-Dilly Dally, Shilly Shally-Lissar's Translations

A Xenobade Episode -At Home-

2011-09-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

[Warning: this story contains spoilers for the game. If you do not wish to be spoiled, please stop reading here.]

This is a story that was printed in the special book Monad: The Secret Files, that was released several months after the release of the game. It is neither prequel nor epilogue, but a story set between the events of the game. Thank you to Des (Gamefaqs) for the scans!

The translation has now been updated to reflect the English localization as much as possible. Mostly names have been changed. As I am not British, I did not even try to mimic some of the dialects as I am sure I would get them wrong. I apologize. I left Monado as Monad because I'm stubborn. If you see anything else that is wrong, please feel free to leave a note to me in the comments below.

Author: Yuichiro Takeda
Director: Tetsuya Takahashi

A Xenoblade Episode -At Home-

[The Bionis has awoken, and the Telethia are threatening the world. This is a secret episode that decides the future of Fiora, who has taken the Monad of Meyneth, as well as the rest of her companions.]

-0-

The world of the Bionis--it is a land that spreads across the vast corpse of a humongous god. Along the leg of this god a colony has been built--one of the last ones in existence--Colony 9. The home and one of the few refuges left for the steadily decreasing Homs people. It is said, once long ago, there were ten full colonies. They fell to the Machine God’s armies sometime in the distance past, to be all but forgotten.
Colony 9 has survived longer than the others because of its one advantage: its great distance from the world of the Mechonis. Colony 9 was able to live peacefully despite the attacks happening above them. For those living in Colony 9, this is a home that could never be replaced.

-1-

“Shulk! Shulk... um. You got a minute?” Dean asked. He was a researcher who was ten years Shulk’s senior. Shulk had been working on his project at the military research center on Colony 9 when Dean had decided, as always, that he needed Shulk’s advice. He always needed advice. There was some widow he was half in love with, that seemed to be all he thought about. Despite Shulk’s long absence, he returned to find Dean to be the exact same as he had left him. Not that I really know anything about this sort of thing myself... Shulk thought with a sigh.
Dean was in the middle of saying something, and with a start Shulk realized that he hadn’t been paying attention. Not that Dean seemed to notice. He just went on about his problems as usual. Shulk liked him, and he was a senior researcher, so he decided to help him as best he could.
“... I’ll do what I can.”
It was such a small thing that he wanted. Shulk had already been through caves filled with monsters, to the head of the Bionis and back several times, what was all that to this? It was nothing at all to help him get what he wanted.
“I’m glad I could help you. Need anything else?”
Dean shook his head, smiling. He was such a serious person, never making jokes like the other people Shulk knew. But he was a person with a good heart.
Climbing the stairs of the research center, Shulk walked out into the Military District plaza. It was already evening. Another day had gone by and he hadn’t found a hint of what he was looking for. Not because of Dean’s little request, that had nothing to do with it. It would be easier to capture a dream upon waking then find what he hoped to find. Though I don’t think Linada is wrong, he thought. He cut across the plaza, his thoughts hazy and muddled.
It was just that time of evening when those who worked during the day were rushing home, and the soldiers on watch at night were heading out to their posts. The feelings is brought up felt so familiar, Shulk felt he had wandered back into the past.
The war against the Mechonis’ army had been occurring since time before history. It wasn’t too long ago that Colony 9 was nothing but a base of operations, somewhere they could return to. All the action would happen along the Sword Plains. When the Mechonis soldiers attacked, they would head out to meet them. On occasion, it is said, the Mechonis soldiers even made it as far as the Gaur Plains. But never, ever, had they reached Colony 9.
Such peace could have never been forever.
They had a year of peace after the last attack. One full year, before Colony 6 fell to the swarms of mechon. Those machines continued on, nearly taking their own colony. Except for...
That had been the start of their journey.
Now Colony 9 was preparing for the battle against the Telethia. Their great wings tear the sky, attack before you can even draw your sword. Their entire existence was to serve the Bionis. To reap the lives that live on that world. There was no where to run, no where to hide.
Day and night they readied themselves for battle. But, life continued on as always in the colony. It wasn’t the same peaceful life they had led before, but no longer would they allow themselves to be ruled by fear. Everyone’s changing... they’ve had to become so much stronger. Shulk thought to himself, watching the people pass by.
They all had to change, strengthening their minds and their bodies. And their hearts. Tension still vibrated through the air, but life continued on as usual.
It was one less thing Shulk had to worry about.
Soon they would be heading to the inside of the Bionis, to meet the god head on. There would be no escape. They would either win or die. They had decided, then, to leave behind no regrets. To do what they had to do, before they met their final fate.
Shulk needed to give the information he had gathered on his journey to his fellow researchers in the colony. The people who had lived on Mechonis, the Machina, had technology they had never seen before: The Monad Replica. If the Homs had that, it would give their armies incredible power.
Dean had been pleasantly surprised, and had gladly began researching the data Shulk had brought him (his expertise had not always been in cabbage rolls.)
There was just one thing left. One more thing that Shulk had to do. A small hope for the future that the Machina doctor Linada had given him. It was only a slim chance, but he desperately wanted it to come true. This was something different from the Monad Replica, something he hadn’t told anyone about...
Passing through the Central Plaza, Shulk headed towards the Residential District. He saw the artist Kenny Rohan and waved a greeting, but Kenny seemed not to see him. Sesame had a sleepy look to him, and didn’t seem to recognize him. The shops that opened at night were already open, as Shulk walked nearer to the entrance of the colony. Near the bridge that opened out into the wild lands, was Dunban and Fiora’s home. Dunban had chosen that spot so he could be first on the front lines when the enemy struck. Shulk put his hand on the door, and smiled. He had been here so often since he was a child, it was like another home to him. Looking at the bright lights shining out through the windows, he went inside.

-2-

Fiora’s cooking was excellent. While the food she had made along their journey had been quite good, when she had her own kitchen to work with her cooking turned into something else entirely. Shulk watched her, smiling, as she made her delicious meal.
Long ago, there had always been visitors to Dunban’s house. Shulk and Reyn had, of course, always been there to visit Fiora, but there had been many other visitors as well. Dunban’s war buddies, Mumkhar and Dickson, the defense force chief Vandamme and his underling Kantz, were all frequent guests. After Dunban had been injured in the war at Sword Plain a year ago, the guests had been less frequent, and the visits less joyous.
Many days and months had passed since then, and now those who sat around the table were the companions they had met on their journey. They were laughing and talking, arguing and shouting, for Dunban and Shulk it was like those old days were back again.
Then food was placed on the table.
“Don’t you dare take that, old man!”
“You’ve had plenty already, Rein~ If I don’t eat enough, I’ll get all dizzy dizzy~” Riki complained, while stealing a large chunk of Energy Aubergine from under Reyn’s nose. Dunban sighed.
“I can’t imagine where you put all that in your tiny body...”
Reyn lunged at Riki, but before any damage could occur, Sharla slapped them both on the back of the head.
“I think the two of you need a cool down.”
Melia decided it would be best to ignore them all, and turned towards the counter.
“I’m sorry to rush you like this, but we ought to give them the next plate of food right away.” She picked up the plate of food Fiora had just set down.
“Ah! Wait, wait.” Fiora said, not taking her eyes off the food she was cooking. “That bowl of stew is for you. I’m going to give Reyn and Riki their portions in a moment, so don’t worry about that.”
“... you don’t have to worry on my account. I’m not the one who is desperate for food.”
“Ah, no no, I mean... I left that one aside for you before I put in the Spicy Cabbage for Reyn.”
It was true, Melia wasn’t too fond of Spicy Cabbage. When she was small, she wasn’t allowed to be picky about the food she ate. She was taught that it would be an embarrassment to the royal family if she were to refuse the food that the people had offered her.
When Reyn had shared some with her on Gaur Plain, she had eaten all of it without complaint. She knew that Rein hadn’t meant anything by it, he had just wanted to share it with her (although, after she had tried her hardest to choke down the cabbage, Reyn had given her another piece with a huge smile on his face. She had felt a bit murderous then.)
“I didn’t need to?”
“No, that’s not... thank you.”
“Oh, being honest now? Good, good... I like it when you say what you’re really thinking.”
Melia wasn’t sure how to feel about it. While, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, she had been raised as a High Entia to never say directly how she really felt. It was difficult to get used to.
Fiora smiled at her. She always said exactly what she thought, and felt. Perhaps, Melia thought, I could be like that too. But could she?
“Alright, here’s your share, you gluttons. I’ve put in some Sweet Wasabi, as well as bits of salmon and tuna. Enjoy!”
Reyn and Riki’s eyes lit up.
“Seriously!?”
“Fiora, I love you~ I’ll let you rub rub me later!”
They had no problems getting along as long as there was enough food for the two of them. All other sounds were drowned out by the chorus of their raucous eating.
“Melia, you should eat yours before it gets cold.”
“Ah, right...” Melia took her plate and sat at the table. Then, she took a bite.
“This... is delicious.”
The stew (minus Spicy Cabbage) was mild enough even for the taste buds of a High Entia. For the first time in Melia didn’t know how long, the food she ate was truly delicious.

-3-

Melia woke up with a start. Someone was crying in pain. The ether light glimmered in the darkness through the window. The night was still young.
Fiora’s room was on the first floor of the house. Places had been set on the floor for Melia and Sharla, and the three of them all slept there. Sharla slept peacefully beside her. The one who was in pain was Fiora. Pushing herself out of bed, Melia went to Fiora’s side. She looks like she’s in so much pain tonight..., she thought.
It had been like this for days. There was nothing anyone could do for her. She wasn’t sick, or feverish. Melia couldn’t even wipe the sweat from her brow. It was some problem with her mechanical body. The only one who might know what it was would be Linada.
It made Melia feel powerless. There was nothing at all that she could do for her friend. It made her feel desperate, she wanted to destroy something.
Then, outside, she saw a familiar shadow beneath her window. Shulk, who she thought was already asleep. Where could he be going at this time of night.
She felt anger boiling up inside her. She knew it was unreasonable, but she needed someone to blame. Here she was, holding Fiora’s hand night after night while she screams in pain. What could he possibly be doing that was more important that this? Wasn’t this his job?
Melia knew, deep down, that it wouldn’t matter whether it was her hand or his. Neither would magically cure her. It didn’t matter, she just didn’t care.
Melia buckled on her armor as quickly as she could. With the Telethia out there, waiting to attack, you could never be too prepared. He was headed towards the research center. It only made sense, that was where he spent all of his time these days. She dashed out the door after him.
Following behind him, Melia didn’t even need to take precautions about being seen. He was so intent on his destination, he didn’t even realize she was there. Soon he reached his researching room, and immediately began searching around the bookshelves, riffling through some old documents. Similar papers were scattered all over the room. Must be continuing some research he had started earlier in the day.
Shulk was a boy who took his responsibilities seriously, he always had to do what he felt was right. It was because of that, Melia herself was still alive. His Monad Replica project would save countless more people. Still, Melia wanted to say to him “It’s wonderful that you want to save so many people, but there is someone special to you that lies every night in pain.”
Melia was angry. Very angry. Shulk still didn’t notice that she was there, standing in the doorway. His mind was filled with thoughts of the regeneration device.
The regeneration chamber... Linada had told him about it. It was ancient High Entia technology. Anyone who might know the details of this machine had long turned to dust. And yet, this was their only hope to save Fiora.
Even the Machina didn’t know enough about the device to reconstruct it. They had to hope that there was one left somewhere in the Giant God World, still operational. He wanted to believe her, he had to. He began searching in secret for any tiny scrap of information he could find on the machine. There may have been something of this machine written in their reports. Everyday, while he worked on the Monad Replica project, he searched through the mountain of books and documents he had for any small hope.
Unfortunately for Shulk, Melia had no idea of any of the thoughts running through his mind.
“What are you doing here!?”
“M-Melia...?” Shulk jumped in surprise. He lost his balance, falling on top of Melia. Then, decades worth of piled up papers and books cascaded down upon their heads.
“Look out!” Shulk yelled, throwing up his arms to protect Melia from the avalanche that was about to fall on them. And then...

Melia faced the recognition device, and spoke.

“With the power passed down to me from the royal family, I order you to let us pass.”

Dunban turned his face away. He didn’t want anyone to see his tears.

“It seems I have you to thank, again...”

Rein was smiling.

“Leave it to me. I’ll protect Shulk until we finish this. I promise.”

Linada offered her encouragement.

“This is the right decision for you to make. Enter the chamber.”

Fiora smiled, her decision made.

“I...”

“Shulk, are you alright?”
The colors of the world slowly filtered back into place. Melia sat in front of him, her eyes full of tears.
“Melia, where...” He stopped, and looked. His research room. Papers and books scattered everywhere. Then he knew. His consciousness had just returned from a short trip to the future.
“Oh, yes... yes, of course.” He saw that Melia had realized it too. When he had protected her, it had caused his special powers to activate.
“You saw it then? The future?”
Shulk nodded, then explained what he saw. It was a Vision of the regeneration chamber. Fiora had stood before it, surrounded by all her friends. Melia had opened the door to the room that contained the device...
“... you mean, that is what you have been looking for all this time?”
“Yes... I knew it had to be somewhere. I know where it is now. We can help her, when can give Fiora back her body.”
“Then, you mean...” Her voice wavered, her eyes bright.
“It’s all thanks to you! Now I know that the device is somewhere in Colony 9.”
Melia hugged him tightly. “I can’t believe it!” Melia felt a tinge of regret through her happiness. He had been worrying about her, he had been working to save her all this time. She had been wrong...

-4-

It was the room that they had always used to replenish the ether cylinders. Further back was a door that had never been opened. That they never could open. Melia stood in front of it.
“With the power passed down to me from the royal family, I order you to let us pass.”
Long ago this flying machine was controlled by an ancient High Entia. Whoever had owned it before had left orders for it to accept a new master. Melia was now that master. For the first time in hundreds of years, perhaps thousands, the door opened.
The defense system didn’t activate, letting them through into the core. It was there, where Shulk had seen it in his Vision.
“This is it. I know it is.”
Linada nodded. In the center of the room stood a clear capsule, just large enough for a human. Connected to it were complex bits of wires and machinery. Dunban’s voice shook as he looked at it.
“This machine... it can really bring Fiora’s body back...”
“Yes, it should.”
“I see... I... Shulk, it seems I have you to thank, again.” Dunban quickly turned his face away. Shulk remembered from the Vision that he was hiding his tears.
“And I can really...? I mean... I...” Fiora whispered, wanting to believe yet not quite believing. Linada patted her shoulder.
“Yes. You’re body might be a machine, but you still have parts of your human body. This machine can take the information from your genes to reconstruct your body.”
“I don’t really understand, but this means Fiora will be all squishy squishy! Then she can hug me!”
Fiora laughed. “Of course I will.” She said to Riki, smiling. But her eyes were filled with shadows.
“Are you alright? Is something wrong?” Sharla asked.
"Um... yes. Linada? How long will it take to regenerate my body?”
Linada was fiddling with the machine. “Of course, let me see. I think about half a year would be enough.”
“Half a year...” The shadows in her eyes grew darker. Rein smiled, touching her arm.
“Only half a year? Leave it to me. I’ll look out for Shulk until we finish this. I promise.”
“Reyn! You really don’t have to protect me anymore.” Shulk said, embarrassed.
“This is the right decision for you to make. Enter the chamber.” Linada opened the capsule. “Once you go to sleep in here, you’ll wake up in half a year as good as new.”
Fiora laid her hand on her chest, and smiled. “No, I... I can’t go in there yet.”

Shulk and Fiorung looked down on Colony 9 from the ledge that that led into Tephra Cave.
“Are you sure this is what you want?”
“You keep asking me that. But then, you’re always like this.”
Shulk was worried. She knew he was. But Fiora felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her heart. Going into the chamber was something that would just have to wait. She couldn’t do it now. If she started her regeneration, she would be asleep for half a year. The god wouldn’t wait nearly so long. The life on the Giant God might be wiped out by the Telethia. They had to defeat the god... defeat Zanza. If Fiora were to go into the chamber, she wouldn’t be able to fight with them...
“I’m sorry, but I’m not changing my mind. I must use the body I have now to fight with you. I can change back afterward. I told you. I don’t want to stay behind just to worry about you. I’d rather fight beside you.”
Linada was in turmoil. They didn’t know how long the fight would last. She might not be able to hold onto her body, having lost Monad. She explained it to Fiora, but she showed no signs of changing her mind.
Linada sighed, resigned. “If that’s what you want... then I will try to hold onto your body for as long as I can.”
Reyn and Dunban stood beside each other, looking down on the cityscape.
“We’ll be back. Before you know it, we’ll be back.” Rein said, clapping a big hand on Dunban’s shoulder.
“Oh yes, we’ll be back. Then the fighting will be over, and Fiora will have her old body back, and all of us will live here... in peace.”
Shulk nodded. “This is our home. Of course we’ll be back.”
And so they left, walking through the caves to get to Gaur Plain. Behind them lay Colony 9, their one and only home. As it always has been.

FFXIII Master List

2011-02-04T16:10:00.001-08:00

This is a master list of all the works I've translated so far pertaining to Final Fantasy XIII (to make it easier to navigate.)

Enjoy!

Episode 0
Episode i
FNC Mythology

Fabula Nova Crystallis Mythology

2011-01-18T13:25:00.000-08:00

This is a translation of the mythological story told in this Fabula Nova Crystallis video shown at the January 18th 2011 Square-Enix Conference.

Once upon a time, a god ruled the world. He was called Buniberzei.

Buniberzei defeated his mother, the goddess Muin, and took control of the world for himself.

Muin disappeared into the unseen world--the invisible world.

Buniberzei was a god with many troubles.

The world, it was certain, was destined to die.

He believed this was a curse laid on the world by his mother Muin. Buniberzei knew he had to destroy her.

To do this, he must search for the door. The door to the invisible world where his mother waited.

Using his will alone, he created the first fal’Cie.

First, he created fal’Cie Pulse.

The duty he laid on him was to open the world, and search for the door to Muin.

Next, he created fal’Cie Etro.

But it was a mistake. Unknowingly, he created her exactly in the image of Muin.

Buniberzei feared her, and gave Etro no power of her own.

Instead, he created fal’Cie Lindzei.

The duty he laid on him was to protect Buniberzei from all who might seek to destroy him.

Buniberzei gave Lindzei one special duty. To wake him once the time came.

Then he turned to crystal, and fell into an endless sleep.

Pulse wished to expand the world, so he created many fal’Cie and l’Cie.

Lindzai wished to protect the world, so he created many fal’Cie and l’Cie.

But Etro was powerless, and could do nothing of her own.

Lonely, she thought of her mother, who she so resembled.

Etro tore at her body, letting her blood flow to the earth, and disappeared from the visible world.

From that blood, torn from her body, sprung humankind.

Creatures that were born, only to die.

The destruction of the visible world was no curse, only fate.

The world was divided into two halves, the visible and the invisible.

If the balance between these two were destroyed, the world itself would be destroyed.

The goddess Muin could do nothing to stop this fate.

She was being swallowed into the chaos of the invisible world.

Just before her last moment, Etro came to her side.

Muin told Etro that she must protect the balance of the world, before slipping into the chaos forever.

But Etro was foolish, and didn’t know the meaning behind Muin’s words.

Etro was lonely, but she felt affection for those humans who live only to die.

As they died, she smiled, and gave them chaos.

The chaos Etro gave them, the humans named “heart”.

Their hearts would become their power, but the humans did not yet know this.

Soon, they called Pulse the all powerful ruler. Lindzei they named their protector, and Etro... Etro the named ‘death’.

The humans lived on the world, hold chaos inside them.

Because they held chaos so close, the world once again was in balance.

And Buniberzei still sleeps. A crystal.

Until the end of forever...

Final Fantasy XIII: Episode i

2010-12-23T01:06:00.000-08:00

Episode i is a special epilogue story that was released with Final Fantasy XIII: Ultimate Hits International. Here I will translate the entire story (which is relatively short in comparison to the original novels.) It is now complete! Thank you for being patient. [Thank you to 0chiamano_mimi0 for the scans.]

Author: Jun Eishima

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Part VII
Part VIII

I am still working on two other projects, the story from the FFXIII Ultimania as well as the one from the FFXII Ultimania. I've been in school so I haven't had as much time to work on them, and this project will be much easier to finish quickly. I will get around to them soon, however.

Episode i: Part VIII

2010-12-22T01:51:00.000-08:00

A dark sea spread out before her.
Or more, it was like a sea. The rolling black waves were soundless, and had no smell of salt. It was as though a deep darkness undulated through the night. It was nothing like her own sea.
Not just the sea. This place was like nothing she had ever seen. There were things, perhaps monsters, in the distance. But no plants, no animals. She felt no life here.
There was no sound, no color. Whether this was simply silence and darkness, or her own five senses failing her, she didn’t know.
Time itself seemed to have become hazy. It felt as though months and years were passing, and yet all in an instant. As if she were experience forever and a single moment all at once.
Oh, perhaps that’s why.
Slowly, slowly she had accepted this place for what it was. This was no place she could fight. A world with nothing, and... everything. To put it into human words... nothingness and chaos.
But still she walked forward. Perhaps, because she still had something to look for.
“Where? Where am I trying to go?”
There was no answer. Only the stillness, at once a moment and forever, swallowed her voice.

Episode i: Part VII

2010-12-22T01:25:00.000-08:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

Of course, I knew. Of course I already knew what had happened. But seeing it with my own eyes, I felt... confused. Lost. To really know that it was real.
But, because it’s real I know now that I can do things. I can change things, not just watch them happen. I felt strength then, and courage. Serah lifted her head, and looked at Cocoon, broken and crumbling. And the crystal that supported it.
What sort of dreams does Vanille dream now, I wonder? Like when I was a Crystal, watching everyone... is she watching us now?
Her memories after becoming a crystal were confused., but she remembered everything after what had happened at Lake Bresha. Snow had stayed beside her. She had felt so helpless, but Snow had been there. Perhaps it was because he carried that crystal tear that she could hear his voice, and see what he saw.
Everyone who turned into a crystal saw different dreams. It seemed that boy, Dajh, had dreamt he was playing with many, many chocobos. Perhaps that baby chocobo had given him that dream. Or was it his father, what was his name? Sazh? Who had wanted to show his son many fabulous dreams.
Perhaps it was true. Because Snow had wanted her to be with them so badly, she had seen the dreams she saw. And perhaps, a little bit because she wished it to be true herself... though really, she couldn’t know the truth of it.
Being beside Snow in her dreams had helped her, steadied her. If she had remained in such a cold, lonely sleep for such a long time, her heart would have broken before she had a chance to awake.
She hoped Vanille was seeing wonderful dreams. Even if it was only in their hearts, Serah hoped that everyone could be together.
“We’re uh, going on a long trip. So we’ll be going now.” Sazh’s voice brought Serah back to reality. Dajh was laughing, and holding Serah’s hand.
“Bye bye! See you!”
“Goodbye Dajh. I hope to see you again soon.”
She remembered when she first woke, it had been this boy’s smile that she had first seen, and his innocent chatter that she had first heard. She had taken his hand, and they had step onto the land of Gran Pulse for the first time. Walking back into reality. Thank you, Serah whispered, and smiled.
The solider called out to Sazh to hurry up. “Come on, daddy has to go.” Sazh said, hurrying away.
“There they go...” Hope whispered, standing beside her. Then, a different soldier came running up to them.
“Hey, we found your father. He’ll be arriving on the next plane, one of the supply ones.”
“My father!?”
“Yeah, he’ll be here in a few minutes.”
Not many knew that Bartholomew Estheim--Hope’s father--was the father of a l’Cie. But people who knew were out there. He had probably been put on a supply plane so he could avoid seeing anyone who might recognize him.
“Once he lands, we’ll arrange it so you can see each other somewhere out of the way.”
“Thank you... thank you so much.”
“You don’t need to thank me, but we need to hurry. We need to take advantage of the confusion at the landing site so that you can both escape.”
The soldier hurried him off, and Hope finally left them. He had no time for words of farewell, only meeting their eyes and giving them a brief nod.
“They’re all going away so quickly...” Snow said, a little sadly. He always hated to be alone.
“Yes, it’s sad but... they’re going to be with their families now.”
“Yeah... I know. Hooray hooray.”
Even though everyone is going their separate ways, nothing can change the fact that they traveled together. No matter how far apart they are, they’ll always be connected in some way. Like with Vanille and Fang, asleep in the crystal.
“But you know, it’s not the end.”
No, it was a beginning. Everyone would start down their own path, holding the hands of those closest to them as they walked towards their own future.
Yes... even I have something I can do.
“Um, Snow... I’ve been thinking. I think... I want to become a teacher.”
“You want to be a school teacher?”
“Yes. Of course there’s no schools right now, not even any houses... but there are so many children. We’ll need schools and teachers.”
She had thought long about what it is she could do. If she could really make something in place of their lost paradise. This was her answer.
“When I’m teaching them, I need to be able to tell them... why Cocoon fell, what exactly happened...”
They had lived just accepting what the fal’Cie had given them. They had lived without thought of their own lives, not questioning their false paradise. That was a mistake. Serah wanted these children living on Gran Pulse to think for themselves, to stand on their own feet.
“After ten or twenty years, all these children will be adults. They will be able to help build our new city. We’ll only be able to build a small one at first, but with their help it will grow.”
“Hm... I think it would fit you.” Snow nodded, smiling. “You want to make the future.”
At least a few of the children she would teach would go on to be teachers themselves. Then they would teach children who would become teachers, and on and on into the future.
“Alright! I’m going to build a huge school for you. One this big!” Snow said, holding his arms out wide.
“A city with a big school, and lots of houses... we’ll need that soon, won’t we?”
If you continue to believe your dreams will come true. Serah dreamed of huge city spreading out across this now empty land. Long after she was dead, in the far, far future, perhaps the day Gran Pulse was called a paradise would come. Not a false one, but a real one made by their own hands.
“Hey, Lightning...” Serah started, wanting to see if she agreed. But then, she had a strange feeling. Like something was surrounding her in a way she had never felt before. As soon as she felt it, it was gone.
“Lightning?”
Lightning wasn’t there, where she had only been standing a moment ago. Serah felt a premonition... no, not that, a bad feeling.
“What?” Serah looked back, and opened her eyes.
“I... what?”
The crystal tower seemed further now than it had been. She was sure she had been walking towards it. Perhaps it was because she had only just awoken that she felt so strange...
“Where... are you?” She said, her voice trembling. Serah ran her fingers down her cheeks, confused.
Tears...

