Wow, it was crazy hard for me to write everyone in the same room. So much easier to just watch a cutscene than to explain who's talking at all times. Review, let me know what you think!
While Lightning had never considered herself a genius, neither had she considered herself below the normal level of intelligence. She had gotten A's in school, had worked hard and had even taken classes others found difficult. But the pile of papers laid out in front of her on a table made her feel like she was back in seventh grade, looking at algebra for the first time and wondering who was punishing her this time. As far as she was concerned, it was just a bunch of scribbles on a paper to accompany some sort of weird prototype. What it was, she had no idea - and had gotten no clue while she studied them briefly.
So she stood back and rested her shoulder against the corner of a wall while the small group waited for the real genius to take the floor. From what Vanille had said, he would be here soon. From her place, Lightning had a good vantage of everyone else that crowded the room so far. Rygdea was there looking far more interested in the tanned skin Fang's sari revealed than any of the sat perched on the edge of the table scattered with the papers, kicking her feet wildly and watching her Pulsian sister. Sazh was propped up in a seat, flipping one of his guns around in his hands absent mindedly. Snow and Serah were on one side of the table looking at whatever the thing drawn on the papers was, while Cid stood on the other side, eyebrows knit in concentration as he absently scooted the paper back and forth to study them better. Something about him continued to draw her gaze, dulling her senses to the noises around her. Snow's booming voice admitting he had no idea what any of the mumbo jumbo was, Vanille's feet thumping against the table, and lastly Fang and Rygdea doing...their thing. All of those noises faded to the background while her aqua eyes studied the man that had now nearly killed her three times.
Gray eyes finally lifted and Lightning found herself staring into their depths for a few long moments. For those brief moments she felt as if every nerve in her body was coming undone until finally the door scrapping as it opened pulled her away from the intent stare. Shaking her head once to clear it, Lightning straightened and brushed some imaginary dust off her shirt while she watched Hope and his father enter the room. Vanille clattered off the table while Lightning struggled silently to get herself back together. Greetings were spoken from around the room while the two continued toward the table. As everyone started paying attention, Lightning closed in on the table until she could see the papers. Hope wasted no time with small talk, instead he got a nod from his father and swept a hand across one sketch to smooth the paper down. "Thank you all for coming."
"You told us to!", Vanille's voice chirped out. "Yeah, an' the bar wasn't open yet. Nothin' better to do.", Fang retorted. Lightning glanced her way to see the twinkle in her eye that would lead most to believe that Fang was kidding. ...Lightning knew better. If her and Rygdea hadn't snuck off for a drink in the few minutes time between watching Cid and this meeting, she would be surprised. "Well I appreciate you taking the time to be here. Even though the bar scored a higher vote." Hope's humor was as dry as ever, though there was a definite fondness there. "So are you going to tell us what the bigass thing on the paper does?" Classy, Snow... "Or even is?" Leave it to her sister to finally ask a serious question. "A prototype." "Yeah yeah, we get that it's a damned prototype. Of what?" Fang's voice reflected exactly how Lightning felt. From the way Hope took in that breath, this was going to be a long speech. "Four years ago when Cocoon was crystalized, every fal'cie to our knowledge went into a state of dormancy." Snow shook his head. "Titan didn't." "Except Titan.", Hope corrected. "Both Cocoon and Pulse-" "Gran Pulse." This time Hope shot Fang a look that said he didn't appreciate the interruptions. "Both Cocoon and Gran Pulse fal'cie were included in this. While I've tasked many men with figuring out why this happened, I'm afraid even after four years, nothing has been found which could have sparked the cause."
This didn't sound like it was going to be a fun rant by any means. "While some welcomed the freedom from fal'cie oppression, most didn't share the desire to be free of them. For those living on Cocoon, the fal'cie had been the source of survival for so long that it's been hard for them to adjust to life without that assistance." "Here's an idea. Why don' they put on their big girl pants an' learn to do it themselves." Lightning's eyes flickered over to Fang for a moment before she spoke. "What does this prototype have to do with the fal'cie?" She was rewarded by a look of gratitude. "I'm getting there. After various trips to the ruins of Cocoon to study the few dormant fal'cie we could find, we realized that while we could see a few, there were many that we couldn't seem to find anywhere. Phoenix was one of them. Yet we weren't alarmed until we found the shell of one that had been in the open." "Shell?" Lightning wasn't surprised at Fang's question...this was the first she had heard of it too. "It looked like how Phoenix looked after it lost the battle with Barthandelus two days ago. We found two more that looked the exact same - only we hadn't seen who or what had done it to them. That's when these plans were found in one of the excavation sites. I couldn't read the Pulsian, but I started the process of recreating the machine three years ago. Vanille has assisted me in the past few days to read the designs." Hope paused and glanced slowly around the room. "It's a way to break the dormant status of the fal'cie."
