And here I am with another chapter! :3

Everyone writes longer chapters than me... What's with that?

Anyway, hope you're still enjoying this story! I WON'T REST UNTIL IT'S FINISHED. 0_o

Well, back to The Final Paradox. Here's Chapter Six!

Chapter Six: Exploitation

I twisted the knife and opened your eyes

Ah, she looked into your eyes

And saw what lay beneath

Don't try to save yourself

The circle is complete

~Hold Your Colour – Pendulum

Caius stepped back and stared grimly at his opponent. She stood with her sword still drawn, her breath coming fast. Though she stood there in the flesh, there was still a look about her that she and her crystal statue had shared. They were both beautiful, dangerous, determined. Both of them were still fighting, unwilling to back down.

"Why do you continue to play this game?" she asked.

"Because of her," Caius replied. "I will fight for eternity to save her."

It was the same answer, every time. "She's gone, Caius," Lightning informed him in a low voice. "There is no reason for this."

"Enough of these lies," he muttered and charged at her with his sword.

Their blades sent sparks flying as they went at each other with a barrage of blows. Lightning blocked, pushing Caius back. She stayed silent and only focused on the fight.

The battle took them up on the cliffs. Neither looked down, and yet both kept expertly away from the edges, springing and leaping between rocks and still managing to stay on their toes. They vaulted upward, their blades meeting in midair. Then they landed on opposite sides of the cliff.

"I'm amazed you've kept up this long," Caius mused, smirking.

"If you don't stop talking, I'll cut out your tongue," Lightning answered.

They each tensed, readying for the next bout, but instead vibrations rumbled beneath their feet. At first they were minimal, but within the minute they'd grown to earthquake-size proportions. Lightning sprang from the cliffs, landing lightly on her feet near the shores below. Caius followed.

"It's the timeline again," Lightning muttered, but showed no sign of being affected. Caius made the mistake of thinking that the tremors meant nothing. He then stumbled backward in surprise, falling to his knees. "Yeul…," he gasped.

Lightning started toward him, but a sphere of chaos formed around him and knocked her backward. She blasted the sphere apart with bolts of lightning from high up in the clouds. Then she moved in for the kill.

"No," Caius growled, his head bent so that he looked directly at the ground, his sword planted in the sand. Suddenly he turned his face to Valhalla's skies and screamed. "Yeul… Yeul!"

Lightning stood behind him with the tip of her sword pressed to his back.

A few seconds of complete silence passed. Then Caius's voice quietly sounded, breaking through the quiet. "Move, and I'll blast you to pieces."

"I could kill you before your muscles tense."

"You don't have the strength."

"I don't need it. Valhalla will do things for me."

Before he could ask what she meant, another tremor, this one an explosion, put distance between them. Caius clenched his teeth and pushed himself out of the dirt. When he looked up, though, Lightning was standing above him. She had her blade at his throat before he could say anything.

"I don't want to kill you, Caius Ballad."

He kept his glare hard, showing no emotion. But what does she mean? Of course she wants to –

"There is no way to right the timeline. It's falling apart," Lightning continued. With her last words, there was an amused look on her face. Though keeping his feelings from showing, he found himself in a moment of confusion. Something about what she had said triggered a warning deep in his subconscious.

"If we don't do something, everything will be completely erased," she explained. "We're the only ones who can see the entire timeline. Or should I say, you're the only one."

Caius's eyes narrowed. "What do you expect me to do?" he asked. "Do you expect me to become your ally? That will never happen."

Lightning held his gaze. "Think, Caius. You remember everything, don't you? But everything isn't there anymore."

She was right. He started to say something, but words failed him.

"I can't kill you until we fix it." There was almost a hint of a smirk there. He hated the fact that she seemed to know more than he did. His fingers twitched, reached for the hilt of his sword, but her eyes caught the movement. She pressed her blade harder into his skin.

"So what is it you want from me?" His voice was flat and skeptical.

Lightning's eyes were hard, demanding, like daggers of stone. "We have to keep the timeline from deteriorating."

Caius paused a moment before answering. "'We', you say. What are you suggesting?"

"I think you know."

Neither of them moved for a long time. They stared at each other, debating whether it would be a better choice to kill each other now, or actually consider the possibility of trying to put the timeline back together.

"Time deserves to be destroyed," Caius said finally. "There is nothing we can do."

"Hold on," Lightning answered. "This isn't what you wanted originally. You've lost people important to you, and not only will time be destroyed, but everything else. Nothing will be left, not even Valhalla."

He studied her for a minute. "Lies," he finally stated. "There is no truth in—"

She took a step forward, digging her sword into his throat hard enough that she might draw blood. "Do you want to know the truth?" she asked. He was in no condition to respond, so she drew bolts of lightning down from the sky and dropped back as they shocked him. Caius collapsed immediately to the ground, nearly crying out as electricity coursed through his limbs. Lightning sheathed her own blade, picked up Caius's sword, and called for her Eidolon to take them both up to Etro's throne.

Lightning contemplated the destruction she was witnessing. As Odin departed them and disappeared against Valhalla's shadowy skies, she could see that even his power was weakening. Would he disappear from the timeline and her memory too?

Before she could get too deep into her thoughts, she heard something shift against the stone floor. Lightning turned to see the formerly unconscious Caius get to his feet. Anger flared in his eyes when he saw her, and he reached for his sword only to find it wasn't there.

Lightning held up the blade for him to see. "Go ahead. Try it," she challenged.

But he stood his ground, didn't move. "What do you want?" he asked. It hardly sounded like a question.

"Look," she said, gesturing to the sky behind them. They could see the entire timeline as if it was a vision in an Oracle Drive. And yet the first segment was completely missing. "Do you understand now, Caius?"

He only stared straight ahead at the timeline, studying it, seeming to be in no mood to answer her. Then, as she watched, he made a move that was uncharacteristic of him. He reached a hand out in front of him as though he could touch the timeline, swept his fingers through the air to follow the collapse that was happening right before their eyes. She heard him exhale slowly. Finally, after several long moments, he turned and faced her.

"Fine," he growled. "I accept."

A smile twitched at the corner of Lightning's mouth. "I knew you'd say that," she answered. "Come on. I know where to start."

Caius opened his mouth to demand his sword back, but just as he did so, she yelled out to her Eidolon, and Odin materialized in the air to confiscate it from him.

"Let's go," Lightning said, stifling her smirk while she beckoned for him to follow.