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Post by caius on Apr 4, 2012 18:42:52 GMT -5
Caius' roar seemed to drown out the crashing of waves and the cracking of lightning as the storm raged. Water flowed off of his body as if he were part of a fountain statue as he sank to his knees, one hand gripping Ragnarok's thick hilt. He'd failed. There was no other word for it. His hand shook with a combination of blind fury and immeasurable sadness, and he let out another yell. After what felt like eternity, he stopped and glared at the foggy expanse of the sea. No, he hadn't failed yet. If he still lived, then time could still be wrought open. If he still lived, then a Yeul still lived somewhere in time. He hadn't failed so thoroughly. A crack of lightning bathed Caius and the once bright and sunny beach in bright white light, coming as he stood to his feet once more.
He looked around. The beach stretched on a ways, and the fog kept him form seeing its end, as it did the end of the sea. He supposed it was the storm, raising his free hand to the mist. The feel of it reminded him of Valhalla, and Caius Ballad scowled darkly. He was not in the timeless void, but it seemed to have come with him or had been brought here by another force. He inhaled deeply, regaining his composure and ignoring the sting of heavy rain on his skin. His next look brought to him the silhouette of Noel Kreiss apparently heading for him.
"Is this the future you wanted, Noel?" Caius called out, his deep voice not needing much raising to reach far beyond where he himself was. The slightest hint of mocking was in his voice. If he had failed, Noel had as well. Noel Kreiss had little understanding of how to change time. Caius had an eternity's experience. The man raised his sword in to the air, a burst of purple energy surrounding it before he swung it downwards, sending a wave of energy at the approaching Kreiss. He wondered, somewhere in his mind, if Kreiss had been expecting a fight. It didn't matter; they were committed to the duel now. |
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Post by Noel Kreiss on Apr 5, 2012 21:43:51 GMT -5
This was not Valhalla. While there was a beach, and the atmosphere was considerably darker, this place did not have the same timeless feel, it did not have the crystal ladden beach nor did it have the streams of bright green light from the buildings. Noel wasn't sure where he ended up. Perhaps this was another place on Gran Pulse that he had never been to, a place for a second duel before Caius pulled them all back to Valhalla for the final battle. Noel turned his head to his side, expecting Serah to be there, but she wasn't. He turned around, searching for her, but there was nothing. The hunter called out, but no answer came. "Serah?! Serah!" She wasn't there.
So where had she gone? Was it possible that Caius had knocked him out as they travelled through the wormhole, killed Serah and was waiting to kill Noel? But that didn't explain where he was. He almost wondered if he had been separated from everyone, as there was no Mog, no Serah, nor could he see Caius. He half wondered if this was a dream, but dreams often took place in places that you had been too. Noel was sure that he had never been here, but there was the possibility that something had attacked him while he was travelling through the wormhole, which caused him to once agains suffer memory lost...
He decided to keep on going, in case Serah had landed in a different place to him, so he jogged across the sand, eventually looking to the sea. He couldn't see much, as the fog was so dense it was as though he was blindfolded, but when he returned his blue gaze to in front of him, he saw a figure he knew all too well, and he heard the voice just seconds after they saw each other.
"Is this the future you wanted, Noel?"
Noel slowed down, his gaze hardening as he drew his swords. He didn't answer, because he didn't even know if this place was part of time, or if it was Valhalla. He didn't know if there were other people here, he didn't know what was going on, but he would find out. This place felt so different, and he wanted to know what was going on. Noel jumped out of the streak of approaching energy, but while he did move closer to his once mentor, he didn't attack. "Where's Serah?!" he shouted out, moving his swords to a defensive position in front of him. "Caius, give it up! I don't want to fight you!" The hunter was waiting for the elder to attack first, but he wasn't going to try and harm the other.
"Do you think this will make Yeul happy?!"
words: 0456.
comments: doing noel no justice i swear |
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Post by caius on Apr 5, 2012 22:59:22 GMT -5
Caius saw Noel dodge out of the way. He had expected it; he knew his student too well. He wouldn't take a hit if he were able to avoid it. A hunter was no good if he could not return after killing his prey. Noel took a defensive stance, and Caius' frown deepened a bit. The boy asked where the other seeress was, but he'd never cared for her fate in any fashion. Dead by her own making, he supposed. He did not reply, swinging Ragnarok diagonally as he advanced slowly and deliberately, a wave of energy flying from the blade's tip and flashing as he brought it up behind his shoulder. The slashing rain meant nothing to him. Then Noel asked the question he himself should have thought about.
"What joy is there in death?" Caius replied, his voice dropping and his eyes burning with fury. Fury towards his situation, towards the goddess forcing Yeul to suffer torment for eternity, towards the ignorant boy keeping him from finally saving her from her fate. "If you won't fight..." Caius Ballad said, his voice low and filled with an anger that eternity itself could not extinguish "Then you aren't worthy of protecting her.: he said, lunging forward and bringing Ragnarok up with enough force that sand and rain was swept up with the blow.
He knew Noel was on the defensive. He was ready to be struck, and the first attack would rarely hit its opponent flawlessly. Caius continued his charge, Ragnarok pulsing with energy as he brought it down, the blade hitting the sand and sending a blast of energy radiating from where the sword hit. He whipped his sword back behind him as quickly as the attack was made, continuing his charge for Noel and swinging the blade horizontally with enough force that it seemed as if the sword would tear open the air itself. He would have to prove himself to his teacher a second time now. To waver against an enemy was not the behavior a guardian could have. And if it meant that Caius Ballad could have a small bit of relief in the form of battle, it was all the better a lesson to teach... |
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Post by Noel Kreiss on Apr 12, 2012 5:44:52 GMT -5
His question about Serah went ignored. Why? Either Caius didn't know, which was likely when he didn't have an answer for a question, or he did kill Serah, but did not deem it important enough to say that he did. Or, he didn't hear the question, considering the distance between them, but he did hear his second questioh, with the same distance between them... Noel believed it was the former idea, and he did hope that that was the case, and that she was alive, just they had been separated. Dammit, now he'd have to find her, which would be hard considering all the different times they could end up in...
