Chapter Nineteen: Alone

Lightning felt surprisingly aware when she came to again some time after she lost consciousness. That was a peaceful rest, she thought in shock. Peaceful rests didn't occur anymore with her, not while Etro's curse was in effect. But the rest cleared her head so much and made her feel so refreshed that she didn't feel like questioning her stroke of good luck. "I'll worry about it later," she muttered as she stood up and looked around Serah's bedroom. Exactly as she left it, except there was no sunlight pouring in through the windows now. Only the faint glow of moonlight.

"I was out all day," she grunted with wide eyes. No way. She woke up midmorning that day in Caius's arms! She read Serah's journal and then passed it onto him for him to read while she came to this room to be surrounded in her sister's presence.

Where was Caius, anyway? There was no chance that he would have left her alone this long. He would have come looking for her. Now it seemed like it was time for her to seek him. He had to have been somewhere in the house. She walked out of Serah's bedroom and into the hallway, which was completely empty, before she returned to her own bedroom. "Caius?" she called as she stepped inside.

There was no sign of him, but there was something leaning against the wall that caught her attention. His weapon, Ragnarok, was leaning against the wall, just as it had been since the previous night. That was just another sign that he was somewhere in the house, because he wouldn't go anywhere without his weapon. Absolutely nothing could have caused him to leave that behind.

Yet as she searched the rest of the house, she realized that there was absolutely no sign of him anywhere. No food in the kitchen left sitting out, no television left on (not that she believed Caius would turn on the TV for entertainment—it was doubtful he even knew how to use a television), no nothing. Everything was exactly as Lightning had last seen it before her rest.

"I swear, if you're making me worry for nothing," she muttered as she hurried back to her bedroom. If he had just stepped outside for a breath of fresh air and she was running around the house looking for him like a panicked maniac, he would be sorry that he made her worry. She'd make him pay.

She strapped her own weapon back onto her belt before she picked up Caius's weapon, having no trouble with the weight of it since she was such a great warrior herself. She wasn't about to leave his weapon just sitting around here. Wherever he was, he should have had this on him. Even if he was just standing outside.

Outside was where she checked next. All around the house, and down at the beach (which she could see from her porch). Still no sign of him. The air was deathly silent as absolutely no people resided in Bodhum in this time right after the Purge. "Caius?" she dared to holler into the still air. No response. "Caius!"

Something wasn't right. Everything within her was alerting her to something being wrong. Caius was gone and his weapon was here. And he wouldn't have left her sleeping on Serah's bed. How convenient, that he disappeared while she was out cold…

It couldn't have just been coincidence. She was too cynical to believe that. There was only one thing left to check. That was the security system that she had set up. She rigged it special to go off whenever any chaotic magic was in the air. The computer should have shown if anything happened while she was asleep…And it did. When she got back inside and stared at the computer screen, she was shocked to see that there had been chaotic energy there soon after she fell asleep.

Etro. Etro must have taken Caius away somehow. Oh, if only Lightning had set up security cameras like she originally wanted to! Then she would have seen exactly what happened.

"Forget it, the details don't matter," she muttered to herself. All that mattered now was that she needed to get to Caius. He wasn't in this world anymore. Etro could have whisked him away to any time period. He could have been dead by now since she was out all day. "That's it!" she cried to herself. She was knocked out because Etro wanted to have access to Caius. And she succeeded. Lightning played right into her hands by falling asleep, not that she believed she had much choice in the matter. She had been out before she realized what happened.

Playing the blame game wasn't going to help anyone. She needed to go find Caius—or at least, some way to get to him. She feared she couldn't create the rifts anymore; her greatest desire was to be reunited with Serah. And since that wasn't possible, no rift would come from that desire.

The only thing that she could think to do was go outside and hope that the fresh air would give her inspiration. She carefully left the safety of her home while lugging Caius's weapon down to the beach with her. Hopefully the waves and the night stars would help her think of something. She felt so lost without Caius. It surprised her just who alone and aimless she felt without him by her side, even if she made a lot of the decisions when it came to where they were journeying and what they were doing.

