A.N. This is a little bonus chappy. 'cause I 1. was too lazy to write it in the first place and 2. I kinda forgot it. Even if it's a bonus it's an inherent part of this story and the events will be mentioned in the next chappies.

Time Traveler

Bonus Chapter: Atlas

Lightning, Hope and Mog flew through the Historia Crux and came minutes later out of the time gate. They landed softly on the ground and looked around. They also knew this place, but it looked different, of course. „We're in the Bresha Ruins, right?", asked Hope, while Lightning nodded. „Yes. There are probably a few paradoxes we need to solve."

„We're in 005AF, kupo.", informed Mog when they entered the ruins. It was quite loud there, so they went faster to find out what was happening and saw a huge arm, that attacked them. The three time travelers dodged the attack and looked at this arm. „An arm?", asked Lightning and raised an eyebrow. „Looks like it and it seems it's not here with peaceful intentions.", said Hope and grabbed Mog, which transformed into the bow.

The two dodged another attack before they launched their counterattack. Hope attacked it with arrows, while Lightning attacked head-on. The arm attacked Lightning and tried to crush her, but she dodged and jumped on the hand. She quickly ran up and as she was high enough, she attacked the owner of this arm, before she landed back on the ground. „This is an invisible giant.", she said, before they could continue to fight, they were interrupted by airships that attacked with rockets and defeated the giant.

Mog turned back and cheered for their win, but went silent as they were surrounded by soldiers. „Who are you?", asked a soldier who pointed his gun at them. Before one of the two could say aything, another soldier spoke. „Do you see their uniforms? The boy is a member of the Academy and the woman is a sergeant in the Guardian Corps."

Hope looked at him annoyed, as the soldier called him "boy". „What are your names?", asked the soldier who first spoke with them. „Lightning Farron and Hope Estheim. We're not here to make trouble. We want to help.", said Lightning quietly, while the soldiers took their guns down. „THE Lightning Farron?", muttered a few soldiers. „Seems you're really popular, Light.", whispered Hope to her. „Maybe you can really help us.", said one soldier. „As you saw, the Titan Atlas makes trouble and threatens to destroy the whole ruins. If you would help us to get rid of him, we'll be very grateful." Lightning nodded and put away her Gunblade. „Easy task.", she said as she passed the soldiers. Hope Mog and followed her. „Do you think we can defeat it, Light?", asked Hope.

Lightning looked at him and smiled at him slightly. „What have I taught you? It's not a question of can or can't, there are some things in live you just do." Hope smiled back. „Yeah, right." Lightning, Hope and Mog went up a grand staircase, then suddenly Atlas' arm attacked, but they could dodge in time. „That was close.", said Hope. Atlas scared the shit out of him. For a titan that was a pretty quick attack. They went on and found the next time gate. Soldiers were all around it and examined it, but as they approached them they went silent. The two time travelers told them what kind of a device this was and that they needed it to continue their journey and immediately the soldiers left the gate alone and looked for other space-time anomalies. The three continued walking and noticed that there were a couple of tunnels in the ruins that formed a small maze.

They went in in one of the tunnels and looked around a bit. At the end of the tunnel, they already saw Atlas, who's waiting for them and was this time completely visible. They went out of the tunnel and wanted to go to it, but they didn't get far, because suddenly Yeul appeared in front of them. „Yeul? How did you get here?", asked Hope, who looked at her in shock. „I don't know what you mean.", said the seeress. „Maybe you've met another Yeul."

„Another Yeul, kupo?" Yeul nodded and continued on. „I'm one of many Yeuls. In each time period I will be reborn. I've seen both of you through the timeline, that's why I'm here now. But you don't want to fight right now, do you?" The three went silent. That was their plan, but maybe they should do something else before that? „Sometimes it's better to go back one step.", she advised, while the three of them looked puzzled. „What do you mean?", asked Lightning, while the seeress looked at her. „You'll see it soon.", she said, and went away. The three time travelers were silent and thought about what Yeul meant. „A step back? To the tunnels?", mumbled Hope thoughtfully. Meanwhile, Lightning got a strange feeling of dizziness and got a stinging headache. She turned away from them and pretended to think. Lightning felt as if she would faint any moment, but instead of seeing black, she saw pictures.

