So hey guys, and thanks for tuning into the next chapter of NR!

Once again I thank my reviwers: GCFarron, Mylaervain, and OscarMerrinoz96. (And yes, for sure think Romanesque for the remainder of this arc - glad you guys think I got it right!) You guys are awesome.

That being said, the next few chapters might be posted sporadically, as RL is really kicking me where it hurts at the moment. I'll let you guys know if it's not a daily update - I have my schedule for the next week or two, but I see erm, time I can use to write, ha. Anyways, enough about my personal troubles, enjoy as always. (:

Chapter 28: Disowned by Time

A small breeze lifted the ends of Serah's pink hair as she brushed a stray strand behind her right ear. She was glad her sneakers didn't make much sound on the white concrete floor as she walked hand in hand with Snow. She rested her head on his shoulder, right ear brushing the fabric of his coat and she felt him thumb her skin. Giggling, she gently pushed his fingers away, earning herself a surprised look.

"Not now," she murmured quietly. "Claire's watching." Giggling when she saw his exasperated expression, she pulled her hands behind her back. Dancing off out of his reach, she heard him laugh as he chased after her.

Serah heard an irritated sigh somewhere in front of her. "Honestly, Serah, you'd think the guy was five years old. I don't know what you see in him. I really don't." She looked up into her sister's icy blue eyes.

"That's because you're not married. You don't get it. When you find your someone, you'll see." Lightning only rolled her eyes before turning away from her.

"Right. Whatever you say, Serah." Serah pulled on her arm again, forcing her to look back. She hoped she looked serious at the moment, because if she looked like the way she usually did with Snow, her sister wouldn't take her seriously.

"I'm serious, Claire. You should find your own life... you need someone, whether you want to admit it or not."

Lightning let out an amused snort. "Sure, Serah, whatever. You know perfectly well I'm not interested in dating." There was a brief pause as she accented her last sentence with a scowl. "Besides... Why the hell are we even talking about this? Urgh, Serah, stop distracting me." The sound of boots on concrete told her she was walking away, as Serah raised a hand to touch the bottom of her chin. Oh Claire...

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath as Snow caught up to her, his hands resting on her stomach.

"What was that about?"

Gently, easing his hands delicately off of her, she turned to him, wrapping her own arms around his neck, pressing her lips to the hollow in his throat. "Nothing. Just teasing Claire."

Snow laughed. "She doesn't look very happy," he remarked.

"Nope... because it was one of her sensitive topics."

She felt the arms tighten around her waist as he hummed into her hair. "Ahhh, I see. Anything I should know about?" Giggling, Serah let go of him as took a step back, admiring his expression.

"No, because then she'll be even more annoyed than she already is. Come on, let's go before she gets angrier." Pulling his hand again, she led him to where her sister was waiting, Hope a few steps away from her, with an impatient expression on her face.

The people I care about... are all here. What wouldn't I give to keep this close beside me forever?

Lightning pulled a short gasp of air between her teeth as she scaled the cement side of the white marble house, using her stone pipe that hung over its side to pull herself. She let out the breath as her knee bumped the rough stone, and she stood, shielding her eyes from the brilliant sunlight that reflected in millions of sparkles off the bright blue water. From here, she could see the entire expanse of the city spread beneath her, and the golden shine of the Cathedral of Angels in the near distance.

And then, it happened again. The same feeling that someone was watching them. She didn't know who it was, and quite frankly, didn't care. They'd already been warned that Yorun was heading here too, and she was tired of his usual tactics to draw them out into battle. Bring it. I'm waiting right here.

But of course, nothing came her way except the gentle breeze that lifted the wavy strands of her pink hair an inch or two off her left shoulder. Lightning drew another deep breath, filling her lungs with the clean air, feeling herself relax a little. It's been a long time... since I could actually let myself relax. She narrowed her eyes at the cathedral. And this time, I'm prepared for the moment I walk in; not caught in the dark of a plan I don't understand. Her slender hands curling into fists, Lightning found that she was actually happily anticipating the moment when she held the omega weapon in Yorun's face.

