Chapter 13
A Focus Revealed
For a ship carrying quite a few important personnel, the security was weak. Lightning would have bet her life that every member of the PSICOM division would be on board however the resistance they had met on the way to the bridge of the Palamecia was light. Somewhere along their run of the ship, a code white was announced and Lightning told her companions she had no idea what that meant as she had never even heard of it. Perhaps it had something to do with the reason why no one was chasing after them.
As it turned out Lightning's thoughts were correct once again. As they burst through the door to the bridge of the massive ship they were met by only two people and not hoards of troops ready to shoot them down. The two people they came face to face with were Jhil Nabaat a commander of the PSICOM division and Primarch Galneth Dysley. Both of them wore smug grins.
Sazh let his hands wander to the guns sitting in the holsters around his legs. The woman who had tempted him to kill his own comrade, a girl he got to know so well he considered her like a daughter. After being treated like garbage and tossed into their prison cell, he got to thinking. If he had to take revenge out for what happened to his son, it would be this vile woman standing before him.
"I see you've finally made it." She said in a bored voice. "I figured after putting the ship under a code white and asking all unnecessary personnel to evacuate you'd at least pick up the speed to get here. See Primarch, I told you that by baiting the two we found in Nautilus, we'd draw out the others." She pulled out a thin rod from the inside of her jacket. It hummed with the power of electricity coursing through it. "Now Primarch, escape, I will finish this scum and bring peace back to Cocoon."
Dysley grinned "Why don't you leave Jhil. Or rather, why don't you take your leave." His voice was silky smooth and confident. "Humans have no place here."
Jhil gasped and turned to face her boss only to be hit directly in the chest by a sharp burst of lightning that erupted from the staff the Primarch was holding. She fell, lifeless to the ground before the group of l'Cie. Sazh could hardly piece together what had just happened. Sure he was happy that, that repulsive woman was dead, but at the same time, why would her own boss kill her just like that, with no reason as to why.
Dysley chuckled and sent raised his staff again. This time six dark colored orbs floated before him. In the flick of a wrist he sent the dark energy balls toward the fugitive l'Cie before him. Instinctively they dodged but they were left in confusion as to what just happened. The Primarch was clearly using magic; Magic very close to their l'Cie magic. If that was the case, then the Dysley was-
Snow charged at the old man, fist clenched. Before he could even hit the man he felt himself hit an invisible wall, smooth as glass. Upon contact he was sent flying backward by an unseen force. When he caught his breath after being hurtled across the bridge he screamed "You monster! People aren't yours to use."
Dysley chuckled once more. "What else does one use with tools? Haven't you fools figured it out yet? Cocoon is nothing more than a mere factory built by the fal'Cie, a factory for the mass production of human lives."
"Not any more it's not. We're giving Cocoon back to the people." Snow snapped.
"You really think so? You saw the fools, they will do nothing more than get themselves killed without fal'Cie aid. See how the tremble at the handful of a few pitiful l'Cie."
Lightning pulled out her sword and grasped it tightly with both hands. "If only they knew it was a l'Cie that was filling their fears all along."
Dysley tossed back his head and laughed. "l'Cie? You mean me? Oh child, perish the thought. I am much more than that." A blinding light surrounded the elderly man's form. His voice called to them "I am fal'Cie."
Vanille and Hope gasped in unison as Sazh, Fang and Lighting raised their weapons ready to fight off the fal'Cie that was before them. When the light cleared Dyslye's true form was revealed to them. It was a huge fal'Cie, with the body of a large dog ready to pounce upon them. It was made of what looked like the same living metal that the fal'Cie in the Vestige was. This fal'Cie however had five heads; One large head in the center with a row of sharp teeth and two that hung upside down on each shoulder. It's massive paw like hands came down before them with razor sharp claws threatening to slash them to bits.
"I am Barthandelus" he roared. "I am the governing voice of the Sanctum and the Lord-Sovereign of the fal'Cie of Cocoon. You should respect me. Your kind feared the darkness, so we gave you light. You begged us for a way to rid Cocoon of Pulse and did the Purge not come about?"
Lightning let out what could be defined as a growl. "So you decide what all the fal'Cie here do?" Without another word she called out in her mind for Odin. In a bright flash of magenta light from her brand Odin materialized before her. Snow and Sazh followed in suit bringing out the Shiva Sisters and Brynhindr . Vanille, Fang and Hope who had yet to have the ability to summon an Eidolon stepped back and let those who did have a shot at fighting the massive fal'Cie that stood before them.
Snow, Sazh and Lightning commanded their Eidolon's to attack Barthandelus. Because they did so with no question they had to assume that attacking the fal'Cie was definitely a part of their focus. The three Eidolon's struck Barthandelus at the same moment and a blinding white light engulfed him yet again. When the light cleared Barthandelus stood before them in his human form of the Primarch unscratched. He laughed at them while they stood before him wonder how he could survive an attack from three Eidolons.
With the flick of his staff the Eidolon's standing before him vanished and no matter how hard Lightning had tried she couldn't call Odin back to her. "You pathetic fools. I am lord-sovereign of all of Cocoon. You cannot expect to kill me like that. While Eidolons will help you over obstacles that humans may inflict upon you, they do not stand up to fal'Cie."
