Title: The Sun
Author: Sapphire Smoke
Beta: BellaRei713
Fandom: Final Fantasy XIII
Rating: M
Pairing(s): Fang/Vanille
Timeline: Pre Final Fantasy XIII
Prequel To: "The Arrangement," although can easily be read as a standalone fic.
Warning(s): Underage
Summary: "It's like… when you look at the sun too long, and then you can't see anything else? I can't see anything else when you're around, and I don't… I don't even think I want to."
A/N: This is more of a canon divergence, as according to Episode Zero Fang and Vanille were both orphans that were basically just raised to become l'Cie as apparently kids without a family 'didn't have much use outside of that' (Rude, much? Those priests were dicks, lol). I wanted to make up my own backstory though, as that sounded much more fun, so this is more of an AU than anything else I suppose. Just forewarning you all in case you came in here with different expectations, lol. Also this was supposed to be a one shot but the word count got out of control, so here we are. Again. I don't know why I try anymore, haha. It's (looking to be, at least) eight parts total though, and I'll try to update twice a week.

I.

When Fang was five years old, she met a girl.

This girl couldn't have been more than three at the time, with these big green eyes and hair the color of fire. Adorned in bright colors and an infectious smile, the girl drew attention from everyone the second she set foot on their soil, the townspeople cooing at her like she was one of the most adorable things they had ever seen. Fang, however, could easily see her for what she really was though: a thief. A thief that had stolen her favorite doll, no less; the doll her father had given her when she was born.

One of its eyes was missing and some of the stitching was starting to unravel on its right side, but that doll was Fang's most prized possession. One of her only possessions, in fact, as not many in Oerba had personal belongings; most everything was shared between the people. But that doll… that doll was hers, and hers alone. And that… that tiny girl, with her stick-like arms and button nose, just swooped right in and… and stole it.

So Fang had approached her in the square and told her, "That's mine," her small hand outstretched to receive it. But she didn't. The girl just looked up at her, sitting in the middle of the square with her legs outstretched to either side as she continued to make it dance for her. She wasn't even playing with it right, and Fang glared at her.

"Nah ah, I found it," the girl had told her as she held the doll close to her chest, refusing to give it up. Her voice was high and squeaky, and Fang briefly remembered that she reminded her of a microchu; if microchus could talk, that was. "S'mine now."

Fang tried to swipe it from her then, but the girl threw an absolute tantrum after it had left her arms, and thus began an intense screaming match between the two children that, of course, eventually garnered the rest of the village's attention. Who did this girl think she was, that she could just come to a new place and take what she wanted from them? Generally, Fang didn't have a problem with strangers; but her… her she had a problem with. Which made it that much worse when one of their elders, who had been speaking to the girl's mum at the time, just smiled and said, "I know exactly where to put you."

And that's how Fang ended up sharing her bedroom with her worst enemy.

Of course, at five years old, everything was that dramatic; she didn't like the child, so of course the girl was now the absolute bane of her existence. The elders however, they were big on harmony within the community, and thus found the best way to go about that was by placing people who didn't like one another in close quarters. In the end, no one wanted an uncomfortable living situation, and so they learned to adapt in order to live a more stress-free life. This process could take weeks or it could take years, and Fang was on the latter end of that, as she swore the child purposely did things to antagonize her.

That child, she learned not long after their first fight, was named Dia Vanille. Oerba Dia Vanille as she was now, as war in the southern part of Gran Pulse had caused Vanille and her mother Nymira to flee their home village, forcing them to relocate to Oerba, where it was safe. They were welcomed by most everyone save Fang, who vowed to throw things at the girl's head every night they shared a room until she left her in peace. Unfortunately, she hadn't counted on her mother not being a fan of this plan, and after Vanille started crying like a little baby about Fang being mean to her, her mother screamed at her so much that it was Fang who then dissolved into tears, furious and upset that she was the one being scolded when Vanille had been the one who started it.

If the stupid girl had just left her doll alone, none of this would have ever happened.

