Hi, there. It's me again and I own you all an explanation for why I was gone for so long.
During the time I released the last chapter, I was graduating from college and was getting some things in order.
Then I got a job that didn't care about its employees. I quit that job and found a better. Moved out my parents place. Got my own place. Started paying my own bills. Being carful what I ate. Adulting.
But despite all of that, I never forgot this story; like it was too important to forget.
So here I am. I'm back and with chapter 3. I hope you enjoy.
Oh, and I don't own Final Fantasy. But I wish I did.
"Speech"
"Thoughts"
At first, there was only darkness; and then there was pain.
There was no other way for Riven to describe it. Pain was everywhere. He felt it on his chest, legs, arms, back, and head. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes. The first thing that he saw was the ground. It was cracked and covered in dust. He lifted his head to get better look and staring back at him was the empty eye sockets of a skull!
Ignoring the pain, Riven immediately jumped to his feet in fright. Riven had seen dead bodies all day, but he'd never seen one this old before. The skull belonged to a skeleton that appeared to be wearing what was left of robes. Then he saw it wasn't the only one. There were many others scattered about. Some wore the same robes as the first one while others wore different kinds of clothing. Clutched in the hands of many of them was a strange object that sort of resembled the top portion of the vestige itself but Riven did not concern himself with it. After getting over his alarm, he remembered what happened earlier and how he came to be in this place.
He looked behind him and saw the cognispeeder that he, Hope, and Vanille rode in on. Behind it was a big hole in the wall that had collapsed in on itself, but he wasn't not looking at that. Not far from the cognispeeder was an unconscious Hope and Vanille. They were both thrown off their ride when they crashed and miraculously survived just like him. Vanille was currently faced down on the ground with Hope laying on top of her. Seeing they were both still alive, Riven rushed over to aid them.
"Hey, you ok? Get up" he said shaking their shoulders. They both groaned as they were waking up. Hope was the first one to rise and Riven helped get him off of Vanille. He sat him down about a yard from her and kneeled to get to his level. "Hey man. How are you holding up?" he said softly. Hope opened his eyes and squinted them to look in Riven's direction. "Riven? What happened? Where are-?" said Hope until he looked past Riven and saw their much older company. "Ahhhh!" screamed Hope as he scurried back out of fear. His scream fully awoke Vanille as her head shot up with her eyes wide open. She took in the area before her but instead of screaming or shrieking, she looked on with only sadness.
She got up and walked to a cluster of dead and made a sign with her hands. She brought back her ring and middle fingers, touched the tips of her index fingers, pushed her thumbs slightly inward, and overlapped her pinkies over each other.
Her actions only confused Riven. Not only was she not showing any initial fear for the of skeletons, but she also, what looked like, was praying to them. It was clear to him that these people have been dead for a long time and met their ends inside of the vestige. Whoever these people were, they must've been from Pulse. So, why pray for the enemy?
When Vanille was done, she took her wrist and wiped a stray tear from her eye. She turned back around and smiled at the two boys as if nothing bad had happened. "Well, that was a close call. For a second, I thought it was all over," she said. Riven was no longer watching Hope who had gotten over his shock. He reached into his bag and grabbed something. "Here. This will take care of any injuries from when we crashed," he said while reaching it out to her. She took it in her hands and observed it. The object was a small blue sphere that fitted in her fist with the name "Potion" inscribed on it. Riven then helped Hope to his feet and gave him one as well.
Riven reached into his bag once more for a potion for himself. But before he used it, he saw that both Hope and Vanille had neither used theirs yet and looked rather confused. "What? Have any of you guys used one these things before?" he asked. They both then shook their heads. "Well, I don't blame you. Usually only the military uses these for how quickly they work, but there easy to use. I'll show you. Just take it in your hand and squeeze," he said and did so at the same time. Upon squeezing the potion, it exploded into countless tiny blue particles that quickly gathered around him. As the particles washed over him, he felt both relief and comfort as it healed his injuries. Scraps, bruises, and cuts disappeared from his body as the particles faded away.
"There. You see? Now you try," he said to the two of them. They both looked down at their respected potions and did the same. The particles washed over them, and all pain they felt quickly disappeared from them, just like it did for Riven. After the potions did their work, they felt around their bodies in amazement. "I know, right? I just recently learned how to do it not too long ago," Riven said while smiling.
"Now, what were you two thinking!? Why did you steal Gadot's cognispeeder and fly it toward the vestige? Don't you know just how dangerous the Pulse fal'Cie is!?" Riven questioned/yelled at them. Their earlier amazement and wonder were now gone and replaced with surprise and guilt. Hope just looked down at his feet and stayed silent as he felt various emotions. Vanille though stepped closer to Riven and explained everything. "Hope wanted to tell Snow something before he left, so we decided to go after him" she said.
Riven looked back at Hope. "Is that true?" he asked. Hope did nothing for a moment but then slowly nodded his head. Riven closed his eyes and took his hand and brought it up to his forehead to contemplate the situation they were in. After a few seconds, he made a deep sigh and looked at the both of them. "Well, if that's the case then we better catch up to him and do so fast so we can get out of here. But we can't go back the way we came" he said while pointing at their ruined cognispeeder. "We have a lot of ground to cover, so let's get moving." Both Hope and Vanille simply nodded and began walking forward with Riven down a corridor; leaving their ride behind to smoke and burn.
The area where they crashed seemed to be a meeting or gathering area long ago. The three took the nearest corridor leading into the room and followed it to an unknown destination. As they walked along their chosen path, the found more skeletons; not as many as the first room but still some. But Riven was not focused on the dead. What drew his attention was his surroundings. The Corridor had foreign writing and pictures inscribed along the walls that fed his curiosity.
"What do all these symbols mean? Are they telling a story? A message?" Riven thought.
But the language wasn't the only thing that captivated him. Every so often the group would pass structures that resembled lampposts. He didn't get a good look at them, but he could see a crystal atop each one. Riven surmised that it probably acted like a light bulb. But despite a desire to look more in depth of his surroundings, he knew they had to keep moving. After a few minutes of walking, the trio stumbled upon a room that was vastly different from what they've seen thus far.
It was a large area with multiple levels that lead to a massive pot-like structure in the center. Connected to the bottom of the pot were many canals that fed into other smaller pots scattered across the room. Near each smaller pot was a workstation with various tools, mostly hammers, littered everywhere with about two to three skeletons at each.
No one said anything as they walked past more dead and climbed up the small flights of stairs until they reached the pot in the center did Hope break the silence. "Is this a forge?" he asked. "It must be" said Riven. "This must be a crucible and the skeletons must be blacksmiths," he said as he gestured to the pot and the area around them. "But why is this all here? I thought this was just some old building that the fal'Cie decided to hibernate in."
"During the war, the people of Pulse used the power of the fal'cie to make weapons, armor, and military equipment for their armies."
Hope and Riven both stared in the direction of Vanille as she explained while she had her hands in the same gesture as before. When she turned her head to look at them, her face became crimson. "I-I mean that's what I'm guessing" she stammered. The two boys gave each other a sideways glance then looked back at her. "That's probably a really good guess," said Hope. "Anyway, we need to continue looking for Snow," he said with a hint of hatred; but nobody caught that.
"He's right. We got to keep going. Where's the exit?" said Riven as he began scanning the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something out of place. "Hey, what's that?" he pointed out as he began descending to the focus of his attention. When he got down there, his curiosity only grew and combined with a little fright. When Hope and Vanille caught up to him their faces showed the same emotions as he.
Littered about the area was various weapons, armor, and equipment. But they were not made of Pulse, but instead the Sanctum! Some armors were in good condition with little damage while others looked broken beyond repair. Looking about the area, Riven saw what appeared to be about a dozen sets of armor; one of them being a marauder. But there were no bodies, just equipment. The area they were in looked like a base or command post with all the Sanctum branded equipment scattered about.
