I have not much to say other than I suck at updating. Being an adult is hard! I'm going to wrap up this story to clear my conscious.

(c) Square Enix

Chapter 10: Oerba

"Now this looks like a great place to swim." Snow smiled gesturing to the deep pools of water and waterfalls. "I don't suppose we could take a quick dip?"

Fang shook her head and pointed to the pool of water off to the left. Everyone stood near the edge and peered at the water, not far from the waterfall there were bubbles popping at the surface, indicating that something was lurking in that spot. Feeling daring Snow picks up a rock and tosses it into the pool where the bubbles are. Not a split second later a whale-like creature breeches from the water, spraying them with water before diving back in with a hiss of warning.

"Bismarck." Vanille informed us bouncing on toes, "That fal'Cie protects the waterfront."

Snow sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "Guess we should leave it alone and keep on moving, huh?"

"There's Taejin's Tower." I told the group once we were finally out of the dreaded tunnels. Before us a once very tall tower laid fallen over from its base. From this distance it looked as though it was a poorly makeshift bridge for the giant chasm below. "A friend of mine used to love coming here."

"Why?" Hope asked curiously as he came to stand next to me.

I used my arms to demonstrate how tall the tower used to be fore it snapped, "Because there used to be eight tier's to the tower and when you pull the switches located on each tier of the tower the tiers would change position and when you use the elevator from the ground floor to the top floor the whole tower would play music."

"Like a music box?" Hope marveled, looking at the ruined tower in wonder, "That's almost hard to believe something that big can do that."

Vanille couldn't help but bounce on her toes in excitement, "We get through there and we'll be Oerba!"

"Almost home." Snow smiled at the younger girl.

"Yep!"

Lightning sees the monsters flying overhead of the base, "Doesn't look like it's going to be a leisurely stroll." Right on cue the fal'Cie that we've been following since we first arrived to Pulse flew by so quick that Sazh ducked out of fear. Fang laughed at Sazh while Vanille was waving her arms trying to get the fal'Cie to come closer. Crazy girl.

Hope slumped over a bit probably thinking it would've been easier to get through the tower if the fal'Cie wasn't there, "Oh, so we just head through this fal'Cie's lair to get to Oerba, right?"

"What's another fal'Cie at this point, huh?" I shrugged.

"That one might actually be a problem." Fang said once she recovered from laughing at Sazh, "It's said that Dahaka is tasked to search for Etro's Gate from the sky. Although the majority of the fal'Cie on Pulse dedicate themselves to terraforming or helping the environment, Dahaka seems to task itself with aerial monitoring or is in the search for something the heavens conceal."

"So building a tower to reach up to the heavens may have been Dahaka's way of trying to locate Etro's Gate?" Lightning asked.

I placed my hands on my hips, "That's the theory; it would explain why it's broken now. For all we know Etro struck it down so no one can reach her."

-0-0-

We ventures through the tower, taking on a series of missions from the resident statues, whose powers are held in check by the monsters inhabiting the tower. If we complete the missions - the statues will spin the tower's segments into alignment, opening the path upward.

"It really is like a music box." Hope smiled as he listened to the tune the elevator created as it traveled upward. "The melody is beautiful."

I nodded in agreement.

At the tower's apex, the platform stopped, and we all looked around until Snow pointed and said "Hey, look!"

Dahaka flew down to float before us, roaring mightily.

"It's acting strange," Lightning observed. "He must be weak from losing his tail to the statues!"

Then Dahaka's mask disappeared, showing his true form; a serpentine demon sitting on a throne.

"Really? Looks pretty feisty to me," Snow commented.

"He's bluffing to scare us off." Hope told the blonde.

"He won't. We have to defeat it here and now cause if we don't, we're never getting to Oerba," I called, and at that everyone nodded.

-0-

Hope nodded and pointed at the lift that had appeared once Dahaka died. "It's down that way, right?" he asked.

Vanille nodded "Yep!"

"What's it like?" Sazh walked to the edge of the tower, and as he did that she said "Well, it's kind of small. But it's warm and green, and very naturey!"

"Around the fal'Cie, it was flowers as far you could see, huh?" Fang smiled in remembrance.

