[IC - update post]

[actualizedname]

 [Earlier this morning a tiny teenaged boy went out to explore ruins in camp.

Some time later, said tiny teenager reappears at the outskirts of camp, eleven inches taller, thirteen years older and very confused.]

Somehow, I think I'm lost.

Comments

[heralding]

... Remember what?

[actualizedname]

Lightning, do you know who I am?

[heralding]

... Camp did this, didn't it?

[actualizedname]

No. I don't believe so. I suspect that I've been caught in a time distortion - a paradox - and that is why I'm here and not where I last remember.

It's been a long time, Lightning.

[heralding]

[after a long pause, as if she's taking it in]

How long has it been? ... How old are you now?

[actualizedname]

Five hundred and fourteen years.

[he grins a little wryly now]

I slept through most of that.

[heralding]

Five-hundred and fourteen ... but that's—

[she straightens up somewhat]

You were crystalized somehow?

[actualizedname]

No, nothing like that. I created a time capsule, to travel to the future.

[heralding]

Why would you even have to...?

[actualizedname]

To protect the future with Serah and Noel. I don't suppose you've met him yet.

[heralding]

No, the last I remember was ... being ripped away. Showing up on a shore. And then I ended up here.

[actualizedname]

For me, that happened thirteen years ago. I thought for so long that you had gone into the pillar like Vanille and Fang. Only Serah believed the truth; that you'd been pulled to the end of time.

[heralding]

The end of time ...

How would you even believe that? And—what happened to Serah? Why is she upholding everything?

[actualizedname]

Because I've seen it. I've seen you fight in a battle in a place called Valhalla, against a man who keeps appearing in the Oracle Drives. Serah told me and I believed her.

[heralding]

That's not why I thought I left.

[actualizedname]

We're all working to save Vanille and Fang. We're just also coming to help you too.

[heralding]

Heh ... Now Serah's the one coming to save me.

[actualizedname]

You did a good job of raising her. She's ... she's very like you. Very dependable, very courageous, and very good at inspirational speeches. Even if they are at my expense.

[heralding]

You were pretty good at them yourself. Though I'm concerned about why you'd need them.

[actualizedname]

It was something an alternate me did in another timeline. I'm surprised she thought of it so fast; if she wasn't a teacher I'd suggest to her to join the Academy as a scientist.

[heralding]

[fondly, with a small smile]

A teacher. She always liked learning. So—to teach others—

[heralding]

She's grown up so much. And so have you. And I wasn't there for any of it ...

[heralding]

Hope, can you tell me everything? About ... everyone. I'd like to know, just in case. Maybe I can find a way to make it back, too. There might be a way here.

[actualizedname]

I can't tell you everything, only what I know. But if there's something I can't answer, I'll tell you.

And ... from what everyone tells me, you were looking out for us, even at the end of time. You could only talk to us in our dreams, but you did.

[heralding]

How? Do you know that?