"Well isn't this just great." Noel growled as he stood on the roof of his shabby home. Fal'cie were literally falling out of the sky. Not attacking but most definitely surrounding Luxerion. And, the hunter clenched his fist. Utopia and Lumina were gone. They had vanished through a chose portal with the intent to go to Etro's Shrine. A place Noel could not go to without risking himself. At the moment he was content to sit inside his home and complain. Although he knew he couldn't do that. He had to be responsible and monitor the Fal'cie as well as the Order of Salvation. Just because part of his 'team' had other things do didn't mean he could slack off.

The borders of Luxerion were empty. All of Luxerion's smarter citizens had fled to the cult of their choice for protection. Noel on the other hand couldn't afford himself that luxury. After all, he knew those cults wouldn't actually be able to keep them safe if the Fal'cie chose to attack. He stood perched on a building looking at the strange creatures. They outward but, they were casting magic. Light magic he realized. Which unfortunately meant that he was probably trapped in the city unless he chose to risk chaos magic and attract their ire.

Which also meant, he realized with a dull ache, that Lumina and Utopia could not comeback without tripping his might douchi-ness that something was up. He was about to curse and head back to the slums when he heard screaming.

"Of all the fucking—" Of course the Order of Salvation would take such a move as providence. He launched himself up the air and back towards the slum. He would not let them destory the Children of Etro. Or any of the innocents that would be lost in the chaos.

When he arrived, he was immediately attacked by a desdemona. He slammed his blades into it. He was not worried about such weak prey. Another desdemona attacked him and he dogged it's fire. Which lead him into the fire of a desmond. He winced and swiftly got back up. He was not going to let them defeat him. Although as he looked there was way more enemies then he thought. An Arcangeli descended in front of him.

Behind the massive creature was one of the Order's peons. "Well, providence is upon me. The High Priestess had lent me this incase the Shadow Hunter showed his face. I hadn't realized she would be right."

Noel rolled his eyes and brought his swords together into a spear. He found that Arcangeli were best taken out with a sure, fast strike. He lifted himself up into the air and came down hard into the creature. It shrieked and flung him back into a wall. He jumped back to his feet and launched again. He manage to slice one of it's arms off. The creature let out a worse cry then before a launched Elementa at him. Noel growled and took his spear and jumped out of the way on to a wall. He launched off the wall and slammed his spear straight into it's core, killing it.

As the creature disintegrated he turned around to see that a good portion of the slums were burning. Rage filled Noel like he'd never felt before. He jerked his spear back into two swords and turned his eyes to the Grand Cathedral. He moved swiftly, a predator searching out his prey. He didn't feel anything as he cut down the drone fighters and monsters that protected the Cathedral.

He made it all the way into the High Priestess' observation chamber before a monster he'd never seen before slammed him into. He had heard about them from those that had spied in the Cathedral but to see one… It was called a Sugriva.

It was faster then anything he had fought before. He tried to dive out of the way, but it followed him with lighting fast reflexes. There was only one but it seemed to be everywhere at once. It slammed him into a wall and then thrust him into the floor. He groaned rolling over. This was no ordinary creature. This one had been enhanced with light.

He forced himself to his feet as the creature stilled. Behind it the High Priestess watched him.

"One who walks in shadow... Could not possibly understand the glory of Light." She murmured as she stood up from her throne. "You are the Shadow Hunter. The leader of the Children of Etro… the Goddess of Death."

"Considering that Bhunivelze seems to be calling for all our deaths I think you may be mistaken." He growled as he took a firmer grip on his swords. The creature before him not moving as it's mistress spoke.

"I should kill you." The priestess spoke softly, her voice almost lulling. "But, I know that the savior will come to you. You will become ours."

"You really believe that you idiot?" He growled. "After all the innocent people you've killed!"

"Well," She cocked her head to the side. "No where does it say I can't hurt you." She waved her hand.

The Sugriva lurched forward. And Noel tried to avoid it. He was caught by its fist and sent careering into a wall. He managed to get up and slam his sword into its side. The creature railed in anger. It grabbed Noel in his arms and threw him against the stairs but didn't release him. He was slammed again and again until it felt like he was going to lose consciousness.

Finally it seemed to be over. He vaguely heard the High Priestess speak again but he couldn't understand what was said. Soon he wasn't even there anymore.