Sazh looked back from the edge and said "The view from here ain't so rosy, I'm sorry to say."

We all joined Sazh to the edge to see the view. Where the probably once was a bright and life-filled village, now there stood an empty and ruined town, filled with Cie'th and covered in a fine layer of crystal dust.

"It's gone," Vanille said sadly.

"Every trace of color," Fang agreed. Then she scowled angrily and said "This is stupid. We're chasing shadows! This whole idea of losing our brands is hopeless!"

"Nothing is hopeless. We'll find a way," I said with conviction, "We beat the odds this far. There has to be something down there."

"Let's keep on looking. That's what we came here for. We all agreed, and now we're here," Hope said, grabbing Vanille's hand to drag her somewhere.

"You think... you think it's really possible?" Vanille asked him, as I followed behind them.

Lightning looked at Fang and said "There's no going back."

"You think I don't know that?" she replied, but we knew it was a rhetorical question.

-0-

We walked through Village Proper despite the other ruined houses there was one that still stood proudly besides being rusted.

"So which one is yours?" Sazh asked Vanille watching her skip towards the house.

"What do you mean?" She asked pausing in mid skip, "They're all ours. Everyone lived together."

Even though there weren't too many buildings to look through Hope asked if it would be better to split us to look around for some sort of clue. We searched the nearby houses and turned up empty. We checked the deserted school with a little more confidence; however whatever books that would've been helpful had been completely ruined. Now we were all more depressed than ever.

"Now what?" Sazh asked the group.

"Nowhere else but forward." Snow said pointing to the broken rusted bridge and by broken I mean that it no longer reached the other side, it broke half way to land. He probably figured we could use our Eidolons to take us the rest of the way. Figured that we had nothing else left to lose we followed Snow's lead.

-0-

Once we reached the end there was no enemy in sight.

"Ragnarok. Come Day of Wrath, o Pulse l'Cie. Embrace thy fate, thine home to burn. That fallen souls might bear our plea... to hasten the Divine's return. O Piteous Wanderer, Ragnarok..." We all looked forward, seeing Serah appear before us, looking the same as she did before she turned to crystal. "Make of this day a brave epoch. Deliver the Divine. Ragnarok."

"Serah? How do you-?" Snow asked.

She smiled. "I was waiting. For you to open your eyes," she said. The two of them looked at each other for a moment, before running towards each other and embracing. Sazh frowned, sensing something was up, while beside him my hand crept slowly up towards my weapon. This wasn't Serah. "All the time I was asleep, I knew what was happening. I kept trying to think up a way to save Cocoon- together."

Something in her voice caused Snow to ask "Serah?" and looked at her. Seeing the expression on her face, he pushed her away. She smiled, this one seeming to be more menacing, and said "You get it now."

I looked up and saw the owl flying overhead, while Serah said "There are no gods with miracles to save us, no matter where you look. That's why we have to call one." Abruptly she turned to us, and said "Destroy Orphan. We'll save the world!"

"Stop it!" Lightning called, her hand reaching for her gunblade.

Serah saw it and said "You can't do that. You love me too much. You do, don't you Claire?"

Lightning gasped at hearing her real name, and Snow stepped in between them. "Enough of this! Listen up; we are all shooting for the same goal here."

Suddenly the person who looked like Serah's body began glowing, flashing bright before revealing them to be Barthandelus. "And the result of that is this," he said, spreading his arms.

Snow's expression filled with anger, and he said "You son of a-" He tried to punch Dysley but he disappeared, reappearing behind Snow. He tried to charge at him, but a barrier launched Snow back and sent him to the ground.

While we tried to help him up, Barthandelus said "You betray your fal'Cie to chase after dreams and shadows. The world you claim to wish to protect now faces the end of days with no hope of salvation."

"I didn't think fal'Cie had the means," Lightning replied.

Dysley chuckled. "You are correct; it won't be fal'Cie who destroy her. For centuries now, Cocoon cared generously for its human inhabitants' every want and need. Coddled them, one might even say. The result being their deep-seated fear and hatred of change and all things alien…fed, nurtured, and ready to detonate at the slightest spark. The seeds of destruction take root, even now."

"What did you do to Cocoon?" Lightning demanded, drawing her gunblade.

