Final Fantasy XIII Fanfic - Saviors of Heroes

Chapter 2

Kane rushed forward, and brought his fist up into a soldier's gut. While he was distracted by the pain, punched again, in his face. The soldier regained control, firing a shot at Kane's shoulder. Kane jumped back, some blood visible where he had been shot. "Hey!" Nyla yelled. "You guys are idiots if you think he's the threat!"

PSICOM was a proud organization, so of course, they didn't like being insulted. All four soldiers turned their guns on her. She detached her blades, and made an X in front of her. At first, Laura wasn't sure how that would help. The soldiers all began to fire at her, but none of the bullets made contact.
As Kane charged back in to attack, Laura took a moment to try and figure out what was going on. The only way that would be possible was that she was using...magic. Legend says L'Cie have magic, Laura remembered. Nyla must have realized this, and used it to her advantage.
How? Laura thought, looking at her hands. She had used a Manadrive once, but that was a machine, not actual magic.
"Hey, Laura, a little help here?" Kane called. Laura returned her attention to the battle. Everybody was still attacking Nyla, and missing, as Kane attacked. Genious. But Laura didn't just want to discard her train of thought. If Nyla could figure out how to use magic, so could Laura.
Nyla had used her weapon to activate her magic. Was that required? It was her only lead, so she decided to try and use her whip. As she looked at it, she thought of fire. The whip would sting much more if it was on fire. She was pleased when she saw it glowing red. Trusting that meant it was enchanted, she whipped it at the soldier Kane was attacking.
Laura smiled as the soldier cried out in pain, but instantly felt guilty. Yes, she was a Pulse L'Cie, an enemy of Cocoon, but she shouldn't find joy in others' pain. Deciding to tone it down, she enchanted it with ice instead, and they continued their strategy.
Once there was only one soldier left, Nyla lowered her weapons, and it seemed he lost all interest in her. Had she held their attention through magic? Instead, he started firing at Kane. Nyla continued to use magic to attack, but without her weapon.
Deciding the soldier only needed one person bombarding him with magic, Laura disenchanted her whip. Soon enough, even that soldier crumpled to the ground. "That enough for you?" Nyla asked, turning to Kane. "Magic. L'Cie."
Kane's eyes were wide with horror and awe. "But...that means we're Cocoon's enemies!" he exclaimed. "That can't be true, we're not even from Pulse!"
"So, does out Focus have to do with those people?" Zora asked, walking up. Her, Jay, and Penny had taken cover behind a crystal wave during the fight. "We should find them, maybe figure out if there's a way to undo it."
Laura blinked at Zora. Didn't she know that once somebody was Branded, they were Branded for good? Either they completed their Focus and stayed in crystal slumber for eternity, or they fail their Focus and become Cie'th. They must not teach that in schools anymore. They wouldn't want to scare the children. She didn't blame them, either. She couldn't bring herself to tell the young girl.
The group had a defeated aura. Everybody except Zora and Jay seemed to have already given up hope. Funny, how easily one thing can ruin somebody's life. "Well, let's get going," Jay said, walking away. "If they were at the Hanging Edge, down here is the only place they could be."
Zora followed him without second thought. The adults let them leave. They would follow them in time, but all of them seemed to know they needed to talk. "Everybody's going to want to kill us," Penny said once they were out of earshot. "We can't expect any allies."
"If course not," Kane said bitterly. "We're enemies of Cocoon."
"There hasn't been a L'Cie in centuries," Laura said. "We don't know much about them...much about us."
"There's one thing we can count on," Nyla sighed, looking at the children walk away. "Whatever our Focus is, it isn't beneficial to Cocoon. I don't want to destroy it. I don't want to hurt anybody on it. Does that mean I'm an enemy of myself? Even the soldier, I hesitated in attacking. He had a family somewhere, waiting for him to come home. But he never will."
"It was either them or us," Kane reminded her.
"Yeah," she said quietly. "The problem is, I don't know what would have been better."
"What do you mean?" Laura asked, turning toward her.