Episode i: Part VI

2010-12-21T00:36:00.000-08:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

Lightning saw an image of Fang, in her mind, yelling that they should leave them be, and not try to rescue them. She shrugged, slightly.
You know it’s not in us to just leave you behind.
They had fought together long enough that they all knew what each other were thinking, what they wanted to say. She was sure the others wanted to bring them back. But it would be too much for mere human hands to bring a crystallized l’Cie back to life, and if they broke the pillar that held up Cocoon...
Could they release them without breaking the crystal pillar? Or could they destroy the pillar without there being more destruction to Cocoon? Either way, it would be more work than current human technology could handle.
She would have to go and search for it instead.
There might be something that could help, some technology, sleeping somewhere in Gran Pulse. Or perhaps some hint written somewhere.
When they first came here, they had been searching for some way to rid themselves of their l’Cie marks. But they returned to Cocoon empty handed.
There were still so many places that they hadn’t seen yet, hadn’t traveled to. If she searched there, she might find what she was looking for. The only thing was, it was dangerous now that she was no longer l’Cie. Gran Pulse was filled with monsters of all kinds, handling them would be no small thing. It would be a long trip.
In any case, she could not let Snow go with her. His job was to make Serah as happy as possible. Lightning turned her eyes on the couple, walking in front of her.
It hadn’t been too long ago when she considered it her own job to protect Serah. She remembered the days when she would hold Serah’s tiny hand as they walked here and there. Now it was time to pass on that responsibility. No, that time was already long past. Snow had already taken it. Only she hadn’t noticed it.
At first, she thought he was nothing but words. Before she knew it, she found that those words of his encouraged her, made her go forward when she felt like giving up. Because his words held truth, they could move people, make them stronger.
Snow was the only one she could leave Serah with. Who she could trust. They would survive in cruel, vast land.
Please be happy, Serah.
Lightning whispered, and smiled. One more responsibility was finished. It felt good. And yet... somewhat sad. But even the sadness had a tinge of contentment.
Sazh was walking with the soldiers to the airship landing point, hold Dajh to his chest. Dajh turned toward Lightning, and gave her an exuberant wave. Such a kind boy. She waved back and he smiled.
Sazh would be busy raising Dajh from now on. That was his responsibility. There was no replacement that could be made for a child’s parents. Lightning knew, having lost both of her own. She wanted those two to be happy together for as long as they could.
And Sazh would be busy working as a pilot. Gran Pulse was far larger than anyone on Cocoon could imagine, and airships would be a big part of people’s lives here. Sazh’s abilities would be in demand. He would not be able to go with her to search for a way to release them.
Neither would Hope. While he had been strong as a l’Cie being able to summon Alexander, now he was a normal boy.
While people’s lives would be upset for now, that wouldn’t always be the case. Eventually schools would open again, and he would be going to school, and playing with friends... that was the life that awaited him.
She had wanted to grow up quickly, to protect Serah. But she wanted Hope to enjoy the short time he had left as a child.
To ease the pain of losing his mother.
Then that’s it then, she thought. The only person who can find a way to save them is me.
And she really hadn’t thought that once she had saved Serah, that it would be the end. Of course, at the beginning, that was all she had thought about. Only that she wanted to save Serah.
When had that changed?
Perhaps when she had stood on Gran Pulse, looking up at Cocoon. When she first saw her world from the outside. That the world she had thought was so huge, could seem so small she could hold it in the palm of her hand.
Compared to the wide open sky, Cocoon was so tiny. But inside many, many people were living, with as much happiness as could fill it.
She would never forget the surprise and wonder she had felt that day. It was probably then, that something changed inside of her.
To save Serah, to survive along with everyone else. Not just the other l’Cie she had come to know as friends, but all the people of Cocoon. She began to dream of a day when they could live along with everyone else.
That hadn’t changed. No, not even just the people of Cocoon. But the people who, like Vanille and Fang, might be surviving somewhere on Gran Pulse to this day. She wished to protect the future of all the people living on this world.
That is why my fight is not yet finished...
She knew she had to leave quickly. She didn’t know why. It was some feeling she had. And suddenly, she was running.
Why? What is pushing me on like this? What... what is this?

Episode i: Part V

2010-12-20T00:41:00.000-08:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

She felt as though it had been a long time since the last time she had seen a child like that. Laughing, happy. It was strange. After she had woken up on Cocoon, she must have seen so many of them in the Bodhum shopping mall or on Euride.
Fang thought perhaps it was because she herself had changed.
Or not changed, but returned to the way she had been. Back to the person she had been in Oerba, watching the children laugh and play.
All children had the same face when they smiled. On Cocoon, in Oerba. It was such an odd thing.
Of course, Vanille laughed. Children are children on Cocoon or in Oerba. It doesn’t matter where they’re from.
Of course you’re right, Fang replied, returning to watch Dajh’s smile. She didn’t think she could ever get tired of it. He was human again, not a l’Cie bound to the Sanctum. When she saw the l’Cie mark had disappeared from the back of his hand, she had felt such a wave of relief.
“What happened to Dajh wasn’t your fault. It was my fault that I hadn’t been watching him. Just think of it that way.”
When Sazh had told her that, she had not said anything. Those words had saved her. The weight she carried on her shoulders had lifted, just a bit.
But she still felt that it was all her own fault. They had gotten an innocent child involved. That was unforgivable, even if that child was a child of Cocoon. The voice in her head could not stop reminding her.
She had thought that the only way she could forgive herself was not if Sazh forgave her, but if Dajh himself had forgiven her. That was what she thought. But it hadn’t been true. It wasn’t his words, but his smile that finally allowed herself to forgive her own crimes.
Fang turned her eyes on one other person she wished to forgive her. Serah.
“I’ll let Serah decide whether or not she should forgive you.” Lightning had said to her, when they were hiding out in Palumpolum.
Will she... forgive us? Fang wondered.
It’s alright, Vanille whispered. Serah is kind, and strong. She will.
Well then... I guess our job is finished. We completed this stupid Focus, we destroyed Cocoon. Now all the l’Cie are back to normal.
But no, it wasn’t quite finished yet. They still had to hold up Cocoon. Although Fang didn’t not really feel that this was much of a job. They would just sleep a deep sleep, and waste away a long, long time. That was enough for her. Vanille was beside her. She had no more worries about when they might turn into a Cieth. They could just waste away forever together.
Then they felt someone smiling at them.
Who?
Vanille called out as Fang herself turned around. They knew this feeling. Long ago they knew it. Perhaps somewhere in their forgotten memories.
Vanille whispered the name of the goddess. Of course, Vanille still had all of her memories. So she knew the owner of this smile. Yes, of course. Now I know everything. This is what a miracle is. She felt as though a tight knot were unraveling. Her memories hadn’t returned, but she felt as though a fog had lifted.
Fang looked at all of her friends, one by one. Sazh would be busy raising Dajh. Hope was not yet an adult. But Snow and Lightning... they would be a problem.
Don’t you dare think about saving us. About taking us back. Only think of yourselves from now on. Or else.
Vanille giggled.
Well, you know how they are... Fang sighed, and gave a bitter laugh.

Episode i: Part IV

2010-12-19T23:50:00.000-08:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

“Hey, uh... excuse me? Do you guys have enough pilots?” Sazh asked the soldier. The moment Hope asked if there was anything he could do to help, it occurred to Sazh that there must be something he could do as well.
“With how many people we have to evacuate, the more pilots the better.”
Sazh looked towards Cocoon. Even with one full third of Cocoon being lost, he wondered how many trips it would take to evacuate the entire population of Cocoon.
“Well, that’s true, but...”
“Alright then. As long as you stay in the cockpit, you won’t have to worry about anyone seeing your face.”
Airships weren’t just being used to fly straight from Cocoon to Gran Pulse. Inside Cocoon there were avalanches, buildings being toppled over, and people inside them that needed to be rescued. For that you needed the smaller ships that could reach them. As well as pilots to drive them.
“Actually... the truth is that we need more people than we have right now.”
“At least PSICOM has stopped all that fighting. I guess some good as come of all this.”
Below the crystal pillar, the blue uniformed soldiers worked together with PSICOM. Hauling much needed supplies, doing whatever they could to help. They were all working towards making sure the citizens of Cocoon were safe. Yet one more miracle, Sazh thought.
“So where’s your license?”
“No, if he can fly then we’ll take anyone.”
Officially, he was only allowed to pilot civilian craft, but in an emergency like this one no one would be so bone headed as to say it was against regulations for him to fly a military ship.
“Of course... Also, I have my child with me. I’d be grateful if you could give me a ship with a lot of room in the cockpit.”
Sazh wasn’t about to let anyone else take care of Dajh right now. Once everything was back to normal he would work, and let Dajh go to daycare. But right now things were different. Right now he didn’t want to let go of him for a moment.
It had been the start of everything, that day at Euride. For just a moment, he had taken his eyes of Dajh. He had grown careless, he had felt that his son was old enough that he didn’t have to worry about him all the time. What a disaster. That was one road he had no plans on traveling again.
“So Dajh...” He said, lifting the boy to the ground, and kneeling beside him. “Your father’s job is a pilot. What is your job?”
“Um... eat lots of food, play a lot, nap, get in trouble, get yelled at, say I’m sorry...”
Every morning before they left they had this same conversation. Then, when they arrived at the daycare, he would say ‘Look, here’s your work place,’ and he would take him inside.
“That’s true. But today it will be a bit different.”
“Different?”
“Today your job is to watch your father’s job. You will sit beside your father and be a good boy. Can you do that for me?”
Dajh’s face grew bright and cheerful. He had never seen his father piloting from that close up.
“You can’t stand up, or run around when we’re up there. Understand? It’s a job where you have to be still. That means you too.” Then he looked at the baby chocobo. “And you. No flying around, got it?” The baby chocobo chirped its agreement.
He took a moment to hug Dajh again. Soon, he wouldn’t be able to hug him so easily. Children grew up so fast. It wouldn’t even be ten years before Dajh was the same age as Hope. Every moment of that time was precious.
Then, once Dajh is an adult, he will tell Vanille and Fang ‘See, he’s become a fine young man. All that stuff that happened in the past, it’s nothing. Who cares that he became a l’Cie when he was just a kid?’ The day will come when they’ll all be able to laugh about everything that has happened. No matter how far away in the future that might be.
“Alright, shall we go?” Sazh looked up at the crystal tower, and saw it shining in the sunlight. The place where two of his friends slept. ‘We’ll meet again one day’, he whispered, and followed the soldier as he lead him away.

Episode i: Part III

2010-12-18T20:35:00.000-08:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

“Excuse me! I’m sorry, but do you know a man named Bartholomew Estheim?” Hope yelled out to the men in the blue uniforms. He thought that perhaps one of them was Rygdea, or at least one of his men. Looking closer, he didn’t see a single familiar face. It seemed his troop wasn’t there. “I know he was rescued in Palumpolum, doesn’t anyone...” Hope felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder, and he spun around, surprised. This man, as he had thought, wasn’t anyone he knew, but he seemed to have information.
“Your father is safe. I’ve seen him myself.”
Hope’s legs trembled, nearly falling to the ground in relief. He had never worried so much about his family. He’d never had reason to. Thinking back to when Bodhum had been closed off, he had watched the news reports everyday. It had never occurred to him that he was really hoping for any information he could find about his father.
“Unfortunately, the most important thing right now is helping the refugees. You might have to wait awhile until you can see your father.”
“Oh. No, that’s alright. As long as I know that he’s safe. Thank you.”
Every single person left alive on Cocoon had to escape. An astounding number. Just leading them to shelter would have been enough work on its own, but food and water must be found for them as well. It was enough that he had taken the time to tell Hope of his father’s safety.
Lightning clapped him on the back and smiled at him. Turning around, he saw Sazh and Snow giving him an encouraging nod. They had been worried about him.
“So what’s the full damage report on Cocoon?” Lightning addressed the soldier. His face became grim. Two thirds, it seemed, went undamaged. Which meant one third was not. People, cities... one third had been lost.
"They say the largest amount of destruction happened around Bodhum. But almost no lives were lost in that area. The Purge you know. Everyone was already gone.”
Whether it was lucky, or ironic, Hope didn’t know. But Bodhum, it was Lightning and Snow’s home. How might they feel about that?
“You know, you’re right. We’ll just have to make a new one.”
Lightning’s words came back to him. Perhaps she had already known what had happened to Bodhum, after looking at the shell of Cocoon. Perhaps she had already dealt with it in her way.
“Um... also, an airship will be landing her soon. One with refugees.” The soldier said in a low voice. “You might want to go somewhere else for awhile. People still might feel that, you know...”
“That we’re enemies of Cocoon.”
They had nearly forgotten. The people of Cocoon didn’t know what actually had happened. To them, it was the Pulse l’Cie who had destroyed Cocoon. It was the l’Cie that had driven them from paradise.
“Yes of course... if they were to see a l’Cie in front of them right now, there is only one action they’d think to take.”
They remembered that day in Palumpolum. They remembered how they had been treated. Like enemies.
“Alright, we’ll do that. We don’t want to cause any trouble right now.”
“Sorry about this. You’ll only have to hide for a little while. Once everyone knows who the real enemy was, they’ll be able to trust you again. Just wait until then.”
Hope wondered if that were really true. They had killed soldiers. They had only done it to survive, but still, they had killed so many of those in PSICOM. Those men and women in PSICOM must have families. It wouldn’t matter, in the end, what the truth was. They would still feel they were the enemy. He didn’t want to forget what those soldiers had done to him. He didn’t know whether or not he had the strength to forgive. But he wouldn’t run away. He couldn’t run away.
There was probably nothing he could do for them. What could he do, now that he had lost his l’Cie powers, now that he was human? But he didn’t want to return to the way he was. Helpless, always running away from his problems. Now he knew what it was like to be afraid that you might lose your family. To actually lose them.
The soldier had already turned away, returning to his duties.
“Um... is-is there anything I can do to help?” He yelled, running after him.

Episode i: Part II

2010-12-18T12:33:00.000-08:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

The moment he had her in his arms again, Snow’s mind went white. As if it had been wiped of all his memories. No past, no future. Just the feeling of having Serah returned to him. He had no room for anything else. My mind is a simple thing, Snow thought. There is only so much it can take.
I’m sorry, Snow said, whispering to Vanille and Fang, asleep in their crystal tower. He had seen Serah looking towards Cocoon, and was brought back to reality. His memories came flooding back. There were still two people he hadn’t saved. This wasn’t the time to forget everything.
In the vision he’d had in his cold sleep, he’d seen a future were everyone was laughing together. He knew, he just knew, that Vanille and Fang had been there with them. Which meant it wasn’t over, it couldn’t be the end yet.
“It’s broken now, isn’t? Destroyed...” Her voice brought Snow back to the present. “I am saved... I am human again, and am able to see you and Lightning again. But...” Serah looked up at Cocoon. “I know there is something I must do. It’s not fair for only me to be saved, to become happy. But... I don’t know what to do...”
Serah was right, of course. Everyone had lost their homes. The very tenets of their life were no longer valid. There was an uncountable number of people that needed to be saved. The amount of work that was needed was enough to make him dizzy.
The only thing Snow could do was to stop thinking about it. After all, his brain wasn’t really made for thinking of such things.
“If it’s broken, we’ll just have to make a new one.” A simple answer from a simple man.
“A new Cocoon?” Serah’s eyes grew round.
“No no, not that. I mean something different, instead of Cocoon. We’ll build it here. We can make a new city on Gran Pulse. Together.” Snow had just been trying to say something, anything, but once he said it out loud it didn’t seem like a bad idea. In fact, he thought, there could be no better plan.
“We can build our own houses, and grow our own food. We can do it. We already did it in Bodhum, remember? We made a vegetable garden, and hunted monsters.”
“Just make a new one? That sounds like you.” Lightning said, looking up towards Cocoon. “You know, you’re right. We’ll just have to make a new one.”
“Exactly! From this day forth, this will be our new home!”
“There isn’t even anything here yet.” Lightning retorted, laughing. Serah stifled a giggle.
“Oh... oh yeah. On Gran Pulse, everyone is family.”
Lightning glanced at Snow. You remember? She seemed to say. Snow nodded, of course I remember. What Vanille always said.
“Then this is our home. It has always been our home.” Lightning turned towards the tower and smiled.
“Because it’s their home.”
The days they spent wandering Gran Pulse, holding onto their small hope as they walked towards Oerba. They were friends that fought together, they were family. It was then that this place become home to them. It wasn’t hell, it wasn’t the land of their enemies. Just home.
They heard a breath behind them. Hope. Beyond they could see a group of soldiers wearing uniforms of blue.
“Hey aren’t those... that’s the Calvary.” Hope whispered, then broke out running. Of course, they didn’t yet know if his father was safe. The last they had heard of him, he had been rescued by the Calvary. Perhaps they had some news of him.
“Let’s follow him.” Lightning said, following after him.
“When a friend is in a pinch...” Sazh said, lifting up Dajh.
“What do you mean ‘pinch’ daddy?”
“It means when there is some trouble. Though, I’ve been in quite a pinch for some time now.”
The baby chocobo on Dajh’s shoulder turned around to Snow and whistled at him as if to say Aren’t you coming with?
In his heart, Snow sent another apology to Vanille and Fang. We’ll rescue you soon enough. That vision I had? It wasn’t an illusion. I won’t let it be.
“We should go too.”
“Of course we should!” Serah nodded. She seemed different now, not as sad as when she had looked towards Cocoon. He put his arm around her, and held her once more.

Episode i: Part I

2010-12-18T01:00:00.000-08:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

“It’s like... a miracle.” Lightning looked up towards Cocoon, her eyes filled with wonder. It is... Vanille answered, in a voice that could not quite reach reality. To stop Cocoon from falling... they knew that they must do it, at all cost. So many people were there, so many lives. In their hearts, they knew they had to save them. It had been the flash of a moment and forever, then when they awoke both Vanille and Fang were here. It was different from when they had become crystals in fal’Cie Anima’s temple. When that happened everything--including fal’Cie Anima--had fallen asleep. A sleep so deep there were no dreams. Now even though they were sleeping, they could see the world. They could see the beautiful and warm world of Gran Pulse. They could hear the voices of their friends.
Several armored soldiers ran out from the airship. Those uniforms were something they had seen before. Oh, of course. Them. Weren’t they called PSICOM? These men were no longer our enemies. They were working hard to make sure the people from Cocoon were taken to a safe place. No longer would they turn their guns against the citizens. Vanille had no proof of this, but she believed. Their voices screaming out to save the people held no lies.
“We may never see them again, but we can make miracles happen.” Hope said. He looked sad, but his voice was tinged with strength and decisiveness. They had saved the people of Cocoon, surely they could make one more miracle happen. Surely they would be able to save Vanille and Fang. Perhaps that was what he was thinking.
Thank you, Hope, Vanille whispered. But this doesn’t mean it’s the end. We’ll always be watching over you. Even if you can’t see us, we can see you. We can see all of Gran Pulse from this crystal tower. All of you must become happy, don’t let those you love stray from your side.
Vanille watched her friends reunite with their loved ones, her heart filled with joy. She felt at peace, finally the harm she had caused had been undone. It had been all their fault that Serah and Dajh had been turned into l’Cie.
Once the joyful tears of their reunion had passed, Serah turned her eyes towards Cocoon. Her eyes filled with shadows. That is how I looked, long ago, Vanille thought. Our actions brought sorrow to others. We involved people who were not supposed to be involved, and changed their fate. I was scared of our crimes, they were too heavy, I couldn’t face them. I ran. That is how I looked, once upon a time.
I know the pain she holds. I know how she feels looking on Cocoon right now. Then Vanille remembered. Once, on that beach outside Bodhum, Serah had told Vanille “I have all of my friends, they’ll help me get passed this.” Vanille remembered the look in her eyes. Even if the realization and regret of their crimes threaten to bring her down, Vanille knew Serah would be able to stand strong in the face of them.
Vanille called to Snow, standing by Serah’s side. Always stand by her, Vanille said. If you do that, she can stand up to anything. She might feel lost, but she will find her way. I know you will say ‘We can make miracles happen! We need to find a way to save Vanille and Fang!’ But you can’t. You need to stay beside her.
He couldn’t have heard her, but he turned around. As if her voice had really reached him. He looked as though he had whispered, ‘I’m sorry.’

Final Fantasy XII: Sunless City of Ruin, Unceasing Howling

2010-07-30T01:50:00.000-07:00

This translation is of the novella from the Final Fantasy XII Ultimania Omega. Currently this novel is a work-in-progress, and I hope to upload one new part every week.

Author: Benny Matsuyama

Sunless City of Ruin, Unceasing Howling

-the day of its birth cry-
-judge hunting-
-blood-bonded clan-
-dual-wielding killer-
-chance meeting in the capital-
-sinner's end-
-conviction-
-resurrection-

Final Fantasy XII: -the day of its birth cry-

2010-07-29T02:12:00.000-07:00

This city, destruction and ruin its only fate, was once so beautiful.
The palace stood above the lake, rising up against the moonlit sky, cool and serene. The city that spread out beneath it like some stark shadow.
The city was under a civil war, with the largest empire in the world close to invading. The people of the city were strained, and everywhere you could see unrest. But the night skies were clear, and the stars shown as though falling from somewhere on high. If the moon has the power to see into Hades, then the stirring of humans is seen as nothing more than a speck of dust been blown by a light breeze. The ancient city is elegant and everlasting, each of its landscapes as grand as any painting. But then...
Everything became twisted beyond recognition. Crushed, collapsed, broken.
Like a nightmare.
Even if, somewhere within Ivalice, there were truly a “hell” that existed to torment sinners, even that place could not have been as terrible as the city had been that night. A disaster worse than even your most horrible imaginings. It swallowed the city whole.
It started with Mist. Vast amounts of it pouring into the city.
Mist is the origin of all magic power, and contains an abundant amount of energy. A little bit of it can be found everywhere, and is not normally dangerous. It is used in many inventions that are necessary for comfortable living, and fills the world in the same way as air.
But that Mist was not normal. Thick and choking.
It was as if a thousand years worth of rain all fell at once within the same hour. Every single space would be filled with water droplets, and the water pressure would rise. Imagine this, as you imagine the Mist rampaging through the city.
The Mist, which you normally cannot see or feel, had turned into a rushing torrent of gold. A whirlwind of energy which crushed everything in its path, and destroyed anything it touched without mercy. Most buildings in the city were decimated by this violent outpour of tangible Mist. The only building that remained untouched was the one large building that lay at the center of the whirlwind: the palace.
But the destruction the Mist itself caused lasted not more than a few seconds. What truly brings to mind the image of hell was what happened next. What came after. And all the fear, hatred and madness it brought with it.
The Mist, spreading across the capital but losing none of its density, took its energy and began to rage in a different form. A magical one.
It invoked magic of destructive proportions. Fire, ice, lightning... power that everyone knows so well, with a violence no one had seen before. Thus, the first attack struck down from the Mist upon those so unfortunate enough to still be alive.
Flame that burned hot enough to evaporate rocks scorched the air. Crimson bursts erupted, and slithered like snakes. Anyone who got licked by that tongue turned to ash in an instant. Those who ran were swallowed by a lava flow of melted rock and burned alive, or bathed in a boiling steam until they became white, bubbling corpses.
Just beyond the flames a frozen world unfolded. The temperature suddenly dropped to absolute zero, freezing the molecules that make up life and bringing them to a standstill. In a glimmer everything was changed into a huge pillar of ice that took its victims and turned them into lifeless statues. For a moment, these frost covered ice statues were almost beautiful, until the next, when they were crushed down into the smallest of particles. Thousands of lives turned into beautiful flowers, before being violently scattered and blown away on the wind.
But the one that took the most lives, was the horrific lightning storm that formed between the two temperature extremes. Flashes of lightning struck the already ruined city without pause, bathing it in white. The electrical energy formed a net which caught all those people who hid within the wreckage. The city was wrapped in a spider’s web, electric threads writhing, reaping countless number of souls.
At this point there was hardly even 0.01 percent of the population left alive. But the pitiless magic power kept coming...
Underground toxins condensed together, and flooded the land to turn into a poisonous spring that wouldn’t be neutralized for decades. The magic mutated and bred viruses that could survive even in that harsh environment. Light harmful to your eyes danced across the sky, and spells that would turn your flesh as hard as stone ran through in waves. Dark smoke turned everything it touched into sod, and spectral spheres of light took whatever was inside and sent them to a space between dimensions. Only death screams pierce the silence, and viscous oil bursts forth from deep within the earth to lend strength to the flames...
Then gravity began to twist, and the hard ground beneath the city tore itself apart. The entire capital sunk under the ground. The castle, having lasted this long, fell beneath the waves of the poison lake, half sunk, rocked by the waves, a monument to the end of a dynasty.
The stars no longer glitter in the heavens. Even as the magic breathed its last, the night sky was filled with dark, obscuring clouds.
A black rain mixed with smoke and dust fell upon the ruined city. It absorbed the hot Mist that still remained in the air, and let it sink into the ruined ground. The land that had been the city turned into rotting wetlands, and from deep within the waters came a dark mist which laid a veil over the city of death, never to see light again.
And so a cursed land was born to this world. More Mist surrounds that land than any other, a ruined city forever tainted with an “evil spirit”. So it came to be known by a terrible name:
The Necrohol of Nabudis.

*

It was only just after the destruction of Nabudis.
The howl of the wind could be heard between the sound of falling rain. A thunderous cry.
But it was not the wind. Perhaps because of the chaos brought by the Mist, the air was heavy there, and would not move. Stopped by the falling rain drops.
It was a wail. Spirits clinging to the only thing they had left: their hatred. A terrible howl to release their pent up rage.
Despite the havoc that completely destroyed this land, there were still a handful of survivors. Some lucky few who managed to escape the swinging scythe of Death himself. But no, their lives are not retained with out some price. If their lives had ended with all the others there wouldn’t be this pain, this terrible suffering.
A Moogle wailed as he laid in the filth. The fur covering his small body was soaked in black, polluted water and mud. No breath he took between his screams. His voice was distorted beyond recognition, no longer the high and cute voice Humes come to expect from one of the Moogle race. It was the sound of wind from deep within the earth blowing up through the mouth of a dark cavern. Or the sound of a blade biting the desert sands and then grating into its scabbard.
The sound suddenly wavered, and blood flowed from his blackened lips. Used passed its limit, his abused throat finally tore. But his screams did not cease, he continued to howl, completely unaware of his pain. He had to, or else has body would explode without wringing out that unending pain that flowed from him. His spirit hung in dangerous balance between sanity and insanity, so spitting up blood, the Moogle screamed until he lost his voice.
A little further away, a Nu Mou woman stood up in a daze.
Having three times the life span of a Hume, the Nu Mou number few, but excel in wisdom and magical prowess. But that Nu Mou woman was like a creature without sentience, standing in the black rain, staring, no movement. Her wide open eyes held no shine, her mouth drooped listless and dull. Only her white breath, and the tears trailing down her blackened face, showed that she was not one of the dead.
The Nu Mou woman did not see the landscape before her. No, she only could see the wreckage of her heart, her beliefs and her soul. From when she was very young she had believed wholeheartedly in the existence of the god of light. But what she saw was only an incredible power of destruction. If there truly were gods watching over the world, they surely only must be those of evil. She had always believed that the gods would come to save them. But standing there, among the despair and destruction, the heart that had believed that died.
Deep within her eyes the devout Nu Mou was crushing every last fragment of her faith. No longer would her heart reach out to that evil and cruel god. The slight pain in her eyes was nothing in comparison to the hurt this caused her. Killing her own spirit, over, and over...
Somewhere else the sound of rubble falling against each other echoed.
There, one of the Bangaa race crawled through the muddy water, digging between the mountainous wreckage of buildings.
Her right leg was gone from the knee down. The wound was scorched and ashy, you could see it was destroyed by the fire. But she did not notice the pain, throwing one rock after the other, chanting a word like a spell.
It was names she spoke. The name of the young child she had held in her arms before the earth had overturned and everything had turned to chaos. The name of her husband who lit up like a torch right in front of her eyes as he tried to protect her. The Bangaa woman dug through the rubble, whispering the names of her loved ones who longer anywhere on this world. She dreamed that if she just lifted one more rock, her beautiful daughter would jump up from beneath it and hold her.
But it wasn’t even her own house. Blown by the blast, she didn’t know where in Nabudis it was she stood. The only thing she knew was the rubble in front of her that she must dig through. Her hands were already bleeding, scales and flesh had parted on her fingertips to give way to the bone underneath. But she would not stop. Giving up would mean accepting that she had lost her family forever.
Lifting a heavy rock, she found a hollow between the rocks. Her heart lifted, and she dug faster. But then...
What she pulled out looked like the corpse of a young Hume boy, black from the fire. Her voice lifted to the heavens in a scream. A flash of lightning from the dark clouds brought his burned face into stark relief. She seethed with hatred against those who had done this to them.
The same flash of lightning illuminated the shadows of two who stood outside the city walls.
A Hume man, unsteady on his feet himself, held up a Viera, her ears shaking in fear. Her body was slender but muscular, and the armor she wore was in tatters. Pulling on the clasp, she took a step away from the cracked mortar wall and it fell away. When the clanging of metal echoed across the ruined streets, the young Viera shrank back.
The young Hume’s face remained expressionless. He seemed not to realize that he had been left behind. He held up his companion, but his own footsteps were mechanical. Or perhaps his spirit had left him completely. He didn’t seem to know the person he was with. Even the flash of lightning produced no reaction in him.
Despite this, a sheath hung from one shoulder, and he held a sword gripped tightly in his hand. It was as if the sword itself was his soul.
At last, the two reached the edge of the city. Running away from death and destruction, towards the forest. A final flash of lightning sent them on their way.
As if to blame them.

