A/N: Things in Palumpolum were crazy weren't they? Makes me wish I'd stay there instead of leaving. Curse my loyalty! We're now moving on to Nautilus, where we see how Sazh and Vanille are doing in the city of dreams. Here, we learn a dark secret that Vanille has been hiding. What could it be we wonder?
Chapter 8: Nautilus
[Two hours ago]
Sazh and Vanille gets off of the ship. They arrived at Nautilus. When they were off, Vanille is on her knees, a bit exhausted.
"Seasick?" Sazh asks her.
"Nope, I'm fine." Vanille says, standing up.
"Okay then." Sazh and Vanille moves around the Nautilus Station.
Vanille is surprised to see the crowd of thousands. "Wow. There's so many people."
"Yeah, well. It happens in the City of Dreams." Sazh tells her. Sazh looks around, noticing something...different around here. "Hmm, not a lot of security here." Sazh and Vanille stops. "For these people, the l'Cie panic must still seem like a world away."
Sazh notices Vanille has her eyes struck on the screen, he takes a look at it as well. "Oh, hey. Looks like they're putting Eidolon's on parade. It's starting soon." Sazh looks back at Vanille. "What do you say? Let's go check it out."
"Sure." Vanille says excitedly.
Sazh and Vanille moves on, but stops when the screen suddenly changes into a newscast.
"We interrupt this program to bring you a breaking news update."
The screen shows a video of Lightning and Hope arriving at Palumpolum. "The l'Cie who surfaced in Palumpolum and attacked the city's citizens are still on the run from authorities." The video switches to the time Omega Weapon comes out of hiding as a Helicopter and starts shooting at the army. "Sanctum soldiers are tracking their location," Then the video switches to Snow beating up the PSICOM troops. "but have yet to engage the fugitives."
The video now shows Snow and Fang riding on the Shiva sisters on the ice ramps. "The presence of hostages has been confirmed."
Vanille notices Fang riding on Shiva behind Snow and then gasps horrified at the sight of it.
"What's wrong?" Sazh asks her.
"It's her!" Vanille says.
Sazh looks back at the screen. "Yep. Looks like the army finally found them." Vanille doesn't say anything, neither does Sazh. After about a minute of silence, Sazh speaks up. "That parade's about to start. Come on, let's go."
Sazh puts a hand on Vanille's back and takes her around the city. They make their way to the parade, down the hallway. Vanille stops from behind. She holds her hands together, looking down with worried and guilt.
Sazh looks behind and notices the nervous girl. "Hey, loosen up!" Vanille looks up at the smiling old man. "Gonna make the most of this...Right?"
Vanille smiles a little then nods, and they continue on.
They arrive at the Main Street, where the parade is taking please. It's about to start, the Pompa Sancta Parade that everyone's been talking about.
Sazh and Vanille looks up at the giant sphere in the air, noticing the show's about to start, with a giant clock made out of glowing light. Which time the hand moves, the number flips.
"The show is starting. Look." Sazh says.
They both look up at the light clock, then the lights of the tower rushing on upwards. When the star on top shines, thousands of dishes starts falling from the sky.
Vanille smiles with a cheerful sigh. One of the discs falls towards her, and Vanille jumps up and catches it with excitement. Vanille holds it in front of her, looking at it and then a Carbuncle appears from the disk, glowing in light blue with a red gem on its head.
"It's party time, little lady." It tells her.
Vanille smiles and giggles at the little Carbuncle. Sazh looks down at the Carbuncle and smiles as well. The Carbuncle flies off, Sazh and Vanille couldn't take their eyes off of the little creature.
The Carbuncle flies around the area in the air with a bunch of other Carbuncles. The Carbuncles starts creating water rings in the air, and hologram dancers of water appears on the water rings. In the center of those rings are hologram harp players. Sazh and Vanille are enjoying the show, as the water rings start to float away from each other.
Dramatic music takes place as the hologram dancers starts waving around in the air as the water rings turn into red flaming rings, and most of the holograms turn to fire as well.
The fire dancers starts to do some kind of summon dance, then in the center of a flame ring, wave of flames rises, and then a sinister laughter happens.
The flames die down, revealing one evil l'Cie. "With Pulse-born spite, and savage might! I will destroy Cocoon!" The evil l'Cie says.
The evil l'Cie unleashing a breath of hologram fire over the crowd. "Here domes the attack from Pulse." Sazh points out.
The fire dancers and starts dancing around the water dancers, and at their finishing moves, the water dancers vanish. The evil l'Cie also strikes at the dancers with it's flaming breath. The vanished dancers comes together and a gust of wind starts to form. The wind forms into another l'Cie, but a good one.
"With trusty blade, and fal'Cie's aid. I will defend Cocoon!" The two l'Cie begins the fight. "To battle!"
The two l'Cie's fight in the air. "You dare oppose me!?" The evil l'Cie asks. The last strike causes the two l'Cie to launch away from each other. "I will fulfill my focus!" The evil l'Cie channels a large flaming sphere on it.
