Final Fantasy XIII: Episode Zero -Promise-

"Treasure (Family)", Chapter Five

"Treasure (Family)", Chapter Five

We were going to see the fireworks. Dajh was so "Hm? Let me see. Oh that. That's the ruins in Bowdam. We'll be arriving there soon." happy, he ran and jumped around the room, yelling and screaming. Probably because he was so sick of all the tests they were doing on him. Even though that PSICOM officer, or those children's psychology specialists would play with him, he was still like a bird trapped in a cage.

They had tested him over and over, but still they couldn't figure out his Focus. The only thing they knew was that he could feel the existence of things from Pulse. No, even that I thought wasn't the truth. I thought they were probably just telling me lies, because PSICOM wasn't getting the results they were hoping for.

I didn't believe any of it until we were riding on the airship to Bowdam. Oh yeah, you were on the airship too. Do you remember how Dajh looked when he first saw you? It's been a long time since I've seen him smile like that...

Sazh watched Dajh run up and down the passageways in the airship, his thoughts in turmoil. The baby chocobo was chasing after him. When the two boys... no, when the boy and the bird first met, they became friends right away. The cabin was in an uproar with the two of them bouncing about.

Well, since there weren't any other passengers Sazh let them do what they liked. When he thought about how Dajh had been closed up in that room for so long, he felt he had a right to be running around and having fun like this. He couldn't tell him no. Nabaat didn't seem to be troubled by it either. In fact, she had one of her underlings made a record of Dajh playing with the chocobo. Maybe they were using it as another test.

"Daddy I'm thirsty." Dajh said, running up to where Sazh was sitting. He was probably tired of all that running about. Of course, the baby chocobo was right behind him, and used Sazh's head as a landing pad. Sazh opened up a can of juice for him, and Dajh drank it in one big gulp. With all the running and yelling, it's no wonder he was so thirsty.

"Oh yeah, we've got to name this little guy don't we?"

When they first met, the little bird had started chasing him right away. There had been no time to start thinking of names.

"Ummm... a cool name! Like someone on TV!"

He was talking about the children's shows that Dajh couldn't go a day without watching. The main character was a baby chocobo, who was a hero of justice. Baby chocobos were so popular these days because of this show.

"But hey, what if it's a girl? What would you do then?"

They say that even experts can't tell what sex a chocobo is. Chocobos are quite mysterious creatures. They can understand human speech, and they have a strong homing instinct. That's about all anyone knew.

"Okay, then a cool, cute name!"

"Well that's a tall order. But you have enough time to think about it. He's not going to be running away any time soon."

Though how much time Dajh actually had left was the problem. Sazh sank into depression. What sort of Focus could a child of six have? One who can do nothing but jump and play and scream?

"Daddy, Daddy, what's that!?" Dajh said, pointing out the window.

"Hm? Let me see. Oh that. That's the ruins in Bowdam. We'll be arriving there soon."

Dajh pressed his forehead against the window, and stared down at the ruins. Sazh thought he had already seen the ruins from the train heading to Ewleede, but maybe the view from above gave a different impression than the view from below.