The rain kept drumming down, pattering against the winding streets and the rooftops up above. The lights of the city almost seemed to grow brighter and brighter with each passing minute, though it might have just been because of the gathering clouds.

"I've been thinking about a place for Sunday." Fang had about half of her chocolate milkshake left, but there was still no plate of food on the table before her; a slight twinge of hunger began to protest from her stomach, though she managed to ignore it in lieu of speaking further. "Those fields way out of town, you remember them? There's a whole elk herd roaming around out there, and doesn't look like anyone's studying them... At least from what I've seen."

"Well, if it's not a wildlife preserve, then they can't be radio collared without a special permit." Lightning almost frowned at the memory of what Fang since had told her, concerning an all too similar type of collar. "I know people go hunting in territory like that, but not usually so late in the season."

"Sounds perfect, then." Fang stirred at the bottom half of her milkshake with a straw. "Any brain freeze yet?"

Lightning rolled her eyes at that. "I'm good with the cold." She had her own chocolate shake before her, though she'd only taken a sip or two. "You must've been thirsty."

"Well, wandering all the way out here can do that to you..." Fang gave Lightning a soft smile. "In the rain, too." She was resting one of her hands against her chin, while she kept stirring at the shake with her other. "You think it'll start to look like winter soon? Not a single flake of snow yet."

Lightning looked out at the window, and she felt a certain sensation tingling in her spine, though it wasn't at all unpleasant. "It'll mean easier hunting." She spoke each word just under her breath, even though there was no one else sitting within earshot. "But I'll need to start turning the thermostat up at home... I've kept the heating bill down with those little space heaters."

Fang quirked an eyebrow at that. "Is the electric really cheaper than gas?"

"They're both electric." Lightning took a small sip of her shake. "Only the stove is gas, and I just don't want to run up the bill whenever we're not using a certain room... But I have a feeling it'll get cold enough to need it before long."

"Ah." Fang's nose suddenly twitched to sniff at the scent of food. "Think that's ours?"

Lightning nodded, for she could see one of waitresses carrying a tray with two plates towards them, opposite from where Fang was sitting.

"Smells amazing..." Fang smirked after she'd been given her plate, and she spared a single glance towards Lightning's meal. "Dunno why you'd pick waffles over something like steak."

Lightning shrugged. "It sounded good." She nodded at the waitress in thanks.

Fang took an immediate approach to the food on her plate, for hardly anything could hold her back whenever she was that hungry. Even though she made sure to eat just as politely as she could, the image of a ravenous wolf leaked out through the way that she swiftly sliced up more than half of the steak within just a mere moment or two.

"You do have a way with knives..." Lightning slowly tasted one of the strawberries from her plate of waffles, which had been lightly coated in syrup, a little bit of butter, and a more generous amount of strawberry sauce. "They gave you bacon, too? You'll hardly even need to eat anything until Sunday."

Fang smirked again. She speared a strip of the bacon with the tines of her fork, before she reached over to set the slice down upon Lightning's plate. "I've got more than enough already, have at it."

Lightning glanced down at the crispy strip of meat. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Fang went back to cutting up her steak, before she practically inhaled the very first bite. "Didn't have a snack after work today..." She smiled at Lightning. "Not like you did."

Lightning remembered the somewhat bland taste of vole flesh, which utterly paled in comparison to the crisp, buttery flavor of the waffles. "When I first started working, I actually tried to cut back on what I was eating." She watched the way that the bright red strawberry sauce pooled near the edge of her plate, and she soon dipped down a small piece of the waffle against it. "Suffice it to say... That didn't work out."

"Well, yeah." Fang gave her a look as if such a concept was all too obvious. "We probably burn a whole truckload of calories out there." She gently smeared a slice of the bacon against one of the soft golden egg yolks. "Not to mention... Prior conditions."

Lightning blinked at the sound of that. It was quite true that lycans usually had to eat enough to fuel each of their bodily forms, from the smaller, wolflike visages to those towering beasts who stood much taller than any human, but their own little family had often gone days, if not weeks without food. She knew from her own research that wild wolves lived within a 'feast or famine' mindset, in which they'd utterly gorge themselves upon a recent kill, while they would later live for up to months at a time without sustenance, moving on in search of other quarry.

"So, don't you worry... I won't mind if you put on a little more weight." Fang winked at Lightning from across the table. "Seriously, Light, you're thinner now than I've ever seen you, even way back then." She looked down at the plates just to make sure that Lightning had eaten the strip of bacon. "Or maybe you've just grown taller."

"Probably. I'm not underweight." Lightning looked down at the ample amount of food on her plate, and while such a thing might have once made a twinge of guilt twist through her heart, she'd grown to embrace whatever she found there before her, if only after all of those nights of bitter hunger. "I do keep track of it, Fang."

Fang shrugged. "Alright... Just saying, I wouldn't mind." She took a small sip of ice water, perhaps to help blend all of the different tastes together. "We could always just wrestle again to burn it off."

Lightning paused at the sound of that. "'Wrestle'..."

Fang's eyes brightened, and she nearly laughed out loud. "Dirty little mind you've got there, Light." She smirked against another sip of water. "But you know what they say about physical exertion..."

"You're so full of it." Lightning couldn't help but smirk as well. "Sometimes I wonder how you won me over, back then."