Overcoming their initial shock, the trio started walking through the command area. Riven walked up to a set of armor and noticed a gun laying right next to it. Remembering that he left his gun on the skybridge he picked it up and examined it. It was still in good condition except that the barrel and hand guard were both caved in. In other words, it was completely ruined. Riven then looked at the damage more carefully.
"Hmm, what could have done this," he said to himself. "It looks as if whoever was using this decided to smash it on something. But why would they do that?" A thought then occurred to him and he ran to every set of armor and inspect their weapons. Sure enough, every gun was either caved-in, bent, dented, or ripped apart. Even the Marauder's spear was in pieces. Riven started becoming scared again as a horrifying realization came over him "What did this? I must know," he said with determination.
Riven immediately ran over to the equipment that the troops set up and started rummaging through their supplies for anything. Hope and Vaniile saw this recent spike activity and ran over to him. "Uh, what are you doing" asked Vanille. "While I was looking for a replacement gun for the one I left behind, I noticed that all the weapons this squad had were damaged in a similar way. That combined with damaged armor and no bodies is very troubling. Something did this to them and I need to find out what."
As Riven continued shifting through the equipment and supplies, Hope and Vanille turned around and began investigating the scene. After their search, they learned that he was right. Someone or something must have attacked them. With this mystery hanging over them, Hope rushed over to the equipment. But instead of looking through the supplies, he went over to a monitor and turned it on. Moments later, a floating transparent keyboard came up and he started navigating the system. Riven turned his head to the right and gave Hope a questioning look.
"What are you doing?" he asked. Without stopping his search, Hope answered. "Whoever this stuff belonged to; it must have been the survey team that was sent inside. I figured if they were meant to search and explore, they would have files, reports, and maybe videos of what they discovered." Hopes explanation caught Riven by surprise. Up until now, Riven saw Hope as a scared little boy that was sheltered by his mother. But it was clear now that there was more to him than he originally thought.
After a minute of searching, Hope found what he was looking for. "I got 'em," he said with excitement. Both Riven and Vanille stopped what they were doing and ran over to him. "Alright, what did you find?" said Riven. "Reports and videos by the look of it. It seems most of the reports are about things we have already found, so I'm going to open the last one," he said as he clicked on it.
The screen flashed for a moment and a typed report was displayed for all to see. The three then moved closer to the screen to read what was written. As Riven was reading, he said the words aloud:
"After searching through this ruin for an hour the captain decided that we should make our base in the forge. Normally there would not be a need for one, but the inside of the ruin proved to be more spacious than we thought. Some of our team will stay and run analyses on the surrounding area and items that we found to determine if anything needs to be purified to prevent contamination and spread of any foreign diseases. The rest of the team will continue to explore the rest of the ruin for anything dangerous and toxic."
"As stated in the last report: the forge was possibly active during the War of Transgressions six-hundred years ago. It appears that it solely made weapons meant for the forces of Pulse and its blacksmiths, along with hundreds of Pulse civilians, expired within the ruin. Given that fact, this find could prove to be an opportunity to learn more about the engineering and weapon-making of Pulse to better combat the lower-world forces."
"We are currently in the process of trying to open a vault of some kind near our current location. The captain believes that either powerful weapons or important information is locked behind it. In the next report I will disclose our findings. End Report."
After Riven read the last word, he began looking around for the vault that was mentioned. After a few seconds, he found what he was looking for; sort of. On the other side of the room, there was another room that was dark inside and had what appeared to be scorched marks around the entryway. Riven walked up to the entrance but did not walk inside.
"This must be the vault they were talking about," he said calling out to his companions. "It looks like they got through by blasting their way in. Hope, have you found anything that says what is inside? I'd rather not risk anything." "I think so," said Hope. "There are no more reports in the log, but there are two video recordings that were made after the last report. Unfortunately, they are locked."
"Can't you unlock them?" said Riven as he walked back over. Hope's eyes looked up for a moment as if he was thinking deeply. "Well, the only people that could unlock it would be those with clearance and high-ranking officers. It could be possible to hack it, but we lack the right tools." As Riven and Hope continued to think on a solution, Vanille interrupted them.
"Um, would this help?" she said as she handed out something. The object was a card with the symbol of the Sanctum on the front and the symbol of PSICOM, along with the rank of Marauder, on the back. Riven and Hope both looked at the card with surprise and hint of awe. "This is an Access Key. Where did you get it?" said Hope. Vanille turned around and pointed to the Marauder's gear. "I found it in it's pocket. I also found these," she said as she reached into her pocket on her right hip and pulled out a handful of tiny black rectangles. Each was about the size of a flash drive and had the PISCOM insignia along with the symbol for gil on it. Both Riven and Hope had a look of shock on their faces.
"Vanille, you do realize that those are credit chips, right?" said Riven with concern.
"What are credit chips?" she said. It was now Hope's turn to speak. "Credit chips contain the money that soldiers make. They're like digital wallets. So, basically you just robbed the dead," he said. "But Riven, haven't you been doing the same thing all day?" said vanille.
"That's different. I have been taking ammunition and supplies off soldiers because I was fighting a battle. I didn't take their credit chips because I wouldn't need them," said Riven.
"But when we get out of here, maybe we can give them back to their families or the military to show that we are not evil. I know it can't fix everything but it's a start."
Riven pondered the thought for a moment. He highly doubted that anything could fix what had happened during the Purge. But it was a chance that he could take. "Alright, we can try it. But only because I don't feel like running from the Sanctum for the rest of my life." Vanille made a light smile with Riven's approval. He then took off his bag and handed it over. "Here" he said. "You can put them in here for now." Vanille took the bag and did as he said.
"Well, anyway let's find out what happened here. Hope, take the access key and open the recordings. We need to know what happened here." said Riven. Hope simply nodded, took the key from Vanille, and scanned it on the terminal. The moment it was scanned, the two video log entries appeared on the screen. "Open the first one. We should watch them in order" said Riven. Hope nodded and did as he said. The Whole screen flickered for a moment before an image came into view. The video was playing through the perspective of what appeared to be the Marauder as he and his team set up camp.
Day 11 of 13
"What's taking so long? Open the damn door already!"
This was the voice of the Marauder, the captain, of the survey team in the vestige. The team was sent to investigate the inside which had been closed off for centuries. After much exploring, the team decided to split into multiple groups: one would stay behind while the others would continue on. The team that stopped made a base near what appeared to be a vault. The captain, deciding to stay behind, believed they found something worthwhile and was currently doing what he could to access it. But things weren't progressing the way he wanted them.
"We're trying sir. But the vault is well-made and sealed shut. There is an operating panel near it, but it is without power and ruined due to age," said one of the soldiers while saluting. It was true. It was a vault, and it was sealed shut. Chances were that there was something valuable inside and the captain was determined to get it.
"Use blast charges. If those won't work, nothing will" ordered the Marauder. The soldier was taken aback, and he wasn't the only one. Some of the squad stopped what they were doing and looked at the captain. The solider managed to get ahold of himself and speak to his commanding officer. "But sir, if we use blast charges to open the vault, we might destroy what's inside. Also, we risk a cave-in. We could bury ourselves and the other squad."
"When the other squad comes back, we will be leaving this ruin. The colonel is going to want something valuable, and we will get it. Going back empty handed is not an option. You will do as I say" ordered the Marauder. The solider reluctantly gave in and went back to the door to plant the blast charges. The Marauder himself turned around to address the rest of the squad. "These explosives are powerful. Stop what you're doing and seek shelter" he said.
A few minutes later the charges were set and everyone was far enough way and behind cover. The Marauder was behind a pillar with the solider from before next to him. "Everything good?" said the captain. The solider nodded. "Yes sir. When you are ready, just press the detonator," he said while presenting a skinny black cylinder with a red button on top. The Marauder took it and pressed the button.
