So hey guys, and thanks for tuning into the next chapter of NR! (:
Thanks to: Lightarcana, that One Reviewee (thank you so much for your input~ bah, finals *shudders* Glad exams are behind me. And well, I hope the ending I have planned is classified as 'happy' for you all), GCFarron, H-thar (I will def. check that out, thanks!), Whistlewind Wolf (Yeah, it was originally going to have around 65-70, but I cut out some stuff, and merged some chapters together, so the final chapter count will be closer to 60 than 65), thewhitespirit, Erifrats101(awh, thank you!), Zapper90, and Mylaervain! I couldn't have made it this far without all of you, and I will do my best to continue into the final chapters. And, of course, props as always to LadyAlaska! n_n
One more bit of news to share with y'all: the Lightning DLC - Requiem of a Goddess - release date has been announced! It's coming out on the same day as the Snow DLC: May 15th, 2012. I can't wait to play it! 8D
Enjoy as always!
Chapter 55: Scars That Won't Heal
Snow stuffed a last sandwich into his mouth as he glanced outside at the setting sun, chewing rapidly. When I'll eat again, well, that's up to the Maker. He tried to suppress the bundle of anxiety that rose up in his stomach at those thoughts - the full moon was already prominent on the other side of the golden and navy sky. This is it. The predicted night of the Eclipse. Tonight... we either finish this, or the world as we know it is destroyed. Serah... baby, I promise, we'll do this for you. I won't let you down. I'll never forget you, never stop loving you. But tonight, this ends. I swear.
A small scuffle of cloth came by somewhere to the right of his waist - Hope. "Are you ready for this?" he asked quietly. Snow gave the platinum haired teenager a quick thumbs up, shoving his grief for Serah to the back of his mind, pushing down the sadness and pain.
"We've never not been ready. Ever since this whole thing started, we've always fought to end this. And tonight," He slammed his left fist into his palm. "It ends." He heard a small, soft snort behind him, turning away from the last few dying rays of sunlight to face Lightning. She had one arm crossed over her chest, but there was no mocking or degrading look in her eyes as she slowly took a few steps forward.
"I hope that you intend to keep that vow," she murmured quietly, blue eyes impassive and unreadable.
Snow allowed himself a small grin. "You got it, Sis." He paused, taking a breath before continuing. "For Serah... too." An unsubdued flicker of pain crossed her features, and Snow saw her swallow suddenly, her right hand instinctively curling to a slim fist. Ah shit... I didn't mean-
But she didn't cut him off, didn't screech at him. He saw her push away the doubt in her expression, slowly fixing him with the intense cerulean gaze he had always associated the old Lightning, the one that didn't spend half her days in self doubt and depression. "I know." The words were flat, carefully controlled to an emotionless statement, but the tone in it was firm.
Snow made his way over to the glass dining room table, slowly spreading the piece of paper the army had given him flat on the smooth transparent surface, pressing his palms to the edges. "Here's the projected battle plan. The citizens, or what we could evacuate in time of them, are gone. The clones will probably reach Bodhum tonight, and fight their way to Cocoon. Most of the army -including Sazh, who'll be helping 'em out- will be in town, fending off as much of them as possible, but the big shots will be at the base of Cocoon. We don't know how the hell those creeps plan to make it into the crystal, but hey, whatever floats their boat. They probably have some plan figured out for that."
"What about the citizens that are left?" Hope inquired quietly from his side, looking at the map from beside his thick arm.
"They're the ones who chose to stay and fight," he hissed out through gritted teeth. "But that's not important - the bastard's got two crystals and we need to buy enough time for the citizens to get out of range of the umbra before he actuates the full strength of the Eclipse and drowns this place in monsters and shadows before sauntering in to take power."
A slender hand slowly sank against the paper, fingers curling into a fist. "So we're nothing but soldiers to buy time?" It was impossible to tell what Lightning was thinking - pink bangs hung over her face, obscuring her features from sight, but her voice was carefully neutral, though Snow could hear the anger and shrewd... She's planning something... isn't she?
