more and more, but then suddenly she stopped a few meters in front of him.

"You don't have it in you to kill me.", She said then, timidly, and he winced slightly and a faint, barely audible sound left his mouth when he felt her gentle, soulful look on his figure, hers Traced words.

"You are still human."

He noticed how his gaze changed, uncertainty and doubt creeping into his sea-blue eyes. Lightning's words didn't leave him unmoved, he just couldn't ignore them and it was as if something suddenly collapsed over him. More memories, blurry images hit him and gradually took shape. He saw people ... people who were important to him, who were close to him, who trusted him ...

Yul… Caius… Serah… he didn't want to lose any of them, but in the end he couldn't prevent it. In this way, Lightning was the only friend he hadn't lost to the chaos yet. And yet they were now facing each other if he would lose her too ...

"You once killed a friend to save the world. But you won't be able to do that again.", The young woman suddenly tore him out of his thoughts and he looked up startled.

"Or? I know I'm right. I can see it in your eyes."

Again Noel uttered a horrified, but this time audible sound. He got nervous, wanted to hide it, but didn't want to succeed. On the other hand, he knew that he could not fool the young woman.She openly let him out of his eyes, out of his behavior, yes, probably even out of his breathing, and there was nothing he could do about it. This made him angry at himself and he felt a slightly seething feeling rise within himself. And for the first time in a little while he spoke up again.

"You think I wouldn't harm you? Are you sure about that?", He replied in a loud, excited voice and noticed how for a brief moment a trace of amazement showed in the young woman's eyes.

"No, but the clock is ticking and I have a lot to do before the time in this world runs out."

She took a small step towards him, raised the sword a little in her right hand.

"Don't get in my way, Noel. You may still have scruples, but I don't.", She said, moving slowly towards him and with every step she took, she lifted the stretched one to the side Blade a bit on her sword.

"No more."

And the young man tried to suppress the uncomfortable, tingling feeling of goose bumps that was just spreading on his skin. He held the blades of his two swords protectively in front of his body as he watched her draw closer and closer to him. But then he jerked his weapons down again and looked towards the ground, bearing anger and despair in himself. He didn't want that. He didn't want to kill this woman.

"Damn it, Lightning. Is that all that's left of you?" He cursed, just feeling overwhelmed.

There was nothing he could do about the reluctance and he felt helpless. But he knew that if he gave up now, there would be no future for Yul ... and for him. What should he do?

Noel stared in panic into the face of his adversary, searching in vain in the ice-blue eyes for a warm breath, the compassion and the slight sadness that she so often bore in them. Only he couldn’t recognize any of it anymore.

"Quite right. To save Serah, I'm giving up everything. I even play God's little puppet. And nobody can get me off my path, not even you."

The young hunter felt an uncomfortable tingling sensation. At that time he had killed Caius, his friend, the only person who still existed besides him in his time, just to save this world, which was also heading towards doom. Today his victim seemed like a bad joke and frowned upon by fate. In the end, he didn't even want it. And somewhere in him that part that didn't want to hurt anyone still existed. Because of him he was losing ...

"Tell me Lightning ... what would you do in my place?", He whispered softly, his words no more than a faint breath, so that they couldn't reach the young woman and only he could hear them echoing in his head.

His gaze fixed on the sharp steel of the blade that Lightning held in the air, raised above her head.

"You're looking for Yul? Then find her in death!", Noel's eyes widened in shock when he saw the blade of his opponent rush down on him and he uttered a choked sound.Instinctively he jerked his right arm up, just wanted to somehow parry the blow and the edge of his sword clattered on the young woman's. He had put all his strength into the defensive blow, so that he managed to thwart Lightning's attempt to kill him.

"Yes, I'll find her.", Noel breathed in short, quick breaths and Lightning made a small jump backwards over his sudden, not so strongly expected resistance.

Slowly his arms sank down and the steel blades in both of his hands scraped across the hard stone floor with an unpleasant, scratchy noise.

"You can bet your life on that."

The young hunter could feel Lightning's gaze on him, how the young woman just looked at him in astonishment, yes, he could even hear how she had flinched at his words, which secretly made him smile slightly while he held the grip of his loosened both hands at once around the hilt of his swords until they fell to the ground with a clank.

So he was defenseless against the Redeemer, and yet ... she hesitated. This was her chance, it wouldn't take much effort to just kill him now. But she didn't. And inside he let out a relieved breath. Because he would not give up so easily, even if he did not know how to free himself from this situation, his conflict. He needed a plan because ...

He wanted to see Yul again, yes, but at the same time he didn't want to be responsible for Lightning's death. He wasn't going to fight, at least not the way he was told ... and there might be a glimmer of hope somewhere in some other way of fulfilling the prophecy. He just had to find it ... somehow ... But he had to live for that.

"Yul and I, we will both live ... in a future together that I will make possible. I will make it.", He said and looked directly into the surprised, ice-blue eyes of Lightning.

Noel nervously swallowed the air in his lungs as he moved with slow, careful steps towards the young woman across from him. In the last few minutes, during the fight, something had become clear to him; he couldn't kill Lightning, not like that ...

No weapon, words or feelings could harm the young woman, nothing more. Whatever it took, fear or even doubt, she'd lost it a long time ago. Even in the eternal struggle against chaos, the day they first met, she had not allowed any of these obstacles. It was neither touchable nor vulnerable ... maybe it was already ... too perfect? In fact, no longer a human ...

But Noel had to admit that this kind, Lightning's unshakable courage and incredible strength had fascinated him even then, never would have thought that a single woman could be so strong. That someone who had nothing more than loyalty to her friends and the love of her sister, so much and indomitable, was able to defy fate. His admiration had captured him like an inconspicuous spell since that day and never let go.As the young hunter got closer and closer to his adversary, he could feel his heart beating excitedly and faster than usual against his chest with every step he took towards her. Suddenly his beat was so fast, so loud that he would not be surprised if the young woman could hear him without any problems. That he hadn't given himself away long ago.

And yet that was maybe his only opportunity ...

"Let's finally get this loneliness, which makes us one and the same, behind us ... Lightning ...", ... to finally do something right.

Carefully he stretched out his right arm towards the young woman, his fingers trembling on his hand, hesitantly stretching out to the face in front of him. A fleeting moment that seemed far too slow to Noel and which seemed to rob Noel of all courage when he saw surprise, shock and confusion speak from the ice-blue depths in front of him, while his fingers tentatively touched the warm skin of Lightning's left cheek.

"Both of us ... what do we still have to lose ...?" He spoke in a whispered, shaky voice at the same time.