A/N: No more hopping, skipping or jumping, promise! ;D Hope you enjoy this last tribute (psst. you should tell me your thoughts in a review)!

And this chapter, again, contains:

!SPOILER ALERTS! Did you ever take a good look at the school building in Oerba? The two drawings I mention are in there, hanging on the wall by the door, in case you're curious ;3!

Disclaimer: I only claim this fic.

Forbidden Friendship: The Paths We Take

Stay Close to Me, Count One, Two and Three

"What are you looking at?" I questioned the robot whom had been blatantly staring at me for the past five minutes.

It was being strangely quiet for a bot that beeped so much.

The kids were gone, Vanille having volunteered her-self to walk home with them. The problem was: all of the homes belonged to all of the villagers so it was anyone's guess if she'd come back or not. Perhaps Bhakti was acting so different because he's just that scared to be alone with me. The corner of my mouth upturned at this prospect; as he should be.

I marched away from the sink, having finally finished cleaning all of the dishes that were used, and made my way to the robot on the floor. He rolled in reverse slightly; serving only in giving me a nice chuckle. With a satisfied grin I crouched to the floor, bending my knees to reach him. A pat on his binocular-like eyes, a flick to his contraption and I said "What's got you all buggered out? Afraid I might kill ya?"

Another beep sounded before that odd whirling, clicking sound started up. My head retracted as his mechanical eyes lifted up. Either he was making toast or was about to explode. The sounds emanating from him weren't exactly reassuring.

I'm ashamed to say that I flinched when a screen appeared in front of me, but being astonished by this new discovery I was in no hurry to establish what I'd done. When I focused back on the flickering, floating screen Bhakti beeped again and then words ran on the screen.

My brow creased incredulously. "'Bhakti's Bonus Bytes'…seriously?"

Another click and the robot ran into my knee cap. I laughed, shooing him back to his original spot. "Okay, okay I get it. I'll read."

Finding the serious will in my body, I looked apologetically at the robot and waited for the screen to reappear. It took a few minutes, but afterwords the screen was up and running with text jogging across the flickering display.

"Alright let's see…Bhakti Bonus Byte number..." my eyes widened "…just how many 'bytes' are you carrying in that toaster box?"

If a robot could sigh, Bhakti was the first to do it. I barked out a laugh and waved my hands. I couldn't believe I was actually talking to the robot. I thought Vanille was crazy for doing such a thing, but Bhakti seemed almost….human. I mean, aside from the obvious that he wasn't. And that he was made of metal. And that his eyes were binoculars. Case and point, he wasn't human even though his actions seemed quite similar.

"Right…byte number..." I paused, giving him another look as the bot whir-clicked. Other than that he did nothing else so I continued "…773: 'If you stand in one place long enough, your friends may speak to you'…You think I can't get people to speak to me the normal way? That's it, bhakt. It's you and me; one on one."

Bhakti reversed until he was safely away before throwing the display up in the air once more. More text was on the screen, but the sentence was filled with only a few words so it needn't run across the screen making for a slow read.

I stood, placing my hands on my hips "I'll play your game once more, but if I see anything except 'sorry', you're mine."

I crossed the room quickly enough and reached the bot just as it tried to steel itself (pun intended) before my looming figure. I read the words and gaped. Then I smiled. This robot was one heck of a trip and to my amazement, he was growing on me.

The text read: 'Go see Vanille. Even silent, she still needs you.'

"You couldn't just say that before?"

Bhakti made that sighing sound once again, causing me to laugh. I patted it's…back? Head? Enh…I patted it before moving away and walking to the door. Turning the knob to open the door just a crack, I smiled and looked at the robot that was now safely back inside his box. "Thanks…Bhakti."

The air was crisp as I exited the warmth of the home, still it wasn't cold and I had no problem running down the stairs to walk out in to the square center of town. Night had descended upon us a while ago; since Vanille had been gone.

She wasn't one to stay out after dark, heck; she wasn't one to stay out and away from me. But it was hard to tell whether I should be worried or not. Vanille was the type of person who craved people being around her. I don't know if it was the attention or just to wipe away the loneliness, but she always needed someone beside her. I, on the other hand, was fine being by myself for days on end. Even that robot was too much to be around at times. Being alone was fine because I never actually felt lonely.

Vanille always held a hint of loneliness in her voice. I just couldn't tell why.

Looking around, I spotted the abode Roz would be most likely to reside in with her brother's, but the lights were no longer on. They were probably sleeping and I didn't want to disturb them so I walked in the other direction; toward the water.

It was while I was walking down the slope that I spotted something that disturbed the stillness of Oerba at night.

