Chapter Twelve – Casting the Net
"Maybe we shouldn't have left him on his own," Vanille murmured. She, Lightning and Sazh were winding through the crystalline maze that was Lake Bresha, leaving Snow and Keller behind with Serah.
"Guess all we can do is pray he makes it out okay," Sazh replied as they came across yet another trussway piece with a group of three Breshan Bass. "And besides, he has Keller with 'im. They'll be fine."
Once they were cleared, the l'Cie proceeded down a sharp embankment that lead to four more pantherons, which were easily taken care of.
"I hope they're okay," said Vanille with a sigh.
Just past the sharp hill they'd just come down there were two gigantic black metal tubes crossing a gaping chasm that seemed to be their only way of getting across to the other side.
"They don't look too safe…" Sazh said, but was cut off by Vanille's wordless exclamation of delight as she ran onto one of the tubes...and kept running.
"Hey! Where're you going?" Sazh yelled after her.
"Across!" she yelled back, now over halfway to the other side.
Sazh shook himself as he approached, and took a hesitating step onto, the tube. "Okay, do not shake the slippery tube. We cool on this?" He took several more confident steps. "Do not shake the slippery tube!"
"Kweh!" chirped the chocobo chick in agreement.
Lightning stepped calmly onto the tube, and with three people stepping on it out of time and with different body weights, it began to shake slightly. Sazh turned around to scowl at the ex-soldier. "Hey! Did I or did I not say to shake the tube?!"
Lightning merely rolled her eyes in response.
"It's only scary if you look down!" Vanille called from the other side. "You should close your eyes!"
"What?" Sazh yelled, whirling around to target the red-head. "I am not closing my eyes, dammit!"
Unsurprisingly, Vanille was disgruntled by Sazh's immediate veto, but she simply shrugged and replied, "It worked for me!"
After all of them were across, they were immediately greeted by six bass, five of them of the Bloodfang variety and the lone other Breshan. Compared to the silver bass that were giving the l'Cie so much trouble before, the red-hued bass they now faced were easily dispatched by a combination of Lightning's blade and Sazh and Vanille's magic attacks.
They noticed yet another 'slippery tube' to their immediate right, and after much arguing over who would go over it – Vanille insisting Sazh do it and 'try to close his eyes' while doing it – Lightning ended it all by walking calmly over it herself. She found five more bass – four Bloodfang and one Breshan – and two silver spheres. One contained a whopping 240 gil, and the other a pair of yellow pistols, called 'Deneb Duellers', that Sazh took off Lightning's hands and placed in his coat pocket.
It wasn't too long after this that Hope caught up, with no Keller in tow. When asked about her, he just shrugged and told them that she had elected to stay behind to help Snow.
"Still couldn't talk to him?" Vanille asked Hope in an aside a little after he had caught up. When he didn't respond right away, Vanille shook her head and placed her hands on her hips. "You'll never get past this if you don't say something!"
"Words won't change anything," Hope pointed out. "But next time we meet, he'll learn exactly how I feel."
"Hey, look over there," said Sazh, pointing ahead.
A ways in front of them and to the right was a group of pantherons guarding another silver sphere. To the right was a small aircraft lodged sideways into the crystal, its wing pointing to the Hanging Edge above them, as if reminding them of the threat they were trying to outrun; and in the middle of the two was a particularly long trussway piece extending into the steep back of a frozen wave.
"I'll check for a way through," said Sazh to Lightning before taking off down the trussway and examining the massive crystallised wave stopping their progress. Lightning, Hope and Vanille ran over to the pantherons and got rid of them. Inside the sphere they were guarding were several more potions that Lightning placed inside her thigh-pack, which, by now, was running out of room. Once she was done she walked over and carefully examined the small craft as Sazh returned from inspecting the cliffside.
"No way over or through," he said; then, catching Lightning's careful examination of the craft, continued, "I don't think flyin' outta here would be our best bet..."
"Looks operational," Lightning murmured before jumping up the craft's exposed back and slashing at the automated machine guns it was fitted with. They jerked as they fired, making the crystal cliff crumble and leaving their path mostly clear once again.
"...Oh."
"I wouldn't get too excited," Lightning advised, and pointed ahead. For on the trussway were now a group of ten bass, seven of which were Bloodfang.
