Final Fantasy XIII
Part One: The Hanging Edge
Chapter 5: Fallen Innocence
Summary: Cocoon's citizens have always been terrified of Pulse and the mysterious horrors that are said to stalk its hostile wastelands.
Their fear is so great that if a Cocoon native were to even have the briefest contact with Pulsian elements, former friends and neighbours would consider them corrupted and dangerous.
In light of this fact, the Sanctum orders the Purging of Bodhum in an effort to remove all potentially Pulse-tainted civilians.
Accordingly, soldiers round up all those identified as candidates for relocation and inform them of their impending exile.
However, PSICOM, the elite arm of the Sanctum military, then begins to massacre the helpless civilians. This prompts Snow to lead the people in a rebellion against the army. Tragically, one of the civilians who decides to follow him, hoping to protect her son, dies in the act of saving Snow's life.
From afar, the boy witnesses the moment of his mother's death in shock and disbelief.
Sazh watched on from the edge of the flying platform as more and more army forces swept across the desolate area known as the Hanging Edge as shot down several deportees in rebellion against the Purge, killing the instantly. Sazh was shocked at the brutality, that the Sanctum military used against the civilians, not even giving them the option of surrender, just shooting them on the spot, eliminating the threat.
"It's an out-and-out massacre. Those people won't even live long enough to die on Pulse." Sazh said watching on as more and more people were struck down right before his eyes, realising what the military was truly capable of. He was slightly relieved that he had Lightning by his side, an experienced soldier who could take on groups of these soldiers and beat them on her own. The fact he was there just sped up the process and even though he had used weapons longer than Lightning had been alive, Sazh knew that she definitely had more experience and in a fight he would lose.
"That was the idea," Lightning said, walking over to where Sazh was standing, joining him as they both watched the military massacre the purge deportees who revolted against the Purge, and even killing those who didn't. Sazh turned to face Lightning and with a shocked look on his face he said "What?" Inside, Sazh was thinking numerous questions, most of them being either, 'what does she mean that was the idea?' or 'How does she know this?'
"Sanctum logic. They conjured up the Purge to eliminate a threat," Lightning said with venom in her tone as she spoke, even her an ex-army member still couldn't agree with this it was just too evil in her opinion. "I mean-why carry the danger all the way to Pulse? Why not just stamp it out here? Execution masquerading as exile. That's all the Purge ever was." Lighting said explaining as much as she knew about the Purge and how much she had realised since the deportees had revolted and the actions of all the enemies she and Sazh had faced so far in the quest to escape the army and the Purge.
Sazh sighed and then gave a dry chuckle, even though he didn't find the situation or what the army had done humorous at all. " 'Relocation to Pulse.' How does the government get away with pulling crap like that?" Sazh said not believing that the government had so much power that they could actually eliminate an entire nation without even batting an eyelash, just giving the military an order and it being dealt with by the next day.
He then turned to Lightning and said "And you-you knew this was gonna happen?" Sazh realised that Lightning had some information on the Purge and wondered how far it went. Lightning shook her head slightly and said "The Purge was PSICOM. Private Sanctum troops, not the Guardian Corps." Lightning tried to explain to Sazh that the Purge wasn't in her jurisdiction at all, and that she just had access to certain pieces of information, but that didn't work at all.
"PSICOM, Guardian Corps… Soldiers are soldiers, aren't they?" Sazh said, getting more and more frustrated and irritated with the situation, the army and the government as the seconds went by. "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 going to matter what uniform he's wearing?" Sazh questioned Lightning, wondering what it mattered whether what branch of the military you belonged to.
Lightning pointed to one of the two grunt soldiers, Sazh and her had defeated earlier and said "Might have mattered to that one. Couldn't shoot, got himself shot instead," Lightning then started to walk forwards but stopped a little bit before she reached one of the far edges of the mobile, flying platform.
"How about you? Orders say shoot, you pull the trigger?" Sazh questioned, still trying to understand the ex-guardian corps soldier, the mysterious enigma that was Lightning. Lightning didn't provide an answer and just remained silent, and continued staring onwards. Sazh, still angry at Lightning, and showing it in his tone as he spoke, said "Fine. Forget I asked," and then he walked off in the opposite direction.
But luckily for the two of them, the awkward silence couldn't last too much longer as a new enemy arrived. A flying robot whizzed through the air, went into the platform and went over their heads and back again, whilst Lightning said "Wait… What-," and then the robot had enough playing around with the two purge deportees and charged at the two of them.
The robot was known as a Myrmidon and it was a tall robot and was painted red, white and blue with spikes in its claws that it used for fighting and was one of the weaker robots that were used in the Sanctum military, it was mainly used against civilians or small-time robbers, it had never battled another army member before and especially not one as high a rank as Lightning.
Lightning pulled out her Gunblade and Sazh did the same with his pistols and the fight began. The Myrmidon charged at Lightning with its claws and tried to slash her, but Lightning expertly dodged the attack with graceful movements and landed two quick slashes with her Gunblade against the robot and almost got in a third, the Myrmidon only managing to dodge just in time.
However, as it dodged the third attack from Lightning, it was Sazh's turn who fired eight bullets from each pistol causing serious damage to the Myrmidon's armour as it all hit in the same place that Lightning's slashes hit, the chest armour. Sazh then combined the two pistols to create a rifle and fired one last bullet, which with the combined power of both pistols had another power to break open the Myrmidon's chest and reveal its power source.
And then it all came to an end, Lightning readied her Gunblade, and with extreme accuracy sent a bullet straight into the Myrmidon's power source, shutting it down and to make sure it had no chance of being able to come back, Lightning leapt into the air and brought her Gunblade down straight onto the neck joint separating its head from the rest of its body. Some would call it overkill, Lightning however thought that it was just right, the needed precaution to ensure a further chance of living another day.
Then it happened… a loud army siren could be heard all around the Hanging Edge. It didn't matter where you were, you could be right next to the location where the siren was sounding from, you could be on the outskirts of the Hanging Edge itself it just didn't matter, it could be heard everywhere. 'What is going on?' Sazh thought, not realising that the true adventure was just about to begin.
Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter but I decided to make the first part of the story seven chapters and this is where it felt appropriate to end the chapter. Please continue to read and review and if I get 5 reviews I will update the next chapter by the end of the day, perhaps if I get more than 5 reviews, I will try and finish the first part of the story as there are only two more chapters for the Hanging Edge part of Final Fantasy XIII. Till Next Time, The Fantasy Man.