"PSICOM protects the citizens of Cocoon. We're meant to harm them. So, who are the good guys?" Nyla said, even quieter.
"PSICOM ordered the Purge," Laura said, looking up at the ruins of the Hanging Edge. "It wasn't a bad idea, exiling people to Pulse to protect the others. But it was all just an extermination. That doesn't sound like something the good guys would do."
"Are you saying PSICOM are bad people?" Kane asked, his face beginning to tint red.
"No, not at all," Laura said quickly. "They're just people following orders."
"So you're blaming Dysley?" Nyla asked. "He's not a bad person. He's a really good Primarch."
"Maybe he had good intentions," Laura said quietly. "I don't know what his angle was, but I'd like to know why I was signed up for death."
"We better catch up with the kids," Penny sighed. "Maybe the people we saw know what's going on."
Laura couldn't imagine why Lightning and her new-found friends would know what was going on, but she followed Penny, knowing more PSICOM guys would show up if they just sat there.
By now, the kids were out of sight, having disappeared around some rubble from the Hanging Edge. The group of adults began to trek around it. Halfway there, they heard fighting. Penny dashed off ahead, soon followed by Kane, then Nyla, then Laura.
Laura arrived to see Jay, Zora, and Penny attacking a couple of Ghouls. "That's a form of Cie'th!" she heard Kane exclaim.
Zora had a bow and arrow, and by the way she was shooting, Laura guessed she knew how to use it. Jay had a gun, which he had obviously gotten from the dead body of a PSICOM soldier a few feet away from him. However, instead of using it, he was using magic. Penny was using a sickle. How many citizens just happen to have weapons? Laura wondered. They were holding their own well enough. Laura watched as they fell a Ghoul, and turned to the other. The Ghoul charged at Zora, bringing down it's claws. The young girl staggered back, claw scratches visible on her cheek. They were gushing out blood. It looked painful, and Laura was surprised she wasn't yelling in pain.Jay threw the Ghoul back with a blast of fire. "Don't worry, honey!" Penny called to her daughter. Her hand was glowing blue, like it would if she were to cast water. But, instead of heading toward the Ghoul, it flew to Zora, soaking into her wound. The blood disappeared, and the wound closed up. This magic isn't as bad as I originally thought, she thought.Penny finished the Ghoul off with a mighty swipe of her sickle, sending it into oblivion. "Why are there Cie'th on Lake Bresha?" Kane asked, incredulous. "Maybe they came from the Vestige," Nyla suggested. "Who knows how many L'Cie the Fal'Cie made before we took it to Cocoon. We locked them in, and they couldn't finish their Focus.""They survived the fall too?" Jay asked. "Do you think there are other survivors?""Something tells me that if there are, it's only those six we saw," Laura said. "Which means it's even more important that we find them to figure out what's going on.""What makes you think they have all the answers?" Penny asked."Well, right now, they're our only lead," Laura mumbled. "Let's hurry up. I doubt they're just standing around chatting. They're most likely trying to find a way out, and we don't want to fall too far behind."With that, they set off. Figuring out which way to go would have been a problem, except there weren't many options. The frozen waves blocked out most directions, leaving a clear-cut path through the lake. It was as if the Fal'Cie had created the path for the L'Cie to help them on their way. They had to dispatch more creatures along the way. Some PSICOM, some Breshan Bass, but mostly Pantherons. Even though nobody knew where they had come from, they were nearly everywhere. There weren't many more Cie'th, just a few Ghouls and Wights, and one Ghast. For the most part, only Laura, Nyla, and Kane fought.Now, Laura looked up at the steep hill. It was too steep to walk, so they had to crawl up. Zora went first, then Laura, Jay, Penny, Nyla, and Kane. When Zora got to the top, she quickly ducked down, saying "Shh."Everybody froze, confused. Then, Laura kept climbing, slowly and quietly. She reached the peak, and looked down to see and equally steep hill on the way down. Obviously, this wasn't what Zora was concerned about. At the base of the hill stood five of the people Laura