Learning My Roots (Hope Estheim Love Story)

Chapter 13: Our Path

Disclaimer: Everything besides Bella and her family belong to Square Enix.

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He was so huge. I couldn't believe that he fooled everyone with his disguise. We had to face him in battle. We were able to defeat him. We came to realize that the fal'cie was running the Sanctum. The Primarch appeared in front of us again. "I am Lord Sovereign," he said.

He mentioned Ragnarok. {So he knows our focus?} He told us that one of us had to become Ragnarok and destroy Cocoon. He told us about Orphan and its importance. We had to destroy Orphan, the source to Eden's power. He also told us that Serah's focus was to bring all of us together.

The bird turned into a flying ship and the Primarch disappeared into it. The ground started to shake. We had to get out of here. We started to run. We found a flying ship and abroad it. Sazh was able to get us out but, he said the yoke was jam.

I sat in my seat. "Something is coming," Hope warned us. We were being shot at by Rosch. He wasn't going to let us escape. Sazh didn't have control of the ship. It was flying on its own. We got through a shield of the Palamecia. We were flying until....

"Sazh look out!" I heard. I turned to see that we were going to crash into the building of some sort. We all screamed. I waited for the impact. Somehow, nothing came and we landed safe. "Where are we?" Lighting asked. "It looks like a piece of Pulse," Vanille said.

"Pulse. You mean like the Bodhum Vestige," Sazh said. "Is this the Primarch wanted us to see?" Hope wanted to know. I looked around. "Something is up," I said. Our focus was bothering us a lot. {Were we suppose to destroy Cocoon.} Hope thought that the Primarch wants our focus to come true.

"I don't get it. If he was truly a sovereign, he would be worried about the people's safety. If he wants the focus to come true, than he doesn't care about the lives of human beings," I said. We didn't know why a Cocoon Fal'cie want to destroy Cocoon. It really didn't make any sense at all.

I turned to Snow. He was so quiet. He didn't have the lights in his eyes. I guess it was about Serah. We walked inside deeper. Vanille said that the place looked like an Ark. She explained to us that the Ark was part of the battle preparation for Pulse in case there was an invasion. Living weapons would be stored inside Arks. The Arks were placed all over the world. This was basically a Pulse Armory.

Fang and Vanille said that there was another purpose besides making living weapons. It was force l'cies to train. {Was Dysley trying to train us for the time comes to complete our focus?} "I see an opportunity for us," I said. "Think of it as training for the fight ahead," Hope said. "I agree," I said. We heard something. We turned to see machine soldiers coming towards us.

Hope turned around and pointed at the opposite direction. "Over there. We got to keep moving," Hope said. I followed him. We got to an area and saw Raines. He was the one who had been helping us. It was odd for him to be here of all places.

Snow was about to go towards him in a friendly manner but, Fang stopped him. "Why are you here?" Fang asked him. Lightning ran over to him with her weapon out and ready. "You traitor," she yelled. Raines managed to dodge her attacks.

"I put you on the path. That was my focus," he said. "What?" I said in a bit of shock. {He was a l'cie too?} That would explain why he helped us. He gave us his own explanation of why he helped us. We asked him why destroy Cocoon. He said that they wanted to bring back the maker who created humans and fal'cie

He told us the story about the maker. I was now learning the "dirty little secrets" about Cocoon and everything in between. "Cocoon fal'cie can't destroy Cocoon. They needed tools," Hope said. {They needed us to destroy it for them.} Raines surrounded us with his own magic. He changed into a beast. He looked like a cieth mixed with a l'cie. He was challenging fate.

We had no choice but, to defeat him. He gave his final words and turned into crystal. Then, he disappeared. He was trying to save Cocoon in his own way. We continued onward. We found a door and went through. "Looks like its a dead end," Hope said. Vanille said the whole place was a maze.

"Great. We could be stuck here forever," I said. Fang said that this place was a boot camp for l'cies. I agreed in my mind. All we had been doing was fighting our way through the whole place. Snow said that from now on, he was going to do things that would make Serah proud until he becomes a cieth.

We were not to listen to our focus. In a way, we make our own path. Our own path, to protect Cocoon. He put his first out with Serah's crystal tear inside. Vanille and Hope put their hands over Snow's fist. I walked over and put my hand over Hope's hand. "i think its time to make our own path, our own focus," I told them.

The chocobo chick landed on my hand. It meant Sazh was in as well. Lighting was with us. "Well, count me out," Fang said. We all turned to her. She started to turn against us. She said that she would go on it alone. She said that Cocoon should get what it deserve. In other words, Cocoon should be destroyed.

She didn't want to see us turn to cieth. I saw her mark glow. It was like Lightning. Then something came out of the mark in the sky. It looked like an eidolon. I learned that eidolons were there to help us. We saw it about to shoot at Fang but, we protected her. Lightning persuaded her to fight with us. She agreed with us. We had to fight against it.

After the fight, we notice a crystal path down below. We continued our way on the crystal path to the area below.