Good afternoon... IridiumRing92 is back. :3

Thanks to everyone who followed this week! Other than that, it's been a pretty uneventful week in terms of The Final Paradox.

I don't really know what else to say, so on to Chapter Seven.

Chapter Seven: A Shadow of Valhalla

Creatures keep coming

Reaching within

Stealthy they climb from the dark

Searching for wisdom

Searching for truth

~Gravity Hurts – Unknown

As he stepped into the gate, Noel tried to get control of his emotions. He had his hands clenched into fists, but still they shook as a result of his anger. And something else that he hated to acknowledge – fear.

He knew the gate wouldn't take him to New Bodhum, even though that was where it had brought them from. New Bodhum was gone. All he knew was that he had to get to Serah, and this was the only way he could think to do it.

Noel closed his eyes. Serah's face appeared in his mind, her voice saying, Don't worry about me. It's okay. The very memory of it caused him pain.

What if he was doomed to be taken by a distortion too? Worse yet, what if he was cursed to be stranded in the timeline for the rest of his life without her? He let the gate pull him into its depths, through the timeline, with no idea where he would end up next. He didn't care.

Noel was thrown to his knees out of the gate. He grunted as he landed hard against the stone. For a second he only focused on standing up, brushing himself off, and ignoring his bruised knees. Then he looked up and stared at his surroundings, and his eyes widened as he realized where the gate now led.

The Void Beyond. I'm in the Void Beyond.

He wondered if this was what happened to Serah and everything else that had been sucked into the distortion. And if so, then had he dived right into the middle of that distortion?

Dismissing the thought, he started moving toward the center of the area.

The Void Beyond now looked exactly like Valhalla, except nothing moved that Noel could see. He was standing on the shore now, with gray sand and dark stone surrounding him. The only difference, which he soon noticed, was that instead of buildings ahead, there was a circle of rubble. It looked like something had exploded there.

As he walked, he could hear strange noises around him. A sound that resembled that of the wind streamed in the background. Voices seemed to float through the air, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. And on top of that –

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a mob of nektons circled him, chirping and writhing. He was startled at first, but knew the creatures could barely attack, even collectively like this. With a few slashes of his sword, they dissolved into nothingness.

Noel stopped a second to catch his breath, and then started off at a jog toward the center of the Void. He never let Serah leave his mind as he ran.

When he paused again later, he thought he could hear the voices growing stronger. One stood out in particular to him, seeming to fill his head, confusing him. It was Lightning's.

"Noel Kreiss."

He spun around, expecting to see no one, to attribute the whole thing to his imagination. But Lightning truly did stand in front of him.

"Lightning?" he asked breathlessly.

Her voice echoed in the warped air of the Void as she continued speaking to him:

"Noel, I am in Valhalla. I cannot hear you, but listen to me. You have to leave the Void. The timeline is being destroyed, as you have seen. If we do nothing, time itself will perish, along with everything else." Her gaze was almost blank, like she couldn't even see him. "Be cautious. Things that were pulled out of the timeline stay in the Void Beyond for only a short time before they're wiped out forever. If you don't find Serah in time, it could set off another round of destruction."

Then her eyes narrowed. "And I warn you, if you run into Caius, do not attack him."

"What—?" Noel began, but before he could even get the word out, Lightning had vanished.

He had planned to keep moving towards the center of the Void, but now he just slid down against one of the stone walls and lost himself in his thoughts. Lightning's words echoed through his head.

If I run into Caius? I killed Caius. What's she talking about? he wondered. Lightning was talking about Caius like he was alive…but Noel vividly remembered his blade plunging through Caius's heart. Those pieces didn't fit together no matter what.

After a minute the most potent part of her warning came back to him – about how Serah could be erased if he didn't hurry. I can't waste time staring into space! I have to get to Serah.

He continued on through the Void. Swarms of nektons and other Voidspawn creatures assaulted him, and one by one he fought them off. The battles just didn't stop, though – in fact they kept getting worse and worse.

Noel stopped again to catch his breath, resting his hands on his knees. Sweat was running down his face. He thought he might have been safe for a minute or two, but just then he heard the scratching of talons on stone and whipped around just in time to see the next wave of enemies, these larger in size and already preparing their attacks. He drew his sword – just a second too slowly. His opponents blasted him with fire, an attack he was unprepared to defend.

Finally he charged them, slamming all of them with his sword and sending them flying into oblivion. Got it, he thought in triumph right before another swarm jumped him from behind.

Noel pushed on through the battles, struggling to move ahead into the rest of the Void. But there were too many of them, and only one of him. Soon he collapsed to his knees, exhausted, unable to fight any longer. He closed his eyes as the hundreds of them converged on him.

Then—"Noel!" a voice screamed.

He looked up, and through the mass of metallic wings and limbs, he could see a familiar figure waiting for him higher up in the Void. Serah. She held no weapon, couldn't fight them off for him, but just the sight of her was enough to send strength into his body. Just enough to get away.

"Don't give up!" she called out to him.

He stood up, slicing through a few of the surrounding monsters, and sprinted as fast as he could out of there. They gave chase, so he leaped up onto a rock to throw them off. From there he climbed to higher ground.

Noel looked up into Serah's eyes. He started to say something, but she grabbed his hand, saying, "Let's get out of here," and pulled him behind her, going deeper into the Void.

They finally quit running and looked out on the gray scenery of the Void, somewhere high above the rest of the stone buildings. Noel barely glanced at the surrounding area, just turned to Serah and embraced her, pulled her close to him.

"Serah," he gasped. "You're safe."

"You are too," she said, sounding somewhat surprised, perhaps by his sudden actions. She raised her eyes to his and asked, "How did you get here? How did I get here?"

"I saw Lightning," Noel answered, releasing her. "She told me that the timeline is being erased. She said people who are erased come here before they're taken out of existence." He turned from her, pacing back and forth as he rethought everything Serah's sister had told him. "Which means—"

"Was I erased, Noel?" she whispered fearfully.

"Not yet," he told her, spinning around to face her again. "And if we get out of here in time, you won't be."

"N…Noel," she said quietly after a few moments of silence, "I saw Snow. But I don't remember him anymore. He's gone." Tears filled her eyes as she explained. "All I remember was that he was important to me, but…"

"It's okay, Serah," Noel reassured her. He reached for Serah's hand, but she jerked it away.

"It's not okay," she said hotly. "I don't know what to do…!"

"I'm sorry." He bit his lip, unsure of what to say. "Serah… We can change it. We can bring him back." It was a last resort, and he knew the chances were slim that she'd agree.

"But we can't," Serah cried. "You told me so. He's gone forever." She twisted away from him and stood close to the cliff, looking out on the expanse of the Void again.

Noel waited until she had grown quiet, and then approached her slowly, touching her shoulder lightly. "You have me," he whispered into her ear. "Will you stay with me, Serah?"

There was another second or two of silence, but finally she looked up at him and said, "Yes, Noel. I'm sorry. I'll stay with you."

This time, when he reached for her hand, she took it.