[FFXIII] Apokalupsis Eschaton 2/?

[shamera]

Title: Apokalupsis Eschaton
Fandom: Final Fantasy XIII
Character/Pairing(s): Lightning, Snow, Sazh, Hope, Team NORA... hell, everyone. --very light Maqui/Hope
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Post-game, plot-heavy. Not so fluffy this time, guys. Action/adventure, mystery, family, friendship.
Summary: Ten million people decided to remain on Cocoon, until one day they all disappeared without a trace, leaving residents on Gran Pulse bewildered and terrified.



The air was glistening with what could be snow or ice or crystal shards, pieces glinting though what looked like a haze. Smoke? Fog? The world looked like it was made of white; white on white haze, too difficult to tell things apart. Shadowy figures danced in the background, a myriad of hidden enemies in every corner, just waiting to spring out to attack.

He couldn't tell what was going on; why he was here. Only the feeling of wandering, exploring endlessly and looking for something. Searching, searching; but for what? He couldn't remember. There was something important. Something that he was supposed to do. Something that he was meant to do, but failed. What was it?

Endless wandering. Just one foot in front of the other, dragging himself forward, ever searching.

Something... something...

A sharp sting of cold, and he flinched back, yelping as he recognized the blizzara spell. The pain and the cold breaks him from his stupor, allowing in a rush of rage as he searched through the mists for the perpetrator. What attacked him? Who attacked him in his search? Didn't they know-- didn't they understand that there was something important he needed to do? He couldn't die before it was over. It was important!

But his healing spells felt muted to him, and it was far easier to use his rage and attack his surroundings. His ravager spells would take care of this enemy, would expose the monster from the fog.

Another spells shot at him, the cold burning into his bones, reminding him of when he had first learned his spells as well. Blizzard had been one of the first ones, and he had used it relentlessly as a new l'Cie, taking sadistic pleasure in the ice dancing at his fingertips, following the path he ordered it to, writhing and surrounding enemies who screamed under the ice until their voices froze over.

It had been disturbing and disgusting and the first few times he could have felt the bile in his throat, but there had also been a deep welled satisfaction in knowing that those people only deserved what was coming to them. It was their fault he was a l'Cie in the first place; their faults that his mom had died. Had the Sanctum not forced the Purge-- had they actually handled the situation in a smarter manner than attempting to kill everyone in the city, then maybe everything would have been okay.

He could feel that same hate and satisfaction within himself now, pulling on his fire spells to combat the ice, determined to melt whatever spell came his way. He would melt the world if he had to; the ice and the fog and the crystals in the sky, burnt away by the flames of his need to find--

To do something. Something he couldn't figure out.

The fog and ice recoils at the heat of his anger, screeching and rolling out of the way to expose people in front of him, standing at a distance. The Sanctum? Were they here as well, having followed him into this world of wispy dreams?

More blizzard spells spun toward him and he flinched back, not from the painful cold, but realizing the those standing in front of him, their faces drawn and tight and holding various weapons... they were all people he knew. His team, his friends. And standing at the very front of them all, one arm raised and a l'Cie brand glowing on her arm to summon her magic...

Mom.

And this time, the spell hit him harder than anything he had ever felt, freezing through his lungs and heart, frosting over his brain as he stood in stunned silence, desperately drinking in her face and her expression of... of nothing. Like she had steeled herself for something she didn't want to do, but had to anyway.

And the brand. There was a brand on her arm, just like his. A brand so close to opening, so close to the very end stages. A little bit more, and she would be all out of time. She would turn into a monster.

I'm sorry, she seemed to say, although that determined expression never changed and she never opened her mouth. I'm sorry. This is my Focus. This is what I have to do. More than that, this is what is right.

And he dropped his spells even as he could feel her charging her own, reaching for her with both hands-- hands, he saw soon enough, grotesquely deformed and covered with crystals. Crystals and crystals jutting out from his arms, mutating flesh into an atrocity. Into a Cie'th.

You failed, she continued to say, although in truth, she said nothing at all, never even looking him in the eyes. You failed your Focus and they brought me back to stop you from killing everyone. You're a monster, Hope. You're not my son anymore.

And the accusing eyes of everyone he had known-- everyone who had smiled at him and laughed with him-- stared from behind her, no one saying a word to him, but instead there to witness his death.

And that blizzara spell, the very same spell that he had used against countless monsters and used to delight in their pain and death, swirled to life around him, clinging to the crystals that he was now made up of.

No, he wanted to scream. No, this wasn't right! All he wanted-- all he wanted was to avenge her. All he wanted was her back, and there, and happy. He wanted the people who had a part in her death to pay, and pay, and pay. He wanted them to hurt and freeze and die just like what was happening to him right now. He wasn't a monster-- he wasn't!

He opened his mouth to scream this out, and yet what came out was a monstrous roar, shaking the ground and the air and his fading heartbeat. It was him screaming his denial and his rage and helplessness, begging for her look him in the eyes please and say it wasn't happening.

And he continued screaming until his vocal cords froze over, and his vision frosted over into a bleak whiteness.

---

He opened his eyes to the white of the ceiling, body surprisingly relaxed after a dream like that, although his mind felt like the aftermath of a storm. Hope had to spend a few seconds untangling his hands from the blankets, having fisted them in his sleep so tightly that he could barely feel his fingers. He sat up smoothly, a few minutes before even his alarm was going to go off, and took a deep breath. They'd be going back up to Cocoon today, to the crash site of Eden where the world had ended.

It only took a few minutes for him to get changed and ready for the day, although the coldness of the dream didn't fade away, but rather attempted to linger in his bones even as he kept his hands under burning water, trying to warm himself up.

A dream. It was just a dream. Just another one.

Hope wasn't sure that he wanted to be at the front lines at the expense of everyone else arguing. He knew he was good enough-- and honestly, he was sick of hiding what he could do and how much he had grown up from everyone around him. He was sick of playing the weak kid card so that the rest of the citizens down in the settlements would look kindly upon his family-- the child who had lost his mother in the Purge, had been unwillingly selected to destroy Cocoon, and was now finally reunited with his father who was trying to create a better life for him.

