Hello everyone and welcome to the sixteenth chapter of Ignorance. I'm so sorry for not updating sooner but I've been completely overloaded with assignments this year (Seriously, by that I mean I haven't free of assignments since March- it's currently August.)

This chapter itself has been done for a while, but my Beta's in the same boat as me and wasn't able to get around to editing it. She's only got a practical to do now, yet meanwhile I've still got two assignments and a Textiles practical. I hate school on the best of days. After those I've got two weeks of tests too. But I can't have any assignments on the holidays so I'm completely free to write as much as I want. Which is bloody amazing after six solid months of assignments.

Also I'm on work experience right now and I've set up my days so I can do school work but still write, so if all goes well I should have the next chapter out by the end of next week. Once again I'm so sorry about not being about to update, I feel so horrible about keeping you waiting for so long.

READ THIS! sorry, that was only for people who don't read author's notes. My beta has informed me that she had trouble remembering who Elisarr and Marla were in this chapter. She told to try and tell their background story more but there was only so much I could do, so I'm writing this here. Marla and Elisarr were two Cocoon dissenters who appeared in an earlier chapter. There were rumours being spread about two rebels breaking into Cocoon's places and steeling files before leaking them to every possible source to try and reveal Cocoon's bad nature. Not that many people believe what's on the files though. At the end of last chapter Marla shot and killed Anima.

If you're reading this story when all the chapters Marla and Elisarr have appeared in to date are all posted together and you remember them, then that paragraph was probably useless for you. I'm just trying to help out those who were in my Beta's position.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy, Sqaure Enix does.

In wake of the disaster

Fang opened her eyes slowly and let them adjust to her surroundings. The carnage around her was immense, buildings blown to bits, the square in ruins. In the clearing dust she saw countless dead bodies, the air was gradually filling with their horrid scent. In all, after the first one she'd counted ten bombs in the immediate area, another twenty five or thirty further out. Whoever instigated the attack must have wanted to wipe this town of the map.

'Well,' fang though, 'they'd certainly achieved that.'

Trying to get up she winced as the cuts and scrapes she'd received responded to the movement. All in all, she wasn't that badly hurt, as the block behind her had covered her from the greater force of the bomb closest to her. Yet there was a gash down her leg that was worrying. Not much she could do about that in this situation unfortunately.

Moving away from the ruined block she began to limp across the square. There were a few people she thought might have been alive, just unconscious, but most were dead. Occasionally she saw someone conscious and standing, but they seemed to be civilians, and looked completely fucked up. Too shell-shocked to even move from were they were standing. Not that Fang cared, she was long past the years where carnage of any degree bothered her. All she had to care about was getting away from here and treating the gash on her leg so it didn't get infected.

Once, she passed a young boy with silver hair sitting in front of some corpse. His eyes were completely blank void of all emotion. He didn't even seem to be looking at the dead man in front of him. Even Fang had admit the sight was harrowing. She made saw not to look back upon it.

She left it and the square far behind her.

…:…

When Serah came to she shook her head to clear it and took a look at her surroundings. What she saw stole whatever scream she may have made. It was too horrible to voice in a scream and do it justice. Everywhere she looked there was destruction. When she realised with horror that this included dead bodies, she had to suppress nausea.

Scanning the whole area she only saw a few people alive, all looking scared out of their minds or too shocked to move a muscle. The sight of a little girl crying out for her mother brought tears to her eyes. Shakily getting up she brushed a hand by her head and winced. Pulling her hand away she saw there was blood on it. Now that she paid attention to it, there was a lot of blood near her left temple, whatever hit it must have been what knocked her out. Looking back at the wreckage of the building behind her she became amazed by how she was even alive. The overhead cover had collapsed and crushed others underneath it. Seeing a single hand sticking out from beneath the ruin she failed to hold back her nausea. Falling to her knees she wretched on the concrete by her feet. Vomiting until the nauseous feeling in her stomach alleviated, she got back up on her feet.

There must be others alive, there had to be. She would find them.