Raking a hand through his coarse blond hair before retying his bandanna, Snow let out a sigh. "No, Sis, you know as well as I do we're taking the creep out before any of that crap happens. I'm just explaining the worst case scenario, aight?" She shot him a glare that might have scared him if the sudden pain and doubt in her eyes didn't unsettle him so much.
"Right..." A sudden tremor ripped through the Gran Pulse earth, and Snow whipped around, seeing the last edge of the sun dip below the uneven horizon of the hills and mountains, turning Cocoon's shell a brilliant blood red in the dying light. Dark shapes were easily visible in the fading visibility, and he realized with a heartbeat of dread that the clones were already here - right outside in the lawn.
Pushing his way out the back patio door, he heard the distinctive click of a gunblade being drawn just behind him as the three of them stood there, facing the half dozen black hooded figures standing in the unkempt grass of the verdant Gran Pulse landscape, their red eyes visible in the gloom. Snow raised his fists, all fear and frustration gone as he stared at the enemies.
No. Hell no I'll let that become this place's future. For Serah, for Sis and Hope... for the future we all wanted to fight for. This is... our fight!
Lightning raised the gunblade to attack position, taking a breath, before she realized that both Snow and Hope were looking expectantly at her. Right... But- She shoved the doubt right back down her throat, pushing away the insecurities. It had taken both them a long time to convince her, and for her to realize, that she had to keep fighting. I have to keep going. Because I want the future I've always been fighting for. I want to see it happen. Even without Serah... even though after this there will be nothing left to continue for, I want... I want that future to exist.
"Relentless Assault." The command was quiet, but this time, there was no hesitation in her voice. Moving forward with Snow, she sent a Ruin into the nearest one, still marvelling at how easily the magic rushed down her left hand from her brand now. Maybe it's because I finally got my priorities figured out again. Maybe it's because... I've realized that there are still things left I have to fight for. An Aeroga slammed into the ground beside her, tearing blades of grass from their earthen holds, the gust of wind pulling at the twilight trees. She saw more than one enemy get caught in Hope's spell, turning to slice at one of the ones that remained, sinking the blade of the omega weapon into the shoulder of one before a second Ruin left her hand, knocking him away from her. She was greeted by the wisps of black smoke as a second Aeroga tore apart the ferns and bracken at the edge of the forest that lined her property, several black hoods caught in its embrace.
Throwing a Ruinga into the mess of spells that were now focussed on the tornado of wind, Lightning tried to discern how many more there were, but that was impossible. Night was quickly falling, and the warm light that had been left behind by the last vestiges of sunlight were giving way to the icy cold blaze of stars overhead. Stray moonbeams from the steadily rising full moon behind her back helped light the way, but with every inch that it crept through the indigo sky, the more precious moments that ticked away until their deadline.
Snow sent an Aquastrike into the face of one that survived the onslaught of magic as the clone hit a tree before dissipating into black smoke. Slowly, she made her way forward, facing the crystal shell of Cocoon that was touched to a bluish lightness in the moonlight. How much time... do we have left? Something small tugged at the black sleeve on her left arm, and she found herself looking into the expectant green gaze of Hope. "What?"
"That's where they're headed now... isn't it?" The question was shrewd and flat - more of a statement than an inquiry. Snow's boots crunched through the grass and dried bracken to stand beside them in the spanse of landscape that lay between them and... And where it all began.
"You bet, kid." He cracked his knuckles. "That's where we're headed. So, c'mon, let's go... what are we waiting for? The army will take care of Bodhum." His voice dropped several levels in volume until it was a deadly hiss. "We have a score to settle." Deftly leaping down the small ledges that led down the cliffside from the back of their house, the blond brawler set a face pace, establishing a firm lead as he set off in the direction of the inevitable fight that was waiting for them.
Lightning stayed behind him, discreetly and silently helping Hope down the ledges, not minding, but hating herself, when their hands remained in contact for more time than they should have been. You still need... to be protected. And Maker knows I'll make sure of that. I won't let Serah's fate become yours. There was no need to explain that sentiment to him - she had a feeling he knew that.