A moment later, dust, debris, and smoke filled the room. The vibration sent by the explosion could be felt from anywhere and by everyone. The room shook from the blast, but to everyone's surprise, the structural integrity held. Some of the men were left momentarily deft, but overall fine.
When the shaking stopped, the Marauder and his men stepped out from behind cover to see if the charges did the trick. When the smoke had cleared, they were all left speechless at the sight of the vault still intact. Many of them were left dumbfounded while others were left amazed that though the vault must have been centuries old, it could stand against such an explosion. The marauder, on the other hand, was neither dumbfounded nor amazed. He was angry. The blast charges were their best chance of opening the vault. Now he would have to go back to the colonel empty-handed and he knew she would punish him.
Just as he turned around and was about to address his men did his com-unit start beeping. But his wasn't the only one. Everyone else who had one starting beeping as well and alerts were appearing on the terminals of the camp. Whatever was happening was clear to the Marauder; somebody was sending an emergency message on all channels. Without thinking, the Marauder brought his com-unit up and said "Report".
The moment after the Marauder activated his com-unit, all others could hear what was being said through theirs. They all heard heavy breathing, yelling, and screaming. But one voice could be heard above all others and its message was terrifying.
"Pulse fal'Cie discovered in the vestige! I repeat, Pulse fal'Cie disc- ".
Just then, a loud noise sounded all throughout the interior of the Vestige. Many soldiers, including the Marauder, fell to their knees covering their ears. Then lights came on from the various crystals in the area and the doors started opening and closing; it was as if the entire Vestige had come to life.
When the noise subsided, the soldiers began getting up. But then a giant symbol appeared before them hovering in the air. It was a red pattern of what looked like arrows shooting up and down with a giant eye in the center. The same pattern appeared on the walls and doors of the area as if to block any attempt to escape. Then, all the patterns gave off an intense light, blinding all sight. The Marauder, along with his team, screamed as their entire world went white.
Present
When the recording ended, the three observers were left speechless. They had witnessed the power of a Pulse fal'Cie through the eyes of the survey team. They were sent into the Vestige by their superior and were expected to find something of Pulse origin. They never would've thought they would encounter a Pulse fal'Cie. How quickly a simple mission would become a death sentence.
"So, the fal'Cie was asleep this whole time and they woke it up with explosives?" said Riven.
"I-It must have. Everything just turned on after that explosion. What were they thinking using those things? Now we have a monstrous fal'Cie who wants us all dead," said Hope.
"Also, there was that pattern that shinned bright. I saw that symbol on the walls. What was it?" questioned Riven.
While Riven and Hope were questioning and pondering what they saw, Vanille was looking at the blank screen in sadness. She then turned around and looked upon the gear of the team. She closed her eyes, tilted her head down, and made the hand gesture again. She did this for a few seconds and then returned to her companions who were still discussing the events they just witnessed.
"Let's watch the other recording" she said. The two boys were a bit startled by her approach but nodded their heads in agreement. Hope turned his attention back to the terminal to open the last recording. But before he did, he noticed something mention-able in the description. "Hmm, looking at the time placement of this video, it seems this recording started moments after last recording ended" observed Hope.
"Does that mean the team survived the fal'Cie's attack? They could still be alive!" said Riven. "I don't know. Let's watch this to be sure" said Hope as he opened the final recording of the survey team. Just like the last one, the screen flickered for a moment before the video resumed from the Marauder's perspective seconds after the attack.
Day 11 of 13
Once the light faded, the Marauder and his team found themselves on the ground. None of them were unconscious but all of them were groaning as they were getting back up. Once standing, the Marauder checked their surroundings. The lights were back off and the red pattern was gone. Their equipment was untouched, and armor and weapons were undamaged.
Overall, their team was fine, except everyone, including himself, was hurting on some random spot on their bodies and had splitting headaches. For himself the pain was coming from his left hand, but it was fading. He would have to check it later. For now, there was far greater danger.
Before the recent attack, he was informed by one of the other squads that a pulse fal'Cie had been found; and it was active! Of all things they could find, it just had to be an enemy. He immediately picked up his com-unit and tried to contact the squad that reported. "Squad C, report!" he commanded. But he received only static, no answer. "Squads B and D, report!" he ordered but no one answered. "All squads, report! That is an order!" he said but no reply came. In frustration, he threw his com-unit on the ground, breaking it.
"The pulse fal'Cie must have cut communications between us and the others. It probably cut communication with the outside as well. We are not equipped to deal with a pulse fal'Cie. We need reinforcements" he thought.
The Marauder turned around and looked upon his team to see them begin to panic. Some were checking their weapons in a rushed manner, some were looking everywhere to prepare for another attack, and others were quickly gathering equipment without the order to do so. All the while they were tending and covering their wounds. While looking around, the Marauder noticed that the vault they tried to break through so desperately was now open, perhaps due to the fal'Cie's activities. If it weren't for their current predicament, he would have his team plunder what's inside. But now, there was only one thing to do.
Whipping out his spear and extending it, he hit the blunt end to the ground. His team recognized this as their leader's way to tell them to stop what they were doing and come to attention. Once he knew they were listening, he addressed them.
"What we just witnessed was the power of a pulse fal'Cie, our ancient enemies. It has cut all communications with the other squads and the outside. The colonel must know what we are dealing with, so I am ordering we return to HQ to report what we learned. We cannot wait for the other squads. We must assume that they are either fighting the enemy or were killed by it. We are moving out!"
"But sir, they might still be alive. We can fight with them" said one of the soldiers. The captain turned his attention to the solider and recognized him as the man that gave him the detonator for the blast charges. But that meant little now. "We cannot risk it! The longer we stay here, the more danger were in. Were moving out! That's an order!" said the Marauder firmly.
With that said, all troops began packing up what they could as quickly as possible. Their base was practically in chaos. It had finally registered to them that they could not fight a pulse fal'Cie. So, they could only run.
As the Marauder was finishing gathering his gear, he noticed the solider that spoke out before was kneeling on the ground and clutching his right wrist. Annoyed that a little pain could halt their evacuation, he stormed over to the solider. "What are you doing? Get back to work!" he said. The solider turned his head to look at his commanding officer. If he wasn't wearing his helmet, the Marauder would see he was clearly in pain. "I'm sorry, sir. But it fells like my wrist is on fire" said the solider between labored breaths. If the Marauder cared for the soldier, he did not show it or voice it. "Then use a potion and get back on your feet," said the officer. "I tried, but it didn't work."
Hating how much time this was taking, the Marauder decide to cut to the chase. "Remove your right wrist bracer and let's see the damage." Not even waiting for the solider to respond, he grabbed his wrist and began removing his armor despite the pained protest. When it was off, the officer turned the wrist to see the harm only to immediately back up in horror.
This caught the attention of the other troops as they watched the exchange between them. The solider himself did not know what caused their leader to become so scared. He looked down at his wrist and his terror matched his captain. On his wrist was a mark, a mark that looked strikingly similar to the pattern of the pulse fal'Cie. Along with the initial terror came realization. The fal'Cie had branded him as its own and was now a pulse l'Cie.
The solider was shaken from his thoughts when he heard something extending. He turned around to see the Marauder, with his spear in hand, charging his manadrive. "Sir?" said the solider. Once his manadrive was done charging he took a battle stance. "You are now impure; a pulse l'Cie. A demon that serves the devil Pulse. By the will of the great fal'Cie Eden, you will die here and now!" he shouted and shot forward. The solider jumped to his feet, put his hands up, and screamed, "Wait!" But the Marauder ignored him and stabbed him through the chest.
The pain the solider was in was unimaginable, but he could not scream or yell as he felt his energy leave him. The Marauder then extracted his spear from his chest forcefully, causing the dying man to crash to the ground. The others watching this unfold were left horrified and somewhat betrayed. As for the man on the ground, as he felt everything faded around him, he spoke his last words: "Why me?"
