Fang shifted around restlessly which earned a scolding look from her advisor, Beymour. She grinned sheepishly before settling into a more comfortable position. Their party have been riding in the caravan for a few hours now, heading towards the nothern region of Gran Pulse. She and Beymour were to meet with the elders of the Karok tribe. The most of them live way up north, within the snowy mountains of Gran Pulse, but for convenience's sake, they've agreed to meet each other halfway. She stared out of the window of the caravan, watching the scenery of Gran Pulse pass by. It was a fine day, the clear endless blue sky stretching out into the horizon, with thin, wispy strands of clouds across the sky. The sun was high up in the sky, blazing it's heat down on Gran Pulse. She groaned inwardly, wishing that she'd sent Beymour alone instead for this meeting. The elder man was much wiser and experienced in dealing with these kinds of things, as he was the previous chieftain before her.
"We're pretty close now, Fang. Just a few more kilometers and we'll be at our meetin' spot", Beymour said, sensing her restlessness. Fang groaned, and he merely chuckled at her.
Leader or not, the young Yun was known to be impatient. Dealing with old farts and such wasn't really her thing, but of course, being a chieftain meant that she had to suck it up and deal with it. He shook his head at her, amused by this. Regardless of her impatience and recklessness, she was the best leader Gran Pulse could ask for. In just a year, she's managed to unify most tribes under Oerba. Oerba's too big to be even called as a village now. A town would be a more appropriate term for it, as the population within Oerba is growing. Not only that, she's managed to come to an understanding with Cocoon on behalf on Gran Pulse, and they signed a peace treaty. It was something that not even the leaders of his time could achieve in their lifetimes, let alone in such a short period of time. Thanks to that, Cocoon has offered some of their technologies to the people of Oerba, and upgraded their lifestyles. They built an air ship station on Gran Pulse, enabling people of Cocoon and Gran Pulse to visit each other.
Word of her achievements has reached to the ears of the leaders from distant tribes. Curious to see the last living Yun, and to see if any of the tales that they've heard is true, they've ventured from all over Gran Pulse to Oerba. They weren't disappointed at all when they saw that Oerba was now like a town, with proper buildings and facilities available for everyone. Then of course there was that famous night market which was the pride and joy of the young Yun (since she just loves watching her people have fun and getting into trouble herself), and their town guards armed to teeth, she has earned the respects of their elders.
"Why're you zonin' out for old man?", Fang asked, poking his side, making the older jump in surprise. He narrowed his eyes at her and she gave him her sunniest smile. Fang loved to mess with him, seeing as he was like a father to her and Vanille. They were both like family to him, and he'd do the best he can to keep them happy and safe. His wife loved them too, making sure that they eat on time (especially Fang), and yelling at them like a mother scolding her kids when they get into trouble.
"I'm not that old, Fang. I was just wonderin' what the missus was gonna prepare for dinner tonight", he said, tapping his belly lightly. He wasn't lying, Karin's cooking was the best in Oerba. Just the thought of her famous lamb stew was enough to make his mouth water and his stomach growl lightly.
"Careful old man, eatin' too much of that woman's food's gonna make ya fat. Is that a belly I'm seein'?" Fang asked, poking his stomach lightly. He growled lightly at her and she just laughed, her green jade eyes twinkling. He blinked as he realized that the caravan was slowing down. Peering out, he saw another caravan not too far ahead of them. He recognized the emblem on the caravan as the Karok tribe's.
"Alright kids, we're here. And Fang, be on yer best behavior yeah?" he said. She rolled her eyes at him and snorted before getting down from the caravan. She stretched, grabbing her spear and latching it to her back. She squinted at the Karok's caravan and saw people coming down from it. Her brows furrowed together as she realized that something wasn't right. Something was off, and she didn't like this one bit. Before she could voice her concerns to Beymour, a loud gun shot went off in the distance. Before she could register what happened, she felt a searing hot pain on the left side of her chest, and something warm and sticky. Glancing down, she saw a blotch of red forming on her blue sari.
"Ah crap", she mumbled, and everything went black.
