The Aftermath: A Final Fantasy Story

Chapter 4: Trauma Resurfaces

(Noctis P.O.V)

Lightning and I charged at Ardyn, but he soon intercepted out attack, "I can see you two have a strong bond, but it won't stop me" Ardyn taunted, and to be fair he was right, Lightning was the closest I had to an actual female friend, she was strong, and confident, she was even accepting of me when I first arrived here. Ardyn soon attacked me but I quickly jumped away, Lightning attacked Ardyn quickly while I was getting up, I smiled at her trying to defend me, I looked around at everyone fighting, Hope teamed up with NORA while Snow teamed up with Gladio and Fang. Vanille and Prompto were all over the place but they were laughing like children. Sazh and Ignis were in the back focusing on range, Serah and Noel were working together using their signature style of teamwork. I decided to get in the game and help Lightning, she was barely holding Ardyn back, I struck him in the back but he summoned the 'Power of Kings' to keep me pinned down, I was mortified that he had used that again, Lightning came to my aid and we took Ardyn out with one strike, but he still got up. "HAHAHA, this was even more fun than I thought, but I must take my leave" Ardyn said, a portal suddenly appeared and a tall man covered in purple arrived, "CAIUS?!" Noel yelled, "Hehehe, a puppet restrung to serve my needs, he is weaker than he looks" Ardyn teased.

Caius looked pale, and lifeless. Lightning could instantly tell he was being controlled, "Let him go, he doesn't deserve this!" she yelled, "Wow, didn't expect that from you, didn't he kill the goddess of your previous world? Didn't he plunge your world into chaos?" Ardyn taunted, Lightning slowly became angrier, but then a sweet voice made us all look behind us, "Caius? Is that you?" it was Yeul, she was clearly transfixed on Caius, "Yeul?" he asked with a smile on his face. Ardyn soon fired a beam at Yeul, I teleported to her and saved her, "You okay?" I asked, "How could he do that to Caius, he doesn't deserve this, he deserves peace with himself, not more chaos" Yeul said on the verge of tears. "Stay here" I said and left her under a nearby tree, I went back to see that Ardyn and Caius were gone. Lightning was furious, and so was Noel. "Yeul's safe, but what's with this Caius guy?" I asked while heading to the others, Lightning breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm just glad you're okay, and I'm gonna let Noel answer this one" Lightning said awkwardly, Noel turned to me "Caius was a guardian of the seeress, in this case Yeul, he was granted the curse of eternity and had to see Yeul die over and over again. The Yeul that's with us is the last Yeul ever to be born. Caius only has one weakness, and I think we just found it, Yeul" Noel explained. I was shocked, Caius seemed so tough, but I guess Yeul's his weakness for a reason.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. So this Caius dude was protecting other versions of Yeul? Why?" Prompto asked, "A seeress can see the future, and a guardian must protect her, I should know, I was a seeress myself" Serah said sadly. I was beyond shocked, someone so sweet and innocent having such a terrible burden on her shoulders. Noel hugged Serah tightly while everyone regrouped, "Is everyone okay?" Snow asked, "We're all good, but where's Hope?" Sazh asked, Hope appeared from behind a tree with a crying Yeul, it's clear that he cares about her. "I'm good, Yeul's just a little heartbroken about Caius" Hope said. Yeul was silently sobbing behind her long blue hair, we all felt sorry for the young girl. "We should head back and re-group, if Ardyn's got Caius under his control, we're in more danger than we previously thought" Lightning said as she turned back into her normal self. We soon got back to the compound, and Noel and Serah were still in disbelief over what happened to this Caius dude, "I don't believe this, this sucks ass" Noel said, "I don't get it, he has other Yeuls in the unseen realm, how could Ardyn get into his head?" Serah asked, "I know, I mean one minute he's this good guy, and the next minute he's a good guy controlled by an asshole" Yeul added. I was surprised at what she said, Yeul seems so innocent but she got up to walk away. 

As Yeul walked away I looked at Lightning, "You seem tense, what's up?" I asked, "I should be worried, but I'm not, Caius almost killed me a lot of times, but he did it to save Yeul." she explained, I was surprised, but confused "Why did he care so much about her?" I asked, "She was a seeress, while he was assigned to protect her, since the seeress is cursed to die over and over again, he changed the timeline in order to save Yeul, and the same thing happened to Serah, she died of the same curse and I had to save her. Noel still had PTSD from Serah's death." she explained. I now understood why they were so close, Noel was just protecting her, and I guess Serah started doing the same thing. "How are you taking this whole Ardyn thing?" Lightning asked. "I don't know, he tried to rule Lucis again, but that never happened" I said. I looked to the others, Ignis was in silent thought, Gladio was slashing a tree, and Prompto sounded like he was having an asthma attack. "I mean, he's..I can't.. he's...he was.." Prompto stuttered, "Remember to breath" Ignis said calming Prompto down.