The Marauder watched silently as he saw the man he killed, his comrade, die. He did not feel sadness or remorse, but instead duty. To him he did not kill a man, but rather a thing. Something that needed to die, and it was his duty and was honor-bound to carry out. He was PSICOM and pulse is his enemy.
"I needed to do that. A pulse l'Cie cannot be allowed to roam free on Cocoon. They would only spread taint, corruption, and panic amongst the populace. There can be no mercy," he thought.
As he stared down at the dead man, his eyes drifted to the brand on his right wrist. Then it occurred to him that his duty might not be over. Before he saw the l'Cie brand the man was clutching his wrist in pain. He held a single random part of his body that was in pain. Every single one of his troops acted like this. His job was not done.
He turned towards the rest of the troops, who were still frightened by what they saw, and gave them a command. "Remove your armor" he said. This caught them off-guard and only added to their fear for that was what he said to the dead man before he killed him. One solider was brave enough to question his superior. "W-What are you talking about, sir?" he questioned. The Marauder got into his battle stance again as he explained. "After the fal'Cie attacked, every one of you was hurt somewhere on your bodies. Remove your armor there and let me inspect the damage" he said. While some of the men complied and began removing their gear, others did not. The Marauder then stepped forward. "All of you will remove your armor right now! You will all obey my commands! I will not repeat myself!" he angerly shouted.
With their captain becoming angrier and more hostile, the soldiers that refused him reached for their weapons. This only infuriated their leader more. "You would dare commit treason!?" He then looked in the direction the men that listened to him. "Are you also tainted!?" he said as he pointed his spear at them. While some were too scared to even move, others aimed their weapons at each other.
"I am not dying today!"
"I am not tainted! I'm pure!"
"I will never be a Pulse slave!"
Confusion and panic were flooding through the team. Allies turned enemy. Death within the ranks. A Monster coming for them. Everyone was pointing guns at each other. As the former comrades stared down the barrels time seemed to slow down. Seconds felt like minutes, like hours. Nothing happened, no one acted during this stand-off. The fear of what could happen next was too great.
BANG!
A shot was fired. Everyone turned in the direction of the sound. A solider was shaking while holding a smoking gun. They then all turned in the direction of his aim to see a fellow comrade clutch a hole in his chest. A moment later, he fell to the ground lifelessly. They all returned their attention to the shooter to see him fumbling around with his weapon. But before he could do anything else the Marauder shot forward and slashed downward at the man. He cut clean through his armor, skin, bone, and tissue. The man was dead before he even hit the ground.
As the Marauder looked down at his most recent kill, he heard multiple rounds being chambered; guns locked and loaded. He turned around to see all his men aiming at him. "So, the fal'Cie has turned you against me, against PSICOM, against Cocoon? You are all its pawns. Servants of Pulse are enemies of Cocoon. I will not allow even one of you to spread its taint! Die!" he said as he shot forward and cut down another man. A moment later, bullets went flying.
It was pure chaos. The Marauder stabbing and slashing in all directions as the soldiers just pelted him with bullets. But not all found their mark. There was friendly fire as some hit other men. Screams and shouts echoed throughout the room as the carnage unfolded. Death and blood were scattered about the area. There was dead all about the room from the blacksmiths from the war, so this event would only add to their number.
As the skirmish continued, the soldiers kept firing upon the former leader. He was a PSICOM elite, so he got good equipment, weapons, and armor. But constant fire on him was ripping apart his gear and his mandrive was giving way. The fact that he would not be protected for much longer only made him fight fiercer. He doubled his efforts as he cut down the remaining soldiers.
As the last man was slain, the Marauder crumbled to his knees. Fighting against his own men had left him exhausted, bruised, and beaten. His armor was ripped to shreds with many gaps where his skin was visible. His manadrive was depleted and broken beyond repair. Even his spear looked like it was about to fall apart. But despite his condition, he felt accomplishment.
"I did it," he said with deep breaths. "They were no longer my men. They had become a disease that had to be purged. But now they are no more. This disease won't spread."
As he cast his gaze to the dead men. Another realization came to him. These weren't all his men. Far more were still in the Vestige with him. But before he could get up, he looked upon himself and his condition in greater depth.
"I'm exhausted, but with a little rest I will have my stamina back. But my armor and weapon though are no good anymore. They will have to be repaired. Even with potions to heal me, I have no manadrive to give me greater power and protection. I must leave this place and inform the colonel of what has happened. She will send for reinforcements to cleanse this place and destroy any lingering l'Cie and their fal'Cie master."
With his mind made up, he slowly rose to his feet. He was still wounded and exhausted, but he had to get out of there. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he saw a new light start shining from the corner of his eye. He looked to its source and saw it coming from a l'Cie brand on a dead man. He noticed that it was the first man he killed, and the light was becoming brighter and brighter. The Marauder had to look away as the light enveloped the dead body completely. Once the light dissipated, the Marauder looked back only to step back in fear.
Standing over the dead man, or rather the armor, stood a monster that looked to be made from crystal. It had a face but no eyes. It appeared humanoid but big in size, perhaps seven to eight feet tall, with an eye-like image in its chest and two arms that were both different. Its right arm appeared to be covered in crystal spikes and the left was bulky, meant to crush. The Marauder was taught and heard about these creatures, just like any solider in PSICOM, but never in his entire career believed he would ever encounter one.
"C-C-Cie'th!" he stammered. As he was about to defended himself when light started to appear all around him. It grew brighter and brighter until he had to cover his eyes once more. When it was gone, he looked to find himself surrounded by even more Cie'th of various shapes and sizes. As his panic and fear increased, he failed to see the first Cie'th approach him. He turned its way just in time to see it swing its spiky arm at him. The force sent him crashing to the ground. He was defeated. He was too tired to move, and his gear was practically destroyed.
As he was laying on his back, waiting for the creatures to finish him, he felt pain everywhere, but more in particular his left hand. He turned his head to look at it only to be shocked by what he saw. Through the gaps in his armor, he could see a mark, the same mark that was on the men he cut down; the l'Cie brand.
At this moment, everything else he felt disappeared and was replaced with one thing: despair. He had become that which he must destroy. He was no different than his men. He would share in their fate in death and undeath. And from the corner of his eye, he knew his suffering was about to begin as the Cie'th's bulky arm was coming down.
Present
The trio was left speechless yet again. All three of them desired to see the contents of the videos, to learn the fate of the missing team. But now they wish they could unsee it.
Out of them all, Riven seemed the less horrified, but horrified nonetheless. How could he not? What they witnessed looked as if it came out of a horror movie. Allies turning on allies. People turning into monsters. The discovery of a Pulse fal'Cie. Any one of these ideas would scare most people. But it wasn't what he saw that scared him the most. It was what he couldn't understand.
"W-W-What were those things?" he said to no one in particular.
"Cie'th. L'Cie who failed."
Riven turned his head and looked at Vanille. Yet again she has an unexpected answer.
"What did you say?" he asked.
"When a l'Cie fails their focus, they become a Cie'th. It doesn't matter if they fight against it, fail, or die, they will become a Cie'th. Even death is denied to them so they can experience their failure forever," she continued.
Riven was left baffled by her explanation. He remembered hearing about Cie'th in stories and in lessons in school, but they only spoke about them being monsters. Unholy creatures that wander Pulse and seek to destroy everything and everyone. But hearing someone talk about them with such assurance left him wondering.
"How do you know that?" he questioned.
Vanille, now looking at Riven, looked confused. As if she expected him to already know. Then her eyes widen a bit and then started looking left and right as if she was trying to remember something; or come up with something.
"Oh, um I read it in a book," she said.
The answer was acceptable, but at the same time it wasn't. Vanille was pretty, but she was equally as mysterious. She would act innocent, happy, and uplifting sometimes while acting mature, knowledgeable, and even serious other times. Riven didn't know what to make of her. But for now, his main focus was their current situation.
