This story was written by Keiran [Sophronius] of Kingdom University for the May 2011 fanfic contest where the theme was 'Summer Fun'.
He used the character Akii, who belongs to another player, as well as the canon character Vanille from Final Fantasy.

"Come on, you gotta go."
"Yeah, it'll be no fun without ya."
"Don't be so lame."
"You just hafta come."

These were some of the things Akii heard from the people standing around her. I say people, because Akii did not consider any of them to be anything other than people nearby, not friends at all. Still, she spent a lot of time with them whenever she came home for the summer, mostly because it beat sitting alone. It was odd, a year ago, she did not feel this terrible need to hang around people she did not really like. It must have been university, hanging around those people with whom she had things in common, she got along, and she wanted to interact. But now, she felt that she had become too reliant on these people to relieve her loneliness, whereas before a book or empty sheet of paper, a painting or blank canvas, a sunny, cloudless sky or starry, dark night was enough to make her feel content and safe. Wanting to be around people you don't like just so that you might be around someone was a terrible feeling, but it was where she was right now, with these folks trying to get her to go to a party that she really did not want to attend. These people were bad enough, but to see a whole host of other people she did not know and would probably hate, that was even worse.

"Fine, I'll go." They had broken her down. One of the boys in the group, some guy who had had a crush on her for a few years by this point, patted her on the back and reassured her that it would be fun. It would be a waste of an evening. Was it even better than being alone? Probably not, and she knew that, but there was just this compulsion to be with them. So as they started walking, first out the door of the house of one of the kids, then down the street to wherever it was they were going, Akii followed along. All that she really knew about this was that it was a party to celebrate and mourn the end of summer and start of their second (or third or first for different people) year of school, that there was supposed to be copious amounts of alcohol and cute boys, and that it would be the best night of their lives. Of course, neither the alcohol nor the boys were particularly exciting to Akii and this was far from the first time that the group had promised her that the night would be the best or one to remember or whatever other cliché they decided to spout that particular time they were trying to coerce her into something. But yeah, tonight would be different, sure, of course it would be.

As they walked down the street, Akii turned to one of the girls near her and asked, "Hey, where are we going again."
The girl laughed a bit before answering, saying, "You're so silly, Akii, we only told you a couple hundred times." She did not answer. God that was annoying, for her to act all cutesy, joking with Akii, when it was clear that she was asking a question for information. Sure, she could just turn and ask someone else, but they would probably respond the same way, since they were all idiots, every last one of them. With a loud, audible sigh, Akii just followed along with her gang of friends.

After about a ten minute walk, Akii found herself at the entrance to a large field. Ah, it was going to be a bonfire party – those were always sort of nice, since it was easier for her to get away from other people and slink away without being noticed. On the other hand, it was always sort of creepy, since they stayed sort of close to the tree line at the edge of the wide, open field. At least there hadn't been a drought this summer, so the trees and grass were not dry and susceptible to catching on fire. Damn, when that happened last year, that was scary. But, never mind that, now, hopefully, the bonfire would not end with fire engines and kids screaming as they run away. Well, there was a fairly long field to cross, but she could already see a few kids waving, some holding silver cans in their hands, others with red plastic cups – she could not really see that well, but after attending parties every couple of weeks, she knew what sort of booze her neighbors liked. And it was at this point that most of her group started running, wanting to get to their other friends as quickly as possible.

And Akii was left behind. Not unusual. Though, it did not really feel any different while the others were with her. Still, she trod across the field. Then, after her group met up with their friends, those other kids, she didn't know, started waving again. Akii paused and cocked her head to the side. Why were they waving to her? It wasn't like she knew them. Maybe they were just being friendly or her group had told their friends to make her feel welcome. Either way, she appreciated it a little bit.

But quickly, those thoughts were dispelled as she heard a girl behind her yell out, "Hi y'all." As she was turning her head around to see who it was, the girl came running past her. Well, the girl wasn't really running, but it was sort of… she was like skipping and running at once. She seemed to be bobbing up and down as she moved, but at the same time she seemed to be gliding along above the ground. She was dressed in a skirt, a rather short, orange skirt, and a pink bikini top, with her pinkish hair in pigtails. She looked sort of young and sort of silly.

