Authors note: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong to their owners.

Ch.8 Leaving One Behind

After a while of walking on the crystal Lake Bresha and fighting Cie'th, Lightning stopped and asked "Okay, if we're l'Cie, then we have a Focus. If we don't know our Focus, then how do we complete it?" "I think… I saw it," Vanille said. Lightning frowned. "Saw what?" "That is how a Focus goes down people," Sazh explained. "The fal'Cie, they spell it out with clear-cut instructions. All you get is a hazy glimpse."

Snow and Lightning looked at him and he added "Well that's what they say. You know, legends and all." He turned around, mumbling. Lightning turned to Hope. 'Did you see anything?" she asked. He nodded. "Yeah. I saw this big, I mean towering…" Sazh turned to him. "W-Wait a minute. Did we all have the same dream?" he asked. Lightning, Snow and I gasped and as one we said "Ragnorak." "The destroyer of worlds," I added.

"So, we all had the same dream, heard the same voice," Sazh said grimly. "But, I don't get it. What did the dream mean? On how do we take our Focus from that?" Hope wondered. "Well, that's the difficult part," I said. "All the fal'Cie gives us is the dream. Figuring out what to do with that dream, that job belongs to us." "Well, we are Pulse l'Cie," Sazh reckoned "Enemies of Cocoon. So… does that mean… our Focus is-"

"Save her," Snow said. We looked at him. "Save Cocoon. That's our Focus." "Really? Okay, and why is that?" Vanille asked. "Serah told us. So let's do it." He looked around. "I'm going to find her." Then he ran off. "Oh, that boy can't stand still!" Sazh said. "No kidding," I agree.

We traveled a little while longer, until Snow called out "We fight it! Ragnorak!" "Uh-huh, and we don't you give a good reason to believe that. One reason," Sazh said. "Serah," he replied simply. I roll my eye. "She told us to protect to Cocoon. She was trying to tell us how to complete our Focus. We were chosen to be guardians, to defeat Ragnorak. It makes sense!" "The hell it does! You're grasping at straws here! We are Pulse l'Cie, enemies of Cocoon."

Sazh stepped forward. "If I were a betting man, I'd place us on the other side." Snow looked at him. "So Serah's an enemy too? Well I don't buy it!" he said fiercely. I pinched the bridge of my nose in disbelief. Just how much granite had gone into the construction of his thick skull anyway? "We have the power to protect Cocoon. If we work together and carry out-" "Our Focus?!" Lightning asked, abruptly drawing her gunblade and pushing against his throat. "The fal'Cie are the ones that made us l'Cie! It did this to us, and you want help it?! Who's said are you on?"

"Freeze!" we hear a voice say. We all turned to see an entire squad of PSICOM soldiers pointing their guns at us. Not having much choice, we put our hands behind our heads. The captain of the squad stepped forward and asked "You fall off the Purge train?" Lightning smirked and said "Maybe." "Are you talking back to me?" the soldier asked, pushing her chin up with his weapon. "Nice gun," she commented, before knocking her feet out from under him and holding up her gunblade. I pulled Indomitus off my back, and four soldiers ran at me.

I yelled "Eat ice!" and cast Blizzard at the ground near their feet. Two of the soldiers' feet froze to the ground, stopping them in their tracks while I cast Aero at the third, knocking him to the ground and slashing my sword across the chest of the last. The two with their feet frozen pointed their guns at me, but I moved my sword in front of my chest and when they fired the bullets bounced off with a total of six dull thuds. The third one was getting back to his feet, but then I cast water and thunder and he spasmed for a moment before not moving.

The last two were trying to smash the ice on their feet, so I simply walked up to them and hit both of them over their heads with the flat of my blade. The two of them couldn't fall over, so they just slumped forward, unconscious on their feet. I looked over to see Lightning slash down one with her gunblade, Sazh shoot another and Snow bring down the last two with two separate punches. We all took a moment to catch our breath, but to our surprise it didn't take that long.

"Is that it?" I asked. "I guess so," Sazh said. "I thought these PSICOM guys were supposed to be tougher than that." "Yeah, well, PSICOM's an anti-Pulse task force. They haven't fought a war in centuries," Snow explained. "So you're telling me that a regular old soldier has more training than Special Forces?" Sazh asked Snow. He smirked and replied "Nothing us l'Cie can't handle." "Cut the crap," Lightning said. "Their grunts might be green, but PSICOM's elite are cold-blooded beasts. If they hit the field, then it's game over."

"She's got a point," I said. "Even with one eye, I can see that PSICOM has probably got a few people that could put our heads on a shelf if we aren't careful." "Uh-oh. Then maybe we should run. Ciao!" Vanille said, before running off. Not having anything else to do, we followed.

xxx

We walked a little while farther, fighting a few more Cie'th, soldiers and some wildlife, until as we walked down the side of a fallen train and Lightning called out "Serah!" and ran forward. My eye widened and looked to where she was running to see that it was indeed her crystal. Snow got on his knees in front of her and looked at her for a moment before saying "Hold on, Serah. I'll get you out of there!" Vanille and Sazh stepped in to help him pick away at the crystal around her, but I looked over to see Lightning standing off to the side.

