Chapter 11

No place left to run

Sazh had no idea how the army had found them. They came the whole way without being chased by troops. He had thought for sure that they had entered the city undetected. So why now? Why did PSICOM decide to show themselves?

It had been a while since they heard gunfire and no alarm had been sounded to search for rogue l'Cie, so Sazh slowed down to catch his breath. He had been running off of pure adrenaline and he knew his body was going to crash if he didn't take a rest. Sazh looked around at his surroundings. He knew the best move was to get out of the Chocobo park as fast as possible so he dragged Vanille with him keeping to the shadows.

It seemed he had chosen the courtyard near Nautilus's famous clock tower to take a rest in. This part of the amusement park was closed at this hour so at least civilians wouldn't get caught in the way, but at the same time it would be easy to spot them. They were wandering around a place where no one should be. Sazh took a seat on the ground in the shadow of a tree in the courtyard while Vanille kept look out.

They had been sitting for quite a few minutes in silence. Sazh wanted to know what Vanille had kept from him but at the same time he knew this wasn't the time or place. Their first priority was to run. As he pondered what to do next and where they could possibly run now that the army knew they were gutsy enough to enter cities the chocobo chick popped out of his hair once again and fluttered around the courtyard twittering loudly.

Sazh was about to demand that the bird come back when he heard footsteps.

"Aready?" he thought. He pulled Vanille back into the shadows and motioned for her to stay quiet. Slowly he took out a gun from one of the holsters on his leg. Silently he stepped into the courtyard with the gun raised ready to strike whoever was following them.

"Daddy! I found you!" a young voice cried.

Instantly Sazh dropped his gun to the ground when he saw his son step into the courtyard with a huge grin on his face. He pointed at his father as if he had just won a game of hide and seek.

Dajh ran across the courtyard to his father barely managing not to trip over his baggy pair of overalls. When he reached his father he hugged him as tight as he possibly could.

Vanille who was still trying to process what was going on gasped.

"I got you daddy" Dajh exclaimed.

Sazh was in a state of shock. "Dajh, why are you here?"

"You promised to take me here"

"But…how did you get here?" Sazh continued to question. He knelt to his son and looked into his eyes. He tried to fight back the tears but no sooner had he let go of Dajh a bright light engulfed the little boy and forced Sazh to the ground. Vanille ran to help Sazh up pleading silently that she was wrong about what had just happened.

When the light faded, Vanille realized she had indeed been correct. Dajh's body was encased in crystal. The boy was frozen in the crystal with a grin on his face, the type of grin a little boy should have when his father comes home after a long vacation. She snuck a peek at Sazh and her heart felt as if it were ripped in two.

"Dajh no! Come back" Sazh screamed.

"I see now" a feminine voice called out through the darkness. A woman stepped into the courtyard to join them. Armed PSICOM soldiers flanked her at either side, their guns pointed at the cursed l'Cie. Upon closer inspection Sazh saw this as Jhil Nabaat, the woman who took Dajh into custody after he was made a Cocoon l'Cie. She was a tall built woman with eyes of ice blue and a mane of flowing blonde hair. The spectacles she wore on the bridge of her nose gave her an air of intellect and superiority. She wore the uniform of a PSICOM commander. "To search out and locate undesirables until their capture" she continued. "That was Dajh's focus."

Sazh gasped. His own son's focus was to hunt down his father. He was starting to realize just how twisted and cruel fate could be.

Jhil paced. "And he did so honorably while serving Cocoon in the process. You should be proud of him Mr. Katzroy. He allowed us to track your every move. The moment your team split up we split the army up as well. My not so tactful partner Rosch insisted on trying to capture the two l'Cie that went to Palumpolem as soon as possible. I however waited until you arrived here like Dajh said you would. I figured letting you come here on your own time would allow you to drop your guard, and it seems I was right."

Vanille clenched her fists in anger. She was disgusted that the Sanctum would use an innocent boy to hunt down his father to murder him.