Final Fantasy XIII: Episode Zero

2010-07-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

This is a prologue novel that is currently being posted on SE's Japanese site for FFXIII. As of this post, there is only one of a total three parts of the novel in publication. The first part has seven chapters, which I have currently all translated. This is only the first draft, and I have plans on making revisions.

Original Concept: Motomu Toriyama/Daisuke Watanabe Author: Jun Eishima

Part I: Encounter

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven

Part II: Stranger

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five

Part III: Treasure (Family*)

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven

Part IV: Search

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven

Part V: Friends

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five

Part VI: Present

Present

Part VII: Tomorrow

It was on that day, the tragedy fell upon us.
It was on that day, two girl children entered the temple.
“We’ll be together forever... no matter what happens, we’ll never be apart.”

*While the other part names list the literal Japanese translation of the word, this part alone lists it as something different.

This update is dedicated to Des, without which it might never have happened.

FINALLY the final chapter is complete! I apologize to everyone for taking so long (is it really nearly August?) Thank you all for your patience! If you have any questions, please send them to: lissar@new-lotika.com, as I might not see them if you post them in the comments. Thank you again, everyone!

Note: If anyone wants to repost my translations anywhere, feel free to do so! The same goes for translating my versions into other languages. Just put "Original Translation by Lissar" somewhere and everything will be fine! Just be aware that I will probably be making revisions to the translations at some point, but I will note when that happens.

And if you see any mistakes/awkwardness, or have any other comments, message me about it! I'd like to hear from you.

Episode Zero: Tomorrow “We’ll be together forever... no matter what happens, we’ll never be apart.”

2010-07-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

“We’ll be together forever... no matter what happens, we’ll never be apart.”
That’s what I promised so long ago, Vanille whispered as she walked along the promenade, looking out towards the ocean. In the distance you could see the temple. Fal’Cie Anima was still inside there.
“I’m sorry I have to break that promise...” She apologized to Fang, wherever Fang might be. Perhaps she was at the temple, even now. Surrounded by Cocoon soldiers, no one would be able to get in or out.

Yesterday she saw it on the news. A Pulse fal’Cie was found in the Bodhum Vestige. She had stopped at a rest area in the shopping mall. A screen was on the wall, and on it the temple could be clearly seen. Surrounding the temple were army vehicles and armed soldiers.
During the middle of the report, the people around her began to panic. Knowing that she must get to the temple, Vanille ran toward it, only to look up and see airships above them.
The news ran on every screen and blared from every speaker. Bodhum would now be barricaded for the protection of Cocoon’s citizens. Their worry turned to anger, then the soldiers began making threats against the civilians.
This so frightened Vanille that she fled the shopping mall, running along the promenade, returning to a place where she could see the temple. But what she found there...
All the roads leading to the temple were blocked off. This was something that hadn’t been shown on the news. Military vehicles surrounded the place, there was no way to even get close to it anymore.
No, she didn’t even think she would be able to stay here for very long, even to look at it. Soldiers were coming closer, had they seen her? Not taking any chances, Vanille turned right around and ran back to the shopping mall.
They hadn’t followed her. That must mean they hadn’t planned on capturing her. Perhaps they had just wanted to tell her that the area was off limits.
It was too late now, but she wished she hadn’t left her weapon behind in the temple. Now she was all alone in a city she didn’t know, unable to protect herself. She felt like crying.
Fang... where are you?
At the energy plant Fang had acted as a decoy to allow Vanille to escape. She had run straight at the soldiers, all alone. Vanille had managed to escape, but ever since then she had seen no sign of Fang.
I want Fang...
Vanille walked, hardly realizing where she was going, that thought circling her mind. When she looked up, she found she was now at Bodhum Station. Then Vanille thought, perhaps Fang hadn’t returned to Bodhum after all? She could still be somewhere in Euride Gorge!
I’ll be able to find her if I go to Euride!
Vanille ran towards the station, but again was surprised by what she found. The walkway was completely blocked off. Then she remembered hearing on the news that the whole city had been barricaded. There were people in front of the station, they looked like tourists, arguing with the soldiers.
“We aren’t Bodhum citizens!”
“I have to return to Eden tomorrow! I have an important meeting.”
“We’re from Palumpolum! At least let my son return home.”
Everyone was trying their best to make themselves heard. I’ve seen something like this before, Vanille thought. But then they knew if they waited they would be able to return home. But they still had looked worried...

It was eight days ago. After the accident both Euride Station and the airship landing strip had been closed off. Armed soldiers had come, and the people there had argued with them, demanding to be freed. Though they had complained that they needed to get to work, or that they were going to miss their airship flight home, they still followed the soldiers’ directions. Because the soldiers told them that once they had gone through an ID check, they would be put on the next train to Bodhum. So they gathered at the plaza in front of the energy plant, and waited in the tents that had been set up for them.
Of course, since Vanille is not from Cocoon, she didn’t have ID. When she searched around for a chance to escape, her eyes fell on soldiers placing cards on a machines. ID must mean those cards they had picked up earlier, she realized. They had stolen them from those two boys they had met in town. Because of these cards they had been able to get food and ride on the train to Euride.
Vanille took out the stolen card and looked at it. She wasn’t sure if she could even use it. They had only figured out how to use Fang’s card by accident, and had yet to try this one. What would she do if she couldn’t use it? Even worse, what if they found out she had stolen it...
“Come on, give me your card already.”
Vanille looked up quickly, and found a soldier holding a slim machine standing right in front of her. Hoping it would work, but not feeling too confident, Vanille held out her card.
She wondered if they would drag her into a different room for questioning. Or perhaps they would tie her up immediately. Or maybe... maybe they would shoot her where she stood. She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Would you hurry up?”
I knew it, Vanille thought. She slumped. It would be so pathetic to be captured now, but there were so many soldiers surrounding her, and then there were all these people...
“What the hell are you doing? I need to get on to the next one.”
Vanille looked up in surprise. The soldier returned the card to her.
“What?”
“Once you’ve checked out, go stand in the line over there.”
Before she could ask what he meant, the soldier turned to the next person and took their card. It seemed the stolen card had been accepted as her ID. Vanille lined up with the others who had been checked out, and boarded the next train to Bodhum. She waited on the station platform, hoping that Fang would arrive, but saw no sign of her.
She returned to the temple, but there was no food, and she couldn’t sleep. It was her first night alone, ever, she realized. Fang had always been by her side. At their village, the other children had been there too. Once they became l’Cie, the two of them had been alone again, but she always had Fang to sleep next to. She had never slept alone.
Looking for food, Vanille went to the shopping mall. But she had never used this card before, and she wasn’t sure she could do it. While she had been able to use it as ID in Euride, she didn’t know if she could use it for shopping. Vanille spent a few minutes standing in front of the shop, nervously clutching the card in her hands.
It was seeing that white bird again that made her pluck up her courage and finally enter the store. It was the same strange looking bird they had seen when they had stolen these cards. It stood perched on the far side roof, staring down at her. It scared Vanille so much that she ran into the shop just to get away from it. Now in the shop, the only thing she could do was follow the other customers example. She made her purchases, and used the card to check out. It was easier than she thought it would be.
Now she could see what their life was like. Cocoon was like a peaceful paradise. Perhaps because they lived such quiet lives, the people here were peaceful, and that was why she never felt in danger as long as she was within the city.
Despite being alone, without Fang, she didn’t feel nervous here anymore. But she couldn’t forget the girl and young boy that had gotten mixed up in their problems. The guilt she felt towards them was like a thorn sticking in her chest.
And then Vanille met that girl on the beach...

“What are you doing over there?”
She felt a gun at her back. Vanille came back from her musings with a start. It was a soldier. PSICOM. Whenever that name was mentioned, the expression on peoples’ faces turned stony and cold.
Until a few days ago, no soldiers had been here. Everyone had looked calm and peaceful. She had allowed herself to feel that way too...
“I’m sorry!” Vanille said. Perhaps it was the tearful sound in her voice, but he lowered his gun and spoke in a softer voice.
“They’re starting check in at the station. You’d better hurry.”
Vanille ran without turning back. She wouldn’t be coming here again. From the moment they announced it on the news yesterday, this paradise had disappeared.

A Pulse fal’Cie had been found. The whole of Bodhum was being barricaded. That alone was already the worst possible news for the people who lived there. Just those two announcements, and the city was in an uproar. Was there anyone who imagined it could become worse?
It had been in the afternoon when the news had broke. Vanille had been unable to return to the temple or find Fang, and so she was walking along the shopping mall. She tried to stay in well populated places, away from soldiers.
A Purge to Pulse. At first Vanille didn’t know what that meant. She might not have been the only one. When the news was broadcast, everyone grew quiet.
Then she realized they were afraid. People were running around, screaming and crying. Maybe they thought they could run away from their fate.
Vanille could only watch them in amazement She had known that the people on Cocoon hated Pulse, but she realized that she hadn’t really understood. They were so scared of Pulse that they lost all reason.
Where they were running to, she didn’t know. Perhaps they were running to the station, or their home. Everywhere small fights broke out. Women spoke in shrill voices, and children fell and broke into tears.
Vanille stood close to the building, and watch them. She shivered, and couldn’t move a step from where she stood.
Are these the same people who had watched the fireworks the night before? she thought. Those people had fun, laughing and talking with each other. Those people had been happy. Their faces had been filled with hope as they prayed for their dreams to come true. Not even one day had passed since then, and now...
She was scared, and sad, and felt like crying. A fiery pain burned behind her eyes, and she looked down at her feet. Then, out of the noise, words reached her ears. Vanille looked up in surprise. She thought she’d heard someone say “The Pulse fal’Cie will be sent along with the Purge train to be returned to Pulse.” She would have to listen to the news program one more time, just to make sure.
Fal’Cie Anima would be sent to Pulse, it would be returned to Gran Pulse...
Was it true? But then, what about their Focus? No, even if fal’Cie Anima weren’t in Cocoon, their Focus wouldn’t change. It was both she and Fang who would complete their Focus, not the fal’Cie...
Then she realized, if she remained in Bodhum she would be Purged along with everyone else. Not that she had much of a choice, since all ways in and out of Bodhum were closed off. But if she returned to Gran Pulse, she wouldn’t be able to complete her Focus.
Her legs grew weak, and she slumped onto the ground. How could she have not realized this before? She held her knees, and stayed that way until night fell.
When she finally stood up, she was surprised to see it was night. There was no one left in the shopping mall. Vanille slipped past the soldiers, and walked down to the beach. This was where everyone had stood to watch the fireworks. Of course no one was here, at this time. The cafe was closed. Even though it had only been one day, it seemed as though a completely different place from the night before. All was quiet, the only sound was of the waves rolling in and out.
Unlike Gran Pulse, this ocean didn’t smell of salt. But Vanille had liked it here. “Goodbye...” she whispered, and turned back the way she had came. She walked a little further, and came upon a field. It was the field they had stolen vegetables from that first day they had woken up. The smell of earth and growing things overwhelmed her. Perhaps Fang will come here, she thought, and tears ran down her cheeks. I know, she thought, Fang won’t come. I’ll never see her again, never again...
Vanille cried. As a small child cries, yelling and screaming. And then, she slept.

The shopping mall, as always, was filled with people. But unlike yesterday, no one was running around. As one, they all moved in the same direction. The expression on their faces was dark, and they looked down at their feet as they walked. They were heading towards the station to board the Purge train.
The people of Cocoon thought that “Pulse is hell”. Vanille had realized watching everyone yesterday that they equate being sent to Pulse as a death sentence. But it’s not like that, Vanille couldn’t help but think. Sure the climate is harsh, and there are many vicious monsters there. You wouldn’t be able to walk around there weaponless like you can on Cocoon. But Fang and herself were born and raised on Gran Pulse. You could live there as long as everyone worked together.
On Gran Pulse there was a wide open fields and an endless sky. There was sunlight, and greenery. Vanille wanted to show all this to the people of Cocoon. Even though she knew it was impossible.
It was quiet. Too quiet for how many people were here. When she had first arrived here, it had been so loud and noisy she had thought it was a festival. And after the uproar from yesterday...
Had they calmed down after a nights sleep? Or had they given up already? Not one single person looked angry, their faces were expressionless.
“I’m sorry...” Vanille apologized again. She had already apologized so many times she had lost count. It was their fault this was happening to these people. Their fault and no one else's.
Because we woke up, she thought.
And the girl who was made into a l’Cie by fal’Cie Anima. And the little boy who was made into a l’Cie by the Cocoon fal’Cie. How could she ever atone for the crimes she committed against them?
She couldn’t turn them back to normal. She wouldn’t be able to change their fate. At least, she thought, I can bring no harm to their world, to their loved ones. I can do that much for them.
At some point she realized the number of people had grown. Everyone was so quiet she hadn’t noticed. Now there were as many people as there had been at the fireworks festival, slowly walking towards the station.
Finally the station building came within sight. A soldier could be heard, yelling “Would anyone who has not checked in their baggage please come this way?” There had been baggage check-in the day before, so the line by the counter was short.
Once she entered inside the building, she saw soldiers with megaphones calling out instructions. Their uniforms were different from the other soldiers she had seen, so Vanille thought they must have a higher rank.
“Everyone! Please follow directions and do not step out of line! Your baggage will be returned to you once you’ve arrived on Pulse.”
The gun he held in his hands made Vanille a little uncomfortable. He’s just giving directions, why does he need to be armed? Vanille thought. All the people here are calm and peaceful, why does he need a weapon? The other soldiers also held guns. Even though they kept saying these people were being “transferred” it was far more like the were being escorted out of the city by force. But, perhaps because the people on Cocoon are so peaceful, no one fought back. They all lined up quietly, without a word.
Or perhaps not quite. Somewhere she heard someone yelling.
“Hey you! Don’t get out of line!”
Perhaps someone had tried to run. The crowd of people moved slightly. They were restless, perhaps hoping that at least one of them had found a means of escape.
A gun shot sounded. From the screams you could tell it was no idle blast. The line of people shook, breaking into panic. The soldiers pointed their guns at the people, and everything grew still and quiet.
“Please do not move from the line. This is for your own safety.”
Of course, no one actually believed that. They only kept quiet because they didn’t wish to die here. Even though what waited for them, beyond this world, was hell.
The line once again flowed smoothly. Vanille spied a woman talking with a soldier. She noticed the woman because she looked exactly like Serah, the girl who turned into a Pulse l’Cie.
The woman handed her weapon to the soldier, and stood in line. My guilt is making me imagine things, Vanille thought. Just because she has the same hair color, it makes her face look just like Serah’s...
A middle-aged man stood behind the woman. His hair looked just like a birds nest, or so Vanille thought, but then a real bird actually popped out of it.
“What?”
It was a baby chocobo.
“Why does that guy have a chocobo living on his head?” It was so funny, Vanille began to giggle. Then that someone ran into her from behind. Or rather, she ran into someone, since she wasn’t looking where she was going. She tried to catch her balance, but it was too late.
“Oops!” She slipped and tumbled down onto the ground. Fortunately she didn’t hurt herself, except for perhaps her pride.
“Are you okay?” Someone asked. Just as she heard the voice, she felt a hand grab hers and pull her upright.
“Did you get hurt?” A kind looking woman was looking her over. Vanille nodded, and the woman smiled.
“Oh, what a relief.”
She looks like a mother, Vanille whispered quietly. Then she saw a boy standing beside her that looked like he could be her son. She really was a mother.
“Are you from here?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Oh, you too? We’re from Palumpolum.”
A place Vanille had heard of before.
“And where did you come from?”
“Um... far.”
“Far?”
Vanille nodded. The woman didn’t ask any more questions, probably thinking Vanille had a reason for not saying where she was from. In fact, she probably had other things to worry about. Her son was shaking, and wouldn’t look up.
Vanille couldn’t decided whether she should line up behind these two, or the woman who looks like Serah. But she didn’t take too long to decide, standing behind the kind woman and her son. If she was going to be treated like a prisoner, she at least wanted to be with people who were kind.
The soldiers explained that in the best case scenario they would arrive at Pulse sometime today. At worst it would be tomorrow.
Once we’ve arrived in Gran Pulse I hope I can help them a little bit, Vanille thought. I’m sorry Fang, but I’m going back to Gran Pulse with the fal’Cie. I’m sorry I broke our promise. I’m sorry I have to leave you on Cocoon all alone...
Once she left Cocoon, she wouldn’t be able to complete her Focus. She realized this yesterday, when she heard that fal’Cie Anima would be sent back to Pulse. Once she realized there was still something she could do, she felt relieved.
“If reality is too painful, you can just run away.”
Serah had said that four days ago, when they had met on the beach. Those words had saved her, and pushed her into action. Because of those words she was here now.
Once I get on that train, she thought, I’ll be running away from my Focus. Then I won’t have to hurt anyone. I’ll probably become a Cieth, but there will still be some time left before that happens.
”If you look at anything from a distance, you can see a way through it.”
Just as Serah had said, once she looked at her problem from a distance, she could see a different path. It just might work. If she just runs away, it might all work out...
She only worried about leaving Fang behind, but she knew she would be alright. Her mark was burned, so she probably wouldn’t turn into a Cieth, and Fang would be able to live on her own. The only thing was, she knew Fang would be angry. I’m sorry, she whispered one more time.
She put her fingers together and prayed. For a friend she wouldn’t see again. For a promise she couldn’t keep.
The soldiers began directing people into the train. At the latest they would arrive tomorrow, Vanille remembered them saying.
For a moment, Vanille felt her footsteps tremble. She suddenly felt as though the day they became l’Cie was only yesterday, and that tomorrow was so far away she could hardly reach it. But why? She couldn’t be worried. She was finally returning to Gran Pulse, she told herself. She loved the smell of the wind, the flowers shimmering in the breeze, running out under an open sky. There were all the stars at night, and of course the people waiting back home. They were all her family, so she was sure they would be happy to see her.
Tomorrow I’ll be returning home... Vanille thought to herself. The line moved forward.

Episode Zero: Tomorrow "It was on that day, two girl children entered the temple."

2010-06-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

It was on that day, two girl children entered the temple.

One already had the eyes of an adult, while the other still had the eyes of a child. Priests in clothes of red, black and purple led the girl with the eyes of an adult, while the girl with the eyes of a child followed after.

Before the endless stairs, the red priest said to the girl children:

“You must leave your polluted weapons behind. From here up on to the chamber of the fal’Cie, it is forbidden to take the filth of earth”

The girl children left their weapons at that place.

“You’ll give me a better weapon once I’m a l’Cie, right?” The girl with the eyes of an adult spoke, using words that did not befit that place.

The three priests did not heed her words, simply ordering them to follow.

As they climbed the stairs, the each of the girls kept secret the feeling in each of their hearts. They had kept it secret for this day, until this day, forever.

They climbed the stairs and then would stop, lifting themselves in prayer, before continuing on up the steps. This they did ten and three times, before they reached the gate of beginnings. Then the black priest said to the girl children:

“This door is a door of trials. It will turn away those who hold evil in their hearts, and lead on those who hold the holy spirit.”

The girl with the eyes of an adult knelt before the door, and prayed. The girl with the eyes of a child followed suit. The symbol on the door glowed red, and the door opened.

“Thou have been accepted by the gate of beginnings. Take your heart which contains the holy spirit and continue on to the chamber of the fal’Cie.”

The three priests and the two girl children passed through the door, and left behind the hallway of ten and three.

“Cheer up!”

“But...”

“It’s not you who will be turned into a l’Cie, but me. There’s no reason for you to be scared.”

“But...”

“Don’t worry.”

The girl with the eyes of an adult smiled, while the girl with the eyes of a child stared at her feet. The three priests said nothing.

They climbed the stairs and then would stop, lifting themselves in prayer, before continuing on up the steps. This they did ten and three times, before they reached the gate of the center. Then the purple priest said to the girl children:

“This door is a door of trials. It will turn away those who hold weakness in their hearts, and lead on those who hold strength.”

The girl with the eyes of an adult knelt before the door, and prayed. The girl with the eyes of a child followed suit. The symbol on the door glowed red, and the door opened.

“Thou have been accepted by the gate of the center. Take your heart which contains strength and continue on to the chamber of the fal’Cie.”

The three priests and the two girl children passed through the door, and left behind the hallway of ten and three.

“Damn these are some long stairs. We could have just taken an elevator or something yeah? This is overdoing it just a tad, don’t you think?”

“You shouldn’t stand stuff like that! The priests said this is supposed to be a test for you to become a l’Cie.”

“A test is great and all, but these priests are so weak, what can they do?”

The girl with the eyes of an adult laughed, while the girl with the eyes of a child chided her. The three priests, of course, said nothing.

They climbed the stairs and then would stop, lifting themselves in prayer, before continuing on up the steps. This they did ten and three times, before they reached the gate of endings. Then the red priest said to the girl children:

“This door is a door of trials. It will turn away those who hold greed in their hearts, and lead on those who hold honor.”

The girl with the eyes of an adult knelt before the door, and prayed. The girl with the eyes of a child followed suit. The symbol on the door glowed red, and the door opened.

“Thou have been accepted by the gate of endings. Take your heart which contains honor and continue on to the chamber of the fal’Cie.”

The three priests and the two girl children passed through the door, and left behind the hallway of ten and three, reaching the final stair.

At the top of the stairway ten priests stood, holy spears in hand, guarding the door to the fal’Cie.

“This is as far as you go.”

“But...”

“It will be alright.”

The three priests led the girl with the eyes of an adult up the final stair, then ten and three priests surrounded her and lifted their arms in prayer.

“Chosen one.”

“One who will become a l’Cie.”

“Leave behind evil.”

“Hold close the holy spirit.”

“Leave behind weakness.”

“Hold close strength.”

“Leave behind greed.”

“Hold close honor.”

“Continue on to the chamber of the fal’Cie.”

“Receive your power.”

“Receive your Focus.”

“Become one with the fal’Cie.”

“And stand against Heaven.”

The door began to open, and the girl with the eyes of an adult left the priests behind to walk through it. She yelled:

“Fal’Cie Anima! I have something I need to say to you. Are you listening!?”

The priests held onto the girl, but she shook them off and continued yelling.

“Why are you here? It should be easy for a fal’Cie like you to crush Cocoon. Why don’t you go destroy Lindzei right now? Instead of making all these l’Cie, wouldn’t it be faster to just get all the fal’Cie together and go to fight them yourselves? Can you not figure that out for yourself, even though you’re a fal’Cie?”

The priests raised their spears and held the girl down.

“Why you insolent...! This is fal’Cie Anima, how dare you speak to it this way!”

The girl shook them off and grabbed one of their spears. With it in hand, she stormed into the fal’Cie’s chamber.

“How many l’Cie have become Cieth while you sit here and do nothing? How many homes have been lost? While your friends do nothing but dig holes!”

The priests chased after the girl.

“How dare...! You shall not take another step into the fal’Cie’s chamber!”

The girl laid flat all the priests who followed her with her spear, and continued on into the chamber.

“I’ll become a l’Cie for you. I’ll destroy as many demons as you like. But I just can’t stand that you’re sitting here doing nothing!”

The red priest, the black priest, and the purple priest stood in front of the fal’Cie and pushed the girl back.

“Do you truly think a girl like you could have anything to say to the fal’Cie? Leave here!”

“I’m only telling the truth! That fal’Cie is a fool! Just what does it think about human lives? Nothing!”

The purple priest answered coldly:

“Human lives? They’re nothing but orphans.”

The black priest sneered:

“The only reason they take care of orphans is so they can become l’Cie. There is no other way to use them.”

The red priest spat:

“You’re nothing but a fool. You couldn’t even read the true intentions of those who took care of you.”

The girl’s eyes burned with anger.

“Don’t insult our home!”

In rage the girl stabbed the red priest, then defeated both the black priest and the purple priest. She turned to face fal’Cie Anima.

“This is all your fault! Our friends being turned into Cieth, the Cocoon fal’Cie coming here and doing as it pleases. It’s all because of you! I’ll destroy you!”

The girl rushed it with her spear, but its hands came out of no where, hitting her and throwing her to the floor. Her spear flung far away from her.

The ten priests rushed in and surrounded her, pointing at her with their spears.

“Foolish girl, you must die!”

“Traitor, you must die!”

The girl didn’t move. The ten priests slowly raised their spears.

“Please wait!”

The girl with the eyes of a child ran to her side and covered her with her body.

“Please forgive her!”

“She has insulted fal’Cie Anima, and treated our priests as fools. Her sins are too great.”

“Then let me... let me atone for them!”

The fallen girl’s lips moved, pleading her to stop. But the girl with the eyes of a child paid her no heed, yelling:

“Please make the both of us into l’Cie! Into l’Cie that will fight against Cocoon!”

All ten spears stopped at once, and their bearers looked down on the girls. They gathered together to speak.

“You can’t...”

“No. It will be my turn next, anyway. I want us to be together.”

One girl held the other, and smiled.

“Ever since we entered the temple, I had been thinking about it. I would say, make both of us into l’Cie.”

“But...”

“We might be orphans, but we were raised together. We’re family. We can protect everyone together.”

The ten priests surrounded the two girls and raised their arms in prayer, praying that these two be turned into l’Cie.

“We’ll be together forever... no matter what happens, we’ll never be apart.”

On this day, two l’Cie were born.

Episode Zero: Tomorrow "It was on that day, the tragedy fell upon us."

2010-06-09T00:30:00.000-07:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

It was on that day, the tragedy fell upon us.

On the earth of the great spirit of Pulse, a terrible creature flew from the den of Lindzei.

With it’s cursed right hand it rent the earth, splitting it into one thousand fragments which flew to strike the people who lived on the land.

