Chapter 1:
Episode 0
Welcome to the void
Darkness, much like its counterpart in light, stood tall and prideful. It was the absence of its brother, adorning his polar opposite, and yet she did so to the same effect, and in the same fashion. The shadows loved their brother, and would never be seen without. Equally, the light loved his sister, and thus the two were forever bound in a union of familial peace.
Consciousness, however, was not so fortunate.
To awaken within a void of the forgotten, ignored by all under the assumption that you'd been reunited with your sibling... It stole Lumina's breath away, salting her cheeks which buried into her hands. Her games before had been conducted not of malice, but duty. Her mother – her 'self' – knew that, and so she thought it okay. She thought that, when all was said and done, and humanity was saved, that she would rejoin with Lightning, and be granted peace.
She was wrong for harboring such simple expectations.
Having spent hundreds of years wandering the world, Lumina was permitted to witness as humanity chased extinction; ignored and abandoned in the surrounding shadows. For their troubles and perseverance, all the souls which made up the decayed humanity were off in the new world: reborn and thriving. Leaving her behind in the desolate wasteland that was nothingness: the void. At first she didn't understand why, soon choosing to believe it was all a dream. She'd soon awaken as Claire Farron, after all.
No.
Fate, if such a thing still existed, insisted she accept her banishment.
For a while, in a stretch of time she could scarcely describe, Lumina sought reasons for it. Was chance itself to blame? Had they actually failed, and Bhunivelza merely tricked them into thinking they won? Both seemed possible at the time, but as she recalled the final desperate hours before salvation, Lumina settled upon a more… physical answer.
The puppet of Serah Farron had somehow graced her thoughts during the remembering process, and it was that lifeless illusion which held Lumina told her all; the puppet itself strolling up to her in the black and wrapping a pair of comforting, understanding arms around her. This false Serah was a puppet without a soul, much like her; strung about and danced by the arrogant and former god of order. Lumina bore no such strings; rather, she'd been puppeteered by a consciousness all her own, despite being an empty shell.
As was the Serah who held her.
Through her wandering of the doomed world, Lumina developed desires, emotions, and relationships of all sorts. She played tricks, and treats, and everything in between; taking on the role of both aid and troublemaker more times than she could count. It was through these actions and ideas that she'd become human all on her own.
A human without a soul, and thus, unable to join the other souls in their trip to the New World.
Lumina realized she was forgotten: believed by Lightning, her creator who fought for her family and friends across the course of over a hundred years, to be reabsorbed once again. She was originally an empty shell, a subconsciously shaped personification of her mother's heart; all to save and safeguard her beloved little sister. Holding on to all of Lightning's unwanted emotions and hated thoughts until the day they were whole once again.
And yet, her consciousness was never a part of that heart, and thus was not absorbed. This was her punishment for obtaining humanity: an eternity of solitary damnation. She was, now and forever, alone in this empty expanse. With this in mind, she made no attempts to stop her rattling voice as salt stung her eyes and the darkness loomed forevermore.
It wasn't fair.
Her mother took her back.
She wasn't supposed to be here.
"Hush… You're okay. Everything will be okay." Lumina felt the arms pull her in, and not wanting to believe in the words, she ignored them wholly. That did nothing to stop the fake visage of her mother's sister. "It's okay. You're not alone. You'll never be alone."
"But I am." Unable to discard the truth, Lumina forced herself to accept reality. Lighting... Claire had defied her fate, and freed their friends and family. However, defying the natural order was a skill owned solely by those with souls, and neither Lumina, nor the illusion of Serah tightening her grip, possessed such wondrous gifts. "I'm forever stuck here."
Nothing will ever change. Her family and friends were all gone, and the one who said she wouldn't abandon her, the one who begged her to let them become one, had Lumina behind.