Leaving the sight of the crushed dead behind her she ran into the destroyed square. One after the other she checked on the people she found. Trying to rouse them and checking for pulses. Most were dead, some showed felt signs of life but didn't respond to her at all. She grew frantic when her effort were proving fruitless but she didn't give up, not yet, she couldn't.

After a time, she saw something that made he stop dead. Taking a few steps more she knelt down. Before her lay Bartholomew, staring up at the sky with sightless eyes. Of all the things she had seen in the past few minutes this one struck a personal cord. Bartholomew may have for all intents and purposes been her enemy, and she his, but he was a good man. He had no reason to die. She just wished Hope never saw this sight, if the boy wasn't already dead too.

Taking in a deep breath to calm herself she closed Bart's eyes and moved on.

She continued to try and rouse people one after another, few responding to her, alive or dead. Those breathing strong she felt safe to leave without trying to wake them.

Soon there was another sight that stopped her on her tracks, there was someone on the ground across from her, someone she knew. Rushing to the spot she fell to her knees and checked their pulse. It was strong, and so was their breathing. She wouldn't have needed to check their pulse to know they were alive, she was just so skittish. Taking in a deep breath Serah calmed herself down and continued to sit, too scared to try to wake them.

Unaware of her presence, Snow continued to breathe on in peace.

…:…

Marla winced. The blast of the bomb had thrown her far and gifted her with some nice gashes across her left shoulder. Still, at least she was alive, and Elisarr hadn't take too long to find her having escaped damage herself.

Staring up at the building from where the first bomb had been dropped she knew with certainty that it was Cocoon's people who did this. Forty two bombs had been dropped in all according to Elisarr. Just like Cocoon, Marla thought with contempt. Likely this had been done to kill Anima. They'd just blame it on a terrorist attack most likely, say they'd been planning this for years. The same old bullshit.

It wasn't even needed, since she'd personally put a bullet through the bitches brain herself. All the carnage and casualties that surrounded her were all useless. Wincing again as Elisarr probed one of her shoulder wounds, she told her worryingly, "We're going to have to find some place to wash these out. Otherwise they'll get infected."

Nodding Marla replied, "Yeah, yeah. Easier said than done."

The place was a disaster zone. All corpses and exploded buildings. Good luck finding some disinfectant. Water would do she guessed, if they could find a clean source. There used to be some fountains around but who knew how much of them were left intact after this.

Getting up Marla scared Elisarr who tumbled to the side.

"Let's go." She ordered.

Throwing a look at their surroundings Elisarr inquired, "Where?" Not at all thrown off by her tone.

"Anywhere." Marla answered curtly.

But Elisarr didn't think about it twice, she was use to Marla's snappy talk. Her anywhere meant away from this danger zone and possibly find some water to wash out her cuts. The way she walked in front of her meant 'stay behind me, there's danger.' And more quietly in an undertone, it said, 'I'm worried, stay close.'

Marla wasn't someone who expressed herself in words, she used her actions. So no matter her tone Elisarr knew she meant well.

Following Marla's tall form across the square the two of them slowed as they closed in on the edge of the square.

Edging cautiously around a ruin of a building Marla scanned the area ahead of them with eyes like a hawk, "Clear." She breathed.

Elisarr followed along like this as the two of them danced around debris and bodies. As they marched through the disaster zone she felt an increasing feeling of anticipation building up in the pit of her stomach which made her fingers curl around the gun on her hip.

Gravel crunched behind them and a gunshot flew by Elisarr's head. Without a moment's notice she pulled the gun from her hip and fired. The gunner blew off his feet and hit a cracking wall dead. Marla gave him a passing look.

"Cocoon agent." She said quick, leaving the site and moving on.

Elisarr gave the dead man a fleeting look and went after Marla. The man behind her confirmed a fear she'd been having, and she was sure Marla was already sure of. Cocoon had agents here to shoot survivors. They must be paranoid, Elisarr thought, there were few people in this city who could confirm it was Cocoon who did this. Such as Cocoon dissenters like them. To kill everyone, well, it was overkill. Many innocents would die here today. Holding a hand to her chest Elisarr wished safety for those who had survived. She hated innocents getting caught up in the corporation's trouble.

