18Chapter 13: Death and the Rising Storm.
Hope sat in the infirmary at Serah's side while in deep thought. He'd come to this region for one reason only, and was now involved in a slew of shit, that he wanted no part of.
This is what he'd think, none of the shit that's occurred up until now, involved the people he cares so much for. It'd been only days, and so much has unfolded before him. Any normal person in this situation would find this unsettling, but not him. His time as a l'cie showed him that anything could happen in just days..
This, lifestream..it's what Lightning came here in search for, to save Vanille and Fang. An energy that flowed under the surface of this region only. But now it was spreading further, and made its way to Pulse. It took a while, but he was now beginning to realize that this wasn't just a Gaia problem anymore, but also his. But what could he do?
Then Sephiroth..
His blood boiled at the very thought of the man. He got into Serah's head and now she was-
His eyes dropped to the note pad in front of him as he spun a pen between his fingers. Crumbled up pieces of paper covered the floor around his feet, a low sigh slipped over his lips before he decided to toss both the pen, and the pad at the wall.
"Damn you Sephiroth!" How could a man he didn't know, just come and take what's precious to him? All because he unintentionally interfered with his plans for world domination?
"I will kill him.." He may have been stumped right now, but he knew something would come. The whole charging in without a plan wouldn't work this time around. He had to be strategic.
'It's going to take 500 years!'
He remembered Oraian saying. "That's asinine.." In 500 years they wouldn't even be alive.
"Hope?"
He looked up from the floor, and rubbed his eyes. They were red, heavy and bags were becoming visible under them. He probably needed sleep, that's why he couldn't come up with anything. "Oh.." He said groggily and slouched back in the chair. "I didn't hear you come in Oraian, what's up?"
Oraian sat down on the empty bed across from Hope. His eyes fell on Serah. "Still no change huh.."
Hope shook his head and gently grabbed the girl's hand. "No, and there won't be..Sepiroth has her soul."
"What!?" His eyes drifted from the girl and fell on Hope. "Why? What would be his reason for wanting her?"
Hope shook his head. "I don't know man, but I seen them both briefly in Modeoheim. Serah and Sephiroth. Well Serah's soul, and an apparition of Sephiroth. It's my fault he took her. Had I been there-"
"It's not your fault. None of us could have seen this coming. But we're going to fix it. It's going to take some time -"
"What 500 years!?" Hope grumbled.
Oraian half nodded, and looked out the window. It sounded crazy, every time he thought about it, but it's what Cosmos and Etro said. "I know, it's bananas. But I don't think they'd lead us astray Hope."
"Have you ever been cursed by Gods Oraian?" Hope asked. "Some years ago-"
"Yeah I know. The whole l'cie thing right? Lightning told me. She has a hard time putting her trust in gods too, but they're all we have to look to at this time. You think it's easy for me to trust in them, let alone believe?" He pulled his sleeve back, showing the progression of his Geostigma.
Hope flinched and looked away. Seeing that gave him a horrible flash back.
"Thanks to Hojo, the DNA, of a God, and Sephiroth, I got this. This is my curse mark of a God, but an evil one." He dropped his arm back to his side. "But not all of them are evil. Cosmos and Etro-"
"Etro is a goddess of the region I'm from. The Goddess of Death to be more specific. You have any idea what gods like her do to their pawns when they're finished with them?"
Oraian was silent, and Hope pushed on. "Once you become tangled up in the webs of the gods from Pulse, your life is over. It doesn't belong to you anymore. You belong to them. When you finished the task they give you, they turn you to crystal until they need you again. The curse mark we received, a l'cie brand. Lucky for Lightning, me, and the rest of our friends we were able to escape our fates. But some weren't." He frowned when Vanille and Fang came to mind. "So when you tell me I should trust these gods that want to do nothing more than control us, I can't get behind that. I make the decisions on what I want to do, and me only. I'll take down Sephiroth, and anyone else who gets in my way, and it's not going to take 500 years!"
"If you say so Hope." Oraian said and stood from the chair. He could see that there was no getting through to him right now. But he could understand. Going through what he and Lightning went through sounded pretty rough. "Just do me a favor and think about it at least.." He had to ask.
"My mind has been made up, and it's not changing.." he leaned forward and folded his hands under his chin. "As soon as I come up with a plan, I'll go from there."