Riven reached out his hand and placed it on Hope's shoulder. The boy had not moved at all since the ending of the recording. To say he was petrified would be an accurate assumption. Riven then shook Hope's shoulder to get him to come around. "Hey man, are you ok?" he said. No answer. Riven then turned him around so he was facing him. Hope's eyes were wide with fear and his breathing was so quiet he could barely hear it. He acted as close as a statue one could get.
Hope's reaction to the last video only reminded Riven of what he already knew. Hope had seen and been through too much already. He was only a boy. He had seen war, violence, destruction, blood, and death; including his own mothers. The fact that he was still standing after all this was a miracle. So, it pained Riven to know that before this was over, he would see much more.
Riven then placed a hand on both of his shoulders, got down to his level, and gave him a gentle hug. "Hey, it's okay to be afraid. Were all afraid. But were not going to leave you. Were going to stick together like a family. You can count on us."
"Both of us," said Vanille as she came down and hugged from behind.
With the assurance of both of his comrades, Hope was able to release fears grip on him. He began breathing normally again and became calmer. He took in a deep breath, exhaled, and was back to normal. "Thank you," he said.
With a smile on Riven's face, he stood back up walked over to the supplies of the camp and started rummaging through it. Vanille, who was also back on her feet, looked at him with curiosity. "Now what are you doing?" she said. Riven was now throwing stuff around as he continued his search through the supplies. "I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but after watching the recordings I realized were in even more danger than I thought. Not only is there a Pulse fal'Cie in here but also its Cie'th. The soldiers sent in here were PSICOM, so they would've been the best equipped to handle anything from Pulse. I'm looking for anything that could be useful. They must have something."
Once Riven looked through yet another supply bag, he moved on to the Marauder's belongings. He opened the bag and started to dig. When he got halfway through, he found something that caught his eye. It was one of those metal bracers with a digital pad that soldiers of PSICOM used to summon bioweapons, receive and send messages to command, and to catalog information. The bracer was fitted for the left forearm and had the mark for the rank of Marauder. Riven put the bracer on and activate it. It turned on with no sound and just before he could access its information, a scan symbol appeared and blocked him.
Riven mentally cursed. Of course, a PSICOM elite wouldn't just let their information open for all to see. PSICOM only tells people what they want them to know and nothing else. As Riven was about to remove the bracer, a thought crossed his mind. He turned his attention to Hope and Vanille, who appeared to be going through the terminal, and walked over to them.
"Hey guys, look what I found," he said as he showed off his new tool. He outstretched his arm to them as they turned around. Vanille looked confused but Hope took an interest. "You found a working multi-pad?" he said. "Yeah" said Riven. "This one belonged to the captain. He wasn't wearing it when he died. I tried getting in, but it locked me out. But I think I might know how to get in. Can I have the access key?"
"Sure," said Hope as he reached into his pocket, took it out, and gave it to Riven. He grabbed it and touched the two rank symbols together on the pad and key. A second later the multi-pad's screen opened to its home screen. Now grinning from success, he put the key in his bag and started exploring. But his smile grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared when every file and function he tapped shown an error.
But just before he believed it was truly useless, a function called "Datalog" worked. Some of Riven's hope rekindled as he examined the function. It appeared to be a journal for documenting thoughts, ideas, orders, reports, and messages. Most of the data he found were personal reports that no longer mattered and information based on Sanctum militarized units, and the flora and fauna from various regions in Cocoon.
Deciding that the multi-pad was worth keeping, he turned it off to preserve the power for later. A moment later he heard a growl come from above. He and the others turned around and looked up to find two pantheron's looking down at the trio atop pillars. They jumped down and slowly began stalking in a "U" shape to prevent escape. The group was plenty scared but none more so than Riven. As they got closer, Riven looked around frantically for a weapon he could use. He found a gun laying only a meter away from him and without thinking sprinted for it.
The closer of the two bioweapons immediately pounced after him. Then the other leaped for his comrades. Although the first beast was faster, Riven was closer to his prize. He picked up the weapon, aimed, and pulled the trigger. But nothing came out.
He quickly remembered that all the weapons used by the recon team were damaged and smashed; the one he was holding was little more than a hunk of metal. The moment he realized it, the pantheron leaped at him and knocked him on his back. The creature tried to bite at him, but Riven shoved the ruined gun into its mouth; holding it back. The thing did not cease its assault and clawed at him. Its claws ripped and teared through his black shirt and left scratches and wounds on his skin.
The pain he felt was unlike anything he felt before. When they trio crashed in the Vestige, he felt pain everywhere, but it was minimal. He got bruises and scrapes, but he wasn't bleeding, none of them did. But the pantheron was introducing him to a whole new meaning to pain.
As he kept the gun in the beast's mouth it continued its attack. Riven knew that if he kept this up, he would lose and become this things dinner. Plus, Vanille and Hope were fighting the other one as he struggled. It would kill them. He could not let that happen. He needed a new plan. Keeping his left hand holding the gun in place, he reached out with his right for anything he could use. There were rocks, pieces of armor, and ruined equipment. But nothing that could be effective. Until he grasped something sharp that drew a little blood, but he didn't care. If it could cut him easily, surely it could hurt the pantheron.
Without thinking he stabbed the object into the beast's neck. Blue blood sprayed his hand as he repeatedly did so. It howled in pain but Riven didn't care, all he cared about in the moment was survival. The creature's movements became labored and slow until finally it fell upon Riven; dead. He lifted the bioweapon off and stood back up. He then turned around to face other one who was assaulting his friends.
Prepared to fight the last pantheron one-on-one, Riven was to surprised to see both Hope and Vanille were actually holding their own. Hope was throwing a boomerang and, using AMP technology, was able to manipulate where it went; constantly hitting the creature over and over. Vanille was less impressive as she just threw whatever she could get her hands on. Although the two of them were able to keep it back, they were only causing minor damage to it.
Riven then rushed over to Vanille as Hope kept the pantheron busy. "Where is my bag?" Riven said. Vanille looked at him with a mixture of relief and shock. His clothes had rips in them and was bleeding from multiple wounds. "Are you okay?" she said as she placed a hand over a cut on his arm. "I'm okay" he lied "but right now we need to deal with that thing. I need my bag. Where is it?" Vanille reached behind herself and grabbed the bag handing it to him. Looking through it Riven found what he needed; two grenades.
He kept one and handed the other to Vanille. Then he put a hand on Hope's shoulder to get his attention. Hope was a little startled, but his focus was the monster in front of him. "Alright, guys, I have an idea. When I say 'throw', me and Vanille will pull the pins on the these grenades and throw them at it while you Hope knock it to the ground with your boomerang," Riven said while demonstrating how to use the grenade to Vanille. With determined but confused looks, Vanille and Hope nodded, watched the creature, and waited for Riven to give the signal. A few seconds later, Hope manipulated the course of his weapon and sent it into all four of the creature's legs; putting it on its stomach.
"Throw!" Riven yelled as he and Vanille pulled the pins and threw the explosives at the beast. One landed on either side of it and before they could go off Riven quickly pulled Hope behind him to shield him. Then a loud boom went off. Riven had been hearing grenades go off all day, but this explosion was slightly louder due to the combined power. Fortunately, none of them were harmed by it except for a faint ringing in their ears. But the same could not said for the bioweapon.
Its body was mostly intact, but it was covered in burn and scorch marks. The beast was clearly dead. The trio was able to breath a sigh of relief. Despite that there was only two pantherons, they were lucky to get away with only minor injuries. Speaking of which, as Hope went to retrieve his weapon, Riven reached into his bag and grabbed a potion for himself. He squeezed and let the blue particles heal him. Once it subsided, Riven felt a sharp pain from his right hand. Vanille noticed his pain and looked to see blood leaking from his right hand.
Riven looked at his hand and saw that the "weapon" that he was using was the blade of the dead Marauder's spear. It might have been broken, but it was still sharp; perhaps too sharp. He dropped the broken blade and looked at his bleeding hand more closely. If the potion couldn't heal cuts it left on him, it would stay as a scar. Looking at his black shirt, which was falling apart due to the last fight, he ripped off a piece of it to act as bandage. "Here, let me help you with that" said Vanille as she came over.