"Lightning."

The ex soldier stopped walking, turning to look over her shoulder even if the voice that she heard was one that came within her own heart. "Yes, Odin?" she said in response to the eidolon that spoke to her.

"You will not find Caius here."

"Yeah, I know," she said bitterly. "But what else can I do? You know my heart is in too much turmoil to create the rift…" Admitting it was painful, even to somebody that already knew what she was experiencing. Odin resided in her heart when he wasn't with her physically, so he knew everything that she felt. The only reason she wasn't unnerved by that was because she knew Odin was bound to her; he wouldn't share her secrets with anyone.

Odin appeared in a cloud of darkness in front of Lightning, kneeling down slightly so that he could look at her a little more evenly. "You must prepare for the final battle," he said evenly, still speaking silently. "That is what awaits you next."

"Already?" she grunted. "I expected this to be a little more drawn out, since we've only met Etro herself once on this journey."

"Etro will not allow you and Caius to run around any longer. Finally, she sees you two as a threat that she will need to dispose of herself."

"What about that new enemy that appeared? That…phantom." The phantom had the same weapon as Serah, and the same shadow. It wasn't Serah, but it looked like her enough to shake Lightning up. Would she have to destroy this enemy?

"That I do not know. I only know that Etro has taken hold of Caius and taken him to Valhalla. She means to kill him."

"Then I need to get there, now!" Lightning said a bit more frantically. "Tell me how!"

"You know the way. It is not something that I can assist you with."

"You can't create rifts?"

"I cannot. The only thing that I am capable of is helping you in battle…And causing damage to your heart, unfortunately."

"Damaging my heart," she repeated, utterly confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Etro's curse is causing you to hear the screams of all the lost souls that she has cursed to damnation, and those that are dear to you. I am in the former group. Part of the screaming that torments you each and every night is mine."

"Okay, so you're cursed too. I already knew that—You told me before that you were once opposed to Etro, and that when you lost, she transformed you into an Eidolon. You can't help it if I hear your agony every night in my sleep."

"I cannot," he agreed. "Still, I apologize for adding to the pain."

"Don't sweat it."

"There is, however, one other matter that I must discuss with you immediately."

"I'm guessing it's related to you being cursed by Etro," Lightning supposed, believing that the topics were interlaced with each other.

"Yes. I believe that you should know now, before we go into the final battle, that I do plan on fighting with you where I can, and so do the other Eidolons. That is, until our time is up."

"What do you mean, until your time is up? In Valhalla, you Eidolons were able to fight with me for an unlimited amount of time because your home is Valhalla." Was Odin purposely trying to be cryptic? He really wasn't making sense here.

"What I mean is that once Etro is defeated permanently, I will fade out of existence. And so will the other Eidolons that may join us for the fight."

"W-What?" Lightning grunted, truly shocked. Odin would die?

"I will be free from my torment. My soul will rest and I can finally move onto whatever the afterlife holds for me."

Lightning was silent, studying him. His soul would be at rest. He'd be free and no longer need to serve Etro. Yet he was going to die. "Are you scared?" she asked quietly. The question asked so childish leaving her lips. She was asking a warrior if he was scared to die in a gentle tone of voice, soft and caring. Even if they both knew his death would turn out to be better than him, the thought of dying scared Lightning at least.

"Perhaps a small amount of it does scare me," Odin responded just as quietly as Lightning. "But continuing this life frightens me even more. I am ready to be free, Lightning."

Determination swelled inside of Lightning's heart as she stared at her faithful Eidolon—Her friend. "I'll do whatever it takes to set you free, then," she promised softly. "We'll fight it out together and both be free."

"Your promise comforts me. But now, I require another promise. Please. Remember to live once all of us finally go to our resting place. At least somebody deserves to live a fulfilling life."

