Chapter Three – All Talk
Chaos was the only word to describe what was happening at the resistance front, other than blatant murder. PSICOM soldiers were in the middle of shooting down innocent civilians even as they were taking up arms against them, and so far, it seemed they were at something of a stalemate. All around them were the sounds of gunfire, of metal tearing flesh and vice-versa, and the dead and dying.
"On behalf of Cocoon's citizens, I would like to thank our brave Pulse pioneers and express our best wishes for a successful relocation. Your noble and selfless sacrifice ensures the continued safety and peace of our society. Were it not for this remarkable gesture, every resident of Cocoon – your family, your friends, your neighbours – would be exposed to the dangers of the world below. By choosing to leave Cocoon, and participating in this migration –"
A foot came down hard on the radio currently spouting the voice of the 75th Primarch, Galenth Dysley, in the middle of a speech. The owner of this foot had blond hair, mostly hidden behind a black bandanna. He had blue eyes, a 5 o'clock shadow and almost always had a smile on his face. He had on a black t-shirt underneath a blue zip-down and a cream-coloured trench coat coated with grime, black pants and black leather boots, and biker gloves on his hands. He was around 6 feet 10 inches tall, and his name was Snow Villiers.
"'Migration'? More like 'extermination'," pointed out a blue-haired teen next to him. He was wearing the latest fashion from Eden, had blue eyes, and was currently carrying a loaded gun.
"Yuj, you stay here," said Snow.
"Sorry," Yuj apologised, seemingly embarrassed. "I didn't mean to –"
Snow shook his head. "These people need heroes!" He raised his fist for emphasis, and then reached out to straighten Yuj's hold on the gun.
"Here. You keep your cool, and they will, too." He glanced in the direction of the deportees behind them so Yuj knew who he was talking about, and put a hand on his shoulder. "You got it?"
"Got it," Yuj confirmed, his embarrassment long forgotten.
"What's our motto?"
Yuj grinned, putting his gun across one arm. "The army's no match for NORA!"
Snow grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. "Attaboy," he said, and tousled Yuj's hair. He then turned and ran for a particularly large piece of debris, over which were the rest of the resistance. On the way, he could hear other deportees talking amongst themselves.
"Why even bother?" one asked to no one in particular.
"We never should've fought back," another groaned.
"Aw, this is crazy!" a blue-eyed, blond-haired teen with deep-pink goggles and a gun complained from behind a barricade at the front lines. His name was Maqui.
"Then take a nap!" said a red-and-orange-haired man sarcastically from behind the barricade next to the one Maqui was behind.
"Really? Can I, Gadot?" Maqui asked, excited.
"Sure! And when we're taking a dirt nap, you can save 'em all!" Gadot yelled, just as a light thump from behind them signalled Snow's presence.
"Aw, that's even worse!" moaned Maqui, not noticing Snow, who was just next to him.
"No dirt naps today. We're all in this together!" said Snow, making Maqui jump and randomly fire his gun at an oncoming soldier. He shrugged, but kept firing.
"Our enemy's the Sanctum! Their dreaded PSICOM, no less," Snow continued.
"What's to dread?" a female voice called from behind yet another barricade, in front of Maqui and Snow's. Her name was Lebreau. "PSICOM's nothing but a whole bunch of bluster and bullying. They've got nothing on NORA."
"Well, we are the heroes after all." Gadot stood, still firing.
"Let's prove it!" Snow stood as well, and Maqui and Lebreau followed suit.
"Yeah!" yelled Maqui and Lebreau together as they disengaged from the barriers they were shooting from and began to make their way forward.
"The Sanctum's gotta pay for this," Snow muttered. The next wave of soldiers were running their way, but were easily dealt with.
"Revved up and ready!" Gadot yelled as the last soldier from that line fell.
…
"We've gotta clear a path outta here," Snow called to the others as they moved forward to a piece of debris. He used it to hide behind and peek at the next horde of soldiers headed their way. Maqui used the piece of debris to lean against and fall to the floor.
