A short oneshot I wrote but never got anywhere with; inspired by LookAtMyShoes' "Reach," which is a good ficlet - better than this one, and way less out of character.

Link - .net/s/6748569/1/Reach

This was fairly straight forward to write, and like Lams, I thought 'eh, what the hell, Van's way better than Hope in a fight anyway,' so this is what became of it. Set in Vile Peaks, obviously, but if you don't know where that is in game, it's a giant death trap of a trash heap, we good? Yeah, loved to hate that area, and there are a thousand details about it I could rant about to you, but I won't. There is subtext in this fic, Vanaire/Lanille specifically, and a you can take the ending any way you want, so you're warned.

Enjoy!

It was dark; it was cold; it was dreary, as was to be expected in such a place with the moniker, 'Vile Peaks.' The clouds dragged on about the sky, looming ominously in places where a moon should have been. Behind them, instead of stars, the far off lights of cities, ages and ages away, cast their greenish glow into the near blackness, creating an array of little pinholes that dotted vision from the horizon and above. Holed up along one of the previously untrodden route's great crevasses, anxious, Vanille probed at her in frustration for easily the thousandth time that night, with such tense regard under that stagnant air that she cracked at last.

"Alright missy, I think it's time you talked for once," she began sharply, almost as if the soldier were some sort of child she were chastising - a final straw moment of sorts. Lightning waited patiently for what came next, straight faced as the girl got up from her little seat across the path and marched herself over to where the woman was resting, her unmoved, smooth profile propped against discarded sheet metal - an angular makeshift bed, full of dents, and not at all fit for such a woman's regal poise - with her mile long legs toned and swung over a nearby rock. Chancing a meager glance at said appendages, the green-eyed child's gaze seemed to sparkle under it all, and she clarified, determined, "You haven't said a word since that eido- horse thing tried its hand at kicking our rears 'round our ears, and I'm not liking it one little bit!"

Stable, the soldier locked gazes with her assailant, remaining solid. With a puff of breath to brush the hair from her eyes, she craned her neck upwards from her picture perfect pose to happen upon a taste of heaven and hell, where fire atop paste white met forest and navy - Vanille's figure contrasting with the sky's subtle backdrop greatly - and the girl's porcelain skin exuding the faint shimmer of sweat. The particular musk of such was in the air, and this did not go unnoticed. "Conserving energy," the uniformed soldier supplied evenly, blade at her side and ready. "You'd be best to do the same," she advised. The younger girl looked appalled at this sheer dismissal, and her fingers curled into tight fists at her sides, snagging finger fulls of bear hide from her makeshift blanket..

"Conserving energy?" Vanille stewed briefly. Lightning was utterly unfazed at this display and remained seated and calm; the only movement lay in her eyes, which were heavy and lidded against the shadows - shadows she bravely kept at bay until a scrawny hand flew across her cheek, hard. When the fuzz cleared from her sight, she brushed away the pulsing sting that quickly radiated from the blow and searched the viridian gaze that bored into her, too exhausted to bother with anger. "You're just like her!" the girl shouted above, fury in her teary voice, fury that showed quite suggestively in the downward curving curb of flesh that hid her straight, white teeth from view. Lightning had neither the will nor the reason to shush the fretting young lady.

"Wha?" was all the soldier had the strength to utter. Truth be told, if they were in for a fight, she would be no help. Regretfully, in the back of her mind, she hoped for this fruit to settle down once more, perhaps into sleep, even if the both of them had to do so to make the night. If push came to shove, at the least, one of them would be ready. She zoned in on the girl's speech once again, realizing the rant she'd triggered.

"..always getting yourself into trouble - just how the likes of you operate," Vanille was saying, "Story of my life, once a hero, always a hero, and sacrifices all around." Now she paced, pale hands in that saturated red-orange hair of hers as she spoke, "Always the type to charge in and save everyone - get yourself hurt, and oh no, all I get's an 'it's fine,' or a 'go on without me,' or simply nothing at all! Well I've had enough of it." She pivoted and set her attention on the pinkette, almost glowering, "Miss Lightning Farron, you will speak to me this instant, or I swear to everything divine in this universe, I'll have to pry your mouth open and suck that tongue of yours out until you do!" Hands knotted at her sides, she stood tall in the gritty canyon atmosphere, as intimidating a foe in her diminutive stature as the soldier's mind had ever allotted her for the imagining.

With no reply in store for this, Lightning's eyes bulged just slightly out of their sockets, taking it all in. For the first time in what seemed years, something stirred in her chest, a something that felt like fear, anxiety boiling in the pit of her belly, where it rolled to her core. Never in her life had this woman ever faced such opposition, and as the redhead approached, kneeling to her, she felt she didn't want to. Mouth falling open, she was barely able to mutter an agreement before the ginger was on her, and soon, she was able to speak no more.

Fin