A/N: Another hop, skip, jump and we are at the age that Fang and Vanille are in the game (well, maybe six hundred and sixty-six years younger though ;D if ya know what I mean) anyway hope you enjoy this.

SPOILER ALERT: If you have not reached Vanille and Fang's hometown then this is, indeed, a spoiler chapter. It's all happening before the game starts, but there are a few things you could potentially kill me for spilling xD so consider this a 'covering my butt' alert. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I only claim this fic.

Forbidden Friendship: The Paths We Take

Do Not Hide, See The View, Step Aside, Go Through

It was time I left.

That robot…was getting on my last nerve with its clinks, beeps, whistles and tinkers. Maker knew where Vanille found the contraption and, again, only Maker knew what possessed her to grab the hunk of junk and carry it home. We already had enough trinkets in the houses; anymore items were just wasting space.

I looked away from the book I was reading. It wasn't much of one anyway; more accurately it was a guide; a loose guide that was made to identify monsters. Now that was useful. A robot named Bhakti…not so much. It was hard to even say what the thing did. I'd never seen it in action before as it was; only Vanille had. Which I distantly concluded that the reason for that was because of the way she hoarded around the thing once she got home.

She'd only owned it for a week now though; sooner or later it'd get old.

Stretching away from my seat, I placed the guide on the table, next to the photo of Vanille and I, while sparsely raising an eye at the nondescript beeping box. "And just who do you think you're beeping at?" I asked, prodding the tin with my foot. Small, but discernible clanks resounded from it as I rapped it with my open-toed sandals. The tin can didn't move, even as I kicked it (though I told myself it was a light kick, nothing damaging), so I immediately set upon bending to the floor to see if it's life had been expanded.

With my finger I flicked it, hoping that I would get some sort of sign that it moved on. I was actually hoping it had moved on. After trying to read for the past hours through clinking, beeping and some whirling sound I couldn't define, I was fed up with the glorified toaster oven. I flicked it again and waited. But it didn't move.

With a smirk on the hinges of my mouth, I heard footsteps of the kids coming back up to the house.

There were plenty of kids; plenty of houses. In reality only a few would come up to the steps of this abode (unless it was mealtime. That was a totally different story). But one kid I could be absolutely positive would come to this one was: Vanille. She would most certainly walk through that door, greet me and then…

…greet Bhakti.

But Bhakti was dead now. And the only one whom was left at home besides Bhakti was me. So who was the guilty party?

Hm. I obviously hadn't thought that kick through.

Setting out for a distraction, I started looking for something amongst the sheets, blankets, trinkets and pouches. If I could just find something that may take her mind off Bhakti, I had a chance of getting away with it. But as I continued tossing miscellaneous items around, I kept coming up empty-handed. And the footfalls were none too far off anymore.

As I guiltily grabbed my guide, sitting quickly back in the chair, I remembered a saying once told to me: "Honesty is always the best policy."

The door burst open with a vigor I knew was all Vanille, her signature contented sigh only confirming my suspicions. "You really should have come with us this time, Fang! The flowers are so beautiful this time of year."

My 'mm-hmm' led her to believe I was truly engrossed with the book in my hands, but my thoughts were leading elsewhere. See, Vanille always wanted me to come with her and 'see' the flowers, but we could 'see' them just fine from the center of Oerba. I always told her that and she always responded this same way every year. I never could understand why a group of kids had to go to the middle of the fields just to watch flowers sway back and forth. Sure, they were pretty. But…really, they're everywhere.

"Oohh, she never does listen, does she Bhakti?" she changed her tune, turning to the robotic lump on the floor. Might as well be garbage now since the damn thing was dead. "Bhakti?"

I lifted my eyes from the book and set it back on the table. "Alright, Vanille…look here and listen 'cause I'm only going to say this once."

Vanille giggled, placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes at me. She rolled her eyes at me. She rolled her eyes at me. The girl talking to a can of garbage (not to mention the one who named the thing in the first place) was rolling her eyes at me: the person who took care of her for a living. Not to consult the maker, but there was something seriously wrong with this picture. I don't believe anything else could possibly top how ridiculous this was.

"Wait your turn, Fang. I was talking to Bhakti."

And now I stand corrected.

"You can't be serious…" I mumbled.

"Bhakti! Bhakti wake up!"

"She's serious."

