It was sunny the next day. The morning of someone travelling Archylte Steppes was early. They had to get back the distance they lost from not being able to move at night as the sun came out.
When Snow started walking, the cactuar was naturally right by his side. Although, it was an excessively fast-moving cactuar. It went something like this: It would run a little bit ahead, stop, wait for Snow to catch up, and then run a little more ahead.
Even so, it was fun to have a fellow traveller along for the solitary journey. Maybe Sazh talked to the chocobo chick like this, too. Along the lines of that, Snow continued to tell the cactuar about what he started talking about last night.
“Where did we get to? Ah, whatever. I had left on a journey to find my friend. But, suddenly I was at a dead end. For one thing, I didn't have a sliver of a clue at all.”
It was only Serah who knew that Lightning had “suddenly disappeared." Everyone else believed that she had become crystal like Vanille and company. Or that she had lost her life when Cocoon fell.
P102-103
Neither Hope nor Sazh or Dajh, who was there according to Serah, remembered the conversation with Lightning. There was no doubt about that because he went to confirm with them right after departing from New Bodhum.
“Now that you mention it, it is strange. I heard rumors saying magic this and magic that, but I guess all I thought was ‘that's how things are.'”
This is what Sazh said when Snow ran into him for the first time in ages at the departure platform of the Gran Pulse-Cocoon commuter flight route.
“It might just be me worrying too much, but we'd best be cautious. I know. I'll try and gather the word on the streets too. Though it's just the stuff the commuter route passengers bring aboard, so you can't expect it to be too good”
And then Sazh quietly said a “sorry.”
“Looks like I've just left everything to you.”
“What're ya talkin' about old man? You have your own work don't you?”
Snow turned to Dajh who was playing with the baby chocobo and said “Right?” with a grin.
The reopening of daycare facilities had largely been pushed back so Sazh had been allowed to take his child to work. Reconstruction efforts had been continuing for nearly two years, but they were still very much short of pilots. The increasing of commuter flights had been a number one priority, so all sorts of accommodations had been devised.
Although, Sazh probably insisted persistently that he'd be allowed to take his child to work even if daycare facilities had been re-opened. Sazh's desires to get back the time they lost apart, to not be apart even for an instant could be easily inferred from how he glanced at Dajh. You couldn't say for sure that Sazh himself had realized this, but even when he was talking to Snow, he constantly had Dajh in the corner of his eye. It looked like a mother bird trying to protect its baby from any type of harm.
“Yep. If daddy doesn't fly his airship then everyone will be trouble.”
Dajh stuck out his chest proudly. He has a nice smile. Dajh's smile and the adorable chocobo chick had become famous among the commuter line passengers. People were starved for things that healed sad hearts and brought them warmth. That's why pilot Katzroy and “copilot Junior's” airship had been so popular that it was booked to capacity.
“Right? It's a job that's important for everybody. Gotta give it your best too, copilot Dajh!”
Dajh beamed, perhaps delighted to be addressed as copilot. After he pat his head, Snow said his goodbyes to to the two and boarded a flight for Palumpolum...
・・・
The next day, judging by the sky, it looked like it would rain any minute. The fact the grey clouds were covering the skies so widely, made it all the more gloomy. Nevertheless, the cactuar still moved about energetically.
“I thought you'd be a little more miserable without the sun. I guess just because you're green, doesn't mean you're a plant.”
P104-105
He tried to give it some of his food a few times, but the cactuar didn't seem to want to eat anything. Therefore it wasn't a carnivore or a herbivore. So he thought maybe it photosynthesized like a plant, but that didn't seem to be the case either.
“So basically you're a monster, huh. What? Don't state the obvious, you say?”
It wasn't as if it had facial expressions or anything, but somehow Snow had gotten to know what the cactuar was trying to say without it saying it. No, it could just be something he assumed himself.
“Now, continuing on with the story. I didn't meet up with Hope until after we went our separate ways on Gran Pulse. But I met with old man Sazh every now and then.”
When they had just moved to New Bodhum, they wouldn't have gotten off their feet if not for the help of the cavalry. For example, the shelter house had been supplied by the cavalry. It had originally been a makeshift facility developed as a post for fighting against Pulse.
