So hey guys, and thanks for tuning into the next chapter of NR! :3

Once again, many thanks to OscarMerrinoz96, Erifrats101 (thank you so much for your kind words!), GCFarron (welcome back! 8D), and Zapper90. You guys are awesome, and everlasting thanks go to LadyAlaska, as usual. (;

Update, much much later tonight, 11:54 pm April 18th: Snow's DLC episode was announced by Square today! (Thanks to Minjee for telling me!) It's called Snow: Don't Fight for Me, and it will be released on May 15th 2012. Hopefully this means Requiem of a Goddess will be released around that time as well... its release date has been TBA: Mid-May for while now. :/ (And between you and me, I happen to care only, oh, like 1000 times more about what happened to Light than to Snow. Sorry to any Snow fans, that's just how I roll) *flails* I just wanna know why Square decided to pull that ending on us... and what really happened to her! D:
XIII-3 would be nice while they're at it. *drums fingers impatiently on PS3*

Nothing much else to say this time (apart from the fact I got it up early, kudos to me) so it's time to let the show begin! Enjoy as always!

Chapter 39: Curses and Blessings

Serah recoiled against her sister when the black, ragged feathers touched her skin, feeling Lightning flinch at the sudden contact, before pushing away from her, raising her gunblade. Serah cast her a worried look. Claire... shouldn't be fighting! She should be -

But she didn't get to finish her thoughts, or shove her sister back against the wall before the man spoke, a twisted smile lighting his features. "Looks like you killed the two guardians before I did... Well, can't say I'm surprised. But then again, you were never dull, were you?"

Familiar, probing golden orbs travelled over them, sweeping contemptuously over their tense figures before they came to a rest on her sister. Serah saw Hope flinch when the teenager realized who the man was looking at.

The sadistic smile just stretched wider. "Though it seems we've received our fair share of injuries." She heard Lightning hiss beside her, and she felt her own muscles lock when the spear was raised, remembering exactly how well they'd done against the weapon last time. How can we win...? Feeling herself beginning to panic, Serah tried to calm down, tried to control her breathing and to focus the pent up, nervous energy into her left arm.

They couldn't lose here... not now.

The same shockwave swept over them, slamming her back against the wall - Serah couldn't help the cry that escaped her lips; it was like being hit in the chest with a whip. Struggling to rise, she heard Snow shout out the command.

"Scouting Party!" Serah clenched the fingers of her right hand together - she wasn't sure if she could cast the necessary debuffs on the man. But she had to try; sparing a quick glance at her sister, she was relieved to see that Lightning was conscious, gunblade held in one hand as her arms were crossed over her chest, breathing hard. She'll be okay... right?

There wasn't any time to worry about her, as much as Serah hated the thought. Her sister would just have to take care of herself for the moment being, and she was quite sure her sister wouldn't appreciate a gesture of help in the current circumstances. Turning her attention to the spear wielding enemy, Serah sent the first Slow in his direction, feeling some much needed strength return to her shaking arms as Hope sent several cure spells her way and she flung the debuff away from herself.

It took several more spells for the Slow to catch, and instantly, Serah saw Yorun's movement bog down, the single black wing now struggling to keep him in the air. He was losing altitude as she sent the Deprotect - in his moment of vulnerability that debuff caught too.

Even with Deshell, Serah could still see that Snow's punches weren't doing much to the man - either he was too strong or... Serah pushed the thought away. Neither her sister nor husband would want her thinking like that. Serah squeezed her eyes shut, feeling empowerment flood her limbs as Cures washed through her system.

There has to be another way... I have to be able to do more!

A new sensation filled her as she flung something away from her - she didn't know what it was, but the burst of strength from her brand on her arm told her it could only help them. And help it did - the man let out a surprised cry in the middle of exchanging blows with Snow. Unsure of what it was exactly what she had done, Serah tried to search her small well of magic, trying to sense what it had been.

The spell had come from pure desperation and impulse, if it had a name, she didn't know it.

