had collected.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know if there really is any plainer way to explain these theorems." The silver haired man shrugged helplessly and Noel couldn't help but laugh loudly.

"Just answer me this. What is it that you are trying to do?"

"Make a box." Hope replied. "A box big enough to fit a human heart... but strong enough to live through the crystal pillar falling. I want to put Etro's heart below Cocoon in 500AF before it falls."

"Seal it away with the crystal dust?" Noel asked his eyes wide.

"Well the crystal dust is toxic and will be fore centuries to come. If I make it like an Ark I can make it basically indestructible."

"But when the toxic-ness of the crystal dust wears off..."

"Will it really?" Hope asked quietly. "In your time...In 200 years all animals... and nearly all humans were gone. The dust is too horribly toxic. And even if the land becomes livable again. The area where Cocoon fell will always be toxic. That much dust and debris will have mixed with the soil in large quantities. That area will never be fit for even human exploration again."

"You sound confident of that."

"In your travels did you see the scar on Cocoon and the dead lands of Pulse?" Hope asked quietly.

"Well yes but I thought that was caused by the War of Transgression."

.

"It was... During the battle against Cocoon the Pulsians managed to damage the part of Cocoon that used crystal as it's protection... And thus nothing in that area can grow ever again. When Cocoon fell... The crystal pillar absorbed that layer and used it to help create itself. Thus, the entire pillar is even more potent then what had created the dead lands."

The hunter face turned somber. He had known that the falling of the crystal pillar was the reason he was born into a dying world. The reason that his whole village had died. And yet to hear it stated so plainly hurt. As he imagined a world of billions of people almost nearly wiped out into a village of 40 or 50 in only a few generations.

"Then the really is no other alternative is there?" Noel asked as his mind searched for ideas of what Caius would do. "Caius needs a large sacrifice. He will attack your Ark."

"Which is why I'm trying to make it strong and battle ready. But it will require you and Serah and maybe even Snow to fight Caius to ensure that my Ark does rise."

"And what about you?" Noel asked. "After all, you are the reason that we managed to beat that Fal'cie."

"Caius won't be as weak as that Fal'cie... You and I both know it. While I am much strong then others there is no way I could fight him and survive." He smiled at Noel thinly. "Even now I'm still the weakest."

"I don't believe that." Noel stated as he stood up and grabbed Hope's arms. "You were the reason that we survived that Fal'cie."

"You were." Hope countered and he pressed a quick kiss to Noel's mouth. "I had to power to hold him off because of Alexander. I would have never been able to destroy it's crystal. If Serah had been with you... It wouldn't have been all that hard at all. You beat Adam with just two people."

"That was so hard." Noel whined as he dropped his head on the mage's shoulder. "It keep regenerating because it was in a paradox."

"Oh? I don't know that it regenerated. When you first told me the story it was just long."

"Well..." Noel pulled back and stared at Hope with a troubled look. "The proto Fal'cie Adam was in a paradox because it sent itself back to fight us... After it sent itself back to take over the tower I think? I didn't really understand what happened... Oh wait! The A.I. that you created built it when it realized that without you it wouldn't be controlled or something like that."

"I'm not too comfortable to keep talking about my own creations killing me." Hope muttered as he shook his head. "Either way. My point stands."

Noel shook his head not wanting to argue anymore. He pulled Hope up from his chair and towards the door. "Break time."

Hope laughed lightly, but he followed the other and then he stopped in the doorway. "Noel?" He asked quietly, cocking his head. "Are you okay?"

"I just... I'm still uncomfortable that's all."

"You don't have to be there anymore when I'm researching." Hope supplied as they walked towards the elevator.

"I want to be there. I have to..." Noel swallowed as the elevator door opened. "I have to follow it through."

Hope pursed his lips and turned to Noel took both his hands. "I wish there was another way. But... but from all I've seen there's nothing else. Caius wants to die. He will do anything. Either he dies... Or we all die."

Noel swallowed hard. He knew there was no way around it. He desperately wanted to yell at Hope that he was wrong, that things didn't have to be that way. But he knew, that there was no other way.