The water itself rippled against the walkway creating moonlight cascading abstractly on its surface. I became slightly entranced by this movement, wondering briefly what Vanille would be doing if she were, indeed, alone out here. My thoughts flashed from her pouting, to crying, to laughing and then skipping. The common denominator in those flashes was that in each one: she was always moving. And if there was something that distinctly expressed Vanille: it was her inability to sit still.

I just had to look for colorful movement. Right now, seeing as the only other thing moving out here was water, I shouldn't have too hard a time finding her.

Moseying over to the water's edge, I dipped my toes into the surface. It was cold, not bitterly so, but enough to make my toes hate me for a good while. Not that I minded it. I was used to cold feet. It was heat that I couldn't stand.

Toes drifting in and out of the water, I shifted my head to focus on the sky. In the process I happened to catch a glimpse of pink and white movement out of the corner of my eye. And when I turned to look directly at that movement, I found what I was looking for.

There on top of the school building, where all the flowers that we planted were, sat Vanille, her legs swinging idly back and forth. She looked as though she were listless despite the seemingly energetic movements of her legs.

Cracking my shoulders with a good lift and twist, I headed toward her position quietly. Sneaking up on people wasn't really my forte, but for some reason I was really good at it. The villagers always jumped at my entry, I just thought it was because they were intimidated. They said that I was cunning. I liked to think both played a part in their surprise.

When I entered the school building, I more or less ignored the desks lining up neatly to face the chalk-board. As for the artwork…well I fancied looking at children's creations. Moreover it was so pathetic it made me laugh or it was so pityingly cute that I couldn't help except to love it. Either way I was never able to quite pass a drawing by.

Finger on my chin, I gazed at the newly made drawings on the teacher's desk. Both were chocobo's, but one looked like something a behemoth would spew up. The other had a bit more handy work and practice thrown in to it, like the child was aspiring to be an artist. I raised a brow and 'hmm'ed.

I still liked the behemoth spew.

I laid the papers back down in their rightful place and headed out the side door and up the stairs to the roof-top.

Luckily enough, Vanille's back happened to be facing toward me. It wasn't my initial intention to creep on her like some two-bit psycho-stalker, but I didn't know how else to approach her, really. I mean 'hey, did you see the behemoth barf on the paper downstairs?' was no way to start a conversation.

Especially when I knew the conversation piece that was bothering her was a touchy subject for the both of us.

I silently inhaled a breath and began. "Alright, spill. What's eatin you?"

"Fang!"

I'll admit; I got an inner chuckle or two from the way she spun around, jarring her hand underneath her rump and then promptly shaking off the pain. Usually I was the one with the terrible luck. She must have gotten herself into one heck of a slump to be this out of it.

"Don't bother getting up." I commented, taking a seat beside her and throwing my feet dangling off the building. "We…need to talk."

I watched as she reluctantly withheld a sigh from escaping her lips. She smiled and tried that whole 'everything is fine' act, but I wasn't buying any of it. "So, what do you want to talk about? You and Bhakti didn't get in to a disagreement again, did you?"

Did she really think that could fool me? I've known her since she was a whiny, crying whelp of a baby (not that much had changed since) and yet she thought she could pull off her oldest trick in the book on me?

I decided to play along. "We got in to a bit of a scuffle. Toaster Oven was no match for me though."

Her face dropped. "Fang! You didn't!"

"Ha! Fooled you." I chuckled when her lip pouted and she crossed her arms, facing her body away from me. "That's what you get for trying to fool me with that fake smile of yours. Honestly…you should know better by now."

Slowly, but surely she turned back to face me, her frown all-too evident on that pretty face of hers. "I'm sorry, Fang…it's just…I don't want you to go."

"You think I'd be up here if I didn't know that?" I asked, expecting no response.

She remained silent for a few moments as she stared down in to the water's reflection of the night sky…and of the viper's nest. "But you're not going to change your mind…are you?"

It was easy to tell myself that I didn't have to do anything about this entire situation. I could make it simple and live out life on Oerba with the rest of town, but my mind always wandered to: what if the demon came back? It was only a matter of time before it came back looking for more resources to steal from our land to carry back to its own. Only a matter of time before it killed just as ruthlessly. What if this time…it got Vanille?

"'Fraid not." I answered, my mind's eye focusing on that last moment before Da Pa was murdered.

She nodded. "It's because of Da Pa…isn't it?"

"I confess that has a big part to do with it, but that's not all of my reasoning."

I was caught off guard with which the speed she turned on me, grabbing my arm and yanking it towards her. "Then why! Why do you have to do this! Why do you have to go and leave!"

