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

A big thank you to my reviewers: Zapper90, Crystal (And awh, thank you so much for the kind compliment! I wish NR was XIII-2 D:), OscarMerrinoz96, Mylaervain, and GCFarron (haha, yeah, if I owned a school, Final Fantasy 101 would definitely be a mandatory course to graduate xD). You guys are awesome, and I thank you all for your continued support! (:

For the purposes of this chapter, I stole a line off FFVII; one of the most momentous lines of the entire game, IMO. And it's used for the exact same purpose in this fic - I hope, and kind of not hope, that you guys pick out said line. On one hand, yay for being FFVII fanatics (because I remember the exact line said in the game) and on the other, it's kind of a spoiler. Kind of. So if you do figure it out... well, it's major foreshadowing and I'll shut up now before I say more than I should.

Enjoy as always!

Chapter 31: What You Hold Dear

Lightning raised her omega weapon, shoving Serah roughly behind her against the stone tablet. Sweeping her ice blue gaze over the surroundings, she picked out six black robes and one white dress. Xue. Suspicion raked its way up her back. Why the hell would they...

Switching her weapon to gun mode, she aimed it at the closest black hooded figure; cursing under her breath when the figure jumped down to avoid the attack. Several others followed suit, and she felt her pulse rate increase when they moved towards her.

"Relentless Assault," she hissed under her breath, raising her left hand. The Thundaga left her fingertips as Snow weaved between their spells to attack, sinking a fist into the closest figure. But they hadn't been prepared for the manadrives from the enemies, and she felt a debuff hit her in the chest as she dropped, gasping. They can use Slow? Shaking her hair out of her eyes, Lightning pushed herself to her feet.

She definitely felt sluggish, like her limbs were made of cement, and from Snow's outraged curse, she could hear that he'd been hit with some sort of debuff as well. A steadying hand tightened on her left arm; turning, she saw that Hope had gripped her, concern evident in his intoxicating green eyes.

"You okay, Light?"

Taking a steadying breath, she forced the words from her lips. "Yeah..." Narrowing her eyes, she saw that the figures had shifted their attention to Snow, who was trying to counterattack. "Decimation," she hissed.

The Haste lifted the feeling of sluggish weight from her shoulders as she sent another Thundaga in Snow's direction, hoping he had the brains to avoid it, before moving forwards herself, leaving Hope with Serah by the stone tablet. Her first Froststrike hit one of the figures square in the back - kicking him away from her, Lightning pushed herself forward again, feeling the surge of empowerment at the Bravery and Faith. Back flipping out of the way of another manadrive spell, she avoided a slash at her left arm. Letting out a growl of anger, she raised her gunblade.

"I'm no one's slave!" Burying the bullets in the head of the nearest assailant, she felt a grim smile stretch her lips at the spread of red on the bluish marble ground. This is what you get for messing with me.

A scream above her head made her jerk her head up. Her first instinct was Serah, but she was still pressed against the stone tablet with Hope. Raking her eyes upwards to the ceiling of the Aquarium, Lightning spotted Xue, about to fall from one of the ledges above. Is this the only-

She didn't have time to screech her anger before both ice and rose petals filled the air. Lightning didn't even bother with Odin's knight form, instead pulling herself up directly onto Sleipnir's back as the metal horse reared. Gripping the scythe blades tightly in both her hands, she sliced away at the still attacking forms of the black hooded figures before the horse pounded down the sides of the Aquarium, hooves splashing water onto the skin of her calves.

And she just had time to grasp the fingers of the petite l'Cie woman's right hand moments before Xue hit the ground, when a throwing knife pierced through both their hands.

Serah heard her sister cry out in pain and she instantly swiveled her head in Lightning's direction, in time to see her let go of Xue. She found herself being hoisted along with Hope onto Shiva as Snow sent the bike roaring in their direction.

Snow didn't waste any time before kicking the bike in her sister's direction, knocking aside the remaining two assailants with Shiva's turn as enormous flowers of ice bloomed in the Eidolon's wake. Shards cracked as the bike skidded over the now friction free surface, unintentionally increasing the petals of the ice flowers.