With it’s cursed left hand it tore down the mountains, crumbling them into ten thousand fragments which flew to slaughter the creatures that crawled along the land.

With both of it’s cursed hands it pulled up the life giving river and sent it crashing down on both the people and the creatures of the land and washed them away.

It devoured the fruits of the earth which would become food for the people. It took the fertile lands with it hands, rolling it up and carrying it away. Metals which slept deep within the earth it tore out with it’s cursed right hand, stole with it’s cursed left hand, and then this too, it carried away.

Buildings it turned to rubble, and carried away without a trace left behind.

The only thing wasted was the countless lives of the people.

Screams of pain and terror filled the earth, but the destruction continued. Soon the only sound left was the silence of death.

On completing it’s atrocious acts it flew once more into the sky. Only two children, now homeless and shaking, watched it as it went. Watching it return to that den of demons, that round den of thieves which floated in the sky.

In the eyes of one child anger was born, and in the eyes of the other sadness.

On this day, the tragedy fell, and two seeds were planted in the earth.

Episode Zero: Present

2010-06-09T00:08:00.000-07:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

“It’s so hard picking out a birthday present for her.” Serah sighed. They were standing in front of the stationary store. Looking at her face, Snow thought she looked so serious... and just like Lightning, who Snow had seen just a few days before. They really are sisters, he thought.
Antique book ends and leather pen holders filled the storefront window. Serah examined the items on display for awhile, but then shook her head, muttering “This doesn’t seem quite right either...”
Two days from now would be Serah’s older sister, Lightning’s, birthday. Snow and Serah had come to the shopping mall to look for a present for her. But for nearly an hour now Serah had just been looking around and saying everything “Wasn’t quite right.”
“Is it really that hard?”
“Yes. Every year I spend a long time searching, but I can never find just the right thing.”
“Why don’t you ask her?”
“I can’t! I’ve asked her before, and do you know what she said?”
“Whatever you choose will be fine?” Snow was only making a guess, but Serah’s eyes grew wide.
“Wow! How did you know?”
“It just seemed like something she’d say. You know, like something a parent would say to a child.”
“Yeah... I guess she’s always been like a mom to me.” Serah slowly began to smile, but then suddenly stopped. “And you shouldn’t hide things from your parents...” Serah’s eyes dropped to the bandages wrapped around her left arm. Serah still hadn’t told Lightning what was beneath them. Snow already knew: a symbol of Pulse. Serah had gone into the Vestige and been made into a l’Cie by the Pulse fal’Cie there. She was an enemy of Cocoon. That was why Serah had asked that they break up. But he had promised her he’d help her search for her Focus. They would search for it--and complete it--together. After that... he didn’t know.
He had asked the customers at the cafe if there were anyone who knew anything about Pulse or l’Cie, but had no luck. Everyone had only heard fairy tales when they were children, or read about it in school textbooks.
But he didn’t give up. He started asking friends of friends if they knew anything. Nothing. Worse than nothing in fact, as one guy tried to sell him some suspicious looking items and he hightailed it out of there.
He even thought about going straight to the fal’Cie and asking it himself. But Serah put her foot down on that idea.
”You don’t know what will happen if you make the fal’Cie mad!” She had said. ”It might make you into a l’Cie, or even worse! Who knows what would happen to the people in Bodhum...”
So he gave up the idea. If it would only make him into a l’Cie, that wouldn’t be any problem to him. But he couldn’t let anything hurt the people of Bodhum. No, he couldn’t let Serah face the wrath of the fal’Cie by herself.
And that’s how he ended up where he was now, with nothing. He had nothing to go on, but he knew it would work out somehow. He would make it work. He still hadn’t asked every person on Cocoon. Until he had done that...
He placed one hand over her bandages, and held her with the other.
“It’s alright. You won’t have to hide anything anymore two days from now, right?”
They had decided they would tell Lightning everything on her birthday. Snow had told Serah that it would be much easier to get her to talk then, besides which, he would be with her. Serah had smiled at him when he said that.
But she still seemed worried about whether or not she would be able to talk with her sister. Sometimes, though only for a moment, he would look over and see her looking sad. Like now.
“Hey, look at that! Wouldn’t that be great?” Snow pointed to a toy store, trying to get her to laugh. A large stuffed Carbuncle toy was set up in the store window. It was green with long ears and a big tail, and wore a jester’s costume. An Eidolon from fairy tales, he was made to be cute and somewhat silly. Nothing could suit Lightning less than this. Surely Serah would laugh too...
“You’re right! This would be great!”
“What?”
Serah ran towards the store.
“Um, somehow I don’t think...” Surely she didn’t think he was serious? Unless Lightning really liked toys like this...?
“Kidding!” Serah laughed. She spun around and stuck out her tongue. Snow must have had a shocked look on his face, because Serah burst out laughing. Snow smiled too, slightly sheepish. She got me, he thought. For a moment there I was imagining Lightning sleeping with a Carbuncle toy in her arms...
Laughing, they walked on by. Snow was glad that he at least got her to smile again. He didn’t want her to look sad, for even a second.
“... nk you.” He heard her whisper.
“Huh? Did you say something?”
“No no, nothing. Hey, looks go look at that store.” Serah said, pulling on his arm. He couldn’t ask her what she said now, but he didn’t need to. Her voice had been so quiet he had barely heard her, but he knew she had said, “thank you.”
He decided to pretend he hadn’t heard. Asking her would just remind her of the reality that awaited her. Snow just wanted her to forget all of that, and smile.
“Maybe instead of a Carbuncle doll, we should get her a Leviathan one.”
“Are you still talking about that?”
“Well I just thought that Leviathan would fit Lightning better.”
“They aren’t even selling one. Come on Snow.” Serah laughed at the idea, then stopped, a look of excitement on her face. “I know!” She said. “I should get her a good luck charm! I mean, she’s a soldier, right? I bet she has a lot of dangerous jobs.”
“Well she is the raid leader of the Bodhum security force.”
“She’s what?”
“That’s what her superior officer called her.”
“That seems like her.” Serah said with a smile.
“Let’s see... a good luck charm should be... something you can have on you at all times. That would be good, don’t you think? Since we’re both picking it.” Then, Snow spotted a sign for an accessory shop. What perfect timing. “Why don’t we go check out that place?”
“Really? I don’t know... She’s never really been interested in that sort of thing.” Serah said, cocking her head to the side. Then she smiled, thinking of something. “Oh hey, it’s that same store from last time. Maybe they will have something perfect for Lightning.” Serah shook her cat shaped earrings. Snow was wearing a necklace that had that same shape. It was a present she had given him. Because they are like a nora cat--a wild cat--they had named themselves NORA. That was the name of his team. As soon as they had decided that, Serah had gone to this shop and bought the earrings and necklace. But Snow had never really been into wearing jewelry, so he resisted wearing it at first. He was happy getting a present from Serah, but it was just too embarrassing to wear. He needed a lot of courage to first start wearing it, and even then he kept thinking about it being there, all the time. He only finally got used to it when he and Serah started spending every day together.
In any case, if this was that accessory shop then surely they’d find what they were looking for. A present for Lightning and... one more thing.
“Hmm? Something seems odd.” Serah looked around the shop when they went inside.
“What does?”
“It looks like there are more people here than there were before. And even more different types of people seem to be here.”
As this was Snow’s first time in the shop, he couldn’t tell one way or the other. Serah told him that when she first was here, the only customers were young women. Now there were older people, couples with children, and all sorts of people here. Snow was relieved. He wouldn’t have felt comfortable for long in a shop filled only with young women.
“Well, that’s a good thing right?”
“I guess. We will find a present for Lightning here, won’t we?”
“Sure we will.” Snow said, his eyes straying over to the corner that had rings lined up on a table. Tomorrow was the fireworks festival, the one with the fireworks that are supposed to grant you your wishes. It was on that day that he planned to ask Serah to marry him. Of course, for that he would need a ring, and this was the store where Serah had bought that cat shaped jewelry. That meant there should be something good here, or at least he thought so.
He looked at the rings that lay in the display case, and compared them with Serah’s slim fingers. They would look wonderful on her. But then he looked at his own hands...
“There is no way those would fit.” He yelled without realizing it. Serah looked at him oddly.
“Are you okay?”
“Um... no, I’m fine.” Snow said, looking back at the display case. There was no way even the largest of those rings could fit on his hands. His fingers were at least one or two times too big. They would never fit. Not to mention, fancy rings like this would break easily by just punching a couple of monsters. How unlucky would it be to break your wedding ring?
“Maybe a ring is a bad idea... it doesn’t need to be a ring.”
“That’s true, it might be a little awkward for her to wear...” Serah said.
He hadn’t meant to say that aloud, but it seems he had done it again anyway.
“During jobs where she has to get her hands dirty she’d have to take it off. It’s not a good present if it interferes with her job.”
“Uh... yeah... right!”
He had never been more annoyed with himself for his big mouth. Don’t say anything that will make her suspicious, Snow said to himself, and turned to look at the next display. Even I could wear one of these, he thought, quietly this time. The table was filled with bracelets. Most of them looked as though the size could be changed, and there were many different designs. Some had nice fretwork, others had birthstones on them, and even a few that looked like handcuffs with a lock and key. The ones with the birthstones would be good, he thought, if they were widened a bit they could even fit me. But just as he had made his decision...
“Oh, this would be perfect for my Mary-poo!” The woman reached out and took the bracelet that Snow had his eye on.
“Uh...” Mary-poo? This is why old ladies are so annoying, he thought, looking over to the woman next to him.
“Look how cute it is on her!” The woman in question was around middle age and held a tiny dog in her arms. That must be “Mary-poo”, of the ever popular “lapdog” breeds. Around it’s neck hung the huge bracelet.
“She’s using it as a collar...”
“Oh! Isn’t that cute?”
Snow looked down to see Serah standing next to him. She was petting “Mary-poo” on the head. The stone on the bracelet around her neck twinkled in the light, as the dog wagged her tail furiously.
“Oh, let’s just forget about those then...”
“Yeah... Lightning already has to wear something around her wrist. Some sort of machine. Not always though. I guess it depends on the job.”
“Then let’s go to the next one...”
They were talking about completely different things, but Snow didn’t bother to correct her. They moved on to the next table.
“Hmm... earrings?” But Serah already had her cat earrings. If he gave her new ones she wouldn’t be able to wear those anymore.
“And it’s not like she has four ears anyway...”
“Hmm? Four what?”
Nothing, nothing, Snow said, waving his hands. He had accidentally spoken aloud again.
“Wait a minute... there would be four.” If you put both him and Serah together, that would be four ears. Just buy one of them and split it between the two of them.
“Snow? Are you alright? You’ve been acting oddly...”
“Uh... really?” Oops. He was about to tell her to just forget about it and help him pick out some earrings, when a voice caught his attention.
“Heeey, look at this heart-shaped one!”
The person speaking didn’t sound very bright. Snow knew he shouldn’t turn and look, but he couldn’t help it.
“Oh don’t be so silly Meemee!”
It was a young couple who obviously didn’t much care about how they looked. Despite the fact that the store was crowded, there was a large empty space around them. They were wound so closely together that it didn’t look physically possible them to still be standing. Surely there was a limit to how close to people could stand to each other? Weren’t they breaking the laws of physics? Then Snow got a good look at their ears. They were both wearing two halves of the same set of earrings.
Snow looked around the shop and saw yet another couple wearing the same pair of earrings. Even the couple with children in tow were wearing matching ones. Apparently this was popular.
“Well then, I guess I can forget about that...”
Snow had never liked doing things that were popular. He just hated doing the same thing as everyone else. This wasn’t just a simple present he was giving her, this was for his marriage proposal. He couldn’t give her something ordinary.
“Should we go to a different store?”
“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll find anything here that I can give to Lightning...”
“She is the raid leader.”
“That’s true!” Serah said, laughing.
“But you’re right, it is pretty difficult to find something...” Snow had thought this would be easy. He thought he would have no problem finding something that could show her his feelings.
“I’m sorry for dragging you along with me...”
“No, that’s not what I meant. It’s just, I’m trying to find something to show someone how I feel, you know? But nothing seems good enough. None of it seems right.”
It didn’t seem he could find anything that would be good enough to show her how he felt about her. Unless he could give her all of Cocoon.
“Yeah, that’s why I never know what to get her. I always think there must be something better out there.” Then Serah smiled. “But you know? When you see how happy they are with what you’ve given them, all those worries go away!”
“I see...”
“It’s true. Hey wait, Snow? What was that about your feelings?”
“Uh, nothing! Absolutely nothing! Alright, let’s look for another place.”
Oops, he had slipped up again. How many times was he going to have to distract her? He was beginning to lose confidence in himself. They left the store.
“After all, it’s not like there is only this one store.” There will be other accessory shops, Snow thought. Then he turned around and saw a pair of necklaces in the display window. The shop had been so crowded when they had entered it, he hadn’t seen them before.
“Sorry, can you go on ahead?”
“What’s up?”
“Bathroom.”
Serah laughed and waved her hand at him as she walked away.
“Excuse me? I’d like to take a look at that necklace in the window...” Snow called out to one of the shop attendants. He was startled to realize he knew the person. “Sonia!?”
“Snow! It’s been such a long time.”
Sonia had grown up in the same town that Snow had. She was three years older, and like a sister to him. A very scary sister.
“How long has it been?”
“Since we were kids.” She said smiling. Then she gestured to a nearby attendant and ordered them to take the necklaces out of the window. It seemed nothing had changed about her.
“Yes ma’am.” The attendant said, bowing to her. Snow was surprised. Apparently she wasn’t just being her usual bossy self, she was actually in charge around here.
“Sonia, are you actually in charge of this place?”
”Well, it hasn’t even been a month yet. This has always been a popular store, so it’s really stressful running this place.”
That must be why this store had become so popular all of a sudden, Snow thought. It was all due to Sonia’s work.
“What were you doing before you came here?”
“I was at the main store in Palumpolum. Ever since graduation.”
She hadn’t even lived in the same area as Snow for a year before she went off to a boarding school. In Cocoon, as long as you have the desire and ability you can enter into any school you want to. The Sanctum pays for all of your tuition, so it isn’t a problem for orphans or single-parent children. The fal’Cie and Sanctum provide security over Cocoon. As long as you haven’t broken any laws, you are able to live as you wish.
But Snow always felt there was something wrong with this way of life. It just didn’t sit well with him. It was because he could take anything from the Sanctum that he wished, that he took as little as possible.
So they farmed, and hunted monsters for themselves. They tried to do things in their own way. Of course, they couldn’t do everything themselves.
“Snow, don’t tell me you don’t have a job? Are you just laying around doing nothing?”
“No, that’s not...”
“Snow! You’re an adult now, you can’t keep doing this forever.”
“But that’s not...” Her lack of listening skills had remained unchanged, it seemed. She had always acted as though she was everyone’s mother.
“That girl you were with, that’s your girlfriend right?”
“Yeah...?”
“Well then, for her sake at least, get a job and do something with yourself! You don’t want her to cry, do you?”
“I would never make her cry! I’m going to make Serah the happiest woman on Cocoon!” Everyone around him looked up in surprise, and he realized he had been yelling. Even the shop attendant who was getting the necklaces had a shocked look on his face.
“You haven’t changed a bit.”
“I could say the same to you, Sonia.”
“But not as much as you.” She laughed, as she took the necklaces from the shop attendant. A small sculpture of Cocoon done in metal, along with a ring, hung from a chain.
He had liked it as soon as he saw it. He had thought he wouldn’t be able to express his feelings for Serah unless he gave her all of Cocoon. No, not even all of Cocoon would be enough. So he would give her two Cocoons, one they each could wear...
“Isn’t this nice? I’m friends with the person who made these. Doesn’t it just say ‘the happiest couple in Cocoon’?"
“The happiest couple in Cocoon...? Yeah...”
Nothing could be more perfect to give to Serah. He would make her the happiest bride on Cocoon.
“Wait a moment while I wrap these up.”
“No no, that’s okay. I don’t want to make Serah wait much longer.”
After he paid for them he left the shop, hold the necklaces in his hands.
“Hey, Snow!”
Snow burst out of the store in a hurry. He had been so happy to talk to an old friend, that he spoken with her longer than he’d meant to. If he wasted more time than it would have taken him to use the bathroom, Serah would come looking for him. He couldn’t have that happening.
He looked around him, but Serah was no where to be seen. Somehow he’d managed to avoid her seeing him come out of the store. No, he was still holding the necklace. He tucked it into his pocket. It felt warm.
“The happiest in Cocoon... alright!” He clenched both his fists, and nodded. Tomorrow he would ask Serah to marry him, then wish on the fireworks for their happiness.
Serah didn’t know what her Focus was, and her time was short. When he thought about that, he felt as though he were looking down from a cliff into a stormy ocean. Then he starts to feel that there might be no place that they will be able to run.
But he couldn’t think like that, for Serah’s sake. It would only make her worry. So he decided to believe there was a bright future ahead of them. The cliff they were standing on might be steep, but the ocean beyond was clear and beautiful.
“Snow!” He heard behind him. Turning around he saw Serah running towards him, waving her hand.
“I found a present!” She said, waving him to come closer.
“You were looking for a good luck charm, right?”
“Right. Something she could carry with her, something that she would carry with her.”
They were standing in front of a store that sold bladed weapons. Serah grinned, and pointed to something in the window.
“This?” A survival knife. It was undecorated, and actually looked functional. It didn’t look like something you would give as a birthday present. “... why?”
“Well, I thought since I want to get her a good luck charm, a blade would be perfect. They say a blade can be used to cut your connections with evil.”
“Cut connections with evil...?” He had heard of swords, but this was a survival knife. That was a little bit different.
“And I read in a book once, that with just one knife a person can survive through lots of things.” Serah said, her tone serious. Her eyes had a faraway look. “Because of her job, she has to go to lots of different places. With her job, she doesn’t ever know exactly what will happen. I want her to be able to survive whatever happens out there, and come back home safe.”
“And so you want to give her a survival knife.”
“Is that strange?”
“No, no it’s not strange.”
To survive whatever happens. That was a wish he could make for themselves.
“Alright! Let’s get it.”
Serah nodded, smiling. Snow put his arms around Serah’s slim shoulders, and opened the door of the shop.

Episode Zero: Search Chapter Seven

2010-06-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

“What did you say!?” Fang made a grab for Raines’ shoulder, but Rygdea stopped her. She was so angry she didn’t even notice.
“We’ve been ordered to leave Bodhum. We won’t be able to stay in this airspace any longer.”
“You...!” They tried to apologize, but the words flew passed her. “Let me off this ship! Let me off now!”
Searching for Vanille would be hard, she knew. That was why she had stayed on the ship like a good girl. She had even been grateful to them. But now this...?
“Calm down!”
“Calm down? Calm down!?” She tried to push him off her, but Rygdea didn’t movie an inch.
“PSICOM’s forces are arriving. I’m sorry, but all their weaponry is made specifically to go against people and creatures from Pulse. It would be suicide.”
“Do you think I care!?”
“Do you want to die!?”
“Of course!” It would be better to die than to let Vanille become a Cieth, to abandon her.
“We haven’t lost all hope.” Rygdea said quietly. The argument died on her lips. He seemed uncomfortable, and his grip on her relaxed.
“What!? But you just said...”
“I said we would have to leave the area, but I didn’t say we would stop searching.”
“It’s the same thing!”
“You just want to find your friend, right? Then there shouldn’t be a problem if you meet up with her somewhere outside of Bodhum.” Raines said.
Fang looked over at Rygdea, confused, but Rygdea himself was giving Raines a puzzled look.
“Sir, what do you...” Rygdea started to say, but closed his mouth. Fang wondered if he understood what Raines meant.
“The Sanctum has made the decision to Purge everyone in Bodhum to Pulse. Not only residents of Bodhum, but every single person currently in the area.”
The announcement would be tomorrow, he continued, and they would began to move people out on the day after that.
“Surely not...” Rygdea whispered, his voice hoarse. It seemed the truth was far worse than he had imagined.
“They’ll be brought to Hanged Edge by train, and then they’ll be sent to Pulse.”
It was the borderlands of Cocoon, Rygdea explained. No one but monsters lived there. In fact it was forbidden for citizens of Cocoon to enter.
“If your friend is in Bodhum, she’ll be sent there on the Purge train. We currently can’t go anywhere near Bodhum because of PSICOM, but what about if we found her in Hanged Edge? And I’ve heard that the Vestige containing the fal’Cie will be moved there, so I’d assume all of their efforts will go towards guarding that.”
“You’re saying we should pick Fang’s friend up off a Purge train? Sir, that’s...”
“Stupid, you think? However...” He looked straight at Fang. “Even if we stop searching now, you will still be surrounded by our enemies. Right?”
“Except you’re still an enemy.”
“I thought I already explained this. We want the power to take down the fal’Cie... the Sanctum.”
“Yeah, I heard. Do you think I care about your power struggles?”
“This isn’t a power struggle... that’s not what I want.”
“Then what is it you want?”
“To not be kept as sheep. Not just for myself, but for all the people of Cocoon.”
Fang thought she saw something deep within his eyes. It was something that she had seen somewhere before.
“We’re humans. We have our own wills, our own feelings, our own ideals... to be human is to rule over your own heart. We aren’t just tools of the fal’Cie.”
Then she remembered, where she had seen that look before. It had been in the eyes of those people who had their homes destroyed by the Cocoon fal’Cie. The color of pain and despair. Fang’s eyes may have looked the same, even now. That was why she had no regrets in becoming a l’Cie.
“We will use all of our power to find your friend. That I promise you.”
“But sir...” Rygdea tried to cut in, but Raines stopped him with his hand.
“This is just another part of our work. Because these people had the slightest brush with Pulse, their lives are being destroyed. We cannot just ignore it.”
“Well... only because you insist. Even though I think this plan is the stupidest among stupid plans. But I’m only going along with it because it’s not impossible”
Rygdea always spoke lightly, but Fang saw that he was serious. They would be saving Vanille from a train guarded by members of PSICOM who outnumbered them in both soldiers and weapons. It wouldn’t be easy, and might mean the Cavalry would have to make sacrifices.
“Then I owe you...” Fang closed her eyes for a moment and prayed. Prayed that their Focus would be to destroy the Cocoon fal’Cie, that they would be able to fight together, that there would be no mistake in making that decision. “Then when we meet up with my friend... with Vanille, we will help you. We will use all of our power to crush the Cocoon fal’Cie.”
Raines smiled slightly. She still couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but she decided that was okay. As long as they were fighting together, that would be enough.

The Lindblum landed on the surface of Lake Bilge on the day the Purge train left Bodhum. It was hard to hide a large airship in the environs around Hanged Edge, so they decided to land here and use smaller vehicles to get closer to the train. That was the plan.
“Just a little longer...” Fang whispered, glancing down at the water of Lake Bilge spreading out beneath her. She was riding in one of the smaller vehicles towards Hanged Edge.
“Yep, just one more hour and the Purge train will arrive. Then we’ll all have a big happy reunion.” Rygdea joked. Then, just out the window, Fang saw a white bird.
“What’s up?”
“That bird...” She pointed, but the bird was already moving off into the distance. It’s white wings disappeared into the clouds. Fang remembered that she had seen it when Rygdea had captured her. She had thought she would be held captive, but because they had taken her she had managed to remain safe and was now going to rescue Vanille. This really was a bird of luck.
It would be okay this time. She had even prayed to those legendary fireworks or whatever they were. They would find Vanille... they had to.
“Nah, it’s nothing.” Fang smiled, and turned her eyes forward. Hanged Edge was close now.

Episode Zero: Search Chapter Six

2010-05-31T23:51:00.000-07:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

Intercepting the information wasn’t in their original plan. It wasn’t scrambled or coded, and the first person to hear it was one of the lowest ranking radio communications operators. He thought it was a prank at first. If Rygdea hadn’t passed by at the time he wouldn’t have saved it much less reported it.
“A Pulse fal’Cie has been found in the Vestige.”
It had cut off there. If Rygdea hadn’t known that PSICOM was investigating the Vestige he would have thought it a prank himself.
They were able to figure out the truth of it pretty quickly, because PSICOM soon sealed off the Vestige. After they had received the video communication, they had learned that most of PSICOM was heading towards Bodhum. They also received the order to pull out immediately. That’s why they had Fang return to the ship. Though she was probably still searching for her friend, they didn’t have much of a choice. That’s how fast PSICOM worked. Not only were the Cavalry ordered to pull out, but Bodhum’s own security force were as well. And during the middle of the fireworks festival.
“Just what are they thinking?”
“They’re probably hoping to stall for time before the info gets leaked.”
“So they’ve really found a Pulse fal’Cie?”
It was probably a shock to even the highest ranking PSICOM officials. It was likely that the soldiers who found the fal’Cie had panicked and forgotten to scramble the message. They had put it on a frequency that even civilians had access to. Other people had probably already intercepted the transmission. And like with the incident in Euride, a gag order would just have the opposite affect.
“Once they’ve finished barricading the city, they’ll reveal the existence of the Pulse fal’Cie.”
“Do you think the people will panic?”
“At least within the city.” Raines nodded. That would be the reason for the barricade. Even if there were panic in Bodhum, it wouldn’t spread to any other area. Sealing off both the people and the information would allow people outside of Bodhum to remain detached from the situation. People don’t care about others when it doesn’t directly relate to themselves. The people outside of Bodhum would soon lose interest.
“I still can’t believe there was something like that hiding in the Vestige.”
That would be why Fang insisted on staying within Bodhum. Even when they suggested that her friend might have run somewhere else, Fang had simply answered that it wasn’t possible. While that wasn’t exactly strange, now it all made sense if a Pulse fal’Cie was close by. Both Fang and her friend were l’Cie. They couldn’t leave their fal’Cie behind just because they were being chased.
“If only we could have found her friend before they discovered that thing...”
“Unfortunately I believe we’ll have to give up on that. We can’t even get close to it much less search it.”
Even if they managed to break through the barrier, they wouldn’t be able to get out again. It had been hard enough helping Fang to escape from Euride, and the barricade this time would be far stronger.
“What the hell is going to happen now...” As Rygdea said those words, Raines picked up his wireless transceiver.
“Is it...?” He didn’t even have to ask, he could tell by the expression on Raines’ face. It was a call from their inside man. It had only been a few days before that Raines had gotten a man in PSICOM on their side. That was how they were able to react so quickly and rescue Fang.
“Sorry, could you go outside for a moment?”
Rygdea nodded silently, and stood. They had an agreement that the only one to know the man’s identity would be Raines. Since the information he gave them was so good, Rygdea figured it was someone high up.
Rygdea turned back for a moment, and saw the look on Raines’ face when he answered the call. He always looked somewhat strange. Rygdea didn’t know what it was, he just knew he looked different. Maybe it was because he had to put in so much effort to talk to the man. Rygdea supposed he was a man worth the price. No, he wasn’t really sure it was even a man at all.
“Alright then, time to pick up Fang.”
It wasn’t a job he was looking forward to. He would have to tell her that she had to give up looking for her friend. The image of her face flashed in his mind.
“She’ll just say we’re enemies again...” He had thought that they would be able to work together. They had a common enemy and cause, and he thought they would fight together. But now...
He felt unusually depressed.

