Chapter 2
The Archylte Steppe
Gran Pulse
'Alright we rest here.' Lightning said. The others just nodded in agreement. Days had passed since they had fled to Gran Pulse and they were still nowhere close to determining their focus. She looked around making sure that there was nothing after following them. The Archylte Steppe was a dangerous place to be travelling through, especially on foot. Deadly creatures roamed the open plains from the small and fast Gorgonopsid, to the towering Adamantoise. Giant behemoths and deadly airborne creatures also presented a problem. All of them had their l,Cie powers put to the test.
She made her way over to Snow, her sister Serah's fiancé. Although she didn't really care for him at first and was annoyed with him for his failure to protect her sister in the past, she knew that when the both of them were branded along with the others she would have to put her dislike for him aside for the time being and work together with him to fulfil their focus. However in recent days she apologized to him for her behaviour towards him in the past. Snow was staring at the crystal tear that Serah had given him when she went into crystal slumber and didn't notice Lightning coming towards him. For the first time she discussed his wedding with Serah with him and the two of them promised that they would go see her together.
Everybody else was doing their own thing, Vanille and Hope were both enjoying the scenery of the place while they were both talking about a promise that she had made in another fabrication of herself. Sazh too was also enjoying the scenery but also a sense of sadness came over him, he wished that he could be here with his son Dajh, he knew he had to keep going on for his sons sake,' Don't worry Dajh, Daddy's gonna save you.' Fang remained distant from the others, lost in her own thoughts. Vanille thought it would be wise not to disturb her.
Night-time had fallen. Everybody was asleep except for Vanille, she had been having problems trying to get some sleep for quiet some time now. She would have nightmares about her past and the thought of all the lies she had told to her friends just made it worse. She looked up at the stars and remembered when she was at the annual Bodhum fireworks festival, she made a wish for the safety of Cocoon that night and now she was making a new one. She wished for it to be over, that she could just get away from everything that was happening, that she could just start a new life somewhere else where she wouldn't have to worry anymore about the suffering she could cause.
The calmness of the night was broken by the presence of an unknown force. The ground all of a sudden began to shake violently. The others were woken up by this disturbance. Cracks began to form in the ground creating a circle around everyone and eventually they were surrounded by blackness.
' What's going on ?' asked Hope
'I have no idea, but it's a good bet that Dysley is behind it' said Snow
' Come on out and show yourself.' yelled Lightning. But nobody did. The bit of ground that they were left standing disappeared. They all began falling down into the blackness which had separated them from the rest of Gran Pulse. Then it stopped.