"We cannot express our gratitude to your son, Sazh Katzroy. We will make a monument in his honor so that all of Cocoon will know that he has saved them. He's a hero." Jhil cooed. "and speaking of gratitude…" she pulled out a thin computer and tossed it to Sazh. "There's recordings of the security tape from the Euride Gorge there. The picture is a bit grainy but I think you'll find it interesting nonetheless."

When the computer clattered to the ground in front of Sazh it produced a holographic image that danced before him. While Sazh's mind was still on his son who was trapped in crystal, he was still curious to find out what exactly had happened the day his son became a l'Cie, so he watched.

The familiar view of the observation deck that overlooked the top of the volcano at the Euride Gorge flickered into view. This was the room that Sazh had found his son, branded a l'Cie after Dajh had ran off. Jhil had said that this video contained the moments that changed Sazh's life so he watched with such intensity he refused to blink.

Two figures stood on the observation deck, but his son was nowhere to be found. He was about to dismiss their importance in the recording when one of the figures caught his eye. She was petite, young and had very distinguishable orange pigtails. Vanille stood on the observation deck next to an older woman, who had a tall muscular frame. She wore a vibrant blue sari and her hair was bushy and unkempt.

"Fang, let's just go." Vanille said "What does our focus even matter?"

The woman named Fang scowled at her "What's it matter?" she repeated. "You wanna be a monster?"

"No but, I just don't want to-"

Fang cut her off and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Keep your chin up, We may not remember our focus, but at least we can be safe to say it has something to do with destroying Cocoon. If you ask me, we play the part and raise some hell. It might jumpstart our memories."

Vanille looked horrified. "What?"

"The fal'Cie….lets smash it" Fang replied as she gestured to the fal'Cie named Kujata that sat atop the volcano and converted the heat and natural gasses into fuel and electricity that powered Cocoon. It was almost spiderlike in shape. Its body was held over the opening to the volcano while eight legs connected to the rim.

Fang unhooked the lance that was strapped to her back in one swift motion and prepared herself to fight the massive fal'Cie before them.

Vanille hesitated. She didn't want to fight this fal'Cie and she didn't want to destroy Cocoon. There was too many good people here that she met that made her question the stories she was taught that Cocoon was a nest of vipers.

"Hello" a voice called out. "Who are you?"

The two of them turned to see a young boy with dark skin and dark hair standing before them. Dajh grinned and waved at them. He was about to ask them more questions like why they were talking in such a funny voice and why they were wearing funny clothing when the observation deck began to shake. Fang turned back on Kujata to see that it had become active and was ready to strike back at the enemy l'Cie. Lava spewed from either side of it as its dark eyes lit up a blood red.

Dajh cried out for his father as a glowing blue mark appeared on his hand. The mark of a Cocoon l'Cie. It was different than a Pulse l'Cie brand, it was thinner and almost hourglass like in shape. As the shaking continued the image began to lose focus and eventually went dark. Sazh didn't need to know the rest, he had witnessed it himself.

The holographic image went dark and Sazh was left sitting on the ground feeling anger bubble up inside him. "Vanille" was all he could say through clenched teeth.

Vanille who was forced to witness her sin all over again stood there crying. Her tear streamed down her face, one after another, seeming like they would never stop. She kept telling herself that this wouldn't have been so bad if she had just told him the truth earlier. Why hadn't she had the courage to tell them?

"Yes" Jhil purred. "That young lady's terrorist assault on the Euride Gorge was the reason your son became a l'Cie. Ironic isn't it, the very girl you've been traveling with and protecting is the one who stole your son."

"No!" Vanille cried. "I didn't mean to….it wasn't supposed to turn out like that." Before Sazh could answer her she ran away as fast as she could trying so hard to wipe the tears out of her eyes. She ran through a door at the base of the clock tower not caring where it led or where she was going. The only thing that mattered was getting away so that she could have time to think about what she had done and how she could atone for it.

