Chapter 2

To the Vestige

Sazh was having a hard time keeping up with Lightning. She moved swiftly and she knew how to use her weapon. It was for that reason that Sazh kept his distance from her when she went at the waves of PSICOM troops swinging her sword.

"Say Lightning" Sazh asked. "Why are you here?"

She smirked but ignored him. She had no idea why this man was following her. Could he not guess that she was headed directly for the Vestige? She was headed directly into the heart of the battle. If this man was smart, he would have turned around and helped the other exiles out. They were on their own. She didn't have time to be helping exiles hide from being massacred. Only one thing mattered now, and that was getting to the Vestige before it was dumped back on Pulse, where it belonged.

"You're a soldier right?" Sazh questioned.

She turned to look at him, her eyes were icy with contempt. "Ex-soldier for your information."

"Don't know why you would have done that. Soldiers and their families were exempt from the purge. What is your objective down here? You're prancing around like a woman on a mission." He replied.

She sighed. Apparently her objective wasn't clear to him. "The Vestige! The Pulse fal'Cie! That's my objective."

His jaw dropped. "The fal'Cie! Are you serious?"

She began running along the road again. The gunshots were getting more intense now. "I shouldn't have let you follow me."

Sazh hesitated for a moment but followed her anyway "You're wrong you know!"

"Then keep up and try not to get yourself killed," she snapped.

He jogged along side of her. "This is bad" he said gesturing to the other purge trains in the distance being shot at. "Everyone is going to be in such bad condition that they won't even last a day on Pulse."

Lightning let out a snort, "Are you serious?"

"What?"

"The sanctum's aim is to eliminate all Pulse threats from Cocoon correct?" Lightning asked Sazh.

Sazh nodded. "Well yeah. Pulse is dangerous."

Lightning rolled her eyes. "So why go to the trouble of dumping these people on Pulse and providing Pulse more people to fight Cocoon with?"

Sazh dropped his head "So that's how it is, huh?"

"Get it now, The purge is just a cover up for the massacre that is happening here. The sanctum gets rid of the Pulse threats here and hides the blood on their hands from the people of Cocoon."

Sazh's eyes narrowed as anger flashed on his face. "Did you know about this Solider?" he raised a gun to her chest.

She pushed it away and calmly said " No. PSICOM is in charge of the purge and PSICOM is part of the sanctum. I was in the defense corps. The only reason why I know about it is because I can put the pieces of the puzzle together."

"Still… soldiers are soldiers." Sazh muttered. "Why are you headed for the Pulse fal'Cie anyway? You're not thinking of taking it down are you? You'll be a l'Cie in no time that way."

"None of your business" she snapped. "Now you know about my objective. If you don't like it, you don't have to follow."

Sazh thought a moment but with a sigh he said "No, I'll follow. I have business to attend to as well." He pointed to a higher road off a short distance. "If we can get up there I'm sure we can jump on to the Vestige as they move it across that area."

For the first time since Sazh had been following her, she thanked the Maker that he did. He was slightly helpful in combat and he did provide company. So far he didn't prove to be slowing her down much. If he could help her get onto the Vestige, then she promised herself to try and help him with whatever it is he came here for as well.

Snow felt pain. It started in is back and surged to all limbs paralyzing him. He couldn't move without wincing from the electrifying pain. His head was throbbing, and his lungs felt like they had been crushed. Each breath felt even more difficult to take. He heard a woman's voice calling out to him

"Snow?"

"Serah?" he called back "Serah where are you?"

"Snow are you alright?"

"Serah I'm fine. I'm here"

"Snow wake up"

He listened closely. That wasn't Serah's voice. Her voice was softer, gentler, calmer. This voice seemed deeper, more panicked. He started to bring is consciousness back into focus. That's when he felt the pain as it surged through him. He coughed. God how his lungs hurt.

"Snow, open your eyes"

It took him great effort but he managed to crack an eye open. The person's face above him slowly came into focus. It was Lebreau. "Snow, come on, wake up" she called. Lebreau and the exiles had met up with Gadot and Maqui on a much lower highway in the Hanging Edge. It was there that they found dozens of the exiles that had offered to fight, Snow included, sprawled on the ground. Some had broken bones, but most were dead.

Snow's ribcage was bruised. He figured he broke a few ribs, but he landed in a pile of trash which had absorbed most of the impact. "Ahhh"

"Get a grip" Gadot called "You're supposed to be our fearless leader"

Snow managed a smile but winced when he moved his torso. Yeah he definitely broke some ribs. Lebreau helped him stand. "I got it…." He assured them. He looked at the people around him. There were still quite a few of the exiles from Lebreau's group still around. He remembered the mother and her wish. "That kid…which one was it?" he asked

"What are you talking about?" Gadot asked. "You don't have time for this. Your future wife is in those ruins. The same ruins they are getting ready to dump on Pulse. Hurry up and go after her already."