Vanille didn't just stop at her doll though; she helped herself to nearly all of Fang's possessions, including her clothes, which her tiny body just swam in. One time, she even had the audacity to sleep in Fang's bed, which caused the brunette to stomp out of the bedroom in a huff, deciding she would rather sleep on the floor in the common areas than get that girl's… stranger stink all over her. But not before she placed a board underneath the door handle of their bedroom, effectively locking Vanille inside in retaliation which caused the girl to scream bloody murder when she found she couldn't get out the next morning.

She actually got a lashing for that one, but it was worth it. Vanille never slept in her bed uninvited again.

It wasn't fair though; Vanille did things that made her angry, and yet because she was younger she was allowed to get away with it, and Fang was the one in trouble instead. Her mother even tried to explain away the girl's behavior once with, "She looks up to you, Fang; you should be a little nicer," which of course a seven year old Fang scoffed at, because she was certain Vanille only followed her around to be annoying. She never listened when she told her to stop doing something, after all; Vanille was still helping herself to her things years later and Fang was getting reprimanded for not sharing.

Which was stupid, if you asked her, because maybe if Vanille had bothered to ask first, then she wouldn't mind sharing. She wasn't completely terrible after all, but Vanille never asked; she just took. She always took things like they were her own, and that infuriated Fang, because that wasn't the way of things. Just because Vanille was young and cute, didn't mean that she should get a free pass to do whatever she wanted.

And yet even still, as the years wore on, nothing changed. Vanille still thought herself privy to everything around her, including Fang's personal space.

Fang whipped around as she heard something behind her snap, nearly taking the girl's head off with her make-shift spear that she had crafted earlier that day from the branch of a fallen tree. Vanille's eyes went wide and she squeaked in surprise, which of course caused the small creature that Fang was trying to slay to scamper off. Sighing heavily in annoyance, Fang dropped her arm and demand, "What're ya doing out here? You know you're too young to leave the village by yourself."

So was she, technically, but Fang wasn't about to let that stop her; she was just two years shy – that was close enough.

"But I'm with you," Vanille reasoned, shooting her an innocent smile as she rocked back on her heels. She was just a smidge past six years old now, although she still looked about four; five if you gave her some credit. She was very small, and apparently that attributed to her adorableness that everyone outside of Fang seemed to see. "And you'll protect me; won't you, Fang?"

"Not bloody likely," Fang mumbled under her breath, just wanting to be left in peace. However, the phrase she had used made Vanille gasp and point at her, ever the dramatic.

"You said a bad word!"

"Shut it, will ya?" Fang snapped, shooting her a glare. If she lagged on her, so help her. "I'm allowed to say whatever I want so long as my Mum's not around, and do you see her?"

Vanille actually took the time to look around, before her gaze landed on Fang and she shook her head, her pigtails practically whacking her in the face.

"Right. So just… go away, yeah?" Fang requested, actually shooing her with her hands since Vanille never really seemed to take the hint when actual words were involved. "I'm tryin' to do something and you're messin' me up."

Vanille's bottom lip got trapped between her teeth, her expression washing over with fear and doubt as she tugged anxiously on the bracelets around her wrist. "But… but what if something tries to eat me on the way back?"

"Trust me, nothing's gonna want you; you're too skinny."

But Vanille just looked up at her with her big green eyes that were beginning to shimmer and, crud, if Fang just left her there and she actually did manage to get attacked by something, her parents would… well, they'd probably kill her, to be honest; her Mum especially, who had become really close to Nymira ever since the Dia's move into their home. Lelani – her Mum – she looked at Vanille like she was a second child to her and, honestly, that was another reason why Fang didn't like the girl, but regardless.

In the end, she knew she couldn't just leave her there. With how small Vanille was anyway, it was a miracle she didn't just break a bone every time she tripped and fell down.

"Fine," Fang huffed, grabbing the girl's hand in her own as she led her further out into the Steppe. "Stay close by, and don't move or speak when I tell you to hush. Just be… I dunno, pretend you're a tree or somethin', yeah? Can you do that?" Vanille nodded enthusiastically and Fang prompted, "Lemme see."

Vanille grinned at her as she let go of her hand, apparently proud to be able to show Fang how great of a tree she could really be as she held up her hands like branches and then stayed absolutely still. "Right, okay," Fang responded, placing her hands on Vanille's arms and guiding them back down to her sides. "Like that, only don't start wavin' your arms about, yeah? Just leave 'em down here, otherwise you're gonna scare things off."

