A/N: I have no excuse for what I have done. This story includes totally pointless conversations between characters from XIII and XIII-2. My english skills suck. And the characters are completely ooc. Please tolerate me. OTL
And obviously, I own nothing. Also, the timeline's probably completely messed up in here, but it's a paradox I'm too lazy to check the facts.
WARNING: Includes spoilers from both of the games.
"Ready?" Noel asked, grinning to his companion.
"Ready!" Serah smiled, setting a new-found artefact to a gate they hadn't yet used. Right away the gate sucked the trio - Noel, Serah and Mog - into the passageway of time and place.
"So, you got any idea of where are we going this time?" Serah asked, floating on her back in the time tunnel, Mog in her arms.
"Your guess is as good as mine. But I sure hope there will be some answers", Noel shrugged, checking quickly that all his weapons were in good shape.
"Hmm", Serah just said, poking Mog's cheek absent-mindedly. "Do you think Lightning will be there? Maybe it's Valhalla?"
Noel grinned. "Well, we just have to find out, don't we?"
Serah sighed and hugged Mog probably a bit too tightly. "I'm just... I'm just starting to lose hope. What if we never find her?"
"We will", Noel smiled, trying to get his partner's spirits up. "She sent me to you, didn't she? If she can jump in time, like us, I'm pretty sure she can also arrange some time for her only sister. And then we can ask some questions. I hope."
"Yeah... Thank you, Noel", Serah smiled, letting go of Mog who was glad to get breathing again. "Speaking of Hope, I wonder how he's doing."
"He's fine", Noel assured her. "He has all those fancy robot-things around him, right? Not to speak of the Academy students, who seem to think he's some kind of god."
Serah giggled. "That's about right. Still, after we're done with this paradox, can we go check on him?"
"Yeah, yeah", Noel laughed and shook his head. "You mother him too much."
"I do not!" Serah glared at Noel and crossed her arms. "I just... I remember when I first met him – he was fourteen!"
"And he's what, twenty-something now, so stop worrying already. He's older than you, you know", Noel reminded her.
"I know", Serah huffed a bit, then decided it was time to change the subject. The light at the end of the tunnel grew stronger. "Hey, look! We're here!"
"And where is 'here', I wonder", Noel laughed and almost instantly lost his balance when they were re-materialized to the ground of the mysterious 'here'-place. "Whoa—"
"... I hate how it always is after getting out of that time tunnel", Serah complained, having fallen onto her bottom.
"Yeah, you're getting worse and worse at staying on your feet", Noel smirked. "I know I'm handsome, but you're overdoing it."
"And you've got no shortage in modesty either", Serah said amusedly, and took Noel's hand as the man helped her up.
"Well, what can I say? I'm an honest man", Noel laughed and stretched his arms. "Hey, does this place seem familiar to you? Isn't that Cocoon on the sky?"
Serah looked her surroundings. The land where they had ended up was some kind of plain area, not many trees around, couple bushes. Monsters walking around, minding their own businesses. And sure enough, an artificial planetoid floated in the sky.
"It does look like Cocoon, even though I've only seen it unfrozen in photographs before. So, that must mean that we're in the past!" Serah started to feel excited. "Wonder what year it is?"
"You can't say for sure that we're in the past", Noel pointed out. "Maybe, in this reality, Cocoon never fell. Or... maybe it's a paradox, things appearing where they shouldn't and all that."
"You think we should get rid of Cocoon?" Serah looked frightened.
"Can't say anything for sure", Noel shrugged. "Let's go check it out."
"But— Noel!" Serah started to jog after Noel. "What if—"
"Shh!" Noel suddenly whispered and tried to camouflage behind a conveniently placed bush. "I can hear people."
"Where?" Serah startled a little and looked around. Noises were coming closer and closer behind some kind of a cliff formation, and even though the time travelers couldn't yet see the source of the voices, it was only a matter of time.
Noel pulled Serah to his side. "Lower your voice."
"What, why? We didn't sneak like this before!" Serah said confusedly, but reluctantly agreed on sitting next to Noel.