"Serah! I'm on my way" Snow called. Now all he had to do was find a way to get to higher ground safely so that he could get to the Vestige. But now they were lower than ever and getting to the Vestige from this point was pretty much impossible.

"Lucky for you, we managed to nick these off a few of the PSICOM guards" Lebreau said pointing to a pair of specially developed motor bikes that were used for both travel on the ground, and travel in the air.

Snow's eyes lit up. "No way! You're a lifesaver Lebreau." He jumped on one of the motor bikes. Grasping onto the handle bars he flipped a few switches and forced his foot down on the gas pedal. Flames shot out of the muffler from behind and Snow felt the bike jerk forward as it began to lift off the ground.

"Remember Snow, NORA is stronger than the military! Go save Serah and we'll escort these people home." Lebreau called.

Snow let out a haughty laugh and punched the air. "You got it! See you soon!" He floored the petal again and shot off into the distance toward the Vestige.

From the ground among the group of exiles who had followed Lebreau, Vanille saw Snow talking with his comrades. She was amazed that he had survived the fall. Luckily for him he fell on a lower highway rather than into the darkness that loomed below them. She knew her companion; the young boy who was with her was fuming in anger when he saw that Snow had survived the fall when his own mother had not.

She softly placed an arm on his shoulder and whispered softly "Don't you have something to say to him?"

The boy remained silent.

"You'll feel better once you talk to him. Tell him how you really feel." Vanille said. "It will continue to eat at you until you do."

The boy looked up at Vanille. "Yeah…I guess your right"

Vanille got a good look at his face. His skin was pale and his silver hair went to his shoulders and spiked outward. His eyes were remarkably green, nearly as green as Vanille's own. "Lets go then" she said cheerfully.

The boy hesitated. "But…"

She smiled. "Do you want me to go with you?"

The boy was about to answer when Snow jumped onto one of the motor bikes and took off into the sky yelling "Serah! I'm on my way"

"NO! Hey wait Mister" Vanille called, but it was hopeless. Snow was riding off into the distance toward the Vestige.

"I guess I won't get to tell him" the boy said softly.

Vanille wasn't about to give up. She spied the other un occupied motor bike sitting just beyond Lebreau and Gadot who were lecturing the remaining exiles on how to stay alive as long as possible and searching for a way out of the Hanging Edge. "Do you think you could control one of those?" Vanille asked her companion pointing at the remaining bike.

The boy surveyed the surrounding and nodded "Yeah…my dad taught me how to ride something similar. It might not be smooth at first, but once I get the hang of it, I can handle it."

Vanille smiled. "Great". She grabbed the boy's hand and ran passed Lebreau and Gadot without pausing to look back. They were nearly at the bike before the leaders of the group even knew what they were doing.

"Hey!" Gadot yelled. "What do you kid's think you're doing?"

Lebreau charged after them "Wait, don't touch those"

Vanille reached the motor bike first. She jumped on and grabbed her companion and jammed him on the seat in front of her. The boy made quick work of firing up the engines. The bike jerked forward nearly knocking Lebreau, Gadot and the remaining exiles to the ground.

"I thought you knew how to work this thing" Vanille cried as she wrapped her arms around her companion's waist.

"This isn't nearly the same model I was taught on" he snapped back. The bike lurched backward. He gripped the handle bars. "Hang on…I think I got the hang of it" He pushed the pedal to the floor of the bike. The bike lurched forward once more and took off. It raced through the air lurching at odd angles. Vanille gripped him tighter fighting the urge to scream.

Eventually the bike calmed its jerking movements. The boy was getting the hang of using the bike. "Where to?" he asked

Vanille pointed toward the Vestige. "He went that way"

He turned to look at her. "You gotta be kidding me. If we get to close to those ruins we may become Pulse l'Cie. There's a Pulse fal'Cie in there you know."

"It will be okay" Vanille assured him as he changed course and drove off toward the Vestige in the distance.

It was clear Vanille wasn't afraid of Pulse, the Vestige or the chance of becoming a l'Cie, but what she couldn't count on was the fact that the fal'Cie sleeping in the Vestige was pulling the fates of many individuals together. It was pulling this boy she was traveling with, the man named Snow, and even Vanille herself were headed straight into the jaws of what the people of Cocoon feared. What Vanille also didn't know was that her life was to be intertwined with two other individuals also headed for the Vestige. It would only be a matter of time before they were gathered and the fal'Cie could pull on the strings of their fates and knot them together as it saw fit.