47 Memory

Seven centuries after the fall of the old world, the old order, the two immortal sentinels stood at a station of public records in the bustling hub of Academia's downtown district, where the thrum of life around them still gave them a respectful berth as their legendary status seemed to demand. They had grown used to it by now, even if they did not always welcome it, but no amount of persuasion had changed how they were treated through the years.

"I'm trying," she grumbled through gritted teeth. "This thing doesn't know everything."

Her husband grunted. "It knows how to irritate me."

"That's not hard," she muttered.

Caius grunted again, but only folded his arms this time. Lightning kept scrolling through the database, trying to find the right field to input a search using the high-level access granted to them four centuries prior. Most public terminals like this didn't allow such access, but she knew it existed. She just had to find the right combination of buttons to push, and unfortunately, her ancient mind didn't have the best memory.

"You still have it, right?"

Caius shifted his weight at her side. "Safe," he said.

"Good. Ah, here we go." She tapped a button, pressed another button, and quickly keyed in the name of the man they were searching for. When the database demanded an access code, she punched it in with one hand. After a few moments, the terminal brought up an image. "Yes," she said, relieved. "There he is: Noel Kreiss, direct descendant of the Farseer nation, living on the west side near the plains in a small community of Farseer descendants."

She sensed Caius's equal relief as a wave of calm. "Let us make our way there."

She logged out of the terminal and returned it to the menu screen. As she turned away, she looped her arm through his and glanced at the metal box he clutched in his left hand – the last tangible remnant of her dear sister still untainted by time's endless march. At the sight of it, she felt the usual sting, dulled by centuries, but in some ways feeling as fresh as the day she passed, but her love's reassuring touch on her heart and gentle squeeze of one hand on her waist instantly washed away that sense of discomfort.

It took only a few minutes to get there once they found a transport that would take them to that side of the city with only a couple of quick stops, and soon they were making their way through a neighborhood of one- or two-story homes with sloping roofs, well-kept gardens, and vivid green grass sprinkled with wildflowers.

Lightning made a soft sound in her throat. "Beautiful."

The home Noel was supposed to be living in was a single-story building at the end of a narrow street, standing almost on its own and not all that big. There was a blooming fruit tree in the front yard with a songbird perched on the lowest branch, peering at the couple as they strode underneath its branches, and a couple of flowering bushes scattered all around the yard, permeating the air with their scent.

"Think he'll remember us?" she murmured.

Caius nodded. "At this age, the timeline has not yet diverged for him. If he went into the future when Serah last saw, as she said, then he will still remember us, though it will soon begin to fade. We must reach him now, or this gift from her will mean nothing at all." He lifted the box a little. "Whatever it is, of course."

Lightning knocked gently on the door. There was no response even after several minutes of waiting and a few more knocks. "Don't think he's home," she said.

"Probably not," he said. "There is a small market up the street a few blocks. Something tells me he is there."

Lightning agreed silently. "Let's go take a look, then."

Going back up the street, they walked a few blocks before turning down another street to an open-air market that was not very busy at the moment. They received a few glances, most of them in silent awe; Lightning had gotten used to the stares, but still felt self-conscious beneath them, "legendary love story" or not. Still, these descendants of the Farseers knew that Caius had been their greatest Guardian, and by extent, they knew she had been a warrioress of Etro, so to them, their matrimony was something to revere even this far in the future.

"There," Caius murmured. "I see him, directly ahead."

Lightning squinted. "Yeah. Me too."

They wove their way through what people were there and came up on Noel half-bent over a selection of fresh fruits, his back to them. The stall owner said nothing at their approach and only gave them a brief glance. Good – one of those who didn't feel that reverence, at least not to the same level.

"Noel Kreiss?" Caius said.

Noel twitched before straightening and pivoting in one smooth movement. For a moment, his mouth opened and closed, eyes darting between them. At his right hand, where he held a bag of other assorted vegetables and fruits, his grip tightened until the knuckles briefly turned completely white. She almost smiled at his appearance – the same mop of brown hair, vivid blue eyes, and practical but attractive clothing with ornamental embroidery on the upper arms that indicated his status as a Farseer descendant.

"Wha… Caius? And Lightning?" His mouth hung open a moment. "How'd you… what exactly is…?"

"It's a long story," Caius cut him off gently. "Are you nearly finished?"

"Uh… yeah. Yeah, let me just…" The boy fished a couple of coins out of his pocket, passed them to the stall owner, and plucked a pair of yellow-skinned fruit from the bushel to his left. He then added them to the bag. "What's going on? I thought… actually, I'm not sure what I thought. Except…" He frowned. "You and her came to some sort of agreement. That much, I remember, clearly." There was a lengthy pause. "But, if you're here…"

Lightning still had her arm looped through her husband's; Noel glanced at it.