The good l'Cie appears from the far distance, as the sphere resolves, revealing the evil l'Cie in it's eidolon form. Vanille gasps at the sight of it, she recognizes that form.
"Ragnarok!" She says in horror.
"Fal'Cie grant me strength!" The good l'Cie says, forming into Valefor. Ragnarok unleashes blasts of flare, striking everywhere. Valefor flies around the air, avoid the flames making it's way to Ragnarok. Valefor energizes itself and it clashes with Ragnarok, causing a bright light that's nearly blinding the citizens. When the light clears, Cocoon appears with its shell broken and the pieces circle the planet.
Everyone cheers at the parades ending, all except for Sazh and Vanille. Sazh seems a little impressed, Vanille is...well, she's really not doing anything but looking up at the image of the shattered Cocoon, then the young girl looks down, with a tear sliding down on her cheek.
After the parade, Sazh and Vanille leaves the Main Street. They arrive at a resting place in the Festival Road. Vanille sits on a bench. "Where to next, little lady." Sazh says, imitation the little Carbuncle from the parade.
Vanille looks up at with, laughing with a smile. "I'll let you decide."
Sazh thinks for a moment, then gets an idea. A stupid one in my case. "I know. A Nautilus Park date...with Sazh."
Vanille has doubt in her expression. "Yeah, but should we really be playing around?" Vanille asks, a little worried.
"Forget about that heavy stuff for a while, and maybe this will just fade away." Sazh tells her, pointing his thumb at his brand at the second half of the sentence.
For an answer, Vanille smiles and nods. "Okay."
Vanille stands up. "Great! Let's roll!"
Sazh and Vanille makes their leave, wondering around the area. They make their way to the Nautilus Park. Vanille stops, noticing where they're going.
"What's in Nautilus Park, anyway?" Vanille asks.
Sazh stops and turns back looking at Vanille. "It's a huge amusement park, built by the Sanctum." Sazh looks away with a disapproval look. "Bet they never expected l'Cie visitors.
Vanille looks around. "So...is this place special?" She asked.
Sazh puts his hands on his hips, thinking back. "I promised Dajh...I was gonna bring him some day. Hope I can at least tell him about it."
Vanille looks at Sazh. She gives him a hopeful smile, even if he can't see it from behind. "You'll get the chance."
"Maybe...I do know where they're keeping him." Sazh says.
Vanille puts her hands on her hips. "Can I go with you?" Her tone was cheerful and childish, mostly childish.
Sazh turns to face Vanille. "Sure, more the merrier!" Vanille giggles. "What about you? You got someone special out there?"
"Special? Nope." Vanille says.
Sazh is surprised to hear that. "Really? Now that is kind of sad."
Vanille bends down. "Yeah..."
"Hey, I'm kidding! I didn't mean to upset you."
Vanille stands up. "Well I'm just fine, thank you!"
Vanille moves on ahead and Sazh follows her. They arrive at the station and board the Nautilift for Nautilus Park. The ride submerges into the water, then surfaces in a watering hole in the Nautilus Park.
When it opens, Vanille jumps out. "Wow!" Vanille looks amazed at the sight of the park. "It's so amazing!"
"Yeah. It's a real beauty." Sazh says.
Vanille rushes ahead then stops at the entrance to the Chocobo Corral. "Oh..." Sazh's Chocobo jumps out of his hair and lands on Vanille's shoulder.
Vanille looks at the little pet, noticing it's jumping and chirp directly at the passage. "Huh-huh. Somebody's excited!" Sazh says.
"Yeah. Hey! You can make some new friends." Vanille tells the chocobo.
"Dajh is crazy about Chocobos. He really wanted to come here." Sazh tells Vanille.
"Let's look around." Vanille says with excitement.
"Indeed." Sazh points at the passage. "And in we go!"
Sazh and Vanille walks into the Chocobo Corral, which is crawling with Chocobos, and sheep's too, but mostly Chocobos. Sazh plugs his nose at the stench. "Ugh! The smell...Ah, glad I don't work here."
Vanille stands in the middle of the grassland on the Corral. She spreads her arms and inhales deeply through her nose, then exhales. The smell sure does reminds her of home.
The little chocobo jumps off of Vanille's shoulder, and starts flying around like crazy. "Hey! Come back here!" Sazh and Vanille chases after the little chocobo as it flies down the sidewalk heading deeper into the corral
Sazh and Vanille chases after it, at the end, they find the little chocobo hanging with some adult Chocobos. Vanille smiles and giggles. "Part of the gang already."
"Uh-huh. Always good to be among friends." Sazh says.
Vanille walks up to the adult chocobo and pets it on the neck. "The fun times are doubled." Vanille rests her head on the chocobo. "And your worries feel far away."
"And nothing ever seems as scary when you have someone to share it with." Sazh adds.
Vanille looks at Sazh then nods. The little chocobo flies back to Sazh and lands in his afro. Vanille laughs. "You're still number one. Of course." She tells Sazh.
"Of course." Sazh looks at the two Chocobos, who are getting along well with each other, then he sighs. "Thanks, Vanille." Vanille looks at Sazh, with a bit of confusion. "Now when I see Dajh, I can tell him about the Chocobos...He's being held by the military."
