In the middle of a meadow laid a young woman-red, wavy locks tied into pig tails and with a very tribal clothing that only covered her upper chest and lower body. Beads were tied around her being, and a very distinctive fur cape wrapped around her waist. She laid on her side... unconscious. A cold breeze swept across the Pulsian's bare legs causing her emerald pools to open. There, she saw a blurry figure that wore blue and black. Once the red head began to get a clear picture of this figure, the figure reached out to touch her shoulder and spoke out to her,
"Vanille! Vanille, are ya alright? Answer me!"
"-F-Fang?" The red head, Vanille, spoke with a soft tone. Blinking several times, Vanille proceeded to sit up. The figure, Fang, crouched right beside Vanille. Although from the same village, Fang wore a satin blue sari that wrapped around her from her shoulder to her legs. Her hair was dark and wild, having reddish tips and stray strands that prodded against her cheek. Her eyes were ice cold blue and focused on the fellow red head. A sigh escaped Fang's lips, gently patting Vanille's shoulder.
"At least yer alright- that's what matters th' most." Fang nodded, offering a helping hand toward Vanille.
"Y-Yeah..." Vanille took Fang's hand, and Fang quickly but carefully brought Vanille back to her feet. A sigh escaped both of their lips, and Fang rested her hand onto her hip. Then, a thought came to mind that somewhat alerted Fang. "Say Vanille, have ya taken a look at yer brand?"
Blinking blankly a few times, Vanille looked up and took a moment to recollect her memory. "Ah!" She gasped, lifting the side of her skirt as she glanced down. Upon looking at her upper thigh, her emerald eyes widened-not in shock, but rather in excitement. "I-It's not there anymore! It's gone~!"
"Lemme take a peek," Fang quickly strides toward Vanille, bending down to look at the spot where Vanille's brand was supposed to be. Then, Fang's eyes widened in the exact same way as Vanille's. She immediately stood back up, putting her hands onto the red head's shoulders. "Yer right- We did it, Vanille! We finally completed our Focus!" She yelled in excitement, gently shaking the red head's shoulders until she momentarily gave Vanille a quick bear hug. Vanille couldn't help but to laugh along, almost to the point of joyful tears forming in the corners of her eyes. When Fang released their joyous embrace, Vanille grabbed onto Fang's arm, gently turning it to find another pleasant surprise.
"Your brand, it's gone too!" Vanille cheerfully remarked.
"Yeh..." Fang looked down to her upper, right arm for the first time, and just as Vanille said, her brand was gone. "Yeh, it is! Aha!"
"We have to find everyone and tell them we're finally back~!" Vanille nearly jumped, and began to skip backwards before Fang grabbed her hand.
"Vanille..." Fang paused, her excited expression slowly fading. "Don't get your hopes up too high. We dunno how long it's been since we've been in crystal stasis. It could'a been several hundred years like last time."
And almost instantly, Vanille's smile slowly faded as well, turning into a slight pout. "...I guess you're right."
"Ah..." Fang let out a long sigh; she hated seeing Vanille when she's down, especially with the fact that most of their friends might not be alive in this time period. She gave Vanille a light pat on the back after releasing her hand, smiling at her fellow red head Pulsian reassuringly. "C'mon, let's take a look around. See if we'll find anyone 'round here."
"Sure!" Vanille nodded, giving a small smile in return.
With that said, Fang led the two out of the meadow and into the woods that surrounded them. They weren't sure what to expect from this foreign place, or who they would find when they get out of this dense woods, but it wasn't something they couldn't handle. They are from Gran Pulse after all- the world full of all kinds of beasts.
"Ugh, when are we gonna find some food? I'm starvin'!" A voice rumbled through the same woods. A scruffy haired young man slumped over, patting the empty bulge of his yellow sweater. "We're in the woods, right? Shouldn't this place be crawlin' with other animals?"