Maybe not the healthiest daydream for a young woman, but she didn't really care. The creep's messed with my life one time too many.

"Light? Light, are you okay?" Hope's voice came from somewhere below her, and she realized that she had taken too long to be simply 'taking a look around'. Walking the two steps to the edge of the room, she felt the air embrace her for a brief heartbeat before she bent her knees to absorb the impact of landing on the cement ground where he and her sister was waiting.

"Sorry," she muttered quietly. "Come on, let's go."

She led the way up the avenue, Hope and Serah trailing closely behind her, with Snow taking up his usual place at the rear, when she heard a crack. Whipping out her omega weapon, Lightning turned, expecting an enemy to emerge from the rooftops. Instead, she watched a blue wall of water rise from the place where they'd entered Tythell and slowly begin to submerge the parts of the city they'd just crossed. A moment of panic crossed her mind as Snow bolted forwards, pushing Serah in front of him before she snapped into action, pulling Hope by the collar as they fled up the avenue, footsteps echoing loudly in a place where it appeared only the rolling waves could hear them.

As her feet pounded up the steps at the end of the street, Lightning cast one glance behind her, pushing Hope up before her. The blue line was slowly making its way up the white cobblestones; she guessed it would only take the water around half an hour to get to where they were now. She didn't know what had broken, if indeed, anything had broken by itself, but it didn't really matter. We need to find higher ground... now.

The same uneasy feeling nagged at her, and somehow, she knew the 'accident' wasn't an 'accident'. Whoever the fuck this is, she thought furiously as she took the stairs three at a time, had better watch themselves.

Lightning drew her weapon again, feeling its weight in her right hand.

I'll make sure of that.

Out of breath as they climbed the stone stairs up into what looked like it had once been a wealthier district, she wasn't paying as much attention to her surroundings as she should have been. Bumping into Snow, who was standing there uselessly in the middle of a wide street, she tried to shove him out of the way, unable to see over his head as to exactly what he was staring at.

He elbowed her back, pushing her forcibly into Hope.

"What the fuck..." she began, angrily shoving his arm out of her way. And only when she moved his thick, beefy arm did she see, indeed, what the fuck he was staring at.

Cie'th.

She didn't know how the hell they'd gotten there as she pushed Serah behind her and Snow. Only one thought crossed her mind as the Cie'th turned around, spotting their new prey. I thought Snow said this place was long since uninhabited. Lightning gritted her teeth, a low snarl making its way through her tightly pressed together lips. Either he can't read for shit or someone was waiting for us and dumped these freaking Cie'th here. It didn't really matter at the moment, with the water closing in on them on one side, and Cie'th blocking their way in the other. But if Snow really had the reading ability of a three year old, well then... He'd better hope I'm in a good mood.

A fist closed in her peripheral vision as Snow lowered his upper body into his attack position. "Time to send them on their way, Sis?"

"Tch. Like we have a choice." She pushed herself forwards several dozen paces - the more space between the monsters and Serah, the better. Aiming her weapon's gun mode at the head of the first one, Lightning let out a hiss of anger that the first bullet didn't take it out - this was no ordinary Cie'th.

"Tri-Disaster!" The spell that left her left hand crashed into the cobblestones as she readied it for another Thundaga. The wind spells Hope was throwing at it didn't seem to be doing much to them either and she could hear Snow's surprised grunts. Just what the hell are these things?

Her question answered itself before she could curse out loud - a black spell was sent her way before she had realized the Cie'th could attack back with magic. She rolled to the side - most of the spell had missed her but she'd felt an impact on her shoulder.

That one impact was enough to make her stagger, shoulder hitting the wall of a building. Shaking her pink hair out of her eyes, Lightning tried to pull up the name of the spell as she pushed off against the side of the building back at the monsters.

And it was only when she backflipped to avoid a second spell aimed at her did the name rise to the top of her mind: Death.

Shit.