For ten seconds the room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. After a brief pause, Hope cleared his throat and continued on. "While I had thought that I had completed the construction, the machine would do nothing. However, Vanille has helped me to realize that there is a vital piece missing - the piece that gives the machine it's powers. It's called Facultas." "Where did you find these plans again?" "The ruins of Paddra." That gave Fang a start, and the Pulsian stared at him. "There's more." This was already more than enough to take in. "This machine...the plans were created and stored away for us to find them." "Excuse me?" Cid hadn't spoken this entire time, but his voice pulled Lightning's gaze toward him. "Along with the plans was a passage written by someone Vanille claims is a prophetess - a seeress named Paddra Nsu-Yeul." The name meant nothing to Lightning, but from the stricken look on Fang's face, it meant something to her. "It appears she foretold this to happen and ordered the means created to stop it." "Foretold what to happen?" Obviously Fang had had enough of this 'mumbo jumbo.' "The end of Pulse." "Gran Pulse!" Fang's chide didn't even seem to phase Hope this time. "If we can find the missing piece, I can get the machine working and we can use it to reactivate a fal'cie." "If we can find one, they're all hidden, remember?" "That's why we'll need one team searching for Facultas and one to find a fal'cie we can rejuvenate."
"Wait...wait...wait..." Lightning had almost forgotten that Snow was even here, but his voice brought her back to the reality of life. "Ooookay...maybe I'm the only one not getting this-" Lightning didn't quite understand it either, but she wasn't going to tell Snow that "-But could you explain to me again, only pretend I'm a five year old?" Sazh snorted from the other side of the room. "That isn't so hard, kid." Truer words never spoken. Snow didn't even look offended, though Lightning almost hadn't ever seen him more serious. "I mean, why would we want to rejuvenate the fal'cie in the first place? They're kinda the reason we got into that mess in the first place."
Hope seemed at loss, but his father stepped up and touched his arm, obviously taking the lead. All eyes swung to him. "It seems that Barthandelus is actually taking their essence when he defeats them in battle." "Yer not doin' so hot with the five year old part." While Lightning had to agree with Fang, maybe if they all shut up and let the Estheim's talk, they might get some answers. "By defeating them, Barthandelus basically withdraws their essence, or their life...their power. We're not sure how he does it, but he's sucking their power and transferring it to himself - gaining power and abilities and leaving behind an empty shell of the fal'cie as he goes." "Shit." Barthandelus was considerably powerful himself...if he had more power now, that couldn't be any good. They were screwed. "By rejuvenating a fal'cie, we'll know exactly where Barthandelus will show up next. That should give us an opportunity to destroy him." "That's a risky idea.", Lightning pointed out softly. All eyes swung to her. "Have any of you forgotten how difficult it was to defeat him the last time we tried? And he didn't have the strength of at least three extra fal'cie to back him up." "It's our only shot before he gets even more powerful." Yeah...but their chances didn't seem all that great. Lightning suddenly found herself staring into intense gray eyes again. "This group has a history of making the impossible possible." Somehow Cid's words caused a calm to pass over her.
Finding herself nodding, Lightning looked back at Hope and Bartholomew. "Who goes where?" Hope seemed at loss there and thought for a moment. In that time, Fang's voice piped up again. "Missy, where is the Seeress' writing?" Vanille bounced on her feet while she found the right paper to give to her older friend. "Here you go!" Fang took the paper and stared down at it. Lightning watched her read for a moment. In the meantime Hope seemed to have some sort of idea. "I think we should go to Cocoon to find a fal'cie since there's less chance that a civilian can get hurt in the chaos. That means those more familiar with Cocoon should go search for the fal'cie." At that moment Fang's voice rose again. "I know where Facultas is." Well that was at least one good thing about this whole meeting. "Fang, you'll be with the-" Hope hesitated a moment. "Gran Pulse group. I think you should probably have Vanille with you, since she's the only other Pulsian here. Rygdea, you'll accompany them." Fang nodded approvingly. Lightning inclined her head toward that group. "I'll go with them." Fang gave her another approving look before Cid stepped forward. "As will I."
Hope nodded, then looked at the room. "That leaves Sazh, Snow, Serah, my father and myself to find the fal'cie." Lightning started. "I don't want Serah anywhere near this operation." Hope glanced at her. "Light, I'll be fine." She wanted to object again. Was even about to open her mouth to argue when Hope soothed the situation over. "All we'll be doing is searching for a dormant fal'cie. Nothing can harm her." Lightning held his gaze for a few seconds too long before begrudgingly agreeing.
Hope's voice rang out again. "We'll be leaving tomorrow morning. Speak to myself or my father if you have any more questions." And that was that. Lightning felt a hand gently touch her arm. Without turning she recognized her sister. "Light?" Lightning pressed her lips together. "Light, I just want to help." Without saying anything she walked away, pulling from her sisters grasp.
She could feel every set of eyes watching her as she stepped out of the door.