Vanille is disappointed to hear that. "PSICOM, you mean?"
The chocobo behind Vanille nibbles at her hair. Vanille looks over her shoulder, then back at Sazh as she pets the chocobo on the side of its face.
"Yeah, since he's a Cocoon l'Cie. They're running tests. They're trying to figure out his Focus." Sazh doesn't say anything for a moment, then he turns to look at Vanille. "I'm...turning myself in." Vanille is shocked to hear that. "I know the execute l'Cie, but hey...They're not total monsters. They'll listen to a final request. They'll have to. Before the end, I want to talk to Dajh one last time."
Vanille can feel herself breaking hearing all this. She starts to frown and it deepens the more Sazh speaks. "I want to tell him about these Chocobos. I want to tell him about everything I've seen."
Vanille rushes up to him. "But, wait! Sazh!"
"Listen, I don't want you to worry. You're not part of this. You'll have plenty of time to split before I surrender." Sazh raises his hands over his head at the end.
"That's not what I meant!" Vanille protests.
"I'm sorry Vanille." Sazh turns from Vanille. "I'm just...I'm tired of all this running."
"But...you can't!" Vanille begs. "What about Dajh?" Dajh looks back at Vanille, wondering what she's talking about. "He's a l'Cie because of someone from Pulse. You can't give up without getting revenge!" Vanille grabs on to Sazhs hands. "I know who it is! I know who's responsible! For the accident. The accident at Euride."
Sazh is certainly surprised to hear that. He grabs onto Vanilles shoulders and shakes her. "Then tell me!"
Vanille looks at Sazh, directly in the eyes. "The l'Cie who ruined your life was..."
Vanille pauses for a moment, afraid to tell him the truth, but that moment ends when the Chocobos starts fleeing, and then bullet shoots starts running down at them. Vanille and Sazh at on the alarm, and looked around to see what's going on. Over the mountains at a far distance, at PSICOM troopers.
"Soldiers? Where'd they come from?" Sazh says, aggressive. Sazh takes out his guns and starts shooting at them. "Get out of here, Vanille!"
Vanille makes a run for it, at the bridge towards the Mall, and Sazh follows her from behind. When they cross the bridge, they stopped to see PSICOM troopers blocking their escape. They're about to turn back, but the bridge was drawn, cutting off their retreat.
"No place left to run." Sazh says.
EXTRA SCENE
Sazh and Vanille becomes surrounded by an army of PSICOM troops. They stand back to back. Sazh has his guns out, ready to shoot, Vanille has her binding rod out, also ready to cast her spells.
They look around noticing the number of armies is growing bigger and bigger, it's probably about over a hundred of them. "There's too many of them." Vanille says. "We can't take them all."
"You suggesting we surrender?" Sazh asks.
"All units! Battle stations!" The general orders. All the PSICOM troops aims their guns at Sazh and Vanille. "Ready! Aim!" Sazh and Vanille braces themselves, ready to either fight back or die. "FIRE!"
Just that moment, an explosion happens in part of the army group. the general is surprised. "What the?" The general and the army turns to the direction where the explosion happens, then they noticed, at a distance, is me riding on Omega Weapon in it's helicopter form.
Sazh and Vanille looks up, taking notice as well. "The army?" Vanille asks.
Sazh takes a closer look. "No...that's no ordinary helicopter." Sazh says.
"All units! Blast that thing out of the sky!" The general shouts. All the PSICOM soldiers moves to the edge of the mall, aiming their guns at Omega Weapon.
I stick my head out of Omega Weapon, shouting with the Megaphone. "Sazh! Vanille! Get down!"
Sazh and Vanille are surprised. "It's Patrick!" Vanille says with a gasp.
"FIRE!" The General orders.
All at once, the troops shoots at us. I just smirk as I draw closer to the army. "You losers messed with the wrong guy."
I command Omega Weapon to do Flare Star at the army. Gatling guns come out of both sides of Omega Weapon and rapidly shoots at the army. Sazh and Vanille takes cover, hiding from my attacks, even through I might not hit them. The bullets of the Flare Star shoots at the army, killing some of them. Those that hit the ground causes a small flaming explosion.
As soon as I'm a hundred yards from the army, Omega Weapon stops in place, and then starts shooting Terra Missiles. Burning missiles fires from all direction from underneath Omega Weapon and causes minor explosions on the army.
"Stand your ground!" The general orders. After the explosions, I command Omega Weapon to do Absolute Zero. A laser ray comes out of the top of Omega Weapon, on the helicopter blades. The cannon aims at the army and starts charging frozen energy, then shoots an orb of frozen energy. The orb lands at the army, when it did, it explodes a massive amount of ice.
The PSICOM enemy is still fighting back, so now I command Omega Weapon to use Megiddo Flame. Three Ray Guns underneath Omega Weapon's face aims at the army and shoots red laser beams. Making contact on the ground leaves a trail of flames as the lasers travels around the area.