"But if this really is the past, we could ruin something by showing up", Noel explained and searched through their bags to find something which with they could conceal their true identity if needed.
"Cloaks!" Serah smiled happily. "These will do it, right?"
Noel didn't look so sure, but shrugged. "Well, that's all we've got. For the first time I'm glad that you fall every time for Chocolina's tricks for trying to sell more stuff to you."
"Hey, I always get discount!" Serah defended herself and grabbed one of the dark brown cloaks from Noel. "These were really cheap, you know!"
"Yeah, right, whatever. Just put that on. Who knows what will come after us in any minute", Noel breathed deeply, being nervous for some strange reason.
"You're overly cautious", Serah smiled and put her hood on. "How do I look?"
Noel smirked. "Do you really want to know? You—"
"Kupopo!" Mog suddenly started to fly towards the cliffs.
"What? Mog, come back! What on Etro's name are you doing?" Noel felt alarmed, trying to capture the creature with his hands and failing.
"Mog, no!" Serah ran after the moogle.
"And here we go again..." Noel rolled his eyes, going after his companions.
After three minutes of running, Serah finally captured Mog, pulling him tightly between her hands. "Mog, you naughty little—"
Noises behind the cliffs started finally getting clearer.
An excited female voice chirped: "And then, when we've gotten into our village, we can go and see my very special place! It has a really pretty view, especially when the sun sets! The sun light reflects from Cocoon and because of that, the whole place is completely lit from the sun and it looks like 12am or something!"
"I'd like to see that", other voice, presumably a young male laughed. "Is Oerba far?"
"It should be right behind the corner, not long anymore", first voice answered. "I simply can't wait!"
"Vanille, it's still miles till Oerba. At the earliest, we'll be there after three days", second female voice said amusedly.
"Aww, but Fang! Isn't there a way to go faster?"
"Not if you don't want to run. I'd like to see that."
Cheerful male voice gave a laugh. "Actually, it would be good for training. I'm getting bored over here!"
"Enough of chit-chatting", interrupted a third female. "Keep your eyes open."
"Noel, that's—" Serah didn't know what to say.
"Your sister, right? I figured that much, Vanille and Fang and all. Looks like you were right. With the past-thing and all", Noel grinned.
"No, I mean… What do I do? They can't see me!" Serah started to feel hysteric. "Should we hide? Oh no no no no, this can't be happening…"
"Every possible hiding place is too far from our current spot. That's what you have that hood for. Let me do the speaking", Noel smirked. "They don't know me in this time, so there shouldn't be any problems."
"I'm pretty sure this isn't going to end well", Serah sighed, but still couldn't stop feeling excited in seeing her sister soon. "To think I'm going to see Lightning - and Snow, of course - again, and can't talk to them. Can't tell them that I'm going to be fine, and… what's going to happen to them in the future."
"Just relax", Noel patted her hooded head. "We're gonna talk to them, find out if there's something unusual goings, solve a paradox, find an artefact and a gate and we'll be on our way! It's gonna be a cake walk."
"I hope you're right…" Serah said unsurely, sighing.
"Look sharp, here they come!"
"And then, we can grab some of those flowers that grow near the village and flavor behemoth meat with them! It'll be really tasty!" Vanille exclaimed cheerfully.
"Behemoth meat? Can you really eat that?" young male sounded unsure. "Sounds… weird."
"Don't worry, we have antidotes with us", Fang smirked.
"Well, if Vanille says it's tasty, I'm all up for the challenge", third male said, "I'm starving."
"Heroes never back down! Give it your best shot, Vanille, I'll eat everything you make!" Snow grinned.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that!" Vanille grinned. "You have no idea what I can possibly make."
"Didn't I tell you to keep your mouths shut?" Lightning asked grumpily. "There could be something—"
"Hey, sis, look! I see some people over there!"
"What?" Lightning's eyes narrowed and woman looked around and finally spotted the trio. One hooded figure, one male wearing clearly Pulsian clothes, and a weird-looking moogle. She mentally cursed herself for concentrating in being irritated at her companions instead of watching the surroundings. Even Snow bested her, and that's really saying something.