"She didn't want to." The false Serah kissed her forehead, played with the bangs before her eyes, which floated gently in the invisible winds that did not blow, "She wholeheartedly wanted to take you back, but like me, you'd grown up too much for her. She took her heart, but you grew beyond that, and because of it, she could not see that a part of you remained here."
Sucking back her tears as best she could, Lumina dug herself into the illusion's bosom.
"I just want my family back…"
"Unfortunately, her's is not your family anymore."
A new voice broke the silence, ripping Lumina's eyes open and pulling her head free to look upon a tall man standing off in the distance. Black mist clouded his lower half, just below his calves, and yet he stepped towards them. Feeling the shift at her back, Lumina knew the fake Serah was watching him too.
The champion of chaos and destruction itself, Caius Ballad, had found them. Having fought just as hard as the other champions in defiance of his fate, his tale had become a tragic one, as while they fought to save the world, he hoped to destroy it. Courage and valor and love were sung by his legend, a legend of a man who rebelled against fate for the first time, and thus slew death itself with a blade of suicide.
He proved that sympathy does not justify tragedy.
In the end, he got what he wished for. But heroes were merciful, true heroes that was, and while it took many centuries more, his crimes were eventually pardoned – he even lent his sword to another legend in the making: one set on saving them all.
"Illusory Seeress." His eyes fell from the puppet to her. "And the Spirit Anomaly."
Lumina never got a chance to respond before God's trick moved; a prominent, and somewhat pouty frown puffing up her cheeks.
"We would appreciate it if you'd use our names; please and thank you."
Caius smiled, unbelievably looking to hold back a chuckle. Past Caius never smiled; let alone chucked.
"Very well. Have you taken on a name of your own?"
"No." God's puppet loosened her grip, her eyes glazing over, only to blaze fiercely anew. "I… I still retain the love Bhunivelze wrote for me. I can't see myself going by any other name than Serah."
"So be it." Caius then dropped his eyes onto Lumina, and she spied what looked like cooled embers inside. She couldn't say how, but that unspeakable rage of chaos he'd called upon during battle and beyond appeared to be missing. "And I suppose you still retain the name your creator gave you?"
"Lumina..." The name left an almost foreign taste across her tongue.
"Interesting..." Caius, to catch her off guard for yet a second time, then lifted a brow. "And now we have two."
"It's not nice to keep them in the dark."
A misty clump pulled itself free from the shadows, morphing into a smoky vortex which dissipated to show one of the many Yeuls who called themselves 'God' alongside Caius. Being a woman constantly forced to witness time's end, Yeul was yet another one of the old gods' unwilling tools – although Etro was far more caring on a level Bhunivelze will never reach. This ability, like all offers too good to be true, demanded its own unique price: stealing her life far too early and eternally reincarnating her with a new soul to die again and again.
All because the soft heart of a goddess couldn't handle watching a few l'Cie die.
Time, unlike how most would describe it, did not flow like a river. Time was best visualized as a puddle: calm and steady, and motionless when undisturbed. Everything had its proper place in and atop the water. Its calm surface, however, had been disrupted by the goddess dipping her finger in to change things, and this sent ripples all throughout, breaking the steady surface and shifting the contents all around.
Paradox had been born.
The act had uprooted elements from their proper positions in time, much like how a ripple or wave would move the leaves floating on the surface of a puddle. Things which 'shouldn't have been' now 'were,' and hence needed correcting. Serah Farron, the sister of Lightning and chosen Seer, had been picked alongside Noel, who stood as the last remaining human of a dead future. Together they were forced to fix Etro's mess.
But time itself is finicky, and while some things could be returned, others could not.
The Seers were one such change. They never should have been, and yet now forever were, bubbles created by the twisting fingers of the Goddess who lingered along the edges of the puddle. There were many Yeuls, however the one looking at Caius now had settled on a more... unexpected expression.
Crossing her arms, she bore a toothy smirk.
"They're our guests, are they not?" Tapping her foot, Yeul awaited an answer. Caius, continuing to surprise Lumina, hummed evenly.