What disturbed her was that he seemed to have the same obligation towards her... which she did not want. I can't... I can't give you what... I can't continue with where this is going. As much as I might want it to... you don't want to spend the rest of your life with someone... with someone who will never be able to let go of her pain and her past.
After the day the doctor visited, that much was painfully evident to her. No matter how much she thought she 'needed' him, no matter how much... As much as I hate to admit it... No matter how much I want his support, I can't drag him down with me. That's how... that's how Serah died. Love, romance... whatever the hell this is supposed to be... it can't. I can't let it ruin him. She couldn't let herself associate like that with anyone else any longer. It seems that the people I love are always the people getting hurt. And this time, Lightning knew she couldn't let anyone else get harmed because of their association with her, no matter what her feelings and thoughts were.
And so, all I can do, is continue protecting you until I see the future I want come to fruition.
She could only hope he understood that too.
Following the quick pace set by Snow and Lightning, Hope tried to adjust to their speed, but it was difficult. They're both taller than me... Seeing the slight breeze catch her red cape in a billow behind her, Hope tried to discern what she was thinking. I know... I know she means more than anyone else to me. That much had been established early, and he was in no way embarrassed or scared to admit that to her. But just like before, apart from all that, he didn't know what else there was. Or... he thought he knew, but was so terrified and intimidated by it that the thought sent him shying away like a flan retreating from a flare attack.
What am I supposed to say to her?
Briefly, Hope wondered if there was any need to say anything to her anymore - he suspected she knew, but if she had figured it out, she hadn't said anything. Why can't this be easier than it is? he thought miserably to himself. He knew she needed him, and that was more than enough. Was it really unfair of him to expect anything else out of their relationship, when he knew that even if she tried to hide it now, she was still grieving inside for Serah? It was unfair to her, he knew that, but the selfish side of him told him that it wasn't.
Hadn't he stayed with her since Serah's death, helped her up, kept her going? That much had to mean something, right?
It had surprised him when he no longer felt awkward or shy when holding her hands or hugging her. All that remained was the warmth. Maybe it was wrong to think that way too, but... But are we really that different? Apart from their ages, were they really that dissimilar and antithetic? The familiar flush of heat was creeping up his neck again, even in the rapidly cooling night air that was beginning to settle around them, wrapping them in its icy shroud. I want her to be happy too...
She hadn't offered him anything else apart from the warm embraces from a few days ago since then, their moment of connection beside the rainy windowsill... but the moment had been so intense that he didn't see how... It was impossible for her to not have noticed. Afraid of her reaction afterwards, Hope had kept a small distance between them for awhile, only to find that neither of them was comfortable with the distance. There had been a shadow that lurked in her expression afterwards that he couldn't place, but she had readily accepted the contact. Light...
"Hold up," he heard Snow hiss somewhere in front of him, and Hope jerked his head up out of his thoughts. The big man was silhouetted against the rapidly brightening moonlight as the silvery orb climbed steadily higher into the sky, and he could see that Snow's fists were raised. Running the last few steps to catch up with him, Hope stopped at his shoulder, panting slightly as he tried to see what Snow was looking at.
He heard a weapon being drawn behind him as the black metal of the omega weapon caught in a flash of moonlight. "What, Snow?" Lightning's voice was chipped and emotionless, and he knew she was also trying to see what exactly had made Snow stop in his tracks. He followed the black gloved finger of Snow's large hand as the big man pointed in the distance to the shell of Cocoon that was steadily growing larger on the horizon.
"That." Squinting, Hope tried to make out the fuzzy, small shapes clustered at its base. He could see the crystal spikes that poked up through the dusty earth at the bottom of the shimmering curve of crystal, but apart from that, he couldn't see anything unusual.
"What... are we supposed to be looking at?" He tried not to make the question sound too skeptical, and he heard Snow give a sigh of exasperation, before the blond brawler took off at a faster pace than before, almost to a near run. Struggling to keep up with the big man, he heard Lightning push herself into a quicker pace, keeping just behind him.