Oraian nodded and exited the room.
Hope looked over at Serah for the millionth time that day, Hoping that there would be some state of change but there was nothing. "I'll come up with something.." He said and rubbed the sleeping girl's cheek. "I don't know what it is yet, but I promise it'll be soon." He leaned forward and placed a kiss to her forehead, and as he pulled back something caught his eye a bandage on the girl's left arm. "What's this?" He didn't see this before. He grabbed the end of the bandage and unraveled it. When it finally slipped off, Hope fell backward on the floor. "This..this cant'..a l'cie brand!?"
So this is where Sephiroth was hiding. The real Sephiroth. But where exactly was, this? "Lightning!" Xayne called to the woman again. She still did not respond. "Light!"
Lightning reached into the pouch on her leg and pulled out a piece of materia and held it up towards the crystallized Sephiroth. The materia was an odd silver color. It floated from her fingertips and up towards the crystal structure.
"No!" Xayne leaped into the air and reached out for the glowing sphere. He wasn't sure what it was, but for her to be giving it to Sephiroth, it couldn't be anything good. Just as he was about to grab it, Lighting drew her sword and struck him, severing his left hand. The hand he was reaching with to grab the materia.
"Ahhgh!" Xayne fell to the ground, blood quickly spilling from the severe wound that he received. "What the hell!? Lightning!?"
The materia fell to the ground and rolled out in front of him. Xayne again, reached for it with his other hand, but someone picked it up before him.
"The Lightning you know, is long gone.."
Xayne looked up to see Sephiroth staring down at him. Lightning was also missing now. "Y-you!"
"And the world that you know, will soon perish." He turned the sphere in his hand, and it turned black. "My plan is nearly complete, there's just one final step.." He reached into his chest and snatched out a dark ball of energy, a soul. "With this," He held both the soul and the dark energy cluster up towards the sky. "The world will be mine."
"Sephiroth!"
The silver haired man bought both object together, and there was a bright flash of light, and the ground shook.
Xayne both covered his eyes and fell to the ground while still trying to keep an eye on Sephiroth, but the brightness of the flash, kept him from doing so. The ground beneath him was still shaking, and the environment around him was beginning to crumble.
When the bright light cleared, the Sephiroth copy was gone, and now Lightning was in front of him once more, though very weak. "Light!" He caught the woman just before she could fall into an open crevasse in the ground. His eyes glanced up at the real Sephiroth, and the crystal that he was encased in, fell from the ceiling and into one of the wide open cracks in the ground, into the life stream. "Shit!"
This wasn't good, none of this was. This was just like what occurred a few years ago, when him and Lightning fell into this mess. "This won't happen again! He opened a void, and quickly jumped into it just as the last piece of the ground sank into the life stream.
-xx-
Sephiroth fades into the darkness at the world explodes behind him..
The void opened up, and Xayne, along with Lightning was tossed from its depths, and were falling..from the sky.
"Neh!" Before he could panic, his body hit the water. Quickly he swam to the surface and shot up out of the water. "Light!?" He wiped the water from his face and pushed his hair from his eyes, as he looked around. It took him a few seconds to spot her, but when he did, he dove under the water, grabbed her, and swam back to shore.
He fell back on the sand and glanced up at the grayish black sky. He inhaled deep then let out a heavy sigh. They really were too late, and now there was nothing that could be done to stop what was coming. He sat up and took a quick look around. "I'm back here?" He said lowly, after recognizing the temple off in the distance. "But how?" He opened up a portal yes, but he thought they'd end up somewhere on the Gaia planes, but here? He wasn't even sure where here was.
"Maybe we should just stay here.." He suggested. This place where ever it was, was calmer and away from all the crazy destruction of the world. To be away from all that was a peaceful feeling. "Damn everything else right? I'm tired of fighting, and running. What do you say?" He asked. A response wasn't something he was looking for, considering her current state, but he still wanted one. Her silence was good enough though, telling him that he was wrong for the way he was thinking. "Alright, alright. You're right. We should finish what we started, theres's no escaping it after all. I just hope the world can be like this afterwards. That a better response Light?"
Said woman's hand slammed down on his chest, clenching onto something tightly. "M-my.." She stammered. She felt cold, and her body was trembling. She felt herself fading away, but possibly for good this time. "..S-Serah.."
"Light!" He positioned her to where her head was lying in his lap.