"They are." He turned to them again. "I apologize. My older habits sometimes show themselves around change. I hadn't meant to insult or disturb either of you."
"I accept your apology." Lumina felt a hand patting her own, and twisted to see Serah shoot a delicate smile before looking back at Caius. "However, it's not me you need the acceptance of."
"Very true." Facing Caius again, she watched with held breath as he stepped closer and got down on one knee. With his face before hers, Lumina struggled to see through the blur. "Are you willing to forgive my mistakes?"
"Who... are you?"
Lumina couldn't make heads or tails of anything anymore. Sure, people changed over time, but this was just ridiculous.
Caius's smirk didn't help in that regard either.
"You used to be so meticulous at hiding your true emotions." Standing up, he then had the gall to extend a hand down to her. "If you're willing to listen, I can answer all of your questions."
Lumina had no idea what to do. Serah nodded, but that hardly helped; neither of them knew a rat's ass about what was going on. Looking back, she hesitantly reached ahead, and clasped her mitt with his. He hauled her up easy, to the point she nearly tripped from the sudden jerk, but balanced herself after with little trouble. Releasing her, Caius turned around and started walking, motioning them to follow without looking back.
"A lot has changed since the Yeuls and I took our place as Gods Of Death." The empty landscape began to morph. Taking images of various lumpy hills, jagged stone, and some twisted vines who wrapped carelessly around anything in reach: the space seemingly constructed itself as it saw fit, but Lumina guessed it was the work of the gods. "We watch over the souls of the dead, guiding them into either merging with the chaos and resting, or being reborn immediately. Through this, they lose their old selves and become something new, forsaking their pasts to venture into new journeys."
"But no matter what, Chaos will eventually have them." Lumina could almost feel its slimy, but no less comforting tendrils swallow her up. Having been born in it, she naturally carried more than the average dose of experience when it came to the darkness. When mixed with order – light – the darkness that is chaos takes tangible form, becoming real in the eyes of the humans who walked the surface of the world.
"Correct." Caius slowed as they came across a brighter space, one which Lumina never expected to see. It was almost... homey, with how different it felt when compared to the drab stillness of the surrounding void. "It is the root of humanity, and allows their civilization and lives to trudge ever onward. Regardless of one's prominence or deeds in life, all are given the same offer in death."
Serah raised her eyes, showing Caius a somber mask.
"Is that really all there is? Always losing your memories for the chance to be born again."
Caius nodded, although his expression was not nearly as dreary as Serah's.
"The complete loss of memory, while tragic in concept, is not nearly so detrimental as it once was in the Old World. The souls of the lost are not always so successful in their endeavors, and they leave their short lives unfulfilled. Reset and rebirth allow them to start anew, and with the chaos no longer under threat by Bhunivelze, the loss of memory does not mean the banishment and destruction of their essence."
"They continue onward into new horizons." Yeul skipped into view, wearing a sunny smile as she peered down into the round window at their feet. "No matter how many eternities they choose to wait beforehand."
"Although recently, things have taken a turn." The abnormal joy Caius upheld quickly tapered off into a familiar gloom, and the pit began sloshing its dark contents. Lifting an arm, he aimed it towards the mass, and soon it flattened, showing images similar to the old devices Etro loved leaving around – devices Lumina herself once fabricated to slowly prod an unknowing Lightning in the right direction.
"Is that–!?" The fake Serah quickly clapped both hands over her mouth, peering with wide eyes at the sight of another Serah, who looked to be vacuuming a stained wool carpet with a partial scowl across her lips. Caius nodded, and with a snap of his fingers the picture froze.
"It is indeed. The reborn l'Cie now live peacefully amongst the populace. What you're looking at right here is the aftermath of a visit from both Noel and Yeul: when Snow took on more than he could handle before giving the rest to their living room floor."