She wanted to cry out, to warn Snow and Hope before they learned that the hard way, but the spell had affected her more than she would have liked to admit, and her head spun. Urgh, pull yourself together, Farron. You're supposed to be a soldier, not a scared victim.

"Snow!" Her sister's shriek sounded dangerously close to her left ear and Lightning whipped her head in the big man's direction. The Death spell caught him in the back as he was pummeling away at another Cie'th. And before Lightning could stop her, Serah had run to her husband, screaming at the top of her lungs, catching him as Snow gasped for breath.

Her body moved before she was conscious of running. Roughly pulling her sister back, Lightning raked her free hand through her hair hastily before turning back to the monsters.

"Serah," she hissed. "You're going to have to fight. You ready?" She didn't like it - every single instinct screamed at her to push her sister out of the way of a fight, but she had to accept that with only her and Hope there was only certain defeat, and there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen.

But the look her sister gave her wasn't the scared look she was expecting. The grim determination in the clear blue eyes took her by surprise for a moment - perhaps this was the same conviction Serah had had when... This isn't the time to be sentimental, she angrily chided herself. Giving her a brief nod, Lightning forced herself to move forward again - there were thee Cie'th left and two were rapidly closing in on Hope.

"Bully!" The Slow spell brushed her shoulder, and Lightning allowed herself a fleeting smile. If there was one thing she noticed Serah was good at, it was the Slow spell. Feeling the Bravery envelope her, she brought the omega blade down on the nearest Cie'th's head. The monster instantly whipped around, flailing arms aimed for her head as she shoulder rolled to one side, aided by the Haste.

Using Blitz, Lightning swept the area around her, effectively knocking the Cie'th she'd just struck off its feet. The second Blitz hit all three of them as she felt black smoke curl around her shoulders for a fraction of a heartbeat before dissipating.

Two more to go.

Readying her gunblade, Lightning put herself in front of Hope and Serah. "Get ready for Tri-Disaster the moment I move," she hissed out of the corner of her mouth. The two Cie'th were slowly moving towards them, but she could see the slight advantage they'd gained since the battle started: they had effectively swapped sides with the Cie'th, with them being closer to the higher ground they needed to get to, and the blue line she could see was steadily advancing on the Cie'th.

She moved the moment they came into range, frustration and desperation fueling her movements. I can't lose this...!

"It's over!" The blade and bullets made sickening sounds on the tough skin of the Cie'th she was targeting as she kicked it aside, moving agilely between the various spells that were also targeting the Cie'th. Flipping forward to avoid a Fira, she set her eyes on the next Cie'th, readying herself to attack. The wash of cold water that touched the back of her boot told her that there wasn't much time left to win this.

The blast of magic hit the floor in front of her, and her instant reflex was to raise her weapon in front of her eyes to shield them.

"I'm not giving in!" Lightning moved in the moment the last surge of energy from Hope's spell disappeared, slamming her blade into the Cie'th as a Flamestrike. The weight on her weapon vanished as the black smoke surrounded her. Even though she was out of breath and panting, Lightning didn't stop to catch it as she moved to Serah, who had gone to Snow. There wasn't time to cast curative spells at the moment - the icy cold wave was licking her feet and there wouldn't be any time to waste if they didn't want to drown.

Hoisting Snow's arm over her shoulder, she let out a grunt as he leaned his weight onto her. She shot him a glare.

"You're heavy, did you know that?" Snow's exhausted blue eyes twinkled back - he was still gasping and he looked pale.

"Heh... thanks for the compliment, Sis."

Hope followed Lightning as she hoisted Snow up above her - she looked tired, and frankly, he didn't blame her. His feet dug into the spaces between the white stone - he tried not to look down. They'd climbed up several roofs before reaching the wall that lead to the inner city. The white beneath them was slowly being covered by a blue expanse, and he swallowed. How are we going to get out...?

But this wasn't the time to worry about that; his fingers gripped the stone ledge of the inner city and he pulled himself up next to Lightning, who, he was surprised to see, was sitting on her cape on the ground. Weird... Light never admits she's tired, and she hates... Her short, quick breaths beside him told a different story - she was breathing too hard and her normally pale face was slightly flushed. Her fingers were white against the omega weapon on the floor.

