Chapter Four

All entries taken from the game's datalog.

Nothing but Grief

Their airship damaged during the escape from the army, the l'Cie are forced to make a crash landing in the Vile Peaks.

Accustomed to the rigors of conflict, Lightning immediately sets off to outdistance any pursuit, trailed by Hope.

Exhausted and on the brink of despair, Sazh cannot bring himself to follow. He knows the army will never stop chasing them and even if they do somehow evade capture, they face transformation into Cie'th. How can they complete a Focus they don't understand?

Despite the futility of the situation Sazh cannot leave Vanille behind to fend for herself, and he forces his reluctant legs to carry him onward.

Far ahead of the others, Lightning recalls a conversation with her old superior, Lieutenant Amodar, in which he had warned her not to get involved with anything connected to the lowerworld. She, of course, subsequently chose not to heed his warning, and after confronting the Pulse fal'Cie found herself branded a l'Cie.

Now, anger smolders within her. Anger at her transformation into a l'Cie, anger at being forced to flee like a fugitive, and anger at herself for allowing it all to happen.

I Wanna Be Purged

The Sanctum announces the Pulse fal'Cie and any civilians who may have come into contact with its influence are to be deported to the world below.

Knowing that Serah is being held by the offending creature, Lightning reasons that the only way to reach her sister before they are exiled is to board the train and be Purged herself. After coming to this conclusion, she acts without hesitation. She knows the risks, but there are some things you just have to do...

As Hope listens to Lightning's tale, he begins to realize how different they are. He knows he doesn't have the strength to charge into certain danger, even if he has no other choice. Unable to keep up with the battle-hardened soldier, Hope falls into despair.

Meanwhile, Sazh and Vanille fight their way along a different route. Like Lightning, Sazh had joined the Purge voluntarily, but now he simply acts as fear and despair prompt him, his former resolve seemingly forgotten.

Hope and Despair

As a resident of Palumpolum, Hope should never have been a candidate for the Purge. The radical government policy only concerns the inhabitants of the town of Bodhum.

Unfortunately for Hope and his mother, the Sanctum announces the Purge on the day they are visiting the coastal community — and the Sanctum soldiers rounding up the deportees make no distinction between locals and visitors.

Later, at the Hanging Edge, Hope's mother is killed in the violence which erupts when the true nature of the Purge is revealed.

This indirectly leads to Hope's encounter with the Pulse fal'Cie, and transformation into a cursed l'Cie.

Now, he rails against his cruel fate. He curses the government that started the Purge, the fal'Cie who made him a l'Cie, the army that hunts him like a criminal...

But most of all, he chokes on the hatred he feels for Snow — the man responsible for dragging his mother into that battle that claimed her life.

Sazh wants to help Hope return home to his father. The boy shows little enthusiasm for a family reunion, but Sazh is insistent.

He knows how it feels to be a dad.

Taking in the Trash

The War of Transgression — the conflict between Pulse and Cocoon.

A towering wreck is all that remains of a lowerworld airship shot down during the battle that took place centuries before...

At that time, forces from Pulse attempted to invade Cocoon only to be repelled by the efforts of the Sanctum fal'Cie — though not before the invaders had rent a great wound in the floating world's shell.

Though the Sanctum fal'Cie subsequently repaired the damage using debris from the surface of their routed enemies' planet, the psychological wounds inflicted by the conflict are evident even now in the Cocoon citizen's unreasoning fear of all things Pulse.

And reminders of the lowerworld threat still remain. Mechanical terrors brought in with the debris replace their rusting parts and wander the area, while government troops struggle to contain them.

The Pulse fal'Cie buried in Bodhum may have arrived in the same fashion, sleeping away the years until its eventual discovery.

With lowerworld terrors lurking in every shadow, Sazh creeps forward, doing his best to shield Vanille and Hope...

Fugitives in Futility

Lightning says little of her feelings, but Sazh senses her frustration. Despite braving the dangers of the Purge and the Vestige in an effort to save her sister, Lightning was helpless to prevent Serah's transformation into crystal. Now she is forced to flee as a fugitive — a Pulse l'Cie and hated enemy of Cocoon.

And then there is their Focus. If they don't complete the task they have yet to figure out, they face transformation into mindless Cie'th. Should they fulfill their Focus, eternal crystal slumber is the only reward.

And should they stop too long to ponder their fate, they risk capture and execution at the hands of the relentless Sanctum army.

