The pocket of Chaos ripples, like a sheet trapped in the wind, ahead of them.
"This is it." Fang steps forward, first into the line of fire like old times. She is in charge of the group, her leadership and her dominance absolute. The way that it should be.
Hope feels a chill, a tingle of anticipation. This is it, he thinks to himself, echoing Fang's declaration to the line. This is what all of the training and subterfuge has brought us.
It had been two long weeks. Two long, harrowing weeks of calling in favors and trying to blend in with the locals in the desert. Their status with the government has fallen into disrepair, and there's no coming back from an A.W.O.L. status. They hadn't reported in, and they had abandoned their base in New York. Since they had come to Kabul in such secrecy, they had no idea what their agency thought of them. Even the team they had used to bring in with them two weeks ago to check out foreign meteoric disturbances reported that the group from Bodhum had disappeared without a trace. They were now being searched out by their adopted country, thought of as either captives of the local government, or worse-traitors.
They had kept an ear to the local markets, traveling in disguise and using the women to do their trading in the light of day. No one suspected the female members of the group doing the shopping together in the bazaars, swathed in the desert garb of the local populace. They kept their heads down and their voices small, and in so doing had garnered the snatches of tradesmen gossip from the merchants that traveled to do business.
Using deductive logic and left to their own devices, sans technology, they finally got the big break they had needed yesterday eve, just as the market hours were closing for the day.
"Did you hear about the mirage Josfeen saw outside of the western gate today? He swore he saw the sight of a checkered flag, but I told him that he had been watching too many burned American racing movies."
"He was drinking past the burning of the midnight oil. That probably attributes to his visions today. A common occurrence."
"I say that tonight, we should leave him locked out to sleep on the roof. That way he can have his commune with nature, as he has been blessed to see the visions instead of us. He can get plenty view from up there."
A checkered flag. The calling card of the Chaos pattern that Bhunivelze had chosen, back on their old world, as a herald to announce his involvement with the movement of time. It was enough.
Without knowing how to act or what to expect, they had all gathered their wits and promptly had driven out of the western ramparts with their forged visas and borrowed car from a local dairy merchant. Driving out toward the setting sun, right as the day turned into night, they faced the glaring brightness, shielding their eyes against the swirling mass in front of them.
The faintest music played, muted and warped, as if coming from inside the undulating bubble. They bailed out of the Jeep and formed up, cracking knuckles and rolling shoulders, getting ready to expect…who knows what? They hadn't had to travel very far to arrive at their destination. Astonishingly, no local militia had seemed to catch wind of the apparition. It made the group uneasy, on the short trek a few clicks from the western gates of the city. It's almost as if this pocket of Chaos appeared as a beacon for them, allowing only the people that would send word back to market to be able to view the anomaly. It occurred to all of the ragtag bunch of desperados that this could be a trap set in motion to lure them out into the desert, away from the city and the relative safety of being swallowed in the throngs of people.
Now, they are out in the open. What choice did they have? They had to rise to the bait, and if no one could see the billowing checkered Chaos flag within view of the city walls other than a select few who came within earshot of the women today, then that was their path.
It was now or never.
Fang continues her very short speech. She looks to either side of her. Sarah and Noel now add to the numbers of the original six, flanking each end. They are warriors as well, and just as integral in this fight.
"You guys know the drill. Keep to what you remember. Keep to what is true in your hearts." She raises a fist, the wind whipping the tendrils of black hair in her face. Fang's voice carries over the dull throb of the music inside the iridescent globe, and it gladdens all who hear her. "You remember how to fight. Remember what is you're fighting for. Love. Freedom. Home. Your very souls." With this, her eyes alight on Hope's, and he nods once.
"Prepare for anything inside." Claire, now in the guise of Light once more, adds to Fang's motivational speech. "This…this is from our home. So that means that anything is possible. It doesn't belong here. We banished this. We did this once. We can do it again. Always remember that, even if things get hairy in there." She closes a fist to her heart, touching the necklace that hangs there. "No matter how you feel, just keep in mind that this an already vanquished foe we are facing-weak, and he has already used up all of his tricks."