The Megiddo Flame kills another number of armies, just only a few remains. I'd say about 50 by the looks. "Bring out the heavy artillery!"
The general and his army takes out missile launchers and aims at me and Omega Weapon. "Oh, I don't think so."
I command Omega Weapon to charge up. Its eyes glows and it's mouth opens, storing up a large amount of energy, bit by bit. The PSICOM troops starts to panic.
"Ge-ge...General?" The Sergeant asks.
"Stand your ground." The General says.
I smirk. "Hasta La Vista." I push the big red button and then Omega Weapon unleashes its Omega Blast. The large beam of energy blasts at the army, unleashing a massive nova explosion in it's wake, blowing away the army.
When the blast clears, Sazh and Vanille comes out of hiding, nothing the number of damage I've done to the area and the army. "Wow." Vanille says.
Sazh whistles. "Quite a number of damage I'll say." Vanille giggles.
Sazh and Vanille walks around until I land in front of them, with Omega Weapon landing behind me in its original form. Sazh and Vanille were startled by my eidolon. I look back at Omega Weapon and pull the front of my hat down and up at it. Omega Weapon waves back then it vanishes.
I face back at Sazh and Vanille. "Glad to see you two are still alive."
Vanille smiles then rushes up to me for a hug. I was startled from when Vanille hugged me. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you." Vanille says while hugging and jumping.
"Uh, You're welcome. Ok." I shove Vanille off of me. "You can get off now."
"Patrick, what are you doing here?" Sazh asks.
"It's kind of a long story." I turn facing the path towards the Clock Tower. "I'll explain on the way, we should get moving."
The three of us makes our way through the passage towards the clock tower. We have to fight our way through the Zwerg Metrodroids, Razorclaws and Corps Gunners.
As we fight, I explain everything that's happened.
"After you guys left, I decided to ditch Snow to catch up with you guys." I see three Corps Gunners rushing up towards me, then stops and aims their guns at me. I shoot at two of them, killing them. The last gunner shoots at me, but I quickly shift into Synergist and cast Protect on myself.
"Why would you ditch Snow?" Vanille asks, burning a Metrodroid with her Fira spell.
I shift into commando and kill that gunner. "Cause I can't stand that doofus!" After defeating our enemies, we continue on. "But my passage got blocked, so I had to find another route, but I ended up returning to Snow, facing the army and his eidolon."
"I guess that explains the Shiva Sisters we saw on the news." Sazh says.
We run into another wave of enemies and starts fighting. "After we defeated the eidolon, the Calvary came in and tried to take us in."
Sazh shoots like crazy against the Metrodroids. "The Calvary?" Sazh asks.
"Yeah, but get this. their commander was..." I look at Sazh to see a Razorclaw charging from behind him. I aim my bow directly at Sazh, which is going to be mean for the monster behind him. "Duck!"
Sazh looked shocked. As soon as I fire my arrow, Sazh ducks and the Razorclaw pounces, only to get shoot in the head. Sazh stands up to see the dead Razorclaw behind him. "Thanks, man."
"Don't sweat it." I help out Vanille with the Corp Gunners, casting my Ruin spells at them. "Their commander was a l'Cie, and she took me and Snow in."
Vanille is surprised to see this, stopping her fight to look at me. "The l'Cie! Was it a female warrior, in a blue clothing, short black top, lance, long black hair, bronze skin?"
Vanille's talking was a bit faster and hopeful. I was able to catch most of it while I was fighting. After killing the enemies, I answered her question.
"I didn't catch half of what you said but...Yes, she had some of those things." I say, Vanille was about to say something, but then I give a curious look. "Wait. How do you know what she looked like?"
"She's a friend of mine! Her name's Fang." Vanille says.
"Would you two stop talking and give me a hand?" Sazh asks. We look to see Sazh is in trouble, single-facing against two Orions.
Me and Vanille dropped our little conversation and help out Sazh with his situation. I had to shift into Synergist to strength us and Vanille had to shift into Medic and heal us. After that, we shift back into Commando and Ravager and help Sazh fight the machines.
After defeating them, I turn to Vanille. "So that l'Cie was your friend?" I ask. Vanille nods with a smile. "Well...she wasn't very friendly with me or Snow...well with Snow I can take, but wasn't very friendly with me. She took Snow in and tried to do the same with me."
"How did you escape?" Sazh asks.
"I punched her in the face, knocked her off of her Velocycle and hijacked it." I say.
Vanille is surprised to hear that. "Well, I hope you'll be returning it." Vanille says, waving her finger at my face like a strict mother would do with her son.
I pull Vanille's hand lower from my face. "Yeah, that's not gonna happen." I say, flicking Vanille in the forehead. "I ran out of gas and the Velocycle got damaged when I crash landed in Twilight Forest. Talk about déjà vu."
Vanille giggles at the Déjà vu comment, since she remembers when we and Hope crashed into that fal'Cie Vestige. We continue on our passage until we ran into more enemies.
"I ran into Lightning and Hope inside the forest." I say, but became interrupted by Vanille.
"You did? How's Hope doing?" Vanille asks.