It was all true, of course, but it was in the details where the story went wrong. He wasn't that helpless child that did nothing and he hadn't lost the magic that had been gifted to him upon becoming a l'Cie. He was capable of protecting himself... Bartholomew's lawyer had thought it to be a perfect idea to play up Hope's image of being a small, pale child who could hardly take care of himself... and while all the information that had come out in public light had been true to an degree... it wasn't him and he just knew that his mother would have protested even a part of him being suppressed like this.

That was why he needed to go on this mission so badly-- Hope had to prove, just to himself, that he could still do things. That he wasn't the child that he had been publicly played out to be.

He understood Light's decision to keep him on the team. It was a decision he wanted for himself. They were l'Cie, and for a few months, they had all been so in sync with each other that even now knowing Light's thoughts was easy and he knew exactly what she wanted from him in this mission.

With Fang and Vanille gone, supporting that empty Cocoon, he and Light were the only healers left in their group. Strategically, it would be best if Hope was placed with Snow, and Light with Sazh. They covered the most roles that way, with each team having a physical attack, magic attack, support, and healer. And it helped that this way, they would not have to hide their abilities and their magic.

Serah knew, of course, and so did Dahj. But without the brands, neither of them had been able to further develop their own fledgling magic skills. But other than them and Bartholomew, the only one who knew the former l'Cie still kept their magical powers was... Maqui.

Hope sighed at the thought of the other boy. He didn't understand why Maqui was so accepting of him, but was grateful for him never the less. It was nice being included in something, even if he knew that he wouldn't be a part of Team NORA. It just hit too close to home for him, and he wanted to remain at least a part separate in that.

Besides, Light had already sat him down and talked to him about legalities and issues should anything happen with his father. She would take him in, and if something happened to her, then Snow and Serah were next in line. And then Sazh, because the group of them were the only ones who would understand the difficulties of living in a world that despised you for something you had tried to prevent; for saving their lives.

If something happened to all of them... Light's tone had been haughty, but she claimed that Lebreau and Gadot would not leave him on his own, even if she hadn't talked it over with them. She had been sure of it. It was a small sample of her trust in them, although he knew that she would deny it.

Passed around like a sack of potatoes, a small part of his mind had sniped, but that thought had been crushed as fast as it formed. No. It was just that they had back-up plans for their back-up plans, that was all.

And if something had happened to everyone, which had actually been a good probability seeing as the lot of them all worked in dangerous fields, then she had arranged papers for his own emancipation; because she didn't trust their budding government to look out after him. His father had set up accounts for him if anything were to happen, and even set up a place in Oerba should the group of them need to get away from the settlements.

It wasn't easy knowledge to bear.

But he had it. All those situations swarming through his head of what if, and the consequences of each action.

This new world was dangerous, and in a different way than when they had been on the run. In this world, the citizens and the people you trusted to be good neighbours could turn on you in an instant, and people were far more unpredictable than animals or even the fal'Cie. People were devious. People held grudges and made plans and some had no scruples-- and even the ones who did... well, scruples are easy to wear down, especially in an unforgiving world like this.

Bartholomew had spent many nights talking with Hope about that, finally talking to him as a person and not as some child who needed to be protected from all the evils of the world... to make Hope understand that while everyone could be good... everyone had the potential to turn on others like sharks as well. It was good to trust in others like Nora had always taught Hope to do... but at the same time, never trust too deeply unless you knew them well enough.

It was a lesson Light had thought Hope failed when he confided in her that he had told Maqui... because he needed to tell someone who could understand and who wasn't part of their original group. He just needed someone who could accept who he was, and knew he wasn't helpless. He wanted a friend he could actually be himself around, and Maqui had never backed down from Hope's requests. The other boy had been thoughtful and considerate and so much closer to Hope's age than the others. It hadn't felt like talking to an adult or an older sibling, but more like talking to a friend and peer. The other boy had been steadfast in Hope's whirling world of chaos.

And with the incidents that led up to them going to the same school together... Hope still hadn't worked any of that out yet. He wasn't sure if he could, or if he even wanted to think about it at the moment. Besides, right now, what was the most important was the mission that Light had proposed.

She trusted him enough to pick up the slack, and there was no way he was going to let her down.

He had barely been able to sleep through the night, so excited by the prospect of being part of something important the next day-- this wasn't like when he had stepped onto the Pulse Vestige... that time had been a horrible idea and he had practically done everything in the heat of the moment, unprepared and still hurt from the events of the Purge.

This time, he was prepared, and not about to let things go awry. He knew how to do his best, and he wasn't going to back down from anything. He wasn't scared anymore, and he was ready to prove that he could pull his own weight and not hold anyone back. He wasn't going to be left behind, and he wasn't going to be a liability.

So he had already been perfectly awake when Light came to wake him up in the morning, looking surprised that he was already dressed and ready, just taking a moment to tie on his customary scarf which had been a gift from his mom- she had always been the fashion conscientious one, making sure he fit in with all the other kids at school. She had cooed over it before in the shops, having insisting that actually going shopping was better than browsing catalogues online. He had never liked it, but had never been able to deny his mom little things like going shopping, so he usually just sighed and bore the attention when she fawned over what he could wear. Sometimes it was exasperating, because it almost felt like she wanted a girl instead.

Still, the scarf had been a gift because she insisted the color was the same as his eyes (which were the same as her eyes, really) and that he always looked more cheery in bright colors anyway. So he just went along and wore it all the time, knowing that it made her just a little happier to see him with it.

I hope you're still happy with me, mom, he thought to his own reflection as he looped the soft fabric behind his neck and then tied it at the front underneath the bulk, staring at the reflection of his eyes; her eyes. And that you're proud of how I grew up.

Lightning had walked in then with toast and juice, but paused for a moment with a peculiar look on her face... almost as if for a moment, she had been looking at a stranger.