"What things?" Vanille asked curiously, peering up at her. "What are you doing?"

Fang grinned, and now it was her turn to be proud of herself. "I'm huntin'." Because that's what she decided she wanted to be when she grew up; a Huntress. But Vanille just looked at her like she was being foolish, which of course darkened Fang's mood considerably.

"Girl's can't hunt," she told her, which made Fang scoff. "Mum says we have more important jobs to do."

"You're not from here," Fang shot back as she crossed her arms over her chest, because even after three years, she still considered the girl to be a stranger. "You don't know."

Even though, on some level, she did. There wasn't a woman amongst the band of Hunters at the moment, and there hadn't been for quite some time. But that wasn't to say that it never happened, and so Vanille was still wrong. Fang could still be whatever she wanted to be, she just had to practice hard at it; be faster, better, stronger than all the boys. And she would be, so long as she didn't have a tag along every single time she tried.

At Fang's blatant rejection of her being included in their clan however, the corners of Vanille's lips turned down into a frown as she dipped her head and looked at her shoes. Something felt funny in Fang's gut then, which she would later in life identify as guilt, and she pursed her lips and scrunched up her nose as she looked at her, inwardly debating on maybe trying to be a little nicer so that the girl didn't burst into tears and run off to get eaten by a behemoth or something.

"…Just cause we're girls, doesn't mean we can't do what we want," Fang eventually told her, which caused Vanille to look up at her. Thankfully, she wasn't crying, but she had looked on the verge not too long ago.

"Could I hunt?" Vanille asked then, and the word 'no' was on the tip of Fang's tongue because honestly, the girl was practically a bag of bones, and a fairly clumsy one at that, but that worry that if she upset her Vanille would run off and get herself killed kept that word locked in the back of her throat. Instead, she opted to go a different route.

"Maybe. If you practice like me; get real good at it."

"Can I practice now?"

But Fang just shook her head. "You have to be bigger. When you grow some more you can, okay? Right now even a spriggan could eat you." Vanille pursed her lips, her brow crinkling as she seemed to consider Fang's words very seriously, before she ultimately nodded her head in recognition and said something Fang never thought she'd hear come out of the girl's mouth.

"Oh. Okay."

Vanille had actually listened to her, in what felt like the first time in her entire life. And it was so… simple; uncomplicated. It didn't make sense, and Fang just kind of stared at her for a long minute as she tried to distinguish if this was some kind of trick or not; which, in the end, she deemed ridiculous, because she doubted Vanille had enough brains in that head of hers in order to manipulate her. Still, she was wary of it, because it seemed too simple. Did all she really have to do in order to control her was just be nicer?

The sun was starting to set in the sky though, and Fang's attention diverted to that as she knew she only had less than an hour left before dark. A lot of nasty things hunted at night, but she didn't want to return to the village having failed, so she took Vanille's hand in hers again and led her towards the east in order to find something she could kill. "Okay, you have to be real quiet, yeah? And then I'll show you something cool. You wanna see something cool, right?"

Vanille nodded enthusiastically, her tiny hand tightening in her own as she allowed Fang to lead her out into the Steppe. They walked in silence for a little while until it was Vanille who finally stopped, noticing an alraune in the distance. She pointed, and it actually took a moment for Fang to see it, as it was hidden amongst bushes. Maybe she'd make a decent hunter after all; she certainly had the eyesight for it, at the very least.

Fang almost complimented her on it, but she didn't want to be too nice to the girl; she didn't want Vanille thinking she actually liked her or something. Right now, she was merely tolerating her. "Crouch down, okay?" she whispered to her, doing it herself so Vanille could mimic her. She did, and Fang pressed a finger to her lips, urging her to stay quiet.

Vanille looked excited as she watched Fang move slowly towards the creature, making careful effort to know exactly where she was stepping lest something snap under her weight and startle it. Gripping her make-shift spear in her hand, Fang slowly raised it above her shoulder, barely even daring to breathe. She had actually never killed anything before, but she had practiced targeting in the village regularly for the past few months. So long as it didn't move; so long as it didn't know she was there, she might actually be able to do this.