"Oh, you're kiddin' me..." Sazh groaned.
After they were all cleared from the trussway bridge, they set off once more.
"I'm checkin' ahead," said Sazh. "Somethin' doesn't feel right."
The path wound around in a 'c' pattern from right to left. When Lightning and the others caught up to Sazh, he was bent down and staring intently at something ahead. When he saw them, he waved a hand down in a way that meant, "back, go back!" Lightning paid no heed to this and walked up to him. "What is wrong with you?"
She glanced over to where Sazh was looking – and immediately drew her Gladius. "Alpha Behemoth."
It was huge and green, with green and gold tails coming from its shoulders as well as the normal area – common for behemoths. As soon as it saw the l'Cie, it roared a horrible metallic roar and padded over to them, staring them down with cold yellow eyes.
Lightning looked to the others, drawing from her experience dealing with behemoths-turned-bioweapons. "Watch out for its swipe, that's how it charges its power. Only use fire and water magic; it's susceptible to those."
They immediately lashed out, using only fire and water magic on the bioweapon while Lightning charged into the battle with her Gladius. She knew where some behemoth flesh still remained, and slashed at the back of its hind leg. It gave another horrendous metallic roar and turned to her, yellow eyes gleaming. It swiped forward with its gold claws, but Lightning simply flipped past, slashing at its outstretched leg.
When she landed, she concentrated hard, and tapped into her magic, picturing a water-ball hurling into the behemoth. To her pleasure, a water-ball formed in the palm of her hand, and she quickly threw it at the behemoth's face, drenching it in the liquid. Its eyes sparked a little and it roared again. In the midst of being peppered with fire and water magic from all sides, it did not see Lightning circling back to its rear end. It did not see her jump onto its back. But it did, however, feel her blade punch straight into its spine.
It howled, spine spitting electrical sparks from where the wound was, before puffing into black ashes, carried away on the wind.
Everyone sighed in relief and put away their weapons. Lightning checked to the side and found another sphere full of potions.
"Look at that. They're sendin' in cruisers," said Sazh, pointing down the cliffside towards a massive airship down below. "Primarch must be sweatin' bullets, mobilizin' ships like that."
Everyone crept forward and looked down. Smaller aircraft buzzed around the cruiser, and PSICOM soldiers below it seemed to be forming sweep teams.
"They must be huntin' down Purge survivors," breathed Sazh.
"I hope everyone made it out okay," said Vanille.
"So do I," Sazh replied, "but nowhere is safe for 'em now." He slapped a hand against the cool crystalline surface beneath him. "Damn it!" Just 'cause they shared a neighbourhood with a fal'Cie... they get treated like Pulse-tainted rats!"
Vanille took a deep breath. "People really hate Pulse, don't they?"
Sazh sighed and straightened his back. "Not hate. More like fear." He looked down at his Pulse brand, half-hidden by his shirt. "Tens of millions of people, all scared of Pulse bogeymen." His hand gravitated to his chest, and clenched. "They'd be... shakin' in their beds every night if they knew that l'Cie like us were around."
"But... they Purged that entire town!"
"It's crazy, I know..." Shaking his head, Sazh continued, "But the Sanctum fal'Cie did nothing to stop it. Up until now, Eden's always stepped in, to correct their errors in judgement. Guess humans aren't worth the effort anymore!" He threw his hands up in disgust. "Figure they'll let us just kill each other off!"
Hope stood. "L'Cie are not human," he said gloomily.
Vanille's eyes narrowed. "Listen you, that's enough!" she snapped, standing and walking angrily over to the boy, grabbing his left wrist – where his brand rested.
She looked at the brand for a time, and then snatched her hand back. She walked a little ways away from the others and looked up. "We're still alive. That's something!" she smiled half-heartedly, seemingly trying to make up for her loss of temper.
Sazh sighed – and then a rumbling sound could be heard above the monotone sound of the airbikes circling the cruiser. Everyone looked around, hearts beating wildly, searching for the source of the noise, but it sounded familiar to Lightning...
"What?"
"Where is it?"
"...I don't know."
Finally Lightning stood and spotted it. "There!"
Several fair-sized aircraft plunged through the sky, making the air shake and the three of four l'Cie to fall to the ground, unable to hold their balance, as only Lightning remained upright.