Deciding to distance the problem (tin can) and the creator of said problem (me, obviously), I walked to the back of the room which was just an alcove consisting of small beds. The further away I was from the problem, I figured the less of an impact it'd have on me.

Vanille gasped.

I winced.

"Look! Look at Bhakti!" she cried, her finger pointing exasperatedly at the bot as her hand covered her mouth.

"I didn't kick it that hard!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air as I turned to see her 'shame on you' face.

And then I realized her expression…was giddy almost. She was excited? Vanille was actually okay that I kicked her rolling garbage can?

That's when I saw the object of her excitement. Apparently when I turned and walked away, Bhakti decided it fit to come back to life and play a little joke on me. In the left over cloth that my Sari was made of, he had decided to wrap himself up by running head-long in to the cloth, covering him in a manner similar to mine.

I lifted my brow in bemusement. Damn thing was out to get me.

"He looks just like you, Fang!" she laughed, poking Bhakti and clapping. "You should give him some pointers."

"That thing doesn't need my help to spar." It's already beating me at my own game as it is, I thought a bit angrily as I glared the contraption down. 'Bhakti' beeped, faking a shiver and then boxed itself back up.

"What was that about kicking though?" Vanille asked, suspicion dripping from her voice as she examined Bhakti's outer rim and then me.

I shrugged nonchalantly and turned away. "Who said anything about kicking?"

So much for honesty being the best policy.

I could feel Vanille's eyes narrow at my back. She was smarter than that, but judging by her silence she allowed this offense to pass. Besides, Bhakti got me back already; any other sort of punishment was just redundant.

"Fang, I invited the kids over here for dinner…is that okay?"

I stood in silence for a moment and thought about the setting of her question. If the kids were around, it may just lighten Vanille's mood a bit more and as long as she stayed happy, maybe my news wouldn't affect her so much. Because I had a feeling that she would be none too pleased with the information I was going to be giving her. I needed her to be as cheery as possible. Maybe the let down wouldn't be so hard then. "If that's the case then what are you doing just sitting there?"

"Huh?"

"We've got a dinner to get started on."

Vanille laughed and nodded "Right!"

XXX

We ended up fighting a few monsters and cooking their meat, making a broth out of their bones.

It was wasteful not to use the entire creature when killed so we tried to use every part. The fur and outer skin we sent to the village seamstress so that she could make it in to clothes for other villagers. The claws, fangs and paws we sent to the blacksmith for the birth of new weapons. And the eyes, fangs, teeth and tail I gave to Vanille to give to our medicine man.

As I stirred the last bit of meat in the broth, I heard the padding of feet as they ran up the steps.

Right on time.

They let themselves in by bursting through the door with their pointless banter following them. I heard Vanille amongst them, probably talking their ears off. She, of course, greeted me first.

"I'm back!" she giggled throwing her hand in the air and then skipping towards me. "Ryker gave me a few things for the eyes, fangs, teeth and tail. Do you want to-…"

I waved my hand before lifting the steaming pot and setting it on one of the un-used cook-tops. "You can show me later."

Vanille smiled quietly "Okay."

"Hey, Fang." Roz greeted, her long black hair flowing perfectly behind her. Roz was a weak girl; I would compare her to Vanille except Vanille was much stronger. Her green eyes portrayed the beauty her face framed, but in a battle looks didn't get you anywhere besides maybe in to a Behemoth's stomach.

We always worried about her and the two boys' at her side probably more so than anyone else; two protective brothers' were a lot to handle.

Lyulf was the boy to her right; he was outgoing, honest and quick to flare. He sure had an attitude, but his heart was in the right place; most of the time. His hair, unlike his brother and sister was a spiked diluted orange, his eyes brown. His brother, Coy, was quiet in comparison; so quiet that I had never heard him speak but two words: "Thanks" and "Hyaa", if the latter could even be considered a word. His hair was spiked, but laid flat against his head, the spikes facing forward. His green eyes stood out brightly amongst his black hair.

"Roz, Lyulf, Coy…this is it, huh?" I asked, turning my question to Vanille "When you said you invited the kids I suspected all of them."

Roz laughed. "She did. She even invited a few of the adults. Ryker was too busy with the medicinal practices after Vanille handed him your items, Lolek…well, you know Lolek, he does what he pleases. Abira wanted to stay home to help her mother with her baby sister and…" she lifted a finger to her chin trying to think of more people that Vanille must have asked.

I interrupted. "What about Vikram?"