"No more…" he groaned.
Lebreau sighed. "There are soldiers everywhere." She rested her gun lazily over one shoulder.
"Yo boss, what's the plan?" asked Gadot from just behind her.
Snow peeked around the piece of debris at the soldiers, and shrugged. "Charge in, guns blazing," he said casually.
"Hey! That's not a plan!"
"Real heroes don't need plans," Lebreau put in, grinning.
"How about this? We hit 'em hard, and hit 'em again!" And with that Snow was off for the next soldiers who were unlucky enough to cross his path.
"Better," Maqui allowed as he got up and followed him.
"Heh-heh," Gadot laughed.
"Don't you kids go fallin' behind, now!" Snow called out as he ran.
"Yeah, yeah," Lebreau muttered.
There was only one more group of soldiers to go before they came up to the group of deportees they were guarding. A couple of punches and many bullets later, and they were through.
In between the deportees and Snow and the others was a pile of guns. Lebreau and Maqui knelt down to check them for ammo as Snow addressed the civilians.
"You all okay?" he asked. Finished with the guns, Maqui ran over to Snow but stumbled, very nearly dropping them.
"Hey, careful with those," Snow ground out, slightly annoyed.
Maqui looked the other way and laughed, embarrassed, as Snow turned back to the mass of deportees.
One woman caught his eye. She had a cream cardigan on with white tights and black-and-white shoes. Her hair was silver, which was the reason she had caught his attention, and as he looked closer her could see she had bright-green eyes. Judging from the clothes she wore, Snow guessed she came from Palumpolum.
"Don't worry. No-one's moving to Pulse today. We'll clear a path outta here, so be ready to –"
A deportee stood, and shouted, "Wait! Let me fight with you!"
Another one, still in white garb, stood as well, and added, "Yeah, you can't expect us to just sit here!"
Snow was surprised. He looked over to Gadot, and said, "Could help."
"Yep," Gadot replied.
The deportee who first spoke continued, "Please. Let us help." Before he could say more, or back out entirely, an explosion sounded in the distance, making the other deportees tremble and gasp in fear. Snow looked back and saw a hint of orange where the explosion had taken place.
"Okay, then. Volunteers front and centre."
Snow's statement was followed with more than half the deportees standing and walking forward to grab a gun, handed out by Maqui and Lebreau, who also showed the novices how to fire and the proper way to hold them. Finally, the woman Snow had noticed earlier decided to stand.
A boy in white garb who was sitting next to her whispered, "Mom?"
The woman looked back and smiled slightly. "Don't worry," she replied, and walked forward to grab a gun.
Snow's brow furrowed when he saw her standing in front of him. "You sure?" he asked her.
"Yeah," she replied, and it was then that Snow noticed the ring on her finger. She seemed to notice his interest, and smiled grimly. "Moms are tough."
"Right."
He extended a hand to Gadot, who gave him the extra gun. "It's the last one, boss," he informed him. Snow walked forward with the gun in his hands. Having no need of it, he offered it to the deportees.
"Alright, last one. Somebody, take it," he said, flipping the gun so he was holding the muzzle in one hand. He then tried to offer it to the woman's son, who scooted back, shaking his head.
"No…I can't…" Snow could hear him mumble fearfully.
Ah, he's just a little kid, Snow thought as a girl still in her white garb got to her knees and spread her arms out. "Here!"
Snow handed the gun over. "Push comes to shove, keep 'em safe." He winked.
First impression of Snow? All talk.
The girl imitated shooting with a murmured 'bang!' and cocked her head at Snow like a bemused puppy. He pretended to flinch, having been 'shot'. He then addressed the other deportees.
"All right, lay low and you'll be fine. We'll clear out the area. We're going home together!" he finished, punching the sky. There was no response from the group in front of him.
Lebreau sighed. "Come on! Everybody up!" she interpreted, beckoning for them to get up.