Episode Zero: Search Chapter Five

2010-05-31T23:02:00.001-07:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

The search for Vanille continued, but Rygdea came up empty handed. Before Fang realized, the next two days had passed, and the festival was about to begin.
She still had problems with her memory. She had tried to recall things about her childhood, or the names of people she knew... but her mind remained as blank as ever.
As promised, Raines let her go to the surface. Fang was given a small wireless device so that they would be able to contact her at a moments notice. They also gave her a ‘transfer’ device that would allow her to gain access to her weapon quickly.
Thanks, Fang thought. Even though neither of them really gained anything from their ‘deal’, she still felt she owed something to Rygdea.
The temple was the first place she visited. Rygdea hadn’t said anything about the temple. That probably meant neither he, nor anyone else knew you could get into it. As they had searched everywhere else without finding Vanille, it was likely that she had hidden there.
Only a few days had passed since they had left the temple, but the inside of the temple felt comforting and familiar. In all of this strange world it was her last connection to home.
Looking around Fang saw that the priest’s clothes they had slept on were thrown haphazardly on the floor. Vanille had already been here, but now there was no sign of her. They may have just missed each other.
She spotted Vanille’s weapon. It worried Fang that Vanille was walking around unarmed. She must have left it so as not to attract attention to herself. Unfortunately, unlike when they first woke up, the city was dangerous now, with soldiers everywhere.
Fang circled around once more, just in case, before going back outside. Just in case Vanille returned here, she gathered up the clothes on the floor and folded them properly as a sign that Fang had returned.
If only fal’Cie Anima would tell her something. Whether or not Vanille had returned here, or where she had gone. That old man had said the fal’Cie had been ‘angry’ with him. It was possible that Cocoon fal’Cie had a way to communicate with people. Such a thing would never happen with Gran Pulse fal’Cie.
“Though I bet it would be pretty annoying if they did talk.” She thought aloud. They would probably just make orders and ignored what anyone else had to say. That’s how fal’Cie were.
“In the end, you can only count on yourself.” She mused.
Fang walked along the beach where they had fished, and into the forest they had planned to hunt. When she returned to the city, it was already evening. Fang poked around the field where they had stolen vegetables, but Vanille was not there either.
“And there still isn’t anyone looking after this place.” Fang looked at the fenceless, netless field and laughed. Though, and this was probably only because she had been here too long, even this field seemed beautiful to her now. She crouched down and put her hands in the dirt. Vanille had might have come here and done the same. She knew she had.
“But I can’t wait here for her...” Fang clapped her hands together to get rid of the dirt, and stood up. Then she noticed something had fallen on the ground. It was the wireless device. She had forgotten about it completely.
When she picked it up, she noticed a light blinking on and off. It seemed someone had tried to contact her.
“Now how did this work again...” She fiddled around with it like she had the airbike, trying to get it to work, when suddenly it connected. It seemed she was good with this sort of thing.
“Where have you been!?” Rygdea yelled when she held it to her ear. “Why did you keep ignoring me?”
“Sorry, I forgot I had this thing.”
“I can’t believe this...” She heard him sigh.
“Hey, I’m not used to crap like this.”
“Well whatever. I needed to tell you that PSICOM is in the Vestige.”
“Vestige?” Then she remembered: they called the temple the ‘Bodhum Vestige’.
“It seems they’re conducting an investigation.”
“But why?” It was difficult to keep her voice from shaking. “What are they looking for?”
“I don’t know the details. We only received the communication. But I do know they’re using military monsters. Not only the Tsevelk they use for searches, but the Gebalt they use for hunting.”
Fang didn’t know the difference between these monsters, but she could tell from the way Rygdea talked about them that this wasn’t normal.
“They’ve even deployed armored soldiers. Don’t go near them. They aren’t the sort of enemy you can take down by yourself.”
When Fang had returned to the temple she had seen no sign of soldiers or anyone else. Maybe she had just missed them.
“In any case, did you find her?”
“If I had, I would have already returned.”
“I see. Well anyway, it would probably be best if you hid yourself in the crowd so they can’t find you. Oh, wait a moment...”
His voice cut off. He must have received another call. But he didn’t leave her waiting long.
“Don’t go near the security force’s base.” He said when he came back on the line. “We just received video from the security system. There is a company of airships headed this way with all speed, this is no simple investigation.”
I’ll be careful, Fang replied, switching off the wireless device and running towards the temple. She trusted Rygdea, but if Vanille returned there she would be in trouble.
But once she got within sight of the temple, she saw that Rygdea had been right. The temple was surrounded by army vehicles. It was as though the outside of the temple was swarming with insects. As much as she hated to admit it, there was no way she would have a chance against that. She could forget about helping Vanille, she wouldn’t even be able to enter the temple.
This might not even be the first time they had been to the temple. Was it possible that they had come without Rygdea and his crew realizing it? That might explain why Vanille hadn’t been in the temple. She saw the soldiers and ran, leaving her weapon behind. That must be it, Fang said to herself, which means Vanille isn’t in there. I’ll just have to believe that for now, and search somewhere else...
It was growing dark. Soon it would be too dark to search for her. Fang walked quickly to the shopping mall.

“It’s not really dark at all.”
Both the shopping mall and the beach were as light as day, and as filled with people. The fireworks bursting in the sky lit up the whole city.
Sparks exploded in the sky, booming, and lighting up the faces around her. Fang supposed having the light would help her search for Vanille, if she were there. But she wasn’t.
Fang had walked to every crack and corner of the shopping mall. She went to the vending machine where she first bought drinks for them with her card, and to the grocery store where they were given a map, to everywhere the two of them had gone together. But still, no Vanille.
There were too many people. When they come here just after waking up, she couldn’t figure out where all these people had come from. But tonight the mall was even more crowded than before. It was useful for when you wanted to hide, but impossible to find someone in.
Tired of walking, Fang went to rest in the cafe on the beach. She realized this was the same cafe Rygdea had talked about when she saw the woman mixing drinks behind the counter. He had said she was good.
“Welcome! Bar stool okay for you?” She smiled. Yes, he had mentioned how friendly she was. Fang nodded, relaxing. She was even more tired than she had thought. She hadn’t rested since noon, so this was no surprise.
“What’ll it be?”
“A drink... something very sweet.”
She nodded and grabbed a glass.
“You look pretty tired.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Did you go shopping? Find anything good?”
Oddly enough, it didn’t feel strange to have this woman asking her questions. Maybe it was because she was so close in age to Vanille. Fang thought of Vanille’s smile.
“Actually I’m looking for someone.”
“Oh, did they get lost? It is the fireworks festival, stuff like that happens. Your friend?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s she like?”
Fang was about to answer, when the woman called out to someone behind her.
“You’re late. She said she’d be waiting at the usual place.”
The man she talked to was large and well built. Fang wondered if he was a regular here. He turned around and left quickly, so she didn’t get a good look at his face, only the impression of the frayed sleeves of his long coat and the thick leather gloves he wore remained in her mind. It made him seem hot and sweaty rather than tough.
“I’m sorry for interrupting you. What were you going to say?” She placed the drink in front of her. Fang took a swig, and it was just as sweet as she had hoped. The cool liquid sliding down her throat felt good. All the drinks she’d had in Cocoon were too watery for her taste, but this one was good even if a bit watery. As Rygdea had said, this must be a good restaurant by Cocoon’s standards.
Fang grabbed some fruit slices that had been placed on the counter and took a bite. Tasteless.
“So, this girl you’re looking for. Can you describe her?”
“I would say she’s about as old as... no, probably a bit younger than you are. She’s a scaredy-cat, but curious about everything. She’s careless and naive, but kind to everyone and she laughs a lot...”
“Is she cute?”
“Yeah, but a crybaby.” The woman was a good listener, so Fang continued. “When she’s lonely or worried, she always cries. But if I pat her on the head she’ll forget it all in an instant. She’s just like that...”
“I see... well, I hope you can find her soon so you can pat her on the head.”
“Yeah...” Fang said, nodding. Vanille wasn’t the only one feeling lonely and worried, she thought, surprising herself.
“Have you wished on the fireworks yet?”
“Wish?”
“You don’t know? There is a legend that Bodhum’s fireworks can grant wishes.”
“I... heard that story, but...” She had already heard about it several times.
“But?”
Fang didn’t know whether Cocoon’s fireworks would want to grant her wishes.
“No, never mind.”
“Well if you haven’t wished for anything yet, why not wish that you’ll find her? Or maybe that she isn’t crying?”
Fang agreed, and stood up. She had stayed here longer than she had planned.
“If you still haven’t found her, come around. I’ll tell you if we’ve seen anyone like her.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
After paying with her card, Fang went outside. It had been crowded inside the cafe, but the outside was even worse.
“It’s like looking for a grain of sand in the desert...” She sighed and looked up at the sky. Or perhaps it was like trying to hold the sparks that lit up the sky in her hands. She touched her fingers together. On Gran Pulse this was a prayer, but people on Cocoon would have no idea what she was doing. Was Vanille looking up at this sky?
As she thought that, the wireless device began vibrating. It was Rygdea. She hoped he was calling to tell her they had found her, but no, his voice was urgent.
“Where are you?”
“I’m in front of the cafe you talked about.”
“Alright. Return to the meeting point. We’ll pick you up there.”
They had only planned to have her return to the Lindblum if they found Vanille or when the fireworks festival had ended. But from the tone of his voice she could tell he did not have good news.
“What happened?”
“Something terrible. We’ll tell you more about it when you’ve returned.”
Fang said she understood, and switched off the device. She had a bad feeling about this.

Episode Zero: Search Chapter Four

2010-04-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

Fang had never thought that something as small as a no windows could make someone so nervous, and yet she found herself pacing back and forth in the tiny room.
But that’s not why she felt so nervous. It had been two days since she had arrived here, and four since Euride. But still there was no sign of Vanille. Today Rygdea had gone into Bodhum to search for her, but it just served to make Fang more nervous. Neither Rygdea nor Raines, nor anyone but her knew how little time Vanille had left. While she was here doing nothing, Vanille’s mark was evolving. She had to regain her memories and complete their Focus before it was too late.
She didn’t want to get captured by the army, so she had agreed to stay on the Lindblum. But this was wasting time she didn’t have. It might be dangerous out there, or foolish to go out among all those soldiers, but it was better than waiting here doing nothing. Fang opened the door slowly, and peeked out into the corridor.
There weren’t many people in the hallway during this time of day. Most of the soldiers were at their posts, the rest were sleeping. Yesterday she had been bored, and left her room, but she soon got lost. She had thought to find someone and ask them where her room was, but no one was to be found. After an hour of wandering throughout the ship, she finally found her way back to her room.
No one was in the corridor, just as she had thought. Fang ran. She planned to find the small ship they had brought her here in, and escape with it. Though she didn’t know how to use it, she hoped that it would be the same as the airbike. All she had to do was get on it, and it would work out somehow.
But, no matter where she ran to, the ship was no where to be found. Every direction she went in was a dead end.
If she had known this would happen, she would have searched more around the ship the day before. She could have told someone she was bored, and had them show her around. Except for Rygdea, everyone else thought that she was only a guest of Raines’. If she had asked they would probably would have agreed.
“Failed again...” Another dead end. Fang sighed at the cold metal wall in front of her.
“Failed at what?” A cold voice said behind her. Raines. “It would be a bit of a problem for you to go wandering about you see, so we put up barriers. All the doors near the catapult area you need to unlock to get through.”
They knew what she had been planning, Fang thought as she bit her lip and glared at Raines.
“Army planes and ships wouldn’t be as easy to use as as a civilian airbike. You couldn’t just get on one and hope for the best. Even as a l’Cie, there wouldn’t be much left of you at that speed.”
“I see.” Fang quickly glanced around the area. No one was there. If he was the only one here, surely there was something she could do...? Even if she couldn’t defeat him, perhaps there was a way to neutralize him.
“There is something I want to show you... no, want you to listen to. If you want to fight, go ahead, but we can do it afterward.”
“Sure, you just want to buy time until your men arrive. Like I’d believe that?”
Raines burst into laughter, shaking his head. He grabbed his sword, and held it out to her.
“I’ll give you this. If any of my men arrive you can kill me, take me hostage, whatever you like.”
“What...” Fang said, taken aback by the sword he offered. ”Are you stupid!?”
“Oh yes, most likely.” Raines said calmly, turning back around and motioning for her to follow him. The will to fight left her. Gripping the sword tightly, she followed after him.

It was the same room from two days ago, when they had taken her blindfold off after departing the smaller ship. That room. But, perhaps because she had grown used to living on the ship, the lowness of the ceiling no longer seemed strange to her.
“So? What do you want me to listen to?”
Sitting in a chair, Fang fiddled with the sword. She had no intentions of stabbing him in the back, but she wasn’t about to let go of her only weapon. If he did anything funny, she would use it on him.
Raines switched on the device that sat on his desk, explaining nothing of his actions. A loud crackle sounded from the machine before voices filled the room.
“Don’t you think it was a little too early to take down the barricade around Euride?”
“But if we held it too long, the citizens would begin to worry. If that happened then there will have been no reason to have hidden the existence of the l’Cie.”
Two men spoke, one young and one old. No... the one was probably not that young, just younger than the other one.
“What... is this?” Fang said. Raines put his finger to his lips and motioned for her to listen. The younger man continued.
“We could at least continue to investigate until the l’Cie is captured...”
“Already rumors are circulating that what happened at Euride was no mere accident. If we kept up the barricade and investigation, those rumors would only grow.”
The voice of a woman interrupted him. It was the same woman who Raines talked with two days ago.
“If it’s information you’re worried about, there is a way we could manipulate it.”
“And by that, you mean people will only listen to what they want to hear? What foolish people.”
Just who was this old man? She could figure out that he was someone with a high rank, but just who did he think he was, looking down on people like that?
“That is the representative of the Sanctum, Galenth Dysley. The other two are lieutenants Rosch and Nabaat of PSICOM.”
Fang remembered, that woman’s name was Nabaat.
“But I just received a reprimand from fal’Cie Eden. They have said to not hide the truth from the people. It seems the fal’Cie was displeased with what I was doing, even though it was for the sake of the people.”
“Fal’Cie Eden said...?”
“Yes, they said to lift the barricade, and to cease the investigation. They wish for the lives of the people to return to normal.”
“That’s madness! There are escaped l’Cie out there, who we haven’t even found a trace of let alone caught. If we leave them be they could go and destroy something else!”
“I agree, but I am nothing but a spokesperson for the fal’Cie. I cannot go against their commands.”
A blip sounded, and the conversation cut off as suddenly as it had begun.
“Our inside man was recording it.”
That explained why the sound had been so odd. A hidden mic. Even so, though he had said they were opposing factions, she hadn’t thought he would go so far as to record their conversations. It seemed the rivalry between PSICOM and Raines’ Cavalry went deeper than she imagined.
“This is the real Cocoon, where the primarch of Sanctum thinks of the people as nothing but sheep.”
“Primarch? Was that the old man? Is he that important?”
Raines nodded as if the thought pained him. “The person with the most power in Cocoon does only what the fal’Cie commands. As long as Cocoon remains under the rule of the Sanctum they are nothing but the livestock of the fal’Cie.”
“So why have me listen to this? Do you want me to say, ‘oh, I’m sorry’?”
He ignored her sarcastic comment, and continued: “You say you have forgotten, but there can be only one Focus for a l’Cie of Pulse to complete on Cocoon: defeating the Cocoon fal’Cie.”
“It could also be the destruction of all Cocoon.”
“Do you think so? If that were the case, what would be the point of you waking up within Cocoon itself?”
It was true, she had thought it strange that they had been brought up here. And with fal’Cie Anima. It had made her think that perhaps her Focus wasn’t to destroy Cocoon itself, but to destroy it’s core.
“You see it all fits if you think of it that way. Which must mean you have the power to destroy fal’Cie. That is a power we want for ourselves.”
The power to destroy fal’Cie? Did he mean he wanted the power to destroy the Cocoon fal’Cie?
“Please, I want to ask you to lend us that power.”
“You want to destroy the Cocoon fal’Cie? Aren’t you a soldier of Cocoon?”
“I don’t want to stop at just fal’Cie Eden, I want to destroy that puppet government as well.”
Fang had thought he just had a rivalry going with PSICOM or Nabaat, but it seemed it went much further than that. He was against not only PSICOM, but the Sanctum.
“But we’re your enemy.”
“Both of us are enemies of the Cocoon fal’Cie. Enemies we might have been originally, I think we will be able to form an alliance under these circumstances.”
Raines’ eyes were serious. He wasn’t the kind of person who would say such things jokingly.
“Are you okay with that? If you borrow our power, you’ll betray Cocoon.”
“I’ll do anything to achieve my goal.”
Now she understood. The reason had worked so hard to help his enemies, was so that he could go up against someone even more powerful.
“I said I was searching for my friend. I’ll only make a decision after we’ve found her.”
“I understand. We’ll do anything we can to help find her. I just don’t want you to make any rash actions.”
“You want me to sit still and be a good girl? For how long?” Now that she knew what his aim was, now that she understood him, she was willing to listen.
“As Dysley said, they’ve lifted the barricade and stop the investigation. PSICOM will remain in the city for a few days, but security won’t be so tight.” He held up three fingers. “Just wait three more days.”
“What happens in three days?”
He told her about the fireworks festival. That’s right, Fang thought, they had heard talk of it in the city. It was a huge festival where people from all over Cocoon came to see the fireworks.
“On the day of the festival, the security force will be policing the grounds. PSICOM will also be there, but unable to move against you. You will be able to mix in with the tourists and not stand out as much.”
Vanille would probably still be okay in three days, Fang though, nodding.
“I’ll stay here until the festival. Just one thing...”
“One thing?”
“I still haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to help you.”
If their Focus was to destroy Cocoon’s fal’Cie, then it would be helpful for them to join forces with Raines. If not, it would only waste precious time. While Vanille’s mark was still alive, every second counted. They couldn’t give those seconds to the enemy. Until her memory returned, she couldn’t make a decision.
“That’s fine. I’ll wait until you’ve met up with your friend, and then you can give me your answer.”
Even if they found Vanille, she wouldn’t be able to give him an answer unless her memories returned. But she wasn’t about to tell Raines that.

Episode Zero: Search Chapter Three

2010-04-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

“A deal, huh? I’m too nice.” Rygdea thought to himself as he walked the road from Bodhum Station to the shopping mall quarter. They wouldn’t get anything in return for this deal.
Fang had said herself that she was a “broken l’Cie”, but even if that wasn’t the case she wouldn’t break so easily. They might not get any information on Pulse out of her, but it was true that they couldn’t let her fall into PSICOM’s hands. Searching for her friend wouldn’t be a waste of effort.
And, if they could get her to join them, she would be a nice addition to their forces. When they had brought her in Rygdea had felt her strength and skill, but what was even more surprising was when they let her use the training simulator. He had thought she might be getting bored just waiting around, and had brought her to the training room.
While it might be true that there is a world of different between a real fight and a simulated program, Fang managed to grab the high score on a machine she had never even seen before. It was no wonder she was able to escape from enemies so easily in unfamiliar territory.
She had not only strength, but luck on her side. That she got tickets to Euride with an overwritten ID card, and that she overwrote the card by accident, was nearly impossible to imagine.
And then the airbike she used after her escape from the plant. It must have been left with the engine running, because there was no way she could have found a way to turn it on and make it run without knowing what she was doing. The owner of that bike must have left it on, planning on returning immediately. In fact, PSICOM had locked down the plant shortly after the accident. The owner might not have been able to return.
Fang had said she had seen an unusual owl on Cocoon three times. An owl that had a human-like face and legs like those of a raptor. She had never seen one, other than in a book, she had said. Rygdea himself had only seen one once. That she had seen one three times in only a few days showed how luck seemed to follow her.
Fang’s friend was still running from PSICOM, and without the help of the Cavalry. Her luck must be even greater than Fang’s. Perhaps all l’Cie from Pulse had such luck.
“But where should I begin looking for her?”
The fireworks festival was in a couple of days, and Bodhum was already filled with tourists. It would waste too much time and effort to look for her in this crowd. Fang had said that she wouldn’t have gone far. Unless something had happened, she would be somewhere in Bodhum. But the problem was, Rygdea didn’t know much about the area.
Which meant, he would have no choice but to search at random. Or so he thought, when he heard a voice calling out his name. It was one of the officers from the Bodhum security force. Rygdea had spoken with her a bit the other day when he had come to investigate.
“You’re... Sergeant Farron, right?”
“Sir!” She said, saluting, a perfect textbook example. Her movements were tight and efficient. If given the chance, she could become very strong. Though he knew this already from the information he had seen on the troops, this was something he could tell just by looking at her.
“Don’t be so formal, relax already.” He said to her. That’s when he had an idea. He might not know the area, but he could ask someone who did.
“Do you know of any places where young people go to hang out? Anything is fine.”
It wasn’t widely known that their suspect was a young girl. Fang’s friend may have decided to hide herself with others her age so as not to raise suspicion.
“Does this have something to do with the accident in Euride?” Sergeant Farron’s eyes lit up. Her intuition was sharp.
“Is there a rumor going around?” Though she was trying to get information out of him, he decided to turn it back on her, hopefully to find out how the troops are feeling about the accident.
“Well, I wouldn’t say it’s a rumor.”
“Oh?”
“Our orders are to hand over the suspect. That is all. But, PSICOM is here. They arrived here just after the accident. That’s enough to raise anyone’s suspicions.” She said it casually, but was clearly waiting to see his reaction.
“Well, soldiers in the lower ranks like us can’t understand what those higher-ups think anyway.”
“Excuse me, sir, but I don’t believe Captain Rygdea of the Cavalry can be considered a part of the lower ranks.”
She could see right through him. Her eyes sharpened. The eyes of someone who knew exactly what he was about. If he tried to get any more information out of her, he would be digging his own grave.
“In any case, that’s not it. I’m just being used by a friend to find someone, that’s all.” He made a show of sighing and looking resigned. Not that he thought she’d buy it, but she was the type would was not only sharp, but would know when to leave well enough alone.
“I’m just having trouble searching for her, since I don’t know the area. But you’ve come at the perfect time to help me.”
Just as he expected, Sergeant Farron didn’t ask any more about Euride.
“If you give me her ID number, I can tell it to soldiers who are on patrol.”
“No no, there’s a reason we can’t really have this known publicly.” He explained that it was a girl who had run away from home. Sergeant Farron nodded, understanding.
“So a girl... how often has she been in Bodhum?”
“No, she doesn’t really know the area either. She’s from very far away.” He wasn’t lying, it was just farther away than Sergeant Farron could imagine.
“Anything you can tell me about her?”
“She has her hair done up in two pigtails. Apparently she laughs and cries a lot. She’s not shy at all...”
“Is this a little girl?”
“No... she’s around seventeen or eighteen...” Rygdea started to say, then burst into laughter. “You’re right, it does sound like a little girl.”
“No, I understand. I have a little sister about that age.” Sergeant Farron smiled softly when she said that. It was the same expression Fang had when talking about her friend.
“And she likes to take care of livesto--, er she likes to take care of animals. Are there any places in Bodhum where there are animals she could pet?”
“As far as I know, there are only pet shops.”
The only place in Cocoon where there were really animals you could pet was Nautilus Park, but he couldn’t imagine she would hang out there to pet sheep while she was on the run. No reason to continue this line of investigation further.
“Well it’s not a place with animals, but there is a cafe where a lot of young people go...”
“Cafe?”
“Yes, it’s close to the beach. I hear that both locals and tourists go there often. Not that I ever go there.” Her expression grew grim. It seemed she didn’t have a very good opinion of the cafe.
“Wow, you know a lot about it even though you never go there. Now that’s a good member of the security force.”
“Oh, no... it’s something that my little sister has talked about.”
“I see, well it’s definitely worth checking out.”
That would be the perfect place for her to have gone. Lots of people her age there, so she wouldn’t stand out, and since locals were there too she could become friends with one of them and have a place to stay.
“Alright, I’m going to try it. Thanks for your help.”
As always, Sergeant Farron made a perfect salute before departing.

The cafe was just as Sergeant Farron said it was. There was a good mix of both locals and tourists, and all were young. But the face he was looking for was nowhere to be seen.
“Welcome! I’m sorry, but currently our tables are all full. But if you’d like to sit at the counter...?”
Rygdea had seen the blue-haired waiter before. The other day when he was off on investigation the boy had been arrested and searched. It seemed PSICOM had noticed a package he had been protecting. But after they searched it, it turned out there was nothing important inside.
“What would you like?” A bright voice asked as he sat down at the counter. A small woman stood behind the counter, shaking up drinks. She had black hair like Fang’s, but there was a sweetness about her eyes that gave her a soft appearance.
“I am a bit hungry. You can make me anything you think is good.”
“Any foods you don’t like?”
Rygdea told her that he didn’t, and she smiled. The way she turned on the fire and handled the frying pan made it obvious she was a pro. She mixed up drinks, sliced up fruit, her hands a blur.
“Snow? Hey, is Snow here?” A boy of about sixteen or seventeen broke through the thick crowd in front of the counter. The scent of oil and grease lingered about him, perhaps he was a mechanic.
“I’ve told you not to run inside the cafe.”
“I know, I know. But Lebreau, where is Snow?”
Lebreau must have been the name of the woman behind the counter. Her and the boy almost acted like mother and son, if you ignored their ages.
“He said he had to go meet Serah. You just missed him. But never mind that Maqui, can you help me? I need you to pick up some vegetables from the back.”
The boy named Maqui looked disappointed, but sighed and turned right back around and left the way he came. Rygdea took another look around the cafe, but Fang’s friend was still no where to be seen. Or at least, there was no one who seemed to be on the run. Everyone in the room was talking and smiling, all without a care in the world.
PSICOM sure has shut up the news about the accident, Rygdea thought, even though Euride is only a stone throw away from Bodhum no one seems to be worried about what happened. Even the soldiers who were there don’t know the whole story, and only those with a good head on her shoulders like Sergeant Farron knew that PSICOM moving in meant something big. Even so, they didn’t know the truth.
“Sir? Is there someone you’re waiting for?”
Her voice brought him back to the present. The way he was looking for Fang’s friend must have made her think he was waiting for someone. He shook his head.
“I’m searching for someone. Have you seen a girl who is about seventeen or eighteen years old?”
“About three come every hour. Is there anything else you can tell me about her?”
“She wears her hair in two pigtails.” Rygdea balled his hands in two fists by his head, indicating the style.
“Is that all?”
“Well, she has bracelets on both arms. Lots of thin ones. And I believe she had on necklaces too.”
“I don’t think she came here. Is she your girlfriend? No wait, you said she was eighteen... daughter maybe?”
“Hey...”
“I’m just playing with you. But you said she was eighteen had two pigtails, and had lots of bracelets and necklaces?”
She had a good memory. It probably came from working at a cafe.
“Apparently she laughs a lot, and is always smiling. She also said she was careless, but liked to take care of others and is quite kind.”
“Hmm.... that’s not much to go on.”
“Yeah I guess.” It’s true that she probably wouldn’t break into laughter like Fang said she did at a place she had never been before. And it’s doubtful that she would be taking care of other people when she needed to be taken care of herself. He forgot to mention that she cried a lot, but that would probably help about as much as the rest of the information did.
“Well, if you see her, can you let me know? Though, I can’t let her find out about it.”
“What do you mean by that? That sounds awfully suspicious.”
“She ran away from home. It would be dangerous if she ran too far, and her parents are counting on me to find her.”
She gave him a suspicious look, but then shrugged.
“Fine then. If a girl matching that description comes, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks, I owe you one.”
“If you could just write down where I can contact you at here... And here’s your meal.”
The plateful of food appeared before his eyes. She had been working all that time she had been talking to him. Quite impressive.
“So don’t bring attention to yourself, or we’ll smack you upside the head. A lot of us are stronger than any soldiers.” Rygdea heard a voice say. There was no way any of them were stronger than a soldier, but he didn’t want to cause any trouble. He wondered if he should carry something of Fang’s around with him. If he had something of hers with him it might be easier to get in contact with her friend. He thought about talking with Fang about it as he ate his meal.