"Yeul wouldn't want this, Caius!" He shouted out, trying to hold back a grunt of pain as he leapt out of the way of another streak of energy a little too late, ending up with a small pulsing pain in the bare of his leg. Noel swung his swords back in front of him to meet Caius's sword, the more elaborate of the two meeting Ragnarok's blade. The stabbing sword itself was held uselessly beside him, though his arm was tense in order to block another attack or strike Caius. Noel hardened his gaze as he looked at Caius's face, trying to think of ways to explain to him that Yeul didn't want Caius to destroy time.
"Yeul wouldn't want this, Caius," he repeated, trying to push against the elder with his sword, bringing his second sword up to put more strength in pushing his old mentor back again. "Though she died, she came back. She came back each time, because she wanted to be with you. She didn't want to leave you. There's another Yeul waiting for you Caius!" He somehow knew it would be hopeless, but there was no harm in trying to get Caius to listen. Noel knew that if he were to get Caius to listen, he would have to find the new Yeul, or the one in this time, and get her to tell him to stop his assault on Etro, to explain why she didn't want that.
words: 0352.
comments: butchering noel |
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Post by caius on Apr 12, 2012 18:20:54 GMT -5
Ragnarok's blade caught with Noel's and stayed. Caius' anger only deepened as he was told what the boy thought Yeul had been doing. Did he not understand? Truly? "Another Yeul has waited for me with the death of each one!" he roared, fury and sadness more than matching the added force of Noel's second sword as he tried to push the elder back. Caius' left hand flew to Ragnarok's hilt and in a single swift push Noel and his blades were knocked back as if the goddess herself had plowed through. The crack of lightning seemed perfectly timed with the motion, but the man did not relent, swinging Ragnarok with primordial fury at Noel, caring little if his blows connected or were blocked.
"You have seen it only once and know the torment of it, I have seen it for an eternity!" Caius said, punctuating the statement with a powerful slash of Ragnarok's huge form. "I have seen more Yeuls die than you have seen the sun rise," he continued, a pulse of black energy loosed from the massive sword in his hand at Noel, "For every breath you've taken I have seen her die and revived again!" Ragnarok pulsed with energy as he charged at Noel, leaping in to the air to deliver a downward strike with as much force as his body would allow.
But somehow, even through his rage he knew Noel was not so easily defeated. The boy knew many of his moves and had taken measures to counter them long ago. But even then he could not best his master. And he knew Noel would not kill him. Even now, after everything, he did not see his elder as worthy of death's embrace. "And you condemn her to the same fate as Yeul, do you? You bring her closer to death each wrinkle of time you fix, yet you continue anyways." Caius raised Ragnarok again, swinging his sword down powerfully at Noel, not trusting his previous strikes to have connected. |
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Post by Noel Kreiss on Jun 5, 2012 14:53:48 GMT -5
"Another Yeul has waited for me with the death of each one!"
Noel gritted his teeth as he heard this and fell back on the floor, on his back. He had no time to answer back, as the swinging of Caius's sword Ragnarok was being flung at him with little to no judgement on where Noel was. This made it easier for the hunter to roll out of the way and back up onto his feet to block another slash of the beastly weapon. Noel backed off, standing ground with his swords in front of him to defend the attack that he was sure would come, considering Caius's anger.
This anger was not something he had seen that much, and he was not used to it.
When Caius struck downwards at Noel, the eighteen year old, instead of blocking, he countered with by raising his hand and sending bright white energy at Caius, a Ruinga spell, and, using the blinding light to move away, Noel spun around behind the elder, his swords once again raised defensively.
"That is Serah's decision to do!" he blurted out in response to Caius's question, unsure of what to say. He was frozen, as though the question had struck him like how Caius had been trying to do with his sword. "Serah wants the future to be safe! She doesn't care about her life, she wants others to be safe!" These were the words that Noel had to hold onto. He didn't want Serah to die, he made a promise to protect her, but she was adamant in changing the timeline to save the future...
It was almost to late for him to realise that Caius had tried an attack again. This time, the attack hit Noel's arm, cutting through the skin of his right arm. Noel cringed in pain and he made an almost frantic attempt to get away, firing a Ruin spell at Caius before once again moving back, staring at the wound on his arm. He cast a quick Cura, before facing Caius once again.
"Give it up, Caius. Yeul does not want this. She doesn't want you to do this! Yeul came back each time to be with you. Every time she died she came back, to try and keep you happy, but you still do this!" Noel gritted his teeth again, "There is another Yeul out there, Caius! She'll always come back for you! Caius, LISTEN TO ME," Noel's voice was starting to raise as his own anger took control.
"Yeul is waiting for you. Caius, stop this. This is not what Yeul wants you to do. She doesn't want you to sacrifice yourself for her, because she will come back for you!"
tags: caius.
words: 0446.
comments: no justice to noel, and i don't even know what i was writing about in this LOL. i need to get up and play final fantasy xiii-2 again. i can barely remember anything. sorry if the post seems a bit EEH! |
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