"You're up early," She stated, sounding only slightly surprised even if she didn't look it.

"You said we'd be leaving early, right?" Hope asked back, murmuring his thanks as he accepted the glass of juice and toast. "I didn't want to slow anyone down."

Lightning got that look on her face again, one that Hope could never figure out, even as she stated, "You're not slowing anyone down, Hope."

Hope only nodded in agreement, hoping that he would prove her right. He didn't feel like it, but he wasn't ready to let Lightning down. He had been briefed on the mission last night after she had rushed him home, talking about what they would be doing, and even asking for his opinions on the matter. He appreciated that more than even he had imagined-- to be let in on the information, and trusted with his thoughts. He hadn’t been able to do enough for everyone while they were l’Cie, Hope felt, because he had always been the weakest, had always been the one pushed behind the others because he just couldn’t take the hits. Instead, Hope had strategized. He planned and planned and created back-up plans and made sure to notice things that once couldn’t have been noticed without the help of librascopes. He worked out formations and weaknesses and combos that would take specific monsters down, and kept an eye on what staggered them, on how fast they staggered and how long they stayed down for.

It was, he felt, his biggest contribution to the team.

It took only a moment before they were headed down the stairs, the silence slightly awkward in a way that it hadn't been for a while. He couldn't figure out why, but had a feeling it was probably something to do with the current mission at hand. The events that occurred yesterday had everyone on edge, and he wasn't sure what was going on with the world right now. All he knew was what was going on in front of him, and that was what he wanted to concentrate on at the moment-- he didn't want to think about the implications of having ten million people suddenly disappear. Everything hinted too much of a errant fal'Cie still in Cocoon planning on bringing back the Maker.

Snow and Sazh were waiting for them downstairs and Hope had to clench his jaw when he realized that everyone had been waiting for him despite the fact that he had tried his very best to be up early. He knew the plan-- it had been edited the night previous around the kitchen table. They were going to go up all at a time to make sure they would stay together. The report had come back to the Guardian Corps that there wasn't anything in the air, although they were still going in the suits just in case. Lightning had demanded it, especially seeing the look on General Amodar's face when she said she needed a suit smaller than what he had.

And once again, Hope had managed to burden himself just by being a part of the mission. He was just... going to have to work extremely hard in order to make up for everything.

"We'll have to hit the edge of Vallis Media in fifteen minutes since we're picking up the equipment and making sure that no one is awake and out to see us off." Lightning said, her voice clipped and abrupt as usual. "We'll get there and onto Cocoon within a minute-- don't want everyone else to find out about the Cie'th stones. Everyone currently thinks they’re just statues; let's keep it that way."

"You sure about this?" Sazh spoke up, his question directed at Lightning, even as he darted a glance over to Hope. The boy hung his head so that his hair fell over his eyes, already feeling his face heat up in embarrassment. He knew exactly what they were talking about-- he had heard it the night previous how Lebreau and Light had their disagreement on whether he could go or not. He was glad that Light had chosen to let him go, though, despite everything.

"Are you doubting him?" Light's voice was dry even as she strapped in her gun-blade to its pouch. "Because I don't."

"Now, I'm not saying that and you know it, soldier," Sazh protested, and then he directed his voice at Hope. "You've always had our back, Hope, and I'm not saying you ain’t suitable for the mission. I just think you ought to have that normal life we all worked so hard for. You're a kid-- you should worry about school and grades, and hell, girls-- rather than whether ten million people just suddenly died from a disease or a fal'Cie up there."

"I'm fine," Hope tone was hard as well, matching up to Lightning's. "I can do this. This is more important than school or girls, anyway. I'll just worry about that when we come back, right?"

Sazh pursed his lips and didn't say anything to protest, although the teen could tell that the older man disapproved of the decision. It didn't bother him too much in spite of everything, though. Hope was going to prove himself, and then the others would understand that he could pull his own weight, just like Light did. He wasn't going to be left behind.

"If there are no more objections...?" Light didn't wait for a response before she walked out the door, giving Serah a brief kiss on the cheek on her way out, the younger Farron having stayed silent and out of the way the entire time. Sazh followed after, and Snow kissed his wife before whispering something in her ear that made her smile and heading out as well, suspiciously quiet on Lightning's decision.

Hope made to leave as well when Serah moved to stop him, and he turned toward her in confusion. Surely she wasn't going to tell him that he shouldn't go, as well?

But she just smiled at him when he turned and patted down his shoulders in a manner that reminded him sharply of Vanille, her expression somewhat sad even as her hands lingered on the familiar orange cape-let. It had been the last thing he wore when he left Cocoon, and he felt it was only fitting that was what he wore underneath the hazmat suit they were going to get later.

He remembered feeling awkward in the girl's presence when they had first finally gotten the chance to talk-- after all, it was because of Serah that Lightning had gone on the Purge train to begin with, and the reason why Snow fought through soldier after soldier. She was the most important person in their lives, and he hadn't known what to feel that day when they had all been reunited, before Hope had found his father again. From all of Snow's stories, Serah had been the most amazing girl on the planet; on both planets.

And meeting her properly that first time, he realized that he had fallen haphazardly into her little family-- and that his most important people were her most important people as well. It had been hard at first, seeing as he didn't have a reason to avoid her so that he could think things out-- she had immediately sought him out to thank him for being with them on their trip... and Hope had remembered thinking that it wasn't exactly a voluntary thing at the beginning of the trip. But Serah had continued to be sweet and kind and willing to take Hope in when he was in doubt, until there was just no possible way he could think ill of her.

"Hope," Serah put her hands lightly on his shoulders, looking slightly sad. "I know you want to prove that you can do everything that adults can do, but don't push it, okay? We know you're capable- Light knows you're capable. Otherwise she would never have requested you on this mission."