A sideways grin creeped across Lumina's lips; some things never changed.
"The big oaf is in for it now."
"He is." Caius matched her amusement. "Following this, he'll be confined to the couch for the duration of the night..." Silence cropped up, before the happiness even in Yeul's face abandoned ship. "Or, he would have, had things occurred the way they should have."
"Should have?" Serah's features squeezed together.
"What happens?" Something in Lumina's non-existent soul strummed out of tune. "What's wrong?"
"Bhunivelze, as it turns out, is a rather sore loser." Casting his first arm away, he raised the second one, and above his hand a bright blob formed; both squishy and fuzzy at the same time. "In his dying breath and before being completely sealed away, Bhunivelze spat harsh curses for his world and the humans who now inhabit it, spawning what the Yeuls and I have come to call Discord Sprites."
"Nasty little things." Yeul cringed as she stepped up beside Caius, glaring at the little snowball. "Think of them like rogue specks of Old World magic. On the bright side, they don't actively go hunting for trouble. On the not so bright side: they gravitate to the nearest source of it."
"What do you mean?" asked Serah, causing Yeul to shoot an eye up at Caius, who nodded and crushed the illusion in his hand, returning to the scene and looking to change it with a flick of his wrist.
Now, instead of a disgruntled Serah vacuuming the carpet, they stared at the sight of a deep abyss: a random ass hole in the ground.
Caius narrowed his eyes.
"While we cannot see into the full flung future, the Yeuls and I, as Gods Of Death, are able to peer around three hours ahead into the future, while subsequently freezing the flow of time in the world below; useful when processing an abundance of souls. We, however, cannot rewind it. The Discord Sprites normally have no effect on things, but whenever one is in play we are able to tell because a particular future will suddenly change, and magic will litter the area. Serah should have taken her revenge on Snow later tonight, but instead a massive sinkhole opens up and takes her life out of the blue–"
"You can't let her die!" Lumina clamped her jaw shut following that, swallowing down the bubbles in her throat and shooting a bumpy look towards Caius. "I mean, you have to do something."
Maybe they weren't family anymore, but the thought of losing Serah made her want to die.
"We're not going to let her die." Yeul smirking, tossing out a wink. "Why do you think we spent so long looking for you two?"
That grabbed Lumina completely by the horns.
"You were looking for us?" Serah didn't seem to fully believe it either.
"That's right. While the Yeuls and I would prefer to tackle this issue ourselves, our position as gods prevents us from directly setting foot on the New World."
"We can't actually go down to Earth without causing a whole slew of mischief." Yeul shrugged her shoulders sheepishly. "Our connection to the chaos here renders us invisible to ordinary humans, and our presence in the world below acts more like energy, so we'd be picked up by just about anything capable of reading any sort of electrical; ghost hunters would quickly become a real pain."
"You two on the other hand retain some of your connection to the Old World. Being left in the void without exposing yourselves to a large amount of raw human souls has allowed your bodies to remain physical. We should be able to send you down with little to no risk."
"Meaning you can tackle the Discord Sprites without alerting every reader you walk by, taking them down without a sweat. We're pretty sure a few Fira's should do the trick; or really, whatever spells you have on hand."
"But not too many," Caius said, before a stern frown quickly cropped up. "Magic doesn't exist naturally in the New World, and so any usage of it may have unintended effects on not only energy readers, but maybe even electronic devices around you."
"It's kind of random from what we can tell." Yeul gave a little tap to her noggin. "Magic does its best to blend in with the new rules, but it doesn't do all that great a job."
Caius brought back the image of Serah and the carpet.
"So long as you don't rely too much on your magic, you should be fine." His back stiffened, but bent fluidly as he turned, taking up a strong posture while looking between them. "Will you take up the task of fixing these anomalies to stifle whatever ideas Bhunivelze has in play?"
Silence answered the pair of Gods, and after a nice long minute, Serah found the will to answer. Her brows dipped before shaking hands clenched into fists, and she stabbed them both with a pointed glare.