"Can't you guys see what's around the spiky crystal? Those clones... it's already a battle there!" Snow didn't give any further insights before taking off at a flat out run, leaving both him and Lightning to chase after him. Trying to see what Snow had, Hope squinted again into the distance, a hammer of fear striking his heartbeat when indeed, he could see flashes of weapons that caught the moon's light and the tiny flares of spells that were growing bigger by the second as they started across the barren, scrubby Gran Pulse landscape, trying to keep up with the burly figure of Snow.
The big man had stopped just out of the range of the shadow cast by Cocoon's illuminated shell, watching the action unfold in front of their eyes. Once glance and Hope knew the army and clones were fighting a tied battle, with neither side gaining the upper hand, locked in a stalemate. But there were more clones than there were soldiers, and even thought the army had the advantage with snipers and more modern weapons, one soldier could only take so much Firas before one of the spells dropped them like rocks. Hope could see some clones attempting to make their way up the slender column that held the frozen floating paradise far up above their heads, some crashing back down, pulled by gravity, while others managed to find some miraculous purchase on the smooth crystal.
Snow had fearlessly charged ahead, and he could see the Waterga crash into the ground as Snow threw himself into the fight.
"Snow, we don't have time to help everyone out!" Lightning's desperate cry crashed into his left ear as Hope set his eyes on her distinctive red cape as he followed her, weaving through the chaos that was happening on both sides of him, fending off some of the stray attacks with Nue as they made their way through the fighting, trying to dodge most of the clashing battles.
Swerving under the curved flash of a scythe, Hope chased after her, with Snow now behind them as the big man stumbled after them, still casting spells behind his shoulder. He'll never stop... being the 'hero', will he?
Panting, reaching the bottom of Cocoon's curve, Hope looked up, seeing the matrix of intricately intertwined crystal pillars and strands that crisscrossed the bottom portion of the shell. There were still clones, far above their heads, trying to reach the top of the curve and back into the floating world. Something akin to panic pushed down his throat when Hope saw that there was already the thinnest filaments of cracks that spawned near the connection point between the pillar and the crystallized world. They couldn't have already made it... could they?
He heard Snow curse under his breath as the big man caught up to them.
"We have to get up there somehow," he heard Lightning hiss. Her tone was a little shaky - he could see a shadow of some doubt cross her expression before she visibly pushed it away; Hope saw her swallow and close her eyes for a long moment before opening them again. "This is what we've been fighting for... all along, isn't it?" Her voice was much quieter this time, but it held the deadly icy determination that instantly reminded him of the old Lightning.
"You got it, Sis." Snow gave her a fleeting thumbs up, as they all turned their gazes up towards Cocoon, its smooth curve touched to an impossibly bright shimmer in the moonlight that was slowly creeping up to its zenith. Slowly, Snow picked his way over to the bottom of the pillar, the crystal arrays there jagged and unpatterned, but somehow, complimenting the structure as a whole. Hope heard him start muttering to himself. "How do we get up there..."
Following Lightning as she trailed after him, Hope found himself surrounded amongst the crystal structures that bloomed from the base of the pillar. Inside the translucent, glimmering arrangements of soft blue crystal, the sounds of the battle that was still raging just fifty feet away from them were muted, echoing off the walls of light, but somehow muffled at the same time. Hope realized he could hear -and feel- his heartbeat hammering away in his chest as he picked his way through the spikes and jags that protruded from the ground. Snow's yell of triumph also sounded distant when it came not five minutes later.
Hearing Lightning pick up her pace just ahead of him, he pushed through the crystal, intent on keeping up with her as they emerged into the clearer space just below the large structures that nestled against the pillar's base. Snow was tugging on a black cable that dangled from above. He saw her give it a scrutinizing glance. "What if they cut it when we're climbing?"
"Let's... just not worry about that, Sis," Snow offered, patting the back of his neck. "It's the only thing we've got right now." The big man didn't even wait for her approval before pulling the end of the rope tight and beginning to climb. Hope felt a small shove to his back as Lightning pushed him forwards towards it.
"Go." Swallowing the thought of climbing that high, he hesitantly made his way to the end of the rope left by Snow, taking it into his hands slowly and unsurely. I'm not sure if... She seemed to sense his hesitation. "I'll keep you safe," she vowed quietly, when his timid green gaze met her icy blue one.
