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New Bodhum
-002 AF-
Two years ago, Cocoon had started to fall out of the sky.
Two years ago, the plot of the fal’Cie had been revealed: the death and sacrifice of the people of Cocoon to summon back their Creator, Bhunivelze.
Two years ago, Oerba Yun Fang and Oerba Dia Vanille had paid the ultimate price: voluntarily sealing themselves in crystal stasis to form a support pillar for the falling colony, saving the lives of the people they were charged with murdering.
Two years ago, Lightning Farron had vanished without a trace.
Today, a white portal opens in the outskirts of the New Bodhum settlement on Gran Pulse, home to Serah Farron and Snow Villiers.
Naminé stepped out of the Light Corridor, breathing in the fresh air drifting off of the… she wasn’t sure if it was a lake or an ocean, but considering she could see the far shore, lake seemed more likely. She supressed a giggle, still excited to be breathing through her own nose.
Kairi stepped out of the Corridor behind her, and it closed. “This is Gran Pulse, right?” she asked.
“Yes,” Naminé replied. “But I think we’re in a different part.”
Kairi looked over at the small settlement down below them. They had arrived on the side of a cliff, it looked like, though there was a path down to the town.
“Seems like more people then were here on our last visit,” she mused. “I wonder if this world’s time axis is different, too. There were the twenty-six hour days they had, for one. Have.”
Naminé grimaced. The more time that had passed, the more likely it was that Vanille’s l’Cie brand had turned her into one of the shambling monsters known as Cie’th. That, or if she and the other five had completed their Focus, into a crystalline statue until she was needed again.
The last time, she and Fang had been frozen for 700 years. Different time axis or not, Naminé didn’t exactly have that kind of time.
Looking out over the town, a broad smile worked its way across Kairi’s face. “Hey, here’s some good news,” she said. “Recognize tall, blond, and trenchcoated over there?”
She waved her hand to indicate an extremely tall and broad man walking along the beachfront, greeting everyone he met along the way with a grin. Naminé started to smile as well.
If Snow wasn’t in stasis or a Cie’th, there was hope for Vanille yet.
Snow had been ecstatic to see them. Or, to see Kairi at least. Though she had been there, only Vanille had known that Naminé had been living inside Kairi’s heart during their first meeting. But even after belated introductions, he was still happy that they’d come back.
Until Kairi explained the reason for their visit.
“You remember Vanille grabbing me and saying she had a message for someone in our country? Naminé was that someone. We’re here to see Vanille, actually. Where is she; come to think of it, where is everyone?”
An immediate shadow fell over Snow’s face. “You two should… come to my house,” he said, subdued. “A lot of things have happened since we saw you last.”
The largest house on the beach belonged to Snow. Upon entering, they were greeted by a pink-haired woman that looked familiar, but whom they knew they hadn’t met before. Things made sense when Snow made introductions: This was his fiancée, Serah Farron.
“So you did manage to rescue her!” Kairi said, smiling. “That’s great!”
Snow sighed, and hugged Serah to him. “Yeah. We took the fight to the fal’Cie and took them down. But in the process… Well… I’m sure you saw it.”
“Saw what?” Naminé asked. Snow pointed out a window.
The two crossed over to it and gasped. The giant orb of Cocoon was still visible in the sky, but instead of floating overhead, it was supported by a giant pillar that looked almost like ice from this distance. Cocoon was in bad shape, large gashes in its surface visible even from this far away. That, combined with the sudden influx of people to the previously-uninhabited Gran Pulse, could only mean one thing.
“You weren’t able to save your home,” Naminé said, sadly. Snow sighed.
“No,” he said. “But most of the people got out in time. And we’re building new homes here on Pulse.” He smiled, but it was half-hearted. “Welcome to New Bodhum.”
“Snow, what’s bothering you?” Kairi asked. “You’ve been dour ever since we asked where everyone else is.”
Serah patted his shoulder. “She’s right. What happened to mister energetic and happy-go-lucky?”
Snow sighed again. “Serah… they came here to see Vanille.”
Serah abruptly blanched. “Oh,” she said, sadly.
“Is something wrong?” Naminé asked. “Did-did Vanille not complete her Focus in time? Did she–”
“No, she didn’t become a Cie’th,” Snow said. “I need to start from the beginning.”
