Welp, late as always update. After this one more chapter and then we move into the second main story. So... er stay tuned I guess.
Serah moved her hands slowly along the rail as she stared out into the city. Lightning stood beside her, but more stationary, almost like a statue. The two sisters, so much a like and so very different stood in comparison over the people they had both tried to save, and tried to leave behind. The older of the two had a look of bland disinterest, but inside she was nervous. This world was doomed, nothing she ever found said otherwise and moreover. She wasn't finding anything that she could do to help. It went against everything that she was.
"Vanille has been kidnapped." Serah finally said with not preamble. "The Order has made their first move, but it's hard to know if she has the power they were looking for."
"She was the easier catch." Lightning replied, the flash of anger in her eyes betraying the dispassionate way she spoke. "The Order is crazy, not stupid. Their high priestess has been planning this all out for a long time."
"And what does that mean for us? Snow seems to think that Noel can get her back." Serah bit her lip in frustration. "But would that really stop them? We could hide Vanille here but Claire… what would that really do?"
It always gave Lightning a start to hear someone refer to her by her real name. Even Serah had given into the childish whim of hers to be called by the code name. Feeling a little bit strange she reached out and grasped her sister's restless hand.
"Hiding Vanille here is probably not the answer. It would only push us closer to war. There aren't any easy answers you know this." She tilted her head back and looked up into the sky. "Right now we can only float adrift until He makes his move."
Serah swallowed hard as she followed her sister's line of sight to the Ark. Bhunivelze's place of operation.
"By the gods this place is depression." Fang commented as she walked into Noel's miserable apartment. She didn't know what else to say. She hadn't expected much, it was honestly just a place of operation but to see the deterioration of Noel up close. The other shrugged his shoulder and sat down on the ratty couch.
"Lightning told me about Vanille." He stated calmly as he pulled out an old datapad and laid it on a rickety coffee table. Use to places that weren't so tidy, Fang just sat down on the floor. "The most likely place for Vanille to be is pretty dangerous for us to get into. Deep with in the Cathedral of Luxerion is the Seat of the Saint. A glorified prison cell for their sacrifice to douche face."
"What do you mean sacrifice?" Fang's voice turn positively deadly.
"Anyone gifted with power of the divined is destined to die." Noel said with a voice that promised violence. "And while the Order acts as if they believe in salvation in a new world. What they preach is a type of death that even the Children of Etro can't abide by."
Fang sat up a little straighter at that. It was true that Noel had come to know more about the heretics and fanatics then the rest of them. But had he become consumed by the very dogmas and falsehoods that he was supposed to be stay separate from?
"What does that even mean?"
"There are two types of death being spoke of." Noel stated as he pushed off the couch and stood up. "The Children of Etro believe that death in this world will covert you into the chaos and that on the day when Etro awakens, she will shepherd us back into the cycle of souls from before. Crazy and misguided but not the greatest of problems.
"On the other hand, the Order believes in divine death. The death of the body, the soul and the "spirit." It took me a long time to figure out what 'the spirit' was but now that I know… The Order and god is more dangerous then we thought. The spirit is the part of our subconscious that allows us to preserved in the chaos and reborn into new people.
"Bhunivelze can't see the chaos and thus cannot affect that… And that is what makes us well… Human. That is Bhunivelze's end goal. To destroy that part of us and replace it with himself. A new world full of fucking puppets."
Fang stared at him with wide eyes. She choked on her breath at the thought of such an absolute destruction. She had heard from Serah, that the Void… While unable to come back from it was filled with apparently what was called the spirit. And that bastard god wanted to destroy all of it. But Noel wasn't finished talking.
"Because he can't see it. He needs Vanille to see that which he cannot. The savior to collect that which he can't and Hope to guide those that will not listen. He can't function on this world due to the the chaos. So, the best way to break up his power and stop him is through his chosen servants."
"Then we need to save Vanille." Fang stood up be Noel glared her down.
"We need more then to save her from the Order. Bhunivelze attacks in a variety of ways or have you forgotten?" Noel asked quietly and Fang rolled her eyes.
"I don't give a royal shit about his divine whatsits… And how do you know this?" She growled.
"Like Serah, Vanille, and Yuel… I have chaos powers… but unlike them it isn't the way in which you think. Bhunivelze needs Serah and Vanille to see the chaos for him and help him to remove it. I am the inheritor of the heart of chaos. I don't have it… but it is wrapped up around me. If what the wandering souls tell me is true… Bhunivelze can't see people like me."