It was fortunate that they were on friendly terms with the former captain Rygdea who was on the list of principal members of the provisional government. As a result, when the need to borrow goods and manpower arose, Snow would go to Cocoon to visit Rygdea.
Only, he was always in a big hurry every time he visited Palumpolum, so he couldn't imagine taking any detours. The most he did was talk to Sazh while he was waiting for tie airship, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find the time to pay Hope a visit.
The Hope he met after two years had completely matured into an adult. The cruel days that began with the Purge made it so Hope couldn't be a child anymore. It seemed that people are beings that can't turn back once they take a step forward. Even after life had become peaceful again, Hope himself couldn't return to being a child.
Even so, Hope's face carried a surprisingly bright expression. Snow's meaningless worries that maybe becoming a l'Cie had weighed down on him, or that he would be worrying about this or that, had ended there.
“Well of course. I couldn't just continue being depressed. There was a mountain of things I had to do.”
“He still worries about the strangest things,” thought Hope as he smiled wryly.
“On top of that, there wasn't a point in hiding the fact I was l'Cie anymore, either.”
The first thing the provisional government did was publicize the truth behind the disturbance that initiated the Purge. It was imperative that they told all residents of Cocoon that the “menace of Pulse” had been nothing but a fabrication of fal'Cie Barthandelus. They couldn't ignore his actions of trying to exterminate the residents of Old Bodhum as “dangerous people tainted by Pulse.”
It wasn't only the people if New Bodhum whose reputations were restored with the publicizing of the truth. The Pulse l'Cies, Oerba Dia Vainlle and Oerba Yun Fang, together with Claire Farron, former Sergeant of the Guardian Corps Bodhum Security Regimen were extolled for their deeds of giving up their lives to protect Cocoon.
Snow thought that the wording had been a little exaggerated but it was probably good propaganda for dispelling the fear and hatred of Pulse
P106-107
If not for that, no matter how much the facilities within Cocoon were frozen, the people might not have attempted to go down to Gran Pulse.
“I wonder how Serah felt listening to the provisional government's announcement...”
Hope couldn't contain his shock and confusion upon hearing that it could have been that they were mistaken and Serah was right. No wonder. It had been none other than Hope who found Lightning's knife beneath the pillar.
“I didn't even think that Light might have been alive at the time.”
“It was because probably of the circumstances. I was like that too. I didn't think about it at all.”
“You're not one to think about things anyway,” replied Hope jokingly. But, he immediately put on a serious face and continued.
“Because knife fell beneath the pillar, I thought Light had become crystal... or passed away. But, if she turned to crystal then she wouldn't have let go of the knife. Rather, that knife was evidence that Light was fighting elsewhere. I should have known that much.”
“Why hadn't I thought of that these past two years,” said Hope who looked down in shame.
“It wasn't that you didn't realize, it was that you couldn't realize, wasn't it? Like the very root of our suspicions had disappeared.”
“I... guess so.”
“At the very least, it wasn't your fault. Sis... no, Lightning thinks that too.”
All of a sudden, a dubious look appeared on Hope's face.
“Lightning?”
“My wedding with Serah is on hold for now, so isn't it weird if I call her Sis? I thought that but I end up calling her Sis anyway.”
“What do you mean it's on hold?”
Hope furrowed his eyebrows.
“Did you and Serah have a fight or something?”
“Noooooo! Nothing like that!”
Snow denied by shaking his head left and right so vigorously that it looked like it would come right off. There was nothing of the sort. For sure.
“I decided to have a fresh start. Everything from the beginning,”
If someone had re-written their memories, he wanted to add that to the list of things that “didn't happen." He was going to make it that none of the things like Serah feeling anxious all by herself, or her crying from suddenly being separated, had happened, and do everything over from the beginning. He decided to overwrite those memories with happy ones.
“I didn't just leave Serah behind half-heartedly. I'm gonna make her happy no matter what it takes. That's one-hundred percent happy without a single cloud in her sky!”
P108-109
Snow's insistence instantly put a stunned expression on Hope's face.
“Really, you never change do you, Snow. Serah is important too.”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“Just that,” said Hope with a smile.
No comments:
Post a Comment