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The Artifact	By : PandaBearzh Category: Final Fantasy Games > Final Fantasy XIII-2 Views: 2037 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the final fantasy fandom. I do not make $$ from this fiction.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
[NAN]

“Where did she go? Why would she take my clothes? Hey? Are you listening?”
Hope’s gaze drifted back to Noel after a moment. “Sorry, what? Alyssa probably just thought that I would forget them. Are you so sure that she took them?” Noel’s arms crossed over his chest and began to fervently rub his sides. His fingers were probably wrinkled by now and his body felt like ice. Standing here naked and wet was not really something he wanted to be doing.
“Do you think I can just you know…?” He asked, jerking his head toward the town and shifting his weight on his feet so that his thighs might rub together. Yes, friction! Any friction at all: it was his best friend right now.
“Sprint? You want to run? Why don’t you just wait here and I’ll go get you something to put on,” Hope reasoned with a chuckle, “I told you that you shouldn’t have removed your clothes.”
“Why don’t you give me your jacket? I can just tie it around my waist. I don’t want to have to wait for you to get back here and what the hell am I supposed to do in the meanwhile? Just stand here and wait?”
“At least that way you can stay out of sight. You can’t go streaking through the town! That sort of thing will only draw attention to you and I’m trying—and you’d better be trying too—to keep you out of the spotlight. I mean it. I don’t intend on—”
“Okay! Just go! Hurry up!” Noel interrupted, jerking his hand at the horizon of light that was beaming above the rooftops. Hope raised his hands defensively and began his mission swiftly. Still, Noel wished he could move a little faster. Wasn’t he cold? Hope was carrying all of that water around on him and the cold air must be freezing it just as fast as it bit at his exposed skin. Well then again, he reasoned, at least the water was warmer than the air so perhaps Hope wasn’t as cold as he was.
How had it gotten so obscenely cold so quickly? The Gran Pulse that he had walked never shifted temperatures this violently before.
He dropped down on the sand beneath the bough, pulling his knees to his chin and laying his hands on the length of his feet. His toes curled underneath him, burrowing themselves as deeply as possible. There was tall grass around him now, and he hoped that they didn’t belong to some sort of poisonous species of weed that would irritate his more sensitive areas later. Whatever it was, it didn’t provide him with any sort of warmth; not that he could tell anyway. How did these plants even survive in this temperature? He exhaled slowly and watched the steam evaporate into a silver cloud that looked something like a double headed salamander. He grinned, a thicker cloud slipping past his teeth with his next exhale. This shape reminded him more of a… hm. He tried again, and repeatedly made silvery smoke creatures so he wouldn’t end up counting the seconds until Hope’s return.
Six creatures later, he was already fed-up and bored. “C’mon,” Noel grumbled, bringing his palms against his arms and legs and coarsely stroking them as fast as possible. “C’mon!” he complained a little louder, realizing that his appendages were starting to feel almost scaly from the goosebumps that had formed. He jumped to his feet, narrowly avoiding the low branch in the process. ‘Augh…’ His fingers dug into his biceps and he leaned into the trunk. ‘Maybe I should keep moving around,’ he figured, recalling how fantastic he would feel after breaking a workout sweat. The problem was that every time he shifted his hands or flexed his muscles it felt as if more heat evaporated from his skin. His eyes bore directly at the town, demanding with every fiber of his soul to see Hope running as quickly as possible with a set of clothing tucked under one arm.
“C’mon. C’mon…” he repeated in his head, recognizing a dark figure slipping through the shadows. It wasn’t moving extremely quickly, but instead rather cautiously. ‘Hurry up!’ Noel pleaded silently, advancing towards the town only a few steps before dropping himself quickly to the ground again. The figure wasn’t Hope. Someone else was sneaking out of the village, and they were heading in his exact direction. He parted some of the wild flora growing in front of him and peered through the grasses to identify who it was. They didn’t have silver hair; that was definitely for sure. If anything, this person was robed from top to bottom in absolute black. Yes, the Traveler looked like nothing more than just a shadow. The brunette recalled the moment he had first met the Traveler, the way he had silently held himself erect and the way he somehow made it possible to go unnoticed until after Fang had announced his presence twice.