"And… wait a minute."

"How about we move away from all these people?" Lightning suggested. "There's a lot to tell you, and we have something we were told to give you almost seven hundred years ago."

Noel's eyes filled with curiosity, but he only nodded, moving with them off to the side. The market stood on the edge of the plains, so when they had moved far enough away, the only thing between them and the horizon were enormous tracts of grass-covered land sweeping toward the sky.

"What happened," he said, "and how're you here?"

Lightning took a breath. "The agreement was that I would share Caius's immortality, thereby becoming his eternal companion and allowing Yeul to finally rest," she said. Noel's eyes widened slightly before narrowing again. "That was seven centuries ago. We've been together ever since. Yes," she added at Noel's raised eyebrow, "together in that meaning. A little unexpected, maybe, but it's true."

"You're married?" he murmured, and glanced at Caius, his former mentor, who nodded. "And in love," he added in an even softer voice. "I never would have figured, but… maybe I shouldn't be surprised. I'd heard stories about the warrior of Etro marrying the greatest of all the Guardians, but I guess I never believed it."

"That's alright," Caius said. "Perhaps it is best."

Noel hesitated a little longer, and then he began to smile. "It's good to see you found your peace together. The world got to live because you two fell in love." He chuckled quietly. "Imagine that. From what I remember of you, Caius, that's not exactly the future I would've thought for you. And, uh, you, Lightning…" His eyes flicked to hers as his eyebrows went up and his lips twisted into a sheepish half-smile. "…not even close."

Lightning felt herself return the smile. Not even close, indeed.

There were a few moments of silence, and then Caius extended the hand holding the box. "For you."

Noel took it, but slowly, as if not certain what to do with it. He lifted it to eye level, squinting at it, smoothing his fingers across the top. "What is it? Who's it from?"

"It's from Serah," Caius said.

For a moment – a long moment – Noel's breathing seemed to stop, and he looked up at Caius with a knitted brow and slightly narrowed eyes, as though trying to keep his emotions in check. Around the box, his fingers clenched, and then he unhooked the latch at the end, slid out the inner container, and lifted the object still wrapped in the paper from so many centuries ago – faded, wrinkled, but intact – out with his fingertips. He just stood there, gazing at the object, one fingertip fiddling with a fold in the paper.

And then, with slow, careful movements, Noel began to unwrap that which had not been seen by human eyes since it had first been wrapped in that same paper, some pieces of paper falling away to float to the ground, forgotten by his focused eyes and careful movements. Lightning took the box from him; Caius stiffened at her side.

The last of the paper fell away with a soft rustle.

"Oh," was Noel's very quiet comment.

The crystal glittering in his hand was colored a shade of ocean blue mixed with turquoise and pale green, reminding her so much of her late sister's smiling eyes. It shimmered in the light, roving through its range of brilliant colors, and resembled a teardrop, only with a twist at each end like the starbursts of Cocoon's now-crumbled pillar. Noel tilted it slightly, letting the sun's light shine across its fluted facets like a prism.

"A fragment crystal," Lightning breathed, and felt her chest tighten. Fragment crystals, pieces of chaos held in solid form, given form by people, by thoughts, by memories…

Something pricked her eyes, and suddenly her lover's arm was looped around her waist, stifling her tears.

Noel took a breath and held the crystal aloft.

Sunlight sparkled through the facets, and then a glow came from within, reminding her of sunlight viewed from just below the ocean's surface. Like the light of a thousand distant stars, it shone through the facets in a hundred rainbow hues, and then, all that was left was the initial glow…

"I intended this crystal to reach you, Noel, and if this message is being heard, then it reached you."

Again, her chest tightened, and Caius held her tighter.

"There's so many things I never got the chance to say, and things I wanted to say long after I knew you and I would never see each other again." Serah's voice – unmistakably Serah's voice – rang out clear from the crystal, as clear as though she were standing right in front of them. "You were such a good friend to me throughout my journey, and though our time together was short, I'll never forget you. We had a rough journey at times, but you were my friend, my loyal companion. That's not something I'll soon forget. Lightning, my sister, and her husband, Caius Ballad, will continue to protect the future in our stead. They're the guardians of time, you know." She paused to laugh softly. "I hope you found the future you were looking for, and that you're happy there, like you deserve to be."

There was a pause, broken by a gentle sigh from the crystal; Lightning bit her lip.

"Thank you for everything, Noel. Live well, okay?"

And then, just like that, the crystal lost its glow, and it was just a pretty rock again.