Eating better food than he had expected to get was the best thing that came out of the whole day. After leaving the cafe, he made another turn around the shopping mall, but it was wasted effort.
“I see you couldn’t find her.” Fang said to him when he arrived back on the Lindblum. She sighed in mock frustration.
“Do you have any idea where she might be? Anywhere she could have gone?”
“Yeah, but I already looked there.”
“Of course, right...”
Fang must have been wandering around town looking for her friend when they found her. She had probably searched all the places she expected her to be and had come up with nothing. Then she was panicking so much she didn’t notice she was being followed.
“Oh hey!” Fang said, slapping her knee. “She might be in the forests or ocean or something.”
“Why would she be there?”
“For food. I mean she had a card, but I doubt she got it to work.”
Rygdea looked shocked at the idea of catching fish and trapping birds to eat.
“Is that so surprising?”
“Well, I mean going into the ocean to catch fish...”
“How can you live not knowing how to get food for yourself?”
It seemed the l’Cie of Pulse were not only lucky, but tough as well.
“She really likes cooking you know. Makes up her own meals. She’s made some pretty terrible stuff though.” Fang smiled as she remembered her friend. Rygdea thought about Sergeant Farron talking about her sister. Fang’s friend must be like a little sister to her.
“When we find her, she’ll have to treat me to some Pulse cooking. But... hold off on the salt.”
It seemed the food on Cocoon was tasteless to those from Pulse, and Fang was always dumping salt on her meals.
“I’ll tell her to make invalid food.” Fang said, grinning. Then she asked, “Why are you with a guy like Raines?”
“And why are you asking? Trying to get my secrets?”
Fang mumbled that it was partly true.
“I don’t really understand him at all. I don’t know what he’s thinking.”
“Well he’s an important man in the Sanctum. And considering how many lives he has under his charge, it would be a problem if he were that easily read.”
“Is he really all that great?”
If you can’t tell what sort of man he is just from looking at him, Rygdea thought, then maybe you need to get your eyes checked. But no, he realized, that wasn’t what she meant. She could at least tell that he was no simple man, he could see that.
“So he’s a... ‘Brigadier General’ right? And you’re a captain. What’s the difference?”
“Well a captain is just a company officer. A brigadier general is one of the lowest ranks of generals. Between the two there is one other rank of field officer. Within that there are colonels, lieutenant colonels, and lieutenant commanders. So there is quite a wide gap between his rank and mine.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Well, let’s just say he’s one of the higher-ups.”
Fang made a face. Rygdea thought it was so hilarious, he decided to keep pushing it.
“And after those three ranks there are military officers, and even further below them there are non-commissioned officers. Sergeant Majors, sergeants and corporals...”
“Enough! Enough already. You’re making my head hurt.” Fang said while holding her head and sighing. “The army on Cocoon is complicated. Do you guys have fun making all those ranks?”
“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say it’s fun...”
Fang had never been persuaded to talk more about Pulse, but he now knew they didn’t have an army.
“Well it’s true that the strict rules about ranks are kind of a pain.”
Rygdea himself hated the stiff rules of the army, and had once tried to quit. He had joined the military academy because he wanted to fly an airship. After graduation, he had entered into the army, but not because he wanted to become a soldier. If it weren’t for his wanting to fly an airship, he would have had nothing to do with it.
It wasn’t too long after that when Raines invited him to join the Cavalry. Though he wasn’t too much older than himself, he had already been promoted to the rank of brigadier general. For a failed soldier like himself, he thought he wouldn’t have much in common with him, and had only half listened to his request.
But eventually their talks became serious, and he could no longer ignore him. Their ideals matched, and he liked how Raines didn’t treat those ideals as just an abstract theory. Rygdea thought that so long as it was under this man, he would have a reason to stay in the army...
“Even though you think it’s a pain, you still stay under Raines? Did something about him appeal to you?”
There wasn’t any deep meaning behind Fang’s question, but it would be dangerous for him to answer it. Answering it would expose too much of their hand.
“Sorry, but I’m not a man who relies on his feelings.”
“Then what do you rely on?”
“I guess... whether something makes sense or not.”
“So it makes sense for you to work under Raines then?”
“Oh, and also...” It wouldn’t hurt to show just a card or two. “I always bet on the one who looks likeliest to win. I don’t fight if I don’t think I’m going to win.”
“I see...” Fang said, with an odd look in her eyes.
“What?”
“It’s just strange. I would have thought you’d be someone who relies more on their feelings.”
“I think you’ve overestimated me.”
“I’m not. I thought you were some idiot who lets his feelings get the best of him.”
“Well, I’m glad we’ve cleared up that misunderstanding.” Rygdea said as he exited the room. He couldn’t let himself get caught in Fang’s traps.
Just a moment ago there had been an announcement from PSICOM. They were taking down their blockade around Euride and letting tourists back into the plant. Too many things were happening at once. He had to find Fang’s friend soon, before she fell into PSICOM’s hands.
He hurried to the bridge.

Episode Zero: Search Chapter Two

2010-04-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

It wasn’t long before Fang realized why they had blindfolded her. The airship they pushed her into was so narrow they wouldn’t have been able to use their guns on her. If she hadn’t been blindfolded and bound, she could have fought back and escaped.
But she wasn’t bound for long, as Rygdea had promised. They hadn’t been in the air for long when she felt the rumble of the airship landing. She felt hands on her back, directing her to move, but it wasn’t long before she had to stop again.
There was a low noise. It sounded vaguely familiar to her, and she soon realized it was the sound of doors opening and closing. All the doors at the shopping mall and energy plant had made the same sound.
A voice started speaking, but it was one she didn’t recognize. Perhaps this was the man Rygdea had wanted her to meet.
It seemed Rygdea was a “captain”. She had heard the word often during her escape. From what she had learned from other soldiers, they added these words to names depending on their rank.
The blindfold fell from her face, and Fang squinted in the bright light of the cabin. She scanned the area, finding that all the soldiers were gone. There were only two in the room besides herself: Rygdea, and one other man. He had black hair, and a cool expression on his face that showed he was no push over.
“Take off the binds.”
“Are you sure about that General Raines? This girl shouldn’t be taken lightly...”
“I don’t care.”
Just what could this man be thinking? Fang wasn’t happy about being bound like this, but she knew she would do the same if she were in their shoes. He must have some sort of plan already in place if he was going to unbind her. Their eyes met and he smiled.
“This is what you are thinking right now. You are a l’Cie of Pulse, and all of Cocoon is your enemy. But there are exceptions to anything, you know.”
Fang stood wordlessly, staring into the man’s eyes. She tried to read something of his thoughts, anything, but they were unreadable as the writing of Cocoon. His eyes were as cold and dark as midwinter, and had unknown depths.
“I am Cid Raines. I may control the Cavalry fleet, but I am not your enemy.”
Fang wasn’t stupid enough to take those words at face value. She snorted.
“Don’t be an idiot. When it comes to my enemies there are no exceptions.”
“Of course our charge is to protect the people of Cocoon. But just because that which we want to protect is different, does that really make us enemies?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
No, Fang thought, I don’t even want to understand. Raines took out a small device and placed it to his ear. It was hard for Fang to believe, since it was so small, but that machine was a wireless communicator on Cocoon.
“Ah, Lieutenant Nabaat. What’s your status?”
She wondered who he was talking to. Raines looked up at met her eyes. A woman’s voice crackled from the device. Fang looked around, startled.
“The perpetrator is still on the run. We haven’t been able to locate her.”
“It’s the same on this end. We do plan on searching from the air between Euride and Bodhum, however.”
Fang couldn’t figure out how it worked, but it seemed that with that device you could hear the voices of other people. Raines smiled faintly, perhaps finding her reaction amusing.
“We believe that she is hiding somewhere in the gorge, so before we...”
“Ah, you believe we would have a higher chance of finding her from the air? Understood. Anything else?”
“Once she is captured, she must be handed over to PSICOM headquarters immediately.”
“Is that our orders?” Raines glanced at Fang. She wondered if he was telling her that if ordered he would send her over to them.
“It is a request.”
“PSICOM’s ‘requests’ are the same as orders from the Sanctum, of course.”
It didn’t take long for Fang to figure out that the relationship between these two was not particularly friendly.
“Though I am amazed that it has been a full day since the accident, and I have yet to be told the details. Though if it involves you then it must be something very important. That, at least, is plain to see.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t answer that.” The woman replied sarcastically. “That information is classified and under control of PSICOM.”
“Oh, you’re always like this.” Raines sighed and switched off the communicator. The smile fell from his face as he looked at Fang. “And so now you know. The army of the Sanctum is not one-sided.”
“Sanctum army?”
“Yes. There are two arms to the army of Sanctum. The Wide-area Response Brigade, also known as the Cavalry--that’s us, who protect the people--and PSICOM, Sanctum’s special forces.”
“What does that matter? You’re all enemies to me.”
Raines ignored that, and continued: “The reason I ordered Rygdea to bring you here is not so that we could hand you over to PSICOM. In fact, just the opposite.”
What did it matter? Either way the armies of Cocoon wanted to capture l’Cie. Fang couldn’t understand what he was trying to say.
“We do not agree with the actions of PSICOM, and do not align ourselves with them.”
“So you think that means you aren’t my enemy? Yeah right.” It was likely that they really were against PSICOM, if that conversation they had a minute ago was any indication. But that didn’t mean they were Fang’s allies. “You just think that by capturing me, you’ll be the first one to get information on Pulse.” It was a common scenario, getting one up on your enemies to make them look bad. “But unfortunately for you, I’m a broken l’Cie.” She looked down at the mark on her arm. When she had awoken it had been burned white, as though a scorch mark left from when everything had been burned clean from her mind. “I can’t remember my Focus or my memories. I don’t have any information you could want. And...”
“And...?”
She wasn’t sure if she should tell this to the enemy.
“I’m looking for a friend. I don’t have time to help you.” Fang hadn’t been sure she should say anything, but she needed information about Vanille. She wondered what reaction the two men would make on hearing the word ‘friend’.
But they were silent, their faces told her nothing.
“I understand. It’s up to you whether you want to help us or not. But in the mean time, you’ll be staying with us.”
Of course, Fang thought. Whatever they’ve been saying, all they’ve really wanted to do was lock me up and keep an eye on me. If that’s the case, then my only choice is escape.
“Captain, take her to the residential area.”
“Understood.”
From how they spoke to one another, Fang could tell that Raines was ranked higher than Rygdea. But despite that, they seemed far closer than it would appear at first glance. She wondered if maybe they were close in age. No, she had no time or reason to be thinking about that. There were more important things to think about...
“Hey girly, don’t try to fight you’re way out of here eh?” Rygdea said, slapping her on the back. He is strong, Fang thought. “Though you’re not much of a ‘girl’ are you?” He let go of her. “But you know, if we really got into a fight one of us probably wouldn’t make it out alive. So hey, let’s be friends.”
Fang had no interest in being friends with him, but it was true that if they got into a fight there would be some serious injury. She raised both her hands up in truce.
Just beyond the door lay a narrow hall. Because the previous room had been so low and wide, Fang had thought that all of Cocoon’s buildings were built like that, but it seems that this wasn’t the case.
“What? You don’t even have windows around here?” The tight quarters made it hard for her to breathe, making her even more irritable.
“I doubt you’d find much use for windows in the middle of an airship.”
“An air... ship?”
“You’re inside The Lindblum, an airship.”
She touched the walls of the ship. If this were really a ship she should have been able to feel it’s movement. At least it was that way with ships on Gran Pulse. But she felt no rumbling beneath her fingertips. Which must mean they were docked.
“What, you didn’t know? Well we are currently in flight.”
“It’s.. it’s flying?” She couldn’t believe it. The ship wasn’t shaking or vibrating at all. No, she could feel the slightest tremble in the floor beneath her feet, but it was so faint she could hardly tell. She had been surprised at the speed which the train going from Bodhum to Euride had moved, but this ship was clearly even more powerful. Fang relaxed.
“So... this is a ship?” Fang looked down the hall stretching far behind her, and looked back to see how far it continued forward. It went farther than she could see in either direction.
“It can’t...” When she thought that this was a building, she had felt the hallway was horribly narrow and tight, and that the room she was in before had an oddly low ceiling. But if this were an airship...
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I was just thinking this is one damn big ship.”
“Really? Well the Sanctum Skyfleet’s Palamecia is even bigger.”
“I think my head hurts...” Fang could hardly imagine it. These ships were on an entirely different scale from what they had on Gran Pulse. Not just the ships, but the guns the soldiers carried were more powerful than any she had seen before.
The beasts and the birds, and more over the humans of Cocoon were very weak in comparison to Gran Pulse. Of course there were a few like Rygdea who she could see were “strong”, but most of the soldiers she ahd seen on Cocoon were weak.
But Cocoon had technology. Fang didn’t know what other sorts of technology they had, but what if all of these people could use it? They may be surrounded by a worse enemy than they had imagined.
Once they made it to the end of the hall, there was a staircase. Fang wondered just how much further they had to go, especially since they had already walked a considerable ways. How long would it take you to walk from one end to the other?
“Well you’ve sure gotten quiet. It wasn’t too long ago that you were barking like a feral dog.”
“Well I’m not a dog, don’t treat me like one. I was just thinking of a way to get out of here.”
“Well don’t do that!” Rygdea’s face grew serious. “PSICOM has set up barricades all around Bodhum. I’d like to see you try and escape from there.”
“I’m not so stupid that I’d get caught by those assholes.”
“... I don’t think you quite get it.”
“Don’t get what?”
Rygdea sighed. “You managed to get through the barricade around the plant on your own, I’ll give you that. But do you know how hard we worked to get you free?”
“Free...?”
“Well we couldn’t just capture you right in front of PSICOM, they would have told us to hand you over. You heard them right? We couldn’t let that happen, so we were busy overwriting their surveillance system and sending false info over their wireless.”
Fang didn’t really know what exactly they had done with the surveillance system and wireless, but it seems that Raines and Rygdea had helped her escape.
“I don’t get it. Why do this if we’re enemies?”
“It’s like General Raines said, it’s in our interest to help you. The enemy of our enemy is our friend.”
“The enemy of our enemy is our friend... huh.” Fang could understand that better than just saying they weren’t enemies. Even though they were enemies, joining forces under those circumstances wasn’t something completely unheard of.
“Here’s your room, girly.”
Rygdea stopped in front of several doors. Fang had no idea where they were or where they had come from. Even if she wanted to escape, she wouldn’t be able to.
“Sorry it’s so small.”
Even though it didn’t have much, just a bed and a small table, it was a real room. Fang would have no problem staying here.
“You can call me Fang.”
“Eh?”
“Stop calling me girly.”
Rygdea smiled. “I knew you didn’t like being called that, but I didn’t know what else to call you.”
“So you should have asked my name.”
“If I had asked, would you have told me?”
“No... no, probably not.” Until a little while ago, she had no intention of telling him her name. Rygdea was strong. While people might tell lies, there were no lies in strength.
“You said you were looking for your friend, right?” Rygdea asked, as if just remembering. “Are they strong like you?”
“Stronger than any soldier on Cocoon.”
“Are all women on Pulse so strong?”
She had told them that she was looking for a friend, but she hadn’t told them she was a girl. Fang narrowed her eyes.
“Don’t look at me like that. We looked at the surveillance cameras from Euride. The picture wasn’t too clear, but we could at least see that much.”
Fang breathed a sigh of relief. Vanille hadn’t been captured.
“Are you worried? Well of course you are. Doesn’t matter how strong she is, she’s still all alone.”
“And she cries all the time.”
Vanille would always cry, waking up from a bad dream, holding on to Fang and begging her not to leave her alone. She had always been like that, since they were children.
“And sometimes she laughs at the strangest things.”
When was the last time she had seen Vanille laugh? In the train to Euride? No... she had been surprised at everything, but she hadn’t laughed. Had she even laughed since they had woken up...
“Should I look for her?”
Fang wouldn’t have expected him to make such an offer. Rygdea seemed like a nice enough guy, but he was still the enemy.
“I mean right now you can’t leave here, can you? If you went out there, it would be suicide. But I understand you’re worried about her. I have friends myself.” Rygdea said with a smile, he didn’t seem as though he was lying.
“I don’t... I don’t want to owe you anything.”
“Well then, how about this: we make a deal.”
“A deal?”
“We can’t let you fall into PSICOM's hands, so I’ll search for you friend. In return, you guys cannot let yourself get captured by PSICOM.”
Cocoon’s soldiers weren’t that strong by themselves, but they had technology, and even within those soldiers there were a few strong ones like Rygdea. Surrounded by soldiers like these, there wasn’t much she could do right now.
“I... yes...” She didn’t know what Raines was planning, but she felt she could trust Rygdea. “Please.”
Once he found Vanille, Fang would return what she owed him. He could count on that.

Episode Zero: Search Chapter One

2010-02-19T18:09:00.000-08:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

Fang felt a tingling creep up the back of her neck as she walked through the crowded streets of the shopping mall in Bodhum. Was it because she was right in the middle of enemy territory? No, that didn’t seem quite right. Perhaps it was because she was being followed? No, that wasn’t right either. She had already shaken off pursuit.
There had been more soldiers after her than she would have expected, but luckily for her Euride was situated between the ocean and a range of mountains. There had been plenty of places for her to hide, and the terrain aided her in making strikes against the enemy before fading back into the wilderness.
She had gotten lucky and found an airbike that had been left unattended. It made it much easier for her to move quickly. Fang had never ridden a Cocoon vehicle, but she somehow managed to learn how to drive it by watching others.
It was easy enough to get from Euride back to Bodhum. A road stretched in-between them, and it allowed her to follow it even under the cover of night. Before she reached the city she tossed the airbike to the side of the road, and walked the rest of the way. It was morning when she returned to the temple.
But Vanille was not there. The food they had brought back to the temple lay untouched. She must not have returned to Bodhum. Or perhaps she was still hiding from the enemy.
”Don’t worry. No matter where you run to, I’ll find you...” It was a promise she had made, long ago. She had to find her as soon as possible. Vanille was probably lonely. Crying in her sleep, like always.
“That girl is always crying...” She whispered. Her voice rasped. She had forgotten she spent all night running, not being able to eat or drink. Her throat was parched.
She walked over to a square machine on the side of the street, and taking her card out, held it against the machine. Pressing buttons at random, she was rewarded as the sound of a drink-filled can fell into the little opening in the front.
Fang had already gotten used to opening this sort of can. It was a little different from the cans they had on Gran Pulse, but not too different. She hated to admit it, but once she got used to it the Cocoon cans were actually easier to open.
As she drank down the liquid, she thought of Vanille. Right now she might not be able to get any food, and was hungry. They had stolen two of these cards, and Vanille had the other one. But they had never tried to see if it would work. The only one they had been using was this one.
A bird flapped overhead, and Fang stiffened. A white bird flew passed and away. Again? Fang thought. It was that strange, human-looking bird they had seen a few days ago. Strange looking it might be, but so far it seemed to have brought her luck. They had seen it when they had gotten these cards, after all. She had seen it too, when escaping from Euride. That time she had found the airbike and managed to throw off her pursuers. If it were true, then maybe something good will happen this time. Like maybe she’ll find Vanille...
Fang looked into the crowd, hoping to see her. She looked at the entrances of all the stores, watching the people leaving.
“I guess not...” She sighed. She wasn’t at the shopping mall, but perhaps she went to the beach. There were girls there who wore similar clothing, maybe she went there so she wouldn’t stand out. Placing the empty can down on the ground beside her, she stood up and tried to get her bearings. Now where was that beach...
“Hey, you could at least pick that up.”
She ignored the voice behind her. It was better not to get involved with anyone from Cocoon. That, and she knew she had no need to fear attack even if she turned her back to them. Everything was so peaceful and safe here in Cocoon, she could hardly credit it. Even the soldiers she had seen yesterday in Euride had barely any experience with fighting. Sure they had training, but no real experience.
“Just wait a minute Miss Rude Girl...”
This time the voice came from right behind her. She hadn’t even noticed. How careless of her. She stopped, and looked at the speaker over her shoulder. She made as if to turn around, then dodged to the side into the crowd. No one would shoot at her in a large group of people like this. These people were soft.
She hadn’t seen that blue uniform in Euride, but she knew he was a soldier. He had gotten close to her without even her noticing. He was well trained, it would take skill to run from him.
Fang ran outside of the shopping mall, but that was as far as she could go. Any further would take her outside of the crowd, and that would be dangerous. Running into a narrow alleyway, she turned several corners before coming to a dead end, which was easy enough for her to leap over.
Fang ran and ran, until finally she no longer knew where she had run to. But there was no one behind her, she was no longer being followed. Fang sighed in relief. She winced, her chest hurt. She must have run farther than she had thought, she had to catch her breath before continuing on.
Then the world rocked, and she felt a blow to her back. Someone had jumped out behind her, but by the time she realized it, it was too late.
“You bastard!” She put all the strength she could into her arms to try and break free, but no... she was trapped. He had her arms pinned, she couldn’t move.
“Quiet! We aren’t your enemy.” He took his hands off her. “I’m sorry I had to do that to you. My name is Rygdea. I’m in the cavalry... er, not that you’d know anything about that.”
A kind looking, but unshaven man stood in front of her. Kind looking he may be, but he was the one who had trapped her. He was careful and efficient, she knew she wouldn’t be able to get free of him. He was probably far stronger than any of the soldiers she had met during her escape.
“There is someone I’d like you to meet. Please come with me.”
She only stood because she was already surrounded, each soldier pointing his gun straight at her. But the only one to stand within close-range fighting distance was Rygdea, all the others stood as far away from her as possible. Pathetic.
They handcuffed and blindfolded her. Rygdea put a gentle hand against her shoulder to point her the way. There was nothing else she could do but follow their orders.
“If we don’t do this we know you’d never come quietly. But it’s not too far, don’t worry.”

Episode Zero: Stranger Chapter Five

2010-02-19T00:30:00.000-08:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

The train slipped from Bodhum station as though gliding on water. It began with the people on the platform slowly moving off into the distance, then soon the entire city began rushing passed.
“Wow...” Vanille and Fang both leaned against the train window, watching the city rush by them. Soon they were out of the city and hugging the coastline.
“Look at that! That island is floating!”
“Oh wow...”
They felt eyes on their backs and turned, to find the other passengers staring at them in surprise. Vanille and Fang hastily returned to their seats. They hadn’t even realized their faces had been pressed to the window. You could still see the fog left from their breath.
Someone sniggered. Vanille turned red and looked at her feet.
Glancing out the window again, Vanille saw the ocean sparkling with the sunlight that fell across it. Suddenly the train swerved, and the lead car came into view. Vanille was shocked. There were no rails underneath the train. Look at that! Vanille mouthed, covering her mouth with her hands so no one could see what she was saying. She didn’t want to draw attention to themselves again, but she couldn’t contain her excitement. She pulled at Fang’s arm, pointing out the window at the floating islands. Fang nodded.
“The technology they have on Cocoon is just amazing.” Vanille whispered in Fang’s ear. Maybe, if they searched every corner of Gran Pulse, they could find something like this. Though it was unlikely that they would ever find a train that could flying through the air.
One of the floating islands was coming up near their window, but as soon as it was there it rushed passed and behind them. The train was weaving among the islands like a thread in cloth.
“Look! It’s an airbike!” The voice of a young boy squealed from the seat in front of them. Vanille craned her neck to try and see what he was talking about. There were three vehicles just outside the train. These must be the airbikes that woman had told them of yesterday.
“Their so fast! Daddy, which is faster? An airbike or your airship?”
“Of course my airship is faster.” Unlike the young boy, who was too short to see, they could see the top of his father’s head. His hair was like a bird’s nest, it almost seemed as if a little bird would come poking it’s head out at any moment.
“There are lots of islands.”
“The city of Bodhum is made up of lots of islands. ” He explained to his son. His voice sounded kind.
“Is that Bodhum? That place that floats up really high?”
“Really high? No that’s not Bodhum. That’s a place called ‘Eden’. And Eden isn’t an island.”
Her ears perked up when she heard “Eden”. That was the place those two men had talked about the other day. But it seemed it wasn’t a mountain or a valley. It was a high place, but not a floating island? Then what was it?
“Daddy? Have you ever been to Eden?”
“Of course I have, I’m a pilot. I’ve even been to a place called Palumpolum. They have more stores than any other city in Cocoon.”
“Do they have a toy store?”
“Lots!”
“And a chocobo store?”
“They have lots of pet stores.”
“No! A chocobo store!”
“Well, I don’t know about that...”
They weren’t talking about anything important, but Vanille enjoyed listening to them. This is probably what it was like to have a family. They continued talking about all the places his pilot father had been. There was a place where they kept monsters and let them roam free, a city that was filled with games and other fun things...
Vanille began to realize, as she listened to them, how many different places Cocoon had, and how many people must live here. If only they weren’t enemies, if only the fal’Cie of Cocoon hadn’t stolen so much from them... they could go to and from Cocoon and Gran Pulse freely. What a wonderful world that would be.
She didn’t want to fight. Not with this father and his son, or that young mother they met at the station yesterday, or that group of elderly women. She didn’t want to hurt a single one of them. But I’m probably wrong, Vanille thought. I’ve always been told we must fight. But... I’m weak, so I don’t want to fight. Fang would never feel like this. Never feel lost. She would fight no matter what the cost. But....
Fang doesn’t fight because she is strong, though she is quite strong. She fights because she is kind. She can never forgive those who hurt the people she loves. But that is why I can’t let her fight, Vanille thought. Fang would never forgive herself if she hurt someone who was innocent.
“Your mark is still alive. If we don’t complete our Focus, you’ll become a Cie’th.”
Vanille remembered the words Fang had said the day before. It didn’t matter which path she chose. To fight, or not to fight. Whatever path she chose, and all the paths she has chosen in the past, only leads to Fang’s sorrow.
“Hey, what’s up?”
Vanille looked up, surprised. She had gone off into her own head, and had not realized. She looked out the window, and noticed they had stopped. They were at a station.
“Where... what station is this?”
“The last stop. Didn’t you hear? They said it was Euride Station.”
All the passengers were standing up and forming a line down the aisle. The father and son who had sat in the seat in front of them were already gone.
“I’m glad I didn’t ask how many days the trip would take...” Vanille said, sighing.