"There's no why he doesn't know of your existence." She argued back and the man nodded but lifted his hand and she watched as it became covered in inky blackness.
"While humans can't always see the chaos. Only the thicker, more concentrated amounts. The chaos is everywhere. And for me… it is always drawn to me. And it masks me from him as much as it probably could be done. It's why only Lightning can approach the Temple of Etro. It is covered in chaos so thick that Bhunivelze can't see it. Can't touch it. He probably doesn't know that she's still alive either."
Fang rolled her eyes and looked towards the exit. "That doesn't answer what we will do about Vanille."
"Right now… We have to get into the Cathedral and talk to her. Not rescue… but talk. We need to see why the Order wants her. From there… We will consider how to get her out and what the safest place for her is."
"The safest place is Yusnaan." Fang replied as she crossed her arms angrily.
"No." Noel stated quietly as he followed her look out the crumbling window frame. "The High Priestess or whoever the fuck she is… is itching for war with Yusnaan. They believed that the 'chaos wielders' are their saints and that by rights they own them. That will only strain relations and then we will have to focus on protecting both Serah and Vanille during a war. That's the last thing we need."
"I've done it before!" She shouted and Noel shook his head.
"This doesn't work the same as when you were a l'cie. You have to remember… As much as you might hate to admit it… but the Fal'cie had an investment in keeping you alive and furthermore you had stronger powers then. God isn't just a formidable enemy, he is the enemy."
Fang bit her lip. She hated that she was all emotions now and not logical thinking. She wanted to rage that they were treating her like a child. But she knew that it was mostly them trying to protect her and trying to protect Vanille. But she just couldn't help but feel bitter.
"Fine. We'll do it your way." She grouched.
It had been a few days since Fang had come to Luxerion. And it was a miserable three days she thought as she wandered the streets. The City of Light was really the city of fanatics. And being there chapped her ass something fierce. The whole city was gloomy and the craving for death existed in all peoples regardless of what God they chose to worship.
And then there was Noel. The young man was scarcely around her now that their plan had been established. And he could disappear in the blink of an eye. She had realized in a rather dreary way that the other had accepted the chaos into himself. Maybe he wasn't consumed by it, or crazed like Caius had supposedly been but it was still scary to realize that he had become so much more powerful.
And yet still not powerful enough to stop God.
While Noel had become particularly good at using his chaos powers. He did realize the need for them. He followed the careful path that the souls had laid out for him into the Cathedral and down into the dark depths. With the full utilization of his chaos powers, he could travel through the shadows, even become a shadow. The Shadow Hunter indeed.
When he got to his destination, he found Vanille. She sat on a bed in the center of the room like an abandoned doll. He appeared in the doorway and used a bit of power to jam the door. He needed the privacy honestly. She jerked up at the rise in chaos power and she looked up at him with surprise and sat up straighter.
"How did you get in here?!" She looked at him with wide eyes and he shrugged.
"You and Serah aren't the only ones that can harness chaos." He stated firmly and she nodded and stared down at her hands. "But of course… I can't move souls like you and Serah can. I can only control mindless chaos."
"Why are you here?" She asked quietly and he smiled thinly and sat down.
"You and I both know that Fang would move heaven and earth for you. If she could have she'd have punched Bhunivelze in the face by now for what he's done to you."
"That's not her choice." Vanille protestd weakly but a look from Noel and she sighed. "Fang just… She'll never understand. I have to be here. I know that I was taken forcefully… but… This way I can do my part."
That gave Noel pause, what did she mean by do her part. Vanille looked up at him with a thin smile. Noel stared back at her, wondering what kind of wrench she was about to through into the gears.
"The Order has taken me because I can direct souls. They are also looking for the artifact called the Holy Clavis. With that… I am to direct the souls into it so that they might be destroyed. But! The Clavis can also draw souls and chaos to itself. My power is stronger then it. I can direct the souls away."
"And where would you send them?" Noel asked quietly and Vanille shrugged weakly.
"I haven't through that far through yet actually. But, I can't run out into the desert and do nothing. The place I thought of first was Yusnaan where they would be protected by Snow. But the chaos would manifest into a massive infusion and who knows what kind of monsters would appear there and endanger the others."
"Then maybe you should send them to the Dead Dunes." Noel stood up. "I'll bring Fang here. And you can tell her this."
"Wait… What? How?"
"Don't worry." The smile that Noel gave her was a sad facsimile of the rakish grin that he usually sported. But still it gave Vanille a type of hope that she hadn't felt in a long time. The hope that they could make things right.