Over the next couple of hours, Snow explained. He told them about the fal’Cie’s plan, about the l’Cie’s return to Cocoon, and about the final battle with the fal’Cie Barthandelus and Orphan. Their group had succeeded, but the destruction of Orphan, which functioned as Cocoon’s main power source, had caused their home to fall out of the sky.
“And that was when it happened.”
“When what happened?” Kairi asked.
Snow sighed. He had been doing a lot of that over the course of the evening. “When Fang and Vanille figured out what their Focuses really meant.”
“I don’t understand,” Naminé said.
“Fang and Vanille were given the Focus of becoming a monster called Ragnarok and destroying Cocoon,” Snow said. “Well, the Focus never said anything about killing anyone. Just destroying Cocoon.” He waved towards the pillar in the distance. “Looks pretty destroyed to me, right?”
“So that pillar… Fang and Vanille did that?” Naminé asked.
Snow shook his head. “No. Fang and Vanille are that.”
Naminé paled. “What?”
“They formed into Ragnarok. Cocoon was practically destroying itself at that point, anyway. So their Focus was complete.” Snow looked away, pressing a fist to his lips. Serah rubbed his arm, comfortingly. “They turned back into crystal. And became… that.”
“They saved us all,” Serah murmured. “If Cocoon had hit the planet, no one would have survived, even everyone who escaped before it fell.”
Kairi’s attention was immediately on Naminé. Her sister had frozen, an unreadable expression on her face. Kairi reached out a hand, but Naminé shook her head, almost imperceptibly, and she withdrew it. “What about everyone else?” she asked instead.
“Hope’s studying with a group his father set up, trying to figure out how to live without the fal’Cie providing everything for us. Sazh is working as a pilot, like he did before all this, ferrying people between Cocoon and Pulse. He and Dajh are doing all right. Still has that chocobo chick, too.” Snow replied, trying to smile. There was a very conspicuous absence in his statement.
Kairi took a deep breath. “What about Lightning?”
The smile faded. “Kairi… she didn’t make–”
“Yes, she did,” Serah interrupted, quietly. There was an air of this being an ongoing argument between the two.
Snow didn’t seem mad. “Serah, if she did survive, what could possibly be keeping her away from you?” He sounded tired, more than anything. Like he wanted to believe her, but couldn’t.
“I… I don’t know,” Serah said, sounding equally tired. “But she was there with us, Snow. I know she was. We hugged. She smiled. Then…” she shook her head.
Snow smiled, sadly, standing to hug his fiancée. “So yeah, we won, but we paid a price for it,” he said to Kairi. “Better than losing, obviously, but…”
“Can I… see it?” Naminé whispered.
“Huh?”
“The pillar,” she said, louder. “Would it be possible to go see it?” Her expression was still far away and unreadable.
Snow shrugged. “It’s safe enough to walk under, if that’s what you’re wondering. Anything that was going to fall off on a clear day already has, and we’ve stripped a lot off of Cocoon.”
“I don’t want to impose on you, but could we go… tonight?” Naminé asked.
Snow and Serah exchanged a glance, and with it, a wordless conversation. Snow broke the hug, and nodded. “We can go right now, if you’d like. It’d be a couple of hours’ drive–”
“That’s fine,” Naminé interrupted. “I just… want some time alone with it. If that’s possible.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Snow said. He and Serah shared a quick kiss, then he led Naminé out to the back of the house.
As they left, Serah turned to Kairi. “I’m sorry we don’t have better news for you,” she started to say, but stopped as Kairi abruptly threw her arms around her.
“I only knew Lightning for a short time,” she whispered, “but I’d probably be dead several times over if not for her teachings. If there’s anything at all I can do to help find her…”
A tear leaked down Serah’s cheek. “I appreciate it,” she said, “but Snow’s right. If she was alive, there’s nothing that could stop her from being here with us.” Even still, the tone of her voice indicated she still didn’t quite agree with it.
Kairi hugged her tighter. “But you still believe.”
Serah nodded. “I do.”
The trip to the crystal pillar was silent, after an initial attempt at conversation by Snow, to which Naminé politely explained that she didn’t really want to talk at the moment.
Snow pulled the vehicle he was driving to a stop on a ridge overlooking the base of the pillar. “I’ll be here when you want to head back, okay?” he said, hesitantly.