But just as she let the spear loose, she accidentally put too much weight on one of her feet and something crunched beneath her form. The alraune moved, the spear only tearing into one of its leaves. It turned then, fully on the defensive, and Fang shouted, "Run!" to Vanille as she took off, afraid that the creature may retaliate and attack her. It might be small, and relatively one of the more weaker things on the Steppe, but so was she; she was only eight years old and had no proper combat training and she knew she needed get out of there before something bad happened.

But just as she reached Vanille she immediately felt weakened, the unexpected feeling bringing her to her knees as the creature used it's absorption on her. Vanille shrieked, "Fang!" before grasping her hands in her own, frantically trying to pull her to her feet despite her size not doing her any favors. Still, the brunette eventually got to her feet and took off running with Vanille, the two children practically screaming the whole way back as the alraune slithered after them.

But just as they got to the borders of Oerba, a man stood in her path and Fang stopped short, her heart lodging in her throat. Her father's spear left his hand, sailing through the air and embedding into the creature that was following them, and as his eyes turned to Fang, the brunette panicked and practically used Vanille as a human shield. Which was cowardly, and she knew that, but everyone adored Vanille; no one would ever hurt her. Therefore, she made an excellent barricade between her and that lashing she was no doubt about to get for wandering outside the village unattended.

"Inside," Orin demanded to the two children, who were stock still and practically grasping on to one another for dear life, afraid of the trouble they were no doubt about to be in. "Both of ya. Now."

The two girls didn't need to be told twice.

But instead of going straight home, her father grasped onto her bicep and pulled her over to a secluded area of the village so as not to be overheard as he demanded in a hissed whisper, "How many times have I told you not to go out there alone? You lookin' to get yourself killed?" Orin looked more worried than angry though, and it made Fang feel awful because her father was this fierce tower of a man; he shouldn't be afraid of anything. "The wilds aren't some game you can play, kid; they're dangerous!"

"I just… I wanted to hunt," she told him in a small voice, unable to look him in the eye as Vanille grasped tightly onto her hand, practically pressing herself up against her back as she hid from Fang's father. "Like you."

Orin's eyes softened for a moment then, and as he knelt down, getting at eye level with his daughter, he gently placed his hands on both of her arms and asked, "Then why didn't you ask me for trainin'?"

"Cause no one trains their daughters," Fang mumbled, kicking a pebble dejectedly. "Not anymore. Not since Dol Yve." And that had been nearly a century ago.

"Dol Yve trained herself," Orin told her, which finally made Fang look at him. "No one believed she could do it, so she went out there and proved them wrong. But you don't have to do that, y'hear? You've got me, and I'll show you how to hunt if you want; you don't have to sneak around."

"But everyone will laugh at you…" Because no one went out of the way to train their daughters; no one. It was considered a waste of time and resources when they were innately weaker than men. Instead, if Hunters wanted to past their torch, they spent their time trying to bear sons.

"Then let 'em laugh," Orin responded strongly, looking at his daughter like she was the only thing that mattered in his life. And maybe she was; he and Fang's mum hadn't exactly been close lately, but things had been gently unraveling over the years instead of falling outright apart, and it took Fang a while to even realize that it was happening because it happened so gradually. "You think I wouldn't love to see my daughter become the first Huntress in nearly a century? Cause nothin' would make me prouder, kid; I promise ya that."

Fang's eyes welled up with tears then, overcome with the support she had from her father when she had expected she would have to do this all on her own. "Really?" she asked in a small voice, and Orin smiled at her.

"Really." Patting her gently on the arm, the man stood and told her, "Now c'mon; you know if you're not back in time for dinner your mum's gonna flip her lid. But hey," he stopped the two girl's then, looking at them seriously. "Don't tell your mothers that you were out, yeah? This'll just be our little secret; we don't wanna worry them."

"You want us to lie?" Fang asked, surprised. She was always taught that it was wrong to lie.

"Your mum will give ya a lashin' for it if she knew, and I think you learned your lesson well enough when that alraune came after ya. Just don't do it again, kid; you promise?" Fang nodded, thankful that her mother didn't have to know; she didn't want to be in anymore trouble. Orin turned to the smaller girl that was still practically attached to Fang's sari, and asked, "Ya think you can do that, 'Nille? Keep a secret for us?"