"Because I want to protect you!" I shouted cutting off her rant of questions that I knew wouldn't stop unless I stopped it. "I couldn't…I didn't do anything when that demon stole our home the first time. Da Pa was killed because of my incompetence and you ended up having to save me."

"But you're always saving me, too, Fang…"

"That's not the point! If that demon were to come back today, would you be prepared! Can you honestly say that you would survive the next time?"

"We'll just run away and rebuild again, Fang!"

"I'm sick of running!" I yelled, my fist slamming down on the side of the building with emphasis from my rage. I understood Vanille's intentions were good and her heart was in the right place. But she was being naive thinking we could always run from our problems. Sooner or later…they'd find us. We had to face our demons. And I was ready to face one now. "If we keep running, Vanille, you and I will be the only things left on this planet once everything is said and done. I'm going to protect you and Oerba."

"But what about becoming a c'ieth? What if…that happens to you?"

I shrugged. "So then kill me."

She gasped, her hand flying over her mouth and her head shaking with denial.

"I don't want to be damned to walk, fly or crawl on Pulse as an ugly, limping creature for the rest of eternity" I smiled "If I had the looks, sure. But seeing as looks aren't in the deal, I'll stick with the killing."

"I could never do that to you, Fang." She whispered.

I sighed. "Then hire someone. I really don't want to be c'ieth."

Vanille surprised the hell out of me by smacking me. I rubbed my cheek and wide-eyed her. Tears were forming on the brim of her angry eyes "How can you be so casual about this!"

"Because I've accepted my decision a long time ago…the hardest part was telling you."

Vanille grimaced, scoffed and then slumped her shoulders. The entire emotion of 'anger' never sat too well with her.

Deciding to give her a break on the heavy subject, I changed it for a bit. "Did you happen to see those two drawings downstairs of the Chocobo's?"

For a minute I didn't know if she would take the bait. But after a little while a smile formed on her face. She seemed pleased enough at the change of pace. I'd say it was safe to say she even looked a little relieved. "They're cute, aren't they?"

I jeered "Yeah that one was positively adorable."

Her eyebrow raised and she crossed her arms. "Oh? Which one?"

I leaned back and grinned. "You know…the one that looked like a behemoth ate a Chocobo and then coughed him up on a piece of paper. Though what a behemoth is doing in a school and why it's creating art, is beyond me."

"That's not very nice!" she smacked me again "I made that!"

"You're kidding?"

"Da Pa told me my drawing was a gift." She jutted her bottom lip, crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks as she felt the entirety of my criticism seeping in. She was quite obviously just milking the display for all it was worth, but I couldn't help finding the humor in the situations predicament.

"Yeah?" I asked, trying my best to hold in my laughter. "Did he tell you to return it, too?"

Vanille raised her hand to smack me again. I reacted by quickly raising my arms to defend my vital head area; didn't need her puncturing any eyes or such. But when I felt nothing come, I lowered my arms and chuckled. "Hey, yellow blobs are classy. I, personally, loved the…coloring technique you used."

She threw me a sideways, half-rolling her eyes glance before she turned back to gaze uninterestedly at the water's surface.

"Vanille?"

My question arrested the silence of night for only a few moments; stillness reaching every corner and then covering both Vanille and I once it sought the opportunity. I sat forward, resting my elbows on my lap.

"I'm a little sad that you didn't discuss this with me earlier."

I raised my brow. "I never knew you had such terrible drawing's bef-"

"Not that!"

"Oh."

"…when did you stop trusting me?"

I shook my head and sighed. She always took things a little too personally despite that I meant well. Grabbing her shoulder, I patted it and stood, her gaze following me. "I haven't."

"Then why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Frustrated, I growled, rubbing a hand agitatedly through my hair. "Because I knew you would take it the wrong way. I didn't want you trying to change my mind."

She remained silent as she frowned, her brow furrowing together in contemplation.

I could understand why she was so confused and maybe a little hurt, but she had to learn to grow up sometime. And what better time for her to learn with me leaving? Sure, that wasn't what I had originally intended, but I felt guilty not having some excuse for leaving her (besides to kill a demon). Vanille would never truly be alone, she had Roz, Lyulf, Coy, Ryker and many other villagers; the only person she wouldn't have near: was me.

Perhaps…that was what I feared most.

She had never been away from me for more than a few hours during a day. And I was always with her at night, when she cried herself to sleep at times more often than not.

"Look, I'm going to go pack my things…I'll be out of here before morning." I paused "If you don't want to see me off, I'll understand. Give Ryker and Roz my regards."