Lightning held a shaky hand out to him. She was holding a knife. The one that her sister had given her years ago. "Give this..to-"
Xayne grabbed the knife and Lightning's hand fell back to her side. He got a glimpse of the side of her neck, and it was completely black from the Geostigma, and was spreading up her cheek. "Why" He paused and took a breathe. He felt his stomach flutter and his heart sink. "..why are you giving me this?"
"Give...give..to Se-Serah.." She whispered then closed her eyes. "..p-please.."
He shook his head. He wasn't sure who Serah was but he wasn't giving her anything from Lightning. "Do it yourself!" He pushed it back to her. He didn't like the way she was talking, as if she were going to die. "You'll be fine!" He said trying to sound reassuring. More so for himself than Lightning. "This happens with Geostigma..when you have a bad flare up..you'll be fine."
The Geostigma was part of the problem but it fully. When Sephiroth snatched the soul of Jenova from her body, her's went right along with it. She was clinging on from pure will. "N-not this time.." She pushed the knife back into his hand. "Give..it..to..Serah.."
He looked at the knife for a few seconds then lowered his head. His eyes stared watering up but he didn't want her to see it. "I will.." He said sadly.
Lightning gently pat his shoulder before closing her eyes one last time. "I'm..counting..on you.."
"Light!?" He shook her, then placed his ear against her chest. There was nothing, no heart beat, no breathing just..silence. "N-no.." He pushed himself away, and just as he did, Lightning's body started to disintegrate and fade away. "No Lightning!" He reached out to grab her, but only grabbed dust, that slipped away between his fingers. This could not be real right now. It had to be some type of fucked up dream that he was having. Lightning couldn't have..just died. Right in front of him.
Out of them all, he'd thought Lightning would have been the very last to go if at all. He was betting more on Oraian, since his Geostigma was further along than hers.
He could hardly think straight. His breathing hitched every few seconds, and he felt light headed and dizzy. He did lose his hand recently and it could have been from that, he was pretty sure it was just from his emotions spiraling out of control.
"Li-" He paused, and blinked away the tears that was spilling from his eyes. The lump in his throat that was forming felt like it was growing bigger and bigger, making it hard for him to swallow. Saying her name now was hard, and felt eerie. "LI-LIGHTNING!"
"Maqui!" Hope shouted as he busted into the cabin the the boy was occupying. The boy was in the midst of researching when Hope knocked his door in, and startled him. "For the love of Pulse! You can't do that!" The boy was trembling a little bit and he felt his heart beating fast. "What's up?" He asked after calming down.
"Before leaving Pulse, besides the tremors and the cracking grounds, did anything else happen?"
Maqui stepped away from his computer and sat down on his bed. "Not that I know of. PSICOM was making sure to give very little information to the people as possible. "Says it's their way keeping everyone calm, and in order. Why, what's up?"
"What about Cieth.." He asked. "Or anyone acting strangely?"
He shrugged. "I mean everyone's acting strangely right about now, with the strange occurrences unexplained everyone is on edge. But Cieth?" That was an odd question since the whole l'cie issue ended a few years ago. "Hope what's going on?"
He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell him. But if he didn't then who would he tell? This was Maqui after all. A friend of Sarah's. He wouldn't do anything to harm the girl if he told her. "Alright, I'm about to tell you something, but you can't say a word to anyone."
"Who am I gonna tell?" He said and shrugged. "Just tell me alright. You got me a little on edge here."
"Okay.." He said and sighed heavily. "Serah's a l'cie...again.."
The blonde boy almost wanted to laugh but he didn't instead he just covered his mouth with is hand. "Sure, and Cocoon is floating in the sky again. Hope you've been through a lot today, one of them being slight hypothermia, which can cause hallucinations. Besides, there would have to be a Fal'cie of some type around in order for her-"
"Maqui I'm serious! This is no hallucination, I seen it with my own eyes. Come, I'll show you!" He said, pulling the boy by his arm, to follow him.
The two scurried to the infirmary and to the bed that Serah was in. Oraian was also present.
"Hey man, did you see this?" He asked pointing to the marking on Serah's arm.
"See! I told you." Hope exclaimed as Maqui circled around the other side of the bed to take a better look. "Yeah that's definitely a Pulse l'cie brand." He said and stepped away. "But what're her focus was, it's obviously been completed, her brand is white.."