Noel wrapped both hands around the crystal. It took a long time before he spoke, and when he did, his voice shook a little. "I remember her, just not all that well," he said. "But, I remember her well enough." His eyes stayed focused on the crystal for a while before coming up to theirs. "Thank you."

Lightning felt herself shiver and leaned against Caius a little, seeking comfort from his sturdiness. "Sure."

The boy inhaled. "So," he said, voice no longer shaking, "everyone else?"

"They all lived good lives," Caius told him.

Noel looked at him. "Snow and Hope, especially, I hope?"

"Snow Villiers lived a long and full life." Lightning sensed a reluctance to speak of Serah's early death and decided not to mention it, either. It wasn't the right time, not just yet. "Hope Estheim came to the future to witness Cocoon's fall, and was present when the Oerbans in crystal awoke."

Noel nodded slowly. "Did he find what he was looking for?"

She sensed Caius's mood soften. "Indeed, he did, and he lived a life of contentment."

Noel nodded again. "Good, that's good. Um…" Noel frowned. "I remember, during my travels, that my memories sometimes faded or disappeared altogether, or… I feel like it's happening again." He looked at Lightning this time, his eyes focused intensely on hers. "I grew up gaining memories of my journey, but now they're fading. I was only eighteen when I left the end of the world. Now I'm almost nineteen." He hesitated. "What's happening?"

"The old timeline was, essentially, fresh when you arrived, existing alongside the new timeline," Caius said, "and when the Noel who traveled through time came here, he merged with the Noel who had been born here."

The boy's brow furrowed. "I'm going to forget, aren't I?"

Caius took a deep breath. "Eventually, and soon."

Noel flinched at that, slightly. "I'm not surprised," he said. "It's unfortunate, but, maybe it's best."

Lightning tilted her head. "Because of Yeul, right?"

When Noel looked at her, his eyes seemed hollow, like the depths of the ocean, and she winced at the sight of the pain within them. He had lost the girl he loved, lost her because there had been no other way to fix the timeline, and though Noel of all people knew it was best to accept the sacrifice, he was only human, and it grieved him to know what had been lost. Would he welcome the eventual loss of her memory?

"It's alright," he said. "The world gets to live. That's what matters." Then he smiled, washing away most of the shadows lining his features. "Besides, everyone else is safe. Everyone got to live a good life. That means I'll be okay, too." The smile faltered slightly when he looked at the crystal in his hand. "Thanks. And, uh, please, come see me anytime. It's good to know the 'sentinels' are watching over me, too."

Lightning extended a hand to grip his shoulder. "You bet we will. We'll come see how you're doing."

Noel hesitated. "Want to come back with me now? I've gotta get going."

Caius exchanged a look with her, and a silent agreement passed between them. "We will see you tomorrow," he said, looking at Noel as he spoke. "For now, there are other matters to attend to."

"Fine with me," Noel said, and pocketed the crystal. A wry smile formed on his lips. "Take care, you two."

The two warriors watched him go before returning to the city. From there, they took a transport that flew them out to the small town of New Bodhum, where their home still remained after all of these centuries. Out on the beach, in the place where Lightning could recall her gate from Valhalla standing so long ago in another timeline, Caius's sword had been punched into the sand, a very long time ago, a monument to the passage of time.

Lightning touched it, gently, as the sun sank toward the horizon.

"What do we do now?" she murmured.

Caius came up beside her, also touching the sword that had once been used to try and kill her. Where his hand rested was atop the grip; Lightning moved her hand to rest atop his, gazing into his eyes when he looked at her. This was it – no more promises to keep, the things they had been asked to do more or less fulfilled, and now, their only purpose, to guard the flow of life around them.

The Guardian leaned toward her, pressing a kiss to her mouth, and she thought that, despite the thousands of kisses they had shared, she could never tire of them. Each was a promise, a reminder of all they had been through, and a healing touch for every scar and bruise on their bodies and hearts – their body and heart, she corrected in her head, as their lives were inseparable, their existences entwined fully as one.

His mouth left hers to press a kiss to the skin just beneath her ear, where he rested his forehead, and she smiled.

"We live on, and protect the new world," he whispered.

As if it were the first time, just like the past ten thousand times she had done so, she encircled his neck with both arms, resting her head on his shoulder, feeling him envelop her waist with both arms and rest his head atop hers, as the sun sank into the water and the ancient stars came out in the heavens above.

The End

Thank you so, so much to all those who have followed this story since its beginning over a year ago, through all the ups and downs and everything in between. Please keep a eye out for my multichapter LIGHTNING RETURNS story, which I plan to release in a couple of weeks at most. Again, thank you for reading, critiquing, and enjoying!