"I know," He told her. He was proud of it, too-- that he could be useful in some manner. It had taken a lot of arguing the night previous with his father for him to come with, as well, but Hope had managed to convince Bartholomew that everything was going to alright. He was going with the others, after all, not by himself. And he was going to do something useful. He had felt antsy ever since the end of their Focus and returning to their so-called normal lives. It just made him realize all the more that he wasn't really normal at all anymore, was he? But he understood what she was saying-- it was what everyone else was trying to say. "I'll be careful."

She looked slightly conflicted when he said that, but nodded anyway. "I know you will be. You'll take care of Light too for me, right?"

At that, he grinned. "Of course!"

She smiled back, and then patted his shoulders again. "I'm sure you'll do fine, then."

She looked like she still had something else to say, but refrained from saying any more and Hope didn't press her, even as he smiled at her in response and turned away, now wondering why she had stopped him in the first place.

Over the horizon, the sun was starting to show its first signs of awakening, peeking over the mountains with curling tendrils of light.

-------

He shouldn't have been surprised to see Team NORA waiting for them, along with a squadron of soldiers from the Guardian Corps, despite Lightning not officially being in the ranks anymore. But he was surprised, and his eyes flickered over to Maqui, who looked tired and unhappy about the entire situation. Snow must have compromised and given in to at least have the rest of the team see them off, even if Lebreau still looked furious (and Hope wasn't entirely sure why).

A glance over to Lightning showed that she hadn't been expecting them either, if her tight and irritated expression was anything to go by.

"Snow," She accused irritably, and the taller man just shrugged, not bothering to deny it.

"We're good at what we do," He said simply, and nodded over to the others. "And they're good at helping. It never hurts to have more help, Lightning."

Hope just passed a somewhat guilty look to Maqui, remembering their conversation yesterday about staying behind and how the blond had said it was a good thing, and Hope had disagreed so vehemently-- not when he could do something, not when there were still magic in his blood, and when sitting back and doing nothing at the Hanged Edge had been the reason... well. What if, what if.

Lebreau was dressed strangely, not in her usual purple and white attire, but instead with a comfortable outfit and her hair tied up as if she were getting ready more movement rather than for the attractiveness of her clothes. The barkeeper frowned, obviously upset, but spoke up as well, her tone steady. "I asked Lieutenant Amodar if he could spare the extra suits, and he's agreed. Three-man teams are the best way to go. Gadot and I are going up with you." Her frown deepened, although she appeared to take no notice of Lightning's bristling disapproval.

"You are not authorized to change the plan," Light's tone was low and tight, obviously angry that the other woman was going to challenge her plans. "This is my mission, and I get the final say on what goes."

"You already got the final say in the important subjects," Lebreau argued back, not giving an inch. Her eyes flashed over to Hope for a moment, and then back. "I'm just bringing the back-up in case things happen to fail."

It was tense, and Hope squirmed where he stood behind Snow, not sure what was going on. He had never seen the dark-haired woman go up against Lightning before (heck, he rarely ever saw anyone go up against Lightning, period. Maybe Fang a few times while they were still rushing to complete their Focus), and he was starting to realize that maybe Maqui had been right all those times he complained about Lebreau being scary.

"It's been authorized," Amodar spoke up somewhat uneasily, trying to placate both the seething women. "This is still your mission, Miss Farron," his tone at the title was regretful, seeing how promising Lightning had been in the Guardian Corps, "But your numbers are somewhat... smaller than what I would have recommended."

"For a good reason," Lightning argued, although most of her steam disappeared now that she was directing her words away from Lebreau. "We don't know what to expect up there."

"We just need you to meet up with Lieutenant Mosley, and determine the cause of communications break-down." Amodar dismissed. "And while it may be true that you needn't that many people up there, three-man teams are the best options at all times. You know this as well as I do."

Hope turned away from the conversation as he felt Maqui slide up beside him, bumping shoulders. The older teen looked grim, but determined, and held out what looked like a crudely build communications device.

"Keep this," He said under the tense conversation the adults were having. "I'm keeping one myself. I've sent the main comms device with Lebreau so that we'd be able to keep in communications at all times, just in case something happens and you guys need back-up or something."

Hope took the device gratefully, slipping the bulky thing into the pouch he had against his thigh. "So everyone has one?"

Maqui went suspiciously pink when he was asked that question, and shook his head. "There's the master relay device-- two going up, one for each group, and then something to connect down here. But, uh, I made that one a while ago and it's not as great as the other ones, but I figured, you know, if something happened or something..." The blond shrugged. "Well, you'd be able to reach me." He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "In case you. Want to, or something. Just talk. Need to rant. I don't care."

Hope quirked a grin, feeling a swell of fondness at Maqui's thoughtfulness. It was probably something the other boy didn't even tell Lebreau about, and he probably wouldn't have any use of the device, but it was a thoughtful gesture nevertheless. "You have something that can reach to Cocoon?" He should have known, really. Maqui really was a technology whiz.

"Well, yeah, duh," The older boy passed off the question. "I built a communications array a while ago just to see if I could. Did you know those crystals holding Cocoon up conduct really well? I mean, wow, they're strong and resistant to just about any damage, but they also amplify power output by one point eight times? And that's just me building stuff near it. If there was some way to actually shape one of those, small enough, then maybe I'd be able to do more, but hey, most of our equipment can barely cut into it at all, so I doubt that would happen anytime soon."

Maqui took a moment to take a breath before giving Hope an unreadable look. "I'm not kidding about people needing those behind the scenes. There's got to be someone to man the communications and figure out what's going on."

Hope tried to hide a smile. "Lebreau refused to let you come with, huh?"

"Caught me when I tried to hide in the equipment boxes," Maqui admitted with a shrug, and Hope wasn't sure whether he was actually joking or not. "Although I didn't have a lot of time to do it. I didn't wake up all that early..."

Hope couldn't help but smile at that. Had it been any other day, neither of them would have been up right now, instead sleeping in until the last moment before school. Maybe it was okay to not be used to be waking up that early.

"Hope." Lightning's voice distracted him from a proper response, and he turned his attention over to see her frowning at them, her expression darker than when she had been arguing with Lebreau for some reason. "You should hear the plan as well."

