A/N: Okay, I KNOW that I said I'd be done with this. But after watching the New Adventures/Change the Future trailer, I just had to write this. Maybe this will be the last one…maybe not. What do you think? (Watch how no one answers my question .)

Disclaimer: I do not own Square Enix.

"Lightning? What are you doing here?"

"This is the future…that I could not save."

I tried to keep up my wall, but I soon felt myself melt into a frown. Not my usual emotionless type, when I was just annoyed or mildly unhappy. It was a genuine, regretful frown.

Feeling that…strange expression on my face, I tried to resume my stoic look and laid a hand on Serah's shoulder. "Just listen Serah. I'll explain everything."

I strode past her and Noel to face the ruins of New Bodhum. The unalterable fate of the precious world the Cocoon citizens were supposed to cultivate. This was…what it was to become. This is what I couldn't protect.

"Lightning…?" Serah walked up behind me. I could sense her presence right behind my back. She had matured. It was easy to tell.

"Listen to me, Serah," I said. "This…is the fate of Gran Pulse. In this time plane, Cocoon has fallen. It completely destroyed everything."

"What? So…you couldn't save it?" Noel asked.

I shook my head and sighed, staring at the bleak ruins. "Noel…I'm the reason. I'm the one who…caused this."

I could picture Serah's eyes widening in disbelief. "No…Lightning, this can't be you! How could you have destroyed Cocoon and Pulse?"

"I'm…sorry, Serah. I – "

A flash of light behind me. I gasped and turned around. Walking out of a time portal manifested behind Noel was a tall young man with silvery hair, messier than ever. His shining green eyes widened when he looked at me. "Light…is that you?"

"Hope…?" I had to fight to keep the tears back. This grown man could not be Hope.

"Lightning…" Hope walked up to me, staring at me as if he were in a dream. When did he get so tall? He was Noel's height, surpassing me by a few inches. "After ten long years, I finally get to see you…"

"…Y-you've grown." That was all I managed to sputter.

He gave a shy smile, the same one I had once seen on the face of a young teenager. "I'm twenty-four, now. Am I finally older?"

I smiled sadly, biting my lip to force it to stop trembling. The emerald green eyes were undeniably Hope's. This man is what that small, torment-filled teenager had become. Ten years…

I pulled Hope into an embrace, his frame no longer small and fragile. I didn't need words to express how I was feeling. All this time I had missed watching him grow up…

Another portal formed, this time producing a blonde man with a black trench coat. Even though his hat was gone, I could tell who he was. The one person I wanted to hug and punch at the same time.

"Sis!" he hollered, rushing up to me. He grabbed me out of Hope's arms and into his, crushing the air out of my lungs. "You're alive!"

"I won't be if you keep suffocating me," I gasped. I twisted his arm and elbowed him away, slapping his face for good measure.

"Still the same Lightning, I see." Snow smiled as he rubbed his red cheek.

"And still the same Snow," I retorted, feeling a smirk on my face. Well, it was the closest to a smile I've ever gotten in a long time.

One more time, the light wavered and manifested someone else. A green pilot's coat and a familiar afro.

"It's been too long, Soldier girl!" Sazh smiled, walking out of the time portal.

"Way too long," I agreed. But then I realized that this Sazh must be from the time period right after Cocoon. He wasn't any different than I remembered him. Even that little chocobo was still nesting in his hair. It twittered at me, then dove back into Sazh's head.

All of them were here. In front of me. For the first time in a very, very long time. "Why…how…?"

"I traveled through a time gate." All three voices said the same thing.

"Wait a second…" Hope looked at Snow and Sazh, then at Serah and Noel. "We're all from different time periods, combined into one time plane. This is going to cause – "

"A major paradox?" I asked. "Don't worry, Hope. I'm trying to keep this plane as stable as I can."

Snow's eyes widened. "You can do that?"

"Let's just say…I'm not a l'Cie anymore, but I'm not exactly human either."

"Then what are you…?" Serah asked.

"She's a guardian of Etro, a Valkyrie of time," Noel said.

"A what?" Snow scratched his head. "Are you saying she's a goddess?"

"She can hear what you're saying," I snapped. "But technically…I guess you could say that. I am a guardian of Etro."

"A guardian of a deity is considered divine," Hope said in awe. "Light…you're a goddess."

"So this is what happened to soldier girl?" Sazh said.

I hung my head. "I'm…not a goddess. Not anymore, anyway."

Five voices went, "What?"

"I failed…to save everybody," I admitted slowly. "The reason I went to Valhalla was to free Vanille and Fang. But…my victory came with a sacrifice even Etro could not control. Cocoon fell. Without Vanille and Fang to support it, Cocoon crashed into Gran Pulse and created destruction in its wake. The crystal's magic was enough to completely shatter all the fal'Cie in the world. Once that happened…everyone began dying. That is Noel and Caius's time. Now, I'm doomed to an eternal service as an Eidolon, like Odin is."

"No…you can't be!" Hope shook his head furiously. "That can't be right!"

"Cid Raines. Do you know what happened to him?"

Silence.

"He became Odin. He's been serving as an Eidolon for practically as long as time has existed. He had failed Etro's wishes, and is now to be an Eidolon forever. I'm soon to be trapped under the same fate."

"Wait, did Etro ever tell you that?" Serah asked.

The frustration and sadness in me was overwhelming my power. I couldn't tie together so many time planes at once for long. "I'm sorry, guys," I whispered. "I'll have to let you go."

Sazh frowned at me as he began to fade back to his time period. "You will come back, won't you Lightning?"

"I hope so." And Sazh vanished.

"Lightning, promise me. Promise you'll return one day," Snow demanded.

"I can't promise, but I can't be -" He faded before I finished talking.

"Light…come home." Hope looked at me regretfully, disappearing to his time plane. "Please, make things right."

"Hope...I…" And he was gone.

I couldn't keep myself in the "real world" any longer either. My friends had come and gone, without any comfort to offer.

I turned around and began to walk away into a time portal back to Valhalla. I had given them fake promises that I couldn't fulfill. What was I going to do?

"Hey, Lightning…we'll be able to be together again, right? When all this is over?"

I stopped at Serah's voice. She had her back to me again, since she was now facing New Bodhum. I gave one final glance back, masking my doubt with a very small smirk.

"One thing at a time, Serah."

A/N: Okay, I know it's weak! But I just felt like posting it. And if I get really bad reviews, I'll just take it down, I suppose.