Serah was sitting with Snow several feet away - the big man still looked worn out from the single Death spell, and Hope felt himself shudder involuntarily - he didn't want to know what that felt like.

A scrape of metal against stone made him look up in surprise; Lightning had gotten up. A quiet groan of fatigue escaped her lips and Hope saw her press her fingers to her left temple for a moment before sweeping pink bangs to the side.

"Come on... we'd better patch up the hero, or we'll never get anywhere." Her voice was as crisp as usual as Hope picked himself up from the white stones and followed her. Ripping off her left glove with her teeth, she knelt next to Snow, an unreadable expression in her eyes. "Looks like the hero needs some help, huh?"

"Shut up... Sis." Fighting back the amusement, Hope knelt down on Snow's opposite side, edging in beside Serah. He cast a sideways glance at her - he knew Lightning wasn't happy about the fact that she'd had to fight, but she looked okay, apart from looking scared to death about Snow; fingers pressed to her lips.

He reached a hand to her, unsure of how to comfort her, unsure of how to even begin saying anything. "Hey... It'll be okay, alright?" His words sounded lame even to him, but she smiled a little, her lips pulling up into a small curve.

"I know. I trust you." He flinched a little at her words, glancing over at Lightning, who was watching them with the same unreadable expression. Maybe she was tired, but he couldn't really tell, surprisingly - she wasn't usually that hard to read most of the time. Turning his attention back to Snow, he pushed the other matters out of his mind; they could wait.

It took a little more than usual to force the Cura spell from his left hand - this time he could actually feel it tapping into his well of magic. As he lifted his hand after the spell had left it, his fingers accidentally brushed against Lightning's; the momentary contact made them both flinch as he quickly drew his hand away. Crap.

"Sorry!" His apology came out rushed and he hoped he didn't sound too desperate.

"Huh. Don't worry about it." For some reason, she didn't react the way he expected her to; her voice was soft and didn't have her usual crisp, snappish tone in it. He stole a glance in her direction. I was expecting her to get mad... Maybe that's what I'm used to from her. She would have gotten mad if it was Snow... I don't know. The rustle of cloth sounded dangerously close to his ear as Snow jumped to his feet. A big hand came down on his head.

"Thanks, kid." Hope hastily tried to reflatten the hair Snow had tousled up as the big man moved towards Serah, murmuring words of comfort in her ear. A sudden steel grip on his arm jerked his attention back from his thoughts.

"You're going to stand there all day looking at them? Come on, we have somewhere to be." Lightning, and she sounded like herself again. Prying her grip off the sleeve of his orange jacket, he trailed after her and Snow, feeling even more confused. Is she tired... or not?

Rubbing his face on his sleeve to clear his head, Hope fingered the boomerang in his pocket as he followed their pace up the street.

What was that... a few minutes ago?

Nighttime was falling as Hope crawled his way up to the rooftop where they'd agreed to stay for the night. Snow, for once, had actually picked a good spot - from here he could see all the way across the lake to the mainland they'd come from, and the slight shimmering of stars and the moon on the slowly flooding lower part of the city. His emerald eyes narrowed as he found what had broken - a levee that had held the lake water back from the opposite side of the city. There was a gaping hole in the stone cement evident even from here and he could still see the slow surge of black water moving through the cracks.

Whether it had broken after hundreds of years of weathering, just like the causeway, or something else had triggered it, he didn't know. It was impossible to tell, but from the look on Snow and Lightning's faces it was clear they thought the latter.

A small, timid poke in his back made him look around - Serah held a small rag filled with berries and other edible plants that he remembered she'd gathered in the woods with Snow from before. Plucking one from the pile, he murmured a thanks to her as she made her way to Snow, leaning her pink head on his shoulder.