Now the man was creating distance quickly, and it was very clear to Noel that he had done this many times before. Why would he be running out of the village at such speeds and under the cover of night? It didn’t appear that anyone was following him. Noel presumed that was witnessing an event that he could use as irrefutable proof to Hope that something sinister was afoot. But what could he do? He was pressing himself tightly against the forest floor and he couldn’t hide himself much better. If Caius were to come this way, he would surely be discovered quickly. If he ran back into the ocean, the man would surely notice him before he even arrived. ‘I guess I’ll stay put,’ the young male reasoned, sliding his left knee up and digging the pad of his foot into the sand. In this half-ready position he would be able to react just a little bit faster if the situation called for it. He was absolutely sure, if nothing else, that Caius would be shocked to discover him out here in this manner. ‘That’s plan B,’ he decided, somehow finding a way to appreciate himself for his decidedly cunning use of what the environment had to offer him: nothing.
Traveler raced by him though, without taking even a moment to realize the proximity of a potential foe. He broke through the brush with obvious experience, not even needing a blade to know how to guide the vines and branches out of the way. Noel jumped to foot. The man was moving so fast that one might have assumed that someone was already chasing him. A quick look back to the town reminded Noel of otherwise. Unfortunately, Hope was nowhere in sight. His head and heart were torn: should he wait for his friend to return with clothes and continue to freeze his balls off? It didn’t take two seconds for Noel to turn back to the fleeing man and embark after him.
Very quickly he realized that this challenge would be a bit more than he would have expected. For one, his feet were bare; second, there were thorns, animals, and roots; third, Caius wasn’t going to wait up for him. He would have to do this as quickly and quietly as possible.
The brunette tried to watch how Caius moved, but the cloak that engulfed his form was obscuring exactly where he was stepping. Noel had never seen him move like this before either. The agility that he utilized was certainly more practiced than anything he could have even imagined. This Caius must have come from a time that was very far into the future. Did that mean he would be much different from the antagonist he had come to rediscover? Would this Caius even recognize his face?
Noel’s eyes watered as the soles of his feet screamed at him in anguish. He knew his flesh was torn both on the bottom arch and the front of his toes, but he kept racing after him. Branches whipped across his chest and lashed into his legs, but no! This chase was more important! His stinging sex would have to endure. He would catch Caius! He would see where he was running off to. It was difficult – Caius already had gotten a head start and was moving faster than he was. Determined, Noel kicked himself into a higher gear. His feet danced from brush to shrub, slapping himself with thorny branches and stabbing the inner part of his legs with the snapped twigs that Caius left behind.
He arrived at a location where a trunk had been cut to fall over a rushing river. Caius danced over the bark like some sort of professional gymnast, leaping the majority of the distance to the other shore from the middle of the fallen tree. Noel paused when he arrived, weighing the options of the rapids versus the slippery looking length. ‘No time to think,’ he decided, ultimately following in Caius’ footsteps.
It took just over twenty seconds, but he managed to make it safely to the other side. His heart was pounding in his ears now, and he threw himself back into the thicket chase. Where had he gone? The canopy was thicker on this side of the rapids and it was quickly becoming more and more difficult to locate his acquaintance. He had no idea what direction he had gone, but since he doubted that Caius knew he was following him, he assumed he wouldn’t have abruptly changed his directions. He kept running straight.
This terrain wasn’t as brushy, and Noel might have assumed it was because they were getting deeper into the heart of the woods. He would be right. Step by step, he was being lead farther away from the ocean shore and that much closer to PSICOM. ‘Ahhoohw!’ he protested, slamming his teeth down on his lower lip to keep himself from crying out. The thicker the trees got the stronger and more invisible their branches became. Still, the wound was only above shoulder. Something that minor wasn’t going to inhibit him. At least, he considered, the branch hadn’t impaled his pride.
He pressed on, unaware of the sadistic grin that shone brighter than his pale skin. He hadn’t hunted like this in a long time. It was absolutely invigorating – of course, leave it to Caius to provide him with this sort of challenge. The adrenaline of the chase was surging through his blood in such a way that he could barely feel the sharp stings of his wounds any longer. Already the hit he had taken just a moment ago felt like nothing more than a light feline scratch. He knew from experience how much damage he could take and he was prepared to take a lot more. His body flexed for him and stretched as he commanded, obeying him like a well oiled machine. He could feel the sync of all of his limbs perfectly, from the way that his fingers grasped for swinging to the way his toes fanned for the sprints he exerted between trunks. Yes! Finally! There he was! Caius was dodging trunks to his left. Ah, he had almost caught up to him! Noel wanted to call out to him, but he reminded himself that stealth was the operative in this scenario.
Wait.
Where did he go? Caius had disappeared again. Impossible! Noel looped his arm around a low bough and pulled himself to a quick and soundless stop. His feet became airborne, and he flipped into the tree for better perspective. Silently he perched, observing in all directions within sight. “No way…” he murmured, flipping to face the way he had come. How could he have lost him? He was so close to him!
‘Where did you go?’ he wondered, widening his eyes to try and focus on a farther distance.