All roads seem to lead to despair — something Sazh understands only too well. The question is: will Lightning help them find a way out of their hopeless situation?

Unbeknownst to Sazh, the answer has already begun to form in her mind...

Eden or Bust

Lightning makes a decision.

The Pulse fal'Cie transformed her and Serah into l'Cie. The Sanctum fal'Cie, Eden, directs the army hunting her down.

Pulse or Sanctum, 'fal'Cie' means one thing to Lightning: an enemy responsible for ruining their lives. A clear-cut enemy is something she can deal with. Having a target is something she can understand.

The former soldier means to infiltrate the Sanctum capital, and take out the fal'Cie Eden.

She knows her plan is reckless. It could be disastrous for Cocoon, and flies in the face of Serah's last wish. It could even end in battle against Snow, who will do anything to save Cocoon. But it is the only path that will satisfy her rage.

Sazh and Vanille oppose her idea, but Hope embraces the opportunity. This is his chance to grow stronger and finally confront Snow.

Lightning is done running away.

Now she runs forward, her mind set on toppling the Sanctum. But even Lightning cannot foresee how this journey will end...

Thunderous Hooves

Hope makes a choice to fight alongside Lightning, but quickly finds himself exhausted by the pace.

Lightning grows ever more agitated. Their enemy is the Sanctum army. She cannot afford to look after the straggling Hope while she faces such a dangerous foe. Losing all patience, Lightning curses his weakness and tries to leave him behind.

In that moment, her l'Cie brand burns with radiant pain.

As if to strike down obstacles in Lightning's path, the Eidolon Odin appears and attacks the bewildered Hope.

Lightning moves without thinking. She blocks the deadly blade aimed at the boy she meant to abandon moments before.

Lightning defeats Odin, and brings the entity under her command. Why did the Eidolon appear in the first place?

There is no answer to her question, but one thing is certain: she no longer wishes to leave Hope to survive on his own.

Loathing and Fear

Sazh and Vanille decide against joining Lightning in her vendetta against the Sanctum, though doing so leaves them without a road to follow. It seems all they can do is keep running. And then there is Hope to worry about. But he'll surely grow tired of the fighting and make his way home — won't he?

Sazh also harbors another fear: with the entirety of Cocoon in an uproar over the recent Pulse activity, any incident involving l'Cie could spark a full-scale panic. After all, not even Sazh can shake his dread of the lowerworld.

If Cocoon is to know peace, he argues, l'Cie like them all need to die.

Even as the words pass his lips, he immediately regrets giving voice to such sentiments, suddenly aware of his companion's feelings on the matter. But Vanille just smiles bravely, and urges Sazh to keep on moving.

They have to stay ahead of the army if they want to survive.

Cold, Hard Fact

As Lightning and the others make their way through the Vile Peaks, Snow is escorted aboard the airship Lindblum after his capture at Lake Bresha.

His captors are members of the Wide-area Response Brigade, otherwise known as the 'Cavalry'. The Cavalry is not directly involved with the Purge or the tracking down of l'Cie.

Nevertheless, their commander, Brigadier General Raines, calmly explains the reasons behind the Sanctum and PSICOM operations, and their plans to hold a public execution.

If the l'Cie are killed in plain sight of the populace, he asserts, the panic threatening the stability of their society will be defused. Are Raines and the Cavalry also tools of the Sanctum?

And who is the woman who works with them? Isn't she a Pulse l'Cie and enemy of Cocoon?

Full of questions and unsure of his captor's motives, Snow recalls another time when he felt this powerless — a time when one cold fact robbed him of the strength to stand.

It was the moment he learned that his beloved Serah was a Pulse l'Cie.

Separate Paths

If l'Cie were machines, they would seek to complete any Focus without question. But l'Cie are human. And no human willingly desires the slavery imposed by a fal'Cie.

Sazh and Vanille support each other in their desperate flight. What is their Focus? They are scared to even contemplate the answer to that question.

Snow, by contrast, chooses to pursue his objective without hesitation, not because he wants to obey the fal'Cie, but because it is Serah's wish.

He believes without the slightest shred of doubt that his Focus is to protect Cocoon.

Lightning and Hope, meanwhile, choose to fight. They turn their anger against an unjust fate and a world hostile to their very existence.

On their way to Eden at the very heart of Cocoon, Lightning and Hope prepare to enter a military-controlled zone...

continue reading: chapter five →