Stepping out of the ship, everyone looked around. Lightning voice the question that was in their heads.
"Where are we?"
Vanille stepped back as she looked around.
"It looks like a piece of Pulse."
Sazh raised his eyebrows at her.
"Pulse? What, you mean like the Bodhum Vestige? Something like that, this close to Eden..."
Fang pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips.
"Yeah, well, what I don't understand is, after the Purge, and all that l'Cie paranoia...why keep a chunk of Pulse under the floorboards?"
No one had a real answer to that. Hope looked down a tunnel.
"Is this what the Primarch wanted us to see?"
"A place for l'Cie to accept their fate," Lightning murmured, just loud enough for all to hear.
Rayne looked back at the eldest members of the group.
"Do you really think our Focus is what Dysley said it is?"
Vanille looked at the other girl solemnly.
"You mean, become Ragnarok."
"Destroy the fal'Cie Eden, and shatter Cocoon," Sazh added," That's what the vision's telling us, more or less. So we're back to square one. Out of luck."
During that whole exchange, Snow had been oddly quiet, something that Vanille wouldn't have.
"Mr. Hero! Cocoon calling Snow!"
She looked insulted as he didn't respond at all. Rayne stared at the blonde male, a frown on her face. She didn't like seeing someone she had faith in losing their confidence. It angered her. She glanced over as Hope spoke.
"It's almost like Dysley wants it to come true."
"Seems that way," Sazh shrugged," He sure didn't mind explaining it. 'Here's your Focus on a silver platter'."
Rayne tuned out of the conversation. It didn't make sense. A Cocoon fal'Cie wanting the destruction of Cocoon. Of everything they had created. Why? For what purpose? The girl came out of her thoughts as the group began moving again. She glanced back at Snow, who only seemed to follow reluctantly.
"I really don't know who to trust in life, do I?" she mumbled to herself.
They continued on, fighting strange monsters every now and then. Rayne noticed how isolated she felt. Everyone knew it each other or had connected at one point or another, but here she was as the odd one out. She joined so she wouldn't die. Saving Cocoon sounded well and good, but now she had to potentially destroy it? With each terrible uncertainty welling inside her, her chest felt heavier and heavier, almost painful. She practically staggered into a huge room, which what looked like pillars in it with piping and tanks. The others were staring around at everything.
"I can't believe we're still in Cocoon," she heard Hope state.
Sazh agreed.
"It's kind of creepy."
They moved on a little farther before Vanille made an observation.
"This place-it must be an Ark."
"An Ark?" Lightning asked.
Fang turned and nodded.
"That's what they called 'em."
"Long ago, the fal'Cie who made their home on Gran Pulse were afraid of invasion from the outside," Vanille informed them," As part of their battle preparations, they created an army of living weapons. And they stored those weapons in Arks, and they hid the Arks all over the world."
"Everyone on Gran Pulse knew the legend, "Fang added.
"So," Lightning said," this is basically a Pulse armory."
Fang hummed in agreement.
"Most of us never believed in 'em. A few people tried searching, but they never found a thing. Who'd have thought to look on Cocoon."
Rayne groaned quietly to herself. It was all becoming too overwhelming. All these secrets the fal'Cie hid. Issues between Cocoon and Gran Pulse becoming so intense. Being a l'Cie and being stuck with Hope and an impossible Focus were driving her mad. She was brought back to the conversation as Vanielle's voice cut through her thoughts.
"The story's not done!"
Fang continued.
"They used to say the Arks had a more practical purpose."
Lightning's eyebrows went up.
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, to force l'Cie to master their shiny new powers."
Again Rayne's attention faded. No. Now they were just weapons to be honed. That was okay? A weapon is a weapon. It does damage. Who was to say just because they didn't want to destroy Cocoon that they wouldn't end up doing it anyway? Killing people...destroying families...ripping parents from children. The chamber shook as the pillars opened, releasing a few monsters they had run into before. Following as they moved on, Rayne's head swam with memories and ideas of possible futures. After only five more minutes on the move, she collapsed with pain, her chest hurting drastically. Hope heard her cry out and was the first to come over to her. He knelt down and grabbed her shoulders.
"Rayne! Are you okay?"
She looked up at him through eyes barely open. A mental image of a young Hope pushing her away came to her. She pushed him away as she stood up.
"Get away from me," she hissed," This is ridiculous. You all think you have a plan. What plan?! We're going to kill people. An entire population will be wiped out by one of us. It's our Focus! You can't change that! We're monsters and you all move along merrily ready to become stronger monsters. No! I won't hurt people. I won't tear apart families! Argh!"
The girl fell to her knees again, her chest glowing.
"Eidolon," Lightning warned.
There was a cry and a giant bird Eidolon appeared. Hope got to his feet as the group, including Rayne stared at it. It had wings and clawed feet. The girl stumbled back in shock as it struck a claw toward her. Hope caught her and moved in front of her.
"We won't hurt anyone, Rayne. You have to believe that."
Hope turned to her.
"You have to trust that. We won't tear apart families or kill anyone. We're not monsters. You..."
The young boy looked her straight in the eyes.
"You never were and never will be a monster. And I will do everything I can to prove that to you."
Fang moved forward.
"You have to trust us, kid," she smirked," like we trust you. Have some "Hope", yeah? Let's fight this thing."
The older woman winked at the girl. Rayne was still unsure. Hope grasped her hand, shocking her.
"Don't give up now! We need you, even if you don't think so, we do!"
Taking a deep sigh, Rayne pulled her knives from her belt.
"Alright."
With the help of Hope and Fang, they fended off the Eidolon. It was a strange and difficult fight, but in the end the Eidolon changed by wrapping around her and becoming a pair of metal wings before becoming a purple crystal and going back into her chest. Falling to her knees, she was only able to say one word.
"Valefor."
Tears began falling down her face and it was all she could do to bury her face in her hands. There was suddenly warmth around her as she was hugged. She opened her eyes to find herself being embraced by Vanille.
"You won't be a monster. I won't allow it! No one here will allow anyone else to be a monster. Okay?"
Rayne nodded and wiped her tears away. She turned to see Lightning and Snow grinning at her. Sazh nodded with a slight smile on his face. Fang ruffled her hair.
"You think too much, kid. Live a little."
Lightning and the others turned and began to move on. Rayne started to follow until a soft voice reached her ears. She turned to see Hope staring at his gloves.
"I didn't know...how hurt you were. I know that you had your family torn from you and that added to the problem a lot, but...I didn't know that when I called you a...I'm so sorry. I...actually don't deserve your trust. You had faith in me and I-"
Hope was cut off as Rayne wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. His cheeks and ears went red from her embrace. He was glad no one was looking back at them at the moment.
"Thank you. I trust you," Rayne whispered," So please don't let me down."
The boy's hands shook as he hugged her back.
"I won't," he said, definitively.
The two of them jumped as Vanille's cheery voice called back to them.
"Yoohoo! Lovebirds! Let's get going!"
Pulling apart quickly, Hope was pleased to see Rayne blushing. He was stunned as she gave him a smile he hadn't seen in years before she turned and ran after the others. Hope quickly followed, ingraining in his mind how much prettier she looked now with a true smile on her face.