Though something strange happened: as the girl skipped past Akii, who was looking back at her, the girl turned her head to look at Akii and then, when she went by Akii, turned around and ran backwards for a bit, looking right at Akii before turning back around to run to the people who obviously knew her. What was really the oddest part, to Akii at least, was that this pink girl was able to turn around a hundred and eighty degrees and run backwards as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening – she looked as graceful and bizarre going backward and sideways as forward. Well, that, and why she would turn around to stare at the silverette.

So, with at least one goal for the evening, to find out why she was being stared at, Akii continued on to the bonfire, despite the fact that she also felt a bit of an urge to just walk away in the opposite direction. But, at the very least, it would eat up time, and with only thirty-seven hours before she would be driving back to Kingdom University, she just gave in and figured that solving this little mystery would eat up at least one or two of those hours. And with that and two nights of sleep – it was almost like she was already back at school.

After a few minutes of walking across a field, Akii was with the rest of the people and already people seemed to be getting drunk, though none of the people from her group. Two of the girls with her group came over to her with three red cups in their four hands, one was for her and she took it without question. Normally, she would have fought with them, but she was also smart enough to know that, in the end, they would wear her down and she would just end up drinking anyway, so what was the point of fighting about it? One of the girls gave a little fake cheer about it, at which Akii merely rolled her eyes. The other could tell that she was a little surprised to see people already stumbling around and falling over so easily, and explained to Akii that the bonfire had been going for a few hours already. So, those idiots had started early

Well, the girls stayed with her for a bit and they gossiped about who was there, who was with whom, who was cute, and who they were going to put their claws into. Well, when I say "they" I mean the two girls, Akii just sort of stood there and listened, occasionally saying something to try and rein them in and stop being, well, evil. Or, at least they seemed sort of evil to her, after a bit of their vicious attacks on others. Akii's head scanned the crowd for that girl who had ran past her, it was hard to really see, since it was so dark and the fire was so bright, her eyes couldn't get used to the light or the dark. After a while, she just straight up asked the two, "Hey, do you two know who that girl who ran past me is?"

"Oh, that girl?" one asked.
"The one dressed like a whore," the other added.
"I think her name's Vanilla or something."
"Sounds like a stripper name."
"I know, did you see how she was dressed."
"It looked like she was going to go to the beach or the street corner."
"And I don't see any sand."

At that, the two started cackling, but Akii had already stopped paying attention when the first indicated that she was unsure of her name. "Why do they have to act so damn childish," Akii thought to herself, "It's like they think nothing has changed since high school." Anyway, the two went off into their world and eventually decided that they were going to go after some guy and they left Akii to herself. That poor boy.

Well, now that she had a moment to herself, Akii surveyed the crowd again, taking a sip of whatever drink they had given her. It tasted like some mix of beer, lemons, and vodka, which is to say it tasted awful. But as she surveyed the crowd she thought that this must have been what it was like to be at one of those ancient Roman bacchanalia, men and women drinking to the point where they were vomiting and passing out (luckily no one was there yet, but she did not doubt that many would end the evening thusly), people fucking without any sense of shame (well, not yet, but there were two couples making out in a manner that was rather inappropriate for public), and there seemed to be nothing there that could possibly restrain even one of them. It was sort of disturbing. Her attention was drawn to her right hand side, near the edge of the woods, she saw a girl and a boy talking, she started giggling and then the two started running into the wood. She wondered what they were going to be doingand wondered whether the two felt good about the idea of laying on the undergrowth and having a night of passion with one another. But her attention remained on the point where they had run into the woods, half expecting the girl to run back out, after realizing how stupid what she was doing was.

All of a sudden, though, her attention was called elsewhere, as she heard a cheery "Hello" come from her left hand side. Akii whipped her head around and saw, only a couple inches from her face, the pinkish haired girl. She stumbled back a few steps, why was this girl so close to her? Well, the pinkish haired girl giggled as Akii lost her balance and moved back from her and then introduced herself, "I'm Vanille, who're you?" Well, that catty girl who she was "friends" with had been close about the name.