Naminé smiled, and placed a hand on the back of his. “Thank you, Snow. I don’t think I’ll be long.” She stepped out and walked down the hill towards the pillar.
She came to a halt in front of the pillar and placed a hand on it. “Hello, Vanille,” she whispered. “I’m back.”
It was strange, considering where she had come from, what her life had started out like. She wasn’t quite sure when she had gotten used to not being disappointed. When she had gotten used to the idea that some things could actually go her way, if she fought for them and asked for help from her friends.
“I… I told her. I told Kairi everything. And she didn’t push me away. I… I did hurt her. But she forgave me.
“Snow said that you told Fang everything, too. That you got it out, and off your chest. And that Fang remembered, and forgave you. I’m glad you got the closure you needed, before… this.
“I wish I could have really met you,” she whispered. “I didn’t tell you before, but… I was so afraid, that nobody would ever see me as anything other than part of Kairi. But you… you saw me as me, immediately, even when I was trying to pretend to be her. I never thanked you for that. It meant… the world.”
She pressed her forehead against the pillar. Vanille was safe, was the thing. They’d won. She had sacrificed herself, yes, but it was okay, wasn’t it?
It wasn’t like Vanille was dead.
It wasn’t like she and Fang had failed.
It wasn’t like their sacrifice had been in vain.
It was fine.
It was okay.
It was…
It was…
It wasn’t fucking FAIR!
Naminé screamed and pounded her fist against the crystal pillar. It wasn’t fucking fair. Vanille had woken up in a world that saw her as a demon with only a single friend, burdened with a task she never asked for and couldn’t ethically contemplate, had been eaten alive by her own guilt until it boiled over and almost killed her, and had pushed on through all of that and saved thousands, if not millions, of people. And all it cost her was her freedom, and all of her new friends, who would grow old, and die, without her and Fang. There was no telling how long they’d be in stasis, but the last time had been 700 years. It wasn’t fair to her. To either of them.
And if she could be selfish, it wasn’t fair to Naminé either. She’d beaten back the “suicidal” aspect of her depression with a stick and the power of friendship, and against all odds had returned to finally meet her friend for real. She wasn’t expecting anything more, of course, she had no idea how Vanille felt about her, she didn’t want to assume or put her in a weird position… but the possibility had been there. And now it wasn’t.
It wasn’t fair.
Naminé slowly slumped against the pillar, tears streaming down her face. This… wasn’t fun. No Kairi to retreat into, just her and her sorrow.
Coming alone might have been the wrong idea. Well, Snow seemed like the kind of person who’d readily give out a hug, at least.
But she would feel more comfortable if she composed herself first. She sat, crosslegged, at the base of the pillar, and slipped into the meditative state she and Kairi had once used to communicate.
Her mental room no longer shared a wall with Kairi’s; the connection between the two of them had been severed. The enclosed room wasn’t sickening white anymore; now the warm yellows and golds of the Land of Departure instead of Castle Oblivion. She didn’t bother opening her eyes, not wanting to see the table in the middle bisected by a wall instead of seeing Kairi’s Destiny Islands beach across the room.
She breathed, steadying herself.
“I was right,” said a voice. “You are beautiful.”
Naminé’s eyes snapped open.
She’d only heard that accent from two people in her life.
Sitting on the other side of the table, the part that should have been concealed by the wall, was a slender young woman in a pink top and brown fur skirt. Several necklaces were laced around her neck, some of them the exact red-orange shade of her pigtailed hair.
Oerba Dia Vanille sat on the other side of the table in Naminé’s mental room, smiled broadly, and waved hello.
Kairi walked through the streets of New Bodhum, which thankfully had a vibrant night life, meaning none of the shops were closed. Though their trip here had been disheartening, they were still going to continue on to Arendelle. Which meant they needed winter wear. The entire world likely wasn’t as cold as the mountain Naminé had originally arrived on, but Kairi didn’t want to chance it. Luckily, the two girls were exactly the same size, so she could do this while Naminé paid her respects.
She found exactly what she was looking for quite easily, thanks to directions from Serah, and picked up a pink coat for herself and a baby blue one for Naminé. Serah had suggested that she also pick up boots, hats, scarves, and mittens for the both of them, which she had immediately seen the logic in; there were some downsides to growing up in a temperate region, one of which was a lack of experience with freezing cold weather.