I rapidly shoot at the Orion, until the machine dies down. "You know, the usual." I answered. "I help the two through the forest, of course I had to since Lightning was pretty injured and Hope is...well, a kid." We wipe out the rest of our enemies. "We ran into some trouble with a giant Ochu, but we manage to defeat it, then later on, I had to face my eidolon, then on the next day, we arrived at Palumpolum."
"You did. Did you bring Hope home?" Vanille asks, cheerfully.
"Uh...no, not really." I say.
Hearing that, Vanille is instantly disappointed, then she shoves me. "But you PROMISED to take him home!"
I was surprised the girl is strong to push me back. "Whoa. You're pretty strong for a kid." I say. Vanille just gives a grumpy look, with her hands on her hips. "I know I promised Nora I take him home, but then I heard the army was coming here for you two. Lightning and Hope wasn't gonna do anything, so I had to come rescue you two."
"What about the kid?" Sazh says.
"I entrusted Lightning to take Hope home for me." I say.
Sazh gives a small chuckle hearing that. "You sure that's a good idea? Soldier girl is pretty cold and emotionless."
"I'm well aware of the kind of person Lightning is." I shoot a look at Sazh, then I cool down a bit afterwards. "Nonetheless, I trust her and she said she would do it. So I summoned Omega and ride all the way over here." I turn my head, looking back at the damaged area I caused. "And at the neck of time too."
Sazh nods, then I turn to face the Clock Tower. "Now let's go."
We move on ahead, we're about to arrive on in the Clock Tower, but then we stopped when a giant war machine, a Midlight Reaper, lands right in front of the doors of the clock tower.
Sazh takes out his guns. "Think I'm going down that easy?"
I take out my bow, load it with an arrow. "I admire your moxie, Sazh. Let's total this piece of junk!"
The Midlight Reaper sprays us with Nerve Gas, poisoning us. Vanilla shifts into Medic and casts Esuna on us. I shift into Synergistic and cast Protect on us, then Bravery on me and Sazh and Faith on Vanille.
Sazh shifts into Ravager and casts Fira and Aero at the machine. Vanille shifts into Ravager and casts her Blizzard and Water spells. The Midlight Reaper starts shooting at us. I shift into Saboteur and cast Deprotect and Shell on the machine. Sazh shifts into Synergist and cast Haste on us all, then shifts into Commando and starts shooting.
The Midlight Reaper does Mega Blast, shooting explosion blasts at Me and Vanille. Vanille shifts into Medic and casts Cura on herself and me. I cast Imperil on the machine, then shift into Synergist to cast Enwater on me and Sazh. Then I shift into Commando and start shooting.
The Midlight Reaper does Nerve Gas on us, but then Vanille casts Esuna on us. Vanille shifts into Ravager and casts her Fira and Water spells on the machine.
The Midlight Reaper releases it's arm restraints and begins priming its main cannon. As the machine is charging, we fight our hardest to destroy it, but we didn't get that lucky. The Midlight Reaper finishes charging and unleashes Railgun, unleashing a powerful blast of energy.
Vanille shifts into Medic and casts Cura on us. Me and Sazh just shoots the hell out of the machine, until it sparks and shuts down, collapsing onto the ground in pieces with smoke coming out of it.
The three of us stands in place, panting in exhaustion. That we certainly a rough fight. The little chocobo from Sazh pops out of his hair and chirps, flying forward. We all look ahead, at the front doors of the clock tower is a little boy.
"Daddy, I found you." Dajh says, running up to us.
Sazh is completely shocked and surprised, Vanille gasps horrified with guilt, I just look pretty confused.
Dajh rushes up to Sazh and wraps his arms over Sazh's legs. "Daddy! Got you!"
I look at the boy, then at Sazh. "Daddy?" I asked.
"He's...Sazh's son." Vanille says, with her voice breaking. Hearing that makes me wonder what's up with the girl. But I kept my attention on the boy and Sazh.
"Dajh. Why are you here?" Sazh asked, his tone sounds like a mix of horrify and shock. It's like he's disappointed to see the boy.
"Because you promised." Dajh says.
Sazh kneels down to the boys level. "But...how did you get here?"
The boy doesn't answer. Sazh slowly puts his hands on the boys shoulders, then his head. Dajh suddenly glows and Sazh backs up from him while me and Vanille looks away from the blinding light.
We all now look to see that Dajh has turned to crystal, that certainly has alarmed me. "What the?" I had no idea the kid became a l'Cie.
"Dajh! Wait! Come back!" Sazh pleads, reaching for the crystallized boy.
The clock tower strikes at eight. Jihl and her PSICOM team are by the clock tower. Jihl seems amazed at the show we're doing. I on the other hand don't.
"Dajh..." Sazh says in despair. "Not you. Not you, Dajh."
Watching Sazh and Dajh's situation here just sunders me from the inside. Seeing this just brings up more of my dark memories, in fact, I'm starting to imagine it, my memories are pulling an illusion into my reality. Sazh turns into my fourteen-year-old self, and the crystallized Dajh turns into my Cie'th father. There my fathers corpse lays on the bloody ground. I sit beside him, weeping over his corpse, beaten and bruised, bloody even.
