Opening her eyes, the girl lifted her head up, taking in the blurry surroundings in which she'd awoken. Shifting slightly to sit up and touching her forehead with a groan as a wave of nausea swept over her and she remained still for a while until she felt ready to stand. As her vision cleared she slowly tried to make sense of where she was but found she couldn't recognise the place.
"Vanille"
A weakened, tired voice called out to her and she spun around, her head clearing, visions of her past flooding her skull, remembering everything that had happened as the voice called again...
"Vanille"
"LIGHTNING...LIGHTNING WHERE ARE YOU?"
Only silence greeted her, with a faint echo of her own voice. She stopped running towards nothing as more memories overwhelmed her. Hope, Snow, Sazh, Serah and...
"FANG?"
Panic. If she'd woken up from crystal stasis then Fang should've done so too, so where was she?
"FANG? OERBA YUN FANG ANSWER ME PLEASE..."
"nille..."
A faint whisper, more of a groan, hit her ears.
"Va...nille..."
Following the voice past a few large metal containers, pausing to take note of the name on one of them before a flash of Red caught her eye a little too late and she stumbled over Fang's lance, landing beside her close companion.
"FANG!"
She threw her arms around the raven haired woman and laughing in delight. This proved to perk the Pulsian woman up and she opened her eyes, looking around warily before returning the embrace tightly.
"Vanille, god how long have I missed you for?"
"I don't know, but I missed you too"
They held each other for a while before Fang pulled back, reaching for her lance and standing, helping the orange haired girl up and pulling her into her shoulder, looking around as a voice echoed through her mind.
"Fang..."
Vanille felt the woman's muscles tense up and her eyes dart around frantically, searching.
"Fang Please..."
"Light?"
"You can hear her too?"
She nodded sharply and called out to the pink haired soldier.
"LIGHTNING? LIGHTNING WHERE ARE YOU, WE'LL COME GET YA..."
Nothing. But Fang's shouting had attracted some attention and voices were heard from the halls around them. The two Pulsians jumped, back to back, readying their weapons as several men wearing PSYCOM like uniforms surrounded them. Vanille heard Fang hiss under her breath.
"Damnit, looks like these idiots are still running things"
"But I thought they'd stopped after Ra...you know..."
"After Ragnarok, yes I thought that too"
Guns cocked in all directions as the circle tightened around the pair. Vanille felt frightened, both of them were still weak from the stasis and had no chance against this many armed men, even if they tried. Fang's heart pounded in her chest, she knew she wouldn't go down without a fight but her head was still spinning a little. One of the men stepped forward, aiming his gun directly at Vanille's forehead and Fang gave a yell, lunging forward and smacking the soldier across the face with her lance and standing in front on the younger girl.
"Don't touch her"
One move and the fight was on. Each flicked a button or switch and their gun's became sabers and swords. Fang moved first, taking out the nearest soldier with a swipe of the lance and other swarmed in. Vanille, though weakened, still managed to get a couple down but more kept coming. Then she tripped and three men grabbed her, lifting her off the floor and pulling her away from the main fight.
"FANG HELP!"
"VANILLE, GET AWAY FROM HER!"
Distracted for just a moment, the men took their opportunity and grabbed her too, struggling to keep her under control as she was forced to the floor, to her knees. Slowly her energy died down and she stopped struggling against the restraints.
"FANG!"
"VANILLE NO!"
Vanille was held still as a man took position behind her and pressed the barrel of his gun against the back of her head. His finger steadied on the trigger and screams echoed across the room as he prepared the end the life of the girl before him when, in the brief silence, a loud voice took all the soldiers by surprise.
"STOP!"
The two Pulsians looked up at the doorway the voice had come from and saw a tall man striding towards them.
"MY ORDERS WERE TO FIND THE INTRUDERS AND BRING THEM TO ME, DID I ASK FOR THEM TO DIE?"
The man holding the gun to Vanille's skull lowered his gun and let out a shameful sigh.
"No Sir, Sorry Sir"
"Precisely, now release them"
His orders were followed and Fang pulled Vanille into her arms and shielded her from the men's gazes, rubbing her back softly to calm her shaking. The men moved aside so the 'Leader' could see the two women and He removed his helmet, shaking out a mop of tousled silver hair.
"Oerba Yun Fang…"
She turned her head sharply to face him, her eyes widening and her jaw dropping as she caught sight of his face.
"and Oerba Dia Vanille"
The younger girl heard her name and moved round Fang to look at the man before them, a gasp escaping her lips as she took in the messy grey hair and bright green eyes that she'd come to know so well in the past, feeling tears sting her eyes.
"It's been a while…"
"Hope!"