A/N: Here we are at chapter 9 after the new year. With this, I relinquish a secret or two and drop a couple of surprises ;P we return here to Serah and Vanille - about time too. I wonder if any of you have been thinking of what Vanille left Serah and my various other little breadcrumbs I've left. Anyway, I never actually thought I'd go into Vanille's story of her parents so (you'll know when you reach it). I just found myself halfway through it when I realized what I was doing, and by then I was already on a role so I just went with it. Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII or anything to do with it.

The Past That Haunts

Impossible.

Serah stared down at the photograph Vanille had given her before leaving with Fang to the Springs. She had set it aside immediately, choosing instead to focus on cleaning the house and thinking furiously. A million things had swarmed her mind, demanding her immediate attention: the change in Lightning, the meaning of Vanille and Fang's arugment, her newly discovered ancestry. It had taken until the three women returned for everything to get sorted into a believable enough state. And then there had been Lightning - injured, distant, damp with rain. Seeing her sister in such a state had spurned Serah into action, dismissing their fragile relationship for a moment of caring, of love. The tears had come unbidden and without notice, flowing down her face as she held Lightning to her. Only a single thought had run through her mind - I don't want to lose you again - at the sight of the thick bandage. Lightning's softly spoken words and warm embrace had only encouraged the tears.

After their moment, Lightning had brushed Serah's cheeks dry, wiping all traces of her tears away. The words Lightning had spoken made Serah want to weep all over again. Words the two just didn't say enough. Then before Serah could reply, Lightning had headed towards the kitchen, leaving Serah to head up to her bedroom. Moments after that, Serah had remembered what Vanille had given her and sought it out. At first glimpse she had sat down on her bed to get good lighting before really looking at it. Gazing at it in her hands now, she couldn't make herself believe what she was seeing.

It's just not possible.

It was a very old, very worn photograph. Nearly colorless, frayed at the edges, and very delicate, the picture was hundreds of years old. Yet its occupants were painfully familiar and wholly unrecognizable at the same time. In it were two young women standing before a grassy plain. On the left, smiling shyly and warmly, was the shorter and what looked like the younger of the two, leaning into the embrace she was held in. On the right was the second woman. She was taller than the other and had one arm thrown lovingly around the other woman, the other hand messing with the younger's hair. Her expression was one of mischief, a sly grin and sparkle in her eyes the most noticeable things to any other person. But to Serah, the whole thing was so surreal, so impossible, she just couldn't grasp it.

The two looked exactly like herself and Lightning.

There were minor differences, clearly evident despite being near colourless. Their hair colour was a deeper shade of pink and shining with a silver gleam in the sunlight, their eyes a hard gray instead of deep crystalline blue. The clothing was different also, of course, but yet..achingly familiar. Hands trembling, Serah could only begin to guess how old the photograph was. Almost a thousand years? More than that? It was difficult to tell. By its feel and look it was doubly older than the old photograph of Fang and Vanille still in the old orphanage. And yet it was impossible for it to be that old - there simply weren't cameras of any sort or any kind of technology that long ago..right?

Serah took a deep breath and looked up at her ceiling, biting on the inside of her lower lip in thought. It just wasn't possible, and yet there it was. A centuries old photograph of two people who were near identical to herself and Lightning. Feeling lightheaded and dizzy, Serah set the picture down delicately on her bed and stood up on shaky legs. She felt almost frantic as she slowly walked to her door, her pace gaining momentum as she made her way to Vanille's bedroom. Her burning, panicked desire to know where the sprightly young woman had found it was searing through Serah as her hand hovered over the doorknob to the room of the youngest Pulsian, suddenly hesitant. She knew Vanille was asleep - she had seen Fang carrying her up here before. Should I wake her? She looked awfully exhausted. Maybe I need to return in the morning? No, that's too late..I need to know now!

Taking a deep breath for courage, Serah slowly turned the knob and carefully pushed the door open. The room was completely dark, save for what little light flowed through the open curtains on the window. Vanille was sleeping deeply on the bed in the middle of the room, lost in her dreams. Serah bit her lip again as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her, hesitant once more. She slowly tiptoed to the bed, praying for the storm to mask the sounds of her footsteps. Standing by the bed now, she could see the peaceful expression on Vanille's face. I really shouldn't wake her... Regretting the whole decision to come in here, she stood immobolized. On the one hand, she burned to know how Vanille had gotten the photograph. On the other, she really didn't want to wake the poor girl up to do it. But the ravenous curiosity got the better of her, and before she could do anything, her hand reached out of its own volition to shake Vanille's shoulder.

Vanille mumbled incoherently for a few moments before slowly opening her eyes, turning to look at who had woken her. "Serah?" she asked, voice low and almost hoarse. "What are you doing here?"

Serah felt horrible for waking Vanille up and wanted to just leave her to her rest, but her mouth opened of its own accord. "Do you have a minute, Vanille?" Pffft, does she have a minute..you woke her up!

Vanille rolled over and blinked sleepily at the younger Farron. "Of course. What do you need, Serah?"