"Okay," Lightning swore. "I'll do my best to live, in remembrance of the sacrifice you and the other Eidolons have made for us."

Odin nodded, outstretching one of his hands for Lightning to shake. He seemed so oddly human now, not that he had seemed inhuman before. This was just the first time that they had a discussion about what Eidolons felt, and just how human they still were. I will set you free, she silently promised once more as she took his hand. I promise you that.

Since that was all that Odin had to communicate to her, he faded away once more with her hand in his. He rejoined with her heart and left her by herself on the beach, though she wasn't alone. She was never alone anymore, not even when she was the only person around. She had family now, and they were with her wherever she went. It was only their spirits, but it was enough to make her feel like she wasn't fighting alone. Not anymore.

But standing on the beach, she became aware that she wasn't alone physically either. Somebody else was racing towards her. She gripped Caius's weapon with both hands, spinning around and facing the exact place that the person was coming from.

"Lightning!" Corin cried, running towards her. She grunted in surprise. Corin? How did he get to this time period? Still, it hardly mattered. He was holding something in his hands that belonged to her. The bullets that she and Caius had been working on the past few days. "Are you a fool?" he spat, stopping in front of her and panting because he was out of breath. "Why would you leave these sitting around?"

"Honestly, I forgot about them," she said to the breathless man. "Why does it matter to you?"

"I—I realized that you're right about Etro," Corin breathed. "She really is out to kill me because I couldn't finish off you and Caius. I don't want to serve a goddess that cruel, so I came here to warn you that she was sending an attack your way. It appears I'm too late."

"Yeah, Caius was taken away somehow," Lightning stated a bit absently, focused on something else he said. "You really see the truth now? That Etro is evil?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"It is, but I'm too cynical to believe you outright."

"You're the one who said I wasn't a bad person, just on the wrong side!"

"And being on the wrong side causes people to lie sometimes."

"If I was truly evil, would I have brought you the dragon bullets?" he asked, outstretching his hands and showing that all of them were accounted for and radiating with a faint light.

"Good point," she admitted, reaching forward with one hand and grasping them all. "Thanks."

As Lightning put the bullets into the pouch on her leg, she couldn't help but notice how Corin looked around as if he expected some attack at any moment. "I ran into that phantom again," he said lowly to Lightning, meeting her eyes after a few moments. "Her eyes were…familiar, somehow. You believe that the girl is your sister."

"No!" Lightning said quickly. Too harsh. Compose yourself. She took in a breath, calmer. "No, that's not my sister. Just a figure shaped to look and fight like her to mess with my head. It's not her. The eyes are different."

"Your voice sounds certain enough," Corin said as he studied her. "But is your heart?"

"I'm certain enough that I won't have problems defeating her when the time comes." Even if it was Serah…Well, it wasn't completely Serah. Maybe her soul was trapped, like that of Odin and the other Eidolons. If that was the case, defeating her and Etro would set her soul free… "Yes, I'm certain I can do it."

"Good. Because you are the only one who can defeat Etro."

"Not Caius?"

"Caius could too, I suppose," Corin responded. "But I'm guessing at the moment that he is weaponless."

At that, Lightning looked down at the hefty weapon that she held in her hand. "Yeah, I guess he is," she said quietly. With furrowed eyebrows, she looked back up at Corin and spoke her mind. "I need to get to him. Can you help me?"

"Unfortunately, I cannot help with creating the rift," he said with the shake of his head. "I attempted to get to Valhalla myself, but I could not. Apparently I really am Etro's enemy now…"

"I'm sorry she tricked you like she tricked me."

"At least-"

Corin never finished his sentence. From a great distance off, an arrow pierced the night air and soared rapidly for its target. Corin didn't even have time to turn around before he was struck. The arrow pierced his back, right into his heart.