Snow had seen the advantage in that same moment. "Relentless Assault!" Focussing her aim on the one winged figure and not Snow, Serah found herself joining Hope as they slowly moved towards the man. He was fighting back though, blocking the weaker spells with his weapon and even landing a few hits on Snow. Speckled drops of blood flicked through the air, splattering the grey stone beneath their feet with crimson drops. Serah dodged the throw he aimed at her, moving away as the weapon flicked the end of her pink ponytail.

Heart pounding, Serah realized that they were driving him away from the small silver crystal, before another smile lit the man's face. He jammed his weapon somewhere into the wall - the place he'd chosen looked arbitrary to her, but she knew it couldn't be. Even with almost no experience in a real war, she knew that there was no way someone would voluntarily rid themselves of their weapon.

What's he... planning?

The ground suddenly shook beneath her sneakered feet, throwing her to the ground. A short cry from Hope betrayed the teenager's surprise at the tremors that rocked the ground, as the black wing suddenly spread wide.

"Ha. If you thought you could actually defeat me, well, then, you were wrong. Because this is my real power!" A storm of black feathers rained down on their heads, and Serah felt several land in her hair. She stared as the explosion of feathers caved away to reveal a brilliantly green jewel in the middle of the man's chest.

Maker... no.

It was like all her nightmares had come back to haunt her, and she cowered against the ground, curled fists pressed to her temples, willing this to be just that - a nightmare.

Because the green jewel on the man's chest could only belong to one thing. One thing she'd met only briefly in her lifetime, but one encounter she would never forget.

Anima.

Lightning wasn't going to just sit there while everyone else tried to hack away at the disgusting figure. She knew she was weak - the second impact of the shockwave against the wall had driven the barely regained breath from her lungs, and sent her into a dizzying vertigo as cotton balls invaded her mind again.

She found that she could half crawl, half drag herself across the cold stone ground... if she went slowly. And hopefully... everyone else will be too caught up in the battle for me to get that. Her goal was the silver jewel lying about twenty feet away from her, twinkling innocently in the spot of bright light, and Maker be damned if she wasn't going to get there! Pushing her weapon away into its holster, she'd tried to take several rapid steps towards it, only to be dropped by her body like a rock.

Shit.

Drawing several deep breaths before trying again, she kept one eye on the raging battle that was taking place on the other side of the small cavern - at least Snow had the brains to drive the creep as far away from the crystal as possible. A loud hiss of fury interrupted her when she was halfway to the crystal, causing her to look up.

Serah had hit the man with a Poison, and she could see the telltale signs of green discolouration starting to take effect on the skin and wing of the man. Huh. Didn't know... she had that. Her brief few seconds spent in surprise and pride had cost her, and Lightning cursed herself for not thinking about her objective first. The crystal wasn't so far away now - maybe a minute or so more and she could close her fingers around it.

The thought of actually grasping the silver thing and putting it into the red pack on her thigh made her stop for a moment again. Even if she got the thing... was there a guarantee that they would get out with it? Sure, Serah, Snow, and Hope were winning now but she'd seen otherwise: the two shockwaves that had sent them all sprawling to the ground weren't uncontrolled attacks of an amateur.

She hoped they wouldn't make that mistake - and she couldn't even call out some sort of warning because that would only draw attention to herself; one thing she did not want. Gritting her teeth, Lightning slowly made her way across the stone floor, pausing every few moments to try and control the dizzying vertigo that threatened to slam her into the floor again.

Her fingers had barely closed around the crystal when an earth trembling quake threw her to the ground; keeping one hand tightly closed around on the small silver thing, Lightning tried to pull herself upright again, refusing to let her left hand let go of the jewel and holding her weapon in front of her with her right. Feeling cold sweat on the back of her neck, the effort to remain upright was draining her remaining energy reserves fast.

At least I got this. That's something, right?