Serah sat down on the edge of bed, hands picking nervously at themselves. "Well," she started, voice quiet and unsure, "I wanted to ask you something. I'm sorry for waking you up, but it just couldn't wait."

Vanille blinked again, slowly coming awake. "That's alright. It must be important if you had to come in here now." She sat up and rubbed her eyes before turning her full attention to Serah. "What did you need to ask?"

Serah turned away and began messing with her engagement necklace. Now or never. "Vanille, where did you get that photograph?" she finally asked, face still turned away.

Vanille was still and quiet next to her for many moments. Serah was afraid she'd crossed some invisible line with the young woman, and was about to apologize profusely and leave before Vanille sighed. "I should have known you'd ask about it," she mumbled, clearly to herself before getting up and sitting directly next to Serah. She turned on the bedside lamp to bathe the room in its warm glow. Serah watched nervously as Vanille ran her hands through her hair before speaking again. "Vanille? I-is it..alright that I..asked?"

Vanille smiled at her and grasped her hands. "Yes. I had just forgotten I'd given it you, what with..Fang and the battle at the Springs." Her face fell for a moment at the mention of Fang before brightening almost painfully. "This morning I overheard Lightning almost begging Fang to research some of the Farron roots while she was working. Fang hadn't wanted to at first, but the longer she refused the more desperate Lightning became." A sad smile graced her face. "It was frightening to hear such a tone come from your sister, Serah. I'd never heard anything of the sort before, and yet I found myself responding to it. My heart went out to Lightning, wishing I could help her. But I could think of nothing I could do.

"After they had left it finally occurred to me: a lone house a long ways from Oerba, very old even in my time. Fang and I had discovered it when we were children and it became our little getaway - it was perfect for us. Not too big and not too small, it was a cozy little thing built out of very durable materials. There was still furniture inside, but not a whole lot. We didn't know what to make of it at first, but the more we went there, the more it started to feel like a second home." Vanille looked suddenly anxious. "On our fourth trip there we started looking through what was left. Valuables and sentimental objects were everywhere, left behind by whoever had lived there. While looking through the main bedroom in the back, I found a fake floorboard. Fang was busy in the kitchen looking for useful cooking utensils. She had told me not to go through anything that looked important without her, but I couldn't stop myself from prying the board away."

She fell silent, hands absently gripping Serah's as Vanille lost herself in the memory. Serah looked on with concern as those bright eyes filled with tears. "Vanille?"

"I'm sorry. It's just.." Vanille wiped her tears away, her expression pained. "The board came away easily in my hands," she continued, staring down at her lap. "Almost as if it had been waiting for someone to come along and take it. Underneath there was a large compartment filled to the brim with various things: leatherbound books, a few weapons here and there, tiny worn statues carved with an expert eye - just to name a few. What caught my eye, though, was that photograph. It wasn't as worn and faded as it is now - in fact, just by looking at it you could tell it was really beautiful in its time. The colours were vibrant and the details sharp yet not overwhelming. A masterpice, really. Anyway, what caught my eye was the occupants of the picture. The two looked so warm, inviting, and..homely, that I couldn't help but think of my parents." She paused for a moment, before adding, almost as if it was an afterthought, "They died when I was only five, you know, from an ambush of Cocoon soldiers on the road home from a hunt. I'd never felt so abandoned in my life."

Serah, alarmed and concerned for her friend, pulled Vanille into a hug as she started to cry. She sobbed into Serah's shoulder, the pain of her parent's death surfacing once more with the telling of her story. "I..I felt so alone, Serah, even amongst the other children at the orphanage," Vanille continued, her sobs making her near incoherent. "I wanted desperately to feel something else aside from grief, to stop the feeling that I was slowly dying inside. The adults who ran the orphange were enraged at how my parents died, and it showed whenever they tended to me with their tenderness tempered with righteous anger. They talked amongst themselves at night whenever they thought we were all alseep, cursing Cocoon and saying that we should take away mothers and fathers from their children in retaliation. Their words confused me and only added to my pain - I couldn't even think of inflicting that sort of pain on another child like myself. It just wasn't natural. I couldn't understand the anger, the hatred, or why my parents had to die. I wanted to feel it too, Serah, I really did - anything to stop the pain. But I just couldn't. I couldn't make myself hate Cocoon and what its people had done to me."

"Vanille.."

Vanille pulled away from Serah, wiping her eyes. She looked up at Serah and smiled, even as more tears spilled from the corners of her eyes. "It's okay Serah - I finally found closure through Fang. She arrived a week or so after me, filled with the anger and hate I so fiercely wanted. We gravitated towards each other immediately, finding in each the sibling we never had. I managed to quell her rage and she took my pain away." She took a deep breath and calmed her breathing, turning away from Serah. "Sorry, I didn't mean to break down on you like that. Back to the real story now." She cleared her throat and turned back to the youngest Farron, eyes determined. "I didn't get to study the photograph for very long. Fang came in a few minutes after I had found it and took it from my hands as I was lost in remembering my parents. She stared at it long and hard before tossing it back into the compartment and throwing the board back on top it. Her hard tug on my arm was what brought me back from my memories, her push to get us away alarming. When I asked her why were leaving, she wouldn't say anything, only made me promise I'd never return. Ever."

