More than a Myth

Promise

Three months passed.
Noctis couldn't believe that it had been so long. He missed his home. He wanted to know what happened after the Cladis invasion. He needed to find out if his father was alright. Most of all, he was just homesick.

But not all was lost. He had Lightning. His friends were there with him too. Not only that, but his new friends had grown closer to him. Aside from his friends, Noctis didn't have to hide anything. Back in his world, Noctis couldn't even go outside without being mobbed by the press. But on Pulse, he could go where he pleased. Not to mention that no one had called him "Your Highness" in a long time. He liked being just an average guy, not a socially gifted man.
Even though they still hadn't found out exactly how Noctis could get back, the gang never stopped thinking about the possibilities. Noctis had other things on his mind right now. He and Lightning had been together for over three months. He had to get her something to show her how much she meant to him. But what?
Noctis and Lightning were growing closer. With the money he was earning from P.L.R. business, he could afford to take Lightning out more often. He would take her to the music store and play the piano to her. She liked hearing him play. They rarely fought. Even if they did, Noctis would let her win. There was no sense in driving her away with silly conflicts and quarrels anyway.

Noctis slouched on the living room couch and sighed. What would Light want? A hunting knife? No, she may be a soldier, but fighting isn't everything to her. Clothes? Nah, she isn't that superficial. She would just wear her usual outfit anyway. Jewelry? She doesn't wear much. Noctis sighed again. This would be harder than he thought.
"What's up?" Snow came from the kitchen. "What's with all the sighing? You sound down."
Noctis straightened. "It's nothing. Say, Snow, what is it you get Light for special occasions? Like her birthday or something."
Snow sat down next to him. "That's always a tough one. Normally Serah does all the shopping for that stuff. She's Light's sister after all, so she knows her best."
Noctis said, "She doesn't exactly like gifts or anything, does she?"
Snow shook his head. "Nope. Well..."
"What?"
"Light doesn't like any old gift, but she enjoys things that are special. You know, stuff that mean something. That may not make sense, but I guess I'm trying to say she likes things that have a lot of thought put into it."
Noctis put his hand to his chin. "A lot of thought, huh?..." Noctis reached into his pocket. He pulled out Lightning's necklace, the one she gave him before she tried to return home months ago. He kept it with him wherever he went. It never left his person. Then it hit him. "Hey, Snow, you still know that Cocoon jeweler, right?"
Snow raised an eyebrow. "You mean Old Man Laris? Yeah, he's the guy who makes customized jewelry. Why?"
Noctis tucked the necklace back into his pocket. "I think I found my gift. I'm going down to his shop." Noctis stood to head for the door. He was ready to walk out when he stopped. "And don't tell Light where I'm going. Make up something if she asks."
Snow gave him a thumbs up. "Can do."

The next day, the whole gang met up at the P.L.R. base to discuss their next move. Fang, Lightning, Snow, Serah, Sazh, Hope, Vanille, Noctis, Prompto, Ignis, Gladiolus, and Cent were scattered about Fang's office. Lightning got the ball rolling by asking, "So what do we do?"
Fang said, "Of course, we still need to find a way to get these guys home. There has to be people back at your world that are worried sick about you all."
Gladiolus added, "Not to mention the kingdom is missing its only prince."
Sazh nodded, "The people would be pretty freaked after this long."
Prompto said, "We all know that."
Snow concluded, "There's got to be some way to open the portal for them. If it opened before, we can open it again."
Ignis pushed up his glasses. "The question is how?"
Vanille looked around. "Don't you think that Crystal fragment could help?"
Hope joined. "Yeah, if the Crystal's power hurts us because we were L'Cie and the portal does the same, shouldn't the Crystal be the cause of the portal's appearance?"
Serah countered, "That may not be necessarily true."
Fang turned to Cent. "Any ideas?"
Cent was silent for a moment. He finally said, "Hope has a valid point." Cent walked up to one of the windows and stared outside. "The power of the Crystal hurts L'Cie. Therefore, the best answer to the portal's source has to be the Crystal. Although, just how are we going to use the fragment to open it?"
Prompto suggested, "Noct could try to manipulate it."
Noctis explained, "Maybe, but I have enough problems controlling my own power. I don't dare try to use the real Crystal. Who knows how I may take it. I might lose control or something."
Fang said, "What about venturing out to other parts of Pulse? If it opened in the Mah'habara, then moved to the fields outside of town, couldn't it have teleported somewhere else?"
Snow said, "But we've waited for it to show up for too long now. Going out to search after this amount of time will take too long. Besides, if it can move then how do we know it won't move again when we're close to finding it?"
The whole room sighed. This was going nowhere. Lightning broke the silence. "What about the magic Cladis used?"
All eyes turned to her. Lightning continued, "He was able to use the power of the Crystal with that ancient magic. If we copied that symbol that drew out the power and let him use it, couldn't we do the same to create another portal?"
Ignis considered her speculation. "Your theory may work."
Gladiolus intervened, "Just how are we going to get the symbol Cladis used?"
Ignis answered, "I think I know it."
Sazh held up his hands. "Hold up, hold up. You saying you remember the thing?"
Ignis said, "I don't remember it, I've studied it. The one Cladis used is one that I've seen before in books. If I work hard enough, I can probably recreate it. Then maybe Gladiolus, Prompto, Cent or I can make another portal."
Serah said, "Why only you four?"
Ignis said, "It' somewhat risky to have Noctis do it for the reasons he gave earlier. We don't want him to lose control. The rest of you were L'Cie, meaning the power may harm you if you try to use it."
Fang put her hands on her hips. "You really think you can do this, Glasses?"
Snow said, "It sounds like a tough job."
Ignis didn't answer for a moment. "Given enough time, I think I can pull it off."