"Uh… I'm Akii Kurosawa," she replied, caught somewhat off guard by the girl's straightforwardness. No small talk, no easing into introductions, just a flat out question, while right up in her face. It was weird.

"No need for lasts names, right?"

"Yeah, uh, I suppose. I was just…"

"So, why're you standing over here by yourself?" Did this girl lack a filter? Did she just do and say what she felt?

"Oh… I, uh, I don't know." A lie, but Akii did not want to admit that she just wanted to go home and that she hated all the people she spent time with.

"It's alright, all these people are a little bit much for me too." Akii looked at Vanille sort of strangely, had the girl been watching her as she surveyed the orgy of alcohol and sex that was going on? Or was she just good at guessing what was wrong with people? Or did she really find it annoying. Akii noticed that the girl did not have a drink in her hands, which she found odd, but judging by how weird she seemed, maybe she was already drunk. But whatever the reason and whatever Akii's response might have been, she remained silent in the wake of Vanille's comment. But that did not stop the pink haired girl from adding more to what she said, but it was obvious from her tone and her stammering, that she felt a bit awkward filling in the silence, "Yeah, they uh… just go to hard, right? No need for all that."

Vanille was met with silence again.
"I mean, uh, right, like, why can't we just, you know, like, talk and all."
Akii took a sip of her drink, but didn't say anything. She felt a little bad about it, but she did not want to talk to this girl, who was obviously just trying to get her to agree.
"Or you can act like a complete bitch." And with that, Vanille walked away, leaving Akii by herself again.

Well, that wasn't how Akii had planned on that little meeting ending. Actually, in one way it was, she did want to be left alone and have the girl leave, but, for some reason, she felt sort of bad about it. Maybe it was because she saw that the girl, though she started out storming off, ended up walking up to another group of people in a sort of slumped and dejected manner and that, even though they welcomed her into their circle and seemed excited that she was joining them, she just sort of stood there and didn't look like she was saying or doing anything. Maybe it was because she saw that the girl kept looking around as though she was searching for someone. Maybe it was despite the fact that this girl obviously wanted to talk to her, Akii just pushed her away, for no real reason. Oh, sure, she said that his girl was just trying to suck up to her and tell her what she wanted to hear, but that was no reason. Hell, what did the girl even have to gain from talking with her and saying what Akii wanted to hear? It slipped into her mind that perhaps, just perhaps this was why she did not have any friends, at least not at home. Who was she kidding, the few people she spoke with at school were barely friends.

After a couple of minutes, she tied to drink down the rest of the swill she had in her cup, but the taste prevented her. She thought it would be dramatic to down a drink before doing something drastic, but, well, she just was not able. Not letting that daunt her, though, Akii trudged across the small bit of field that separated her and this group of people where the pink haired girl was standing silently. It was hard, to do that. Each step she wanted to stop and just stand there, at least until she finished her drink, then she could walk in the opposite direction to where six large, orange Gatorade athletic coolers were situated. But she made her progress, despite what she partially wanted. Well, she kept going until she was maybe two-thirds of the way there.

It was at that point that her courage fell out. She just stood there, taking another big gulp of booze, to regain the courage that drove her this far, but she knew it was just a ruse – when drunk she was worse than when she was sober, even more anti-social, though with the added effect of being mean to the people she did not want to talk to, so at best it would cause her to run away, at worst to mock the girl whose feelings she had just hurt. But the ritual, drinking to gain up your strength, it had to be done. Why? Who knows, but it did.

So, now, like an idiot, Akii was standing just a few feet, maybe ten or fifteen, from this crowd of people and more specifically the pink haired girl who she had just driven away. It felt awful standing right there, knowing that she was not even capable of going up to a girl, apologizing and asking her if she wanted to talk. What was wrong with her? How can you not have the courage to make small talk? Was she even a real person? Or was she one of those things without a heart, like from that game her roommate liked to play? It felt like she was just a monster sometimes, not because she was cruel or vicious or mean, but just because she could not live among people, like Mary Shelley's daemon. Whatever the cause or the effect, Akii was now just standing there, awkwardly hating herself.

