Hey, I'm back, with the next chapter of The Final Paradox!

I wanted to say thanks so much to everyone who reviewed or followed or favorited this week. Don't worry, your questions will be answered. Eventually. :3

Your reviews really helped me go forward with the story (no seriously, they gave me extra ideas), but of course I'm still in need of ideas for future chapters! Don't hesitate to tell me if there's something that should be said.

Anyway, enough about me... Here's Chapter 5. Hope you continue to read and enjoy The Final Paradox!

Chapter Five: Unseen Abyss

Sometimes I don't know where we're going

Sometimes I feel you should be crawling back to me

Time is ticking by without us knowing

Before we know it, it will be too late to see

~Guilt – Nero

Noel and Serah crashed through another gate, Noel barely managing to land on his feet as they were both thrown headfirst out of it. Serah wasn't as lucky. He offered his hand as she tried to pull herself upright. Almost hesitantly, she took it.

"Where are we?" she asked, glancing around. They were surrounded by rock walls, in a small, secluded area. The gate likely couldn't be seen from outside.

"Looks like Yaschas Massif," Noel said. He took a few steps toward the crumbled edge of a stone wall, peering out to look at the rest of the scene on which they'd arrived. A few soldiers paced through the soft grass and across rock platforms. Somewhere in the distance he could see the excavation site brimming with brightly colored Academy uniforms. Everything here was functioning like normal, with no evidence of the collapse they'd seen in New Bodhum.

"Hey, Serah. Let's go over there and check it out," Noel said, gesturing beyond the cliffs toward the excavation site. "Maybe they've seen something about this paradox."

Serah sighed quietly. "Okay," she replied.

They walked in silence for a few minutes. Then Serah stopped near one of the cliffs. She stared down at the drop into nothingness below with an expression of loss and confusion on her face.

Noel stood back, watching her. He called out to her, but she was lost in her own thoughts. Finally, after a few minutes, her voice pierced the delicate silence.

"…Noel?" she asked quietly.

He turned to look at her. "Yeah?"

"I…I feel like something's missing. Don't you?"

His gaze was puzzled, uncertain. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…" Serah seemed to struggle to find the right words. "I think I should remember someone. Someone important to me. But I…I…can't remember."

He said nothing for a minute. Then he muttered in agreement, "Yeah. I know what you mean."

Noel had tried to keep his thoughts from it, but lately something in the back of his mind had been bothering him. Ever since they'd fled New Bodhum, he had felt exactly like Serah had: as though something was missing from his memory. But he hadn't let himself think about it long enough to figure out what it was.

Serah turned away from the cliff and continued walking toward their destination. Noel's thoughts didn't change direction so easily. He wondered where the gap in his memories had come from, along with what had formerly filled that gap.

Closing his eyes briefly, he tried to remember what he was missing. Something about…

Caius.

His breath caught. He was so close. Of course he remembered Caius, but what he didn't remember was who else had always been with Caius in the past.

They soon emerged into the Academy's territory. The excavation site and the surrounding areas were full of people as they had been the first time they'd come to the Yaschas Massif. Snippets of conversation floated around them.

"…they disappeared…"

"…were supposed to be communicating with them."

"Time travelers…"

Noel stopped, causing Serah to nearly run into him. "Wait," he muttered.

"What is it?" Serah asked.

Noel then turned to one of the Academy officials pacing near them. "Excuse me, have you heard anything about any recent paradoxes?" he questioned innocently.

"Yeah, actually, I have. Everybody's been going insane because stuff from different time periods that they've been analyzing has started disappearing. Why?" the guy answered.

"Well, I've just been hearing things lately," Noel told him. "Anyway, thanks." He started to walk toward the excavation site.

"Wait, sir. Could I see your ID?" the Academy official called back.

The two of them doubled back quickly to show the card they'd obtained a while ago. That, at least, had not disappeared.

When they had gotten midway up the ramp to the excavation site, where it was quieter, Noel pulled Serah aside and said, "There's something…off about this place. We just saw New Bodhum get completely obliterated, and here only a few things have gotten misplaced." He waved the ID card in the air. "I've got a question, then – how long until…"

He suddenly fumbled with the card, and it fell to the ground, dissolving in a flash of light.

"Shoot," Noel hissed, clenching his fists. "This is wrong… This is all wrong."

He turned his back and looked out on the Academy officials below them.

Serah's breath came short and shallow. "Noel, what just happened? Why did it just disappear like that?" she gasped.

He didn't say anything, just kept his back turned to her.

"Noel?"

He took a deep breath before responding. "Serah, if New Bodhum was sucked into that distortion, then why weren't you taken with it?" he asked quietly.

"W-we escaped," Serah said. "Before it could take us."

"But Serah, that's the thing. It's your village. You came from there. Everyone else just stopped existing." He shook his head. "But you didn't."

She blinked, clasping her hands together in front of her. "I – I don't know." Were they really just delaying the inevitable by coming here, through another gate? Should I have been taken by the distortion? she wondered, afraid.

"Forget it. You're here. We have to figure out what's going on," Noel said quickly, spinning on his heel and stalking away from the site and back toward the outer parts of the ruins.

They reached the edge of the ruins in a few minutes. It was surprisingly quiet throughout the place, and they hadn't run into any monsters at all. Finally they stopped, climbing on one of the rocks that were scattered around the small clearing.

"I just don't understand it," Serah murmured.

"Me neither." Noel sighed. "But it doesn't matter. We'll figure it out eventually," he said, trying to reassure himself as well as Serah.

After a while, Serah got up, walking ahead of him, staring out at nothing in particular. Her steps slowed as she walked, until she stumbled and collapsed to her knees.

"Serah!" Noel cried, running toward her. "Serah, what's wrong?"

He knelt down beside her, took one of her hands in both of his and looked her in the eye. "What is it?" he asked again. "Are you alright?"

"It's okay, Noel," she murmured, her eyes fluttering closed. "Don't worry about me…"

"Serah, no!" he screamed.

Then her hand slipped from his grasp. It dissipated into shadowy dust along with the rest of her, chased away into nothingness by the wind.

"Serah…," Noel gasped, staring out at the ruins. "Dammit… I was right."

He stayed kneeling in that spot for a minute or two, silent and motionless as a statue, but then he came to a resolution. He stalked off toward the gate from which they'd come.

I can't lose you, Serah. Not now.