"Right. New recruits, on me!" Gadot shouted, and the volunteers followed except the silver-haired woman. Snow grasped her shoulder. "Come on."
"Yeah."
She stopped to take one last look at her son as Lebreau grasped him by the arm and said, "Time to go, kiddo." His mother smiled encouragingly at him, then nodded and turned to follow Snow and the others.
Lebreau turned to Maqui and Yuj, who were assigned to stay behind and protect the deportees. "Take them to a vacant skybridge and get them away from this area. It's the best chance for them," she instructed. "If you screw this up while I'm gone, I will personally skin you both, if I'm still alive to do it," she added pleasantly, as if she skinned people all the time. Then she took off after the others, leaving Maqui and Yuj behind.
They looked at each other and gulped, then led the other deportees to a nearby skybridge that, thankfully, wasn't overrun by soldiers. Maqui piloted the massive thing and steered it over so that they could see what was going on, but weren't actually involved in the fighting. After that, everyone just went off on their own, careful not to fall off the edge, and huddled together with the people they knew for safety. The woman's son – who had inherited his mother's silver hair and green eyes – and the girl with the gun stuck together near the edge of the bridge so they could see what was happening.
"We're not losing to PSICOM, you hear me?" Snow called to the massive group making their way through the fight to the resistance front, gunning down the soldiers even as they were shooting at them.
"Stay sharp!" Snow scolded Gadot after he'd stumbled into a soldier, knocking him off of the trussway. "We don't want to make their job any easier."
"Sorry, boss!"
"Lebreau, back us up!" Snow instructed Lebreau, who responded, "On it!"
As they reached the final set of soldiers blocking them from the front lines, several more Pantherons burst from a bioweapons portal nearby. Snow gritted his teeth and barrelled into them, sending several flying over the edge of the trussway and down. He then pummelled the other soldiers and remaining Pantherons while Gadot, Lebreau and the others got to work using them for target practice.
Snow ran forward next to Gadot. "All right! Let's shake things up a bit," Snow said, punching the palm of his hand.
At that moment, one of the Wardens sent up a couple of bullets. "Mobilize BETA force! Take down the Resistance!" he yelled. A massive sky-tank hovered down over their trussway at his words – with a Beta behemoth on it. It gave an almighty roar and jumped down off the sky-tank, landing in front of Snow, Gadot and Lebreau. All three stared for a bit, and then composed themselves.
"Heroes don't run from fights," Snow declared, raising his fists. Gadot trained his gun at the massive thing while Lebreau took out a couple of potions and placed them in her bra, sensing they would need them.
The best place for a girl to keep things, Lebreau thought, grinning and raising her gun.
And need them they did. Besides bruised knuckles on Snow's part, mostly because he always refused a weapon when offered, the Beta behemoth's claws packed a mean punch, and they were sharp as razors to boot. When it finally was nothing more than a lump of metal and flesh on the ground, with sparks accentuating its bullet wounds, all they had to do was approach the barricades in front of them and they had made it to the brunt of the chaotic warfare.
Not long after they got there, most of the soldiers turned tail and ran, occasionally firing shots behind them. Seconds later, a sky-tank was bearing down upon them, shooting from its four turrets and killing most of the Resistance's volunteers. Gadot ducked down behind a barricade.
"Snow! We've got trouble!" he shouted.
"Yeah, no kidding," Snow murmured. He spied a rocket launcher left behind by one of the soldiers and had a reckless, dangerous idea. He glanced from the explosive weapon to the sky-tank as cogs spun. If he could just reach that weapon without getting shot…
He acted without thinking. He ran forward, dodging the bullets raining down upon him, and dove for the rocket launcher. He overcompensated, landing on his back with it behind him and out of even his considerable reach. He reached for it anyway, trying and failing to get a grip on it. He looked up at the sky-tank, as it readied the main cannon.
Snow gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, preparing for his end. He prayed it would be quick.