Just when I couldn't take it anymore, the sound of a familiar voice snaps me back into reality. "The capture of undesirables." I look to see it's none other then Jihl. Seeing that women just boils my blood. "It seems that was your son's Focus. Dajh fulfilled it admirably, and serve Cocoon it's process."
Jihl turns to face me, then smirks. "Well, well. Nice to see you, Patrick."
"Hello, Jihl." I say, with a bitter tone.
"How long has it been? Six years? ...Nice to see you're doing well...after your fathers demise."
"NEVER MENTION MY FATHER!" I snapped at her. My yelling seem to have surprised Vanille with worry.
Jihl just chuckles and turns her attention to Sazh. "You should be proud of him, Mr. Katzroy?"
Sazh doesn't say anything, neither does Vanille or I. Exactly, Vanille moves in between Sazh and Jihl, while I just glare at the women bitterly.
"Dajh was a great help. He could sense power of Pulse origin." Jihl points out. "That let us monitor you."
"So you used the kid as a pet? You're sick!" I say.
"Words cannot express our gratitude." She tells me, then returns to Sazh. "The data he provided on enemy l'Cie was...invaluable. And speaking of gratitude..."
"Gratitude?" I asked with my anger rising.
Jihl looks at me then nods, then back at Sazh. She takes out some hologram device and drops it right in front of Sazh.
The device points a red beam and shows some video, to my surprise, Vanille was on it. Sazh seems surprised as well.
"We enhanced the surveillance footage from the energy plant." Jihl says. The footage is showing another person on it. I recognize that women, it's the one back in Lake Bresha, who tried to take me in but I escaped by hijacking her Velocycle. "Those are the Pulse l'Cie behind of what happened."
Fang starts talking, but I could hardly understand what she's saying over Jihl's chattering. "The picture's a little grainy, but I'm sure you recognized that one. You've spent so much time together."
"Fang, let's go." The hologram Vanille says. "What's our Focus even matter?"
"What's it matter?" Fang asks in frustration, banging her fist on the glass window. "You want to be a monster?"
"I just..."
"Keep your chin up. We know the part that matters." Fang tells her. "Right? We are enemies of Cocoon. Know what I say? Play the part and raise some hell. Might jump-start our memories."
Vanille looks at Fang, surprised. "What?"
Fang smirks. "The fal'Cie. Let's smash it!"
Vanille looks at the fal'Cie. She and Fang steps back, taking out their weapons.
"Who are you?" A voice asks them.
Fang and Vanille turns around, to see the kid Dajh. At first, they were startled, but lower their weapons to see it's only a kid. Just then, the place rumbles and an explosion happens.
The hologram ends. Me and Sazh are speechless, Sazh is holding on to his crystallized son. I slowly turned to Vanille.
"Vanille...?" The girl doesn't bother to look at me. She just looks sad, feeling guilty. Sazh stands up, not taking his eyes off of his son. Vanille slowly, bit by bit, sobs and cries.
"Yes. That young lady's terrorist assault at the Euride Gorge is the reason Dajh was made a l'Cie. Ironic, isn't it? The very girl your protecting..." Jihl points her rod at Vanille. "Is the one who stoked your son."
"Shut up, you!" I snapped at Jihl. Sazh looks at Vanille disappointedly, Vanille sorrow grows worse, she covered her ears and shouts a 'no!' And runs right in the Clock tower. "Vanille!" I shout for her. She doesn't stop or anything, just kept running. I turn facing Jihl. "You are twisted!"
I run into the clock tower, chasing after Vanille. The PSICOM troops aim their guns at us, ready to shoot.
"Hold." Jihl orders. Jihl just watches me and Vanille until we're out of sight, then she turns to face Sazh. "Shall we finish the job...or would you prefer to?"
Sazh says nothing, but he does look straight ahead and chases after us. Jihl stands back, watching Sazh going after Vanille.
"Colonel Nabaat, what now?" A trooper asks.
"Follow them, and observe." Jihl says. "How often to l'Cie kill their own? Just like a son killing his own father." Jihl chuckles at that last part, then she and the troopers goes in.
At the Fiendlords Keep. Vanille slowly walks up to the throne, she stops in the middle of the area and looks back.
"You...are cold blooded." Vanille looks ahead to see it's an illusion of Sazh, sitting on the throne. She gasps at the sight of it. "Lying...so people would trust you. Using them as shields." The illusion Sazh points its guns at Vanille. "How many you gotta drag down with you?"
"I'm..." Vanille becomes interrupted before she could say anything.
"A coward and a killer...the people you used don't get to live." Vanille widens her eyes in horror hearing that. "Why should you!?"
The illusion Sazh shoots at Vanille. Vanille backs up from the shooting then collapses. She felt like she would have died, but suddenly realized...nothing happened, like she hadn't been shoot, even through the bullets went right through her. It's only an illusion.
Vanille stands back up, looking back at the Sazh illusion. "Tired of living with guilt...then die with it."