"How do you know this?" Vanille cried.
He looked at her and chuckled. "Stupid girl, surely you of all the l'Cie here should know how to destroy my kind."
Vanille looked away.
Fang stepped in front of her friend and yelled. "We were l'Cie once, but we lost our memories. So no, we don't know how to destroy your kind."
"Is that so," he questioned with an amused look on his face. "Then shall I remind you of the vision you were all given…Ragnarok."
Pain shot through Fang's arm pulsing from her brand. "What are you talking about. What's Ragnarok." She asked through clenched teeth. The pain in her brand was spreading throughout her body.
"You pitiful l'Cie. You've forgotten your focus haven't you?" Barthandelus asked. "Very well, if I must spell it out for you. Ragnarok is the beast that one of you must become in order to lay waste to Cocoon. One of you must become that monstrosity and defeat Orphan, the fal'Cie that created Cocoon and powers all of it's fal'Cie and you will release a power such that this world will have never seen."
"What are you saying?" Fang asked. "You're saying we must become this Ragnarok thing and kill millions of people?"
"Isn't that what the legend states?" Hope questioned. "Except Cocoon fought back and stopped Ragnarok from killing everyone."
"You stupid boy, Cocoon did not stop Ragnarok those hundreds of years ago, a pitiful l'Cie failed to fulfill their focus and stopped themselves from destroying Orphen. If one of you becomes Ragnarok and destroys Orphen correctly, then your focus will be fulfilled."
"That's impossible!" Snow hollered as he pulled out the crystal tear Serah had left him. "Serah asked us to save Cocoon before she turned to crystal. She was trying to tell us how to complete our focus and in doing so, she completed her own."
Barthandelus's laugh echoed off the walls of the bridge. "Her focus wasn't to tell you to save Cocoon you fool. You're dear fiancé wept crystal tears as you all came together because you all came together. That was her focus. She did nothing more than assemble the tools for Cocoon's destruction"
Snow clenched his fists ready to strike the old man again as the ship began to rock, throwing him off balance and onto the ground. "Well, I'd suggest you run l'Cie and see how stark reality really is." With a flick of his staff the glass walls of the bridge shattered and a miniature PSICOM ship appeared before them. With another laugh he levitated himself off the ground and in a burst of blue flame vanished in a shower of sparks.
"What do we do?" Vanille cried as she tried to keep herself from falling. "The ship feels like its collapsing."
"It is!" Lightning yelled. "The backup generators have been shut off. The ship is going down. If we don't move now we'll go down with it."
Sazh forced the door of the miniature PSICOM ship open and ran to the controls. "We gotta get going" he called to his companions. Fang, Vanille and Hope board the ship without a question. Snow however stood on the bridge of the Palamecia shaking in anger.
Lightning grabbed shoulders and shook him violently. "We need to go." When he didn't respond she slapped him as hard as she could. "Snow! Don't die here, Serah will want to see you when she wakes up." She had to practically drag him onto the ship and strap him in by force but he didn't fight back. When everyone was ready to go she yelled to Sazh "Go!"
The ship took off with a jolt and plummeted through the air. Sazh frantically pushed the buttons on the control panel to gain control of the ship to no avail. "It's jammed! I can't control it."
"It was a trap!" Snow yelled in anger. "We never should have trusted that fal'Cie scum."
"it's like the ship is flying itself." Sazh announced.
A voice echoed over the speakers in the ship. "Not so fast l'Cie" Commander Yaag Rosch said. "I won't let you get away with injuring me killing my partner and threatening the Primarch." A large ship came into view directly in front of them and promptly fired at them. The ship moved out of the way with ease by itself. Rosch fired even more at the enemy ship only to see it glide out of the way.
With another jolt it flew out of the way an plummeted downward while illuminating a soft green shield around them.
"The hell kind of ship is this?" Sazh yelled as he frantically tried to gain control.
"Look!" Hope yelled "Its Eden" he pointed out the window to see the floating city of Eden rushing towards them.
"You've gotta be kidding me" Sazh screamed in frustration. "This thing's delivering us right to the Sanctum?"The ship cruised through the barrier around the city with ease while Rosch's ship smashed into it and fell out of view leaving the commander wondering why the city accepted tainted l'Cie but rejected a commander that protected it.
The miniature PSICOM ship soared over the city of Eden; over thousands of unsuspecting people going about their daily lives waiting for the Palamecia to arrive carrying the l'Cie for their execution. Word would be arriving soon, probably tainted by Sanctum lies that the terrible l'Cie brought ruin to the beautiful ship and they escaped yet again.
They watched the world below them, filled with the most advanced technology created and wondered just how they were going to be able to escape this time. Vanille was awestruck by the view of the city and found herself hating her focus again. She turned around and let out a scream "Sazh look out!"
He faced forward to see they were headed directly for a skyscraper. He smashed as many buttons as he could but failed to gain control of the ship. They were going to crash, and if they by some miracle survived that, it wouldn't be long before they would be captured and executed. At the last moment they all closed their eyes and waited for the impact.