Vanille was tired, to say the least. Whenever Fang wasn't around, she was in charge of Oerba's affairs. It wasn't "sugar and rainbows" as Fang would put it. A growing pile of papers was stacked on her desk as she was looking through the affairs of the village, the progress of the crops, security reports and such. She put aside the papers she was looking at and rested her forehead against the table, groaning tiredly. She winced a little as she felt a headache coming on. Now she understood why Fang was always in a bad mood when it came to paperwork. Standing up, she stretched, working the kinks out from her neck and shoulders. Glancing out, she decided that it would be nice to take a walk in this fine weather. Maybe I should ask Taino and Sioux to come along, she thought at she left the room. She glanced out of the window, and squinted when she saw hundreds of what seemed like soldiers coming to Oerba from a distance.
"What..." she started, trying to comprehend what was going on. Before she could finish her sentence, she felt heard a loud explosion going off somewhere within Oerba. Her emerald eyes widened as she realized that Oerba was under attack. Adrenaline fueled her as she quickly made her way to the stairs, descending down the steps quickly.
"Lady Vanille! Thank Maker you're safe! Oerba is under attack and we need to bring you to safety!", yelled on of the guards as they heard screams outside.
"Don't worry about me! Bring the people to safety first! That's your priority right now!", she yelled ,shrugging off his hand as he pulled her towards the safe house.
"But-", he started, and was cut off by a stern look from her.
"No buts! I can take care of myself. Now go!", she yelled. With a reluctant nod, the guard barked an order to the rest of his men, and left to help the people. She bit her lip as she thought about what she was going to do. What would Fang do... she thought, looking around for any ideas. Seeing the Bahamut's statue in the corner gave her an idea. Running outside, she was shocked to see the state of Oerba was in. Unknown soldiers were outside, firing what seemed to Vanille was heavy, military gunnery that definitely wasn't from Gran Pulse. Although the soldiers and guards of Oerba were doing a good job of keeping them out, she doubt they could hold them off for long. She ran for cover as another explosion went off nearby, and watched in horror as one of the missiles brought down a building. Gritting her teeth, she made a run for it, running past panicked citizens and travelers and headed to the temple of Etro that was nestled on a small hill that wasn't far off from the town.
As she ran, she could hear the screams of women and children, and shots of gunfire happening as the invading soldiers tried to break through the up the steps of the temple, she muttered a prayer to the goddess Etro, praying that nobody got hurt or killed in this attack. She saw the priests and priestess of the temple were panicking as they heard the chaos that was going on outside.
"Lady Vanille! What's going on?! Who's attacking us?!", exclaimed the cardinal of the temple as the priests and priestess ran into hiding within the temple.
"I'm not sure, but who ever's behind these attacks definitely wants to bring Oerba down. I need your permission to blow the Summoner's Horn cardinal", she quickly said, and for a moment, she wasn't sure it the cardinal understood what she was saying. He nodded quickly and pulled her by the wrist, leading her to the tower where the giant horn was. The Summoner's Horn was built shortly after most of the tribes were under Oerba. When in time of danger, it would call upon the beasts within the wilderness of Gran Pulse to their aid, fending off any dangers. It was a good thing the Yun's and Dia's were good with animals too. As they descended upon the winding steps of the tower, they could hear another loud explosion going off, making Vanille clenching her jaw in anger.
The cardinal quickly opened the door as they reached to the top, revealing the huge, golden horn that was sitting within the tower. It was long, at least twelve feet long, with a huge bell at the end carved with tribal designs all around. Since it was big and tall, she had to stand on a stool just so she could reach the mouthpiece. Taking a huge breath, she blew into the mouthpiece with as much force as she could muster, and was satisfied as she heard the deep rumble of the horn, giving out a majestic brassy sound as it echoed throughout Gran Pulse. For a moment, everything went quiet, and she laughed in glee as she heard the roars of Behemoth Kings, Adamantortoise and other Gran Pulse creatures answering her call. Her grin grew impossibly wide as she and the cardinal looked out from the tower, to see the beasts running out from the wilderness and charging at the soldiers. Those who were foolish enough to try and take them on were either killed in the stampede, or became snacks for the Behemoths. The remaining soldiers were smart enough to make their escape. Vanille's eyes narrowed as she saw transportation that vaguely represented Cocoon's military trucks came to pick the retreating soldiers.
Once the dust has settled, she made her way back to the town of Oerba, and her heart dropped as she saw chunks of concrete lying around, buildings with holes in them as well as a number of injured soldiers and guards lying around. She saw immediately ran to a child that on the ground, with patches of blood on her. Checking her pulse, Vanille cried out in tears when she felt the faint beating of the child's heart, and immediately carried her for medical attention. She went to the crowd of gathering people who were tending the wounds of the injured, and laid the child onto one of the stretchers. Turning around, she summoned one of the soldiers.
