Author's Note: YouTube can give you some crazy ideas... Which is where this one came from. *I don't own anything!*
Lesson to be learned from this: Hope, you really should've stuck with Lightning.
"Not much of a future for us, huh?" Sazh sighed, sitting next to Lightning.
"Hard to picture a happy ending." She replied.
"We don't even know where to go."
Lightning stood, "I do."
"Huh?"
She looked up into the sky, "There."
Above them, sitting in the sky, was Eden.
"Eden?" Sazh said incredulously. "The Sanctum's seat of power." He chuckled, "Oh, that's a great idea. Just chatge right in there. Give 'em a taste of l'Cie terror!"
When Lightning didn't respond, he said, "You're serious."
"Keep running." She said, starting to walk away, "It's die or turn Cie'th. There's no place for l'Cie to hide. No..." She stopped, "They want a fight? Let's take it to the Sanctum's door!"
"This isn't a game!"
"No. That's for damn sure. It started with Serah. The fal'Cie took her. Now I'm a l'Cie too. And the Sanctum's hunting me, an enemy of the state. But who's pulling their strings?" Lightning looked back up at Eden, "A fal'Cie. Eden. Cocoon's Sustainer and Guiding Light." She began to walk again, placing her hand over her brand, "It probably ordered the Purge, too. Pulse and Sanctum fal'Cie? They're all the same. And we're all the same to them: expendable. I'm not dying a fal'Cie slave." She declared.
"So? What are you gonna do?" Sazh asked.
"Destroy it."
"By yourself?" Sazh cried, "What, are you crazy? Say you pull it off... What's that get you? Satisfaction? Something happens to Eden, it's lights out Cocoon!" Sazh shook his head, but something clicked, "You want that. You're a Pulse l'Cie now, so you just want to snuff out Cocoon!"
"No!" Vanille protested, "What about Serah? She said to save Cocoon! It might even be our Focus to make sure Cocoon stays-"
"Our Focus doesn't matter." Lightning interrupted, "I don't take orders from fal'Cie. How I live, is up to me."
"Don't you mean, how you die?" Sazh said.
"Think like that, and it's already over." She replied, "Better to pick your path and keep moving. Don't worry. I'm after the Sanctum. I'm not out to destroy the world." She paused, "If it did come to that, wonder if our 'hero' would try to stop me?"
"You want to fight Snow now? Just like that, you're enemies?"
Lightning turned to him, "Next time we meet, we might be too."
She walked past Hope and Vanille, and never looked back.
Nautilus was a crazy place. And it stunk. Well, the chocobos did anyway. Their 'naturey' smell (as Vanille put it) permeated everything. Hope didn't think he'd ever get the smell out of his nose, especially since he had a new friend. One of the chocobos had taken a liking to him, and would not leave him alone.
"W-woah!" He cried as the big, yellow bird practically shoved him into Vanille.
"Kweh!" It chirped innocently.
"Are you okay?" Vanille giggled.
"Yeah." Hope muttered, glaring at the chocobo. In response, the bird dug it's large beak into his back and pushed him even closer to Vanille. "Stop it!" Hope protested. Vanille just laughed and backed away a few feet. The chocobo looked up at her, blinked, and then shoved Hope towards her again. "Quit it!"
Behind them, Sazh was practically doubled over he was laughing so hard, "Well, someone thinks you two would be good together!" He joked.
Both kids blushed. Hope spluttered, "W-what?"
"It was a joke. Geeze, kids these days..." He winked at them.
"Kweh!"
The golden bird shook out her feathers, and placed her head on Hope's shoulder. Clicking her beak, she looked from Vanille, to Hope, and back again. Vanille giggled and reached forward to pet the chocobo. The bird cooed in contentment, and Hope slipped out from under it. He backed up next to Sazh, who laughed at him again, "What? Don't you like chocobos?"
"Never really got the attraction." Hope admitted, plucking a feather from his collar.
Sazh gave a hollow chuckle, and picked another feather from the back of Hope's shirt. "Dajh would've loved this." He mumbled, rubbing the feather between his fingers.
Hope felt like he should say something. But he wasn't good at the whole talking thing. Even before he was a l'Cie, he didn't talk much. Kept to himself. He was pretty sure half the kids at his school thought he was mute.
Thankfully, Vanille saved him.
"Don't give up, Sazh! You'll see him again."
Sazh's chocobo chick popped out of his hair, chirping in agreement with her. She flew onto his shoulder and chirped again. Sazh smiled, the little bird had only known Dajh for a short time, but she was very fond of him.
"Yeah. If I start losing hope, who knows how long we'll last."
"That's the spirit!"
"Kweh!"
Unlike all the other times, this chocobo call was a warning. Even their human ears could tell it meant danger. Turning in every direction, they didn't see anything wrong until a bullet smacked the ground at Hope's feet. Their heads shot up, and they saw the soldiers up above.
"We gotta get out of here!"
They ran towards the nearest gate, hoping to escape. But instead...
"Damn, more of 'em?" Sazh stepped protectively in front of Hope and Vanille, "Alright, let's do this!" The PSICOM soldiers were easily dispatched with a few bullets, plus a few fire spells, courtesy of Hope. Having no other choice, "Let's keep going!"
The trio ran, following a path that was unfortunately swarming with enemies. Fortunately, the three of them had a system worked out, and they came through unharmed. The path led them to another gate. And standing beneath said gate was...
"Dajh?"