Slipping into the line of passengers, they exited the train. They had no worries of getting lost, as all the passengers were walking in the same direction.
A plaza stretched out in front of the station, and beyond that was a building that looked something like an energy plant. The plaza had stalls selling balloons and candy, and was as noisy and filled with people as the shopping mall in Bodhum.
There were people taking pictures of themselves in front of the energy plant, young couples walking hand in hand, a group of young boys, an elderly couple... all of Euride had a very festive atmosphere.
One corner of the plaza had a group of students listening attentively to their teacher.
“This plant is maintained by fal’Cie Kujata, and it creates most of the energy that is used in the cities close to Euride. All of the things that make our lives easier run on the energy created in this plant. Do all of you understand?”
“Yes!” The children screamed, their voices excited. The adults walking beside them smiled.
“I can’t believe these people.” Fang whispered. “They know nothing about how their fal’Cie took everything from us.”
“Yeah... they know nothing...” But was ignorance a sin? Vanille wondered. Even if they did know, it would be a sin. Then no matter what they were in the wrong. Both paths led only to sorrow.
Hey Fang? Can I choose nothing? Can I turn my eyes away from all of this...?
It’s okay to run, she whispered to herself. Looking at Fang, she knew this was something she would never be able to say to her.
“Once we complete our Focus, we can leave all this behind. Right, Vanille?”
Instead of answering, Vanille grabbed Fang’s hand. Just like when they were children, together against a world of enemies. So long as they were together, they could stay alive. So long as the were together, it didn’t matter where they ran...
“We will get home. We will.” Even if it went against Fang’s own wishes.
The energy plant where fal’Cie Kujata awaited was just in front of them. Vanille tightened her grip on Fang’s hand, and allowed them to be swept along with the crowd of people.

Episode Zero: Stranger Chapter Four

2010-02-18T17:58:00.000-08:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

The overwhelming number of people did not bother her as much as it had the previous day, and Vanille felt calm and relaxed as she walked through the streets.
Not wanting to run into those two men they had met the other day, Vanille suggested they walk in an area slightly apart from the place they had been the day before. Fang insisted that if they saw them again it would be easy for her to take them out, but she agreed to the plan anyway.
The street they had seen yesterday had been lined with clothing and accessory shops, but today the place they found themselves in had an abundance of both food and drink.
“Look look, they’re selling vegetables!”
The stalls were bursting with colors of bright green, yellow and red. On closer inspection they saw that each was large and looked fresh.
“Nothing like those vegetables from the garden we saw the other day.”
“But don’t these look, I don’t know, artificial? Like someone made them. I wonder if you can even eat them.”
The vegetables were unnaturally matched in size and shape, like each was a replica of another. The ones they had picked from the garden were scrawny and tasteless, but you could tell they were meant to be eaten.
“Maybe they have some strange way of making them.”
“Well, it is Cocoon.” Vanille imagined them pressing colored liquid into the shape of vegetables. Surely not, she thought, shaking her head.
“They can’t support this many people with a little pathetic garden like the one we saw.”
“Cocoon is pretty big...”
“... maybe if we go somewhere else I’ll be able to get my memory back.”
Vanille didn’t answer, looking off into the crowd. Fang was getting impatient, Vanille understood that. She looked at Fang, knowing what she was thinking. That girl had been turned into a l’Cie because of them. Because they were taking so long to complete their Focus.
But that was wrong, Vanille knew that was wrong. Fang wasn’t the one who had screwed up. That blame was all Vanille’s. She sighed, then looked up as she felt Fang turn around beside her.
“Fang?”
“Wait over there.”
“Wait!” But Vanille didn’t stop her in time. She could only watch as Fang disappeared into the crowd. It seemed she would have no choice but to wait for Fang’s return. She leaned against the nearest wall.
Most of the shoppers walking in and out of the shops were women, and many of them had children tagging along with them. Perhaps because the shops here sold food stuffs, and the women were buying dinner for their families. But there was something strange about them, as she watched Vanille thought there was something unnatural in what they were doing. Then she realized: most of the people coming out of the grocery were empty-handed. While some of the might have simply not bought anything, it was unthinkable that it would be true for all of them.
“Maybe they get it delivered?” Vanille thought. On Gran Pulse you could pay to get things delivered that were bulky or heavy, but something small like food was something you took home yourself. So maybe... but there could be another reason entirely.
Vanille just shook her head, confused.
“Did you wait long?”
Suddenly Vanille felt something cold pressing up against her forehead. She screamed and jumped.
“Haha, sorry about that.” Fang smiled, and held out a can of some sort of drink. “You’re so jumpy.”
“I can’t help it...” Vanille said, pouting, but she took the can. “Where did you get this?”
“Bought it.”
Vanille looked at the can, then looked up at Fang. Where did she get the money? They didn’t even know if cash was used on Cocoon.
“I used this.” Fang said, pulling out the card they had taken yesterday. “Cocoon’s such a weird place. I can’t believe you can get anything with something like this.” She opened up her can and took a drink, motioning for Vanille to do the same. The can was a little strange, but it wasn’t difficult to figure out how to open it.
“Oh! It’s good.”
“I told them to give me the sweetest drink they had.”
After the watery, tasteless stuff they had been eating recently, it was amazing drinking something where you could actually taste the sweetness. It was wonderful.
“So how do you buy stuff with this?”
“I don’t know how it works. I just copied what everyone else was doing. Like them.” Fang said, pointing to the people in the shop nearby. Vanille could see that the woman there had a card like the one they carried.
“I watched the people in a store I passed by, and I thought hey, maybe that’s how it works.”
“So then those two men from yesterday really didn’t have any money.”
“But they actually do have some cash on Cocoon.” Fang looked over to a different store. It was pink and white with cute decorations hung on the story front. A candy store. There were children running in and out of it, holding candy. Apparently taking your allowance to the candy store to buy some sweets was something children on both Cocoon and Gran Pulse enjoyed. “Kids use cash.” Fang said.
They could see that all of the adults used cards. Sometimes the owner of the card would press something on the card, or put something on the card. Then sometimes the store clerk would run the card through a strangely shaped machine. It seemed there were many ways to use the card.
“I saw a shop where they were selling weapons. So long as we have this we can buy some.” Fang grinned. “We can fight.”
“But...” Those two men had been shockingly weak. Fang could defeat them bare-handed. Even the fish and the birds had been pathetic. Probably all the creatures on Cocoon, including humans, did not know how to fight.
“Weren’t we chosen as l’Cie to fight Cocoon?”
“Yes but... right now there would be no reason...”
“Yeah... it’s so peaceful here. We probably don’t even have to fight.”
“Yes. Let’s not fight.” Vanille nodded. Her voice sounded strange to her ears, she wondered if Fang noticed.
“Even if we won’t be fighting, what is our Focus? If we don’t find out...”
That again. It always comes back around to that, Vanille thought, sighing. A loud voice intruded on her thoughts.
“Before we do that, why don’t we go on the fal’Cie tour?”
Vanille and Fang glanced at each other.
“We could just go to Euride on our last day.”
“But the closer it gets to the fireworks festival, the more crowded it will be.”
“That’s true.”
A group of older women passed by, talking in high spirits. What had they meant by “fal’Cie tour”? And Euride? Perhaps that was a place where the Cocoon fal’Cie was enshrined. Fang and Vanille snuck in behind the women, trying to remain unobtrusive, to listen for more important information.
“Why don’t we get a private car? With all of us together the price shouldn’t be too high.”
“No, no. Going by regular train should be just fine.”
The fal’Cie in Euride must be far if they were planning on taking a train there.
“I wonder how often the train comes? It should be fine if we don’t have to wait too long.”
“Why don’t we ask at Bodhum Station?”
“Then we’re agreed? Alright, my daughter asked me to pick up something at this shopping mall...”
That was all they had to say about the fal’Cie. Now their conversation slipped into what they were going to buy or what they should plan to eat. Just when they realized they weren’t going to get any more out of the women, the group went into a shop. Fang and Vanille walked passed the shop’s door without stopping.
“It was ‘Euride’ that they said, right?”
“Yes, the leader of these thieves...”
They couldn’t say for certain whether or not it was the same one who had stolen from them, but all the fal’Cie of Cocoon were the same to them.
“Then we must go and pay our respects.”
“We’re going to go and see it!?”
“If we go and see the fal’Cie of the enemy then maybe we’ll understand what our Focus is. Or maybe I’ll get my memory back... something will happen.”
“But Euride must be far. They said they were taking a train there.”
Neither Fang nor Vanille had ever ridden on a train. The train that ran by their home was something that ran all the way to the ends of the earth. They weren’t unusual in this. No one in their village had ever ridden on a train. People just didn’t ride on trains, not usually.
That’s why they had been surprised to hear a couple of old ladies talking so casually about riding on a train. It made them question their initial opinion that Cocoon was a pathetic sort of place.
“I’ll go any distance if I can get my memory back.”
“But we might not have enough money. I mean, we might not be able to ride with this card alone.” She didn’t want to go to Euride. She didn’t want to face a fal’Cie of Cocoon.
“Is that all?” Fang said, laughing. “We can go to the station and check. There are lots of ways we can get money. It will be fine. Let’s just go.” Fang turned on her heel. Once she made up her mind, that was the end of it. There was no way to stop her now. Vanille would just have to be prepared for whatever would come. She sighed, and followed after Fang’s footsteps.

Before they could find out more on how to get to Euride, they had to find out where Bodhum station was first. They had thought if they had just walked a bit they would find it, but that was not the case. So, while buying ingredients for dinner, they asked where they could find it. They thought people might look at them oddly if they started asking where the station was, but they needn’t have worried.
It seemed there were quite a lot of travelers who came here, and so strangers were quite common. They would say, “Oh, are you on vacation? Well where are you from?” In fact, Fang and Vanille thought they were being a little too friendly.
They were told that any shop in the city carries maps for travelers, which can be taken for free. They were put there so that travelers unused to the city would not get lost.
“Putting up maps for travelers? That seems dangerous.”
A map like that, one that could show you every place in the city at a glance, would become a weakness in the hands of the enemy. A map was an important document meant to be kept secret. Vanille couldn’t help but think badly of people who didn’t even know something as simple as that. But the clerk looked at her oddly when she mentioned this. Apparently people on Cocoon didn’t think that way.
They left as soon as the clerk marked the station on the map for them. If they had stayed any longer they might have given themselves away. They were more worried about their words or actions making them seem suspicious than they were of the clothing they wore.
Fortunately, the station wasn’t to far off. It was about fifteen minutes walk from the shopping mall, and very close to the temple. But if they hadn’t been given this map, they weren’t sure they would have realized this was a station. The station at Bodhum looked familiar and yet very different from the station they were familiar with on Gran Pulse.
“It doesn’t look anything like a station. It looks more like a... store or something.”
“And look at that train.” Fang pointed as they got closer to the station. “It doesn’t look like it would stay on the track.”
The train had a very rounded design. Saying it couldn’t stay on the track was not quite correct, but it did seem to be lacking something.
“If a monster attacked it, it would go flying right off.”
Trains on Gran Pulse were made large and sturdy to withstand attacks by large monsters. Both the window frames and the roofs were made of a thick material to avoid being smashed in.
“I wonder if it will even make it to Euride okay.” Vanille said. Fang shrugged.
“No use worrying. First we’ve got to find out when the train leaves. Then we’ve got to know how much it costs and how many days it will take.”
They thought just by going into the station that they’d be able to find out all the answers, but they were wrong. They didn’t know how to search for anything. First of all, there were so many different platforms that they didn’t know where to go. On Gran Pulse there was only one, but here in Bodhum there were several, and it seemed that each had a train that was going to a different place.
Even more surprising were how many trains were arriving. In their hometown the train only came in the morning and in the evening.
“What... what should we do?”
They wandered around the inside of the building, but still couldn’t figure any of it out.
“Are you alright? Can I help you?”
It was a young mother with a small child She must have seen that they were confused.
“Um... well, we want to go to Euride, but...”
“To visit the fal’Cie? The train to Euride leaves from platform number one.”
Vanille and Fang exchanged glances and breathed a sigh of relief. Saved!
“Have a good trip.” The young woman said, turning.
“Um, wait please! Can I ask you one more question?” There were still more things they had to ask.
“How much does it cost to get to Euride? Can we get there with this?” Vanille said, pulling out the card. The young woman laughed.
“Well, I don’t know what your credit limit is, but I can tell you it will definitely be enough, so long as you don’t get a special car.”
The women they had seen before had talked of something like that too, though they mentioned a “private car”. It seemed there were many different ways to get to Euride.
“And, um... how many trains go each day to Euride?”
“How many? Hmm... well...” She cocked her head to the side to think. That must mean there weren’t very many.
“Oh, please don’t tell me there is only one every couple of days.”
“Huh?”
“Oh no, will we have to wait several days before one comes?” Vanille began to worry. What would they do if they had to wait that long? But the young woman’s laughter cut across her panic like a knife.
“Oh dear, you girls are so funny. It will be alright. Just go to the station and wait a bit, one should come soon enough.”
“Really...?”
“It’s just you asked me how many come in one day, and I’ve never really counted them before. There are just so many.”
It seemed they had said another strange thing. But fortunately this time they had no need to apologize. This time the young woman just laughed.
“If you don’t want to wait for the train, you can always take an airbike. There is a place where you can rent them just outside the station. The price to rent a two-seater isn’t too much different from the cost of a train ticket.”
“Um, no... no, I like trains.”
Actually, neither one of them knew how to drive an airbike, but she decided not to say so. If airbikes were something that even children on Cocoon knew how to use, they’d be thought of as suspicious again.
“Alright then, be careful and have a good trip.” The young woman took the child’s hand and walked over to another platform, a different one from the train that goes to Euride.
“Oh no! I forgot to ask...”
“What?”
“How many days it will take to get to Euride.”
“Ah...”
But it really didn’t matter. They knew they would be able to cover the price of the ticket, and they knew where to get on the train. That was all the information they needed.
“I hope if we leave tomorrow we can at least arrive by the day after that...”
“It doesn’t matter how long it will take, so long as we can meet this fal’Cie.”
Vanille’s heart grew heavy when she heard the word fal’Cie. Just when she had managed to forget it, Fang had reminded her once again.
“Are you tired?” Fang looked at her, worried.
“Well, just a little.” Vanille replied, and tried her best to smile.

Episode Zero: Stranger Chapter Three

2010-02-05T05:05:00.000-08:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

“What... is all this?”
“Do you think... it might be a festival?”
Being surrounded by the people of Cocoon was no longer as surprising as it first was. When groups of people passed by, they didn’t tense up as they first had. Many people had walked passed them on their way from the temple to where they were now, but none of them had tried to attack, and none of them had looked at Fang or Vanille oddly.
Walking along the beach, they had seen girls in similar clothing to their own swimming in the water. It was a relief to see them. Apparently the people around here had mistaken them for one of their own. It was easy then, to slip by them unnoticed.
There were so many people. Many more than they ever would have thought to see in one place. Especially in such a narrow, cramped space between buildings. Both Vanille and Fang stood in the crowd, their jaws hanging open as they stared at the sight.
“Let’s go already.” Fang said, shaking her head, and setting off. Vanille followed. It had been only the two of them standing in the middle of the path, while people rushed passed them on all sides.
Walking along the road, they came to the realization that all of these people were shopping. Upon closer inspection, they found that all the buildings set up on either side of the street were stores.
“Are all of these buildings shops?”
Just how many were there? More than Vanille had ever seen before. There were even several shops that specialized in clothing, each bursting with a variety of color and design. No wonder their clothing was not thought odd, with such an abundance of different styles.
There were many different shops. Vanille saw a shop that had accessories, another that had what looked like paper and pens, there was a furniture shop on that side of the street, and on the other there was even one that had what she thought were some sort of vehicles lined up outside.
Looking at the people, she saw a girl happily picking through racks of clothing. Over there, a small child who was pouting, maybe trying to get his parents to buy him something. A happy couple was leaving a jewelry shop. Every single one of them had a joyful look on their face.
“I feel a little dizzy...” Vanille was tired, even though she hadn’t even walked very far. Trying to take everything in on both sides of the street had done her in.
“Hey, Fang...” she almost said, but stopped herself just in time. Fang looked grim. “Thieves...” she whispered.
Vanille grabbed onto Fang’s hand before she could act. She understood what Fang was feeling, understood it better than anyone. Vanille felt the same way. But right now they were right in the middle of enemy territory, and they only carried small, concealed weapons with them.
“Fang, you can’t...”
“I know. I know, but...” Her fists clenched as she tried to suppress her anger. “All of this was stolen from us. But still they...”
It was well known that Cocoon was a den of demons. The fal’Cie of Cocoon would come to Gran Pulse, to take as much material as they wanted. Once they even took a whole town. They would steal farmland just before harvest, and tear rare metals straight from the earth. That’s why they had thought the people from Cocoon were their enemies.
But, after seeing that elderly couple yesterday, and all the people who passed by them, she had started to think it was odd. And today, seeing people shopping, doubts started to grow in her mind. Did these people truly wish to destroy Gran Pulse, and take everything from it?
Vanille had started to think, from what she had seen, they weren’t so different from her own people. Their clothes were different, their houses were different, the taste of their vegetables and meat were different, but perhaps on the inside they were the same.
“Today we’re gathering information. Right?” She whispered in her ear. Vanille didn’t want her to do anything rash.
“... right.” Fan said in a clipped tone. Vanille opened her mouth to say something, but she heard a voice behind her calling to them.
“Hey there ladies, you all alone? Going shopping? You don’t look like you’re from around here.”
At the sound of their voices Fang stiffened. Turning around, they found two young men, smiling. Vanille looked at them cautiously. Their faces were open and friendly, but these men were far different from the elderly couple they had met the day before. Surely this time they were just trying to catch them off guard so they could capture them.
“You aren’t scared of us are you?”
“Don’t worry, we aren’t some weirdoes.”
The look on their face and their body language gave lie to the truth behind their words. They must be planning something. Vanille stepped back, and Fang took her concealed weapon in hand.
“Hey, want to go have something drink? Or maybe we could go out for lunch?”
At the word “lunch” Fang and Vanille turned to look at each other. They could not be enemies if they offered to sit across from each other at the table, and partake in food and drink.
“Really? You’d eat with us?” Vanille never thought that an enemy would say such a thing.
“There’s a really good restaurant nearby. Come on, we’ll show you.”
“Yeah, it’s a little early, but it can get pretty crowded when lunch time hits.”
Vanille glanced at Fang. She looked a bit at a loss, and was still on guard, ready to pull out her weapon at any moment. Vanille shook her head slightly, to tell Fang to let it go for now.
“Alright fine. Let’s eat.” Fang turned back around and nodded to the two men. Both of them smiled. They were real smiles this time, not fake like before. Vanille thought that maybe she had only been imagining that they had been hiding something.
Fang grimaced, as usual, but she couldn’t refuse them. Refusing to sit at the table with another was the same as declaring war. It was too dangerous to start a war against this many people, and if she did then she might never find a way to get her memory back.
So they followed the two men, not speaking to them or to each other, as they showed them to a bustling restaurant filled with people.
“So what do you want to eat?” One of the men asked once they reached the table. How odd, Vanille thought. If they’re the ones who are making the offering, why must we choose what to eat? We are supposed to eat what they give us. That’s how it always is.
“The menu is over there.” The other one smiled, and pointed to the wall. Vanille grew even more confused. Just what do they want us to do?
“Uhmm...”
What was written there, that is to say, the markings on the wall were in the writing of Cocoon. It probably explained everything that they had to do. But unfortunately, neither Vanille nor Fang could read any of it.
Vanille motioned with her eyes, trying to ask Fang what they should do. Fang nodded, and went for her weapon.
“Not that!” Vanille yelled, and rushed to stop her before it was too late. The two men looked at her questioningly.
“Er... it’s nothing. I mean really, it’s nothing. Don’t worry, it’s....” She forced the muscles of her mouth into a smile. Fortunately, it seemed to fool them.
“If you can’t decide, what about the special?”
“Okay! We’ll take that.” Vanille nodded. Whatever they had to do to get out of this without looking too odd. One of them ordered, and Vanille breathed a sigh of relief.
“So, where are you girls from?”
From one problem to another. This wasn’t a question so easily answered. She’d just have to try to smile and fool them once more.
“Well... far.”
“Far?”
“Yeah, really far.” Just in case they decided to ask for the city name, Vanille quickly asked them a question instead.
“So where are you from?”
“We’re from Eden. That’s where our University is.”
“Eh-din.... You-knee-verse City?”
“Yeah... Eden University.”
It look like repeating the question was the wrong thing to do. Vanille whispered in Fang’s ear.
“Have you ever heard of Eh-din? Or You-knee-verse City?”
“Don’t ask me.”
“Yeah...”
Fang put a finger to her forehead as though she were thinking. Then her face cleared.
“If You-knee-verse is the name of their city... then maybe Eh-din is the name of the mountain or valley it’s in?”
Vanille slapped her knee, of course. That must be it.
“Excuse me? Is... something wrong?”
Whispering among themselves, they had completely forgotten about the two men. Fortunately it didn’t seem they could hear what they were talking about, but it had been very rude of them.
“Sorry, it’s nothing. So what is this.... You-knee-verse City place like?”
“University?”
Vanille didn’t know why he had repeated it back to her, but she nodded. The two men started talking excitedly about “You-knee-verse City”. It was obvious they were proud of their city, and loved it very much. Vanille wondered if it was an easy place to live, or if just these two in particular had a lot of hometown pride. Perhaps it was both. In any case, it meant they wouldn’t have to talk anymore about themselves. Even though she could barely understand any of what they were saying, she listened and nodded along, smiling.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.” The waitress said, interrupting them in the middle of their story. She laid out their dishes along the table.
“What? Why is the food already here?” Vanille said, surprised. She had thought it would take much longer for the food to arrive. That’s why she had tried so hard to get them to talk about themselves.
“What do you mean ‘why’?” He looked at her strangely. Apparently she shouldn’t have been so surprised.
“It’s... it’s nothing. Oh look at this! Everything looks so delicious, and I’m so hungry right now.” Then they made another mistake. Joining their fingers together to say grace was a normal thing for her and Fang, but the two sitting across from them did nothing but stare.
“What’s that? Some sort of spell?”
“Huh? Ah, y-yes of course!”
“You girls are so funny.”
“D-do you think so?”
Well, so long as the only thought of them as funny they would be safe. As long as they don’t start to think we’re odd, Vanille told herself. She took a bite of the food.
It didn’t have a very strong flavor, but it wasn’t bad. It was a proper meal this time, not like what they had eaten on the previous day. It was food that someone had made them, and for that they would be thankful. Even if it wasn’t to their own taste.
“Is this the salt? It better not be sugar.” Fang said.
“Oh! Good thinking, we can just put salt on it. Pass me...”
"What are you doing? You can't put that much on!"
Another mistake. How many times has it been? She felt like crying. Fang, being Fang, didn’t seem to care much.
“Really? I always eat it like this.” Fang dumped salt onto her meal, and popped it into her mouth. The other two stared in shocked silence.
“Um, well... she just... really likes salty things!”
It was completely true. Fang did love salty food. But apparently “salty food” in Cocoon didn’t go to quite this extent.
“Oh yeah. So what’s that?” Ignoring their reactions to her food preference, Fang pointed out the window. You could see the top of the temple from here.
“Huh? Oh, you mean the Pulse Vestige?”
He seemed relieved to have found a change of subject. Neither of them looked at Fang’s plate again. They probably were trying not to think about the salt.
“Yeah, how long as this... 'vestige', been there?”
They gave her an odd look. Maybe this was something that even children on Cocoon knew about. The hole they were digging for themselves kept growing deeper. Vanille tried to make excuses for their obvious lack of knowledge.
“Well... you guys just look so smart. Yeah, I bet you’re really really smart.” While that compliment was as see-through as a summer’s day, it was worth a shot. Even if it didn’t make them happy, no one got mad about compliments. “I just thought, you know, you guys might know more about things then we do. Like... in more detail?”
The suspicious look fell from their faces, and they grew more cheerful.
“Well, according to one theory it has been there since six hundred and sixty-six years ago. Though some sources say since six hundred, and others six hundred and fifty years ago.”
Vanille’s eyes opened wide. They had thought that perhaps it had been a couple hundred years, but to hear the actual date was shocking.
“But the textbooks have it written as, ‘Several hundred years ago, after the War of Revelations, the fal’Cie brought it up from Pulse.’ Of course, the theory that it was six hundred and sixty-six years ago is quite popular, but there is no actual proof. There will always be different opinions.”
Several hundred years ago, six hundred and sixty six years ago... those words kept echoing in her mind. None of the rest of what they said registered.
“So that... vestige or whatever. What about now? Did it cause problems for the guys on Pulse when it was taken?”
The two men glanced at each other. Vanille worried that they had said something wrong again. But no, this time they laughed.
“Cause problems for them? Are you joking? It’s not like there are any people on Pulse.”
“There... aren’t?” Even Fang was struck dumb.
“Pulse is hell, no one can live there. Everyone knows that. Did you girls not pay attention in history class?” He was just making fun of them, but words were caught in her throat. She knew she had to say something so they wouldn’t become suspicious of them again, but she only managed a weak laugh.
“Well, they say that there are barbarians down there that are no better than animals, but...”
“Barbarians...”
“Yeah. They can hardly speak, and wear animal skins. During the War of Revelations the fal’Cie tried to put them to work, but they say that they weren’t much good for anything.”
A bloody red haze clouded Vanille’s vision. Those “useless barbarians” were her people.
“Since those are the only things living down there, it hardly matters what we take does it? Since we’re putting it to good use up here, they should be thanking us.”
She had heard of a town that lived in poverty after their farmland had been ripped from the ground before it could be harvested. They railroad was stopped, they couldn’t get any fuel or food, and they all froze to death. Thankful? He says they should be thankful?
They know nothing, Vanille thought. They don’t have to get their own hands dirty, they don’t even realize what horrible things they’re doing, they just live off what their fal’Cie took from us.
Beneath the table her fists shook. She could only think of breaking the plate that sat in front of her. It wasn’t self-control that was on her mind. But waiting. Fang would take the lead, she would know what to do.
“I need to see you outside for a minute.” Fang stopped eating and stood up.
“What? But we’re in the middle of eating...”
“It doesn’t matter. Come with me. Now.” Fang’s voice was quiet. A small smile hung about her lips. It wasn’t a real smile, but they were easily fooled. Vanille saw beneath that smile, but said nothing.
Intelligence must not have been one of their better qualities. When Fang called them out in the middle of a meal, they should have know what was coming. They should have known that there was to be a fight. It was a breaking of truce, a declaration of war. Or maybe this was something that the people of Cocoon just did not understand.
Even so, they came along quietly, so they couldn’t have been very bright. Even when it became obvious they were being taken to a place that was away from prying eyes, they didn’t seem wary or even question it.
It only took two or three of Fang’s punches to knock them out. Pathetic, just as weak as the bird and the fish from yesterday.
“So sorry for being a Barbarian. That’s the last thing I need bastards like you to tell me. You’re even worse than the worms crawling through the dirt.”
Of course, they couldn’t hear a word she was saying. They were probably happier not knowing. Fang kicked them for awhile, but then seemed to think of something and knelt down.
“What’s wrong?”
“Their stuff...” Fang muttered, and began rifling through their clothing.
“Oh!”
They might be able to find out something. Weapons could be taken, and used for their benefit. Vanille decided to help, and leaned over the second man.
“It’s strange...”
“What is?”
“He doesn’t have any money on him. What about that one?”
“Let’s see... no, nothing.” In fact, he didn’t have much of anything. They hadn’t been carrying any bags with them either.
“Then how did they pay at the restaurant?”
When they had left the restaurant, one of them had gone over to the cashier to pay. If he wasn’t carrying any money, how could he have paid? Vanille turned him over and searched his pants pocket.
“What’s this?” Vanille said, pulling out a thin board about the size of her hand. It looked like it was made of metal. It was colored light grey, but had a black circle near the center.
“Fang, look at this. Is it a... card of some kind?”
“This guy has one too.”
I wonder what they use it for? Vanille thought, and pressed the black circle. The grey part lit up.
“Ahhhhhh, no! What’s it doing?” Surprised, Vanille threw the card away from her. She knelt on the ground, watching it, and saw the color leech away until the card became clear enough to see through. She wondered what sort of device it could be. How could such a thin device pull off such a trick? There was no where to hide the wires or innards.
Vanille continued staring as a three-dimensional image began to form above the card. It was a person’s face.
“This is...”
“To identify the owner of the card.”
Vanille picked it up, and tried pressing the black circle again. But there was no change in the image. She pressed it in various other places, but nothing happened.
“I think only the owner can use it. It probably won’t do anything else.”
Fang nodded, and looked over the other card, checking to see if there was anything else they could do with the card. Suddenly she looked up, surprised.
The sound of flapping could be heard close-by. Jumping up, they hid in the shadows of the wall. A white bird, much bigger and dangerous looking than the water bird they had seen yesterday, swooped down. Though it was a bird, it’s eyes were positioned on the front of it’s face, rather than on the side. It almost looked human.
As suddenly as it arrived, it flew off. In the shadow of it’s wings they could see the sharp claws of a bird of prey. It didn’t seem inclined to attack, circling once above their heads before vanishing into the sky.
“Did that bird see what we were doing? It looked so odd...”
“Of course not, there is no way it could have...”
“Yes, you’re right...”
Vanille thought she was just jumpy from being so deep in enemy territory.
“Oh yeah, forgot about this.”
Fang was still holding onto the card. She pressed the black circle, and it lit up even brighter than it had before. There was a short electrical crackle, before the light went off and grew quiet.
“Did you break it!?”
“Probably.” Fang clicked her tongue, and pressed even the black circle even harder. It lit up again and the color drained and grew clear.
“Oh good! I guess it’s not broken after all.” Vanille said in relief. She leaned over to get a closer look. Though the other card had shown the face of it’s owner, this one showed nothing at all. No, writing on the card, but the place where the face should have been was blank. It looked as though the owner had been erased.
“Oh, maybe it is broken?”
“Maybe.” Fang poked at the black part again. The screen changed and words formed. But unfortunately the words were written in the writing of Cocoon, which neither of them could read.
“Do you think that we’d be able to use it now?”
They had written over the original owner’s information, but there was no telling what would happen if they used it themselves. They had been lucky to get this far.
“Probably. But what will we do with it?”
“I don’t know...” Vanille lifted her hands in defeat. If they didn’t know how it worked, they wouldn’t be able to use it.
“Well, we should take them.”
“We might as well.” We’re becoming thieves, Vanille thought. There was a sound. Voices! And coming closer fast. Without a sound they stood up, and ran.
“They really are our enemies...” Vanille whispered.
“Did you say something?”
“No, nothing.” Her heart felt heavy, but she forced a smile. Right now she had to concentrate on running. But there were so many things Vanille wished she could forget...

