Enjoy!

Fang stared out across the Steppe from her perch atop a cliff wall. She usually enjoyed the solitude the vast openness offered her; it allowed her to clear her mind and sort out her thoughts. Often when she remained in the wilderness for extended periods of time she found herself reminiscing about simpler times back when she and Vanille lived in the orphanage, back when Oerba was home, back before they became l'cie.

Right now, she just felt confused and hurt, and the memory of her last encounter with Lightning hung in her mind like an ominous fog. She kept seeing flashes of the fire the soldier had in her eyes, kept hearing the hatred and venom in her voice.

Releasing a sigh, Fang stood and brushed off her clothes. She was hoping a trip out to still-desolate Oerba would help put her mind at ease. She planned to set out from her small encampment on the Northern Highplain at sunrise, only a few hours away, and reach the Sulyya Springs by midday. She had adored spending time out at the lake when she was young, and though a lot had changed through the passing of many centuries, she still felt the same peace she had felt back then walking along the softly flowing water.

The small shelter she had built atop the cliff wasn't much, but it would suffice until daybreak. She planned on building a much sturdier one when she arrived at the Springs. From where she lay beneath the shelter though, she had a tremendous view of the giant crystal pillar upon which rested the remnants of Cocoon. The crystal structure seemed to glow in the moonlight, making it sparkle and glisten in the otherwise dark night. Fang couldn't help but frown as she stared at the once-floating haven in the sky. She could still remember when she had believed that the inhabitants of the not-so-distant world were nothing, but nothing but vipers in a nest suspended in the sky, waiting to strike at any moment. Now that she knew them, she knew everything she had been told all those years in the past had been lies. Sure, some of the former habitants of Cocoon were still bitter towards her; they felt it was entirely her fault that their paradise had fallen. For the most part though, most of them were no different than Vanille or herself. The thought alone caused guilt to ride heavily on her shoulders.

Sometimes she would have nightmares. She would see herself taking the form of Ragnarok once more. She would see the bloodshed and the thousands of lives she had taken in the form of the beast. She would see all the chaos and destruction brought about by her transformation. Often she would awake from these nightmares in a panic, terrified that she would turn again and hurt those she loved. Once, she had cried out so loudly that Lightning and Vanille had come running to check on her, only to find her completely delirious, holding her lance to her own chest, begging the gods not to make her become the beast again. She could see why some still felt resentment towards her; she had been the monster they all feared. Her time as the beast destined to destroy the home of millions still haunted her, even after all these years. The scars ran deeper than just the brand remnant on her shoulder.

I certainly do have a few screws lose, don't I?

Fang smiled to herself bitterly at the thought.

After laying for what seemed like hours, Fang eventually gave up her endeavor to sleep, and began the process of dismantling the shelter. When she finished, she cast one last longing glance towards where the sleeping city of New Bodhum lay in darkness, and another up at Cocoon, precariously balanced upon the crystal pillar, before starting off on her journey towards her former home.

The journey across the central expanse and through the Mah'habara Subterra was rather uneventful, perhaps a bit too much for Fang's tastes. By the time she arrived at Sulyya Springs, it was still early in the day. It didn't take the huntress too long to decide on a good place to set up a suitable camp. An outcrop near the Subterranean Lake worked perfectly.

The recent bought of rain brought out an abundance of ceratosaurs and ceraraptors out of hiding in Springs, but none took much interest in the lone human wandering amongst them. When not hunting, Fang would often watch them chase each other along the water's edge. The Sulyya Springs were indeed peaceful around this time of year, even despite the large amounts of fauna that roamed the area.

When she had first been chosen to become a l'Cie by the fal'Cie, she remembered she had felt hopeful for the first time since the war began. She had truly believed that she would finally get the chance help her people, put an end to the war which millions were losing their lives to. What she hadn't expected was to be turned into a much feared, vicious monster, only capable of destruction and slaughter. And though she indeed aided in ending the war, she did so in a way that she had never wanted. The second time she became the beast, this time with Vanille by her side, she had done so in hopes that she might be redeemed from her past crimes; she sought to protect those who had once been her enemy. She had sought to protect the ones she loved so that they may rebuild what she once more was destroying. And if that meant giving her own life, she would gladly take up the burden. Her only regret would have been not telling Lightning, but she knew that though her soldier was strong, it would be unfair of her to tell her and then give up her life to save Cocoon. Again she was surprised, as it seemed Lady Luck was smiling upon them, as they had not died in the fall like she had expected, but were given another chance.