A soldier raised his gun and pointed it at Vanille as she ran but Jhil held her hand out and said "Hold." She smirked at Sazh and said "Shall we finish the job, or would you prefer to?"

Sazh didn't even stop to think about the situation. He picked up the gun he had dropped to the ground and ran after Vanille letting his anger build at every thought and memory of his son. Vanille would pay! Then Sazh would ask to help the army hunt down the woman named Fang and he would make her pay too. After those two had their blood spilt for their sins the army could do with him what they pleased, for after that, Sazh would have nothing left to live for.

Vanille finally stopped running. She had ran into the clock tower and up a long pair of stairs realizing only when she reached the top, in a long outdoor bridge like area that connected the clock tower to another building off into the distance, that she realized it was pointless to run. She was only holding off the inevitable. She should have told Sazh the truth and maybe he would have understood, but now, hearing it from PSICOM made it sound like she was a vicious liar.

Between gasping for air and trying to stop her sobs, Vanille was starting to hallucinate. She was hearing Sazh's voice in her head passing his judgment down on her. "You are cold blooded, lying to people so that they would trust you and then using them as your personal shield to keep you safe and alive. You are a coward and a killer. The people you use don't get to live, so why should you."

Hearing this only made her collapse to the ground and cry even harder. She wished Fang were here, Fang would protect her. Then she realized, she was done being useless. She was done following people around and hoping they would protect her. She needed to learn to start protecting herself if she lived past tonight.

The sound of Sazh trying to catch his breath joined with her sobs. She looked at him slowly from the ground, pain etched in her eyes filled with pleading for his forgiveness. He had caught up with her and unfortunately he didn't look very forgiving. He clenched his chest where his brand was located as he struggled to say "Vanille" Slowly he pointed his gun to her.

Closing her eyes and wiping her tears away yet again, she took a deep breath and slowly got to her feet to face him. She remembered the promise she made to herself just seconds before. No more lying; no more cowardice; no more running. She faced him and slowly opened her eyes as she stretched her arms out to either side of him showing she wasn't going to attack and he had a free target.

"My name is Oerba Dia Vanille. I am a l'Cie from Gran Pulse, and to everyone here on Cocoon…evil" She announced. "Go on, shoot me…for your son!"

"Don't you even-"Sazh screamed at her. She flinched. "You think you die and that's that? You think you die and everything will be sugar and rainbows?"

"Then what can I do?" Vanille pleaded. "What do you want from me? If I can't live or die, what else can I do?"

"Don't ask me" Sazh snapped. "You figure it out. You caused this mess you should clean it up."

Vanille let fresh tears stream down her eyes again. "I don't know! I've been trying to figure it out since I was branded hundreds of years ago."

Sazh hesitated and slowly lowered his gun. At hearing Vanille had been branded for that long, even though he had no clue how she could have lived that long, meant she had been going through hundreds of years of pain and torture and at that moment it made him seem like his problems were miniscule. "Neither do I. It's over. There's nothing to do. Killing you won't help but keeping you alive won't solve this either. The army has caught us…it's over."

The pain in his chest was increasing to the point where he couldn't breathe. He gripped at his brand hoping the intense pain would stop, but instead it only grew worse as he collapsed to the ground. His brand began to pulse a deep red that slowly enveloped him. In a bright flash Sazh was knocked off his feet and across the bridge as a huge form descended from the clouds in a fiery flash of light. Waves of heat crashed upon Sazh and Vanille.

The figure was made of metal the color of molten lava. It stood on six long legs that allowed its body to be lifted high off the ground. Its' face looked human but had eyes of glowing red and its arms were long guns. It looked at Sazh and raised a gun arm to him ready to fire.

"If you're here to kill me, do your worst" Sazh screamed. He had never believed the Eidolon stories were true, though at this point he should have after all of the other l'Cie legends turning out to be true as well.