Letting Vanille patch him up, Riven was left with time to think. "If we weren't in trouble before, we are now," he thought. "We are stuck inside a decaying ruin looking for Snow who is also looking for his fiancé who was taken prisoner by the Pulse fal'Cie. The same fal'Cie that started the purge and cursed the survey team that came in here; turning them into l'Cie and then Cie'th. And now those Cie'th are walking in around in here and will kill us if they find us."
Riven looked down at his hand to see it bandaged by Vanille. It still hurt, but she did a good job. He clenched his hand and looked at Vanille who was also looking at him. "We need to get out of here; fast" he said. We might have beaten those monsters, but it mostly due to luck. What we need are proper weapons. Not broken spears or things to throw, intact and strong weapons. As of right now the only one of us is who has one is Hope, but we can't rely on just him," said Riven. At the mention of his name, Hope looked at them. Until this moment he was inspecting his boomerang to see if it was damaged. Hope quickly walked over to Vanille and Riven who he thought called him over.
"This place is a forge, right?" he said while gesturing to the room. "If the blacksmiths here made weapons during the War of Transgressions, they must have left them somewhere." He turned around and looked in the direction of the vault. "I'm guessing they left them in there. It would make sense. Forge the weapons and then store them when not in use." Riven started nodding his head, acknowledging hope. "You're right. I'm going to look inside. I want you two to scavenge for potions, grenades, and whatever we can use."
Just before Hope and Vanille could take off, Riven stopped them. "Wait" he said. He took his bag, grabbed something small, and put it in his pocket. "Put what you find in here." Hope nodded and took the bag. Then he and Vanille went over to the destroyed camp as Riven walked to the vault. It was pitch black inside still and there was no light switch; but Riven could fix that now. While he was observing his new multi-pad, he noticed there was a small flashlight embedded at the end of it. Pressing a button on the side of the side turned it on and he was able to see inside the vault.
Just as he and the survey team guessed, there were weapons inside. Not just a few, they were everywhere! There were swords, greatswords, spears, warhammers, batons, bows, crossbows, axes, maces, and more. Some were placed on racks, some on hooks, and others just laying on the ground. As Riven walked through the area, he noticed some weapons were in better condition than others. After all, the vault had been sealed for probably a few hundred years; it should be expected.
As Riven scoured through his choices, he had trouble finding anthingthat fit him. There were guns that looked powerful, but overly complicated. Hammers that could pack a punch but were too heavy and swords and spears that looked like they cut with ease, but also looked as if they could fall apart.
"I'm running out of time," he thought. "Hope and Vanille are probably waiting on me right now and I don't have a decent weapon. If I don't hurry, the next group of monsters will tear us apart before we know it," he thought as he rushed through his choices with haste. Realizing that he was about to panic due to their situation and time, Riven immediately stopped thinking and breathed calmy for a few seconds. No matter how bad things got, none of them could afford to lose themselves right now. With his mind now clear, he could now think efficiently. "Okay, I need something I can rely on to be strong against monsters, fast so I can react quickly, and made well so it doesn't break on me."
"Guns are fast, but I would need much ammunition to protect and the others. Spears have long reach but using them well requires skill. Nothing is appealing, but I need to find something!" He continued his search until the light of his flashlight shinned back at him. Using his other hand to block the light he looked at the source. The light was being reflected off two surprising somewhat clean circles. The circles were a part of some design on two daggers hanging on the wall in an "X" formation. Riven became curious and walked over to them.
The two blades were currently in their sheathes and have probably been that way since they were mounted. When Riven approached the wall, he grabbed one of the daggers off the wall to examine it. Its pummel was gold with a gray grip. The cross-guard resembled a long white diamond shape, but the points were more rounded instead of sharp. Their was a circle in the shape of the sun that was between the grip and the cross-guard that had flame designs going outward. "Whistle. Despite being in here for centuries, it still looks nice. But what of the blade itself? It will be useless if it's broken in any way." With that thought, he removed the blade from its sheath and could not believe his eyes.
The blade was clean and pure without the slightest sign of cracks or damage. It would seem as if it was completely untouched by time. The edge and point of the blade were both silver in color while the fuller was the same gold color as the pummel. The dagger in its entirety was beautiful. The only thing that slightly diminished its beauty was five gray gemstones that ran along the fuller. Perhaps they once had color to added to its splendor appearance, but time and captivity had ruined them. Nonetheless, the blade was light and sharp. While testing it, Riven almost forgot about its twin still hanging on the wall. So, he slid the sheath back on and put it back on its hook while taking the other off. He slid its sheath off only to find his amazement renewed.
The second blade was an almost exact copy of the other. Everything was the same except for its color scheme and design within its circle. The point and edge were black as night while the fuller and pummel was white. As for its circle, it was in the shape of a crescent moon with its other portion shadowed. Other than those two things, everything about the daggers was the same: even the gemstones.
Riven then decided to try both daggers at the same time. He held them in both the normal grip and reverse grip. Both were light and the same length, which was roughly twenty inches. He knew they were sharp, of that there was no doubt. But there was one last factor he was considering: a connection. When he used the broken Marauder's blade to kill the pantheron, even though the blade itself cut him, just holding it felt right. And as Riven held these two new blades in his hands he felt the same connection but to a far greater extent. He knew then that he had found what he was looking for.
He placed the blades back in their sheathes and wrapped them around his waist. The sheaths were part of a belt of black leather that they connected to, so Riven strapped the belt around his waist. Now that he was properly equipped, he ran back to join the others. He found them by the terminal from before waiting for him.
"Find anything?" he said. "Not much," Hope responded. "Just a few potions and credit chips. Most of everything here is meant for scouting and research. They probably weren't expecting a fight."
"Well, I found these daggers back there. They should be better than nothing," Riven said he presented them. When he put them away he turned toward Vanille. "Vanille, you should probably grab something in there as well."
"I'm okay. I have these instead," she said smiling while holding more than a few grenades. Riven returned her smile with one of own; but a nervous one. It's good to know that she has something, but anyone cheerfully smiling while holding explosives should didn't sit right with him; as it shouldn't with anyone.
"Well, we should probably get a move on. We need to find Snow before-"
"Sarah? Can you hear me? Where are you!?"
A voice was spoken. A voice that echo loudly throughout the chamber. A voice the trio knew all too well.
"That was him! He is here!" spoke Hope aloud with a bit of contempt, but no one caught it.
"Speak of the Devil you're right. That's Snow! It sounds like his voice came from down that corridor over there," said Riven pointing to the other side of the room. "We should go if we want to catch up to him," he continued as he started heading there. He was half way there when he realized his companions weren't following.
"Come on let's go!" he shouted. With that Hope and Vanille started catching up to him. "He seems eager to find Snow, wouldn't you say?" said Vanille. "I just think he wants to get out of here. The sooner we find Snow, he can," responded Hope.
The two soon caught up to Riven and together they continued on through the Vestige. Oblivious of what's to come.
The party continued down many corridors and hallways. One too many times that came to a dead end, but that did not deterred them. They needed to find Snow. They needed to leave the Vestige.
As they continued, there was surprisingly no enemies to fight. No bio-weapons or those monstrous Cie'th from the recordings. Though that was a good thing for them, Riven wanted to test out his new blades. After all, it was one thing to have a weapon, but another to know how to use it. Anyway, with no enemies to fight and constantly walking down hallways, Riven's curiosity kept growing as he passed more and more of the those strange symbols on the walls around him. His Multi-Pad flashlight might illuminate his surroundings, but not derive the meaning of the strange symbols around him.
"What do these symbols mean?" he said aloud to himself.
"They tell a story."