Vanille nodded, just looking happy to be included in something, even if it was something she was always taught was bad. "Okay!"

Orin smiled, ruffling the girl's hair before he turned, leading the two girls back to their house. But before they got there, Fang grasped onto her father's hand and asked tentatively, having been wondering about something, "…Dad?"

"Hm?"

"Do you and mum not like each other anymore?"

Orin's lips creased into a small frown then and he stopped, turning to face her. "Nah, kid; it's not… it's not like that. Me and your mum, we like each other well enough, but it's just not… like how it was. But we're tryin' okay? So don't worry your pretty little head about it; I'm not goin' anywhere."

And it ended up being true… but only in a sense. When Fang was nine, her father moved out of the house, and when she was ten her parents participated in the unjoining ritual in order to be able to move on from one another. Her father still stayed in Oerba, was only a few houses down from her, but her parents were separate people now, instead of one entity.

Fang walked in on her mother one day, tending to the burned flesh of her arm, where her joining tattoo had been seared off. It looked painful, and Fang's lips creased down in a frown as she asked why she did it if it hurt. And her mother just looked at her, patience in her tone as she explained to her that sometimes, physical pain hurt less than lying to one's self. Fang didn't understand it then, but she started to understand what she had meant a little more than a year later.

Fang had been over by the training square when she got her answer, her hands wrapped and her body dripping with sweat as she continued to beat mercilessly at one of the dummies. There was laughter from behind her every time one of her punches didn't quite land right, or her roundhouse kick didn't reach high enough to hit the dummy's makeshift head. It was a constant though whenever she trained without her father present, and Fang had learned to ignore it; if the boys only had the guts to laugh at her when her dad wasn't around, then they weren't worth her time. They were just weak. That's what her father had told her, and she believed them.

Fang may have only been eleven, but her father had been training her three times a week for the last two and a half years now. Her mother hadn't been too supportive about it, afraid that she was setting her sights too high and would just end up disappointed, but Fang was adamant about wanting to train with her father, and eventually she allowed it, as the passion in her daughter's voice couldn't go ignored. Some of the younger boys complained of course, as it was stupid for a girl to train with them when she couldn't possibly keep up, but there was never any official decree that women couldn't train to become Hunters – it was apparently just very rare that one wanted to – and so she was allowed to without much fuss.

Fang looked up from her task of perfecting her physical combat skills however, which her father stressed the importance of should she ever find herself caught without a weapon, when she heard Vanille shout, "Fang!" as she ran down the narrow street to the square. Fang's brow furrowed as she grasped the fabric around her knuckles with her teeth, unrolling it as the girl approached her.

Generally, Vanille wasn't as much of an annoyance to her as she used to be. She was still irritating at times yes, and it was still frustrating that she felt the need to follow Fang around like some kind of abandoned pet, but once Fang had learned how to get the girl to just listen to her, she found her presence more bearable; at least now that she wasn't constantly trying to steal her things. Once Fang had sat her down and tried – with quite a lot of effort at the time, mind – to be a little nicer to her, she told Vanille that if she just asked to use her stuff first, then she might let her and wouldn't end up getting mad about it.

And ever since then, Vanille had asked. Simple as that.

So Fang was nice to her now, for the most part. More patient, at the very least, because she now knew how to get Vanille to listen to her, and that was much better than fighting about stuff all the time.

"Fang, Fang!" the girl continued to call out, out of breath as she nearly collided straight into her, pressing her hands into her chest in order to try to slow her momentum. Fang grasped her wrist but didn't actually move her from her body, more concerned with Vanille's behavior than her lack of personal space; she couldn't tell if the redhead was upset or excited, but apparently she had something very important to tell her.

"What? What happened?"

But Vanille just rose up on her tip toes, her breathing still uneven as she cupped her hands around her mouth, whispering a secret into Fang's ear. "I just saw your mum kiss my mum!"

"What?!" Fang exclaimed, stepping back from her for a moment as she tried to make sense of that. Not that two women together (or two men, for that matter) was uncommon in Oerba, but she just… she didn't think her mum liked Vanille's mum that way. They were friends, yeah, she saw that much; they always spent time together and stuff, but she assumed that was because they lived together. Was this why her mum didn't want to try to work things out with her dad though, because she liked Nymira?

