Author's Note: Hey, it's me! Yes, I am still working on this story, it's just been... *cringes* A...while... Well, here's the next chapter!

What's up with Caius?

Is Fang okay?

We'll just have to see...

(Super super super thank you to my beta for this story, MateriaFlower1-1 {aka emstar1-1} this story wouldn't be even half as good - or productive - without you!)

"What did you do to Fang?" Noel demanded, his voice not collaborating with his intent.

"I? I have done nothing to her. It was her anger and frustration that brought the Chaos upon her."

Hope took steps that put him in front of Vanille and Fang, "What do you want?"

Cauis' dark, cold eyes bored holes into Hope's own. They sent shivers through his body, up his spine and down deep into his very soul. Yet he stood his ground, despite how very hard that suddenly became. There was no question that what he felt dragging him to his knees was Caius, which only made him fight harder. He didn't know what this man was capable of, dead or not.

"I wish only to warn you."

"Warn us about what?" Noel asked.

"About your task. This is not the first time the goddess Etro has been slain. It took many more men than you to revive her."

"So what?" Hope's legs began to shake beneath him.

Caius' expression slid from serious to almost bored, "The journey is far more difficult than the destination," on that cryptic note, the guardian faded away, as quickly as though he were never there.

"No!" Noel shouted at the air with anger on his face, "You can't just leave like that! Not again!"

"Noel..." Vanille murmured softly.

When the conversation with Caius ended, so did Hope's battle with gravity. He walked over to the hunter with no problems, "Noel, are you okay?"

Whereas mere minutes ago, Noel had been in shock, he was now shaking with anger. Hope shoved his doubts on his identity aside for the moment, and said, "Maybe it wasn't him."

"But it was! Damnit!" Noel took a swing at the air, one with a lot of wasted power put behind it. He clearly wanted to hit something solid, but given that the dependency of solid objects lately was slim to none, the air - although less satisfying - was the better choice.

Behind them, Vanille let out a small gasp, followed by a shuffling of boots. Hope turned from Noel to see her standing over Fang, who was in it of herself no different than before, but the wisps of Chaos that had gathered about her had accumulated into a mass army of snake-like tendrils, slithering about and fashioning a cocoon of sorts around her body.

"H=Hope..." Vanille squeaked, taking a few staggered baby steps back until he passed her.

Hope knelt beside Fang, and hesitated in his intention to reach for her. They had been very casual with the Chaos up until now, touching and walking through it as though the dark smoke couldn't harm them. And it hadn't. At least, not noticeably. However, Fang had been incapacitated. She was unresponsive, she-

A spike of fear drove itself into Hope's chest as, when he reached out for the huntress, his hand slipped easily through her. Just like the buildings. He quickly curled his hand into a fist and joined it with the ground, hoping he did it with enough speed and casual manner that no one else noticed what happened. Especially Vanille. He couldn't bear to tell her what he feared, that Fang was truly being consumed.

Was it Caius? He didn't think so, though he couldn't rule him out. After all, the man had just failed - in a sense. They hadn't perceived enough time for him to have gotten over it, not even close. But what he had said made sense, that her frustration did this to her. He'd had a similar experience...

"Hope, what's happening?"

"I'm not sure," he answered honestly. And he hated it. He wanted to have the answers for her, he wanted to be able to fix it.

He ground his fist into the dead street.

Vanille's boots made small clunks as she stepped a but closer, though she stayed behind him. The Chaos enveloping Fang seemed to thicken and darken between blinks, she was hardly visible by the time Vanille desperately clung to Hope's shoulder for support. He could feel her fear taking hold of and shaking her through her grip. He put a hand on her and wished there was something he could do.

Noel was watching the whole spectacle take place from several feet behind the pair. He was still furious at Caius, and his whole body screamed for him to hit something, but the sight of Fang had left him unable to twitch a muscle. It was as if the Chaos was cutting her off from them. He couldn't see her anymore, and when he looked at where the black, smoky pythons constricted her, he felt a sense of...emptiness.

He tried focusing on Hope and Vanille, but he felt empty looking at them, too. He couldn't help but think of Yeul...

Noel somehow forced himself to turn away. He stared off into the haze of Chaos that his brain interpreted as the horizon. He hadn't felt so helpless since Yeul died. He'd destroyed the world, killed a friend, and now they were stuck in this goddess-forsaken hell, wrapped up in the idea that they could somehow resurrect Etro, - which still sounded impossible - and Fang...

Something caught his eye in the distance, the flash of a delicate silver he knew very well. He threw a glance back at the trio, feeling a twinge of guilt for what he was about to do, and started to walk away.

It was her, he knew it. No one could tell him otherwise because he'd already seen her. Yeul. She was different, different from Alyssa, from Caius. She'd touched him, pushed him. She was real. She had to be real.

Noel continued to see glimpses of her as he followed, the only thing keeping him on track. She had to be leading him somewhere. He thought they were heading out of the city, but he wasn't sure.

How could he be sure of anything? something floating on the surface of his mind reminded him. How could he be sure it was the real Yeul he was following, that he was following anyone at all? How could he be sure he was even alive?

He fought against those painful reminders and focused on what was Yeul, damnit. He'd already lost track of how long they'd been going like this, and where they'd gone. He'd followed her around so many corners and down so many streets, he was unlikely to find Hope and Vanille again. He fought that, too. He couldn't be alone here, he refused.

Suddenly, he emerged from the Chaos-built city and found himself on some kind of beach. The sand looked like...worn crystal shards. Beyond that, he didn't know what anything was, barely what he was. The Chaos was thicker here, sickeningly so. He hadn't felt so dizzy and nauseated since he first learned how to hunt when he was a child. The scent of blood and death had him throwing up for a good hour. Something here was wrong...

He felt someone lowering him to the ground, gentle hands that made him forget to be alarmed long enough for her to speak.

"Noel..."

It was her, he knew it! Though he was too sick and out of it to celebrate his victory.

She was behind him, so he couldn't see her, but as she placed his head in her lap, her face slowly blurred into focus.

"Yeul..."

She shook her head, her gossamer hair brushing against his face, "No, just listen."

"What-"

Suddenly, her eyes began to glow with the familiar golden crest of Etro. A vision? Here? Now? Was that even possible? He tried to move, to do something, but he couldn't. His body was as heavy as a behemoth carcass, as useless as a dull sword. A fresh wave of nausea nearly drowned him.

"Help me, Noel Kreiss,"she intoned. That, was her voice...wasn't it? Quiet and soft... But there was an edge now, something he'd never heard from her before, "Help me. The Chaos, it's out of control, time is unraveling. Those left will not survive long. Please. Help me."

She was coming out of focus again, her eyes fading back to the gentle green he was used to. Her features blurred and blended into the Chaos. No, she couldn't leave, not again...

"Y-Yeul..."

She smiled - or at least, he thought she did. She was so foggy, his mind was so...heavy...

Everything went black when she finally left him, and his head smacked into the solid, cold ground.