Lightning's eyes widened as soon as she saw Corin's do the same. "Corin?" she asked, startled as she dropped Caius's weapon and put her hands on the older man's shoulders. "Corin!" Her eyes darted to his back, and she grunted when she saw the arrow was in deep enough to be a lethal hit. Beneath her hands, Corin sank down to his knees, and then, onto his side. Gasping for breath, pained in a way that if the arrow hadn't struck his heart, he would have died from the pain.

"I'll get it out," she panted, kneeling down in front of him and reaching for the arrow. "Just hold on."

His ragged breathing was the response, along with a hand coming up to grasp Lightning's. He was trying to stop her.

"Hold onto life, stupid, not me!" she snapped, shoving his hand away from her. Yet she knew what he was trying to convey.

Corin…didn't want to be saved.

Still, she wasn't about to just let him die. She yanked out the arrow quickly and seconds later, focused on at least ten Cure spells to try and heal the wound. "Corin," she breathed as the spells went off, her eyes darting to his face. Just as she completed her last spell, she finally took in his expression. His eyes were shut and his expression was hard. He was gone.

No. You just… He just died on her. She tried so hard to save him but she couldn't have been fast enough. It was too late to do anything else. Except get revenge.

Lightning looked out towards the end of the beach, seeing the shadowed figure standing about one hundred yards away from her. The arrow wasn't raised, so she wasn't here to kill Lightning. Like last time, she only came to finish off Corin. "Curse you," she breathed lowly, though she wasn't sure who she was speaking to—the figure or Etro. Her next sentence was directed at the latter. "He was faithful to you! In your mortal life, he was your adoring husband! You truly have no heart left within you."

She stood up, grabbing Caius's weapon as she started towards the shadow. "What are you still doing here?" she hissed in fury, stalking towards the phantom. "You finished with what Etro wanted you to do, or are you going to kill me too? I dare you to try. In case you didn't notice, I don't die easy."

As Lightning expected, the figure didn't speak to her. Instead, they faded away from this time period altogether. She was truly alone now. Alone with the body of Corin.

She walked back to his body, kneeling down by him and gazing at him with furrowed eyebrows. He hadn't deserved death. He wasn't a bad person; he had just been fighting on the wrong side this whole time. Until now. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you until your final moments," she said quietly to him. "I hope that you're at peace now."

It only took her a minute to decide on what she needed to do next. As frantic as she was to reach Caius in Valhalla, she knew that time didn't flow regularly there. Meaning that by the time she got there, he could either have just gotten there or…be long gone. Dead. She just had to pray that it wouldn't be the latter. There was something that she needed to do here before she went to save Caius.

Lightning went back to her home, and when she returned, she had a shovel. It took her a long time to dig a hole that was deep enough, but eventually, the deed was done. She lowered Corin into his grave as gently as she could, believing that she saw just a glimmer of peace on his expression.

Surprisingly, filling the hole back up with sand was one of the hardest things that she ever did. Again she was struck by how he didn't deserve death. He helped her in the end, became her ally. He knew that he would probably be targeted for coming to her here, yet he came to assist her anyway. For that, he would always have her thanks.

When the hole was filled again, Lightning forced herself to go back to her home. It was safe there this time; she was certain. If Etro wanted to take her to Valhalla, she would have done it through the phantom at the beach. "What do you want from me?" she hissed into the air angrily, pacing her living room. The sun was rising now, but hope wasn't rising with it. She was so lost. So, so lost. How was she supposed to save him if she couldn't create the rift?

But that was just it. She couldn't save him. She needed to get over her emotions over Serah so that she could get to him, but she couldn't let go of her sister now.

This must have been Etro's plan all along, Lightning thought as she sat down on the couch. To take Caius away while I'm stuck here. The question is, why aren't I dead? What use does she have for me still? What did she want with Caius? Did she want to convert him to her cause like she tried to do before? That phantom…Is it really Serah?

There were no answers to Lightning's questions. None at all. She swore in frustration, laying down on the couch and glaring at the ceiling. As soon as she was lying on her back, though, her eyelids felt heavy. "This…again?" she muttered, feeling exhaustion sweeping in and covering her raging emotions of worry, fear and anger.