Noel jerked awake and stared up at the darkish sky. Something seemed wrong about where he was. He sat up slowly, painfully. He was hurting so much as he pushed himself up into a standing position. He still had his swords so he turned them into a spear. Using it as a staff he slowly walked through the smoldering streets. The part of the slums that had burned. He stopped briefly and closed his eyes. This wasn't the way things were supposed to be.

As he walked he was plagued with guilt and felt almost ill at the sight and smell of the burning buildings. After a while, he felt so ill that he had to stop. He felt ready to pass out again when hands cupped his face. He tried to jerk back but the hands held him quick. He opened his eyes to see Utopia in front of him.

"Hope." He whispered weakly as he began to falter once more.

"Rest now." The other stated softly as he moved his hands to tug Noel closer. "I'll take care of you."

When Noel woke again, he was in the bed at his apartment. Utopia was sitting beside him and cupped his face. He still felt in pain and wanted to close his eyes. Instead he lifted himself up into a sitting position and wrapped his arms around him. He closed his eyes and breathed him in. It was only part of Hope he knew, but at this point part was better then nothing at all.

"You're going to be fine." The other hummed slightly.

"What about the Fal'cie?" He asked quietly.

"They've gone." Utopia murmured. "I think they are attacking the Temple."

"Etro's Temple?"

"Yes, it's the source of the chaos that's corrupting this world." Utopia pulled back and rubbed at Noel's cheeks. "Don't worry about it right now. You need to rest and recover."

"But—"

"There is time… later. I promise that we still have time." He gave a rueful smile. "After all, there is a certain amount of well… Suffering that must happen. And Bhunivelze doesn't have enough power yet."

"And your own suffering?" Noel brought a hand up to cup over the other's.

"As a person of chaos I don't suffer." Utopia corrected.

"And you are Hope, who has suffered. I wish you would stop trying to deny such truths. Out there you can be Utopia all you damn well please, but this is getting ridiculous."

"We shouldn't fight while you are sick. I'm sorry that some of the choices I've made are hurting you… But this is all necessary. I promise you'll understand when it's all over." A kiss to his forehead. "Trust me."

Hope swallowed hard as he stood by himself in the Ark. Right now, Lightning was somewhere strange and he couldn't contact her. The longer he was out of contact with her, the crawling started. Pain from Bhunivelze was crawling up his arms and legs in punishment for allowing her out of the area of Bhunivelze's influence… and into Etro's Temple. He couldn't have stopped the strong willed woman from her choices… but he didn't expect God to understand that.

He would suffer the pain in silence for all their sakes.

"H-Hope? Hope can you hear me?" Relief flooded his veins as his pain level dropped down to its normal level. His fingers danced over the keyboard as he tried to pinpoint her location.

"Loud and clear. What happened Lightning?"

"Something strange… I don't know how to explain it… but I was enveloped by chaos. Maybe a powerful infusion?" She sounded slightly unsure.

Hope swallowed hard. She had said she was going into Etro's Temple but his locators put her in the Wild Lands. Something had happened to her. Something he couldn't track. He looked over his logs of where she had been. It had been three hours since his last contact outside of the Temple's chaos zone.

"Are you sure you don't know? Did you meet with the goddess?" He asked frantically as he tried without success to somehow figure out what she had done inside the chaos zone.

"No… I met with Yeul." She explained quietly. "And Caius."

"What?" His hands faltered. Caius was dead, for better or worse he had seen to that ages ago it felt like. He rested his hands on the keys and took a deep breath. "Then what is at the Temple?"

"It is Yeul's chaos. She has been born over and over again… a chaos that breeds and replicates itself. That's what's destroying this world."

"Can you purify her? Maybe that would buy us more time to save more souls." The pain that shot through him was swift. He bit his lip to keep from screaming and hoped that Lightning noticed nothing at all.

"I don't think that is an option. Most of her… personas? Are so angry, they rejected my presence outright. I supposed this does provide a problem. Her chaos and her rage is also the thing that is keeping Caius alive. Which I think means that the Eyes of Etro gave her more power then we thought."

Hope swallowed hard as he stared ahead. He closed his eyes and then opened them up. He wanted to think about a way to fix this, but he knew that he had no options. Not with the God currently occupying part of his mind. He managed to get his hands moving, to put things into some semblance of order.