Lyulf shrugged. "What about him? He hasn't come back after his stupid decision."

"What makes you think it's stupid?" I asked angrily, the bite in my voice evident. I liked Vikram. He was humble, sarcastic, and very protective of our home-town. What he did, he did out of concern for us…yet I'd heard nothing except scorn coming from the mouths of the very ones he set out to protect. See, Vikram left a few weeks ago to become a L'Cie.

The red head rolled his eyes. "How about the entire ideal that leaving us to become a L'Cie is actually going to do someone any good? I mean, we're just tools to the Fal'Cie. They give us some crack-pot job and if we don't finish it…well too bad for us, we turn c'ieth. But are they affected? Nope, they just get another gullible human to carry on the dirty work that others couldn't handle."

"Well I don't see you getting off your ass and trying to do something about this war." I growled, my fingers tightening their grip around the steaming pot's handles. "At least Vikram is out there trying to help. Who are you to say it's right or wrong when you're sitting here doing nothing!"

"And what about you, Fang!" Lyulf jumped up, challenging me to strike. "You act smug, but I haven't seen you lifting a finger to do anything about the war! What do you intend to do, hunh?"

I felt overwhelmed; boiling over much like the pot in my hands. I could feel the point of the boil reach its critical point and I knew that if I didn't settle myself down soon, I'd have a fight on my hands. I told myself to breathe and stay calm. Just breathe.

Lyulf scoffed. "Yeah, that's what I thought. You act self-righteous, but when it comes down to it you don't intend to do anything either."

Stay Calm.

"Just admit it, Fang…you're no better than me or anyone else in Oerba."

The handle from the pot snapped. "I'm nothing like any of you!" I yelled, lifting the pot and slamming it back on the metal heating bars. I turned, the fire he fueled lighting my eyes, burning my body. Lyulf's eyes grew wide for a split second, showing how truly scared he was to face me as an opponent. Even when he attempted to look as though I didn't faze him again…he failed. He failed miserably.

"You want to know what I intend, Lyulf?" I was biting off the words, holding back the urge to throw the metal handle in my hand at the boy's head. "I intend to become a L'Cie and end this war. I'll tear that damn nest out of the sky…with or without any of you."

Roz gasped at the same time as Vanille and rose out of her seat. She immediately smacked Lyulf before addressing me. "Don't listen to him, Fang! You don't need to make such a decision just because my brother's an idiot."

I started before Lyulf could protest. I was sick of hearing him speak by now. "It's not because of him." My voice was soft, even if strained, as I spoke this confession because the one I wanted to avoid hurting by the news was standing to the side, facing me with a look I couldn't discern. Slowly, I glanced Vanille's way. Her face was of pure surprise and perhaps a hint of…discontent? "I've actually been thinking about this since before Vikram left. His decision just made mine clearer."

"What if the Fal'Cie just gives you some useless task?" Coy spoke. I swear: if I were wearing socks he would have knocked them off. Obviously there was a reason he didn't speak often. His voice was unsettling.

"Then I'll use the power they give me for the time being to destroy the viper's nest." I growled, briefly catching Vanille's eye before I saw her avert her gaze to her feet and then to the simmering pot.

Her movements were shaky at best and when she walked over to the cabinet to take out bowls, she quickly spun around and smiled. "Enough of all this depressing talk! There's food to eat!" she inhaled the aroma "Mm! Smells delicious!"

Roz jumped at the chance of emotional improvement, skipping over to Vanille while pumping her arms and rolling up her sleeves. "I'll help! Ooo, this does smell yummy, Fang. Mind giving me the recipe some time?"

I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest. I despised tip-toeing over subjects and leaving them hanging, but by the way things were looking; it seemed I was out-numbered.

Having stuck her hand in my 'surprise stew', Roz winced and chewed like a half-retarded chocobo that got something gummy stuck in it's mouth. "This steak is tough."

I scoffed. "Yeah, so is life."

A/N: One more thing: I'd LOVE feedback on this chapter, if-n-ya don't mind, because creating the OC's bothered me. I usually enjoy finding names and characteristics to fit them, and while I did enjoy it I'm not sold on the way they turned out. I didn't want them taking center-stage and spotlight (for the story focuses on Fang and Vanille), but did I accomplish that well-enough? Or did I lessen their appearance too much? I might not improve on it straight-a-way, still, just knowing would help me tons.

Thank you all so much!