Remembering Noel (A FFXIII Fan Fiction)

Chapter 19

Serah finally fell asleep at about four o'clock. All she had been doing for an entire week it seemed was sleep. She'd been so excited about remembering everyone, and to do so she had to sleep. Which means she was getting much more sleep than she usually did.

When she found herself in the now familiar corridor, she was at the beginning. There was only one more person she could remember. Well, one more important person. The person who loved her the most, and the person she had the potential to love. Noel. He'd been so good to her. Such a gentleman, but she'd always been able to tell he was struggling. He had to leave the house some days. Keeping himself together had been a chore that he sometimes couldn't do. In fact, she hadn't seen him in a day or two, she realized as she jogged lightly down the long hallway. 

When she reached the door, she touched the designs in the door frame. She knew that this place was just a figment of her imagination, something her mind made up to make her remembering things seem more probable, but it felt so real. The wood under her fingers felt just like the wooden desk that had been in her room in her old house with Lightning. Before the fall of Cocoon, when everything was okay. That desk had been the only thing she had left of her dad. She didn't remember him, she'd been too young, but Lightning had told her about him. He'd been a commander in the Guardian Corps, but his passion had been woodcarving. He did it in his free time and never kept the finished pieces, instead giving them to other people to make them happy. The desk had been his last project before he died, and his most ambitious.

He'd given it to Lightning. She'd eventually given it to Serah, to satiate some of the questions she had that were too painful for her to answer. The door looked very similar to it, and it puzzled her. Why would her mind place this here, on Noel's door? He must be very important to her.

She took a deep breath and turned the crystal doorknob. The smell of the room hit her, and she sighed, recognizing it as Noel's smell and it calmed her before the white smoke entered her, and she fainted.

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Listen, Hot heads who can't back down don't last long on this planet. Humans aren't strong. They die easy!  

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Serah woke up in her bed and she smiled. Noel would be so happy to hear that she remembered him. She sat up quickly and looked up to the clock on the wall. 12:00. Noel should already be up. She sprang out of bed and bounced over to her dresser, putting on some other clothes that were more appropriate, confessing her undying love in your pajamas wasn't very romantic. Maybe it was, because you'd been so frantic to see them that you'd forgotten to put on clothes. Something like that. But she wasn't frantic, because she knew he'd be there for her, he'd always been there for her.

When she was finished dressing, she walked over to Noel's room that he sometimes stayed in. She knocked on the door and nobody answered so she opened the door. She checked the bed and the bathroom, and nobody was there. No big deal though, he only stayed here every once in a while. So she'd have to walk over to NORA house, she didn't mind that. Maybe it would take a few minutes longer, but she wasn't in a rush. Noel knew she loved him, she just needed to say it, show him that she remembered. She hummed as she bounced down the stairs. She practically danced into the kitchen, and what she saw made her stomach drop. 

Hope, and Maqui standing there, ashen faced, talking with a police officer. 

"What's...going on?" Serah asked, the smile dropping off her face. 

"Serah, you might want to sit down." Hope said, and she did. "Noel's been in an accident." Her face didn't register any emotion. 

"Sorry?" she said, her voice barely coming out of her throat.

"He was in a vehicle accident, and he's currently being brought to the hospital. We don't know if he'll live." The officer offered gently.

"Why...didn't you tell me?" she choked out through the lump in her throat.

"It was a few moments ago, he left just before you came down. We needed to question Hope and Maqui here before they went with him, as it was a hit and run. I suppose you have no recollection of the event?" the officer said more professionally. 

"No." she whispered. "Can we go to the hospital now?" 

"Yes, you're free to go." 

She stood up quickly and Maqui and Noel were already in action. They jogged out the door and Serah practically threw herself into the hovercar. Hope had already started the engine and took off as soon as Maqui shut his door. 

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Vanille sighed, looking out of the window to the train to Pulse. Today might be the day she finally got to see Izzabel again. Then again, she may still be crystal. Or she might be gone. She had no idea how long she'd be crystallized. Some people in legend had been in crystal for up to 500 years. 

Fang patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. "Even if she's gone, or not awake yet, don't worry, of course we'll wait. I'll wait for years if it will make you and Izzi happy again." Vanille smiled warmly. The only person who loved her more than she loved Izzi was Fang. She'd go to the ends of the earth, or further, for Vanille. 

Fang smiled back, then looked away. She knew when Vanille needed support and when she needed to think alone. Apparently this was both, because she was relieved that Fang looked away. Of course, she always loved Fang, but she sometimes needed time alone as everyone does.

Time to think about Izzabel. What she'd say when they arrived if she was awake and what they'd do if she wasn't. What they'd do if...if she was gone. She shook herself. Of course she'd be there, Izzi would never leave Vanille alone purposefully.

Vanille blinked these thoughts to the back of her mind and instead looked out the window again to the view of Pulse, trying not to overthink anything.