The illusion Sazh vanishes. Vanille stands in place, then slowly gets down on her knees.
"Vanille!" I arrive to see the girl just sitting there, looking down. I slowly approach the young girl. "Vanille...?"
Vanille looks at me, then stands up, turning to face me. "My name is Oerba Dia Vanille...I'm a l'Cie from Grand Pulse." I feel surprised to hear that. I'd never expect someone as sweet and innocent as Vanille to be from a place like Pulse. "And to everyone on Cocoon...evil."
"No! That's a lie!" I yell. Vanille becomes startled from my shouting. "You're not evil! Just because you're from Pulse doesn't mean you're evil!"
"But that's how everyone sees Pulse. Pulse is hell on earth!" Vanille says, with her voice breaking.
"Maybe that is true, but you...you are just a kid who's all about sunshines and unicorns." I say. "Judgment is nothing but a cloud that blinds your vision. Just because you're from Pulse doesn't make you evil!"
"But...Dajh...he's a l'Cie...because of..." Vanille doesn't say anything else.
I walk up to the girl with hands on her shoulders. "Vanille. It was an accident. You didn't mean to drag Dajh into it. There's a saying: 'Accidents happen'. Surely you didn't really mean to make Dajh a l'Cie...did you?"
Vanille looks up at me, with sorrow and guilt in her eyes. That's when Sazh arrives, panting and grabbing at his chest where his l'Cie brand rests. Sazh looks up to see me and Vanille, and his points his gun at us.
"Vanille!"
I look over my shoulder to see Sazh, then I look back at Vanille. After that moment, I turn around and stand in between Sazh and Vanille, protecting to girl. "Leave her alone!" I tell him.
"Don't you dare defend this little monster!" Sazh yells at me. "Out of the way, boy!"
"If you want, Vanille. You're gonna have to go through me!" I yell at Sazh.
Vanille just walks past me and then in front of me. She looks back at me and shook her head. I step back as Vanille looks back at Sazh with her arms wide open.
"Shoot me! For your son." Vanille tells Sazh.
"Don't you even!" Vanille becomes startled from that. "You think you die, and that's that! Hm? You think you die and everything will be sugar and rainbows!"
With Vanille, I bet it will be. "Then...what can I do?" Vanille walks forward for a few steps, with her voice starting to break. "What do you want from me? If I can't live or die, what do you want me to do?!"
"Don't ask me! You figure it out." Sazh tells her.
"I don't know!" Vanille looks up, slightly sobbing with a tear escaping from her eye.
I slowly walk close to Vanille and put a hand on her shoulder. I look back at Sazh to see the expression of despair and doubt upon him.
"Either do I." Sazh says, lowering his gun. Sazh turns around and starts walking away. "It's over...there's nothing to do." Sazh stops on his tracks, as he drops his gun right by his feet. "Shooting you won't help." Sazh falls onto his knees. "Neither will living."
I get what Sazh means, I feel the someway when I killed my own father. My own flesh and blood, the only family I had left. How could I live with I took away his life? Just then, Sazh's l'Cie brand glows, white at first, then shine brightly in fiery red. Sazh grabs at his chest and bends down, as a fiery sphere appears right above him.
Seeing this startles me and Vanille, then Sazh groans in pain and falls down on his back. Inside the sphere, an eidolon is made, and then the sphere bursts, revealing a red metal warrior with a gunaxe. Brynhildr. Brynhildr looks down at Sazh. "Do your worse! You freak!" Sazh yells at the eidolon.
Vanille rushes in front of Sazh, shielding him from Brynhildr. Vanille looks back at Sazh. "It's not over." She tells him.
Vanille looks back at Brynhildr, who points her gunaxe at Vanille. I start to worry. "Vanille! Get back!" I rush to Vanille. Sazh starts to get up. Brynhildr positions herself to attack. I made it in front of Vanille, ready to shoot at the eidolon. I was about to fire until I hear the sound of gun fire. I look back to see Sazh, who's right next to Vanille, shooting at the eidolon.
He only shoots three times and then walks up to the eidolon. "Okay, fine! You want me! Come and get me!" He yells at Brynhildr.
Vanille wipes the tears from her eyes, and then she and I joins Sazh on the battle against his eidolon.
Brynhildr casts Doom on Sazh, he only has 180 seconds to live. Brynhildr shoots at Sazh twice and then does Pyroshot, shooting a ball of fire at Sazh from her gunaxe.
Sazh shoots at Brynhildr, while I shift into Synergist and cast Bravery on me and Sazh and Faith on Vanille. Vanille shifted into Saboteur and casts Imperil and Deprotect and Deshell on the eidolon.
Brynhildr shoots twice at me and then does Pyroshot. I cast Protect and Shell on myself, Sazh and Vanille. Vanille shifts into Medic, during that, Brynhildr does Valkyrian Scythe on her. Sweep strikes, sweep shoots then strikes again.
Vanille casts Cure on herself, then she shifts into Ravager and casts Blizzara on the eidolon. Sazh shifts into Synergist and casts Enfrost on me and him. Brynhildr shoots twice at Vanille then does Pyroshot. I shift into Commando and shoot at the eidolon with my frozen arrows.