The same as earlier, Lightning felt herself lose consciousness immediately. But she did not go to a dream world where she was tormented by screams. At least, not right away.

Instead, she stood in the middle of the darkness as a voice that was not her own spoke into it. "Lightning. Your heart is in conflict."

The light, soft voice that spoke to Lightning was as tranquil as ever. It was for that reason that Lightning didn't respond with a sarcastic response. It was pretty obvious her heart was in turmoil, because if it wasn't, she would have gone to get Caius already. "I recognize your voice," she said, looking around to try and see if the person was standing with her or just speaking to her out of nowhere. Behind where she had originally been facing, Lightning saw the young girl standing and gazing at her. "Yeul."

Yeul smiled faintly, holding a flower in her hands as she gazed at Lightning. "Are you glad that you are not experiencing torment tonight?"

"Yeah, but why?" she asked cautiously.

"It is so that I may speak to you."

"Then why didn't you speak to me earlier when I slept dreamlessly?"

"Because I was speaking to Caius," Yeul said gently. Lightning grunted her response. Yeul spoke to Caius? Was she in his dreams, or did she meet with him in reality? As if reading her mind, Yeul continued explaining. "I came as a messenger for Etro, to offer him a deal."

"Why would you serve Etro?" Lightning asked, furrowing her eyebrows in suspicion. "It's her curse that killed you and made you be reborn over and over again to suffer."

Yeul's eyes did soften at that remark. "Yes, my lives were filled with great sorrow," she said quietly. "But I do not view it as a curse. It was a blessing to have the power to see futures, even futures of sorrow. It was a blessing to meet so many wonderful people through that ability."

I find a hard time believing that, Lightning though with narrowed eyes. Still, Yeul continued speaking to her. "Concerning Caius, Etro wanted me to deliver a message to him. If he came with me to Valhalla, then Etro would restore me without her eyes so that I could live a normal life by Caius's side."

"And what did she want in return?" Lightning inquired lowly.

"Only that Caius leave you behind." Again, Lightning grunted in surprise, and Yeul continued her explanation. "Yes, Etro knew that your heart was roped with longing for your sister. She knew that you would be trapped in this era and forced to live here until the end of your days. She wanted you to remain trapped here for all eternity."

Again, Lightning was doubtful. As if Caius would leave her behind. Especially with his weapon. "Why did Caius leave without his weapon then?"

"Because," Yeul responded. "If Caius came to Valhalla with his weapon, he would surely attack the goddess. She wanted to speak plainly with him, so a part of the bargain was that he left his weapon here."

"And I'm supposed to believe that crap?" Lightning spat. Caius knew how treacherous Etro was! He wouldn't return to her without some kind of defense…And he wouldn't leave her behind. He wouldn't!

"The evidence is all around you, Lightning," the young girl stated gently. "He has left you. I suggest you do not try to go after him, because if you do, he will not hesitate to strike you down?"

"Yeah? With what weapon?" she hissed disbelievingly.

"He does not need a weapon to crush you. If you go to Valhalla and see for yourself that he has traded your life for mine, your heart will be destroyed. That is the destruction I am referring to.

"Do not seek him, Lightning," Yeul said as she faded away into the darkness. "He does not love you in return."

Just like that, the conversation was over and Lightning was left alone in the darkness once more, with thoughts that were just as dark as her surroundings.

She was alone.

*…*…*…*…*…*

'Ello people! So happy to update once again. As you can tell, the story is coming closer to the finale. Hard to believe that it's almost over! Sad, too. :/ But all good things must come to an end, I suppose.

Hannah-Abby- Gah, typos. I knew what I meant! xD I shall fix that.

Artemiangel- Those are realistic questions. Ones that I will not answer. x3

That's all I have to say for this week; sorry if I missed you—I'm multitasking at the moment. xD But, as always, drop a review off for me, and I'll see you guys again in about a week!

Peanut