Just A Paradox

"I'm sorry..."

Her voice was a barely audible whisper, a few tears silently escaping her blue eyes and running down her pale cheeks. Her hands were gently clasped in her lap, white inactive Pulse l'Cie brand on the back of her hand fully exposed to her elder pink haired brother...

"Faith..." He replied, stepping towards the young silver haired woman. He didn't have a clue for what she was apologizing before, but he guessed that she had just completed a terrible focus that she was tasked to do.

Seeing her cry...This was the last straw, he was having a word with Etro about this. He gently wrapped his arms around her, and began to stroke her thick long wavy hair that was currently up in a high pony tail as usual.

"Shhh, it's ok, everything will be alright I'm sure."

"No Rain!" She cried, shoving him away and quickly wiping up her falling tears. "You don't understand! The damage Cai and I did can't be fixed now!"

Cai, her partner as a l'Cie, and also a walking time paradox. If he wasn't with her right now then that meant he had likely just disappeared one way or another...

Before he could speak, the lights in the room flickered and went out, along with all the other power in the house. Rain raised an eyebrow and moved to the nearest window to look outside, while his sister just silently stood there and lowered her gaze.

"I'm sorry..."

As he looked outside, he saw that the sky had began to darken, thick dark clouds gathering out of no where, and not for a normal storm. His heart skipped a beat and he paled, knowing what had to be coming. He felt the effects a moment later, groaning as his head began to throb with a headache and his vision blur. He fell to his knees, struggling to breath as he clutched his chest, feeling the crystal mark over his heart began to crack, threatening to break.

Faith hadn't moved an inch, just continued to stand there half sobbing as she repeated her apology to him. Etro was dying, the time line was crumbling...Rain would go with the Goddess, that much they both knew. But why now? It was 527 AF, everything had been fine even after Caius Ballad had been killed.

"Faith..." He whispered weakly, falling to the floor as he struggled to stay conscious.

Was this really her doing? She wouldn't dare mess up the time line, she would have to be tricked. She heard her breath deeply and whisper something as everything began to fade into darkness.

"This time line...Has been nothing more than a paradox."

The last thing he remembered, was seeing everything around him being engulfed in the thick dark chaos.

Rainstorm Estheim.

He groaned and began to stir in confusion when he heard his name being spoken, harshly whispered and echoing in his mind. His eyes blinked a few times as they focused on the mostly normal looking sky above him, and feeling the hard ground beneath him.

"What...?"

He sat up in confusion, patting himself to make sure he was alive and not dreaming. Everything felt normal...He gulped, then lifted up his shirt to check his mark. Two years ago, he had made a deal with the Goddess Etro, one that had cost him his life. He had been marked since then and continued to live normally through her power...But now there was no sign of that mark, of the glowing crystal in her symbol that he had gotten used to.

"What the hell is going on then?" He muttered to himself, flatting out his shirt and pulling himself to his feet.

The chaos emerged from his being moments later, making him stiffen and flinch as he stared at the dark matter.

You are here to observe, then you make your choice.

"Observe what?" He demanded, glancing around the alleyway for this damn voice. "Show yourself and tell me what's going on!"

He reached for the sheathed gunblade that was strapped to his back and waited for a few minutes, but was only met with silence.

"Fine then." He grumbled, sighing as he shoved his hands in his pockets and trudged out into the streets.

He could just figure out this shit on his own then, or at least that was his plan. As he walked along the side walk, eyes scanning the unknown city a stranger smacked right into him, making him stumble to the ground.

"Watch it!" He cried, getting back up and seeing that they had just kept on walking, seemingly entirely unaware of the pinkette.

This made him pause in confusion, wondering what the hell was that guy's problem, when it happened again moments later with a couple more bystanders. He didn't yell out this time, but only glanced down at himself for a moment. He certainly looked as normal as ever, that little chaos trick had vanished. So what was going on?

He took a deep breath as he purposely stepped in front of someone, to see if they would notice him one bit. Nothing. Everyone would walk right through him like thin air, but he would feel it.

"What's going on?" He whispered, stepping away from the crowds as his thoughts began to whirl.

As I said, you are here to observe, not to get involved.

"Observe what?" He demanded again, glaring up at the sky. "And just who are you?"

Only one question was answered:

The final thirteen days.

He soon learned what exactly what was going on just by wandering around silently. He had ended up in the world Novus Partus, in Luxerion to be exact. This was what had become of the world after Etro's death, and now almost a thousand years later it was ending. The mysterious voice never returned, but as he gathered his information he had a decent guess on who it was: The God Bhunivelze.