"Whoops," she heard Snow mutter to himself in front of her. She thought he had meant the growing amount of frozen stalactites and stalagmites in the Aquarium, but that wasn't it. He had created a frozen layer of dense ice in the running pools of water. The somewhat comforting sound of water running down the various pipes and fountains had ceased. Wait, but...

"Snow, stop!" Hope's panicked shout sounded behind her ear as the teenager gripped the side of the bike with one hand while holding his boomerang with the other. Serah followed his gaze - Lightning seemed okay, but that wasn't what he was looking at in her direction. It was Xue.

The woman had fallen into the water because the knife had forced her sister to let go. The blade was now firmly buried in a spile of ice, and so was the lower half of Xue's body. Serah had no idea how many Fira spells it would take to melt the whole room.

But before she could say something, Snow hoisted her off Shiva, pulling Hope off with the other hand. She watched the Eidolon fade into a flash of ice. The Shiva sisters had let them off right beside Lightning, who was still fighting on Odin's back, slashing away at the remaining two figures who had jumped down after pushing Xue off the top ledges.

The almost overwhelming scent of roses was powerful here, as Odin and Lightning hacked away at the figures, splattering red on bluish white. Pristine feather-white ice against the scarlet blood of death, staining the pure ice flowers a splotched red. Almost as if... the flowers themselves are bleeding. Her sister's heavy breathing was suddenly much closer to her as Lightning landed on the floor, Odin vanishing in a final swirl of delicate rose petals.

"Light!" Hope called her name before she did, and Serah was glad to see the familiar look of faint irritation light her blue eyes whenever her sister heard concern associated in some way with her name. Serah looked hard at her left hand - there was no indication that there had been a wound.

Her sister simply huffed at the sound of her name. "Don't look so worried," she muttered. Serah found her feet carrying her forwards until she almost slid to a stop beside her taller sister.

"Show me your hand," she insisted, not backing down from the annoyed scowl, instead, returning it. Lightning glared at her for a few more heartbeats before giving in, almost daintily holding up to her eye level. Serah grasped her sister's hand in hers, inspecting it, but she had been right - apart from the rip in the glove, there was no indication of an injury.

A shout distracted them as Lightning quickly jerked her hand out of Serah's, turning in the direction of Snow, who was trying to Flamestrike the ice pillar Xue was stuck in. "Some help here?" Her husband almost sounded irritated.

Leaving her sister, Serah carefully made her way over to him, placing her feet delicately on the frictionless ice. She didn't want to crash into Snow and make him lose his balance too. Coming to a stop beside him, they linked hands for a moment before Serah turned her eyes to the woman half frozen in the ice.

The steel grey eyes were closed, and for the first time, Serah saw the woman's l'Cie brand, located just above her collarbone. It looked different than hers - it was black instead of white, and the symbol was different. There weren't lines and arrows, but a circular pattern that reminded her of a flower.

Concentrating her attention to the shallow well of magic that she could now consciously draw from her brand, Seah conjured her own Fira. But it wasn't strong enough to melt the ice completely - in fact, she hardly did anything to it.

A second Fira hit the same spot she had been aiming at, followed by a much stronger Firaga. But the combined Fire spells hardly did more to it than she had done. Turning around, she saw that both Lightning and Hope had been aiming at the ice, a disgusted look on her sister's face.

"Snow, how the hell did you freeze this place?"

The big man seemed to shy away sheepishly from his sister in law's rage. "Erm, I don't know, Sis. I just summoned Shiva and well..."

A sudden blast of air hit her back, and Serah whipped around, clasping her arms to herself from the breeze that lifted the ends of her hair and sent a chilling sliver of ice onto her cheek.

"And if I were you, my dear l'Cie friends, I'd be much more concerned about myself than that Farseer woman."

Lightning instantly turned at the sound of the voice, stepping forwards half a pace so that Hope was partially hidden behind her. She locked gazes with the familiar, sadistic golden gaze, its owner walking calmly onto the sheets of frozen water, looking supremely unconcerned.

She felt her weapon arm rise as she held the gunblade in attack position, the tip of the omega weapon following his footsteps. Her heartbeat rose to her throat as she noticed the dozen - Is it even just a dozen? black clothed figures behind him, emerging from the steps from the entrance hallway.