The words were indicative enough that he should go over, and he gave Maqui an apologetic look. It had taken him a while to notice, but it really did seem like Light wasn't too fond of Maqui for some reason (not that he knew why, but he was trying to find out). The older teen just shrugged at him helplessly, as if he already knew why but didn't quite want to say anything about it yet.

"Yeah," He agreed absentmindedly, although his eyes lingered with Maqui for a moment further in apology. "Coming."

Light didn't look particularly happy when he returned, although she didn't comment on it, clasping his shoulder for a moment before letting go again and nodding to the Lieutenant to continue. Amodar frowned upon seeing Hope, though, and Hope found himself straightening his back trying to make a better impression.

The plan was simple. Find Lieutenant Mosley, and keep in half hour communications down to the surface of Pulse from each team. They would be split up (Snow, Lebreau, and Hope on one team; Lightning, Sazh, and Gadot on the other) into two groups, one to follow the distress signal that had been left on Cocoon by the earlier single man excavation, and the other group heading toward Eden and the Sanctum council chambers to find out what had been going on.

Should either team find people, or any hint as to where they would be, they were to signal to the other team and regroup. Finding the citizens of Cocoon took priority over all else.

“You have thirteen hours to search.” Amodar concluded. “Should neither team find anything of use, you are still to return here on the dot. That’s it, people. Thirteen hours maximum.”

Then they were suited up (the most ridiculous thing, and Hope hated the bulky synthetic suit that was meant to regulate everything from his movements to air. He couldn’t even get suited up by himself because of the strange straps and contraptions, and needed help from both Lightning and Snow to tighten some buckles so that the overly large thing would fit him better), and sent on their way.

It was strange approaching a Cie’th stone and knowing there were at least half a dozen eyes on them. Half a dozen eyes that weren’t part of the group going up, at least. Maqui and Yuj were both there, along with Amodar and several of his subordinates.

“Good luck,” Amodar called out as Lightning reached out a hand to the Cie’th stone. “And Godspeed.”

-----

It was dark.

Shockingly dark against what had been the pre-dawn light on Gran Pulse, because Hope’s vision blacked out the moment he felt his feet touch the ground again from the teleport. Without Phoenix lighting up the sky, the world was nothing but inky blackness, the only opening on the shell of the planet facing away from the distant sunrise on the planet below.

Lightning flicked on a light on her helmet, and then took a moment to flick on more lights that made her bio-suit glow dimly. The others followed suit, and Hope held his breath as his gloved fingers wandered over his helmet briefly to find the switch he had been told about before.

The sudden light that flooded his vision was a welcome relief.

“The lieutenant wanted us back before thirteen hours,” Light said, her voice tinny and echoing through the helmet, “but I want us back here in five. My group will head toward Eden’s crash site. Snow... find Lieutenant Mosley.”

“You got it.” Snow’s voice was equally alien sounding.

“Check in with the other group every half hour, alternating with check ins to Amodar. That means fifteen minutes only between communications breaks. There will be a timer on your suits that will inform you of time passing every fifteen minutes. If you don’t make the call, the timer will continue to go off every three minutes, and then eventually every minute.” She frowned. “Let’s not let it get to that point.”

They all took a moment to check with their communications equipment while Lightning made the first message to be carried down the world under and conversed for several moments with Amodar.

“Checking in?” Hope asked into the tiny comms device on his wrist, feeling awkward and foolish as he heard his own voice echoing in his ear and Sazh gave him a thumbs up from several feet away.

“Loud and clear, kid,” Sazh replied, sounding pleased. “Seems like it’s all working fine. Let’s hope this keeps up, right?”

Hope nodded, and picked up the large flashlight from the pile of supplies they had taken up with them, flicking it on and swerving the beam slowly, looking at the empty buildings and streets, darkened and eerie silent.

There were cracks on in the streets, having taken heavy damage when Cocoon had fallen from its cradle in the sky. Bruised, but not broken. He hadn’t been up to Cocoon ever since... ever since the events at Eden, actually. The events felt like a blur, it had all happened so fast, but he had never gone back up after meeting up with his father down on the surface of Gran Pulse. His dad had arranged for things to be transferred down, and the two of them had resided in shelters with the rest of the ex-l’Cie for weeks while buildings were being built in a hurry by the remnant machinery that had been brought down from Cocoon.

The entire process had only taken two months before there were living areas. Fast, quick, and easy, but those two months had felt like hell in close quarters with other injured children who either glared or stared at him fearfully.

It wasn’t an experience he ever wanted to repeat.

Lightning signed off and turned to the rest of the group. “My team will be searching Eden. Snow, I’m leaving the other team in your charge.”

Snow’s giant bio-suit gave her a placating wave. “Already in it, sis. I’ll handle it, I promise.”

She nodded, and then turned away without further comment, expecting the rest of her team to follow as she walked off. Sazh gave a sigh and lifted his arms in a casual shrug, then gave Gadot an understanding pat on the shoulder as the two of them wandered off after her.

Hope turned away as well. He understand the group dynamics, of course. Two with magic, one without. Gadot and Snow were both built as heavy fighters, so it was pointless to put the two of them in the same group. Not to mention, Hope was pretty sure that Light and Lebreau would never agree to be placed in the same team while they held a disagreement.

A beeping noise drew his attention to Snow, who had activated some kind of small cylindrical device and was waving it about, the noises emitted high pitched and somewhat irritation.

“So you got the location, Hero?” Lebreau asked, slinging a gun over a shoulder confidently, her posture relaxed. Hope was reminded of Fang for a moment, except her tone lacked the hint of mocking that Fang tended to favor.

“Heh.” Snow gestured with the device at a direction that Hope pointed his flashlight at. “That way. This ought to be a piece of cake. We’ll be done in no time.”

“You just had to say that, didn’t you.” Hope grumbled, but followed along as the group started to move. Snow laughed at his grump, laying a heavy hand on top of Hope’s helmet as if he was trying to ruffle his hair.