It was a few more minutes of that, during which she finished the awful drink she had been given by some friend, before the pink haired girl turned away from her group and walked over, once again, to Akii. Not saying a word, she grabbed one of Akii's arms and walked with her back to where they had been standing before, or roughly where they had been before; in any case they were fairly far away from where the other people were. One of the boys from the circle shouted something, it sounded like it was addressed to Vanille, but she did not respond. Akii would have found it odd, but she too probably would not have responded. When they reached their destination, out of earshot of the crowd, Vanille let go of her and turned to face her. Akii was a bit worried, the girl looked mad and she had no idea what the girl was capable of and willing to do. When Vanille did not say anything right away, she actually got a little scared, looking quickly off to her left, to the bonfire, where she saw that no one seemed to be paying attention to them.

Then, with a voice that did not hide how irritated she was, Vanille finally spoke, "Why did you just ignore me?"
She wanted to ignore her again, but this time it was because she was sort of afraid to answer. Up until this point, she had tried to avoid eye contact with the girl, and now was no different, "I don't know. It was stupid." She paused.
But Vanille didn't respond.
"I guess… I just feel nervous around people. I don't know, it's stupid."
Vanille put a hand on Akii's shoulder, "It's alright. I know what you mean. I have trouble being around most people too."
Akii looked up at her, the new softness to her voice an encouragement that maybe the girl wasn't mad. "So why did you come talk to me?"
This time, it was Vanille's time to avoid eye contact, as she looked off to her right, away from the bonfire.
"Sorry, I didn't me…"
"You seemed different. When I saw you walking to the party, that is. You know how it's easier to spot people like you, right?"
Akii nodded, with a smile, "Ya, I know exactly what you mean." She didn't, but she thought she did. And with that reassurance, Vanille looked Akii back in the eye. Her cheeks now blushing so that they outdid her hair. It was nice, Akii thought, this girl really seemed like she could…

Her thoughts were cut off as Vanille leaned forward and, wrapping her arms around Akii, kissed her. She would have struggled or pushed the girl off but… she was dumbfounded. What just happened and what is happening was all that she could think. And all she could do physically was… well, admit that it sort of felt good. And it seemed like it went on forever, like it would never stop. Maybe it was the passion in it and the fact that this was her first kiss and that she did enjoy it, but it probably also had to do with the fact that this was extremely uncomfortable and, frankly, a bit scary.

When the pink haired girl finally pulled away, Akii shouted out, instinctively, "What was that?"
Though she seemed a little embarrassed, this time, Vanille did not look away or blush, but simply admitted, "Well, when you said you were a lesbian I just sort of… I don't know, lost control. I just…"
"I'm not gay."
"What? But you said that you knew what it liked to see people who were different." Her face was contorted a bit, she was obviously embarrassed, her cheeks a bright red, and her eyes were scrunching up a bit, looking like she was on the verge of tears.
Akii, for some reason, felt very bad about not being gay right now, Vanille just seemed so upset about this revelation. "I thought you were just someone who felt uncomfortable around other people and like talking and all."
Then the tears started, "Please don't tell anyone."
"Shh, shh, it's alright," Akii put a hand on Vanille's shoulder, "I won't, it's not my place. I don't care that you're gay, that's up to you." But nothing she was saying seemed to matter, "Come on, it's alright." After this, she sort of stepped forward and hugged the poor pink haired girl. After a couple minutes, Vanille started to calm down and choke back her tears.
"I'm sorry, Akii," as she said this she pulled herself away from the silverette's arms, "I really didn't mean to do anything like that. I hope you're not mad at me."
"No, it's alright Vanille. I know you, uh, you didn't, uh, mean to do that, not really."
"So, uh, what now? Should I go back to my friends?"
"Do you want to leave, maybe we could hang out for a bit, not kiss, and talk?"
"Sure. I hate those people anyway."
"Me too."