The ex-member of Guardian Corps marched quickly towards the travelers, unsheathing her gunblade warily. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"Fang, I told you! People still live on the Gran Pulse!" Vanille chirped to her friend and couldn't stay still.
"Yeah, it does look like it", Fang said, for once surprised.
Lightning glared at her companions, then pointed her weapon towards the male. "Well?"
"I'm Noel Kreiss", man raised his arms to indicate that he didn't want to harm anyone. "And this is… umm… Paddra Nsu Yuel!"
Serah was so shocked that she couldn't even voice her surprise. Yuel?
"Oh, I've heard about you!" Vanille squealed and then smiled sadly. "You're from the Farseer tribe, right? The visions and all?"
Noel was stunned for a couple seconds – he didn't think they would know about Yuel. But then again, the Farseer tribe and the Seeress had been around for ages and it was only natural for Pulsians to know about them, if only as a legend. After a moment, he smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's about right. And, well, uh… she's mute. So, don't think that she's rude when she doesn't answer to you."
"Oh… that's so sad!" Vanille looked sympathetic. "Don't worry, Yuel, I'm still sure we'll be great friends!"
"Yeah, I bet you can do the talking", Noel smirked.
"Hey, I don't talk that much!" Vanille huffed. "I just— Heeeeey, who's this little cutie?" She captured Mog on her arms and started to tickle him.
"Kupooo…" Mog said happily and nuzzled against Vanille.
"Oh, that's just Mog", Noel grinned. "Bet you haven't seen a moogle that can talk before."
"It can talk?" Vanille squealed excitedly. "Hey there, Mog!"
"Vanille", Lightning counted to ten on her mind.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Vanille looked positively apologetic, but still giggled a bit. "Lightning, don't worry. They don't look like bad people!"
"They had their opportunity to arrange an ambush for us, but they didn't. That's a good starting point at least", Sazh smiled and started to organize their messed-up inventory.
"Have you ever considered that they could want to surprise us when we are resting and therefore more vulnerable?" Lightning asked and crossed her arms.
"The bad guys wouldn't have this kind of cutie with them!" Vanille chirped and hugged Mog.
"Yeah! Have you ever heard of an evil moogle, sis?" Snow grinned. "So, Noel, you're a Pulsian?"
"Yep", Noel answered. There wasn't a point in lying about his nationality, it would only raise more questions, like what was he doing down here instead of Cocoon. And Serah was already acting as Yuel, so it would be even weirder.
"There must be more people around here, then", Lightning looked around and took a better grip of her weapon when starting to explore the area.
"Do you live nearby?" Vanille instantly smiled, thinking that by leaving Lightning gave her admission to talk to the new people.
"Err, no. We live… We just arrived here", Noel tried to come up with a believable reason for them being around. "We were the last of our village. I'm Yuel's guardian. We came here to… to find if there's people still left somewhere."
"Oh… You must've felt so lonely", Vanille sighed sadly, then ruffled Mog's short fur and came up with an idea. "You can come with us to Oerba!"
"Oerba?" Noel tried to sound like he didn't know anything. "You sure you don't want just to keep Mog close to you?"
"Oerba is a village. Vanille and I lived there long ago. Now we're returning", Fang explained shortly and pulled Vanille a little back, clearly not trusting the trio.
"I'm sure we'll find people there!" Vanille didn't even notice Fang's actions and continued talking normally. "Because our destinations are the same, there's no reason to go separate ways!"
"Sounds reasonable enough", Noel reluctantly agreed, then glanced at Serah, who had been quiet all time – well, with a reason, but the man was still worried about her.
"Then it's settled!" Vanille looked happy and then, all of sudden, cried out. "Oh! We haven't even introduced ourselves, so rude of us! Ciao, I'm Vanille! This is Fang! The pink-haired ice queen was Lightning, and the guys over there hassling with the items are – in order - Snow, Sazh and Hope."