“Don’t worry. You’re with the heroes, kid. There’s nothing that we can’t take care of.”

Heroes. He was starting to get a bit sick of the word and its over-usage by the people he knew. There was only so much he could stand of the cheesiness before he wanted to bat Snow away because the other man just wasn’t realistic enough. But of course Snow understood when he wasn’t being realistic, and at least he toned it down around Hope whenever the younger man started to look too irritated. That was the good thing.

The bad thing was that Maqui did the same thing, and the other boy didn’t seem to understand that Hope didn’t appreciate the heroism, especially directed at him. It was heartwarming, yes, but after the incident that had landed the both of them in the hospital, Hope found that he hated anyone trying to be a hero for him.

Not when he could take care of himself.

In the darkness, the cities of Cocoon looked unfamiliar enough that Hope wasn’t entirely sure where they had teleported. He used to know all the major cities of Cocoon, but now that everything was cracked and broken, the streets dirtier than he had ever seen.

“How can anyone live here?” He muttered under his breath, not understanding. Even in the harsh environment of Gran Pulse, things were better. Buildings were new and while they weren’t anywhere as beautiful as the buildings on Cocoon had once been, it was still beautiful under the sunlight. Even with the monsters roaming the land, it was better than this dark and silent grave.

There wasn’t even dirt coming from under the cracked steel and concrete. All the cities of Cocoon were so sound that it was miles of metal rather than dirt, and now after living months on the surface Pulse, it seemed... unnatural.

“People cling to what’s familiar.” Lebreau responded quietly, and Hope started to realize that he had spoken some of his thoughts aloud. She stepped closer, but resisted reaching out to him. That was fine. Hope was never sure how to respond when people stepped too close. “It’s easier than having to face something different.”

A part of him understood. Maybe he would have been one of those people who protested moving to Pulse when Cocoon fell had he not taken part in its demise. He had been told all his life that Pulse was Hell, and better the world you know than the world of nightmares.

But this world of darkness... now that he thought about it, this one felt like the world of nightmares.

They walked in silence for about an hour, Snow checking in with both Lightning and Amodar at certain intervals when an annoying and persistent high pitched beeping would emit from their suits. Hope would finger the slight bulk under his suit in his side pouch, wondering if Maqui was working hard making sure all the lines stayed clear. He personally couldn’t imagine himself behind the scenes like the other boy could do; he’d be frustrated out of his mind trying to figure out what was going on.

He had been keeping his flashlight closer to the ground to make sure he didn’t trip over an great cracks or crevices in the ground when the edge of his light fell onto something shinier than what had any right to be in the middle of a street.

He followed the object with his light, eyes widening as he took in the... large object in his path.

“What is this?” Hope asked, drawing both Snow and Lebreau’s attentions. It looked almost like a jewel, really, or some kind of ornament that could have been beautiful on a necklace, except it was much too big. Bigger than Snow, even, and looked like it had somehow crash-landed in the middle of the street, the bottom part buried deep into the concrete. An asymmetrical almost teardrop shape in the ground, metal vines curled tightly around a center that couldn’t be seen even with Hope shining his flashlight intently into the gaping holes between the metal.

There was something inside, though, since the light didn’t go through.

Lebreau reached out a hand to prevent Hope from getting any closer to it, and shone her light on the object as well.

“Maybe it’s a piece that landed from Eden.” She suggested. “We’re not too far from its crash site.”

It didn’t look like anything in Eden, though, even though Hope wasn’t intimately familiar with the workings of the capital. His father had worked there, but Hope never had any interest in exploring their capital in the sky any more than the regular person would. Most of those places were business buildings and government structures, after all. Not many places for children to roam. But still... he was pretty sure he might have noticed if there had been a strange statue with a design like that somewhere.

“Guys.” Snow called from half a street over, and the two turned toward him. “The signal’s close. We’ll check this thing out after we’ve found and briefed Mosley, alright?”

Right, the mission. Hope felt his cheeks heat slightly to realize that he had completely forgotten their objective in the hour that they’d been walking and he’d been left to his thoughts. He hurried over, his steps light knowing that the streets could give at any moment.

Snow was frowning, still staring at the strangely shaped device in his hand.

“We should be able to see him by now, actually.”

Hope pointed the flashlight in the direction that Snow faced, and then swerved it about to find anything unusual. There was nothing.

“Are you sure the transmitter is supposed to be on him?” Lebreau asked, coming up from behind them and adding her light to theirs. The area Snow had indicated was completely empty except for some fallen debris, but there was nothing that would have been able to hide a person in. “Maybe it fell off his suit.”

“It couldn’t have fallen off.” Snow argued. “It’s part of the suit.”

“Did he disappear, too?” Hope wondered aloud. The thought was eerie, but somehow made sense in his head - everyone on Cocoon had disappeared, and the Lieutenant Mosley had been sent to investigate. He could have disappeared as well.

He shivered. Maybe they shouldn’t stay on this empty world for long.

“Nah, he’s definitely still here somewhere.” Snow said. “Must be... maybe there’s a street under this place. He could have gotten trapped there or something, and it’d be up to us to get him out.”

That didn’t help Hope’s imagination at all as he sought to stop thinking about how it might be to be trapped under tonnes of steel and concrete, unable to find anyone to help and maybe with limited air. He had never met Lieutenant Mosley before. Was the man a mountain like Snow? Was he smaller, able to get into areas most wouldn’t be able to?

“I can’t claim to know the streets of Palumpolum,” Lebreau said conversationally. “But it certainly doesn’t look like there’s be anything under here, Hero.”

Hope’s mind blanked out. This was Palumpolum? They had been walking in his home city for the past hour and he hadn’t even recognized it? Just how much of the city had changed?

...Just how much about him had changed?

“There are tunnels under here.” He spoke up. “There’s miles of tunnels under the streets. That’s where most of the work went on- Carbuncle was under here.” Once upon a time, anyway. After Orphan had been defeated, all of the Cocoon fal’Cie had just disappeared without the energy they received. “I know how to get there.”