"I resigned, appointing Raines as Primarch in my stead," he replied simply.

Snow's eyes widened. "Raines? He's alive?"

Barthandelus smiled evilly. "The puppet is restrung to serve my needs, yes."

The others all made sounds of horror, "It's eyes had long since turned to glass." Then he pointed his staff at Cocoon. "Of course, the Cavalry's eyes will see our friend as nothing more than a traitor to their cause. They'll say the fal'Cie got to him too, or some such drivel. And imagine, when I spread word that's Orphan tugging at his strings, what happens next."

"You're gonna use the Cavalry to take the thing out?!" Sazh asked in disbelief.

Dysley smiled, only this time it was much more menacing. "Perhaps. Or perhaps I'll feign the howling of Pulsian wolves and let the fear-addled sheep slaughter themselves first. Either way, the end is at hand!" He laughed, the sound making my blood boil. "But what of yourselves? Will you enjoy the festivities beside me? Or perhaps..." he rose into the air transforming into Barthandelus. "Greet the end here, in the land where it all began?"

We readied our weapons for another fight.

-0-0-0-

After the final blow Barthandelus transformed back into Dysley, "The time has come. Allow me to extend my invitation. To save a people beyond salvation, there is only Ragnarok," he said. The owl flew overhead, glowing and transforming into an airship that landed at the end of the bridge. "Cocoon suffers. Release her from her pain," he ordered before disappearing.

When he vanished a Cie'th stone appeared before us. Sazh inspected it, "So this is the end of the rainbow, huh?" He joked, "Here's hoping the pot's full of tips on dealing with crackpot fal'Cie."

Walking towards it I raised my hand to it and immediately gasped when I heard a very familiar voice in my head. Tears swelled in my eyes as it spoke out loud, "Cocoon, where the slaves of Lindzei dwell, is the enemy of all life fostered by Pulse's sacred hand. So our fal'Cie determined Pulse's will, chose l'Cie and gave them a Focus: Become Ragnarok and bring about the end of Cocoon. And so the beast rose, defeated Lindzei's hateful fal'Cie and prepared to tear Cocoon apart. But Her Providence betrayed our l'Cie, draining Ragnarok of strength. Their Focus only half complete, the l'Cie were taken to the enemy's land by Barthandelus, curse his name. And the Goddess said: L'Cie who rest upon Cocoon will reawaken however long they may wait. And Ragnarok will rise again to tear the land from its seat in the sky. Her word…is absolute. My darling daughter…my regret was not educating you on this…complete your focus in your own way. Be like your father and spit in the eye of fate."

I wiped the tears from my eyes, "Mom… I can't believe she became a stone."

"This is…your mother's stone?" Hope cautiously approached me. I nodded slowly.

Sazh let out a depressed sigh and sat down on the broken bridge, "That's it then. Cocoon's done for."

"Not just Cocoon." Snow said, "As long as fal'Cie are around this fight is never going to end. Let's stop Dysley!"

Sazh stood up throwing his hands in the air, "What about Orphan?"

Fang jumped in, "We help Orphan. What else can we do? If we manage to keep it safe-"

Light shook her head, "Another war breaks out somewhere down the road. We're l'Cie. It's not like we can make the people stop fighting."

My eyes never left my mother's stone, "Then we'll send a message strong enough that even they can't ignore." If Dysley wants to spread panic all around Cocoon there's no doubt that he'll have everyone watching it go down.

"You mean crash the party?" Snow asked, a grin forming on his face, "That's a plan I can get behind!"

Sazh shook his head, "Kids have gone crazy."

Fang smirked, crossing her arms, "Revolutionaries always get called crazy."

Once again Sazh shook his head. He couldn't believe we were really going to go through with this. Lighting placed her hands on her hips and faced us, "Alright we do this without regrets."

Everyone nodded and proceeded to the ship Dysley provided for us. I said one more farewell to my mother before walking off with Hope and Vanille with the adult trailing behind us. Even though he was nervous Hope told me he was ready to go through with this till the end so he could see his dad again. Behind us we heard Sazh arguing with Lightning about how this was a suicide mission. Lightning basically ignored him telling him if he wanted to stay that was up to him but they weren't going to save him if the monsters come to eat him.