New Bodhum New Bodhum is a coastal town in " Final Fantasy XIII - 2 " , located on a shore of Gran Pulse , built by NORA and the residents of the original city of Bodhum in Cocoon , after which the town is named . In " Final Fantasy XIII - 2 Fragments Before " it is stated the Cavalry also helped in the town ' s construction . Datalog . " New Bodhum is one of the settlements built by immigrants from Cocoon on the shores of Gran Pulse . Many of its residents , are former inhabitants of Cocoon ' s seaside town of Bodhum . " " Serah ' s fiance , Snow , chose the settlement ' s name . The members of his group , NORA , help work the fields and protect the townspeople from roaming monsters . " " New Bodhum is a seaside village located some distance from Cocoon ' s pillar . Most of the residents are refugees from the former Cocoon town , Bodhum . " " The residents are trying to recreate the fireworks festival for which old Bodhum became famous . If they succeed , the town is sure to become a major tourist destination . " " Be sure to drop by NORA House , a peaceful cafe right on the beach that serves up a fatally delicious dish of deadly whitefish . When we asked the very attractive chef what exactly was in it , she told us ' It ' s better that you don ' t know ! ' " Story . In the two years after Lightning ' s disappearance , NORA built New Bodhum and taught the former Cocoon citizens how to adapt to living on Pulse . Snow and Serah lived together , though still unmarried , and she became a teacher to educate kids on how Cocoon fell . One day Snow told Serah he believes her about Lightning being alive somewhere . Giving Serah his engagement necklace , he promised he will bring her home . A year passes and Serah never hears back from Snow . One night , a crystal meteorite lands outside of town and mysterious monsters appear and attack the residents . As NORA fends them off , Serah gets caught in the chaos . A young man saves her and , with little time to talk , he hands Serah a weapon , enabling her to fight the monsters with him . The man introduces himself as Noel Kreiss , and after they fight Gogmagog that emerges from a time rift , he tells Serah he has met Lightning and can take her to her , but NORA won ' t believe he is telling the truth . Noel shows them the meteor is really a Time Gate . The next day , Serah and Noel search for an artefact to unlock the Time Gate . After finding it Noel reveals he is the last human alive in his time , 700 AF in the future . Before they get to the Time Gate , they have a rematch with Gogmagog , after which they reach the gate and step into the Historia Crux . If they return to New Bodhum later , they will find NORA marveling how they have barely been away . After Caius puts Serah into sleep in the Void Beyond , she ends up in the dream world version of New Bodhum from 3 AF where she is married to Snow and Lightning lives with them . Serah doubts the reality of the world and when she rejects the fake Lightning , a pathway to the Meteorite Crash Site area opens . At its end Serah is surprised to meet Vanille who explains the New Bodhum is a dream world , and Fang appears out of a portal . Vanille says that Serah ' s friend is trapped in his dream world somewhere in the Void Beyond and she must help him lest he ' ll be lost in it forever . Fang says Serah ' s rejection of the fake Lightning allowed them to enter her dream and opens a portal to Noel ' s dream world for Serah to continue on her quest . At 700 AF , Serah , Mog , and Noel meet Lightning in the blackened ruins of New Bodhum . Lightning tells them they are in a future she couldn ' t save , before explaining everything that happened to her after Cocoon ' s fall and how Caius plans to turn the world into another Valhalla . To stop Caius ' s plan , Mog reveals a new Time Gate for Serah and Noel to pass through , leading to Academia 500 AF , the time Caius is to enact his plan . If Serah and Noel return to New Bodhum in 3 AF where they had begun their journey , the members of NORA sense their final battle looms near and wish them the best of luck . Areas . The layout for the town area of New Bodhum is taken from playable section of Bodhum from " Final Fantasy XIII " , albeit with architecture change . The town is smaller than Bodhum , although it ' s possible that the buildings seen across the sea are part of the town as well . The building that evolved from the cafe ' s concept , was re - imagined into a bungalow which serves as a house and a bar . The wooden pier along the beach is also recreated . One of a fragment entries mentions that Gadot designed the houses along the shore . The village has a vegetable patch , a pier , and raised residences with walk ways between them . The uninhabited area of the locale is a hilly area and for a proper travel requires people to jump over ledges and pits . Tidal Shallows is occasionally submerged , and the Meteorite Impact Site is a small recess in a previously flat hill created when the meteorite hit it . Musical themes . New Bodhum has two tracks , both composed by Mitsuto Suzuki and performed by ORIGA : " New Bodhum " , and its remix , " New Bodhum - Aggressive Mix - " . The regular song is a calm and slightly upbeat . The aggressive mix plays whenever enemies appear on the field , during the duration of the Mog Clock . When New Bodhum is being explored in 3 AF during the night , just after the meteorite ' s impact , a track called " Full Speed Ahead " plays as both the background theme and as the battle theme . The next morning , " New Bodhum " and " New Bodhum - Aggressive Mix - " play in 3 AF , while in 700 AF , " Dust to Dust " - from " Final Fantasy XIII " - plays as the background theme initially , but after the meeting with Lightning , " Lightning ' s Theme - Unprotected Future - " plays as the main area theme . During battles in the area in 3 AF , " Paradigm Shift " plays as the battle theme whereas in 700 AF , " Blinded By Light " from " Final Fantasy XIII " plays .