Fang shook her head of the thought. It seemed the more time she spent out all alone, the more she thought about her past. Perhaps she just needed to get up and hunt something.

Pulling her lance off her back, she began to search for tracks of any orobon in the immediate area; though ceratosaurs and ceraraptors were plentiful and easy to hunt, they had a tendency of tasting rather…freezer-burnt. That, and Fang preferred to hunt something that would offer more of a challenge. Ideally, uridimmu would offer the best of both worlds, both tasty and challenging, but since knowing Kodi, Fang found that she had lost her taste for anything in that resembled a gorgonopsid (behemoth was still tasty though).

Finally, she found what she was looking for. The telltale webbed footprints were fresh in the damp mud and led her straight to a small pack of the unsuspecting beasts. Four or five of the amphibian creatures wandered, seemingly aimlessly, along the water's edge. Crouching low among the brush, Fang waited patiently, waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce.

Fang saw her moment and was poised to strike, when suddenly a deafening crash from across the lake startled the beasts, causing them to flare their fins, and seek refuge in the clear water.

Cursing her change of luck, Fang stood from the ferns she had been crouched in, brushing off her clothes, and shielding her eyes from the gleaming sun. Across the lake, there seemed to be several trees that had been broken down and bent from whatever had crash-landed in them.

The trek around the lake was longer than she expected, and she nearly lost her footing in the slick mud once or twice in her haste to find what ever had caused the tremendous crash. The closer she moved to the site, the more downed foliage and gouges in the earthy ground appeared. When Fang's eyes finally fell upon the culprit, she nearly fell as she jumped back to take cover.

Maker…

There, lying among the wreckage, was a great beast that had been feared by hunters since even before the War of Transgression. It was a vicious creature known for terrorizing villages with its elemental breath and brutal physical attacks, and could scoop up even some of the bigger of Gran Pulse's bestiary in its powerful jaws and carry them off, never to be seen again. Fang and her family of former l'Cies had faced one of these nightmares on their quest for freedom from the fal'Cie, and had only barely managed to escape with their lives, and that was with six people with enhanced powers.

Fang held her breath from her crouched position, hoping the great zirnitra hadn't seen her. It took her several moments to realize that it hadn't appeared to have moved since she first spotted it. Releasing the breath she had been holding, she slowly began to rise and take careful steps towards the beast. She continued forward warily, that is, until the creature suddenly took a strained breath, its deep silver eye opening and focusing on the huntress, causing her to freeze where she stood.

The two stared each other down, neither moving more than the rising and falling that accompanied their breathing. Fang could feel her lance resting heavily on her back, but the fear of the beast suddenly rising up to attack made her resist the urge to draw it. After several tense moments, the beast's eyelid began to droop, before it finally let out a small rumbling noise and closed its eyes. For a few moments, Fang thought that the beast had expired, but the telltale sounds and movements of its shallow breathing said otherwise. Releasing another shaky breath, the huntress finally let her guard down enough to look the zirnitra over. It wasn't the biggest of its breed that she had ever seen, but it was certainly a large specimen. Based on its color pattern it was male, though silver was a rather uncommon eye color for its kind. Due to the small amount of spikes in its chin it was fairly young, probably about as old as she was. And it was hurt, quite badly in fact. Fang could see signs of energy rifle wounds, as well as whip marks, rope burns, and gouges across the zirnitra's body. It was clear that someone had tried to restrain it.

Trappers.

Fang grit her teeth in frustration. Though many of the militarized creatures had been released into the wild of Gran Pulse due to general agreement to discontinue using animals as weapons, some still thought it would be acceptable to hunt down and trap the wild beasts that lived in the surrounding area, hoping to once again turn creatures into bio-organic weaponry. The methods they used to do so rarely worked and tended to leave the creatures they did manage to catch horribly injured. Often the trappers would end up having to kill the beasts because the injuries they sustained would be too severe to even consider attempting treatment. On the off chance that the creature did survive, they would be subjected to harsh and cruel treatment in order to force them into becoming obedient. Often though, the trappers would end up killing the creatures any way, as many of the creatures were too feral to adapt to becoming the weapons of humans.