"Hope?" Noel asked, surprised. He'd known that Hope had been one of the l'Cie that had saved the world, but somehow he still hadn't thought of him actually being that young. And as for Snow… he was still the same. But with slightly less stupid hair.
Serah sighed slightly, which Vanille took a notice of.
"Yuel? Are you hungry or something? Tired?" the Pulsian woman looked curiously at the hooded one.
Serah just shook her head.
"Oh, okay. Noel, how does she even communicate for more complicated things?" Vanille seemed puzzled.
"Err, she communicates…" Noel wasn't sure what to say. He'd never met a mute person.
Serah waved her hands weirdly.
"Oh! With a sign language, right?" Vanille smiled happily. "Maybe I can learn a little of it during our journey!"
"Eh, yeah… with a sign language", Noel scratched the back of his head and took a mental note of asking Serah if there were any particular details about the sign language that he should know. He guessed that involved certain hand movements, like hunters messaging to their companions when silence was needed and such. "I'm not a good teacher, but I can at least try." Hopefully the girl wouldn't actually talk to some mute person with the made-up sign language.
"So, Se— Yuel, is everything okay?" Noel asked the girl next to him.
Serah tried to muffle a giggle with her sleeve and then started moving her hands to different complicate positions.
Noel tried to look like he understood everything. "Oh, I see. She wants to meet Snow and those other guys." He looked back at Serah for confirmation.
Serah sighed and shrugged.
"Okay! I'll go see if they're ready with whatever they're doing!" Vanille smiled and went to talk with the males.
"I'll go talk with Lightning about this hassle", Fang said reservedly. "Be ready for walking, we can't set a camp on so exposed an area."
"That's fine", Noel said and after Fang was gone, turned to Serah. "So, what's up?"
"I don't think I can do this", Serah whispered. "Just seeing their faces…"
"We can't just leave now", Noel said and patted Serah's head. "Try to keep it up, will you? Hey, do you know what's going to happen next on their journey?"
"They go to Oerba, which is completely deserted", Serah said and made sure that her pink hair was completely hidden in her robes. "And then they return to Cocoon. I don't know many details; Snow never was a really good explainer."
"Well, that's all we need. We'll go with them as far as Oerba – unless we find some other way to separate from them – and when it's empty, we act disappointed and decide going on our own way. They probably get new destinations about then, and we don't want to get messed up in that, so it's only logical we leave", Noel nodded.
"I don't like lying to them", Serah sighed and glanced at Vanille, who was talking excitedly to her other companions, who didn't seem that thrilled.
"You want to tell the truth then? I don't like lying either, but I see no other way", Noel ran his fingers through his hair. "It's probably easier searching for paradoxes too when we're with them, you know."
"I know", Serah smiled a little. "But still… would telling the truth really be that bad?"
"We can't be sure. It worked on older Hope, but he already knew about the paradoxes. Hope was okay, because he was from your future and we couldn't tell him almost anything that he didn't already know. But these people… you really want tell them about their future? How Vanille and Fang will be crystallized? How Cocoon will fall? How Lightning will go missing, and thought as a dead? How Hope will feel completely alone even though being the Director of the Academy? How Snow will be branded as a l'Cie again? How Sazh… well, I don't know, but—"
"Okay, okay, I get the point!" Serah huffed. "I'll do my best."
"Good", Noel smiled at her.
"So, Noel? Yuel, huh?"
"It was the first thing that crossed my mind when I tried to think a girl's name that wasn't yours", Noel said apologetically. "But as people don't seem to know too much about the Seeress, we could tell them almost anything and they'd probably believe us. Well, not too sure about your sister, but…"
"I don't mind", Serah said. "I think it's kind of fitting, actually. Yuel did say that 'we're the same', whatever that meant."
"Uh… yeah", Noel tried to laugh it off. "Whatever that meant. Oh, hey, looks like Vanille forgot about us."
Further away, Vanille had started helping the l'Cie males with their work-in-process, chatting cheerfully with them.
"I'm kind of curious, let's go check on what they're doing", Serah smiled.