The thing in question was different from the honey coloured jewel currently residing in her pack - it was cold, and it appeared that no amount of body heat was going to warm it; like the thing was draining her hand of warmth itself. Even through the thick leather of her glove she could feel its icy coldness permeating to her skin, as if it was determined to siphon away every last joule of heat her slender fingers had to offer. Even so, she closed her fingers around it tightly, slipping it into her pack.

A blast of feathers hit her in the face, tangling with her messy pink hair, making her feel like she had temporarily been blinded. Lightning tightened her grip on her gunblade, stumbling back against the haze of black shafts and her own weakness, until her back hit stone and there was nowhere left to go. Pressed against the rock wall, she found that it actually supported her weight better, and that she was able to focus on the battle unfolding ahead of her.

The swirl of feathers ended in a cascade of blinding teal light that made the fuzziness in her brain worse.

It wasn't hard to see what the green sparkle was coming from, and even in her current condition, Lightning felt utter shock and dread root her to the spot, muscles turning to ice, her breath catching in her throat as she tried not to slide down the side of the wall.

Fuck.

Snow backed away slowly, pulling Serah to her feet, fighting the weight of the slender pinkette as she resisted his grasp.

"Come on... baby, we have to move!" Dragging her back, he felt her cower against him, breathing hard as she clung to his hands. Hope's gasp beside his shoulder made Snow grit his teeth - this was unexpected, and...

And we're not in the condition to deal with him right now, especially since Sis...

He cast a worried glance in her direction, panic gripping him for a moment when she wasn't where Serah had left her. He spotted her moments later, clinging to her weapon about a dozen feet away from where she'd started. She looked okay - she was upright at least, and if she could stand then it could be awhile before they saw to her.

Turning his attention back to the figure with Anima's crystal embedded in his chest, Snow let out a low growl, supporting Serah as he leaned her against his shoulder, before readying his fists. Whatever the fuck you are... we can still take you on. He still had Shiva - that had to count for something.

A small chuckle interrupted his thoughts. "You see now? Why you will never win? The difference between your power and mine... do you see now?"

Snow felt Hope tense beside him, and Serah tightened her grip on his shoulder. A soft whimper left her lips as she looked up at the thing that so obviously embodied Anima, the fal'Cie that had set their feet down the path that had led to their 'fate', and Snow knew what she was thinking.

We spent... so long trying to defy the fate that it gave us. Only to find that it's back.

"Do you see? I didn't give you a Focus... I wanted you to resist me."

So wait... he...

The man sounded exactly like Barthandelus, spouting the exact same garbage that the Cocoon fal'Cie had said to them over and over. Snow didn't understand why their resistance to Yorun was needed - it seemed like the creep was at their every turn, trying to send them off their path, trying to do away with them. And he wasn't in the mood for puzzles - right now, they needed to win.

Snow felt the small heart shaped crystal beginning to form in his palm, and he prepared himself to smash the small pale blue crystal in order to summon his Eidolon, before a light that was even brighter than the soft sheen his Eidolith emitted flared inside the small cave, illuminating even the darkest crevices of the cracks that lined the chamber, causing Serah to let out a surprised scream.

The flare attack smashed into the ground, thermal drafts forcing the cracked columns of rock to rise underneath him. It was a curious sensation - Snow felt his skin blister under the heat only to be flattened by the force from the liquid's pressure that was released from a water vein that the flare attack had hit. Like being burned and and soaked at the same time; truly trapped between two opposite elements.

That was when every single sensation of pain was blissfully wiped from his body as he felt something catch him delicately on its metal back, springing easily between the nodes of rock being raised by the flare column of magma that had been conjured by the attack.

Snow heard one last comment before whatever had caught him leapt gracefully up towards the fresh air streaming from the hole that yawned upwards to greet the sky.

"This will not be the last time we meet. Rest assured, my errant l'Cie. We'll meet again, and soon."