That thought made him gulp, wondering what this strange God wanted with him, why he had been brought here. It had something to do with his previous connection to Etro didn't it? He often sighed at the thought, staying close to one person in particular: Lightning Farron. No one could see or hear a thing he did, and every time he tried to touch something the chaos would once again appear, and make his grip just like air. It was both annoying and frustrating, and eventually he just gave up on trying. Apparently Bhunivelze was pretty strict on this only to obverse and not get involved business.

That's why it really began to hurt. Standing there, unable to do anything. Seeing how hurt and depressed Snow was, how Noel's mind had seemed to snap. Lightning fought them both, seemingly without hesitation. All he could do was watch, watch and pray she would be alright, that she and Hope would succeed as "saviors".

"Why are you doing this to me?"

He was really starting to break when he saw Hope. He was safe and sound, and thankfully mentally and emotionally stable unlike some people, but he was younger...Back to his old teenage self, mature but it still wasn't the Hope that he knew. The way Lightning reacted, calling him "Mr. Hope Estheim" and half teasing him like a little brother...This wasn't like his time line at all.

"Just stop it!" He finally cried out, falling to his knees as he threatened to break.

This world, these events...It was all being shoved in his face all at once, all the differences between what he knew and grew up with and reality. He was just a paradox now, it was the painful truth that he was being forced to realize. He hated it, but there was no way he could deny it when it was right in front of him like this.

Hands gently clasped around the tear drop pendant around his neck, the one that used to belong to his dear twin sister. A few tears silently fell from his right eye as he closed his eyes tightly and wished for it all to go away. It couldn't be a coinsurance that the voice returned to him a moment later:

Do you understand now?

He nodded silently. Everything made sense, why his time line was so different. Etro being alive even after Caius' death, Serah not having a single vision and continuing to live as well. But his family...Tragedy had kept falling upon them. His older brother Page dying from pneumonia at seven, his twin Ashling getting murdered at thirteen, and Faith being branded as a l'Cie. Add in his deal with Etro and every one of them was "cursed" in some way. They were all just paradoxes, never supposed to exist in the first place.

Have you made your choice?

Another nod. He had figured out what that had meant as well along the way, so he took a deep breath as he prepared to answer. He glanced up, taking one final look at Hope and Lightning in the ark around him. They were strong, he believed they would succeed in saving this world and that things would more or less be alright. He just couldn't bear to stand there and watch any more...

"Just put me out of my misery."

The sudden thud caught both of their attention, making them flinch. At once, Lightning had her sword drawn as she stepped in front of Hope, expecting an enemy of one kind or another. Instead what she saw was a young man pale and collapsed on the floor. She approached with caution, not having a clue where he had come from. A gentle poke from her sword, then she reached down and felt for a pulse, sighing as shook her head and sheathed her weapon.

"He's dead?" Hope asked, slowly walking over.

"Yeah."

He was rolled over so they could get a better look at the stranger. Light scanned him over for a moment, not seeing anything to familiar at first before she glanced up at Hope.

"You know him?"

He shook his head, so she calmly went through his pockets for any ID or clues to who he was, but they were all empty.

"Strange..." She muttered folding her arms with a slight frown.

"Light."

Hope was pointing to the sheath strapped on the corpse as he crouched down. Catching a glimpse of the gleaming familiar metal, she partially lifted the corpse up to yank out the weapons inside. Two shinning silver gunblades, ones that they both were all to familiar with since they had been her own during their l'Cie days. The only difference, were the neat engravings added on in Etro script: My heart can't hold any more suffering and pain on one, with I will do anything to cover my tears of shame on another.

"These are definitely mine..." was all she said, wondering just who the hell this guy was.

"He has your hair too..."

She set the weapons aside and took a closer look at the corpse in front of them: As Hope had said, they shared the exact shade of rare pink hair, but it was fluffy like the boy's beside her. His long dark red scarf also reminded her of her old uniform's cape, and upon feeling the material she learned that they were indeed the same. He was a soldier, she could gather that much from the choice of weapons, and the single GC armor pauldron on his right shoulder. She sighed, reaching to gently close the young man's eye lids. Surely he couldn't be more than a year or two younger than her...A young and sudden death, for no injuries were visible on him either. She paused, seeing his green eyes that matched Hope...One of them did anyway, the right one had an odd and some what eerie red glow around the pupil.

"It's artificial..." Hope explained, seeing her movements.

She nodded silently, then gently closed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest.

"We should at least give him a proper burial...Whoever he is."

And so they did, never knowing they buried their son.

Author's Notes

This is what you get for making Hope younger again Square, that better not be fucking permanent you hear?! *Watches HopexLight ship sink and sobs*

So yeah all of my HopexLight kids are at least mentioned in this one. The main story with them is World's Collide so go read that if you want more I guess.

Also note that this one is unbetaed because feels and impatience.