But Yorun was the only one who advanced towards her, and she felt her muscles tense. He held up a hand, and she heard something crack. But nothing rained down on her head, and there seemed to be nothing else attacking them. The only sounds she could hear apart from her own heartbeat and breathing were the steady breaths of Hope and Serah behind her. The sound of boots on ice stopped just behind her. Snow.

"What do you want this time?" she snarled viciously, hating the look of contempt in the golden eyes. "It looks like you've got nothing better to do than follow us around every time we decide to pick a place to go."

The only response her angry words got was a cold, almost self satisfactory smile. "That's because you seem to have all the right answers, my dear Lightning. Now, why don't you finish picking that woman out of the ice so we can get the key to the Seraph's Apex from her?"

What... the fuck?

Lightning had no idea what kind of nonsense he was spouting at her, but the intent was clear. Xue had something they wanted. Why they couldn't have wrested it from her earlier, she had no idea. But it didn't really matter - that was one advantage they had at the moment and she wasn't going to complain about it.

"Why don't you?" she snapped back.

The man just laughed at her, golden eyes dancing with amusement. "Why waste my energy when I can waste yours? You did promise her brother, didn't you? Or are you just going to break a deathbed promise?"

Lightning felt the familiar lick of anger rise in her throat. Why won't he shut up? Always playing games with us, always using us like we're some sort of obedient pet. Exactly like Barthandelus.

She heard Snow growl beside her as he raised his gloved fists, blue eyes blazing with fury. "Don't make fun of a death wish," he snarled at the man. Clearly, some other factor was affecting his reaction - and she could see his eyes were also glazed with some memory that had arisen with the last syllables of Yorun's question.

The man simply snapped his fingers at his subordinates, who took his place at the front of the line before jumping backwards, rolling up the sleeve of his right arm. She felt her breath catch in her throat when she saw the black mark on his arm. So he's... a l'Cie too? But she didn't have time to ponder this newest revelation before the brand glowed blue and a summon circle appeared beneath his feet. A sudden heat wave burned past her face, and she was forced to raise a forearm to shield her face, covering her view of the man. She couldn't see what he was doing. Just what...

"Burn them to ashes... Ifrit!"

Water pressed into her from every side as she fought to stay afloat at the top of the water level. The summon hadn't just melted all the water Snow had frozen with Shiva, but had sent several additional hundred litres of water that the floor had probably housed crashing down on them. Gasping for breath, she felt herself being forced underwater by the sheer pressure of the liquid, before she fought towards the surface again, struggling to keep her head above the water.

She couldn't see Serah or Hope, and for a few heartbeats, panic gripped her. Something, or rather, someone bumped into her back; twisting around, she recognized, even with the water in her eyes, Hope's distinctive platinum hair. Their hands found each others' in the murk of the melted icewater, and she clung to him, trying to keep him afloat as well as she fought for breath.

But it was impossible. His weight dragged her down even though she could tell he was trying too, and there was nothing to hold, nothing to even swim to to ensure that they wouldn't drown. And she could only hope that Serah was safe with Snow. Because if she wasn't...

Maker, please...

Desperation and exhaustion was beginning to claw at her limbs and she fought the urge to just give up. I can't... if this isn't for me... this is for Hope! She found that the thought kept her going; it was something to cling to in their otherwise hopeless situation.

"Light..." she heard him gasp from behind her. "The altar... by the prayer-" His voice was cut off by the sudden rush of water that slammed into them, but she understood. Using one hand to wipe away darkened pink hair from her face, Lightning orientated her body towards what she thought was the far side of the hallway. It was impossible to tell with the water level rising, but there had been an elevated platform there that was hopefully high enough to keep them safe. And she didn't even know if this was the right direction - she had gone by gut instinct and her own internal sense of direction; it would have to be enough.

Fighting her way through the unrelenting pressure of water and the drag of waterlogged clothes and an almost useless Hope, Lightning allowed herself a breath of relief when she finally stabbed her omega weapon into the stone platform, about two feet above her head. Trusting that Hope could tread water for a few moments, she let go of him, pulling herself up onto the stone platform. It wasn't easy - her soaked clothing, aided by gravity, tried to drag her back down into the water's grip.

Finally resting her two hands on the stone, she gasped to catch her breath before remembering, with a sudden rush of panic, that she'd left Hope to fend of himself. That same panic threatened to consume her when she reached back over the edge, not seeing him.