She saw a barren landscape, and there was utter chaos and the sky was gray and dark. Countless Titans roamed the area and fought themselves and in the midst of the chaos were she, Hope and Mog and fought against every single Titan. Then she saw that at the end of a tunnel a device is. It surely is very important. Then she came to herself. „Light? You know what Yeul meant?", asked Hope, who apparently didn't realize her weird condition. „Yes. I know what she meant.", replied Lightning and went right back into the tunnel, followed by Hope and Mog. „Where are you going, kupo?", asked Mog, which flew next to the pink-haired woman. „I know what to do. Just follow me.", she replied and went on until they reached an impasse in which this device was, that Lightning saw recently. However, it was covered by a Temporal Rift.

„We need to resolve this paradox.", said Lightning and went without another word into the Temporal rift. „Wait!", called Hope, and ran after her with Mog. The riddle, which they had to solve was different than those of Oerba, even though it almost looked like the same. It didn't looks like she had to connect the crystals like the last time. When Lightning entered the first plate, it started to shake and before it plunged into the depths she quickly went to the next. When she came in contact with one of the crystals and it fused to her. She probably had to collect the crystals and go to the portal, without falling down. Then Lightning collected all the crystals and made sure that the way out was exposed and went to the other site. She had to repeat this riddle for a few time times before they solved the paradox and got back into the tunnel of the Bresha Ruins.

„Are you going to tell me what you've planned?", asked Hope, while Lightning turned on the device. „I just know that it's important. We'll see what happens." She activated it and wanted to go back again, but then they were attacked by a dark magic wave. Hope and Mog were hit, thrown against the wall and fell unconscious to the ground. „Hope!", called Lightning and was about to run to him, but another attack stopped her. She looked in the direction from where the attack came from and saw the purple-haired guy who called himself Caius. „You...!", said Lightning and took her Gunblade. „What are you doing here?", she asked, while watching every move he made. „I wanted to tell you that your intentions are pointless. Even if you resolve the paradoxes, you won't change the fate of the world.", he said with a deep, creepy voice. „Oh, and why not?", asked Lightning, whose eyes were still fixed on him. „Because Yeul showed me the future. Cocoon will fall and the chaos of Valhalla will get to the real world." „We'll prevent this!"

„I don't think so.", he said with a smile and then his chest began to glow red. Lightning's eyes widened as she saw it. „That glow..."

„The heart of chaos beats in my chest. A manifestation of Etro. If it stops beating, the goddess will fall and the chaos is released."

„And what happens to the world?"

„The time line will completely destroyed, the history will be erased, and time ceases to flow." Lightning acted as if his plan of destroying the time line doesn't get the better of her. „So you just want to destroy everything?"

„Mortality is part of life. If there is no time, there is no future. And then Yeul is free of her curse."

„What curse?"

„The curse of being a seeress, to have to watch all the changes in the timeline, to die over and over again, being reborn to die once again.", he said, angrily and attacked Lightning with his huge sword. The pink-haired woman blocked the attack and saw him in his violet eyes. „Does Yeul want this? Have you ever asked her what SHE wants? What relationship do you even have with her?"

„I'm her guardian. I protect her since I can remember. And why would she doesn't want this? Who would want to voluntarily keep the fate of a seeress?", he said and pushed her away. Lightning landed a few meter away on her feet and went back into her fight stance. Lightning had no answer. If you would be like Yeul, she would want to get rid of this ability...In this moment Hope woke up. Lightning wanted to go to him, but Caius prevented her from going to him and attacked her again with this dark magic wave. Hope stood up quickly and woke Mog up. As the Moogle finally woke up it turned into the bow and Hope attacked their enemy with arrows to help Lightning in the fight. Lightning and Hope lured him outside so that Caius won't damage the device and then attacked him again.