"Maybe if you kept your mouth shut, we'd actually find some." A more stern and deeper toned voice replied right behind the young man. A taller and more masculine man, that was literally coverened in all black leather, had his arms crossed. He had clean cut silver hair and a distinct x-scar on his chest. His eyes were piercing yellow, and clearly showed some agitation in them.
"Come on, would you guys cut it out...?" A younger voice replied, and behind those two men was a boy that looked to be in his younger teens. He had a slightly feminine look with his jaw-length auburn hair and big hazel eyes- plus the silver bangles he wore on his right wrist. Besides that, he wore a red shirt and army green cargo pants. He goes by the name Toboe.
"Says the runt who keeps falling behind."
"Hey, at least I'm not complaining, Tsume!"
"We'll find food as soon as we get through the woods. There should be a town not too far from here." Then, a much calmer voice responded to all three, which came from the front of the group. The voice emanated from a young man with wild, dark brown hair. He wore a simple dark gray jacket, a white-T, jeans, and sneakers. A simple guy with simple intentions.
"Hmmm..." The hungry male closed his eyes and lifted his head back, sniffing the air much like a canine would. "It's really faint, but I can definitely smell something up ahead."
"Don't get your hopes up, Porky. Kiba's probably lying just to get you guys to keep going." The muscular man, Tsume, teased.
"Ahh, dammit! We have to find something to eat- we haven't eaten in days!" The hungry male whined, straining his voice in emphasis of his constantly growling stomach.
"Hige's right though. We haven't been able to find a single scrap of meat, and we've been walking for days on end..." Toboe worriedly gazed down to the dirt below them as he kicked small pebbles that lie in his way.
"If we don't make it to the next town before the sun sets, we'll find a place to rest and find some food. In the meantime, let's keep moving." The calmer one, Kiba, suggested, taking a quick glance back at the weary group.
"Awwww great..." Hige sarcastically remarked, shrugging his shoulders and dragging the soles of his feet against the dirt as he lazily followed his three companions.
The sun was setting in the horizon above the tall trees, and back in the meadow, Vanille had set up a small campfire. Dropping several twigs and broken branches atop the small flames, she let out a long sigh of relief as she just finished her part of the job. She reached into her pouch attached to her pink sash and unfolded a fur mat in which she spread it out and placed it onto the ground. A smile of satisfaction donned onto her face as she proceeded to sit down on her handmade mat. Not long after sitting down, Fang emerged out of the woods with two fox-like creatures over each side of her shoulders.
"Here's our dinner!" Fang grinned, carrying the dead animals toward their little camp site and dropping them beside the camp fire.
"Ooh~! Nice catch~!" Vanille giggled as she clasped her hands together in delight.
"Yeh! But for some reason, there aren't a lot of critters around. Wonder why..." Fang noted, rubbing the back of her neck. "Thought I'd find myself a bear or somethin'! S'pose this'll do."
"Well, it's just enough for the two of us~!" Vanille giggled once more, and soon after, Fang joined in the laughter as well.
"Heh, we'll get ourselves a bigger feast t'morrow mornin'-!"
Suddenly, they heard rustling and voices in near the outskirts of the meadow. Fang's eyes were immediately focused on the woods around them, slowly and cautiously unbuckling the lance from the holster behind her back. Shifting the blades upright, she twirled the lance forward into both grips, slowly approaching the source of the rustling.
Fang turned her head to the side to make quick eye contact with Vanille and jerked her head toward the Vanille's direction. Vanille understood the signal immediately, and crouched down to conceal herself behind the camp fire.
"I see a light. Should we head in?" A voice mumbled in the bushes, soon approaching the two Pulsians. On her end, Fang readied her weapon. Without another word spoken or action taken, a young man simply walked out of the bushes- it was Kiba, and his small group right behind him. And with no hesitation, Fang swiftly swung her blade and stopped it a few inches to Kiba's neck. The young man didn't even show the slightest bit of hesitation- he just simply glared back at Fang.
"What do ya guys want? Make it quick!" Fang threatened, her brows crinkled forward. She kept her blade close to the young man's neck, making sure he didn't move a single muscle.
