Chapter 4 - fair & foul: Part 2

68 minutes

“On that day, there was a terrorist attack committed by some Pulse l'Cie...”

A familiar voice came through. It was the same voice he heard coming from the outside the night his home had been surrounded.

P144-145

Just as he thought the place looked familiar too, it turned to be the inside of the energy plant in Euride Gorge. He had travelled there several times on work related matters. Hope probably would have been happy if he had taken him along, he thought. But he ended up not being able to make it happen even a single time.

It appeared to be footage from the day of the accident at Euride. The individuals projected next were all his acquaintances save for one. Sazh Katzroy and his son, the young Dajh had just the other day visited Hope. The woman who had a spear in her hands was the one Hope had introduced before as a “companion.”  It seemed that she had turned to crystal and was sleeping now. With the l'Cie who was projected next to her. That was the one individual he was unacquainted with.

Unexpectedly, the image became vivid. The footage up until now had probably been feed from the security cameras within the plant. It was likely that Colonel Rosch had not been at the scene when the accident occurred. The proceeding clear footage of Bodhum had to have been recorded there by the Colonel himself. Here and there was what appeared to be footage forwarded by his subordinates, as there were images of different resolutions sandwiched in between. The Colonel's unemphatic voice played over top of the footage.

“Officially, the purpose of the Purge was announced to be the exile of Bodhum residents. But an inhumane truth lies behind the Purge. The Sanctum had planned to exterminate every last resident of Bodhum..”

He had heard the truth from Hope and knew what had occurred at the Hanging Edge. But those were the words of the person who put the Purge into practice. Even though it was something he already knew, it was like these words carried an entirely different gravity.

“The military that received these orders took the purged residents to the Hanging Edge in the outskirts of Cocoon. It was so they could be disposed at an uninhabited area where they wouldn't be seen by others.”

Footage depicting soldiers mercilessly pointing their guns at residents who were resisting was projected. He saw that militarized beasts and various types of weaponry had been brought out. They weren't placed there to subdue the resisting residents. They were for killing every last one of them. Even though the image was small, you could clearly feel the murderous intent.

Nora and Hope were there.

The person who thought of the expression, “gut wrenching” would probably have used it in this sort of situation. One wonders how worried they were when they were made to wear the restraint garments they called “Purge clothing” and then boarded on trains. How horrific it must have been.

Even so, he was not there. It was because he bypassed going to Bodhum using work as an excuse. After the sealing of Bodhum, he felt nothing but regret as he watched the never-ending news reports. What he should have ditched was his work. If he had forcefully altered his schedule and went to Bodhum, then at least they could have been together until the end, he thought.

He heard the circumstances surrounding the death at Hanging Edge from Snow Villiers. “Moms are tough,” is what she said with a smile as she took up arms. She even saved Snow twice. The second time, she suffered grievous injuries shielding Snow from artillery fire and then fell from a crumbling walkway.

“This is punishment,” he thought. He couldn't not think that when he heard this. If they had travelled to Bodhum as a family of three, then he wouldn't have let his wife do something like take up a gun.

P146-147

The punishment of ignoring his family, came in nothing but the shape of having his family taken away. He tried with all his might to stop his hands from shaking and simply continued to stare at the video. The image cut from the Hanging Edge to Bresha Lake. One after another, soldiers were landing on the crystallized surface of the lake. From a distance it looked like ants swarming a piece of candy.

“At the hands of the search party dispatched to Bresha Lake, Purge survivors had been discovered. But they wielded magic characteristic of l'Cie and annihilated the search party. Even if they were former citizens of Cocoon, those who become Pulse l'Cie would bring harm to Cocoon. That much was just unwittingly verified.”

You're wrong. That wasn't proven at all. Hope and the others only retaliated to protect themselves. The fact he just went and interpreted it as “bringing harm to Cocoon” wasn't something he could stand. Of course, he knew nothing would come of saying that to something that was recorded ages ago, but he still he wanted to refute it.

The crystallized Bresha Lake disappeared, and the image switched to what appeared like Vile Peaks. Perhaps the fenced off area with monsters was a research facility for militarized beasts.

“... It looks like we need to be most concerned about Lightning and Hope Estheim. We're guessing the two of them will go through Gapra Whitewood and continue on to Palumpolum.”

Hope would later tell him of their escape from Bresha Lake to Palumpolum. It looked like he could find closure by talking about it so he just listened quietly. But, seeing this footage, he realized his mistake.

“If there were as many as four l'Cie hiding out in Palumpolum, then it wouldn't be a surprise if the Sanctum decided to carry out another Purge. All of the residents of this city would be disposed of. The military had to make an all-out effort to exterminate the l'Cie so that the tragedy in Bodhum didn't happen again.”

The toneless voice that spoke these facts were simply too unfeeling. Making an all-out effort to exterminate the l'Cie. They were under siege by not only PSICOM, but also the entire Guardian Corps. It wasn't the type of experience you could just use simple words like ‘finding closure' on.

In reality, Hope had always used euphemistic and moderate expressions. That was him showing his utmost concern as a son. He probably thought “If I don't say anything then he'll be worried,” so he did his best to use the most harmless of words to speak of part of the truth. He probably thought he couldn't further burden his father who was already being tormented by his sins. He had only barely turned sixteen, and was still just within the child age range, but his way of thinking was not that of a child's. He couldn't feel more sorry for him.

Thinking back now, he realized he had thought the same thing that night. The Hope who had returned home after those few days no longer had a child's eyes. He felt sorry for him. At the same time, he knew he had no right feeling that way. He was the first one to turn his back on him. He shook off the little hand that clung onto him and didn't even try to confront his usage of work as an excuse.

That's why when he unobtrusively told him “We're gonna rest up, then we'll leave. If they find out you're sheltering l'Cie, they'll...”  he felt highly dismayed. He realized how long he gone on without facing the issue, how far apart their hearts had drifted without him noticing, and he was terrified.

P148-149

There was no need to be reserved. Children shouldn't have to think about protecting their parents at all. Normally, the family and the parents are there to protect the child that comes running home. Yet, why would you say such a thing?

No, he knew where there were “humans” who had the power to protect  l'Cies who were being pursued by the Sanctum. It was probably because he knew this, that he had no choice but to say they would be leaving. But even so. Even if it was futile, he wanted to protect them.

He couldn't properly put any of that to words and could only manage to yell “This is your home!” Even so, Hope understood the meaning behind those words. He had already grown old enough to be able to do that...

Suddenly, the image switched to that of a sinking Palamecia. And then an old style airship could be seen escaping. It was the airship Hope and the others were on. He heard about how they had infiltrated the Palamecia and fought fal'Cie Barthandelus to rescue their captured companions.

Hope and the others were being chased even here. The airship was being attacked by cutting-edge Annihilator units. All of the footage up to that point was the same. They were always being pursued. No matter how much they ran, the PSICOM soldiers were right behind them. There was no doubt they had no time to relax whatsoever.

“Ahh!”

He inadvertently made a sound because it looked as if the airship Hope and the others were on had been shot down. The ship went largely out of control and was falling towards the shield surrounding Eden.

“They're alright. But you know that already, don't you?”

Hope had come home safely. There was no way they were shot down here. But, despite knowing that, this wasn't something you could watch feeling relieved. It was different from watching a movie or television drama you knew the ending to.

“They disappeared?”

“They were carried off. To someplace called an Ark.”

“Ark?”

“Could it be that you didn't hear about it?”

It was news to him.