I got the impression that Vanille was telling us what was told to her about what happened to others, such as Snow and Hope in Ch. 7 or Lightning and Hope in Ch. 5. Everything was from her perspective.

It's an interesting take, especially if you think that, like wounded_melody suggests above, l'Cie who turn to crystal are similar to the fayth in FFX in that they have a sort of limited omniscience. That could account for some of the things we see that the characters don't, like Cid's death.

FFX is my primary fandom, and despite its age it goes through bursts of activity from time to time, but lately it's been pretty quiet. I saw both your post and its inclusion in ff_press. I've noticed that they've been listing more meta and other discussion in people's journals lately, which I think is an excellent way to get more of a cross-FF fandom going, although I know what you mean about being surprised when a post you weren't thinking of that way makes it in! I noticed the same thing you mentioned when FFXII first came out -- Final Fantasy is back in people's minds, and so there is a boost to all the fandoms, even the older ones, and this is excellent news for everyone. :)