Caius was incredibly strong, but what they lacked in strength, they made up for it with speed. Lightning ran up to him and dodged his magical attacks. When she was close enough, she attacked him, but tried to avoid his heart. Hope remained in the background and attacked Caius from the distance. A few minutes later they finally defeated him, but then a light and white feathers appeared above him and he stood up again, as if nothing happened. „Just give up. You can not change the fate of the world.", he said and then disappeared, without waiting for their reply. „Whatever he's up to...We can't give up.", said Hope, while Lightning nodded silently.

„Come on, we still need to take care of Atlas.", said Lightning after a moment of silence and went to the Titan, while Hope and Mog her followed. „I don't know...it still looks pretty strong...", said Hope. „Kupopo.", agreed Mog and nodded. „Don't worry. Everything's under control.", assured Lightning and went straight to Atlas, who still destroys the ruins. The pink-haired woman caught the Titans attention by shooting at him. Atlas turned to her and tried to grab her, but she could dodge. Then she shot at him again and made sure that she kept moving, or else the Titan would crush her. Hope copied her tactic. He also kept moving and shot arrows at him. Then he ran up on a broken piece of the ruin, which laid quite favorable for him. Atlas tried to grab him, but Hope climbed onto his hand and ran, like Lightning did recently, up his arm, while he continues to shoot arrows at him. Lightning did the same on his other arm and as the two arrived at his shoulder, they attacked his head. When they saw that he wanted to catch them again, they pushed away from him and landed on a ruined part that wasn't destroyed.

They were right behind him and stood so high that they found a crystal on his neck. „That must be his weak point.", said Lightning. Then she threw her Gunblade at the crystal and the blade got stuck in it. „Shoot, Hope!" The silver-haired nodded and shot a big arrow at the crystal and destroyed it immediately. Lightning's Gunblade was thrown out, but luckily it flew in her direction and she could catch it without hassle. Atlas roared when the crystal was destroyed and fell to the ground, thereby destroying even more parts of the ruins. Then, the Titan disappeared and as if by magic the ruins reconstructed itself again. „We've probably solved the paradox.", said Hope, and watched as the ruins lined up again. Mog turned back and looked at it too. „You did it, kupo!", she said cheerfully, while Hope and Lightning jumped down and landed softly on the ground.

„We'll take a break and then go to the next time.", decided Lightning and moved on. „Can it be that you've weakened Atlas with this device?", asked Hope, as he followed her and Mog. „Yes, maybe. He was actually weaker than before, wasn't he?" Hope nodded in agreement, but one thing doesn't let him go. „But how did you know about that? Yeul hadn't even said it." Lightning was silent for a moment. She should keep it for herself, she didn't want Hope to get worried. „I just knew it. I've heard that there is such a device and the fact that there was a paradox, let me guess, that it had something to do with all this."

„Oh...", said Hope who apparently bought everything. As they passed some soldiers, Lightning reported their victory against the Titan and that the device in the second tunnel weakened it. The soldiers thanked them for their help and gave them in exchange useful items, and 2000 Gil. „If we continue like this we're gonna be rich, kupo!"

„Who would have thought that Mog's so greedy?", said Hope and chuckling, while Mog went on. „Why not, kupo? If we continue to help the soldiers here, they give us more Gil and I'll be the richest Moogle in the world, hihi, kupopopo!"

„We won't stay here.", said Lightning, who also sounded a bit amused by Mogs statement. Mog pouted, while Hope poked her. „Don't pout, Mog. We will certainly earn a lot of money.", said the silver-haired man and grinned at the Moogle. „I hope so, kupo!" The three went to the time gate and suddenly Yeul reappeared again. „What is it Yeul?", asked Hope and looked at her confused. Yeul looked at the three time traveler. „You can change the fate of the world and you MUST do it.", she said and then looked to Lightning. „You know what will happen. Caius is right with what he said. But if you change the time line, to rescue a seeress, even worse things will happen to the humans. You'll have to stop him and prevent that he changes the time line."

Hope didn't understand anything of what Yeul said, Lightning, on the other side, understood everything and nodded. „Then you can count on us. But you work together, why do you want us to stop him?"