Fang didn't have much time to even process how she felt about all that though, because suddenly a boy from across the square yelled, "Hey pipsqueak, little girls aren't allowed on the training grounds; go play with your dolls or somethin'!" He snickered then, which was joined in by a few of the younger boys that surrounded him.

Vanille let go of Fang though and turned around to glare at him. "Fang's a girl," she argued, to which the boy just snorted and responded to with, "Barely."

"Oi, piss off, Jex; yeah?" Fang shot back, not particularly in the mood to get harassed right now. At the moment, all she was concerned about was what the hell this would mean for her if it were true. What if they fell in love and got joined, and Vanille became her sister? Not that it would change much, as they would still all live together, but still… she'd never get rid of her then. Which was probably a terrible thing to think, considering as the years went on, Fang really did start to see her mother's claim that 'Vanille looked up to her'. Still, she didn't want a shadow her entire life. She wanted to be her own person. She wanted to be free.

And Vanille was a bit like a chain on her ankle, to be quite honest. She was nine years old; she should have made her own friends by now, but she hadn't. All she did was follow Fang around. Still.

It was probably supposed to be flattering or something, but Fang just found it exhausting.

"No, you know the rules! No one's supposed to be over here unless they're trainin', so get your little girlfriend out of here!" Jex shot back as he approached the two girls, apparently deciding that today was a good day to bully her now that he had two other boys behind him. What a giant jerk; Fang would punch him straight in the jaw if she wouldn't get a lashing for it. She didn't care about the other boys either, she'd hit them too. She hated them all anyway.

"Fang's my sister, stupid; not my girlfriend!" Vanille shouted back to them, which made Fang exhale an exasperated breath because, no, she was not. Not yet, anyway. Regardless.

"What, you don't got anythin' better to do than pick on a little kid, Jex?" Fang shot back, eyeing him up as he and his little buddies approached them. "Stop being a little piss ant and just let her be, yeah? She's not botherin' anybody."

"Well I decided that she's botherin' me," Jex told her, getting right up in Fang's face. He had been antagonistic towards her ever since she had proven to be better than him in a few areas; aiming and tracking, to name a couple. Fang was hardly the top of the class herself, not yet anyway, but she was at least above Jex. And considering the kid was two years older and a boy, Jex apparently thought he should be inherently better than her, and when he found out he wasn't, that bothered him. "So I want her outta here. You think you can do anything to stop me, Beast?"

It was his nickname for her recently, but her father told her to ignore it, that Jex was just jealous because she was more skilled than he was, and that he was only trying to paint her as something less than human to make himself feel better. It was hard to though, because sometimes she did feel like one; she didn't fit in with the girls, who thought she was weird for wanting to become a Huntress, and she didn't fit in with the boys, who resented her for her gender and her ambition. Still, it wasn't anything to hit him over. She had heard it before.

But then to make his point that Fang wouldn't dare do anything to stop him, Jex placed his hand on Vanille's chest, purposely shoving the girl into a heap on the ground as he stared straight at Fang and smirked viciously. Fang looked down at her in surprised horror, watching Vanille's eyes begin to mist over with tears and, Anima forgive her, she just snapped.

She had tackled Jex to the ground before the boy even knew what was happening, her fist colliding with his face as she screamed, "Don't you bloody touch her!" Because it was one thing when Jex picked on her, but Vanille didn't do anythingto him; he was just mean to her because she was Fang's housemate and that wasn't fair. Vanille was a complete cry baby; she couldn't stand up for herself!

Or, at least, she thought she couldn't.

Just as the two other boys tried to pull her off of Jex though, getting in some punches of their own as they ganged up on her, Vanille got to her feet and shrieked through her tears, "Leave her alone!" before jumping on one of the boys' back and hitting him with something she found on the ground, which Fang would later learn was a freaking rock. The kid screamed in pain as he got off of Fang then, throwing Vanille off in the process as he held the side of his head, a little bit of blood trickling through his fingers. It was then though that the fight got the adults' attention, and they were all pulled off of one another fairly quickly.