Riven immediately stopped and turned around facing Vanille. She had to hold her hands in front of her to block the flashlight from shinning in her eyes. Seeing his mistake, Riven pointed the light down, but continued to look at her. "You mean you understand what this all means? How?" he asked.
"My parents taught me. They said that I need to understand the main language of Gran Pulse one day," she said with complete certainty.
"Your parents said you needed to learn the language? They must be scholars or historians. Otherwise no one would have bothered learning this; except for PSICOM that is," spoke Hope.
"Yeah. They were something like that," she said with sadness in her tone. "Were," Riven thought. "I don't like the sound of that." Riven knew that whatever was going on with Vanille was a sore subject regarding her family. So, to change the subject and feed his own curiosity he asked her something else. "So, you know what this says. Can you tell us?"
"It tells the tale of the Fal'Cie," she began. "Long ago, there was a tribe of different peoples that scoured the land in search of sanctuary. They journeyed to many villages, towns, and cities. But, they all turned them away; some cases violently. Since they could not find a settlement to take them, they decide to make their own. They crossed mountains, seas, plains, and tundras looking for the perfect home. After much searching, they found a secluded place in the north of Gran Pulse that was abundant in flowers and fertile soil; untouched by Man or beast. And nestled in the center of this expansive garden was Anima, a lone Fal'Cie that tended the garden."
"Two amongst the tribe, Dia and Yun, approached the Fal'Cie to ask it permission to share it's home with them. Anima did not speak with words, but with action. The divine being made the two l'Cie with the same focus; to create a structure to house the Fal'Cie so it may protect itself and others. The two l'Cie returned to their people, shared what they learned, and as whole the tribe wept at their good fortune; for build a home for the Fal'Cie was to build a home for themselves."
"Yun was a warrior and Dia a priestess. Together with the great powers bestowed upon them created a grand temple that was both durable and majestic; strong and beautiful. When it was completed and Anima merged with it, Dia and Yun crystallized where they stood. To honor the two, they were placed within the temple so they may be with Divine Anima forever watching over their people as they built and cared for the home the finally found."
"Wow," said Riven. "So, the Fal'Cie here is called Anima and some people thought it was a god. To think people on Pulse also worshiped Fal'Cie; despite them being of Pulse," groaned Riven. Despite these ancient people finding refuge with a Pulse Fal'Cie, Pulse was still hell. Those people searched long and far for a home because they were either rejected or it wasn't safe. But in Cocoon, anyone could be safe anywhere.
"Still an impressive story; even if it's a bit religious. Thanks for translating Vanille," smiled Riven.
"You're welcome," blushed Vanille.
"So, Hope. What did you think?" questioned Riven as he turned to the boy in question. But the kid was unresponsive. "Hope? Riven repeated. "You okay?" The teen just kept quite; quite and staring unblinking. Riven and Vanille followed his gaze and saw what was wrong.
Moving toward them were half a dozen small robots moving down the corridor heading their way. They were mostly red with a square "disc" circling around each one. Their pace didn't change and they only seemed to be taking pictures or scanning everything around them. But that didn't stop the trio from freezing up.
"Okay, here's the plan," whispered Riven. "We hug the walls and wait for them to pass. Then we-." Riven didn't get to finish as something unexpected happened. All of a sudden, the lights turned on! Before as they were walking through the darkness with nothing but his new flashlight to light the way. Now the overhead lights practically burn the darkness away.
Normally this would be a good thing. But the sudden illumination startled the group enough for the approaching robots to notice them. They were now charging at them with their little legs.
Riven sighed. He had been fighting all day against soldiers and bio-weapons alike. At this point, if he could avoid a fight, he would. But now that has become impossible. "Alright, change of plans," he spoke. "Hope, bust out your Airwing and hit them from afar while I get in close. Vanille, get one of your grenades ready just in case. You got that guys?"
Hope and Vanille looked at each other, took out their weapons, and shook their heads. "Yeah," they spoke in unison. For a split second Riven studied Hope. There wasn't a trace of fear anywhere on his young face. Perhaps he was getting braver or maybe these enemies weren't as intimidating to him. Either way, Riven was starting to become proud for him.
"Alright let's do this. Looks like I get to test these new blades finally!" Riven shouted as he unsheathed both daggers and rushed forward. The robots were coming up close and just as the lead one was about to hit him, he swerved slightly to the left and stabbed a different one in its one eye with his right blade.
The dagger must have been made from a much higher quality metal for it slid through like a hot knife through butter. The machine gave one last twitch as Riven withdrew the blade. He gave it a quick inspection to see any damage and found none. If he wasn't sure about his choice in weaponry before, he was now.
Unfortunately, the moment of inspection earned him a tackle from another bot. It didn't hit hard, but enough to knock one of his blades away. Riven quickly regain his composure and reengaged the enemy. This time he let it hit him only for him to hold it with his off-hand and stab its back. He then twist the knife and sliced the machine from top to bottom. As it was giving its final twitch, two more rushed him. But suddenly, something flew through the air and struck both machines hard. It was Hope's Airwing! Riven looked back at him to see him flash him a smile. He smiled back, pushed the dead robot off him, and used the dagger to slice into the two down droids.
He looked across from him to see that only one robot was left. Hope must have dealt with the other one when he wasn't looking. It charged him and when it close enough Riven sidestepped and let it hit the wall. With it momentarily dazed, he brought the blade down on its head; ending it. In that moment, deciding to something cool he kicked it away and something cool; a mistake. They might have been easy to take down, but they were still made of metal.
"Damn it!" shouted Riven in pain as clutched his foot. Instead of looking cool in front of his team, Hope gave him a confused look while Vanille chuckled. "Why did you do that?" she laughed, failing to suppress it.
"I don't know," he lied. Taking out a potion, he squeezed it, and let it work its magic. After healing from the fight and sore foot, he retrieved his other dagger and approached the team. "Now that that's settled, I'd say that my new weapons work like a charm. But hopefully I won't need these things for much longer. Once we find Snow, were getting out of here, and leaving this gods-forsaken place."
"Sounds like a plan," said Vanille. "And now that the lights are on that should be much easier."
"Right," replied Hope. "We should keep heading to this way so-"
"Hang on, Baby! Your hero's on the way!"
They all paused when they heard that all too familiar voice. Not only was it louder, but it was clearer. They were getting close.
"That's him again! He must be close! We should catch up, come on!" Riven said while not hearing the whisper Hope spoke to himself. "Yeah! Let's do it!" cheered Vanille as she grabbed Hope's and Riven's hands and hauled they along toward the voices owner.
It didn't take the trio long to leave corridor and emerge in a new wide open space. It was a grand atrium that had an air of importance. They came down from one of three different passageways that led to a giant circle in the center. Once they reached it they found that the circle was surrounded on all sides with a great many of pedestals that looked as if they should be holding something.
"Whoa," said Hope in amazement. "What is this place?"
"I don't know, but its incredible. I gotta hand it to those Pulsian's, they know how to build," said Riven is equal amazement.
"Ah, there."
Riven and Hope both snapped back to attention to focus on Vanille. She was walking over to what appeared to be a makeshift camp site. Given the grandeur of their surroundings, such a thing seemed out of place. How odd.
"What is that? A camp site?" asked Riven out loud.
"Seems like it. Did the survey team set that up?" responded Hope.
"I don't think so. I don't see any Sanctum markings or brands. Did someone come in here before them?"
"If there was, fal'Cie probably turned them into l'Cie too."
As the two boys were talking to each other, Vanille was rummaging through the equipment. She was tossing various things aside as if she was looking for something. "Hey Vanille, what are you doing?" asked Riven as he and Hope approached her.
"I'm looking for anything we can use. Ah! Like this," she said as she turned toward them with something in hand. It looked like a staff but it split at a point that had what looked like antlers coming out of it. "This is a binding rod. It is both a weapon and a tool for hunting."
"You hunt," asked a bewildered Riven. Given her happy and cheerful personality, That didn't seem like her.