Something clicked in Serah's mind as Vanille finished her story. "So if that's where the photograph was left, and you went back to get it today, then that means.."

Vanille bit her lip and nodded. "That's what Fang was so upset about today when I returned. I had never understood why she never wanted me to return there, and I still don't. Lightning's fervent pleas drove me to break my promise, to help, if only to get another look at that photograph again, I'll admit. It was only a half-remembered thing, fuzzy and not very discernible at all. Only the colours stood out in my memory. I certainly hadn't expected to run into Fang on my way into the house, but..what's done is done." She deflated suddenly with relief, as if the telling had taken tremendous effort.

Serah's mind was going into overdrive processing what she had just told been told. This can't be a coincidence - the day Fang has news of our ancestry Vanille returns with an extremely old photograph of two people that look almost exactly like you and and Lightning. Fang knows more than she's let on.. A sudden thought jumped at Serah. "Vanille, you returned when you were raining and yet you were dry when you got back. How did you manage that if the house is so far away?"

Vanille fidgeted, clearly uncomfortable. She pressed her two pointer fingers together nervously for a few minutes before responding, "Heh, well..I used Hecatoncheir, my Eidolon, to travel under the earth."

Serah stared, processing the information slowly. "But..I thought the use of the Eidolons was lost with the brands."

"Erm, well, um, you see.." Vanille twisted to face her again. "I don't know if Fang's told Lightning yet, but, we can ah..we can use our Eidolons again. At least, Fang and I can," she added quickly, seeing Serah's eyes widen with disbelief. She hurried on, practically firing the information at the youngest Farron. "I don't know how or why, but the other day Fang and I were out at the Steppes hunting and we came across this huge group of behemoths in hibernation that didn't take too kindly to our intrusion and so they all attacked at once and we were sorely outnumbered and overpowered and we thought we were going to die but then I felt like my body was on fire and Fang's did too and then Bahamut and Hecatoncheir appeared and beat them all and Fang didn't know what had happened so we promised we would keep it quiet for as long as possible because it could have only been a temporary thing and she didn't want to cause alarm or panic or hope in the others." She took a huge gulp of air, replenishing the oxygen she had lost in her spew of words.

Serah blinked rapidly and tilted her head to the side. "It seems Fang has a lot of secrets," she mused, looking at Vanille curiously. Vanille sighed and giggled. "It seems she does," she agreed, listening to the rain die down outside. The two sat in a comfortable silence before Vanille involuntarily broke it with a long yawn. Serah glanced at the clock and noticed over an hour had passed. "Oh! I'm so sorry, it's so late and I've kept you up! See you tomorrow, Vanille," she exclaimed, he jumping up and heading towards the door. Vanille waved at her as she opened the door and stepped back into the hallway. The light under the door dissipated as Vanille turned out the light and went back to sleep. Serah slowly returned to her own room, noting that the hallway smelled slightly of alcohol, as if someone heavily intoxicated had passed by recently. She shook her head and continued through her door, throwing herself upon her bed to reflect on the day.

~.~

Serah startled awake at the sound of persistent knocking upon the front door downstairs, hard pounds that reverberated through to the upstairs. She scratched her eye and glanced at the clock. I fell asleep.. She stumbled out of bed, wondering where Lightning and Fang could possibly be to ignore whoever was at the door. "You'd expect they would be down there threatening whoever it is for interrupting their late night romping," she mumbled to herself as she sleepily descended the stairs, flicking on lights as she went. The storm was still going, if much gentler now. Seeing the empty living room and still no sign of her sister or her girlfriend, Serah blew out her breath in frustration. Where could they be? She stalked to the door and lazily unlocked it as the pounding continued. "I'm right here, you don't have to...keep..." the words on her lips died as she swung the door open.

Standing in the doorway completely soaked was a woman taller than Serah herself, dressed in a dark gray vest, two long black armsleeves, black shorts, and a huge black cloak. She was outfitted with many assortments of gadgets, weapons, and strange containers at her waist and wrapped from her right shoulder to her left hip. A long spear was attched to her back, the wicked tip of a large blade gleaming under the light. Hair the colour of deep pink that seemed to shift between silver and white. Eyes hard, cold, and matching the hue of a deep gray stone. A scar ran over the left eye from top to bottom.

It was the older woman from the photograph.

Serah gaped at her in complete astonishment, her mind refusing to believe her eyes. This can't be real..this just can't be happening. I'm still asleep, having a crazy dream, and will wake up very soon. She stopped breathing when the stranger opened her mouth and spoke, voice huskier and yet more feminine than Lightning's.

"Hello, Serah."

It sounded so familiar, so foreign. Serah tried to speak, but she fell forward as her vision darkened and her legs suddenly felt too weak to support her weight. Her mind could think only of Claire as shock overwhelmed her and collapsed into the stranger's arms.