"Daddy!"
The little boy ran excitedly towards his father. Sazh hesitated, but accepted the offered embrace. "I found you!" Dajh exclaimed. Sazh held him out a little. This didn't make sense, why-what? "Dajh, how-? Why are you here?"
"The lady brought me!"
"What lady?"
Dajh just laughed. A small glow began at his small hand, and spread throughout his body. Sazh had seen that before. When Serah... turned to crystal.
"Dajh!"
The little boy just kept smiling. He-he was smiling. A final flash of light, and his body was encased in crystal.
Vanille almost drowned in guilt.
"DAJH!" Sazh appeared to melt into the ground, "Dajh..."
Again, Hope felt like he should say something. He knew how Sazh felt. He knew what it was like to lose someone. Instead, he just scuffed one of his boots on the ground.
Vanille felt horrible. This little boy, Sazh's son, was crystal. He couldn't have been more than six. Way too young to be a l'Cie. Way too young to have his life be over. It was all her fault...
"You should be proud." An icy-cold voice leaked into their ears, "Your son is a hero. He helped rid the world of the Pulse l'Cie."
A woman came through the same gate Dajh did, followed by soldiers. Her eyes matched her voice. Sazh looked up at her, his eyes just as cold, though shattered, "What do you want?" He spat.
She did not respond to his tone. "I have some information. I thought it might intrest you." She pulled out a card and threw it on the ground, "You'll have to excuse the picture."
A projection came from the card. The slightly fuzzy image showed Euride Gorge. And Vanille.
"It's hopeless. I can't remember anything." She told Fang. Turning to her friend, she said, "Fang let's go. What's our Focus even matter?"
"What's it matter!" Fang shouted, "You want to be a monster?"
"I just-"
Fang placed a hand on her shoulder, "Keep your chin up. We know the part that matters. Right? We are enemies of Cocoon. Know what I say? Play the part, and raise some hell. Might jump-start our memories."
"What?"
"The fal'Cie. Let's smash it."
Fang sprung into battle stance. Vanille hesitantly joined her; this wasn't right. Before anything could happen, a little dark-skinned boy walked into the room, looking curiously up at the two women.
"Who are you?"
They turned to see him standing there, waiting for a response. But the whole plant began to shake. The fal'Cie released it's power, knocking the boy on the ground, "Daddy!" he cried.
Her memory betrayed her. She didn't want to remember, but she did. The talk with Fang. Fang threatened the fal'Cie. So it-it struck out by turning Dajh into a l'Cie. A little boy. It wasn't fair!
The projection faded. Sazh looked up at Vanille, pain and disbelief in his eyes.
"This information was useful was it not? You now know who was responsible for your son's fate."
Sazh just looked back at Dajh. He stared at his little boy, his son. Crystal. He'd imagined this before. Dajh turning to crystal. Dajh turning into a mindless Cie'th. But this... Seeing him... Anger pushed through his agony. Vanille, she was responsible!
"Vanille?"
She could hear it. Hope wasn't asking for answers. He wasn't asking to know what happened. He-he wanted to know if the was okay.
It was that, not her guilt, that broke her. The tears that had slowly been building up in her eyes spilled over. The guilty pressure in her chest felt like it was going to bust her open, spill her secrets for them all to see. It was her fault; she knew it. She could've told the truth. That would have stopped all of this...
It was too much.
Running wouldn't solve anything. It never had; it never will. But there was no way out. No way to solve this. She ran past the woman, past Sazh, past Hope, past the soldiers. Wiping tears from her eyes, she ran through the gate. There would be no escape on the other side, or anywhere else.
She ended up in a courtyard of sorts. The darkness of the place choked her, and she fell to her knees. Her body shook with sobs. It was her fault. Everything was her fault. She'd made so many mistakes, they cost so many lives.
She heard footsteps behind her. Probably a soldier sent to kill her. Good. She didn't deserve to live.
The footsteps slowed, then stopped, "Vanille?"
Hope.
He knelt beside her. She turned away. What happened to him was her fault too, she was the one who dragged him into the Vestige. She was the one who got him turned into a l'Cie. She took away his chance at living.
"I-I can't do this anymore." She sobbed.
Hope hesitantly placed his hand on her shoulder, "It wasn't your fault." He said gently.
"Yes it was! All of this was m-my fault!"
"You couldn't have known any of this was going to happen."
"I-" Vanille just sobbed. It was too much. It was all too much.
Slow, heavy footsteps, "Vanille..."
Sazh.
She couldn't look. She couldn't face him.
She felt Hope's hand leave her shoulder as he stood, "It's not her fault, Sazh."
"You saw that tape!"
"I saw exactly what you saw! It wasn't her! It was the fal'Cie!"
Vanille heard the click of Sazh's gun and whipped up and around. The older man's face had anger written all over it. She saw the pain in his eyes, and it hit her all over again. It was her fault.
She almost wished for that bullet.
Sazh aimed the gun at her, but Hope took a step to the side, blocking her. "She didn't do it, Sazh." He insisted.
"Get out of the way, kid."
Hope simply spread his arms wide.
"I said, get out of the way!"
"She didn't do it!"
"I'm not playin' around!"
"I'm not moving!"
"I'll give you till the count of three. One..."
Hope didn't move.
"Two..."
Hope still didn't move.
"Hope, don't do this!" Vanille cried.
He turned his head, "It's okay."
"Three..."
Sazh pulled the trigger.