As she was leaving the shop, she almost ran headfirst into a girl. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going!” she apologized, but the girl just stared at her. “Something wrong?”
“Kairi,” the girl said.
“Excuse me?” Kairi said. How could the girl possibly know her–?
“It’s never too late, Kairi,” the girl said. She was slightly shorter than Kairi herself, with sea-blue hair, green eyes, a white halter-top and a white and purple pastel skirt. Several bracelets and necklaces adorned her wrists and neck. The style almost reminded Kairi of–
“Make sure Sora knows. There’s always time to make a choice again, especially for the first time. No matter how it looks, few things are truly set in stone, for you who aren’t of this world,” the girl continued.
“Who are… what are you talking about?” Kairi said, completely lost. The girl shook her head, and continued to stare directly at her. Her eyes were… the girl couldn’t have been a day over fourteen, but her eyes were absolutely ancient.
“Make sure Sora knows,” she repeated. “It’s never too late. Make sure he believes.”
“I… I will?” Kairi said. Despite her confusion, she knew she wouldn’t be forgetting this. On the scale of weird things that had happened to her, this actually ranked rather low, but there was something about the girl’s bearing that made her feel this was desperately important.
The girl smiled, and it was like night and day the way her face lost its harshness. “That’s all I ask. Thank you for your time.”
“Yeul!” A man’s deep voice rolled across the street. Kairi looked up to see a tall man with an angular face framed by purple hair wrapped in a headband and some sort of feathers and beads. He wore form-fitting purple and black armour, and on his back wore a massive, yet almost ethereal-looking broadsword, with a gem resembling an eye set in the hilt. “We’re leaving.”
“Coming, Caius,” the girl called, and quickly turned back to Kairi. “You promised. Don’t forget,” she said, severe again.
“I won’t,” Kairi said, matching her solemnity. The girl smiled, and walked over to the man, who escorted her out of sight.
“Well… That was weird,” Kairi said, at a complete loss. “Never too late for… what?”
“V… Vanille?” Naminé gasped, not believing her eyes.
“Long time no see,” the other girl giggled. “Or… Never actually seen, actually. You got your body back! I’m so happy for you!”
“Are you… This can’t be real, this isn’t…” Naminé stuttered. Vanille was supposed to be frozen in crystal, this was a dream, or a hallucination, she couldn’t be…
“This is real, Naminé,” Vanille said. “My mind is reaching out to yours. Yes, my body’s asleep in the pillar, but I can still feel you.” She smiled. “You came back.”
Naminé scrambled to her feet. “How do I know?” she asked. “How do I know it’s really you, not some… wishful fantasy?” Her lip trembled. If this wasn’t real… on top of everything else…
Vanille’s smile faded. “It is me, Naminé. I’m sorry, I don’t know how I can prove to you…” she reached out for Naminé and her hand contacted the border between mental rooms. It divided the table in two, and also kept the occupants of the room apart; Naminé and Kairi had never been able to have physical contact while in the room, as much as both might have needed it at times.
Why would a hallucination, a fantasy, have to obey those rules?
Naminé collapsed again. “It is you,” she breathed. “You’re really here. You’re not… gone.”
Vanille drew her hand back. “Shoot. I was hoping I could hug you for real. Guess it doesn’t work like that.”
“No, it doesn’t, but… It means I’m not imagining this.” Naminé walked over and sat at her side of the table.
The Pulsian smiled. “Neither am I.” She arched an eyebrow. “What, am I the girl of your dreams or something?”
She didn’t want to assume.
But there was no harm in simply asking.
“Yes,” Naminé said, quietly. Vanille’s eyes widened. “I… I don’t really know you. Not after one conversation. But… I was hoping I would get the opportunity to know you better. I…” she let out a huff of laughter. “I can’t say I fell in love. It doesn’t work like that, not instantly. And even now… There’s still a war on, I have to… no, I need to fight in it, to keep my friends safe. Even if you weren’t crystal, there’d be no time. You can’t base a relationship on one chance meeting. I don’t even know if you felt the same way, or even could feel the same way, and I know I shouldn’t be heaping this on you, I’m so sorry. I just… wish we’d had a chance.” She looked down at her hands, not wanting to see the rejection on Vanille’s face.