She was looking at them, and I could see her face actually turn sad for a moment, before it turned back to her regular emotionless expression and she began to walk off. Snow looked up and said "Lightning! You're just going to abandon her?" "PSICOM will be here soon. They get us and it's over. You think Serah would want that?" Snow stood. "If I leave her, then I'll never know. I'll protect her. And Cocoon." She turned back to him, and I could see anger in her eyes. Hastily taking a step to the side, I watched as Lightning walked up pushed Snow in the face.

"Does she look protected to you?!" she yelled. Not using his head, Snow said "I can save her!" and got back up only to be punched back down. "What can you possibly do?" she asked. He looked back up and said fiercely "Whatever it takes!" At this Lightning paused, and Sazh sighed and walked off. "You two are hopeless," he said. I nod and said "No kidding."

We began to walk off, and Snow said "You're leaving?" "We want to help Serah too," Sazh said. "But without tools, we could be digging for days. The army's on our trail. That why we have to leave. For now." "There's no way I'm leaving her behind-" Snow began. "What about your Focus?" Lightning asked. He stopped and looked at her. "What about banding together and saving the world? Now you want to give it up and die right here?" She walked to his side and said "Snow, you're nothing but talk."

She started to walk on, but then he said "Lightning. I give my word. I'll save Serah, and protect Cocoon." All she said was "Great job so far," before walking off. The others slowly began walking away with her, and Hope stayed behind for a minute before going off as well. Snow turned back around to see me still standing. "What, you going to try and get me to go?" I shook my head. "No, I realize that nothing I say's going to get through that thick skull of yours."

Snow opened his mouth to protest, when I continued. "That's why I want to wish you the best. Stay safe, Snow." He looked at me, then smiled and said "Thanks." "Also, could you do me a favor?" I asked. He nodded, and I thought about how to word this. "If you happen to see a woman in a blue sari with an accent, tell her that Vanille's okay," I said. He looked confused, but nodded again and said "Okay…" "Well, be seeing you," I said, before heading off to follow the others. Snow waved, and then turned and went back to his task of helping Serah out of her crystal.

I caught up to the others a little ways off, and we traveled a little while farther before we arrive at the edge of a cliff. We all look down to see a huge airship, with ranks of PSICOM soldiers marching off. "They must be after anyone who survived the Purge," I said. "Yeah. But there isn't anywhere that's safe for them now. Damn it! Just because they lived in the same place as a fal'Cie, they get treated like Pulse-tainted rats," Sazh said.

Vanille looked down. "People really hate Pulse, don't they?" she asked sadly. I looked back at her. That's right; she's from Pulse, I thought. "They don't hate it," I told her. "They fear it. Millions of people, all scared of Pulse monster-men." "But, they Purged that entire town!" she protested. "It's insane, yeah. But the fal'Cie Eden didn't do a thing to stop the Sanctum from doing it. Until now, he's always stepped in whenever they've done something wrong. I'd say humans aren't worth the effort, but I get the feeling there's more to it."

Hope stood up behind us and said "L'Cie are not human." Vanille looked at him, irritated and said "That's enough you!" She grabbed his wrist, but then saw his brand and took a step back. "Well, we're still alive," she said. I nodded in agreement, but then I heard the drone of Velocycles and looked to see that some of them were lifting off the ground and flying off. "They're moving out, trying to catch any stragglers. We have to leave before we're caught in the net!" Lightning said. We all got up and followed her.

xxx

I groaned in exhaustion. After walking that much farther across the surface of Lake Bresha, fighting some soldiers, wildlife, even an actual Velocycle or two, we had made it to a bunch of ruins. The ruins were nearly jam-packed with PSICOM soldiers, and even without them the place was huge. My feet were starting get some blisters, but I decided to not be a baby and dealt with it. We had arrived in a huge open area, and if I recalled correctly we were about to fight a pretty annoying boss.

Vanille walked around and was giggling, looking at all the crystals that had sprouted from the ground and walls. I warned her "Don't go too far off now." She said "I want to look around," and skipped off. I sighed in exasperation, and looked over at Lightning. She was tensed, as if he knew that a fight was coming. And her instincts are right on the dot, I thought. I pulled Indomitus off my back, and the second I did I heard Vanille scream. I saw her running to us, and motioned for her to come on.

She ran to us, and I looked up to see that the Wyvern-like monster I had thought about was hovering above us. "Oh, this is just greeaat," I said. Lightning drew her gunblade, Sazh his pistols, while Vanille grabbed her rod and Hope got out his boomerang. The monster roared at us, and charged.

xxx

Oh, I bet people just hate cliffhangers, don't they? But nonetheless, they do leave the readers waiting for more. Stay tuned!

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