"We have to keep this pocket contained-somehow." Fang takes the reigns once more. "We have to make sure that no matter what, the taint of Bhunivelze doesn't reach any of the souls that have crossed over. They have earned their spot in the sun-and don't need to remember. That's our burden, it seems."
At the mention of the old god's name, there is a whisper that flits through the desert air, over the hum of the throbbing music. All heads turn their attention back to the checkers undulating in the rising heat currents in front of them once more. The whisper is so faint that none of them can catch what the words are, but the tone is insidious.
"Let's put this thing to bed." Serah stands forward, chin up, unfearful. "I have a score to settle with this thing. It won't drain me of my sister, or my soul."
Hope feels a slight tremor, just knowing that out of everyone assembled, he knows he will be the main target other than Light. He had the biggest score to settle, no matter what Serah just said.
With that, Fang leads the way, looking every inch the desert warrior and champion that she was back on their old world, right before the end. She is the Queen of the Sands, no matter what plane her soul inhabits. The way that she moves in the sand seems so right, and her footing is sure as she squares her shoulders and marches straight into the dead center of the bubble.
With a great rallying cry, the rest march into the fray right behind her.
And instantly, they encounter Bhunivelze again, in all his previous glory. The music has stopped, and after pushing through that dense layer of wavering air, they emerge on the other side to see their old foe once more.
The crystal blue eyes turn towards Hope, and the lips curl in righteous wrath. "I have come to seek you out again, warrior. You must help me in this new land."
"Not a chance! This time, I see you, I know who you are, and I can fight!" Hope's fist curls and his words fly, and with that, the sky seems to shatter into a million brackets around where they stand, and the group of friends watch in horror as diamond prisms drip from the desert sky and sands around them to form into a new landscape.
What's even more wondrous, however, is the return of an old feeling. A tingle sizzles through Hope's bloodstream, bubbles and boils round him, and it feels as if he is on fire. Hope gasps, the pain shocking and intense. His eyes blur with tears, and it shames him to fall to the ground in front of his old foe, but the onslaught inside him is too much for him to bear.
"AAAARGH!" He cries, a young man's bloodcurdling yell to the heavens. Out of his peripheral, he sees that he is not alone with the pain; all of his friends down the line seem to be in varying states of distress. They are hunched over or lurching, making screams that eerily meld with his own.
The diamonds that were sliced through the landscape have now all fallen, forming a new terrain. The group finds themselves in long-forgotten territory, somehow whisked away from the desert town in Kabul and traveling across time and space without having taken a single step.
The Chaos ripples, and they find themselves inside of a sparkling white cave. White crystals spring up all around, jagged formations of clear rock that sparkle and shine from an unknown light source.
The pain is almost unbearable. Hope feels the pain centering from his heart, and with each beat, new shockwaves spasm through his body, carried on the currents of his veins.
Where is this pain coming from? Where did Bhunivelze go? Where am I? The pain is something that he has experienced long before, something recognizable from a distant dream of memory, but it's not something that he has the focus to recall. He can't speak, but somehow, Serah can.
"I can feel you-you're still alive." Serah is somehow crawling forward, cradling her left arm close to her body like a broken duck's wing. Hope watches in amazement as she crawls toward a specific cluster of crystals on the other side of the small cave. No one else seems able to move, due to the pain they seem to be sharing…all they can do is watch, bewildered, as Serah struggles to move to the pile of crystal.
"I know what it's like to be buried, trapped, unable to move." She cries out softly, seemingly talking to the cluster that she's now inched toward. She takes her right arm and starts to break off splinters of quartz and rock.
"I was helpless for a long time, but I could still see and feel and hear. I listened as Snow refused to leave my side in Lake Bresha. I can't believe…I can't believe that you have been stuck here all this time, still here, with us unable to hear you…"
Claire cries out to her from across the room, and starts to shuffle forward, but Serah pokes her head up over the rise of rocks that the rest of the party can't see over.
"Don't worry about me, sis, I'm just fine…I've found something that will help us." Serah shouts, and her voice seems to make the rocks around her tremble with the tone of her shout.
"Careful. Don't talk too loudly or this whole place will come crashing down on us." Fang hisses through her clenched teeth. "This place is dangerous. We need to move."