"Hope!" The strangled cry was ripped from her raw throat. Why did I let go? Why did I...

A small gasp responded to her cry. "Light..." Small fingers gripped onto her arm - hauling backwards with the remaining strength in her exhausted limbs, she managed to pull the trembling teenager onto the stone. Their eyes met, sea green and icy blue. Her arms embraced his shoulders in relief before Lightning was aware of the implications of the gesture.

But he hadn't pulled away - instead, she found that he had returned it, one arm looped gently around her back. She pulled away before the touch could make her feel more uncomfortable. Pressing the back of her hand to her mouth and against her nose, Lightning tried to control her breathing as she got up.

Hope had looked surprise at the sudden break in contact, but he hadn't said anything, choosing to stand up beside her. "Thanks... Light." She shook her head in response, not trusting herself to speak yet. Instead, she tried to calm the emotions raging inside her by gripping her weapon tightly at her side.

And that was when her negligence hit her in the chest like a physical blow. In her moment of desperation to protect Hope, she'd forgotten... Serah... Serah!

She couldn't see her sister, couldn't even see Snow. Sinking to one knee, she tried to discern the cherry coloured hair, but it was impossible - the chamber was made of white marble and blue-green tiles. Her breathing caught in her throat when the very real possibility invaded her thoughts and pushed out everything else. Serah... she can't have drowned... Snow was with her... right? Serah... Serah, I'm sorry!

A whimper forced its way past her lips as she gasped for breath, her lungs not needing the extra air this time, but to force back the cries that threatened to choke her.

"Claire...!" The sound of her name invaded her consciousness as she tried to pinpoint where exactly the voice had come from.

"Light! Light, over here!" The sound of Hope's shout was relieved, yet ironically desperate at the same time as she ran to his side, following his gaze. There! In the rush of the water, she saw her. Snow was holding her head above the water, but that meant he wasn't swimming much in their direction. She hated the idea of going back into the icy rage of the water, but what choice did she have?

Dropping her lithe body back into icy liquid, she set her sight on her sister's darkened pink hair, spread in a mess around her shoulders. It was awhile before she got to Serah, but she made out better than she expected - this time, there wasn't Hope to consider. Easing her sister's weight off of Snow, she saw that he had been carrying an extra burden - Xue. You idiot...! Why the hell... She snapped off her own bitter thoughts; this wasn't the time to be shouting at him over things already done.

She felt a surge of relief the moment she took Serah from Snow - he shot her a grateful glance, and he was now moving faster, in fact, cutting through the rough slosh of water better than she was. Serah kept her grip around one of her arms as she followed Snow. The water level was still rising, but this time, it was to their advantage - the stone platform was now barely a foot above her head and Serah clambered onto the stone easily, leaving her to follow.

Dripping wet, she remained on her knees for a few moments, raking her hands through her wet hair and pushing her bangs off her face.

Snow was also trying to regain his ability to breathe. "Thanks, Sis," he managed to get out between rapid breaths.

"Next time, remind me to kick your ass for freezing everything so that bastard could melt it," she rasped back. He gave her a thumbs up.

She gave a huff before pushing herself up, gripping Serah by the shoulders. "Are you okay?" Her sister nodded. Something closed on the back of the wet fabric of her cape, almost pulling her down backwards. She turned, ready to snap, before she saw who it was.

Xue.

Bending down, prying the woman's fingers off her cape, she made sure she was at the same eye level as the Farseer l'Cie. "What?"

But the woman didn't seem to hear her, didn't seem to even know her own reason for gripping her cape. Her steel grey eyes were unfocussed, but held an intensity Lightning had never seen in them before. Not even when they'd first refused her brother's offer of 'help' back in their village. A sudden thought of nausea hit her stomach. Does she even know... her brother's dead? A knot of discomfort twisted in her stomach. No! I won't be the messenger again... I won't be the person to tell someone else of someone else's death!

"You." She froze. The voice held unmistakable power, the same authority she'd heard in Xue's voice the very first night. The steel grey eyes focused on her again, and once more, Lightning found it impossible to look away from the intensity in the grey orbs. "What you pursue will be yours... But you will lose something dear."