For a moment, all Hope could do was to lie on his back facing the star sprangled sky as the fresh breeze played with his hair; feeling the long blades of grass tickle his back, reaching under his teal scarf to brush against his throat. The silhouette of Lahrima Castle was in the distance - the large drop that Yorun's flare attack had carved into the earth was several dozen yards behind them. The utter contrast to their predicament just not five minutes before couldn't have been more obvious; the whole situation spread before him seemed surreal. Is it really... nighttime again? Have we been fighting for that long?

Gradually, Hope forced his breathing to clam, but it was awhile before he let himself sit up, not wanting to disturb the serenity of the dark blue sky, unsure if it was just an illusion in the midst of a battle that had very quickly turned, quite literally, to hell for them.

How did we... survive?

He had his answer the moment he raised his head, green eyes following the large dancing, feline figure above Serah, who had reached her fingertips out to touch the jade green feline figure, an appreciative smile slowly stretching her lips.

"Thank you... Carbuncle," he heard her whisper, before the summon vanished in a puff of ruby, leaving the small, periwinkle blue crystal to drop into her open palm before even that disappeared.

The aches in his body had vanished, all traces of the poison they'd all inhaled had vanished. For a heartbeat, Hope let himself fully appreciate the curative power of their Eidolons. They're really summoned... when we need them most.

A low moan came from several feet away from him - Carbuncle had dropped Lightning off by a tree, and she was rising to her feet. A burst of relief crowded through his consciousness: the summon must have healed her as well with its powerful cure spells. It was all he could do not to go running to her, and he had to hold himself back.

The few heartbeats it took for her to walk over to him felt like a fal'Cie had purposefully stretched them. She caught the relieved look on his face before she was even in range, and Hope winced at the sharp rap on his forehead when she neared him.

"Silly," she scolded softly. And for the umpteenth time that day, their eyes met. Hope found himself looking into her icy blue gaze, trying to discern the emotions behind it, wanting her to say something else. But there was nothing but the slight confusion, and the curious, yet shy relief, that swam in her expression as she gently pulled him forwards by the shoulder to catch up to Serah and Snow.

"Hey hey... it looks like we're all alright now!" Snow's confident voice interrupted their contact, and he felt her hand leave his shoulders. He was holding Serah appreciatively. "Looks like you saved us again, baby," he murmured to her, eliciting a giggle from her for the first time that day.

The big man's expression became serious as he continued. "A little too bad we lost the crystal, though."

He heard an amused snort from Lightning as she dug into something in her side for awhile, before procuring something she held between two slender fingers in utter triumph before their eyes. "What was that, Snow?"

The blond man's eyes were as big as saucers as he looked at the crystal in her fingers. A small smile was appearing on her lips. "Nice try... hero. Too bad I got this one."

Hope let himself enjoy her moment of victory, as Snow quickly snatched the jewel from his sister in law's fingers, turning it over and over like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time. A small bubble of appreciation rose in his chest, as he watched the 'family' that had so readily adopted him: Lightning rolling her eyes and she watched Serah and Snow chase each other around, the crystal now firmly gripped in Serah's small hand. I'm... really lucky. To have people who aren't even related to me care about me like this. There's no obligation for them other than what we've all been through. And that's the real blessing... truly a blessing disguised in a curse. The bond we share can't be destroyed because of what we were.

Unconsciously and accidentally Hope felt his head drop onto Lightning's shoulder, the way he would his mother's, as they watched the pair, the warm feeling inside increasing and beginning to mix with a happy surprise when she didn't push him away.

So yeah... Well. Carbuncle's Gestalt Mode as been revealed - sort of like a metal kite/glider thing that you can ride, if you think about its normal mode as how it appeared in Nautilus (with like... the clothes and stuff). Think of it like a giant flying cat thing that rides on the wind.

With Light snagging the crystal just before the place blows up... does that mean we're closer to our goal or does that just mean Yorun's been hiding stuff? *wriggles fingers evilly*

This chapter was a little on the short side, but rest assured, more goodies are yet to come!

Leave love as always in reviews, and I'll see you guys tomorrow!

Hearts!