I'm so sorry, Serah.
Before he could think much more than that, the cockpit exploded, sending the tank into a slow fall. Snow looked behind him to see the silver-haired woman toting the same rocket launcher that he had made a mad dash to retrieve, the weapon smoking slightly.
"I told you, didn't I?" she said as she offered Snow her hand. "Moms are tough."
Snow took it, and she helped him up. He looked over at the sky-tank, and his eyes widened. The cannon was still primed – and it was preparing to fire.
Before Snow could blink, let alone warn the woman, the cannon let off a shot straight for her. Her eyes widened, and she fell forward. Snow was thrown back with her, but caught her before she could hit the floor.
His back hit the ground hard, quickly followed by his head. Snow saw stars for a moment, but when he could see again, the piece of trussway that had caught the brunt of the cannon fire now more resembled a ramp, sending its occupants down, along with piece after piece of debris.
Snow sat up, clutching his saviour in his arms, and cried out, "No. No!" He could do little but watch as people fell, taking others who could have survived with them.
Suddenly, and without warning, the piece of trussway they had landed on in the blast began to tip, forcing Snow up and into a run to catch the woman, who had fallen out of his arms and had begun to fall. He caught her, and a protruding piece of metal, just before they would've both plummeted to their respective deaths.
Snow looked down at the woman, who was swinging precariously, unable to fall because of his hold on her hand and the metal. He felt his arm stretch slightly with another's weight, but could hardly do anything in this precarious a position. She looked into his eyes, pierced them with her own, and whispered, "Get him home…please…"
It was quiet, but Snow heard her. "Hold on!"
She smiled slightly, closed her eyes, and fell still. Snow felt her slip in his grasp.
NO! He couldn't let this happen! But before he could do or say much more, she was falling.
"No!" Snow yelled. He looked down at his hand despairingly. The trussway he was desperately holding on to teetered, tipped, and finally broke off, sending him falling after her, the words of the woman still ringing in his ears.
As he fell, he thought he heard a boy scream.
On the skybridge next to the ensuing carnage, the silver-haired boy screamed and stretched out his hand for his mother. He couldn't believe she wouldn't come back. He was so caught up in despair he didn't even notice the explosion in the distance. His red-haired companion, however, did, and made to pull him away, but he wouldn't budge.
"Come on!" she groaned, giving his hand a tug. Exasperated when he refused to move, she slapped him to get his attention.
"We have to move!" she implored.
"Al-alright, okay," he agreed. He felt disconnected from his body, like his soul had died along with his mother. He couldn't feel. All he could do was act.
So he let himself be pulled away from the horrible scene before him by his upbeat companion, unable to believe there was any hope left for him.
Meanwhile, from the relative safety of another skybridge, Sazh looked on at the horror of the Purge. By now, PSICOM had given up subduing in favour of massacre. His hand closed on a thick steel wire supporting the Skybridge, refusing to close his eyes, refusing to blink.
"It's an out-and-out massacre," he choked out. "Those people won't even live long enough to die on Pulse."
Lightning stepped up next to him, her cool façade making it hard for him to tell what effect the massacre had on her. "That was the idea," she stated, a hint of sadness lacing her tone.
"What?"
She shrugged slightly. "Sanctum logic. They conjured up the Purge to eliminate a threat." She crouched down, gunblade resting on her shoulder, and continued, "I mean – why carry the danger all the way to Pulse? Why not just stamp it out here?" She stood up again, gun still resting on her shoulder, and looked over at Sazh. "Execution masquerading as exile. That's all the Purge ever was."
Sazh had stayed silent through her lecture, putting the pieces together as she handed them to him. He turned away from her.
"'Relocation to Pulse'. How does a government get away with pulling crap like that?" He turned to face her again, pointing a finger. "And you – you knew about this?"
She shook her head. "The Purge was PSICOM. Private Sanctum troops, not the Guardian Corps."