Her limbs were rooted to the spot, unable to process the dire meaning behind what was unmistakeably a prophecy by a woman accustomed to seeing the future for her entire life. Unable... or unwilling? She didn't want to decipher the meaning behind her ominous last words. The woman's hand stretched out, and in the middle of her palm, Lightning saw a golden glint.

And she was utterly unprepared for the moment crystal began to seize Xue's body; forced to shield her eyes from the blinding glare of the crystallizing l'Cie, the light was suddenly cut off. For a moment, Lightning thought it was because the crystal stasis was complete, before the brilliant red smile on Xue's throat was all she could see.

The woman's body slid off the wet platform, and in the heartbeat it took for her to recover from the onslaught of what had just happened, Snow had buried a Froststrike in the skull of the enemy. One look at the dent in the man's temple and Lightning knew he was gone. But she knew that whatever had been in Xue's hand had been important. Maybe it's...

But there wasn't really time to speculate as to what it was; she only knew she had to get it before the body was washed away and out of her reach in the oncoming deluge of water that was continuing to fill up the Aquarium - she suspected that Yorun had purposefully broken one of the mechanics to the place to try to drown them.

"Cover me," she hissed at Snow and Hope.

The icy water raged around her body for the third time - Lightning thought she'd had enough of water... and swimming, to last the rest of her lifetime. Pushing her body towards Xue's, her gloved fingers closed on the woman's right hand. The final grip on whatever was in her palm was so tight she had to break several fingers before the limp body that stared only into death let go.

It was a key. The very same key Yorun had wanted. Sliding the thin sheath of crystal underneath her glove, she felt the cold metal brand her skin. There was nothing else to do except close the woman's eyes and turn back. For some reason, Lightning didn't want to see the body wash out to Maker knew where. A relentless staccato pounded in time to her heartbeat, pushing three thoughts to the forefront of her consciousness.

They'd broken the promise to Yangt'zu. Granted, she hadn't actually promised anything, but it had been an unspoken agreement between them that they owed a debt to Xue. And now that debt would never be repaid - Xue had literally thrown them a lifeline by giving them the thing Yorun needed. Why she was needed to obtain the key, or whatever it was supposed to open up in the Seraph's Apex, she didn't know, but it didn't matter.

And what had been an unmistakable prophecy, just before Xue had begun to enter crystal stasis - what her Focus had been, Lightning would never know. She felt cold claws of dread rake down her back at the thought. 'What you pursue will be yours... But you will lose something dear.' A part of her felt glad... glad that in some way, what she wanted most at the moment, which was to give Yorun the lesson of his lifetime would come to fruition. But the other half of her felt cold pain - what exactly would she lose? What meant most to her?

There was only one answer.

The people she loved.

And that was what hurt the most - did Xue mean that bringing them with her... bringing them into this fight... would cause her to lose them? She didn't know if Serah and Hope had heard Xue's final words - didn't want them to know, in fact. And she made up her mind in the moment she'd realized what the meaning behind the cryptic words could be. No matter how much it hurt, if they didn't know, she wouldn't tell them.

This is mine to bear. And mine alone. I won't let anyone else get hurt... because of it.

As she pulled herself onto the platform again, and as she felt Serah's arms wrap around her, Lightning cast one last glance to where she had seen the woman's body last. Wishing there had been a way to give more of a substantial goodbye, wishing there was a way to thank her for her actions, she found herself not brushing her sister's hands off her like she normally would. Her ice blue eyes found the spot where Xue's body had been dragged down by the weight of her own dress and the ferocity of the rising water level that had to drain out somewhere.

Thank you... for everything.

So... wow. Okay. The second half of this chapter was immensely hard for me to write. I tried to get Light's emotions and thoughts right... I really did. Somehow, I don't think I captured the intensity of her raw emotions the way I wanted to, but... D:

I leave all interpretation of all events up to you. (And I'm highly curious as to what you guys think - even though I have the main storyline already all planned out; it's not going to change, reading what you guys think is always fun)

Anyways, leave love as always in reviews, and I will see you guys soon! Next chapter will take me a bit longer - there are some definite emotional themes I would like to get right, plus well, Light has said key now, so there's no doubt as to where we're going next. So don't expect it before Tuesday afternoon. n_n

Hearts!