"All the time. See all my beads? Each one represents a large haul," she spoke proudly.
"What?" said Riven and Hope. They were confused before but now they looked the part. This go-happy attitude woman standing before them had beads all over her body; and each one represented a big haul!? Any idea of them thinking she was soft or weak died right there and then.
But before the two boys could ask her anything else, they all had to cover their ears from a high-pitched screaming sound. It was so loud, but terrifying 'fore it didn't sound human. Like something unnatural and wrong tried to scream. When it was over, the trio looked up only to have their fear renewed.
Flying above them was some man-sized "thing". It had two big wings were there would be arms, skinny abdomen and legs, what appeared to be some kind-of growth covering most of its face, and what appeared to be a giant a giant red eye in the center of its chest. But what was more terrifying about it was what it was made of.
It appeared to be made of crystal that was also flesh. Like a mad scientist decide to combine the two together in some experiment. There was nothing right about what was before them. And to top it all off, they knew exactly what see were seeing.
"A Cie'th," spoke Vanille in a very soft voice. It screamed again as if it was trying to talk but couldn't. Then as if things weren't bad enough, the scream was joined by many others. It wasn't talking, it was calling. Riven, Hope, and Vanille each looked down the passageways and saw more Cie'th heading straight for them. These ones were similar but they didn't have wings. They shambling walked toward them, effectively cutting off all means of escape. With them surround, the party were at each others backs as they readied themselves for a fight.
"I don't think we can run from this. We will have to fight our way out. You ready?" said Riven as he unsheathed his blades. He received no answer from Hope who looked as if was going to die of fright, but Vanille nodded while wielding her new weapon. But before any of them could jump into action, a loud explosion went off; taking a few Cie'th with it. Riven looked at the resulting smoke and saw a figure emerge from it. It was a man he knew all too well. The very same man they were looking for ended up finding them.
"Snow!"
The blonde man looked at his new company with surprise and recognition "Riven? Is that you? What the hell are you doing here!?"
"I'll tell you in a minute. First lets get rid of these things," he said as he leapt at the nearest Cie'th. He buried his blades in the monsters arm. But the creature swung its other arm at him and knocked him away.
His side hurt bad as he clutched it. When he withdrew it he saw some blood on his hand. "Okay, this isn't going well," he thought as saw the same creature coming in for another swing. But suddenly it stopped moving; or rather someone was restraining it.
The Cie'th was being held by a few small, but tough, wires. Riven's gaze followed the wires until the led to Vanille holding her new weapon. "Riven, aim for the eye!" she yelled as she gestured to her chest. Riven looked back at the creature's giant eye in the middle of its chest and felt stupid. Of course that was its weak spot. So, he quickly rushed toward the Cie'th, pulled out his daggers from the creatures arm, and thrust one of them into the things "eye". The Cie'th ceased moving and fell to the ground motionless.
He turned toward his companions to see how they were doing only to dash right past Vanille as he blocked other Cie'th aiming for her back. She was currently fending off the only flying one. She didn't even see the creature until he blocked its swipe. With his right arm he held the monster in place as shoved his blade through its with his left. When the creature fell, he was back to back with Vanille.
"Thanks for the save back their Vanille," smiled Riven. She looked back and flashed a smile of her own. "And thank you for saving me. Now care to help a girl with this thing? It's getting on my nerves." He nodded as he ran forward slashing and thrusting with his blade. This flier was much more nimble and fast then its cousins. But as Riven was keeping it busy, Vanille was lining up her cast. She swung her rod at the creature, wrapped the wires around, and yanked back. It was caught unaware and landed on its back. Riven took this moment to drive his blade through its chest. It didn't stand a chance. With the creature now defeated he gazed upon their battlefield. Vanille looked relieved now that the one winged Cie'th was out. Snow was currently fighting the remaining Cie'th bare handed and doing pretty well at it while protecting Hope who was trying to do everything he can to keep the monsters away.
Vanille and Riven then nodded to each other and jump right back into the thick of things. It was over in less than a minute. Riven passed out potions to each of his team members and let the blue light heal them. With the danger passed, Snow approached Riven. "Okay now that that's over, what are you doing here?" Snow question Riven.
"Playing babysitter," as he pointed to Vanille and Hope.
"Hey," protested Vanille.
"Just kidding," joked Riven. "But seriously, what happened is that those two jumped on a cognispeeder and went after you when you left. I tried to stop them, but ended up being pulled along. We crashed into here and have been searching for you ever since."
"Why would they come after me? I can take care of myself."
Riven then gestured for Snow to come closer and spoke quietly. "You see the silver-haired kid behind me? His name is Hope and he insisted on it. I personally think he was worried for you."
Snow looked back at Hope and Vanille and saw Hope avert his gaze. He sighed and looked back to Riven. "Thanks for the concern, but you gotta leave. It's not safe here."
"Not without you. I know the reason why you came here is to save your bride." Snow was taken by surprise. "You know about Sarah?"
"Gadot told me that your damsel in distress in taken by the fal'Cie. Why in Eden's name would it do that?"
Snow looked reluctant to tell. As if it was a some big secret. "Because she's a Pulse l'Cie," he admitted. That surprised everyone. Snows bride was a Pulse l'Cie. Enemies of Cocoon. Demons created from the devil Pulse. And he was trying to save one. It sounded ridicules, but before Riven could say anything he was cut off.
"What's wrong with you!?"
Riven quickly turned around to see an angry Hope. He and Vanille would have definitely heard them talking, but remained quite until now. Even Vanille looked shocked by his outburst.
"Why do you want to help a l'Cie?" he continued. "They're the enemy! How can you save a l'Cie, and not… and not… that's insane!"
Snow just reached behind him and scratched his head. "Hm. Probably. But I gotta do something, right?" He then started heading down the last passageway. "I'll be back. Hang tight Riven."
Riven reached out as if to grab him, but decide not to and return to Hope who was clearly distraught. The kid was on his knees and was crying a few tears. "Why is this happening to me? When they found the fal'Cie the other day, we were just visiting Bodhum. But the army took us. Threw us on that train! Because of that guy, Mom is… "he couldn't continue. His face was flooded with tears.
This was far too much for the boy. Losing a peaceful lifestyle, his mother, and throw into the middle of a battle where he would have to fight. Way too much. Riven then got down on his knees and placed a hand on his back to comfort him. "I know what you are going through. I was just in Bodhum to buy a gift. But, the Sanctum also put me an on a train and I had to fight ever since they showed their true colors. So, if you need someone, I'm here for you." Riven then felt another hand go right over his, it was Vanille. "Me too. We're here for you, Hope," she said as she smiled at the two boys.
Just then, they heard some feet come running up to them; it was Snow again. "Hey again. I just thought that it might be better if we stick together"
"Oh, what gave you that idea?" said Riven with a glare as he walked up to him. Snow just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "So, do you know where we are heading?" asked Riven.
"The only way left to go is down. There's some elevator this way. We'll use that."
Riven looked behind Snow and saw what he was talking about. "So, you really think your bride-to-be is that way?" questioned Riven. "She must be. I just know it."
"Then let's stop wasting time." Riven looked back and saw Vanille pick Hope off the ground and back on his feet. "Alright let's go!" smiled Snow as the four of them made their way to the elevator. It looked it a simple platform until the last of them stepped on it. It lit up faintly and started to descend below; each of them unaware of what fate had planned for them.
There you have it. Chapter 3
Now I know many of you were hoping for the whole cast (minus Fang) to meet up. But this chapter proved to be much longer than the other two. 14,000 words; much longer.
I want to focus on world building and details that could make the original story more interesting. I hope that is okay with you.
Now I'm going to start working on the next chapter. I really hope it won't take me 3 years to get it done. :)
Also, PLEASE leave a review. I want to know your thoughts and feelings. I could help me improve my writing and story-telling.
But, if you have nothing nice to say, saying nothing at all. Except for anything related to absence. That I deserve.
So for now Light is out!