"They're sealing off the area," Lightning said as, one by one, Sanctum soldiers below them waved the aircrafts down to land. "They're trying to trap the stragglers. We've gotta get moving before we're caught in the net."
Everyone stood and followed their path down with renewed energy. They all knew their likely fate if they were caught in PSICOM's net.
…
Lightning stopped the group as they rounded a bend in their path and spotted a pair of soldiers guarding the next corner. She turned to face the group.
"We might be able to find a relatively safe place to stay for an hour or two if we make it to the Bresha Ruins, which, according to my compass, is just west of here. We can figure out what to do after that."
Everyone else nodded, secretly glad that they didn't have to take up the leadership role.
"Sazh, come with me. We need to take out those soldiers."
Sazh nodded and took out his guns, aiming carefully at one soldier before pulling the trigger. The soldier fell to the ground with no fuss, and his partner was taken out by Lightning before he could react.
The l'Cie rounded the bend and moved up the path as fast as they dared, before long coming across three of the weirdest-looking robots Vanille had ever seen. They were a blue similar to that of the cool crystal surrounding them; this made them difficult to see, but not impossible. They had no arms or legs, but seemed to hover above the ground by their own power.
"What are those?" Vanille asked quietly.
"Watchdrones," Lightning replied, "susceptible to thunder and water magic. Watch their legs, they have a mean kick." She then ran towards the three drones.
"Legs? What legs?" Vanille didn't see any legs at all. So what did Lightning mean by 'a mean kick'?
Her question was answered soon after, for as soon as they spotted the former soldier, the drones' arms and legs popped out from holes in their sides and underneath them. Where their feet should have been, however, there was nothing but a sharp point, similar to that of a drill.
"Oh. Those legs."
All three drones hummed menacingly as they quickly approached the intruder. One drone had one of its arms cut off by Lightning's blade, and then several water spells in rapid succession finished it off as its circuits overloaded. The other two quickly surrounded Lightning and proceeded to drill into her with their legs, leaving painful bruises and welts. Lightning quickly dodged another attack and drank a potion, feeling her injuries heal like they weren't there to begin with. She and the others quickly finished off the other two drones before anyone else was hurt.
Once the three drones were taken care of, the l'Cie spotted a skybridge similar to the one that Lightning and Sazh had commandeered during the Purge – but this one was too battered for flight.
"Too bad that's all busted up. Sure woulda made things easier," Sazh said wistfully as they approached.
"We would've been sitting ducks on that thing," Hope responded, his voice still holding a touch of gloom.
"I guess it's for the best, then."
The skybridge then gave way to a shockingly steep crystal waterfall, which the l'Cie then began to scale.
"Do we really have to go this way?" Sazh complained. "I'm too old for this."
Lightning persisted as if she hadn't heard Sazh's complaints at all.
As they scaled higher, Sazh's complaints came in faster. "Whoa, how high is this thing? I don't think I'm gonna make it!"
When they had finally reached the top, Sazh stretched his sore muscles and cracked his aching bones. "The years catch up with you," he sighed.
The four l'Cie continued on – until Vanille ran ahead to peer over the cliff-like edge. Below them was the waterfall they had just scaled, as well as the skybridge. In fact, from there they could map the path they had taken. They had reached one of the highest points in Lake Bresha.
"Whoa! This whole place is crystal!" Vanille exclaimed.
And it was. Looking around the glassy expanse, surely they were all thinking of the same problem – how are we going to get out of here?
Looking past the view, Lightning's sharp eyes caught something in the distance – airships. The net was closing fast.
From beside Vanille, Sazh sighed. "I wonder what it would be like... to become a crystal, I mean."
Vanille turned to face him, a quizzical expression on her youthful features. "You're gonna complete your Focus?"
Sazh shrugged. "Maybe. If I knew what it was." Then, thinking of what that Focus was most likely to be, he said, "I probably don't wanna know."
Vanille then turned to Lightning with the same quizzical expression. "Hey Lightning. Did Serah say anything to you about her Focus?"
Lightning looked down, clutching her thunderbolt pendant in her hand. "Nothing."
Sensing that their veritable leader was drifting, Vanille, somewhat desperately, tried to bring her back. "You know what? She probably didn't wanna worry you!"
"Or she just... didn't think she could trust me." Lightning turned away from the group, memories shuffling melancholy through her mind.