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Chapter Two: Limit Break

The cycle repeated

As explosions broke in the sky

All that I needed

Was the one thing I couldn't find

~BURN IT DOWN – Linkin Park

A single word formed on Caius Ballad's lips as he stepped down from out of the air. He glanced up at the dark skies and the ruins surrounding him and knew he'd arrived exactly where he'd intended to. He smirked.

"Valhalla."

Higher up, standing guard over the Unseen Realm, was the crystalline warrior. But she was no longer crystallized. She was whole, alive, in the flesh.

Lightning breathed into the icy breeze that suddenly seemed to tear her from her thoughts. The last thing she wanted was to be disturbed, but suddenly, something was different, something was off. She remembered being frozen inside dreams, and then suddenly, she was standing there, at the balcony, looking out at an all-too-familiar face.

"Caius," she hissed. As if on cue, she then watched him as he leaped into the air, coming straight for the spot where she stood.

She drew her sword and rushed at him.

Their blades crossed once more as he closed the distance between the two of them. "And what brings you back to Valhalla?" Lightning muttered.

"You should know very well what brings me here," Caius replied. He was just inches away from her, close enough that she could feel his breath against her skin.

Shivering at the sensation, she disengaged, vaulted to higher ground. Caius stayed right where he was, his trademark smirk dancing across his face.

"You should be dead!" she said, jumping at him. He blocked, their swords clashing yet again.

Then he was pushing her back, forcing her to the edge of the platform. "And you should be crystal."

Lightning executed a perfect flying leap into the air, somersaulting over him and landing on his other side. She slashed out towards his back, but he spun and blocked again before her blade could touch him.

"Tell me why you're here," she gasped through clenched teeth.

Again Caius smiled, a poisonous smile that told of his knowing more than she did. "You can see all in Valhalla. You should tell me."

She could feel his distraction—the force of his blade was lessening. "Because you want to die?" she shouted, landing a kick to his stomach that sent him flying.

Lightning sprang into the air, her feet touching the ground next to him as he struggled to bring himself upright again. But before she could ready her sword, Caius kicked his foot out, sweeping her legs out from under her. In an effort to keep her balance she fell forward with her weight on her sword.

It was a wrong move.

"Revenge," said Caius. "The timeline has been altered."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lightning hissed.

He pressed his blade down against the back of her neck. "Yes, you do."

"Well then in that case—" She struggled to regain control of her sword. "—I must need a reminder!"

With those words she swept her hand upward, causing an explosion right behind him. Caius spun around as the stone of the nearest building was blasted in all directions. While he was distracted, Lightning escaped his blade and distanced herself from him. She commanded the gravity with her thoughts, pulled the shards of rock down over his head. With that it was silent—at least for a few moments.

"You cannot beat me," Caius's voice said from out of nowhere.

Lightning turned almost too late to see his shadowy form crashing down upon her. She swung her sword, but managed only to cut through thin air. Before she knew what was happening, she was hit full-on from the front and went sliding to the ground.

The weight still pinned her to the ground as she struggled to regain her composure. When she reached for her sword, she found nothing there, and finally she realized what exactly had happened.

Drawing power to herself, Lightning pushed Caius away hard and stood up. "How dare you try to reenter this place," she said.

He rolled a few times before dragging himself upright. "I had to." His voice was hard, determined. "Someone has caused another distortion in the timeline."

"And how are you so sure it wasn't you?" Lightning retorted.

She took in her surroundings, preparing to defend herself. Her sword had been knocked away, but Caius didn't appear to have his either. Adrenaline coursed through Lightning's veins as she tried to figure out what he was trying to do. What does he have up his sleeve this time?

Caius took a few slow steps closer to her, his violet bangs blowing across his face. "Yeul," he said simply.

And then he opened his mouth to continue, only to turn violently away from her with an unmistakable grunt of pain and frustration.

Lightning took advantage of the distraction, glancing around for her sword. She spotted it a few hundred yards away with its blade planted firmly in the sand and ran for it. As she made her move she kept an eye on Caius, but he didn't take notice of her. He was still standing frozen with one hand pressed to his forehead.

While his back was still turned, she dashed at him, drawing her sword. She leaped into the air, ready to strike, but a circle of chaos formed around him and knocked her backward.

Lightning picked herself up and faced Caius again. There was pain in his eyes, a strange combination with the rest of his features contorted in anger.

"What is it?" she asked flatly, no indication in her tone that it was a question.

He didn't answer. Instead, chaotic energy collected around him and concealed his shadow against the backdrop of Valhalla's shores. When it dissipated, Caius Ballad was gone.

What the hell does he want? Lightning thought as she turned her back on the scene.

Caius stepped down out of yet another gate. He knew that he was supposed to be somewhere significant, but as his feet touched the dusty ground, his memory seemed to blank out. He let out a growl of irritation. It was as he had suspected—everything before this time was wiped out. Though he knew he was supposed to remember it, he could find nothing as he searched his memories.

Walking through the ruins of the forgotten time period, he let his thoughts wander. They of course touched things that he didn't want to think about, but instead of pushing them away, he allowed them to.

But there were questions left unanswered. The entire timeline had occupied his mind for ages now. Letting the beginning escape his thoughts didn't seem possible, and yet it had happened all too quickly.

Uncertainty was a foreign feeling to him, and it was swarming his thoughts now. Caius's dark eyes searched the horizon, which seemed to be fading steadily, erasing itself. He gritted his teeth. What could be causing this?

Answers came to him at once. Few made sense. But one stood out to him: Serah and Noel. They had been trying to change the timeline forever, getting in his way time and time again. If their actions were the source of this paradoxical destruction, well…it was just another reason for him to take them out once and for all.

And secondly, where did Lightning stand in this nonsense? Why wasn't she still standing over Valhalla, watching with her crystal eyes? The sudden turn of events had Caius frustrated. Nothing made any sense.

Clenching his fists, he thought of Yeul. If there was one thing he had to do, it was find her.

And so he pushed the image of the distortions from his mind and stood before the gate again.

But Yeul's words echoed in his mind one more time before he left.

The timeline has reached its limit.

Caius grimaced as he thought of what that could mean.