Vanille ran in front of him as he struggled to get to his feet. She held out her arms protectively. She was finished letting other people protect her, this time it was her turn to protect Sazh. "It's not over! You can't give up and die"

The creature took an arm and swung it at Vanille. She went flying across the bridge like a ragdoll hitting the high stone walls. She felt a sickening crack in her arm as waves of nausea washed over her as she fought to stay conscious. Her body was bruised and scratched already from the harsh travel they had been on. She had little food to eat and knew that she wouldn't be able to fight for much longer.

The creature raised its gun arm again at Sazh ready to fire when Vanille forced herself up and ran back in front of him. This time she pulled out the fishing rod she had attached to the back of her bearskin skirt ready to strike. Again the creature swung at her knocking her out of the way. She rolled across the stone ground as her arm began to bleed from a gash where the creature's metal body came in contact with her.

Adrenaline was powering her body now as she stood up again and staggered back to the creature placing herself between it and her companion. She could barely hold herself up. This time the Eidolon pointed its gun arm at her ready to shoot her and get her out of the way of it's real opponent. She closed her eyes and waited for the bullets.

Gunfire filled the air, but Vanille felt no more pain than what she was already in. The gunfire continued, and she realized it was louder than she expected. She slowly opened her eyes to see that Sazh was shooting the Eidolon with his own weapon over Vanille's shoulder.

"Leave her alone!" Sazh said. "Only I can carry out judgment upon her."

Slowly the creature lowered its arm and spoke in a deep voice. "I am Brynhildr. I am the Eidolon the fal'Cie have granted you for help on your quest to fulfill your focus. You called out to me in this time of need and I have answered."

"I called no such Eidolon" Sazh answered, his gun still raised.

"But you did. Your heart called out for reason to keep this girl alive. Your anger for her is causing you to lose your way. l'Cie do not kill each other and you were searching for a reason not to end her life. She has proven herself willing to die to protect you."

Sazh remained silent, partially because he knew it was true and partially because he believed arguing with an Eidolon wasn't a smart idea.

"I must leave you now, but I will always be with you and answer your call. Now go chosen l'Cie and fulfill your focus." Brynhilder said as the Eidolon burst into flames and vanished from the bridge.

Vanille gripped her arm in pain as she looked at Sazh expectantly. Her breathing was heavy and labored as she tried her hardest to stay conscious.

Sazh slowly pointed his gun to her again. "Like I will do anything an Eidolon or a fal'Cie tell me"

She gasped and backed up instinctively until her back was against the wall. When she realized she couldn't run anymore she stood still and smiled nodding to him, assuring him it was okay to shoot her if it would heal the wounds in his heart.

"Vanille, a lot of things can be excused…." He whispered. "But shooting kids…that ain't one of them" He lowered his gun and walked away.

She collapsed to the ground as fresh tears flowed from her eyes. She half wondered if it was possible to cry yourself to death. In that one moment Sazh had forgiven her. The chocobo chick living in Sazh's hair flew over to her and twittered happily.

Slowly Sazh lifted the gun to his own head. Vanille looked at him ready to thank him for his rare kindness and gasped. "No!" she cried.

"Enough….is enough" Sazh announced and before he could think about changing his mind he pulled the trigger. Vanille turned her eyes away seconds before the sound of gunfire filled the air around them.

The rest of what had happened that night was a blur to her. The adrenaline rush she had been working off of had long since faded and exhaustion set in and she could hardly remember what had happened after Sazh had pulled the trigger. She vaguely remembered screaming over and over until her lungs felt like they would collapse on her. She remembered PSICOM filling the bridge from both ends, guns pointed at her. She remembered being bound up and forced to wear the same type of robe that she wore on the Purge train. She remembered being forced onto a PSICOM ship with a coffin like case carrying Sazh being carried behind her…..and finally she remembered the peaceful sleep that overtook her as she cried herself to sleep in the cold dark room they had tossed her in. The last thing she thought was that they would kill her swiftly and she hoped that her death would bring peace back to this twisted world.