He felt a pang of jealousy, not for their love, but for their certainty. There was no doubt that she'd remain with him for Maker knew how long, and that he'd be there for her. A promise his mother had made him, wordlessly, so many years ago before that delicate certainty was snatched away and crushed like a fragile blossom in a storm in the wake of the Purge. And there was the other promise, the one Lightning had made him. A small creep of heat made its way up his neck when he remembered how it was delivered.

She cared, he knew that. In what way, he didn't know. Maybe she didn't know either. But in that moment, in the dying orange sunlight sparkling off the rolling waves of Palumpolum, she'd made him a promise and he'd returned it. Hope found his fingers clenching into a fist as the enormity and sincerity of those hastily spoken words echoed through his memories.

I promised... too.

And there was no way he was letting this promise be broken like the weakest link in a fragile chain that was held in hands that didn't belong to him. Not this time.

A small nudge in his back nearly made him jump out of his skin, as he whipped around quickly.

"Light! Don't scare me like that..."

She laughed a little, brushing aside stray strands of pink hair. "What? Did that really scare you? I didn't know you were so easily spooked." Her tone held a mix of amusement and disapproval, as he got up hurriedly.

"H-Hey, that's not fair-" he spluttered indignantly.

"What's not fair? If you space out like that, it's not my fault. Go to sleep, okay?" The last four words held the layered intent of a command, and he forced himself to meet her icy blue eyes. She meant it.

"But..."

The glare silenced all further protests he might have had. "Don't argue with me." With that, she turned around, settling herself at the edge of the rooftop, facing the sparkles of light that danced off the waves of the lake. He heard her sound of effort as she sat down, resting her chin on one hand.

"But you're tired." He saw her whip her head around, surprise and annoyance sparking in her turquoise eyes.

"Look, Hope, I don't have the energy to argue with you. Just go to sleep, okay? Stop worrying about me."

He wasn't backing down that easily. Serah and Snow might have easily bought it - he suspected Snow was too tired to care and Serah had thought better of arguing with her sister, but he wasn't going to let her wear herself out again.

"Light-"

The next words, now sharp with genuine annoyance and anger, made him take a step back. "Hope, shut it. I know you care, and thanks for the appreciation, but I honestly don't want to start an argument right now. Yeah, I'm tired, but we all are." A pause as she took a breath - he could tell she was trying to keep her temper. "Some things in life you just do, okay?" The finality in her tone warned him not to argue back, and he knew it wasn't worth actually making her angry at him. But still... Light...

He found himself a corner where he could lean his back against the rapidly cooling stone of the next roof. He felt his heartbeat hammering away in his throat - she hadn't spoken to him like that since the Vile Peaks, and it made him feel inferior, in a sense, that he'd made her angry at him again. His fingers traced a meaningless pattern on the stone rooftop.

"Some things in life you just do." The exact same words she'd said to him in the Nutriculture Complex. He hadn't really understood that then... but then again, he hadn't understood the true meaning of 'sacrifice' then. But he did now - sacrifice wasn't something that took him away from what he loved; between her, Fang, and Vanille, he'd learnt that sacrifice encompassed something much deeper. It was possible to die for something... possible to die for someone.

And the last thing he remembered before sleep took him on its gentle and comforting journey was that one day, he would repay her for... everything. One day.

Lightning pulled her limbs against her chest as the dawn turned the water into mixing hues of red and orange. Rubbing her face for a moment, she took a breath before pulling her hand through her pink hair. She cast a guilty glance over at Hope; she'd been short with him last night and she hadn't meant it to be like that. I'll have to apologize... soon enough.

Snow, as usual, was snoring away like the idiot he was, draped over Serah like a protective blanket. She suppressed an amused smile, shaking her head slightly as she got up to stretch the limbs that had been in the same position all night. The lack of sleep was going to get to her soon, she knew that, but for the time being...

Swiftly delivering a kick to Snow, she moved away and jumped down into the street below, landing softly as she heard a yell of indignation somewhere above her head. She crossed her arms as his head poked over the white rooftop.