Suddenly, a quick white flash silently illuminated the entire area as if it was daylight. Noel saw his silhouette stagger against the trunk and registered the direction that the flash had come from. He spun around approximately 130 degrees to his right and saw the Traveler with his hand extended towards him. Another light flashed in his hand, and Noel quickly jumped from the tree before the man finished casting his spell. Unfortunately, the area of effect inescapable.
A screeching howl ripped from his throat when he was hit, the sound only barely audible above the terrifying roar that the spell procured. White bits of antimatter exploded everything it touched, projecting splinters of ruptured bark, trunk, and bough in every direction. The previously dormant sediments of the forest floor jumped as if they had been impacted by a land mine and even the small rocks that littered among it burst into dust. Noel had never taken such a strong spell to his body with such an impact. As the cloud of antimatter struck him, it felt as if millions if not billions of tiny glass fragments had pierced him and then each one individually expanded to thrice its original size. The simultaneous and then consecutive internal explosions left him paralyzed, falling from the tree to the upset floor in a vicious stupor.
His shoulders made first contact with the solid earth, and jostled quite fluidly against the settled organic matter. Dirt and seed continued to rain down around him, and laid to final rest where the wind carried it. Noel’s lips parted slowly as he struggled for a breath, finding that at the moment it was the one feeling that he could hold onto. His nerves had been overshot and where they weren’t numb, he could only feel in color. It was as if his outer world had become de-saturated and mute. No, he didn’t even consider an attempt to adjust his position. A spray of blood descended onto him soundlessly and the ground adjacent, dying the entire area in red. Softly, the sticky substance gathered on the leaves above him and began to trickle down onto his cheek.
Slowly, he forced the breath back out again and let his eyes drag to where Caius was standing. He still refused to remove his mask. The man was approaching him cautiously now, appearing to be more curious about his discovery than alarmed by his nudity or state of life. ‘What. What do you want from me?’ Noel wondered, parting his lips a little bit farther in hopes that it would be easier to intake another breath. It didn’t want to come to him. His lungs were failing him. His well oiled machine didn’t trust its master any longer.
The Traveler extended his hand over Noel’s body and he witnessed another bright light beginning to gather there. ‘Fine. To finish me off? You thoughtful bastard,’ he chastised, closing his eyes to accept his fate. It would appear that this is where he would lay final rest after all.
‘You’re a mess.’ His voice spoke within his mind. It was distant, far off, and a little fuzzy sounding. Noel believed it was the distance between the real world and where his soul was trying to take him. ‘Don’t do this again. Leave it to the professionals,’ the voice said again.
“Hhhh,” he grunted soundlessly, making to move a hand to his forehead. It may have been the way that the blood was draining, but his head felt prickly. With those words, it was as if someone was poking at it with something sharp.
A clear light illuminated the Traveler’s palm and Noel felt a familiar warm sensation pulse twice through his body. He was curing him? Yes, his lungs were obeying him again! Before he realized he had done it, he had bent himself at the waist and was doubling over with his head between his knees. His lungs broke in and out seamlessly and he was starting to sense the feeling returning to his legs and feet. Immediately, another strong pain ricocheted through his frame and he laid back down. It wasn’t that Traveler was purposefully harming him, it was that his nerves were suddenly jolting back to life. Awakened from their deathly state, they reported their injuries all at once. The Traveler was looking straight back at the trail they had blazed together. He had stopped healing him.
“Hey,” Noel called, “Caius… why did you do that?” The man glanced back down at Noel, acknowledging if only briefly that he had heard his words. He then backed away from him, holding his gaze. “What?” Noel asked, finding that through the pain he was alarmed. “Tell me!” the brunette demanded, “Why don’t you say anything, ever? I know you can!” The traveler shook his head before his attention snapped back at the blazed trail. Noel caught a quick flash beneath the netting of the mask. What color iris was that? Blue? Purple? Indigo? It was too difficult to tell.
“Noel!” The brunette’s attention broke from Traveler and identified Hope emerging from the brush.
“Hope! …Ah, you brought me clothes.”
Hope’s eyes scanned the scene and his face transformed from mere curiosity to absolute horror in the blink of an eye. Rightfully so, too. Noel hadn’t taken a look around, but the once tightly grown area had been made into a clearing. Several trees had been completely dusted in Traveler’s attack and Noel’s blood had stained at least nine feet of vertical spatter onto their sturdy frames. Noel possessed about five and a half liters of blood in his body, but the clearing appeared to possess much more than that. It was possible that the lives of various animals had been sacrificed, but Noel was relatively sure that it was mostly his fault that the crimson liquid dripped from the leaves. Hope brought a fist to his mouth. The scent of what was before him was overpowering, and it sparked the recollection of a memory he had recently experienced that he much would have rather forgotten. It wasn’t the sight that made him queasy, though the way that the clearing dripped was disturbing enough to make him want to hurl on its own. It was the scent that truly forced a response from him. It was a matter that had been harnessed during his captivity and it was a place he didn’t want to return to at the moment.
