New World • Prompto Argentum

chapter seventeen

"We must hurry." Lumina said as she picked up her pace. "There is no time to explore, we must get to Serah as fast as possible." The others didn't speak, silently agreeing. Thankfully, no enemies got in their way, making it much easier for the five to cross the temple.

"Over there!" Vanille called as she pointed across the room, Lumina's eyes following Vanille's forefinger. She could see her, she could see the crystals cover the room that laid just a few feet from where the five were standing.

"She's in there." She whispered under her breath, her lips parted as she took slow steps towards the crystallized room. The others followed closely, but suddenly Lumina decided to pick up her pace, now sort of running across the corridor that led to Serah's hideout. 

"Lumina!" Snow and Prompto called in unison but she ignored the two, crossing the gate which suddenly closed behind her right after she passed it. She gasped in shock from the loud sound the gate made by shutting closed, everyone calling for her from behind the large doors. Prompto was screaming, slamming the door as he and the others tried to pry it open, but it was no use. Lumina wanted to try and open up, but the cold in the room reminded her why she was there.

"You came." She gasped, suddenly turning around. She knew whose voice she had heard but she just could not believe in her eyes. She could not believe that she was right about the voice.

"Lightning..." The ravenette muttered, her eyes about to leave their place. She saw the pink haired woman smile softly at her, as she stood beside her sister's crystal tomb.

"We were waiting for you." She announced in her deep voice. The shouts from behind the door continued, mostly by her blonde lover, something Lightning noticed. "He seems to be worried. No need. You will be with him shortly." She assured the girl who was still staring at her in shock. Lightning's face fell, her eyes dropping to Lumina's chest. "Your brand has worsened greatly." She pointed out.

Lumina placed her hand above her brand, nodding. "I want this gone, Lightning. It's keeping me back, it's... keeping him back." She explained to her long lost friend.

"Why did you choose to go through all this again?" The woman asked, causing Lumina to sigh.

"I... I wanted to bring everything back to what it was. To bring you and Serah back, but I never thought... I never thought..." Her thoughts always trailed back to that very man who was screaming her name behind the metal doors. She never thought that her life would get tangled to his, that she would mean so much to somebody. Finding him meant finding a reason to keep going, and almost turning into a bloodthirsty monster did not help at all.

"And now? What will you do?" Lumina sighed.

"Anything that I can to break free from this curse." She breathed. "Anything because now...somebody is leaning on me." She but her lower lip, lowering her gaze for once again. Lightning smiled, she had really grown.

She remembered her from when they fought together for their lives, when she was but a child. Now, she was a grown woman, ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of the one she loved. 

"Lumina." The young girl connected eyes with the pink haired one. "Come." She called. Lumina followed and took some slow steps towards the woman. Lightning held out her hand for her to take it, which she did with no hesitation. 

Lumina trusted Lightning, how couldn't she? The woman proceeded placing the young girl's hand on top of Serah's crystallized arm, exactly where her brand used to be. The gate suddenly bursted open, the four rushing inside the room. A strong aura circled around Lumina whose hand started hurting badly, as if thousands of needles were pierced in her pale skin. She screamed in pain, not being able to pull back from Serah. Prompto called her name again and again, trying to run towards her but Snow held him back, shouting something at him that Lumina could not hear.

For a good few seconds memories of the times when she first became L'Cie crossed her mind, when she first met Lightning and Sazh, when her, Hope and Vanille fought their way to Snow. When Snow saved her and Hope from the soldiers in Palumpolum. The fight against the Orphan, her,Vanille and Fang turning into crystal to keep Cocoon from falling. Everything crossed her hurting head.

The pain travelled from her hand to her shoulder and then to her chest, right where her brand is. She screamed at the top of her lungs, feeling her eyes getting teary. Lightning had disappeared but her voice was heard inside her head.

"You'll be freed from your sorrows with the blessing of the Goddess."

  Lumina felt the pain slowly subsiding, now her whole body going numb to the point she could barely feel alive. She felt her chest burn, as if a flame was lit in her heart. Her eyes fluttered, she lost her footing and suddenly found herself planted on the tiles of the temple. She could no longer see Serah's crystallized form, nor feel the chill that erupted from her.

"Lumina!" She heard Prompto yell her name for the thousandth time, as she felt hands on her. But the poor girl could not hold her eyes open anymore, and she allowed herself to be succumbed into darkness after all that pain she had gone through.