"I'll keep you safe." Those were the exact same words, the exact same vow she made to him in Palumpolum. "Light-" He cut himself off, seeing the indecision that still clouded the back of her expression when she saw that he still hesitated. She doesn't need to hear this... now. Taking a breath, Hope voiced the sentence that he thought she would be okay with hearing, the sentence that he knew to be true. "I'll watch out for you too."
Turning his attention to the rope that dangled from the bottom curve of Cocoon's crystal shell, Hope didn't see the flicker of pain and doubt that crossed her expression as the words left his mouth. He didn't see her open her mouth to say something else, before resolutely pressing her lips shut.
The wide, floating, crystal world of Cocoon looked different from the inside. Crossed with a matrix of intertwining and entangled crystal pillars, structures and vines alike, the bright light of the moon was muted inside the soft periwinkle casing as Lightning slowly pulled herself up into the cracked hole left in the bottom of the shell.
It was ominously silent - she couldn't even see the battle that was still being fought so many yards below them: the crystal muted out all other sound, and for a moment, all she could do was stand there, looking at what had become of Cocoon since the months that they had last set foot in the floating world. Hope's hand instinctively found hers - for a moment, Lightning was tempted to twitch her fingers out of his before something else suppressed that. There's no reason... to make him angry, when... She knew perfectly why she was hesitating now. The last time I was here... Serah still existed. She had to have made some noise to acknowledge that fact because the next thing she knew, both Snow and Hope were staring at her, concern evident in their gazes.
"Light... what's wrong?" Burying her face in her other hand, it was a few long, agonizing heartbeats before Lightning thought she had mustered the inner equilibrium to reply, fighting the panic and pain that rose like a flame when a spark was touched to wood inside her.
"Sorry..." The quiet mutter was slightly choked, the next words coming out as a hoarse whisper. "Serah..." Rough hands settled on her shoulders, and she couldn't even push them off of her because Hope's fingers were locked with those on her left hand. Lightning found herself looking up at the burdened, but stern gaze of Snow.
"You promised you were going to keep living, Sis. Don't give up now."
"I know that!" The harsh tones left her mouth before she even realized what she was saying. "I know that..." Pressing the fingers of her right hand over her mouth, she took another breath before continuing. "It's just... I can't stop thinking about her... here." Hope's grip on her gloved left hand was growing uncomfortably painful, but she let it go - she needed the distraction at the moment.
Snow let go of her. "I know. I know what you mean," he asserted quietly. "She's here too. But we have something to do. Don't lose sight of that, aight, Sis?" Meeting his ocean blue gaze, she nodded. Once. He gave her one in return, before setting off amongst the crystallized structures of trees and ferns, some untouched by the eternal blue grasp of crystallization, others who were encased in the shimmering blue structures. There was the soft sound of running water in the distance, but apart from that, it was silent - there wasn't even the wind to disturb the landscape here. Pulling away gently from Hope, Lightning took another steadying breath before turning to follow Snow, Hope tagging after her.
"This is the Sunleth Waterscape," he murmured quietly. There was a pause. "Light, you're okay, right?" His second sentence betrayed his concern and fear, as she stopped and turned around to look at him.
"I think so." He deserved the honest answer, if nothing else. "Come on," she murmured quietly, setting off after Snow again, boots making an unnaturally loud sound in the dead silence of the Waterscape. "Let's go." Lightning didn't think she could tell him that she couldn't continue to keep eye contact with him for fear that he would utterly expose the inner vulnerability inside that seemed to rise so easily these days now. I can't let people who care about me get hurt again... even if it hurts, even if I need them, I can't keep them close if I want them to be happy.
And that's the one thing I want... above all.
*pets Hope* Poor Hopekins... he really cares about her and all Light can think about is that she cares about him too, but she can't let it go any further because she doesn't want him hurt. *sighs* Light, you're one stubborn person... Anyways, things will really start heating up from here now, as we're just a mere few chapters from the end. *runs around screaming*
Leave love as always, and I'll see y'all tomorrow!
Hearts~