"What the hell's her problem-? Huh?" Hige peeked from behind, and once he saw the dead foxes lying beside the campfire, "Aw yeah! Finally, some MEAT-!" And just like that, Fang swung the other side of the blade close to Hige's neck, now holding her lance horizontally.
"Hold it- yer not gettin' the meat 'til ya answer my question." Fang threatened once more, quirking a brow while giving exchanged glares between the two strangers.
"We're just travelers passing by." Kiba, yet again, replied calmly; not even the threat fazed him. "There's no need to fight if it isn't necessary."
It was now a stare-down between the two, wild-haired people. Both tried to decipher any deception with the simple act of looking into each other's eyes. After several moments, Fang broke the stare as she briefly closed her eyes, inclining her head slightly to the side.
"...S'pose yer right." She sighed, releasing the blades off of the two men's personal space. "Sorry 'bout that." Piercing the bottom blade of her lance upright into the dirt, Fang turned toward the campfire and signaled, "Ey, Vanille! It's okay now- these guys won't hurt us!"
"Really? Phew~! And for a second I thought we'd hafta fight~!" Vanille literally jumped out from behind the campfire, particularly surprising Hige and Toboe. Skipping over the fur mat, the cheerful red head gracefully made her way toward the group of men with a welcoming smile. "Up close, they don't look so bad~" Vanille giggled.
Fang briefly chuckled and nodded at Vanille's statement, and then turned towards the men. "So, ya lookin' for a place to rest for th' night, right?"
"Right." Kiba replied with a single nod.
"Why don'tcha stay with us t'night. Kinda as an apology for almost attack'n ya there." Fang suggested, and then pointed her thumb back to their little campsite.
"We'd sure love to!" Toboe replied immediately from behind, popping his head between Hige's and Kiba's shoulders with a gleaming grin.
"You don't honestly think we'll be staying with a couple of humans, right?" Tsume muttered, crossing his arms and furrowing his brows in agitation yet again.
"Ey, I heard that!" Fang pointed out, picking up her lance from the ground and strides her way toward the ever so grumpy Tsume. "If ya think we're a couple of weak humans, then yeh wrong."
"And how exactly am I supposed to believe that?" Tsume scoffed, only raising a brow.
"Care to find out, tough guy?" Fang retorted with an elongated smirk, tightly grasping her hand around her lance as if she was about to attack. Everyone else could feel the slowly heated tension between the two. If there was one thing those two had in common, it would have to be their stubbornness... or their pride. Frantic and a little panicked of what could happen, Vanille approached the two and gently tugged onto Fang's arm.
"A-Ah! Y-You guys... can we just sit around the campfire and, y'know... just get to know each other?" Vanille chuckled hestitantly, letting go of Fang and then clasping her hands together. "I mean, we've all had a pretty tiring day, so let's just relax... yeah~?"
Looking over her shoulder, Fang saw Vanille's innocent smile- a weakness that she couldn't bare to disappoint. Again, letting out a long sigh, Fang turned around and faced her back against the silver haired man. "-Vanille's right." Retracting the both ends of the blades, Fang began to walk over to the campfire.
"Is that a sign of defeat?" Tsume challenged again, but his arm was tugged onto by Toboe.
"Give it a rest, Tsume. They're nice enough to let us stay with them for the night." Toboe plead. Tsume only sighed as well in response, nudging Toboe's hand off of him with a hushed "tch".
"Have it yer way! I ain't gonna work up a sweat with ya- not in front of Vanille, at least!" Fang waved a careless hand behind, gently placing her lance down and sitting herself onto the ground beside the fur mat. Vanille chuckled a bit, turning towards the group still with a smile.
"What're you all waiting for? Let's get around the campfire, shall we~?" A cheerful giggle emanated from her lips.
The group of men looked to one another only to result in a shrug; they had already gotten themselves involved with these two women. Might as well take on their offer, they thought. However, knowing that these women had weapons with them, it would be a challenge if these men were to reveal who they really were-a pack of wolves.