Because that was the thing. He did know, now that he was actually looking for passages and streets rather than focusing on the rubble and the debris. He might not know where they were exactly, but he knew where they would be able to find a service tunnel. They had been all over Palumpolum once upon a time, and he had spent years just looking for those tunnels, even if he hadn’t gone into every single one. Just finding them had been like discovering treasure as a child.

He looked up at the silence to see both Lebreau and Snow looking at him contemplatively.

“You can get us under the streets, kid?” Snow questioned.

Hope nodded. There were platforms in all sorts of places, and he knew what to look for. “Yeah. They're usually in the larger streets, but there are- tunnels down.” He and Lightning had come up on one of them. They were easy enough to spot.

Snow grinned at him. “Guess you’ll be leading this one then, kiddo! It’s a good thing you were assigned to this group.”

He doubted that it had been any kind of coincidence. Lightning would have known that he knew the area better than anyone else in the group. Had this been the reason that Lightning had insisted on him being in the expedition? Maybe a part of it, he admitted to himself, but he wanted to believe that there were other reasons.

He glanced on the grounds again, revealing different patches of street with his flashlight, trying to find a clue as to where they were. The streets were somewhat narrow here, and he searched with his light to where the road could lead.

“This way.” He finally said, finding the familiar paths that would lead to a main road. He still wasn’t sure where they were, but the architecture was the same throughout the city and he knew he would never be able to get lost here. Hope stepped over to a corner, glancing away from the intersection where a building had come tumbling down, spilling twisted metals and stone everywhere. He didn’t want to think about how many people might have been in that building when it came crashing down.

The beep of the suit was taken care of as Lebreau answered the call this time, sending a message to Lightning about how they were getting close to the signal now, and that they might find Mosley and be done with their portion of the mission soon enough.

Hope wasn’t so sure about that, but kept going anyway, light focused on the ground to find the smooth steel of entrances that would lead to the tunnels underground.

It was hard when the ground was mostly covered with dust and debris, nothing at all like what Palumpolum had looked like before. The city had once been clean and clear, but there weren’t people to take care of the wreckage anymore. Once, they had machines maintain the city. Now, there was nothing.

“Here!” He called out when he spied a smooth plating on the ground, breaking out into a jog and then nearly crashing to his knees as he went to clear the bits and pieces of... he didn’t even know what, off the area.

The bulky suit made his fingers clumsy, but the hatch was a relief to his system.

“This it?” Snow asked, coming up.

Hope only nodded.

“Alright, let’s get this thing open, then.” Snow said, and knelt down beside Hope. Lebreau only crouched, keeping her light steady on the mechanical entrance. “Hey, let me get in here now-”

The older man brushed fingers against the hatch, and then brushed away smaller bits of dust that had gathered in the hollows of the steel, getting a grip before just lifting -

And Hope remembered at that moment that with all the power gone from Cocoon, there wasn’t an easy computer interface that would have opened the doorway, and there wouldn’t be a lift that could take them up and down. All of that were mere mementos of the old Cocoon, one that had been operated on unlimited power.

The hatch opened, and Hope leaned away from the cloud of dust that was dislodged into the air along with the bit of steel, bringing a hand to wave in front of his face despite the suit protecting him from the dust getting into his eyes or lungs. It was just instinct.

Snow dropped the heavy steel just a bit aways from them with a grunt of effort, and Hope looked back to see Lebreau shining her light down the hole, the darkness even more menacing beneath the streets than it had been above it.

There was the knowledge that the sunlight would eventually spill onto the streets above, sometime during the day when Cocoon’s shell didn’t cover the beams of the sun. But down there... it was complete, pitch black.

“Well, damn.” Lebreau breathed. Hope had to agree with her.

Snow studied it a moment. “You know how far that goes, Hope?”

Hope breathed out carefully, trying not to show any of his disappointment. “Far.”

Too far to jump, that was for sure. It was several stories down at the very least, from what he remembered the last time he had come up the service tunnels. With the power down and computers gone, they would have to get down manually. Which would make it even harder to get out from the tunnels after that.

They could exit underneath the cliffs of Palumpolum, but he didn’t know how to get back up if they went out that way.

“But why would he go down there?” Hope wondered aloud, trying to work it out. If Lieutenant Mosley really had been dispatched onto Cocoon to find out what was going on, then he should have been where Lightning’s group had been headed- to Eden’s crash site, where people had been trying to rebuild a living there.

Going down into the tunnels of Palumpolum seemed counter-productive.

“You said it yourself, Hope.” Lebreau said. “Carbuncle was down there, wasn’t he? That’s a reason right there to investigate. Not just a powerful fal’Cie, but one that provided food for all of Cocoon. If he could find something, maybe he could provide more food for the people down in Pulse, too.”

Hope didn’t think so. All of the fal’Cie had disappeared, and Carbuncle hadn’t been the most powerful out there.

“Food is important.” Lebreau continued. “Probably more so up here on Cocoon now.”

“You think it might have something to do with everyone disappearing?” He asked.

She shrugged. “Who’s to say? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. I’m just saying there are plenty of reasons why Mosley would go down here to investigate.” She looked dubious of her own words, though. “Wish his comms was working. Then we’d be able to confirm.”

“Signal’s definitely coming from down there.” Snow confirmed for them. “So that’s where we need to go.”

“How would we get back up?” Hope asked, because that was the most important question in his mind. It wasn’t as he was scared to go down, but if they were going to go, it was best to go with a plan first.

It was Lebreau who moved first from their perches. “We tell the others. Tell them where we’re headed first, and then find supplies that will help us get in and out of this place. Palumpolum has stores, right? I’m sure we can find a few things around here to scavenge-” Hope didn’t think so, especially since this place so abandoned. He figured all the people who had stayed on Cocoon would have gone through the stores already long ago by now. “-For anything that can help us. Ropes, equipment, anything you think would work.”

