Fallacy [Serah, Invite]

[Noel Kreiss]

Noel hit the ground with a soft thud.

"Ngh... Where am I...?" he thought out loud as he picked himself up and looked around the desolate area known as Hollow Bastion. He had fallen in the still ruined part of the town, the part of the town usually teeming with Heartless. However, nothing stirred when the chrono warrior stood, picking his sword up off of the ground and sheathing it. His blue eyes scanned the area, trying to find something, anything familiar about it. When he couldn't recognize anything, he decided to explore and maybe find someone here who could tell him where he is.

He stepped up a staircase he found leading up to what looked like an old torn down wall, hoping there might be a good vantage point to where he could probably see a town, some people, or a way out of here. After making the trek up the stone steps, he came to a torn down part of the wall and looked out.

"Eew..." he muttered, seeing a gorge filled with swirling black water. Now he was sure no one lived here. Their water source was beyond tainted, so this place-

His eyes widened as he realized that this black sea wasn't swirling. It wasn't even churning. It was alive. He caught the first glimpse of yellow eyes, and slowly stepped back, heart pounding as it dawned on him. A sea... a sea of monsters...

Noel decided that it wouldn't be a good idea anymore to stick around, and looked away from the hole in the wall to find a way out. If those monsters caught a whiff of him, he was sure it'd be over... He found more steps and scaled them, keeping an eye over his shoulder to make sure a black sea of death wasn't going to come bursting out from the bottom of the enclosed staircase.

After a few minutes, he arrived at the top of the long staircase on the top of some plateau, which, to his relief, overlooked a town of some sort. However, Noel didn't smile, nor did he feel all that happy about it. Serah's gone. My home's gone. And it's my fault... he closed his eyes and tilted his head downward, letting the faces of his friends flash before him.

Hope.

Sazh.

Lightning.

Serah.

They were all gone. Hope and Sazh probably lost, like him. Lightning was apparently dead, if she wasn't already due to Etro's death. Serah died in his arms. What did he have left? What if this world was deserted?

"... All my fault." he muttered, letting the weight of what he did fall onto him completely.

[Serah Farron]

Serah and Mog hadn’t been in Hollow Bastion very long, maybe few hours?
Since arriving here, there was one thing that had caught Serah’s attention. she was able to see from the town that there was a bunch of areas that where in ruin. So naturally, she wanted to explore them, apparently not learning her lesson from the last time she went off to explore. This time, luckily, she had Mog with her, so if anything seemed like it was going to happen he could maybe help.
Serah and Mog walked downward towards all of the ruined areas, and Serah was almost immediately distracted.
“Serah, maybe this isn’t such a good idea, Kupo.” Mog called to her. He couldn’t really tell why, but he jus had a bad feeling about this area, which increased as the got closer to the army of heartless. Mog flew close by Serah’s shoulder, rather protectively.
“It’s fine Mog, don’t worry.” She smiled at him. “Plus, we just got down here. I don’t really want to climb back up right now.” she lightly laughed. She hadn’t gotten quite used to the physical side of adventuring, again.
“I know Kupo, just, be careful. I don’t think we’re the only things around here Kupo.” Serah looked concerned back at Mog. She trusted his ability to sense things.

After a little while of exploring, and some convincing from Mog, they both started to head up to the town again. On the way back, naturally, Serah got a little confused on how to get back. “Hey Mog? Can you fly a bit ahead and make sure we’re going the right way? I really don’t want to get lost….”
“Sure thing, Kupo!” Mog said and flew up higher in the air, and up the path a bit.
Serah continued walking up, but soon stopped. She even was starting to get an odd feeling… but unlike Mog, this seemed like it was good. Like something positive was going to happen for a change. Although comforting, she shook her head. I’m just being silly. All of this has gotten to me. she thought.
Sure, she had met up with Lightning again, and that was good. But all of this about the heartless… She sighed. More problems that it seemed she had gotten dragged into.

Serah kept on walking, She saw some stairs near by, and decided, again agiasnt better judgement to go that way. she still wanted to explore after all. Mog will find me… She made her way up the stairs, And she really should have listened to that feeling she had had…. Because as usual, it was right. At the top of the stairs, Noel seemed to just be standing there. It didn’t even take her a second to register that it was Noel… However she continued to stand for a moment in disbelief. blinking her eyes, and hoping she wasn’t seeing things…. Well there was one way to test that. Serah quickly moved towards him, and latched her arms around his waist.
He was real.
“Noel…” Serah whined, her forehead leaning on his back. She was breathing a little hard, considering the adrenaline of finding him. Finding Lightning, and now Noel?
Everything would be alright.

[Noel Kreiss]

Noel could never describe the heart attack he experienced when he was suddenly hugged from behind, his muscles seizing as he suddenly felt a voice that only added to the sudden rush of emotions he felt when he realized that the arms that were around him were hers...

