FFXIII: The Visitation
Disclaimer: This work of fiction is not for profit. Final Fantasy 13 and any references to the intellectual property belong to Square Enix and the development groups that created the wonderful game.
A/N: This is a small teaser to build up the context of the story. Most of the story will be told in third person, with the occasional exceptions. WARNING: fan fiction is of course fan made, some liberties have been taken to character personalities. Please try to accept some of Lightning's few quirks. After all, Claire is only human/L'Cie/Bad ass chick.
Epilogue: Waiting for them
It has been 2 years since the collapse of the government and the tragic event that dislocated the citizens of Cocoon from their birthplace. What remains of Cocoon stands as a silent memorial to the Sanctum Fal'Cie which harbored the people for its life time. The remnants of the Guardian Corp and PSYCOM formed a new governmental regime, they named the new front as "Etherius: The city that fell from the sky". The terrified masses believe the L'Cie that "terrorized" Cocoon snatched the city and turned it into crystal when they fulfilled their focus.
Trust the police state to feed the public that load of Flan. On the bright side, the rest of the team seemed to have adapted to their new life. Snow and Sarah opened a school further out of the settlement. The two got married a week after Sarah recovered from her prolonged stasis. I hope by the goddess that their children get Sarah's personality. I could barely stand one Snow... an army of mini-Snowballs would drive me insane. I suppose I could always kidnap a few and brain wash them into mini-Lightning bolts. Ah~ sense of humor, what has the world come to. From what I read from the letters Sazh is doing well, the orphanage he set up is running at full capacity. Sazh keeps doting on Hope; I hope Dajh doesn't get jealous of him. The greatest tragedy from the collapse is the lives lost because of that megalomaniac Balthazar. Just thinking about it leaves my mouth bitter. Almost as bitter when I think of Hope... out of all of us, he was the least deserving of his fate. When the collapse occurred Hope's father was trapped in a facility run by PSYCOM where the coup happened. An Adamentortious tore the building from its foundations. Hope's father didn't make it out of the wreckage alive.
Out of the six of us, two were missing and declared killed in action. Fang and Vanille... the two who started this mess and the same two who sacrificed their freedom to give us ours. Everyone gave up on the two, moved on with their lives, made something of it.
As for me, in these two years I've been waiting, the rest of the team may be satisfied with the conclusion but even after all these months I couldn't keep them out of my thoughts. Perhaps because deep inside I felt it should have been me that took their place... I didn't make the right decisions, I could have lead better, It wasn't right that the two that deserved freedom were the ones deprived of it. Sarah keeps telling me to let go, I want to, but the same old train of thoughts keep running through the same damn tracks in my mind. Maybe, just maybe, I will move on, but before that happens, I want to try one last time, if nothing comes of it, so be it. Though as I look back on it, the old Pulsian saying "Damned if I do, damned if I don't" seems rather fitting...
…After all…unlike lightning…the brand of the L'Cie does strike twice…