Snow didn’t look very happy about that plan. “It would take too long to go through the shops-”

“We split up.” Hope spoke up. “There’s three districts of shops. We can each hit one and keep in contact , and then we’ll be able to go through them three times as fast.” As much as he didn’t think they’d be able to find anything of use in those stores, he couldn’t just discount the possibility in case there really was something that had been missed and could help them. They had brought supplies, yes, but nothing for an in-depth investigation under the city. This was a short mission, after all, with what was supposed to be easy goals to achieve.

“No.” Snow dismissed the idea. “We stay together. There’s no telling what’s out there-”

“There’s nothing out there!” Hope exclaimed, irritated. He knew why Snow had thrown his idea out the window like that. Had it been Lightning on the team instead, anyone else, Snow would have approved of the idea. He just knew it. “No people who might beat us around, no crazy machines, nothing. This entire world’s dead, Snow, and the shops aren’t even far away!”

He was probably the safest out of all of them, seeing as he this had once been home. He knew the streets, even with all the crap around them. He might not know where things had fallen, but he knew how to get back. He knew where to duck to if something actually did happen, which he seriously doubted would.

The reason Snow had said no was because Hope had suggested it, because he didn’t think it was right to let Hope wander off alone. No, had it been anyone else, the idea would have been approved with only a few words regarding how they should all keep in contact with each other.

“We’re in three man teams for a reason, Hope,” Lebreau spoke up, tuning in on the growing tension. Her tone was placating, calm. “It’s just not a good idea to separate.”

“Because of what? If we get lost? We could just leave a light here. Considering how dark it is around, we’ll be able to see that for miles around. If there were anything around, someone would have said something. One of the machines would have told us. There’s nothing dangerous here. And we need to save on time, right? There’s no way we could search the city and underground in less than thirteen hours, not to mention how it would take longer than normal because of the darkness and all the things in our way.

“You said we should go through the shops. It’s a better idea than just staying here, or throwing ourselves head-first into danger completely unprepared.”

She looked taken aback, somewhat chastised even as she turned to look toward Snow to see if the man would be convinced. Hope felt a flare of satisfaction. His words made sense, and now it was really up to convincing Snow now because Lebreau had been the one to come up with the idea of searching, so she would be more reasonable about his suggestion.

Snow hesitated.

“We’ll all probably be a hundred meters away from each other, max,” Hope continued. “I’m sure if I shouted, you’d be able to hear me. So you can panic when I tell you that I found the rope we need from whatever shop I’m in, okay.”

It was another subtle dig on the fact that there was no one there, and therefore no danger.

“None of us should be out alone.” Lebreau protested one last time. Hope knew what she meant: she didn’t want him out there alone.

“We’re not even going to be alone considering how close we’ll all be, anyway.”

“Alright, alright,” Snow grumbled. “I can tell when you’re going to fight me on this all the way, kid.”

It was telling of how Serah had managed to tame the other man that Snow just rubbed at the back of his helmet in an exasperated manner rather than argue.

“Keep an open comm,” he said. “At all times. I want to be able to ask you a question and you answer back in moments, alright? This isn’t a situation where we need to keep radio silence. So if ask you to tell me something that I should know, you’ll say-?”

He waited, and Hope rolled his eyes, ignoring Lebreau’s quiet chuckle.

“You’re an idiot.” He intoned flatly, because he knew that Snow would know he didn’t mean it... well, not too much, at least. “That’s something you should know.”

Hope had to duck as the heavy weight of Snow’s hand landed on his head.

“Yup, you’re definitely spending too much time with sis.” Snow chuckled as well, and the moved to stand up. “Alright. We’ll scout out the shops and see what we can find. We came from that direction, so....”

“Actually, we probably passed shops on the way here.” Hope shrugged. Now that he thought about it, it would explain the heavier debris. More items flung around.

“Fine. Hope, I want to go back the direction we came and see if there’s anything there we missed. Don’t go off too far. Lebreau, that side’s all yours,” He gestured in the dark with his hand. “And I’ll take the opposite way. Remember, open comms.”

“You got it, boss.” Lebreau spoke up, pulling a thin stick from the pack she had strapped to the waist of her suit. She gave it a shake and then smacked one end hard against the ground, the flare lighting up suddenly and brightly, making Hope’s eyes water. It was brighter than their flashlights, although it hissed and flickered in protest. “This ought to last about two hours. That’ll give us time to look around, right? And we’ll be able to find our way back here.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Snow nodded.

Hope stood up gingerly from where he had knelt, brushing off the knees of his suit. Lebreau handed another one of the flares to him, and one to Snow as well.

“If anything happens, anything at all,” she said. “Light these up, and I’ll come find you. Or the other way around. Better yet, shout, and then light these up so I know you didn’t drop them by accident.”

“Worrywart,” Snow teased, and Hope felt a pang to realize that in this team, he was the odd man out. Snow and Lebreau worked with each other for years and know all about each other’s mannerisms and fighting styles, and had a far smoother camaraderie than he had ever managed with either of them.

He was the one who had never fought with Lebreau before, and didn’t know how she would react in situations (although he guessed well seeing as she had been one of the ones who fought during the Purge).

Outside of Snow and Maqui, Hope had never spent much time alone with any of the other NORA members.

It made him feel awkward to think about it.

“Hey,” Lebreau’s soft voice startled him out of his thoughts. “Chin up, alright. Can’t have you dazing out and not answering any of the boss’s questions, yes? Then we’d both worry and come after you, and I know you don’t want that.”

She patted him on the shoulder and he resisted the slight urge to flinch away, still unused to touch from outside the small group of people he had gotten close to. He’d have to get used to it, he knew, because Team NORA was important to Snow, and important to Maqui as well. That made them important to him, even if he wasn’t used to their presence yet.

“Meet back here in an hour.” Snow said, just as the three of them started moving away from each other. “And remember, keep on the comm!”

Oops, this chapter took forever. o_o;; Um, sorry about that? I dropped out of the fandom for a little while, but I'm back in and going strong again! o9 Am going to try and incorporate XIII-2 in tiny little ways as well!