"PSICOM, Guardian Corps…soldiers are soldiers, aren't they?" he persisted, automatically using his hands for emphasis. "Pulse fal'Cie – and their l'Cie – are enemies of the state. Tell a soldier to kill an enemy, and you really think it's gonna matter what uniform he's wearing?"
She shrugged again, seemingly unfazed by Sazh's little tirade. "Might've mattered to that one." She gestured to one of the soldiers they had killed earlier. "Couldn't shoot, got himself shot instead." She walked calmly to the middle of the bridge as she spoke.
"What about you? Orders say shoot, you pull the trigger?" he called after her. When she responded with silence, he groaned, "Fine. Forget I asked."
Lightning, however, was distracted by something entirely different. She flipped her gunblade into sword mode. "Wait…what –?" Her eyes were fixed on the Myrmidon hovering straight for them. As soon as it landed, Lightning charged for it, aiming to cleanly slice off one of its arms, but it was too quick, and dodged. Gunshots ringing from behind her signalled that Sazh had joined the fight.
About damn time he noticed.
Lightning charged for it again, this time flipping easily over it to land behind it. Taking advantage of its distraction, she turned and sliced through it cleanly, easily severing it into two pieces. Stepping over the Myrmidon's remains, she looked up at a siren's wail in the distance.
"What's that?" Sazh asked, pointing into the sky, where a huge thing was being transported through the sky, over the war-torn district.
The Vestige, Lightning thought.
"Attention Purge deportees. Attention Purge deportees," a voice sounded over the ensuing chaos, loud enough that everyone heard. "Put down your weapons and surrender immediately."
"Your removal is the will of the people of Cocoon. Should you attempt to flee, the Sanctum will employ every resource necessary to bring you to justice. This land is no longer your home. Cease hostilities and surrender at once."
Snow slowly managed to haul himself up off of the trussway he had fallen back-first onto. The fall was short enough that the only serious injuries he had were bruises, but he was still winded from the fall. He looked up and saw the Vestige being transported through the sky, with two Sky-tanks and a cruiser-class airship – The Palamecia, to be exact – as its escort.
"Serah!" he breathed, then doubled over in pain.
"Just what you were looking for," Sazh remarked, pointing upward at the Vestige, still in view from their perspective.
"Yeah. Right in there," Lightning replied.
"The Pulse fal'Cie. Huh."
The silver-haired boy and his red-headed companion also heard the warning, and saw the Vestige. The boy knelt down and doffed the white attire that marked him as a deportee. Underneath he wore an orange and yellow coat over a black t-shirt. He also wore dark-green three-quarter-length pants and a green neckerchief, as well as a yellow cloth tied around his wrist, a pair of dark-blue and white gloves and grey sneakers.
"Mom," a little kid next to him whimpered. His mother knelt before him.
"Don't worry, we'll be okay," she soothed.
Mom…
The silver-haired boy turned to see that his companion had finally taken off her white attire. She was beautiful, with her red hair tied into pigtails. Her clothes were…weird. Her skirt seemed to be made up of different fabrics, with some kind of pelt covering her butt and thighs. Her top consisted of what looked at first like a tube top, but upon further inspection the boy noticed the fabric went around her neck, beneath her necklace, which was made of multi-coloured beads. Lines of beads connected the necklace to a beaded belt around her middle, and another belt, this time made from a type of leather, circled her waist.
She smiled awkwardly at him, and then reached down for the gun she'd left at her feet. She turned and gave it to the boy. "Here."
He stayed still. She then pulled him forward to hug him. He was stunned. He couldn't move. She pulled back and put her hands on his shoulders.
"It's too much, isn't it?" she asked. She smiled slightly. "Face it later."
She stepped backwards. "Ciao!" she waved, and ran.
The boy dropped the gun he was holding. "Hey! Wait!" he called, and chased after her.
A brown-haired girl watched as they ran past. She frowned in thought for a moment, hesitated for a second, and then ran after them.