She and Marla continued their cautious dance through the city, until they came upon a fountain. Some of it had cracked and fallen away, so water was flowing out onto the street, but it was still working. Sitting on the unbroken side of the fountain Marla cupped her hands and held them under the spray. Pouring the water over her shoulder she tried to wash out her wound. Sitting by her Elisarr put a hand by her shoulder.

"Let me."

Cupping her hands she filled them with water and poured them over Marla's shoulder. She repeated this process until she had cleaned out most of the dirt. There wasn't much more they could do for now. Tearing off some of her skirt she handed it to Marla, "Here, tie this over it."

"Thanks." Marla murmured taking the scrap of fabric and tying it like a bandage around her shoulder.

Staring off in the distance Elisarr asked, "What do we do now?"

"Don't know. Escape the city. Not much more we could do in a situation like this." Marla answered.

Seeing Elisarr pull a sad face, Marla told her, knowing what was on her mind, "We can't do anything to help the civilians, unless you're on the mood to kill every Cocoon agent in this city. If they aren't dead already, Cocoon'll see to them. We have to care about ourselves for now." Looking Elisarr in the eyes, she added in a kinder tone, "But I'll help you pray for their safety, as I'm sure you've done a thousand times already."

Her last line seemed to work a bit, though the rest of what she'd said was troubling. Elisarr nodded, "I know, I get it." She told her, "We have to survive first."

Marla nodded, "Yes, and for that we need to get moving."

Without another word the women got up and began to leave the fountain behind her. Slipping off it Elisarr followed her.

The city was sizable, so reaching its edge was no walk in the park, and there were Cocoon agents every step of the way with guns ready. Unfortunately for them of course Marla and Elisarr were twice as prepared with fingers on the trigger. Their brains decorated the concrete before they knew what hit them. Literally.

Noon wore into afternoon and both Marla and Elisarr jumped as someone's screams rent the air. They presumed it was a civilian come into the contact with a Cocoon agent, so as they didn't see them surviving five more seconds, it took five seconds longer for them to rush over to the source of the screams when they didn't stop.

Halting abruptly at the railing of a walkway overlooking a water system the women saw a nasty looking man kicking and shooting at a steel barrel. A boy's screams were exploding from within the steel prison. Marla shot the man in the head.

Jumping over the railing and landing in the water system she approached the barrel. Elisarr dropped down after her and walked up to the barrel. Kneeling down Marla looked into the barrel. Inside sat a young boy with silver hair staring past her without seeing her at all. His knees where drawn up to his chest and his arms were wrapped around them so tight they were turning purple. His entire body spoke of fear, yet it was his eyes that disturbed Marla.

In all her life she'd seen many horrific things, yet few could measure up to the complete emptiness she saw in his eyes. They were nothing. They saw nothing. All was blank.

Marla had to gulp down her shock as she lifted her right hand to reach out to the boy. He withdrew in fear, and Marla snapped her hand back. She'd almost forget, but her right arm would only serve to scare him more. Her actually arm was long gone, in its place set a bionic prosthetic. It didn't even have fake skin to make it look more real, just bare robotics. The only good thing was that the cords were all covered so she could pass it off a normal prosthetic, just.

Waiting a couple seconds before trying again, she laid her human hand on his knee.

"Hey," She comforted, "it's alright, he's gone, you're safe. You can come out if you want to."

When the boy didn't respond she passed a look back to Elisarr, and gently took hold of his hand. Pulling on it softly she got him to get out of the barrel. But he still stared off into the distance, unseeing. For all her steel Marla couldn't stand seeing kid in a state like this. Those eyes scared her.

"What your name?" she asked him.

The boys lips moved, but no sound came out. Unnervingly, Marla thought he'd meant to say 'I'm no one.'

Dropping his hand Marla mumbled under her breath, "Scum." Fuck Cocoon. Fuck the world that could do this to a kid.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

I'm a little unconfident in how I ended it, I hope it wasn't too bad.

I should be able to get the next chapter out faster. I might get slowed up a bit when the tests are on but the holidays are all mine.

Please review, I'll appreciate it greatly.

Bye for now.