Fang didn't get a lashing for fighting though; in fact her mother said that she was glad she stuck up for Vanille, although she would have preferred her to use her words instead. But that jerk pushed her; clearly that warranted a physical retaliation, didn't it? Honestly, in the end it was Vanille who got screamed at more, as she had used a weapon instead of just running to get an adult. But when Fang learned that she hit the kid with a rock just to get him off of her, she had to admit that it made her like her a little more.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all, to become Vanille's sister. There were worse people to be tied to, she supposed; and at least Vanille had her back in a fight, despite her size and clear disadvantage. That had to mean something.

Later that evening they were in their bedroom getting ready to go to sleep, Fang looked over at the girl who was situated on her bed on the other side of the room, her small fingers tracing the scrapes she had on her knees from their fight. "Hey," Fang mentioned softly, causing the girl to look over at her in question. "Thanks for… y'know, havin' my back; tryin' to get 'em off me and stuff. Know your mum's pissed at how you did it, but… you did good, yeah? So thanks."

"You're my sister," Vanille responded, apparently still stuck on that little concept. She said it though like it was obvious, like why she ran in to intercept the fight was something natural and expected. "They were hurting you. I didn't want them too."

"I'm not your sister," Fang tried to explain, because she didn't want the kid to build that up in her head when it might not even happen. "Our mums just kissed; once, for all we know. They might not even get together, so don't count on it, yeah? You might end up disappointed."

But Vanille just shook her head at her. "You've always been my sister," she told her. "Maybe not for real, but it could be now. I like that. I like you."

That declaration both flattered her and made her feel guilty, mostly due to how she always treated Vanille. Maybe she had begun to tolerate her, but Fang had thought it was still obvious that she didn't really like her; at least, not until after what had just happened. Now though, she was starting to see that Vanille might not be so bad after all.

"—I'm sorry," Fang forced herself to say after a long moment's silence, knowing that she needed to. "For bein' mean to you a lot. I shouldn't be."

Vanille's brow creased as she looked at her, apparently confused by that concept. "You're not mean," she responded. "You're just a grumpy pants. You've always been that way though; I don't mind."

Something uncomfortable settled in Fang's gut then, because she really wasn't a grumpy person; she just had always been to her. And it made her sad that that was something Vanille just took in stride because she thought it was normal, and so she told her, "You should though; you should mind. People shouldn't treat you like that, Vanille; even if they are in a bad mood. And I'm… I'm sorry. You're actually not so bad, y'know?"

Vanille smiled at her then; this cute, tightlipped little gesture that made her eyes sparkle. "Hey, Fang?" she asked after a short moment, and after Fang made a little sound in acknowledgement, she asked, "Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Fang's brow rose. "You wanna sleep with me?" she asked, repeating the question, because she didn't really understand it. "…Why?"

Vanille tugged on the hem of her shirt a little self-consciously and shrugged, pulling her knees to her chest. "Sometimes, when I sleep, I remember bad things," she told her softly. "From what I was little. Fire, my mum screaming. But you're—you're really strong, and when you're around I feel safe. Also, you smell really nice."

Fang went from feeling bad, to feeling flattered, to feeling weirded out all in the span of about ten seconds. "You smell me?" she asked, because that… wasn't exactly normal, was it?

"Your clothes," Vanille told her, apparently not understanding that Fang didn't know how to take that strange information. She smiled at her, rocking a little on her butt as she held her knees tight to her chest and continued, "And your pillow sometimes. You smell like home."

Despite herself, Fang felt herself smile at that. It was still weird, sure, but for some reason it made her feel good; as though despite how much of an outsider she felt like amongst the other kids, she still had her place among one of them regardless. So she scooted over in her bed and held up the covers to Vanille in offering, figuring that it wouldn't kill her to accommodate the girl, at least this once. She did hit someone with a rock for her, after all.

"Fine. Come on," she invited, and Vanille's expression lit up as she scrambled out of bed to clamber under the sheets with Fang, snuggling into her side. "But don't make a habit of it, yeah? I still like my space."

"I won't, I promise," she breathed, wrapping her tiny arms around Fang's torso as she rested her head in the crook of her neck. She was warm, her presence more comforting than uncomfortable, and as Vanille began to close her eyes to sleep, Fang gently rested her hand atop her head, pressed her lips against her hair, and realized that she wasn't the only one who smelled like home.

TBC…