A/N: So this rushed and pretty OOC, but I haven't written anything in a pretty long time so I gave it a shot. Sorry, college has been dragging me down lately, and lets just skip the life story before this becomes longer than the actual drabble.

Disclaimer: I don't own FFXIII or the character.

You waited.

You waited through blazing summers, subzero winters, torrential rain and endless droughts.

You waited.

Because there was nothing left for you.

Everyone had something, Hope had his father, Sazh had his son, Snow had Serah. Sure, you had Serah once too, but she was gone soon enough and then there was just you.

So...

You waited . Down at the base of that stupid crystal pillar you sat, wondering if the day would come when the two women would arrive once more, Fang and Vanille.

What would happen then? They wouldn't have a place to go, so naturally you would offer your home. You would catch them up on the many events they missed, tell them about Serah's newborn son and how far Hope was getting in his education with a ball of pride in your chest. Vanille would laugh at your excitement, but Fang would join in. Ask you if she could see your nephew, "bet ya he's got the Farron looks, but his dad's personality." She'd chuckle

Soon enough, Fang would leave however, driven by the need for adventure. To see how much her home world had changed, it wouldn't be the Pulse she last saw, crumbling villages would be replaced by tall buildings...Not Oerba, you made sure Oerba was turned into a kind of monument, cleaned up and rid of the monsters that once roamed it. Many referred to it as the edge of the world, the crumbling railway, the empty streets and the way the wind howled through empty houses. People visited, but kept their distance. Afraid they'd capture a spirit's interest or fall through a hole in a building.

Vanille, however, would stay. The thirst for adventure would be obvious in her brilliant eyes, but she knew what awaited her. She knew her friends were still gone, her home in ruins...so, she'd stay with you and you wouldn't mind. You liked her, much more than you cared to admit. You'd show her around the newly built Bodhum, take her to the amusement park, stay out late and stargaze on the beach...

You had everything planned out, every detail of every day up until the moment when you finally told her how you felt and..

You drew blanks there.

How could you predict how she'd react to something like that?

You didn't, couldn't. So you sighed in defeat, silently scorning your neediness. Something you would have immediately pushed away in the past, traveling with that group must have softened you up.

For now, there was nothing you could do but wait.

You tugged the heavy coat around your body, as though that would make you warmer against the bitter cold wind that snaked through whatever openings it could find, and you quietly closed your eyes.

Unbeknownst to you, a redhead stood watch over you, she always did. When you worked, when you took care of necessary daily chores, when you cried alone in your bathroom and then later beat yourself up for something she didn't quite know yet. She knelt down and buried her face in your back, and whispered, "I'll be back soon enough. Just wait...just wait a little longer."

Your head jolted up, you whipped around and reached out, "Van..." No one was there. You gritted your teeth, you were sure was she there.

You were sure.

You screwed your eyes shut and clenched your fists. It wasn't fair.

"It isn't..."

It isn't fair.

To be haunted by such feelings, to feel ghosts that weren't there. The fact that you were getting older, and she, she would be the same age. It wasn't fair.

But you would wait.

You had nothing left.