"A l'cie?" Oraian repeated. "So what's all of this mean?"
"It means that there was a Fal'cie or something equivalent here, or in Pulse, it also means that a lot of people could be in trouble. Maqui are you absolutely sure that there was nothing odd in Pulse?"
The boy shrugged and shook his head. "It's like I told you earlier. Just the tremors and-" Something came to his mind. "Hold on. There was that one night. Serah and I were out by the beach in New Bodum before she started having the encounters with that silver haired man. Something did happened." He started as he recalled the event. "There was this really strange occurrence. One moment we were on the beach, and the next moment everything around us had changed. We were in this ancient temple with this large crystal like throne, on a cliff. Serah claimed that she could hear a voice whispering to her from the throne, calling her name."
"I know that place!" Oraian said as he stood up. "Xayne and I were there. It's the place where we met Cosmos and Etro!"
'This again..' Hope thought. "Let me guess Maqui, they told you, that it'll take 500 years to stop Sephiroth?"
He shook his head. "No, they weren't there. In fact no one was, just the throne. Then there was this big flash of light, and we were back on the beach, only now it was day time, like the next day. we never told anyone, not even Snow and the others, but Serah said she saw something just before the flash of light happened, but she never told me what it was."
"A focus no doubt. But whatever it was, it's been completed." Hope said and touched the l'cie brand on the girl's arm. "That's good because she won't become a cie'th, but bad because we don't know what her focus was, and we don't know if its good or bad on our part."
"Maqui said she had a vision, after their time in that temple. What if Etro branded her?" Oraian asked.
Hope laughed. "Okay, if that's the case you and Xayne should have been marked too. Where's your brand?"
"I-I.." He checked his arm his chest and even rubbed his face. "I don't know how this is supposed to work. I don't know!"
"What about a vision? A fuzzy one?" Hope pushed.
"No, nothing but-Ahhgh!" Oraian grabbed his wrist where there was a growing pain in his wrist area, then suddenly the materia he had fell from his wrist and rolled across the floor, stopping in front of Hope's feet. It was also black now.
"Materia?" But it was black.
"What's Materia?" Maqui asked.
"Why's this...black?" Hope asked and looked towards, Oraian who also shook his head.
The alarms on the ship sounded, and Rydega rushed into the infirmary. "We have a problem! Hope, and tie-dye head,"
"My name's Oraian.."
"Right, right! Come on the both of you hurry to the deck, something's happening!"
Xayne finally stood up from the ground and began walking along the beach. Whatever determination he had to push forward was now gone. With Lightning gone, what was his reason for going on. Half of what he did was so that she'd notice him. Now, he could care less. The world could go to hell for all he cared.
'Xayne..'
He stopped and looked up at the sky. There was that voice again. "Etro.." He made the decision to ignore her and continue it sad trek across the beach.
'Xayne..'
"I don't care!" The man shouted back, but all he heard was his voice. It would make him look crazy if there was anyone else around, and he was thankful for them fact that no one else was. "Find someone else to save this pathetic planet! I don't care anymore!" He said angrily. As he raised his foot to continue his walk, he was teleported from the beach, and into the temple. "What the hell!?" There was that throne again, but no one was there this time. "What's the meaning of this? I told you to leave me alone!"
'You're straying away from all your goal, and it's my job to make sure you stay on track.'
"Nothing you say, can change my mind! I quit this stupid task that you assigned to me, that was probably impossible to complete anyway. I mean 500 years? That fucking insane! Find some other idiot that's going to believe that, because I'm through!" He said and started walking for the temple steps.
'Very well.' The voice said. 'I wanted this next action to be a last resort, but you've given me no choice..'
"What are you talking about?" He said and whirled back around. "Ah!? What's happening!"
Pieces of crystal started forming around him and attaching to his body, his feet first. "What's happening!?"
'When the time is right, you'll awaken from your crystal slumber and proceed with mission given to you. For now, rest.'
"Hey! Hey!" He shouted. The crystal now covered almost all of his body, except his head and right arm. "You cant do this! I have a right to refuse anything you force on me!" He said just as the reached his hand out towards the throne. The crystal coiled up his arm, and just before it covered his hand, a l'cie brand appeared there.
'Not anymore you don't..' Etro said as the crystallization finished.