“Don’t apologize,” Vanille said, softly. “If I’m being honest – and honestly there’s no reason not to, I know that now – I… I’m upset that we didn’t get a chance, either. You… brought me out of the pit I was in, long enough to get a good look at what I was doing to myself. I don’t know if… Well, I might have let Hecatoncheir consume me rather than confess to Fang when she tricked me into admitting I was lying to her, if not for you. You gave me the push I needed, when it came down to it. Like you said. It means a lot.”
Slowly, Naminé looked up at Vanille. The other girl had a hand pressed against the barrier separating them. Nervously, Naminé raised a hand, not sure if there was a spell going on that would break if she moved too fast, and placed it against hers.
Vanille smiled, but there were tears in her eyes. “You’re right. I can’t say ‘love’ either. We don’t know each other well enough for that. We didn’t get the time we’d’ve needed. But I really wish we had.”
Tears rolled down Naminé’s cheeks. “Vanille… The… Our worlds don’t pass through time at the same rate. Snow and Serah told us, me and Kairi, that it’s been two years since we were here last. But for us it was only a bit over two weeks.”
“What are you saying?” Vanille asked.
“I don’t know,” Naminé admitted, miserable. “Maybe… maybe I’ll still be alive when you get out of crystal.”
Vanille’s smile faltered. “If I–”
“When,” Naminé insisted, firmly. “It’s possible, but…”
“We can’t,” Vanille nodded. “We can’t wait for each other. It wouldn’t be fair to you.”
“Or to you,” Naminé said. “I’m sorry.”
“I am, too,” Vanille said. “Well, look on the bright side. We kept that promise. I’m still here, and you came back.”
Naminé sniffed, but smiled. “I’m glad I did. I’m glad I got to see you one more time.”
Vanille smiled, too. “I’m glad I got to see you, too.”
Naminé took a slow, hesitant breath. “I wish I could hug you. As me.”
A single tear dripped down Vanille’s cheek. “I wish I could hug you, too. Dumb wall.”
Naminé actually chuckled at that. Vanille grinned. “See? Absolutely beautiful, especially when you smile.” Her own smile faded, and she looked down at her hand.
It was translucent. “I think… I have to go now.”
It was a stab through Naminé’s heart, but she understood. “Goodbye, Vanille,” she said, softly.
Vanille met her tear-filled gaze with one of her own. “Goodbye, Naminé,” she said, matching her tone. “Tell Snow, Hope, Sazh and Lightning that I miss them.”
“I’ll do that,” Naminé started to say, then realized exactly what Vanille had said. “Wait, but isn’t Lightning–?”
But Vanille was gone.
Naminé sighed, and stood up from the chair, turning back towards the opposite wall. “Really, really hope Snow is a hugger,” she murmured to herself.
“Yeah, last I checked he was,” said another voice.
Naminé whirled back towards the table, recognizing the new voice “Fang?!”
“Present and accounted for,” the Pulsian hunter said, waving. “Though we didn’t actually meet, now did we? Naminé, right? Vanille’s ‘friend from Kairi’s country?’ We were asleep for seven hundred years, can’t believe I didn’t catch that immediately. I’ve been hearing a lot about you.”
Naminé blushed. “I… that is… yes, I’m Naminé. Has Vanille…?” she trailed off. Obviously she’d been on Vanille’s mind, but…
“Well, not much else to talk about, right?” Fang said. She stood up from the table and stretched, blue sari waving. “I mean, did you think either of us were going to talk about boys?” She noticed the way Naminé was staring and laughed. “She’s right, though, you are pretty damn cute.”
Naminé blushed harder, then shook herself. “Before she had to go back, Vanille said something about telling Lightning she missed her. But I thought… isn’t she in here with you?”
Fang looked at her incredulously. “No, why would she be in here? She got out, ‘Nille and I watched it. Reunited with Serah, didn’t murder Snow after all, the whole shebang. Is something wrong?”
Naminé blinked, then slowly started explaining what Snow had told her and Kairi to Fang.
“That’s impossible,” Fang declared, shaking her head. “Light was fine. She can’t be dead. And if she’s not, there’s nothing on Pulse Almighty that would keep her from Serah’s side.” Something about her certainty struck Naminé as odd. There was a hint of… Wait a fucking second.