Sazh only has 90 seconds to live. Brynhildr does Valkyrian Scythe on me. Vanille shifts into Medic and casts Cura on me. Sazh shifts into Commando cast his Ruin spells on the eidolon, then Vanille shifts back into Ravager and casts her blizzard spells. I continue shooting and then the eidolon shoots twice at Sazh then does Pyroshot.
Me and Sazh keeps on shooting at the eidolon while Vanille is casting her blizzard spells. Brynhildr does Valkyrian Scythe on Sazh. Vanille shifts into Medic, casts Cure on Sazh, then shifts back into Ravager and casts Blizzara.
Sazh had about 40 seconds left, then the doom spell cancels. Brynhildr shifts into Gestalt mode, transforming and morphing into a flaming race car. Brynhildr runs around the field and parks right in front of Sazh.
Brynhildr glows and fades into crystal shards and Sazhs brand absorbs the eidolon.
After the fight, we all became real exhausted. Vanille bents down with her hands on her knees and pants. Sazh return to his senses and then he looks at Vanille. Sazh aims her gun at her. Vanille looks to see Sazh ready to shoot at her. I see what Sazh is doing and I become immediately disappointed.
"What the...Sazh!" I say, he does nothing but move closer to Vanille, which also causes Vanille to move back. When they stop on their tracks, I shove Sazh, causing him to fall on his butt. "So that's it!?" I bark at Sazh. "You're just gonna shoot her!? After the way she defended you from that eidolon, you're just gonna shoot her?!" Sazh doesn't say anything. "Sazh! Vanille didn't mean to hurt Dajh! It was an accident! She didn't mean to drag him into being a l'Cie! Do you honestly think that Vanille, an innocent, sweet kid, would really do anything to hurt a child? On purpose or by accident!? She already feels bad for what she's done!"
"How the hell would you know she feels bad!?" Sazh yells at me!
"Because I went through the same thing! When I killed my own father!" I yelled. Vanille gasps hearing that, and Sazh seems shocked. "I felt horrible for my mistake!" I roll up my sleeve, revealing the scars on my arm. "After his death, I've done nothing but hurt myself. Cutting my flesh with the same dagger that stabbed his heart." I roll the sleeve back down. I take a deep breath. "I wanted my father to come back, to undo the mistake I've made. I thought punishing myself would bring him back, but it won't. No matter what, he's not coming back...Is that what you think, Sazh? Would shooting Vanille make you happy? Would shooting Vanille bring Dajh back? Is it?"
Sazh doesn't say anything, he just stands back up on his feet and looks away. "You know what...I don't care anymore. Go ahead and shoot her!" I say, slowly moving out of the way. "I hope you'll be satisfied."
Sazh doesn't do anything at first, but then after a minute, he aims his gun at Vanille. Vanille doesn't do anything, but stand in place with her arms wide open. She looks at Sazh and closes her eyes, accepting her punishment. I just stand by and watch. I'm hoping that Sazh doesn't really shoot her. I slowly get a grip on my bow and an arrow, getting ready to take them out incase he does shoot her.
But Sazh doesn't, he starts to grit his teeth and eyes show regret. "A lot of things can be excused." I stand down, releasing my grip from my bow and quiver from hearing that, then Sazh lowers his gun. "Shooting kids ain't one."
Sazhs chocobo pops out of his hair and flies towards Vanille. Vanille covers her eyes with an arm, beginning to cry. Vanille gets down on her knees, burying her face in her hands sobbing even more. I walk up to Vanille. I kneel down beside her and hold her close in my arms, comforting her. Vanille shifts, laying her head on my shoulder and resting her hands on my arms.
Sazh holds his gun in front of him, looking at it, then he slowly aims his gun for the side of his head. The chocobo looks at Sazh and clucks loudly. Vanille stops sobbing and looks up with a gasp. From hearing her, I look up and then I become surprised to see Sazh is aiming for himself.
"Sazh?" I ask.
"Enough..." Sazh doesn't say anything else. I can tell what's gonna happen. At the same time, me and Vanille gasp in horror. Vanille buries her face in my chest. I do the same onto her shoulder, as I wrap my arm around her back and place my hand on her head. "Is enough."
BANG!
Just outside of the Fiendlord's Keep, is a path line of PSICOM troopers and an airship at the end of that line. Jihl stands in front of the airship, watching the troopers carrying a large coffin that's holding Sazh, and behind it is me and Vanille in the Purge robes.
"Do be careful with those." Jihl says, as the coffin comes to pass her. Me and Vanille looks up at the women, I just give her a bitter glare. "For every task...there's a perfect tool."
As me and Vanille are about to cross her, I just stomp on her foot, hard. Sure did give her quite a pain. Even the troopers behind us are pointing their guns at me.
I look over my shoulder, at Jihl. "Sorry...my bad." I say in a bitter sarcastic tone.
When me and Vanille are on board, Jihl and the rest of the PSICOM troopers got on as well, and the airship takes off.