"You just want to be near Snow", Noel smirked, but then agreed, walking towards the group. "Hey, I'm not sure if you heard, but I'm Noel and this is S—Yuel. And Mog, of course."
"What's up with the hood?" Snow asked. "It's kinda warm here, you know."
"She knows", Noel assured. "It's just a… a tradition. She can't show her face to people outside out tribe."
"Okay… I don't really understand the point, but whatever", Snow grinned. "Welcome aboard, Noel and Yuel."
"Kupopo…"
"Don't forget Mog!" Vanille exclaimed.
"Are there different types of moogles?" Hope suddenly asked, raising his gaze from the tools he was working with. "This looks different from the ones I know of."
"Eh, I've got no idea", Noel shrugged. "These are the only kinds of moogles that are found in our home."
"Pulsian moogles probably differ from the Cocoonian ones", Sazh wondered. "Just like the chocobos."
"I can't say, I've never seen a moogle before Cocoon", Vanille hugged Mog tightly. "But if all Gran Pulse moogles are this cute, I really want to see more of them! Maybe we can find those and add them to our group, like Noel and Yuel have done! … or do you want to give Mog to us?"
"I'm not sure if Light would agree to that", Hope smiled.
"I'm not too sure if Mog would agree to that either", Noel laughed a bit. "And Yuel probably couldn't sleep without her pillow."
Serah waved her hands furiously.
"What did she say?" Vanille looked excited.
"She said that… you can't use Mog as your pillow. She gets jealous easily", Noel laughed.
Serah shoved Noel a little and then hand signed an obvious death threat to him.
"And now? Those movements didn't look too happy", Vanille giggled.
"Uh… that's just how the sign language looks like. She says she's happy to meet you all and she hopes – no pun intended – that we're all going to be good friends."
Serah sighed and gave up.
"Well, I'm all for that", Snow grinned and waved his hand. "Yeah, I'm Snow. Nice to meet you, Yuel."
Vanille poked Serah a little and smiled. "Don't go falling for him though – he's an idiot. And going to be married as soon as we rescue his damsel in distress!"
Snow smiled longingly. "Her name is Serah. And she's the most perfect woman you'll ever find in the world – or in this case, from either of the worlds."
Noel could feel Serah blushing even though her face was hidden.
Hope rolled his eyes at Snow's actions and finished tuning his boomerang.
Noel jumped to the chance of changing the subject and asked a question which had been haunting on him ever since he first saw Hope using his boomerang. "How does that even damage monsters? I mean, a boomerang?"
Hope rose to his feet and grabbed his weapon better. "Want to find out? I need to test if this works how I intended it to."
"Hm, sure, nothing better to do", Noel shrugged. "I guess we'll be staying here for a while, right?"
"No, if Lightning's gets to decide", Sazh groaned and leaned on a better position against some rock. "I swear that woman is a robot."
"Well, we'll just fetch you when it's time to go, okay?" Vanille chirped. "It's still early, so if we keep a break now, make food and stuff, and then leave, we'll probably find a good place for sleeping before the nightfall."
"S—Yuel, you coming too?" Noel looked at his companion.
Serah pondered this for a second, then shook her head and put her hands in a way that resembled sleeping with palms under her right cheek.
"That I understood!" Vanille looked triumphant.
"Yeah, because… that wasn't real sign language. She's probably too tired to think", Noel explained. They'd really need to practice their secret coding language with Serah to make their lies more believable. It was a mystery how they even survived this long. "Well, shall we go, Hope?"
Hope nodded and checked he had everything he needed in training. "I'm all set."
"Wait, I'll come too!" Snow rose to his feet. "My Steelguard could use a little training too."
Noel and Hope both groaned.
Serah wanted to laugh. This was going to be some journey.
A/N: I kind of want to continue this even though this is pointless and full of bad humor. But probably I won't.
Oh yeah, if you didn't get the Steelguard-thing, then search "Final Fantasy XIII voice actors sketch" from Youtube and it'll probably show up first.
Reviews are appreciated even if I don't understand why anyone would review this crap. Thank you.