And with that I headed back to the house…and left her alone, steeped in her silence.

XXX

"I never thought I'd say this: But I'm going to miss you, you over-glorified toaster oven."

Bhakti sincerely beeped at me. Or at least, I took it as sincere. I really wasn't in the mood to think of it as anything else.

Smiling, I crouched to the ground and lightly knocked my knuckles against Bhakti's casing. It rapped gently, a hollow sound emanating from the whizzing robot. I knew he wasn't empty…now; after having fully committed to admitting that I thought less of it, excuse me, him before he gave me his little advice. In a very low toned sound, Bhakti beeped at me again and rolled against my leg.

I laughed and pushed him back with my fist. "I won't be gone forever! And while I'm gone, I expect you to take care of the house. Make sure the house and dishes are clean, the kids are fed, Vanille gets to sleep and the furniture is dusted."

The bot pulled his new-found-favorite sighing trick on me again before clanking fully to the ground in his pouting.

"…yeah, who am I kidding? Even I don't dust this place." I paused mid-chuckle and looked around; and I mean, I really looked.

It was almost too surreal to think that I might never return. Slowly my head craned around the room, examining the worn edges, the lived-in atmosphere, the clutter, the smell, the…everything that was Vanille and I. My mouth twitched on the makings of a smirk that was never truly able to stow itself upon my face.

My feet started moving slowly toward the sitting-area's table, the house barely creaking with my weight. And then I reached for the photo atop its surface, brushing the dust that I had mentioned to Bhakti away with the back of my hand. As I said: I never dusted. Minutes passed and I just continued staring at the nondescript photo, waiting for something inevitable to wake me up, snap me out of this dream and tell me to stay here, with Vanille; to stay as we were in this timeless photo; in a photo where Vanille never cried and I never worried.

But I kept thinking of how this place, here and now: was not a dream. It was nothing more than a place to which Vanille and I had found our escape from reality. And as if to keep reminding us of the atrocities that we couldn't hide from, that nest loomed in the sky above our town; its demon inhabitants waiting for just the right moment to strike. Waiting for just the right moment to surprise us all, kill us and steal everything we had striven so hard to build.

I cringed, grinding my teeth together hard. I wanted nothing more than to be the person to destroy that demon; to destroy the viper's nest. Repay the bastard for everything it had done and would only continue to do. I wanted to be the one to kill it.

Bhakti decided that was as good of a moment as ever to beep and in doing so scared the daylights out of me and out of my trance. He caused me to jump and look back to the ground where he had a panel floating over his head. I waved it away and set the photo back on the table. He had probably typed up something dealing with if I was okay or not.

I turned at him and grinned. I was fine.

"You remember what I said now, right?"

The panel reappeared and on the screen words started to form. Needless to say, he quoted me word for word. Snickering, I patted Bhakti, grabbed my weapon and walked to the door, sliding half-way past it before I addressed him.

He beat me to the punch. Dangling in-front of my eyes was a blue, wide-long screen (projected with all of his might no doubt) with only two words typed across it.

Good-Bye.

I sighed, shaking my head. Then promptly (and I felt quite appropriately) kicked him. Bhakti whirred, beeped, clicked, and anything else he could think of, at me in hurtful protest. With a reprimanding look on my features, I pointed that 'mother's-finger' at him. "No good-byes here, Bhakti. I'll be back…I don't know when, but I'll make sure that I do. Now, if you want to see me off with a farewell…it's going to have to be better thought-out than that."

Backing away until I was on the opposite side of the threshold, I held the door and waited for the re-appearance of his screen. It took all he had once again just to get the screen up, judging by the 'right-before-an-explosion' noises that were emanating from him.

Finally two more words appeared; taking place of the others I scolded him for.

See ya.

I laughed. Bhakti was after my own heart. Only a few days residing with us and he was already developing an accent.

"You're on your way." I commented, winked and shut the door, whispering a "See ya…" before it clicked closed.

With a huff, I set off down the stairs quietly so as not to wake a soul. The only two that I planned on knowing about my departure as it happened was: Vanille and Bhakti. Anyone else would cause me too much grief and never allow me to even step outside Oerba.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel even a little bit of sadness as I walked up the walkway and headed out. In fact, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel the urge to cry. I felt it many times while gazing at the abodes, the trees, every each and individual tile that made up our paths in and out of town. Every time I glanced back, I felt that crashing reality that this was my journey, my path, and that I might not return despite not wanting to say it aloud.