Naminé crossed her arms. “Fang, did you have a crush on Lightning? An actual one, not the play-flirting?”
Fang jerked back as if she’d been stung. “What are you ta…” she started, then sighed. “Okay, fair’s fair. Not like anyone’s going to hear this.” She sat back down at the table, and leaned on her elbows, running her hands through her hair. “Yes. That wasn’t play-flirting, missy, that was actual flirting. Not my fault Sunshine had the emotional intelligence of a sea cucumber. But she never asked that I stop, either. So… yeah, fuck me, I guess. Or… don’t?” Her face screwed up in confusion. “Etro, this is why I hate talking about this crap.”
Naminé grimaced in sympathy. With the time disparity, she and Vanille had an almost-but-not-quite-insignificant chance, albeit one they’d both just agreed not to wait for. Fang and Lightning, especially with Lightning vanished without a trace? Not so much.
But wait.
“You saw for certain that Lightning got out?” Naminé asked. “Because the only person who says that is Serah; nobody believes her.”
“She got out,” Fang said, firmly. “I’d stake my…” she trailed off, frowning. “Whatever this counts as, on it.”
Fascinating. “I’ll let the others know,” Naminé said.
Fang leaned over the table, almost banging her head on the barrier. “Excuse me?”
“About Lightning not being in the pillar, and Serah being right,” Naminé clarified. She definitely hadn’t scooted backwards in her chair in alarm. Nope, hadn’t happened. “Your crush is between you and Lightning.”
“Just checking,” Fang said, returning to her seat. Her body was also starting to fade. “Well, it was nice meeting you, Naminé. See you later, gotta go tell Vanille I didn’t kill you.”
Naminé smiled. “Nice to meet you, too, Fang. And, um… Tell Vanille, I think she’s beautiful, too.”
Fang raised an eyebrow. “I suppose I can do that. Later.”
As the hunter faded, Naminé gathered herself and rose to her feet.
This had been an emotional day, and she still needed a hug. But now she had a job to do, and that helped.
She opened her eyes, still sitting at the base of the pillar, and almost jumped when she felt something in her lap.
Sitting there were two items: a string of beads that she recognized as coming from Vanille’s belt, and a large, rough gemstone vaguely shaped like a round-cut diamond that glowed with an orange inner fire.
She smiled, slowly. “Thank you, Vanille,” she whispered.
Snow sat in the driver’s seat and drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. Kairi was back, and she brought a friend! That was nice!
He just wished he didn’t have to talk about Fang, Vanille, and Lightning, though. Learning to live with it was easier when everyone around him knew, and he didn’t have to explain it.
He sighed. And it had brought up the argument with Serah again. He knew better than to let it escalate into a fight. It wouldn’t help and they’d both end up crying.
Lightning couldn’t still be out there. It was impossible.
He watched Naminé bang her fist against the pillar and collapse, crying. Poor girl. He’d offer her a hug when she came back, if she wanted one.
Impossible. Just like…
Snow had dismissed it at the time, especially after the revelation that Vanille had been keeping the truth from Fang to stop her from worrying. There was no way Vanille could have known someone from Kairi and Lea’s country, given that they’d been asleep for seven centuries. Impossible.
And yet that very person she had been talking about was now trying to compose herself at the bottom of the crystal pillar.
Impossible? It was impossible that the fal’Cie could be deliberately trying to kill the humans on Cocoon. It was impossible that six l’Cie could defy their Focus and save the day, like heroes. It was impossible that anyone could come back from being a Cie’th.
Previously, he’d had huge problems with the word “impossible”.
So why was Lightning vanishing the thing that broke his suspension of disbelief?
He lifted a hand to his throat, taking the necklace he wore in his hand. Serah had its’ match; they were what betrothed couples had given each other on Cocoon for generations.
If Lightning was alive, and wasn’t near Serah…
That could only mean she was in danger.
And he couldn’t let that stand.
“Sorry, Serah,” he murmured, smiling. “I’ve got some heroing to do.”
He was interrupted by a cautious knocking on the window. He looked up to see Naminé, looking uncomfortable. He opened the door.
She slid in, sinking into the seat. “This might be hard to believe,” she said, quietly, “but I just talked with Vanille and Fang.”
“You what?” Snow asked.
“I meditated at the bottom of the pillar, and… their minds made contact with me. I talked with them.”