"Where are we?" This is Sazh, gazing around in wonder. "This place is beautiful, but…how did we get here from the desert?"
"I don't know, Sazh, but I think that this helped guide us." Serah's voice comes from over the mound of rocks that she has crawled over, and she reappears clutching…
"…A crystal heart? How is this supposed to help us do…anything…" At first, Light's voice is harsh, but as Serah moves forward, clutching the over-sized heart in the cradle of her good arm, a warm, tingly feeling starts to wash over Hope, making his aches and pain start to subside.
All of their eyes now fixate on this crystal organ. Serah throws her legs over the last crystal obstacle in her path, landing on the balls of her feet in front of the group. She hoists herself over the crystal wall, her breath fogging in the chill of the cold cave. She lands softly, her long white tunic billowing gracefully around her as she crouches down.
It's a picturesque moment, the young newlywed woman and the crystal heart wrapped lovingly against her heaving breast. Everyone is silent, knowing somehow in their minds that Serah has an understanding of the object that transcends what they see. They trust in her inner sight, their pain flashing intermittently like a shot that reverbs through the group.
Feeling the blood coursing through him, Hope fixes his eyes on the heart. Serah stands, wobbling on her slim ankles at first on the uneven crystal slope beneath her.
If it wasn't a moment of such pain, it would be beautiful to them all. Shafts of light from a myriad tiny holes scattered in the ceiling of the cave flicker over all of the jewels inside, and land on Serah's hair as it floats around her cupid's bow mouth.
The woman stands, her eyes closed. She moves the heart away from her, holding the crystal aloft, shaped anatomically much like a human's would be-lopsided and dotted with aorta that spike from the outer chambers.
The light dances across the brilliant crystal heart, and Serah lifts her chin, gazing at the heart now held high above her head. The rest of the party lies on their knees, seeming to bow in homage to the cold vital organ.
There is a moment of utter stillness and silence, and Serah whispers into the cold, "Anima."
Her whispered word flitters across the crystals, all of them seeming to sing and hum the word back to her in different pitches according to their size and growth stage.
Serah's tear-streaked eyes lift forward, as does the eyes of everyone gathered, and there is a tremor, a cracking, that runs through the crystal. After a silence, tense-filled moment, there is an unmistakable sound that reverbs through the little crystal cave.
Thump.
Mouths agape in wonder, those assembled stare in silence as after a beat, the crystal shatters more around what it is concealing-the dislocated heart of the great Pulse fal'Cie.
Wondrously, they watch as the heart finally pumps its way out of the crystal that has contained it for who knows how long inside of the cave. As if being propelled to life by proximity to the denizens it created, the fal'Cie sluggishly starts to heave its way to life. As the pumps become more regular, beating a staccato rhythm through the room, there is a profound effect on those gathered watching as well.
"The pain is gone!" Snow shouts, and runs to Serah's side. He is full of vigor once more, and runs over to Serah, helping her hold the heart high. Her arms were shaking from the effort of holding the now-pumping oversized heart in her hands steady, as it churned its way out of the heavy crystal prison.
"Our brands, they are coming back to life!" Light shouts, and the beating crystal heart mirrors their own. Hope feels the same rhythm pumping in Serah's hands as in his ears, and a tingling, zinging sensation bubbles through his body. Looking down, his eyes fall on the back of his left arm, where a bright light is beginning to coalesce.
Threads shoot away from the heart, pinging various party members in a beam of crystalized light. Where the beam touches, it happens to be in the place where the old brand was. Their brands come to life, newly formed and without the red eye in the center.
Suddenly, the heart held by Serah's arms gives one last shudder, and lurches to a sluggish stop. The light that had been emanating from the heart immediately dies, shrouding the cavern in shadow once more. The old brands that the l'Cie carried from Anima remain, but the heart has stopped.
"Oh no." Serah mourns as she brings the heart back down to her chest, with Snow guiding her arms in his. He reaches around his new wife as they both stare at the heart. As they look at the last remaining piece of the enormous fal'Cie they once battled and feared, the heart shatters, turning to fine crystal sand.
The room watches in shock as the sands pour from the crystal encasement, free at last to slide down in powdery drifts to the floor. No trace of the heart shape can be seen.