"Seriously, Sis? Do you have to..." His words cut off as he narrowed his blue eyes at her. "Did you get any sleep at all last night?" Lightning pushed back a groan of irritation; if Snow had the brains to notice then she had to look horrible. Oh well...

"None of your business," she snapped back, turning the back of her head to him. A loud thump behind her announced his arrival as rough hands pulled her around again. She found herself facing Snow's 'serious look' as she roughly slapped his hands off her.

"Don't pull this crap on me, Sis. You look like..." She waited as he struggled, clearly trying to come up with the correct combination of an adjective and a noun, crossing her arms.

The rustle of cloth and a small grunt of effort told her Snow had woken up both Serah and Hope as they landed behind Snow, Serah dusting off the dirt from her pink skirt.

She found the slight bubble of anger rise in her stomach as Snow looked clueless, glancing at Serah for help. "While you think of a word, Snow, let me tell you something before you say them. I don't care. Got it?" To prove her point, she pulled out her omega weapon before turning around and beginning to walk.

There was really only one way to go - she could see the large, round stone building just up their current avenue - from her vantage point the night before, she knew that the cathedral they were hoping to get to was beyond the building. The morning sunlight was already turning harsh, but she resisted the urge to sweep her hair off the back of her neck - their footsteps were in silence and she knew it was because no one wanted to test her currently simmering temper.

Good.

She couldn't hold back the sigh of relief as shade hit the top of her head when she entered the overhang of the building. There was a tall hole that she could only describe as leading to blackness, and somehow, the place made her uneasy. There was something... something about the place that made her reluctant to go inside. Maybe it was because darkness reminded her all too well of the last 'dark' place she'd been in... but the place seemed to whisper death and she didn't like it.

Her footsteps echoed ominously as Lightning cautiously took the lead into the place. It was a straight hallway at the very least; even an idiot like Snow wouldn't have any trouble following her. The darkness of the place was suffocating; it wasn't like the Demonsoul Tower where the walls had given the sense of a prison. In here, she felt like the whole earth was pressing down on her from every side - like being buried alive.

A dim blue glow disrupted the constant blackness of the hallway - the only thing she could hear was her breathing and heartbeat, and footsteps, both hers and several sets behind her. And suddenly, the place opened up into a wide circle, like the stadium in Nautilus. Fresh air brushed past her skin, but she didn't notice that now.

What had caught her attention was a stone statue in the middle of the wide open area.

The statue was of a single being of an indeterminate gender, whose hands were bent behind it in a posture Lightning could only describe as painful, bearing a silver sphere on its back. And only with cautious, silent steps towards it and closer scrutinizing could she find a term for the sphere.

The figure held the world on its back.

And in the moment her hand reached out to touch the stone being, a stone slab closed over the entrance they'd come in, cutting off means of going back and possibly their only means out. Her blue eyes swept over the rest of the place, taking in her surroundings for the first time. Rows and rows of what she could only assume where seats rose above her head, into heights she knew she could never even begin to try to jump to, but they were separated from even those by a round stone ring that rose above Snow. It was smooth - she couldn't see any handholds that would allow them to climb up. Lightning found growl of anger beginning to rise in the back of her throat.

What the hell is this place?

Whew.

Okay, so yeah, I did it again. *shrugs* Cliffhangers are my thing, mmmkay? To be honest, my favourite segment in this chapter has to be those middle ones with Hope there: it was deep and I liked it - it was a good part to write and experiment with words and I needed to explore that particular part of Hope's character anyways.

Anyways, I'll leave interpretation of events up to you, and uhhh... yeah. I tried describing Death in this chapter, but honestly, I wasn't too sure how. I mean, think about it - you get knocked out in the game if it succeeds (even though we like to call it 'dying') and I wasn't sure how to portray that, because obviously the characters don't actually 'die' - they come back after you win a battle. And I won't even begin to speculate about how the hell you use a freaking Phoenix Down outside of gameplay, let's just leave those, Potions, and Elixirs outta this. xD

As always, leave love in reviews and I will see you guys next tomorrow!

Hearts!