"S-Ser..." he reached his hand up and gently touched hers, this moment becoming more unreal by the second. He closed his eyes, and slowly turned his head over his shoulder, seeing the familiar flash of pink hair, tied up into a side ponytail-

He spun around, at first taking half a step back, taking in her sudden appearance, how suddenly she had been out of his life, out of his reach forever, and now... she was right here. He took a step forward, not realizing that he looked like he was seeing a ghost.

"Serah, is... is it really you...?" he raise a hand up and gently touched her cheek gently, confirming, believing that she was alive. He suddenly pulled her close in a gentle, but still tight, hug. He finally let a breath escape as let out a sigh, shuddering with tears of fear and joy. She was here.

"Serah, I... I'm..." he stuttered, trying to find the words to say to her. Admittedly, he had rehearsed this moment over and over in dreams and nightmares, seeing her again. He seemed to know exactly what to say, but this time? He was clueless! He half laughed and half cried, the guilt and self hate seeming to slip away, albeit not entirely.

"..." he pulled back and looked at her, taking a breath. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, I..." he said, trailing off as he looked to the ground.

[Serah Farron]

Maybe she should have thought that through a little more. Serah tell that he was rather alarmed to be suddenly held onto…. She would have been too! She was about to say something to him again, but he seemed to have “calmed down”, if you could call it that.

Serah lifted her head let go of Noel, and allowed him to turn around. She smiled kind of sheepishly, in way of apologizing for scaring him. “Hi…?” Serah seemed to get more embarrassed. Noel was looking at her almost… terrified.
Serah quickly nodded, and looked up at him with her innocent-looking light blue eyes.
“Yes Noel, it’s me.” She smiled. “I’m here, and I’m ok.” She hugged him back again, and sighed. Even though she knew what he had gone through and why he was so upset… it really hurt her to know that a good chunk of this… was her fault.
Noel’s apology only made that more clear. He had blamed himself this entire time. Her expression quickly moved from being happy and smiley to more sad and concerned.
“Ssshhh. Stop.” She said calmingly. “Forget your tears, you don’t need them” Serah lightly moved her hand to Noel’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t be blaming yourself Noel.” She sighed again.
“You did protect me…. you stayed with me until the end. And to me… that is all that really matters. You’ve been the only person that has really been there for me.” She paused for a moment, trying not to allow herself to get emotional. “Why did you think the last thing I wanted to say to you… was thank you?” She smiled slightly. “I’m grateful for how much you helped me…. And I’m happy I get to see you again.” Serah smiled happily, and confidently at him. “Everything is alright.”

[Noel Kreiss]

Noel felt like he was suddenly yanked back to earth, the nightmare ending. Everything that had happened... he didn't know what to think anymore as he wandered this place. But he did know that if Serah was back, that meant that most likely, their home...

"Serah, how did you get here?" he asked, curious. Had Hope invented something that could carry her here? This was obviously not Pulse... He surveyed the area again, and frowned slightly. Where even were they? He looked up towards the town, then back towards the canyon, where Mother of Etro the mass was getting bigger.

"S-Serah, we might need to get somewhere else." he said, looking over her shoulder and grabbing her hand, nodding in the direction of the mass of black that suddenly began expanding outward. "Come on!" he tugged on her arm and started towards the town, which was just right there. If they could get into a building...

He turned again, and saw that they were all... gone.

"Wh-where did they..." he looked at Serah. "Did you see those...?" he asked, obviously confused.

[Short post, but I have plans. Keep your eyes peeled]

[Serah Farron]

How did she get here? It would be helpful if this was a little more specific. Was he wanting to know why she was literally standing in that spot…or why she was even alive? Both being pretty good questions considering her situation, but considering she only really knew the answer to one of them… that’s what she was going to go with.
“Well, Mog and I have been exploring a few different worlds… I actually haven’t been here for very long.” She smiled and was going to continue on, she did want to tell him about Lightning, and ask about the others… But she could tell something was up. Noel usually looked at her when she was talking, but right now he seemed to be looking off.

“ok!” Serah looked kind of curiously at him. Noel’s sure acting strange… She allowed him to pull her forward by her hand, not like she particularly minded. Noel usually had a better idea of his surroundings then she did. Serah walked along with him, smiling. She was very happy to be with Noel again. At least something seemed a little normal, unlike everything else in this crazy universe.
Serah looked back over her shoulder, because that seemed to be the area he was concerned with. She didn’t see anything there…
“See what?” She tilted her head, looking even more curiously at him. She hadn’t seen really... anything around here that seemed dangerous. Mog had seemed to think there was something around earlier as well. I can’t just be –that- oblivious… She thought.
Serah lifted her other hand to Noel’s forehead. “You feeling ok Noel?” She teased. “You’re acting strange.” Serah glanced around the area again.
“We should probably try to find Mog soon if there is something out there. I kind of wandered off away from him…” Serah giggled a little embarrassedly. “I bet he’ll be surprised to see you!”