"If we cannot save her then we can surely neglect her." Hope stated as he pulled up a list of their friends. "After all, as tied to Etro as she is, we probably cannot save her. We will have to hope that she comes into her own. It would be better to focus on those we can save. Come back and recharge and then we'll try Snow and Serah again."

"I understand." And then she went silent as she prepared to come back.

With the connection was shut, Hope collapsed to his knees. The pain was greater, almost as bad as the days when his body was being reformed. No tears fell from his eyes. There was no emotional response from his body and barely any emotional response that he felt inside. All he had was the pain and nothing else at all.

Noel. His mind whispered. Noel please. It was his own voice, he wasn't sure what he was pleading for, or even why his mind has chosen Noel to plead to. After a few moments the pain receded and he stood up. Turning around and being the perfect little puppet again as the transporter began to work and Lightning appeared.

"The chaos in Etro's Temple is that thick?" He asked, more Bhunivelze's will then himself.

"Only in the areas around it. The actual Temple is protected by what I'm assuming whatever is left of her power." She responded as she came to stand next to him. "As far as I can tell, there is nothing there but them."

"Are they trying to protect the temple?" Hope asked quietly.

"As far as I can tell, it merely exists and chaos overflows out of it. We only have what? 10 or less days left? I assume we should probably not worry about that place anymore."

"My greater concern is if it will effect or attack you. If it is effectively neutral then there is no need to care. At this point, I think that you should go and focus on Snow and Serah." Hope turned away from her, he felt weak and drained. He really needed her to leave.

"I don't know if that is a wise decision. The Fal'cie that Bhunivelze has sent down are attacking the Temple even as we speak. Even if the chaos was benign it will most likely protect itself." Lightning pointed out as she rested a hand on her hip. "Which could endanger those in the lands closest to the Temple."

"You are only one person Lightning… Savior or not. Focus on the things that we can do if you please. Now like I said, you should be heading to Yusnaan."

If she noticed his curt manor or any other out of character behavior she said nothing. It made Hope begin to question things to himself. Lightning didn't act like this before. Had Bhunivelze been successful in pushing out her chaos? And if he had, where had it gone?

Noel woke up to the dim light that passed for day in Luxerion and stretched his arms above his head. At this point, he'd finally felt like himself. It had probably only been hours to heal and recover from the healing. But he felt as if he'd been asleep for years at this point. The apartment seemed empty as he got out of bed.

He found Utopia still there, but he was looking up towards the Ark high up in the sky. He reached out for the smaller man. It was strange being around Utopia. Sometimes he acted like the Hope he remembered, other times like a petty child. And at times the rage within the other was so great he wasn't sure of what to do with it. It was all touch and go with the other. But it was worth it, just to know that he got to see Hope again. Even if it was only part of him.

"It's strange." Utopia murmured to the other as he turned to face him. "To know that I really am in two places at once."

"Can the two of you talk to each other?" Noel asked curiously and the other shook his head.

"I split myself in two long before I was physically separated into two different beings. It had been one of my ways to cope with the torture."

"He tortured you?" Noel grasped the other's chin and lifted her head up to look into his eyes. "What did he—"

"I'd rather not talk about it." Utopia shrugged his grip off. "But we were separated in a way that made it so that Bhunivelze couldn't use my memories against me."

"I… Hope. I mean…. Utopia… Hope, how can I help you, if you won't tell me what you've been through?" He cupped the other's face in his hands and the other closed his eyes and relaxed.

"No. There is not time for that right now." He brought his hands up over Noel's. "Don't argue with me. There is no time. We have to stop Bhunivelze and I have to be… made whole again."

And the guilt left a bad taste in Utopia's mouth. To be 'made whole' most likely meant to die. But he couldn't tell Noel that either. He turned his head and kissed Noel's hand. Please don't worry about me, he wanted to say but found he couldn't. Instead he grimly pressed forward. "We have to get to Vanille."

"Well, that's easy enough." Noel shrugged. "Even doing it undetected. But that involves chaos travel."

"You travel through the Grand Cathedral in chaos?" Utopia looked to him in surprise.

"There are pockets of shadow where chaos pools. Regardless of what Bhunivelze has convinced those heretics to believe… There is a lot wrong inside the Temple. It's drawing benign chaos to it."

"That should be… Something within the Grand Cathedral is already drawing chaotic souls to it? This is bad. We need to go there immediately."