What frustrated Fang the most about these people is that, as a huntress, anything and everything she hunted she did so with a purpose; when she had to kill she made sure that it was not for nothing, and left nothing to waste. These trappers would capture and maim for the hell of it, as there was not any plausible reason for them to need bio-weapons as the Guardian Corps, NORA, and GCAB all kept the city safe. In all the years that the Cocoonian people had been living on Gran Pulse, there hadn't been a single instant where the beasts had invaded their small town of New Bodhum. So there was logically no reason for them to be torturing innocent creatures. Many of these trappers had been arrested by the GC, but the carcasses of the tortured beasts would still appear in the town's outskirts, left by the trappers to rot.

Fang blew a frustrated snort through her nose. There was no sense in leaving the beast to suffer. Though the wounds were probably not deep enough to kill it, it wouldn't be able to move fast enough, if at all, to hunt or drink, and would probably die from dehydration or starvation. The least she could do would be to put it out of its misery. She could use the meat it would offer until she decided to head back to town; it would be more than enough until then. On top of that, the beast's skin was element resistant and would shield her both from the weather and attacks from any elemental beast that she may encounter. Twirling her lance from her back, she stalked towards the beast with a confident, thoroughly-practiced stride.

"Forgive me." Fang mumbled aloud almost subconsciously, poising herself to drive her blade into the zirnitra's heart. It was the quickest and most painless way.

The huntress's well-trained muscles went through the motions to strike, the movement was muscle memory from the years of fighting, but a flash of silver out of the corner of her eye caused her to hesitate.

Glancing up towards the beast's face, Fang found the creature staring at her, its eye expressing something akin to sadness, and suddenly, she found she couldn't look away. The longer she stared, the bigger the pain in her chest grew, and memories of a time long ago flashed in front of her mind's eye. Suddenly she found herself lowering her blade.

The great beast tilted its head, its expression suddenly curious as it watched her replace the lance on her back.

A violent snarl escaped the huntress's mouth as she shot a vicious glare towards the beast, as she stalked past it to the water's edge, removing her socks and boots, rolling up her pants, and pulling the survival knife from her belt. Wading out until she was knee deep in the water, Fang stood and waited, grumbling softly to herself.

You've gotten soft, Yun.

After standing still for a couple of moments, Fang finally caught sight of what she was looking for, and didn't hesitate to strike. The fish she pulled out of the water was fairly massive, as far as fish in the general area went; it would be large enough to feed her for both lunch and dinner. Pulling the fish off the knife, the huntress stomped back to where the zirnitra lay, silently watching her every move, and flopped the fish down in front of its face. After several moments of merely staring at one another, Fang finally let out a huff.

"Well, eat, you dumb thing."

The beast seemed to stare at her questioningly for several moments more, before, slowly, a large black tongue snaked from its mouth and wrapped itself around the fish. Slowly the tongue retracted, bringing the fish with it. The beast chewed the fish carefully, its eye trained on Fang the whole time. It seemed to trust her about as much as she trusted it, which, needless to say, wasn't very much. Once it swallowed, it stared at her for a few moments more, before finally blinking and looking up longingly at water that lapped the bank a few yards in front of its face.

Fang stared at it in disbelief for a few moments before letting out another huff of air.

"What, do I have to do everything?"

Stomping, rather childishly, over to the nearest broadleaf tree, she scaled up a little ways to pick the largest leave she could easily reach before jumping back to the ground.

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

Trekking back over to the water, Fang cupped the leaf and gathered the cool water into it, before retreating back to the fallen creature.

The zirnitra attempted to raise its head as she approached it again, but was entirely too weak to lift it more than an inch or so off the ground. Eyeing the beast somewhat suspiciously, Fang carefully lowered herself down beside it.

"You bite me, and you'll regret it."

Careful not to spill any water, Fang lowered the leaf to the creature's mouth. Seeming to understand the gesture, the great beast opened it mouth and allowed her to drain the contents of the leaf into it. When the leaf was empty, the zirnitra lowered its head back down and stared up at her curiously. Fang looked up at the beast's face and noted that its pupil had become rather round, making the beast seem considerably less intimidating and more…well, the huntress didn't want to say endearing or cute, but she supposed it looked something akin to it.

Returning to her feet, Fang stretched and let out a sigh. Retreating a couple paces, she leaned against a nearby tree and slid down to sit against its trunk. When her gaze returned to the zirnitra, she found it had found the strength to lift its head and was now staring at her. Narrowing her eyes, the huntress resisted the urge to snarl at the beast.

"What are you looking at?"

The beast didn't seem to be fazed by her tone, and instead continued to stare for several moments before slowly dipping its head towards her as if to say thank you.

Fang let out a breath through her nose.

"You're welcome."

Forget going soft, you've gone completely out of your mind.

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