had seen in her vision. She would have called out to them, but she didn't want to alarm them. They also seemed to be preoccupied by something.Snow was kneeling in front of some ice. With a closer look, Laura noticed somebody was encased in the crystal. Another L'Cie? One who had completed her Focus? She looked familiar, but Laura couldn't quite put a name to her face. Snow knew her, though, as was obvious by his anger. Lightning seemed agitated, too."I see you've found who you're looking for."Laura startled to hear a voice that didn't belong to anyone from the L'Cie. She looked over her shoulder, and froze when she saw Dysley, the Primarch of Cocoon, standing at the base of their side of the hill. "Dysley? Why are you here?" Kane asked, sliding down. "How do you...""Usually, I'd let L'Cie figure out their Focus on their own, but you guys are a special case," he continued. "If you don't figure out your Focus right now, you'll screw it up and fail.""What are you talking about?" Nyla asked. "You're not giving us any information. How and why are you here? How do you know we're L'Cie, and how do you know our Focus?""Oh, yes, how rude of me," he smiled. "You see, Dysley isn't my real name. I am Barthandelus, Fal'Cie in the guise of a human."Nobody spoke, for they were all suddenly questioning their sanity. Taking their silence as acceptance, Dysley - or, rather, Barthandelus - continued. "You see, Anima still had two Focuses to give out when he was destroyed. So, he gave them out. One was given to the group you just saw: Claire Farron, Snow Villiers, Hope Estheim, and Sazh Katzroy. The young girl, Oerba Dia Vanille, already had the Focus, but she's still included. Then, he gave the other Focus to you guys.""Wait, back up, I'm still on the fact that you're a Fal'Cie," Jay said. "Is that really-""Lightning's group has a Focus that is very vital to our plan," he continued, ignoring Jay. "If they fail, then this whole system has to restart. So, to make sure they don't fail, Anima decided to give you guys a Focus to protect them without them knowing. Which means, you can not be seen.""What do you mean, 'our plan'?" Laura asked. "What are you up to, Barthandelus?""That is none of your concern," he waved his hand dismissively. "All you have to know is that to avoid becoming Cie'th, all you have to do is keep that group from dying. Without them knowing you exist.""We're not doing anything until-" Penny began, but didn't finish. Barthandelus had disappeared into thin air. Complete silence followed, as the L'Cie tried to figure out what to do.Laura suddenly scrambled back up the hill, looking over the top again. Lightning, Vanille, Hope, and Sazh were walking away, but Snow stayed. Were they leaving him behind? He was trying to break the crystal that held the woman. Perhaps he had chosen to stay behind. "They're splitting up," she called down. "What are we going to do? Our we gonna turn to Cie'th by trying to stop Barthandelus's plan, or turn to crystal at the cost of aiding him.""I don't know," Nyla said, seemingly still in shock. "He didn't sound like he was up to any good, and our Focus is from a Pulse Fal'Cie. But, Dysley - I mean, Barthandelus - is the Primarch of Cocoon. He wouldn't aid in its harm, would he?""She has a good point," Kane mumbled. They all looked at Laura, as if they expected her to call the shots."Should we go along with it until we're sure?" she suggested. "If their plan is good, we can continue. If their plan is to hurt Cocoon, we can leave.""Sounds good," Jay said. "But, you said they're splitting up. Doesn't that mean we have to, too?"Laura bit her lip. They would have to split up. But how? It wouldn't be smart to do half and half, because what if the group split up again. "Two people can stick with Snow," she decided. "Any volunteers?"Zora and Jay both raised their hands. They were eager to help out. "We can't have both children stay behind," Penny said."Penny, you can stay with Jay," Laura decided."What? What about Zora?" Penny asked. "We're not sure if we'll ever see each other again.""I thought you'd want her to stay safe with us," Laura said. "I chose you two because I noticed your fighting styles complement each other. You'd be a good team.""I guess you have a point," Penny mumbled quietly. She beckoned Zora over, and as she said bye, Laura turned to the others. "Ready for our new destiny?"