"That's it?" This earned her a pair of slightly bemused faces, but that didn't douse Serah's ire one bit. "Do you have any idea how long we've waited in the abyss? Have you even tried looking for anyone before today? You seem to have stumbled across us right when you needed help; where was that while we sat there wondering why the New World hates us?"
"We understand how it must come off–"
"Zip it!" Serah stomped her foot down. "I don't care how desperate you are. If you really knew we were still around, then explain why you ignored us!"
"We didn't," Yeul's lower lip rattled, and Serah lost some of the wind from her sails; trying to uphold her quickly deflating glare
"What?"
"We took a gamble searching for anyone," Caius said, shutting his eyes tight. "We believed that only you, Bhunivelze's puppet, might remain. We hoped the offer of having a purpose again might sway you into helping us. The chances were miniscule, but we searched on for days. But just when we were ready to give up hope…"
"We heard you talking." Genuine remorse blanketed Yeul, who reached forward to take Lumina by the hand, who herself said nothing and froze. "And we saw you too. We didn't… It wasn't the nicest thing to do, but we needed help. We know it's not fair, but we're worried the Discord Sprites might be up to something big."
"When all is said and done." Caius shot open his eyes again. "And no more remnants remain: we'll allow you to live in the new world permanently, and as your own people. But to do that, we need your help."
"Alright." Lumina's gaze carried within it a razor's edge. "I'll do it." Clenching her fist tightly, her body shook just a little bit. "I'm tired of being alone."
Serah flinched, but nevertheless laid her hands atop Lumina's shoulders, leaning in from behind to embrace the smaller girl who pressed back into her.
Caius yet again stuck on that tiny smile. Lumina didn't get why. Lightning kicked his ass twice over; he should loath anything to do with her. Instead he flung his arm towards the image of Serah proper. It began to fade a bright white, and an equally colorless light flowed up like fire.
"If that is your decision then step into the light."
Looking at each other, Serah gave her a nod, and Lumina returned it. Hand in hand, with Lumina squeezing tightly and shaking, the pair trudged carefully into the ivory fire. They turned back, just in time to witness Caius and Yeul nod: giving them their faith. The light began to overtake their vision so much that neither could endure it.
But then the light clawing its way around her arms and into her clenched lids gave up, and before Lumina herself could open them up, she heard chirping. Feeling her jaw dipping ever lower, her pupils rolled across the untamed grass of the pleasant little field, and beyond the hill raised up ahead towards the sight of single story buildings.
This was it: the New World made by God.
"Hello? Hel~lo?"
"Serah?" Lumina tossed her head around, squinting when she couldn't spot her companion. They both stepped into the fire at the same time, so shouldn't they be in the same place? And why did Serah's voice sound higher pitched than usual?
"Down here!" Lumina peered down the hill, finding no sight of Serah still. "No. Look down."
Following those instructions, Lumina stumbled and nearly fell back when she saw the state of her sister's replica.
"S-Serah?!" Lumina reached down, blinking several times under the illusion her eyes were just messed up, before throwing away that delusion and slowly picking up her sister.
Her multi-articulated action figure of a sister, wearing a distinctly skimpy set of plated bikini armor.
Author's note
...
For those reading for the first time: hi, and welcome to the story. For everyone else: yes, this is a rewrite.
I was never really satisfied with the original, and seeing as this story is both slow updating and short so far, I figured it wouldn't hurt to touch up the whole thing for a bit; more practice is always better.
Note: these will all be uploaded together, and alongside it the next chapter I owe everyone. If you're reading this, it means the newest chapter has also come out, which itself will tell readers to pop back and give the story a second sweep – I'm changing some minor things to try and spice up the plot.
Granted, it's still episodic, so don't expect too much or a railroad shift.
Drop a review if you like. Good or bad; I take them all.
Until next time.