“…Okay. I just had an epiphany about thinking things are impossible, but…”
“Vanille’s Eidolon is named Hecatoncheir. She pronounces it wrong,” Naminé said. It wasn’t something he had told her.
Snow blinked. “…Right. Okay. I guess you did talk to them. So… what’d they say?”
“Lightning’s not in the pillar. And Fang and Vanille agree: She did survive with all of you.” From the look on her face, there was more, but it was personal, Snow guessed.
He smiled. “So she’s out there somewhere. Serah is right.”
Naminé smiled back, a little unsteady. “She is.”
He looked at her critically. “You okay, Naminé? You look a bit queasy.”
“Snow, uh… this might sound odd, but… This has been an emotionally taxing night, would you mind if I asked you for a – Oh!” Figuring what she was asking, he leaned over and wrapped an arm around her. She was trembling. “Thank you.”
Snow grinned broadly. “Hey, comforting people is what heroes do.”
They drove back to New Bodhum, both in pensive, but comfortable, silence. Snow pulled in near the house, and they went in to see Serah.
“How are you, Naminé?” she asked, carefully. Kairi leaned in from the next room, also wanting to hear her answer.
Naminé smiled. “Oh, I feel like complete shit, to be perfectly honest. But we have news.”
Serah blinked. “News?”
Snow walked up to her, and Naminé withdrew. This was between the two of them; Lightning was their family.
“She talked with Fang and Vanille, Serah. They agree with you,” Snow said. “She was there. Something happened.” He took her hand. “I believe you.”
“Snow?” Serah gasped.
Kairi leaned back, giving them their privacy. Naminé had joined her in the room, and she motioned her to sit down on the couch beside her.
“You talked with Vanille?” she asked.
Naminé nodded.
“How did it go?”
Naminé’s lip trembled. “She… we decided, no matter how much we would both like to, waiting for each other will only end up hurting us.”
“Oh, Nam, I’m so sorry,” Kairi said, and the pure sympathy in her voice was enough to slip the impulse to cry out of Naminé’s control. Kairi wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, letting her sister cry into her shoulder.
“S’not fair,” Naminé mumbled.
“No, it’s not,” Kairi agreed. “But your decision is probably for the best. You said it yourself, back in the Castle: it’s not like you can only love one person over the course of your life. You’re going to feel like shit for a while, but it’ll get easier.”
“Not better?”
Kairi took a deep, slow breath. “No. Just easier.”
“It sucks,” Naminé muttered.
“It does.”
Snow and Serah graciously allowed them to stay the night, and in the morning, they prepared to head to Arendelle. To their surprise, Snow was also preparing to leave, on a trip to find Lightning.
He removed the necklace from around his neck and gave it to Serah. “I’m coming back for this. I promise,” he said. “And then, once Lightning’s back, we’ll finally get this done, yeah?”
Serah looked… uncomfortable. “Snow… I already lost Claire. I don’t want to lose you, too.”
He beamed, broadly, with enough wattage to power the entire settlement for a week. “Hey, you aren’t gonna lose me. Wouldn’t be very heroic to vanish without a trace, right?” He turned the lumens down and stepped closer to her, taking her hand. “I promise, Serah, no matter what, I’ll come back to you.”
She hugged him. “I’m holding you to that,” she said, reluctantly. She clearly wasn’t happy that he was doing this.
“We’re gonna head off, first,” Kairi said. “It was nice meeting you, Serah, and thank you so much for letting us stay in your home.” Naminé added her pleasantries as well.
Serah finally smiled. “It was our pleasure. I only wish we’d had better news for you.”
Snow hugged both of them to him. “I’ll say it again. Come back and see us when your war is done. I’m sure I’ll have found Light by them.”
“We’ll try,” said Kairi, “But…”
Snow’s smile faded somewhat. “Yeah, I get it. Take care of yourselves, you hear?”
Kairi and Naminé left New Bodhum and, once they were out of sight from the town, donned their winter gear and opened a Light Corridor.
Things hadn’t gone the worst they could have, Naminé thought, but if she was speaking truly, she wasn’t happy with how things had turned out.
But it was okay to feel that way.
She turned and smiled at Kairi. “After you.”
Obtained Keychain: Crazy Chocobo
Obtained Summon: Hecatoncheir