"Do you know who those soldiers were?", she asked, trying to keep her anger in check. To others, Vanille seemed like she had an infinite amount of patience compared to Fang. And she was much more friendlier and sunnier compared to the tan woman. But even someone like Vanille had a limit to her patience.
"Unfortunately not, Lady Vanille. But we did managed to capture a few of them. They seemed...like tribal people, but for some reason, they have weaponry and technology that seems to be from Cocoon", he explained.
"That's just...odd. Were there any casualties?", she asked, afraid of the answer that the soldier was going to give her. He shook his head.
"Thankfully, none so far. But we have a few soldiers and citizens that are seriously wounded and need immediate medical attention", he said. Vanille nodded in agreement and watched as the Behemoths returned to the village. She could see the distraught in their eyes as they looked around, seeing the damage those foreign soldiers did to Oerba. One of the Behemoths, which Vanille assumed was the Alpha of the herd, walked up to her and pressed it's snout against her forehead, as if it was worried. She smiled softly, and stroked it's snout.
"Thank you for your help. If you and your friends hadn't come..", she trailed off, refusing to think of the unthinkable. The Behemoth made a noise, which rumbled deep in it's chest as it trying to comfort her. She continued to stroke the Behemoth's snout, realizing that the soldier was still waiting for her.
"I want you to bring the ones you've captured to me", she said in a cold tone. These people almost took the lives of the innocent citizens of Oerba. Just as the soldier was about to leave, another soldier came running up to them, panting breathlessly.
"Lady Vanille, the soldier's that we've captured..", he trailed off breathlessly, trying his best to regain his breath again.
"What happened?", she asked, turning to look at him. The Behemoth seemed interested too, as it turned to look at the soldier.
"We were going to interrogate them, but before we could ask anything, they swallowed something and they started to convulse violently before they...", he trailed off again, not wanting to continue.
"Die?" asked the other soldier who was with Vanille. His colleague nodded and he huffed a breath out, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Seems that if anything goes wrong, and they got captured, whatever it is that they swallowed made sure they won't be able to talk", the soldier said. Both Vanille and the other soldier nodded in agreement. Vanille looked out to the horizon. The sun was high in the sky, meaning that it was still noon. I hope you're safe, Fang. Hurry up and come home she thought with a sigh, hoping that her Orbean sister was safe, wherever she was. Remembering the guns that she saw, she turned to the soldiers.
"I want you both to bring me one of the guns they were using. If there's any left out here, collect them and keep them. When Fang gets back, we'll be having a word with Cocoon about this", she said, walking towards the town, with the Behemoth following her.
"You think Cocoon's behind this attack?", the soldier asked.
"Maybe, maybe not. You said the soldiers that attacked us looked like tribes men?", she asked, wanting to be sure. He and his colleague nodded, and the other soldier pulled out an amulet, as if to prove to her that he was speaking the truth.
"This was from on the soldiers we managed to capture. From the design, we could tell that they're from the far south, but we're not sure from which tribe they're from", he said as he handed the amulet to Vanille. She held it closer to her face, inspecting the designs and markings on it. It definitely looked southern, but she couldn't tell which tribe they were from.
"Do you mind if I held onto this? Maybe Fang and Beymour might know something about this", she said. He nodded.
"Of course. In the mean time, we'll collect the weapons they were using and keep it away til Lady Fang and Lord Beymour returns", he said. With that, he and his colleague saluted Vanille and resumed their duties. Vanille looked at the Behemoth and smiled. But it wasn't a genuine smile. For some reason, she was feeling uneasy, like something bad was about to happen. Looking up at Cocoon, she watched the floating continent with worry in her heart.
[A/N]. Woo, new chapter! I hope Fang doesn't die though. She's too sexy to die and she and Lightning's got some unfinished business to settle. All I can say that things are gonna get a lot more interesting from here on out. So as always, read and review! Reviews make my world go round! Also, a shout out to Lightningthesky, who's also following this story of mine. She's one of my favourite authors as well, so it's an honour for her to follow this measly story of mine. I love her story Chaotic Exception (which is in the XIII-2 section) and I think I've read 5 times at least. Yes, it's that good, go read it if you're a Lightning x Vanille fan. For now, I'm going to have a moment for I've recently discovered that news about Lightning's Saga will be revealed on the 1st of September. They even have a website for that and I'm beyond stoked.