But to have no path was worse than the reality I was facing. To live in Oerba comfortably seemed too good somehow; as though the ignorance we all had allowed ourselves was not only bliss, but was selfish. Of course, not everyone agreed with me (practically no one did) and their paths would be vastly different. Still…mine, at least, I could be proud of. Regardless at where my path ended, I could look back and say: 'I'm glad I did this'.

"OERBA YUN FANG!"

"What the hell!" I screamed, my hair standing straight up at the surprise yell. My body shivered to think of whom it was that caught me, thankfully I calmed as I registered that of who it was. "Quiet, Vanille! You'll wake up the entire village!"

"YOU THINK SO?"

Repressing the urge to scream a second time, I darted towards the mischievous pink-haired child wishing by some might that the Maker would shut her up. Just this once.

With a giggle she dodged my hand and let me fall to the ground.

She was lucky I didn't get a hold of her neck.

Rolling on to my back with a growl that seemed to utter deep within my throat, I produced her name whilst rubbing my smashed nose. "Vanille…"

Vanille only smiled, winked and took her signature stance above me. With her butt out, her hands on her hips and her face leaning gradually toward me she said "I'll be quiet: on one condition!"

I mumbled something incoherent even to myself and sat up. As if it wasn't bad enough that she emphasized 'one' by raising her pointer finger, Vanille had a 'condition'. Great. "What's it going to cost me?"

She practically hopped with excitement. "You…let me…go with you!"

I dead-panned. "That's it?"

"What do ya mean 'That's it'? Of course 'that's it'!" She paused "You mean you're not even a little mad?"

I rubbed my head. "I'm a little mad that tears are forming in my eyes due to the way you crushed my nose when you let me hit the ground, but other than that…can't say that I am."

Vanille grinned, laughed and extended her hand to help me up. Appreciatively, I took it.

After being able to jump up, re-situate myself and dust off the dirt, I cocked an eyebrow at Vanille, waiting for something similar to an apology. I received none.

"Oh yeah!" she yelled obtrusively, her eyes widening as she reached her hand inside one of her pocket bags. Figures, when I wanted her to be quiet she continued with her perky, strident tone. "I meant to give this to you earlier, but…" her fingers were held tightly closed as she lifted her hand away from her bag, placing it assertively in front of me. "Ryker modified some of the tools I gave him; upon my request of course."

Vanille delicately removed each of her fingers and allowed moonlight to shine brilliantly upon the objects held in her palm. It was jewelry, something she enjoyed covering herself in from head to toe, but not really a fashion statement I ever got in to myself. Still I had to admit that they certainly kept my interest. They were simple, violet fangs; in both earring and necklace form.

"I was hoping to give this to you on a better note, but….Happy Birthday!" Vanille grinned widely, her arms rushing timidly behind her back as I took the gifts. "I know we had an agreement not to celebrate your birthday again, but…"

It was true. I had made it blatantly clear that we were never supposed to celebrate the day of my birth again; for me it only incited pain and it took away from doing more productive things. As a child without a mother or father, we hadn't had time back then to worry about celebrations or gifts. Every day was a cruel struggle for survival. That hadn't meant I didn't take time out of my day to celebrate Vanille's birthdays. She always seemed to need a diversion and those made a good excuse from the harsh reality we faced on a regular basis.

"Vanille?"

Her stance straightened at my tone, she was quite obviously anticipating a scolding. "Yes?"

I looked up at her and quietly said "Thank you."

She gaped before breaking in to yet another smile, this time one of genuine happiness as well as maybe a bit of smug satisfaction. With a few paces forward, she kicked up her feet before spinning back around on me. "So you want to race there?" she threw her fist in the air, bringing them back to her waist as her legs landed steadily on the ground.

I shook my head. Typical that Vanille would ask me for a race already after I just recovered from an undignified fall. "I think I'm good."

"'Fraid you'll lose?"

"Vanille…don't start."

"Alright then, when you're the last one to make it to the tower, I'll just tell ole Fal'Cie that you're a rotten egg and turning you in to a L'Cie won't help you."

You know how salt shakers sound when you shake 'em? Yeah, that was how my head-scratching was sounding about now. I lowered my fist and gave her a good long look. A vibrant as ever, Vanille continued smiling that I've-challenged-you smile, her hands on her hips as she awaited my decision.

I barked a laugh at the sky and secured my weapon to my back. "On three…"

She bounced in eager anticipation. "One"

"…Two…"

We both locked gazes for one second. And though it didn't occur to me at the time, we must have read each other's mind because once we looked forward again, we took off, regardless of timing. I guess when it came to us Pulsians, time restrictions just didn't apply.

"THREE!"