„If he changes the timeline, he's going to wipe out all humanity. As I said: A farseer, or Guardian are not allowed to change the time line to save their own lives or something bad will happen to the world." Even though Hope still didn't get what she meant, he nodded. „We would've fought him either way. We've seen that we have to fight him. We didn't know the reason why, but if you say that he wants to change the time line, we have to stop him, of course."

„But it's a difficult task for you. Only a select few can beat him, because you need to know...Caius is beyond death." The eyes of the two widened in shock. „The Goddess Etro blessed him and made him my guardian. Whoever beat him must take his place as guardian, but if you can't take his place..." Yeul stopped for a moment, before she went on. „Maybe you can find a way to escape this fate.", said Yeul and went away again. „Good luck on your journey.", she said, before she disappeared. „Immortal...", said Hope, who was always still pretty shocked. „That makes things more complicated..." And as long as he has the heart of chaos inside him, it would be impossible for us to defeat him..., added Lightning in her mind. „Yes...We have to find a way to defeat him. Maybe we can find someone who can be the next guardian? But let's take care of the paradoxes first." Hope nodded consent. „Yes, that's just the most important thing to do for now." The two sat down somewhere near the portal to rest for a while. „Hey, Light?"

„Hm?"

„You know...I was wondering...I mean...Yeul told us when we change the future, we change the past, right?"

„That's what she said."

„Do you think we can change the past so far that we'll be able to...save my mother?" Lightning was silent for a while and thought. This may be possible, but...„I don't know. If your mother would be saved, you never had a reason to follow Snow and you weren't involved in this whole l'Cie thing...which, of course, would have been the best for you. This way you never had to fight for your life."

„But I would never have became stronger and wouldn't have met you guys..." Lightning nodded. „That's right. You can have only one of them. Save your mother and live a normal life, or get involved in these battles." Hope said nothing then. He put his arms on his knees and looked into the distance. Lightning also thought something similar. She could change the past and save Serah before she even became a l'Cie...

Hope kept thinking about what Lightning told him. He could have just one of them. He knew that they couldn't change this past, but he still thought about what he would choose, if he could. His mother, who was always there for him when his father wasn't, or to fight, becoming stronger and more independent, meet new friends and also...Hope glanced briefly to Lightning, who was sunk in thought too. He couldn't even turn his eyes from her. The sun was at its zenith in this time and her pink hair seemed to glitter and shine. Hope gulped and had to pull himself together to not touch her, to feel if her hair is really so soft as it looks like. A moment later she turned to him and looked at him quizzically. The silver-haired man looked into her sapphire blue eyes and was completely mesmerized. He didn't even blink, to not miss a second of this moment. „What are you staring at me like that? Have I something on my face?", she asked, while Hope awoke from his trance.

„No, nothing!", he said quickly, while looking away from her. „Nothing at all!" Then it was quiet again. Hope kept looking away from her and didn't dare to look back at her. He just hoped that she didn't see his blush and that she wouldn't hear his heart beat which probably beats ten times faster than normal. His heart was beating so fast not because she caught him staring, okay a bit of this shock was there too, but his heart beats faster when he's even looking at her.

And he thought that after the ten years, that he hadn't seen her, he would no longer react like this anymore...Then he looked down and saw that Mog was asleep, or perhaps pretended to be asleep. „Shall we go then?", asked Hope, still didn't dare to look at Lightning. „Sure.", she replied and stood up. Hope poked Mog stood up too. „Come on, Mog.", he said, as Mog uttered a "Kupo?". Then the three went back to the time gate and went through it, into the Historia Crux.

A.N. So that was the bonus chappy. I know it's a really small chapter, but it's actually more than I expected O.o Anyway...In this chappy I used all the ideas I couldn't bring in in the next chappies (and there are also the ones I completely forgot). And because the next few ones don't really have much fluff in there, I took this chance to put some fluff in here^^ And because it's not my style to write just one-sided, I always change the POVs. I hope it's okay with you, 'cause I want to express the feelings of them both.^^

And don't forget to REVIEW! x3 (update in one week from now)