“What happened!” he demanded, his eyes now surveying the way that Noel’s skin appeared to be dyed the same color as the clearing. “No—Don’t move!” he warned, extending a palm to stop his friend. He stepped over his body and peered around as if he believed that PSICOM might at any point emerge to seize his friend. It was the moment that Noel realized that Traveler had disappeared.
“Caius! He was right here!” the younger male exclaimed, lurching forward again. Several pains exploded from his gut and he slipped onto his side with a whine. “Shit, where did he go? I saw him sneaking out a—…” He clamped his mouth closed when he recognized the finger that Hope was holding to his lips. The two listened for a second in unison before Hope dropped his hands to his sides. Eerily, there was absolutely no sound at all. No animals scurrying, no trees rustling, no twigs snapping under the weight of footsteps. In fact, if he listened carefully enough, Noel was sure that he could hear the soft rush of the rapids he had long since crossed. “How did you find me?” he asked finally. It was a question that he had wondered for a while. Hope finished turning about the clearing and knelt at his side.
“You made it pretty easy to follow,” Hope whispered, removing his light shirt and dabbing it over Noel’s torso. He was trying to find where Noel was wounded so that he might be able to stop the bleeding with pressure. His entire torso was painted in blood, and Hope had no idea how deep or severe the wound—or wounds might be. The way his skin was coated, Noel might as well as not had anything but wounds. “When I got back to the shore and you weren’t there I thought something might have happened to you, so it was smart to leave all of those marks for me.”
“Leave marks?” Noel echoed, confused. Hope paused and glanced at him before continuing his attentions. He dabbed his shirt over Noel’s shoulder, discovering then where Noel had impaled himself. “I was just following Caius.” Hope chuckled.
“Well, you’re easy to track. Like a behemoth in a corn field.”
“I was running. I didn’t have time to be careful,” Noel pouted.
“Well that’s pretty obvious,” Hope whispered, sliding his hands over Noel’s arms. The blood wiped away easily and he shook his head. “You sure bleed a lot for such small wounds. It looks like something cut you in half and poured you out around here,” he mused. Noel had to laugh.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I thought was happening too.” He reached for the bloodied shirt and snatched it from Hope’s hands. “Let’s get going. If we walk, I’ll be fine. I think that the only wounds I have right now are things I did to myself getting out here.” Hope didn’t look eager. “C’mon, you can get a better look at me under some real light, right? And – if it was that easy to find me I’m sure I can find my way back in the morning and find out why Caius was headed out here. Hey, you can even let me lean on you this time, what do you say?”
“Don't be an idiot,” Hope argued.
“Fine. I’ll go without you, and I’ll explain to myself what happened. You’ll never hear about it.”
“Well—” Hope reasoned quickly, bringing himself to foot to follow Noel’s actions, “I suppose it would be better to get out of here if it’s dangerous. I’m sure that the wolves can smell your blood if they’re nearby and we don’t want to run into PSICOM in this state.”
“In any state from what I’ve heard you tell me,” Noel corrected. He wiped the rest of his body roughly with the shirt, hissing only a little bit when he ran it over minor wounds. The curing spell that Traveler had casted was continuing to heal him, even now. Or perhaps it was the adrenaline that was clotting his wounds? Either way, he was starting to feel better already and weakness was not a thing he wanted to show in front of his friend. He wrung the shirt out, finding that although he couldn’t get the blood out of the cotton it helped to displace some of the heavier portions of liquid. He was about to slip it over his head when Hope snatched it back.
“No way. I don’t want anything getting infected. Put on a clean shirt.”
“But I’ll get blood on it,” Noel tried. “Then what will you wear?”
“Put on a clean shirt,” his friend demanded again, “you’ve been trying to get me naked since we met. Here’s your chance to enjoy it.”
“Okay but—don’t be naked,” Noel warned, “It sucks being naked in the woods if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“And you do?” Hope asked doubtfully, reaching for the clothing he had set aside earlier. He helped to sturdy his friend while he pulled it over his limbs and secured it around his waist.
“Better than you do, I’m sure,” the hunter nodded. “Let’s go. It’s probably a good thing if we wash that shirt out as soon as possible.”
“Probably.”

[NAN]
- 8
- 9
- 10
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The Artifact