Once they returned to the temple, not all was as they had left it. There were signs that someone had used the elevator. An intruder.
“Someone from Cocoon is here.” Fang whispered, and readied her spear. They listened, but all was quiet. Vanille looked up to the vaulted ceiling.
This temple was originally meant to test those who would become l’Cie. In the deepest part of the temple they would face fal’Cie Anima to be both tried... and selected. Those who harbored wicked thoughts, or those unfit to become l’Cie, would be unable to open the holy gates. It was told in the teachings of the priests.
“Watch yourself.”
“I know.” They looked at each other and nodded, continuing down the path. Walking up the stairs, they tried to not let their footsteps be heard, and listened for any sounds of the intruder. Soon they reached the first door. If it was someone from Cocoon, they would not be able to open it, and would still be there, walking aimlessly in front of it.
“Well, they say that there are barbarians down there that are no better than animals, but...”
That is what the people of Cocoon thought of them. People who thought that would never be able to open the door. They weren’t even fit set foot inside this temple.
But there was no one in front of the door. The intruder must have opened the door and continued on.
“But this isn’t...” Vanille was at a loss for words. There were signs that someone had passed by here, but there was no time to stop and think The intruder could be nearing the center, they had to hurry.
The sound of their footsteps no longer concerned them. They rushed up the stairs, and then onto the elevator. But there was no one at the next door, nor the next. That should have been proof that the intruder wasn’t evil, but how could that be? The only way this could have happened would be if the people of Cocoon found a way to trick to holy gates.
“This can’t be happening...”
They had reached the deepest part of the temple. In the room beyond was the fal’Cie. Even they had only been there once. It wasn’t a place you could enter lightly.
The door swung open, and they found the intruder lying on the ground. Unconscious. It was a girl.
“She must have gotten lost.” Fang lowered her spear. The girl looked like she was the same age as Vanille, and held no weapons. “She’s all alone.” Fang looked at her with cold eyes. Vanille could tell what she was thinking. She was wondering whether or not she should be killed, so that she wouldn’t be able to speak of coming here to anyone. If they let her live, she would most likely bring people back here. Vanille looked over the fallen girl, and that’s when...
“Wait!” She knelt at the girl’s side, and grabbed her arm. “Look! This mark on her arm...”
It was the exact same mark as their own.
“She’s been made into a... l’Cie.”
She had the mark of a l’Cie chosen by fal’Cie Anima, one who would be given a Focus.
“Why....” Fang’s voice was shaking. “Why did you choose someone from Cocoon?” Her spear echoed through the chamber as it fell to the floor. “Why would the fal’Cie do this?”
There was no answer. The fal’Cie weren’t beings that could be questioned by humans.
“How could she be a l’Cie of Gran Pulse? Are you trying to say we’re the same as them?”
“But it’s someone from Cocoon. They can’t just be given a Focus...”
A Focus. When Vanille said the word, Fang touched her own arm. Below her hand Vanille could see her white, burnt-out l’Cie mark that no longer retained it’s original shape. Fang had lost her memory, she could no longer remember her own Focus. Oh, Vanille thought, so that’s why. She knew why the fal’Cie had chosen a new l’Cie.
“Well... let’s at least get her out of here.” Fang picked up the girl. She didn’t meet Vanille’s eyes, but Vanille knew that they had shared the same thoughts.
Fang left through the door. Picking up the spear from the floor, Vanille followed. She glanced back at fal’Cie Anima, but it remained silent.

Outside the temple, they laid the girl on the ground. But she still didn’t wake up.
“She’s our replacement...”
Of course Fang knew, had known since seeing the girl’s mark. Fang kept her head turned away, but Vanille could see that her face was sad.
“We’re pathetic l’Cie aren’t we? We can’t even remember our Focus. So the fal’Cie chose someone else.”
That’s not the only reason, Vanille whispered deep within her heart. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault because I... ran. The fal’Cie saw straight through me. Now it’s all my fault that this girl has been involved in our problems.
The girl’s eyelids fluttered. She was about to wake up. They couldn’t let her see them, so they hid in the shadows of the temple to watch her.
The girl sat up. She must have been dizzy, because she put her head between her knees and sat still for a moment. The mark on her arm had yet to catch her notice. Finally, she used the wall of the temple to drag herself on her feet. Then her eyes stopped, and stared at her arm. She had noticed the mark. The girl rubbed at it, as if doing so would make it disappear.
“Doesn’t she know about l’Cie? No... there are fal’Cie in Cocoon.”
“Maybe she just doesn’t know what it is because the shape is different?”
But then, what should they do? If she didn’t even realize she had to find her Focus, then she would turn into a Cie’th. But, unless they told her who they truly were, they would be unable to explain anything to her.
“Looks like she knows...”
She suddenly fell apart. They could hear her screaming that it was just something someone had scribbled on her arm. Even from there Vanille and Fang could see her mark evolve. The girl’s fear had effected it.
Now she must know. That she was chosen as a fal’Cie of Gran Pulse... no, of the “hell where barbarians live”.
The girl was crying. Even from far away they could see her thin shoulders trembling. Finally, pushed herself off from the wall, and walked on her trembling legs. She looked so small and sad.
This was something they would never be able to take back. The girl had nothing to do with anything, but she got caught up in their problems solely by the fact of her being there.
“Don’t make that face.”
“But...”
Once you were a l’Cie there was no going back. Her fate had been changed forever. And it was all their fault.
“The only thing we can do is find our Focus, and complete it. Finish it for good. Then we can go back to Gran Pulse.”
If the girl was meant to be their replacement, then their Focus would have to be the same. If they completed it, then she wouldn’t have to become a Cie’th. That must have been what Fang was thinking. But even if they completed their Focus, the girl was from Cocoon... Vanille stopped. The truth was too cruel.
“Fang, let’s forget about our Focus.”
Fang’s mark was dead. Even if she didn’t complete her Focus, she might not become a Cie’th. If that was true, then they didn’t need to think about their Focus anymore.
“We won’t.” She tapped Vanille on the leg. “Your mark is still alive. If we don’t complete our Focus, you’ll become a Cie’th.”
“It’s alright, I don’t...”
“You’re the one who said we’d always be together, forever!” Fang cupped Vanille’s face in her hands.
“We’ll always be together...”
“Yes.”
“And we will go home together...”
“That’s what we promised, remember?”
Vanille placed her hands against Fang’s, and nodded.
“No, you’re right... I...”
They had promised so long ago. They would be alright as long as they were together. They would never be parted. It was a promise she never wished to break.

Episode Zero: Stranger Chapter Two

2010-01-31T05:27:00.000-08:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

They needed time. Time to understand where they where were, and what sort of situation that had been thrust into. Just after she awoke, Fang was somewhere between dreams and reality. Vanille herself could felt a little hazy, and wasn’t good for much of anything. But eventually they managed to shake off the fog that clung to them.
Looking around them, they saw they were in the temple. It was the Chamber of the l’Cie, where crystalized l’Cie are enshrined. It was then they realized what had happened. They had completed their Focus, and gone to their final rest. But now a new Focus had come down to them, and they had been woken up once more. It was easy to figure out that much. But...
“Hey, just what happened before we turned into crystal?” Fang said.
“You don’t remember!?”
“Yeah... my head’s all messed up. I feel like I’m forgetting something important.” Fang’s voice was shaking. She was looking at the l’Cie mark on her arm, it was scorched a livid white. It was only later that Vanille realized Fang had been trying to smile.
“I’m... broken.” Fang was nearly in tears. This was a Fang that Vanille had never seen before. Vanille reached out her arms, enfolding her into them. “Me too.” she whispered, but her voice was like a stranger’s. When her shaking finally subsided, they stood, and Vanille smiled.
“Why don’t we go home?”
One Focus had already been completed, surely they would be welcomed back with open arms? Their new Focus could be completed later... even if they didn’t know what that Focus was.
“And if everyone we knew back home are already old fogeys?” Fang said, and smiled. It was a true smile, this time.
“Do you think so? But maybe not that much time has passed, and they’ll all say ‘Oh, are you two back already?’”
“I wonder how many years have passed.”
“It could only be days you know.”
“Then they’d be working us too hard. I mean, at least give us a half a years rest.” Joking together, they made their way outside, expecting to see their home once more.
“This can’t be!”
It was night. But it was so bright they could see the buildings that made up the city surrounding them. There were lights in every nook and cranny, and an ocean reflecting it all back to them. It was a strange ocean, with no horizon. Looking up, they saw an even stranger sky. At first they thought it was a sky with many stars, but then they realized it was not stars at all, but the lights of a far away city. Could something like this truly be called a sky?
“Where...”
“We’re not in Gran Pulse.” Fang said.
Vanille closed her eyes for a moment. I’ll just look, one more time, she thought. Maybe it will be different. When she opened them again, nothing had changed.
They looked at the ocean and sky, but didn’t speak. There was nothing to say. In silence they returned to the temple. They were hungry. Cocoon--and they knew it was Cocoon--was no place for them to be wandering around, hungry and unarmed. In the place where the l’Cie were enshrined offerings were always brought. There was food that would not rot no matter how long it was left unattended, as well as weapons and accouterments that the l’Cie left here had used. Vanille had heard that offerings were made daily so that the crystalized l’Cie could sleep soundly, but it was probably done in case they awoke once more.
“What the hell is this?”
The food that had been left in offering had deteriorated so badly that it was nothing anyone would be able to eat. They searched the rest of the temple for signs of anything edible, but it was a wasted effort. Food offerings had only been left in the Chamber of the l’Cie.
“Is someone playing tricks on us?”
“Surely not... but it is strange.”
The offerings should have lasted at least ten years. Both Fang and Vanille knew that quite well. It was tradition to bring new food stuffs to the temple every ten years. There would be a festival, and everyone would partake of the food. It was so they could share their joy of the festival with the sleeping l’Cie.
The food wasn’t something a child would find delicious, but it wasn’t inedible. The food they had before them both looked and smelled terrible, never mind the taste. It looked dangerous to eat.
“It’s not just the food, look at that.” Vanille said. There were festival garments, and a box to hold them in. Both had a faded, worn look about them.
“This too...” Fang held up her favorite spear and twisted it’s head. Vanille didn’t know what was wrong with it, but perhaps some part of it had decayed.
“It looks as thought everything had been exposed to the wind outside.”
The air inside the temple was still. This shouldn’t have happened. Not just to the food, but the metal and cloth shouldn’t have decayed so easily.
“So the only things in this room that didn’t change were us, as crystals.” Fang said. Just how many years had they slept. From the looks of things, it wasn’t only in tens of years, but perhaps hundreds of years.
“Forget everyone being old. By now everyone will be dead.”
“No...” Vanille looked down, biting her lip, trying to get herself under control.
“Don’t make that face.” Fang said, slapping her on the back, and stood up. “First, we’ve got to eat.”
“But we can’t eat this...” Vanille looked down at the offerings. The rotten food, the faded festival garments. She had loved wearing these for the festival...
“There was an ocean, right? There was even a forest. It was a little far, but... We’ll find food. It’ll work out.” Fang grabbed her spear and smiled. How strange, Vanille thought. When Fang says “It’ll work out.” I really think it will.
“You’re right.” Vanille took her own weapon, and stood up.

It was already dawn, the perfect time for hunting in enemy territory. Unlike midday, there wouldn’t be many people about, but it was still light enough to see. First they tried the ocean. In the forest they ran the chance of getting lost, and in any case, it was closer to the temple. They might not find anything in time for breakfast, but they would be able to have lunch at least, or so they thought...
“Looks like we’ll be having breakfast after all!” Vanille looked down in amazement at the fish wriggling in her arms. It wasn’t unusual that Fang would be able to catch fish with a flash of her spear, but it was very strange that Vanille would have no trouble.
“Are these fish wrong in the head?”
It didn’t seem as though these fish had no predators, so didn’t realize there was any danger. When Fang or Vanille would move towards them, they would try to escape. But they moved far too slowly.
“Are these even okay to eat?”
Game that is too easily caught could be poisonous, or have a bad taste, and be unfit to eat. They both started thinking that perhaps these fish wouldn’t be any use to them at all.
“My, you young ladies are quite good at that aren’t you?” A voice called them from the beach. They stiffened, instantly regretting their lack of vigilance, and turned around. But what they found was an elderly couple, smiling and clapping.
“How funny, to see people catching fish in Bodhum this way.”
“.... never take the bait. But I see now, it’s better to use a harpoon rather than a fishing pole.”
Vanille didn’t catch what the name of the fish was, but it seemed it was a common one in Cocoon.
“Oh sorry, we’re probably bothering you.”
“Didn’t mean to be rude and all.” They looked sad for a moment, but their smile returned quickly and the took each others hand, moving off down the beach.
“What... was that.” Fang had waited until the couple had moved out of sight before speaking.
“They were from Cocoon... right?” They had thought if they were found they would be attacked immediately, no questions asked. This was, after all, “The Devil’s Nest in the Sky”. The clothing they wore was much different from anything seen on Gran Pulse. If that was the dress of Cocoon, then they should have been spotted as enemies in an instant.
“But they didn’t seem to be on guard.”
“So you think maybe they’re as stupid as the fish? Well, they were old you know. They get that way.”
“You’re probably right...” Vanille said. But she thought of another possibility.
“Maybe they’re trying to catch us off guard.”
“You mean they were just buying time until they could bring their friends? Oh yeah, I can see that happening.”
“Then it might be dangerous to go back right away.”
“Yeah, we should look around first.”
They got out of the ocean and walked back in the direction of the temple. It was better to gather information rather than try to conceal themselves. If they met face to face with the enemy a second time, they would just have to figure out what to do then. It wasn’t as though they were unarmed. They had enough training that they would be able to put up a fight even if they were attacked from behind.
In the end all their training was useless. It wasn’t that they weren’t able to fight back, but the enemy never attacked. They had seen them, had watched them from far away. But they were unarmed, and stood unguarded, so there was no reason to attack from their end. They didn’t want to give the enemy any incentive to attack, so they only kept watch. They had expected to be attacked at any moment, and kept their guard up. They were prepared.
“What the hell is wrong with these guys?” Fang whispered, watching the people who had their unguarded backs facing them. Vanille was in agreement. These people were strangely unwary.
“Maybe they don’t know that we’re the enemy?”
“Even though we’re armed? You must be joking.”
But maybe that’s why they haven’t realized we’re the enemy, Vanille thought. If not, that first elderly couple we met, and that group of boys who just passed by us, would have never ignored us like this.
A sudden flapping of bird’s wings interrupted her thoughts. Fang drew her spear from her back and held it at the ready. Winged creatures gave you no chances, your only options are fight or flight. The sound it made was not that of a large creature, so fighting was the best course of action. Vanille readied her weapon and jumped in beside her.
“Huh?”
They both froze in mid-swing.
“How...?”
The white bird had been taken out with a single stroke. The bird was far larger than any of the fish they had caught.
“How could a monster bird be this weak?”
A bird this size should be a meat eater, and strong. It wasn’t the kind of creature that should have been brought down so easily.
“Do you think maybe it eats nuts and fruits? I mean, it’s beak and claws aren’t even sharp.” After checking it over to make sure it was dead, Vanille grabbed it by the legs.
“But how could it have been this stupid? If this was Gran Pulse it would have been dead in an instant.”
“Yeah, if something like this was down there, it would have been on the dinner table within a day.”
“As much fish and meat as you can eat? Nice place.”
The vegetables were in abundance as well. Further along the path there was a field, but no fences or wires were set up to keep out the birds and beasts. It was if they were telling them they could take as much as they liked.
And so their first meal on enemy territory was more luxurious than they would have ever dreamed. While it was unfortunately they were unable to find any cookware or spices, that was just asking for too much.
Since they couldn’t start a fire in the temple, they cooked their fish and meat outside. For kindling they used a priest’s ceremonial garb and staff.
“The priests would die if they could see this.”
“Do you think we might get in trouble?”
“This is an emergency, it’s alright.”
“Yeah I suppose. Right now our survival is more important. Mmm, this looks good.” They both bite into the freshly cooked meat.
“Ugh!”
“What the hell is this?”
They stared at the meat they had just bit into. It wasn’t inedible, it didn’t even really taste bad. In fact, it hardly had any taste at all. The meat was watery, and stringy. They could hardly believe it, so just to make sure they tried the fish and vegetables. But the taste was the same.
“This taste bad even for wild creatures...”
Different fish taste differently, so it was possible they had just chosen a bad kind. And wild game usually doesn’t taste nearly as good as domestically bred animals. And yet...
“But we found the vegetables in a field, right?”
Vanille nodded. She had thought the soil looked bad, what with it being unguarded and all. But it had been well watered and weeded. There was no question about it being a tended field.
“How could these Cocoon guys eat this crap?” Fang grumbled, but continued to eat the meat anyway. Vanille followed her example, and bit into a vegetable. At least it seemed it was okay to eat.
When they were finished eating they buried the remains of their fire, and returned inside the temple. This place just grew stranger and stranger. Slow moving fish, idiot birds, and people who could clearly see they are different but are not suspicious of them. Somehow it was hard to accept, even given the excuse that this was a different world.
“Hey, want to go see the city tomorrow?”
“Already?”
“We won’t get anything done by just sitting here.”
It was true, they needed to find out more information. How long they had been in Cocoon, why the temple had been brought here... there were so many questions.
“We’ll have to cross that bridge eventually anyway.”
“Why!?”
“Our Focus...” Fang said, holding onto the arm with her scorched white mark. “I might be able to remember something if we go straight into enemy territory.”
What would Fang do once she remembered? No, there was only one thing she would do. Fight.
“We don’t have to hurry. I mean we only just woke up, right?”
“It’s already the second day. Tomorrow will be the third.”
“Well, yeah...”
“Are you scared?” Fang’s eyes grew soft, and she patted Vanille on the back to soothe her. “Come on, you saw those guys today. The two of us are stronger than all of them together.”
No, I can’t tell Fang yet, Vanille thought. Not yet.
“I’m not worried. I have you with me.” The things I want to drive from my thoughts, can I make them no longer be real? Can I make them have never happened? Vanille was suddenly struck with an idea. It grew brighter in her mind, and her heart felt light as air.
“Okay, let’s go. It’ll be alright, I’m sure of it.” Vanille smiled brightly. All she had to think about was tomorrow. It had to go well tomorrow, nothing else matter.

Episode Zero: Stranger Chapter One

2010-01-30T17:41:00.000-08:00

[Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for the game.]

Vanille had slept lightly. She had dreamt many dreams, and cried many times. But her memory of them was hazy, and she couldn’t remember a single one. It was that sort of sleep. “Vanille”, she heard, or thought she heard, and opened her eyes.
“Fang?”
Did she just imagine she heard her name? Or had that just been a dream too? Fang, who had been sleeping beside her, was no where to be found.
“Fang... where are you?” Vanille stood up and looked around. She felt a crushing helplessness. Everyday it grew worse.
Vanille went out into the passageway and called Fang’s name. There was no need to raise her voice, the hall was wide and even the smallest sound echoed loudly. Sure enough, this time, she heard Fang’s voice coming from below. Vanille ran down the stairs and hopped onto the elevator. She knew where Fang was, now, and could go straight to her.
She felt wind on her cheek. Cool dawn air blew from the entrance, and she could see that outside it was still dark.
“What’s up?” Fang spoke before she could say a word.
“Nothing.” Vanille said. She wished she could ask Fang the same, ask her what she was doing. But she didn’t. Instead Vanille just stood quietly beside her. From here you could see the ocean, and the sky. But no horizon.
“What a strange sky.” Fang said, looking up. It was still dark. She had done the same on the day they had woken up. They had gone outside, and Fang had looked up at the sky.
“When I look at it I can’t breathe. I mean what is that? Why can I see a city above my head?”
Cocoon was a world in the shape of a ball. Inside the ball there were cities, there were oceans, there were forests... and the space trapped between them was the “sky”. It was very different sky from the one they had known.
“It’s not just the sky, even the ocean is weird. It didn’t smell of salt at all.”
“It did, when you got close enough.”
“Even that’s weird. Here I thought I could drink it, but then... salt water. It tricked me.”
“We did think it was a lake, at first.”
“Every little thing is weird here. I don’t get any of it.” Fang sighed.
“It’s like a dream. One that you can’t understand.”
“Yeah... I’m amazed these guys can live in a place like this.”
“I wish it was a dream...” Yes, if only it had been a dream. Yesterday, and the day before that, and the first day they had woken up. If it had only been a dream, Vanille thought. “I wish we had woken up just today...” If only reality had only started from this moment. It was probably stupid to think that, it was probably just her being naive. But maybe, just maybe if that had happened, things might have turned out differently.
“It would be the same either way. We’d complete our Focus and return to Gran Pulse. What else is there for us?”
“Yes... you’re right.” Vanille smiled and nodded. But she couldn’t help but think that, maybe, just maybe if they hadn’t woken up that things might have been different. That if things had changed even a little bit, there might not have been so much pain.
“Hey, don’t worry. No Focus could ever be completed in only three days.”
Fang must have thought she looked sad because it was the fourth day since they had woken up, and they hadn’t gotten any closer to completing their Focus. When Vanille thought back on the three days since they had awoken, it made her grow dizzy and ill. It was then that she’d really feel that they should have never woken up. If they had kept on sleeping, then nothing would have happened, no one else would have gotten involved.
Vanille raised her hand towards the brightening sky. On the day they had awoken, she had stood beside Fang, looking up at the sky. Beyond her raised hands she could see a city. Such a strange colored sky. It was the color of beginnings.

Episode Zero: Part III Chapter Seven

2009-12-01T04:59:00.000-08:00

I actually had no problems getting away from my watchdogs. I had always gone to that store to buy presents for Dajh. I knew every corner. That’ll teach them to underestimate a civilian. Once I left Palumpolum, I jumped from trains to rental airbikes, never stopping. I couldn’t stop.
The most difficult part should have been trying to get into Bowdam, but it was far easier than I would have thought. PSICOM had orders to let nothing out, not even a rat. But they wouldn’t suspect anyone trying to get in.
I told them my wife and child were in the city, so I wanted to be with them. If they were going to be sent to Pulse, then they could at least be sent as a family. It was so easy, they didn’t even bother checking me. I did pretty well, don’t you think?
Well now it’s time we part ways, me and you. After all, Pulse is said to be hell. Before I get there though, I’ll have to defeat that fal’Cie. That won’t be easy. So, I’m sorry to say, I just can’t take you with me. I don’t think any soldiers will stop me from letting you out of the city. Once you’re outside of Bowdam, you can go wherever you want. We were only together a short while, but you’ve helped me out a lot. You helped out Dajh too, I think. Gave him something to be cheerful about. So, thanks.
Gwaaaah, what the hell!? What are you doing? Owowowow. Quite attacking me with your beak! What’s wrong with you!
Do you... want to come with me? So you don’t think I can handle it on my own? Alright, alright. Fine. Will complete his Focus for him, and we’ll return to him together. Okay?
Oh yeah, we never did find a name for you. Dajh was so into playing with you, he couldn’t even remember to do that. When we get back it will be the first thing we do. What was it, a cool, cute name? Yeah, we’ll give you one of those. A promise, just between us guys. Well... no one can tell what sex chocobos are, but whatever..

All the trains at Bowdam Station were blocked off, except one. The one that was left goes to Hanged Edge, at the farthest end of Cocoon. It was the train that went to Pulse, the only train that went there. The rail was old and rusted.
Everything had changed from what it was like on the news yesterday. No one was going against the soldiers. They had all given up, were in despair. Now they were all heading towards their last train ride.
He couldn’t let them know that he was there for a different reason. That he wasn’t heading towards Pulse, he was heading towards the Pulse fal’Cie. Sazh walked like the rest of them, looking down at his feet. Even so, he felt he had more hope than these others. He had a plan, he was going towards something. Even if he never saw his beloved son again...
“When we get on there, we’ll never get to come back again. You still okay with that?” He said in a quiet voice to the baby chocobo riding on his head. He felt a peck through his hair.
“Ow. Okay, I get you. We're in this together.”
Let’s go then, he whispered, heading towards the entrance of the station. To the start of a new journey, one with no return ticket.