"Because of my charming disposition?" Fang lowered her voice to a soft, silky murmur. "Or because I'd always kiss everything better if you'd gotten hurt?"

Lightning told herself not to let any amount of color flush into her cheeks. For the most part, she managed to stare right back at Fang with a cool, collected look in her eyes, even if her heart thrummed almost wildly at the memory of 'distracting her from the pain', as they might have once called it, something that had often been offered right back to Fang as well.

"We were kids, Light, just having a little fun with each other." Fang's voice sobered down to a more wistful, almost longing tone. "And it's not that I didn't have real feelings for you, but people of that age, they just can't tell what's up or down or anything in between... It was more like puppy love."

Lightning thought in silence for a long, lingering moment. "Puppy love doesn't go searching for someone when it could've had a fine time living out there in Gran Pulse." She stirred the thin wisps of strawberry sauce against her plate, for it suddenly felt as if she wasn't quite as hungry as before. "Puppy love doesn't... It doesn't make sacrifices for someone, not like that."

Fang hummed quietly, before she lifted over another slice of bacon to Lightning's plate. "Maybe it's not puppy love anymore."

Lightning examined the checkerboard pattern of the table once more, and she slowly traced her fingertips against it. "I had a feeling it wasn't."

"We're older now, Light." Fang dipped a bit of her steak against one of the egg yolks. "Hopefully smarter, too... But we were always just clever enough to make it through until morning." She smiled when Lightning started to eat again. "I don't want this to end."

Lightning felt something flutter right inside her heart, but she still kept herself from reacting to it. "Neither do I."

"But the question is..." Fang brought her voice back down again, just a whisper of sound sent between them. "Do you want it to become something more?"

And within the dim, cozy light of that sleepy little diner, Lightning slowly nodded her head.

Small paws gripped at the softest part of the feather toy, while even smaller teeth nipped down on the cloth that held the whole thing together, chewing and batting at the entire thing with his hind feet.

"Yeah, I can be in tomorrow..." Snow was holding that strange device up to his ear, the one that made unusual ringing sounds, but the kitten had no earthly idea why he was talking to it. "But like I said, on Sunday... Appreciate it. I'll see what I can do about Monday, too."

The kitten mewed out loud when Snow fell silent.

"What is it, buddy?" Snow looked down over the edge of an armchair, glancing at where the little kitten was tossing the feather toy across the floor. "If you were a puppy, I'd tell you to bring it over here..." He smiled softly, before he leaned over to reach for the toy. "But that'd be pretty weird, wouldn't it? A lycan owning a dog..."

The kitten darted towards the armchair, using his tiny claws to climb all the way up beside Snow.

"You're getting fast at that, aren't you?" Snow gently scratched behind the kitten's ears. "Already climbing things."

The kitten purred and curled up against the arm of the chair, though his paws still reached instinctively towards the feather toy.

"It's been more than just a week or two, hasn't it?" Snow lowered his voice to a whisper. "And Serah says she still can't think of a name for you." He slowly stroked his thumb against the kitten's chin. "I've never named anything in my life... Even myself." Snow looked down at the thick blue scarf at his belt, and he reached down to drape it over his lap, gazing at the woven pattern within the fabric. "Snowflakes." He started to trace his fingertips across the soft white embroidery. "They called me Snow... They said that this was all I had on me when I showed up."

The kitten's ears perked up at the sound of Snow's tone, but he didn't move from the arm of the chair.

"It was the doorstep of a hospital, someone just left me there." Snow's voice grew quieter and quieter. "Just a baby in a blanket... More of a scarf, isn't it? But it was more than big enough for me." He handled the pale fabric as if it was a living thing, just as delicate as the kitten. "Guess we're two of the same kind, huh?"

The kitten merely blinked when Snow tugged back one of his sleeves.

"It happened when I was eight." Snow stared at the smooth expanse of skin upon his left wrist, flecked with so many pale blond hairs. "Just a kid, really..." He still remembered how those massive teeth had latched on far faster than his own eyes could track, and though there had been no scarring left afterward, he still knew exactly where each tooth had struck. "It... It just ran off once it'd bit me, like it didn't even know what happened."

The kitten twitched at the sound of Snow's voice, which was somehow more harsh than before, though it was still soft enough not to frighten him.

"And I had to run away, too." Snow held the scarf in his grip, within the hand that had once been held so tight between the massive jaws of a predator, an image that had seared itself there into the depths of his mind, never to fade away. "Had to get some sort of... Hold over myself, even when the teeth kept coming out, when I woke up looking like a wolf." He slowly shook his head. "You wouldn't believe how Serah is; she's calmer than anything I've ever seen."

The kitten mewed softly when Snow's arms began to shake.

"Sorry." Snow stood up faster than the kitten had ever seen before. "Sorry..." He reached up to clutch his face, remembering the horrific snarl that had once pierced right through him, the flash of teeth and a sudden snapping of jaws, and he scarcely even realized it when he hurried right off into his own room, seeking the refuge of somewhere dark and silent.

In the passing moments, the little kitten slowly padded out across the living room floor, though he paused at the slight scent of smoke. It tickled his nose, but then he smelled something that often seemed to linger upon Snow's clothes, or even wafted through the air of the entire house.

"Just not strong enough..." Snow had his head bowed low, but that didn't stop those long, pointed ears from silhouetting his entire figure, nor did it hide his deep breaths of the pungent herbal scent. "Damn it, she's right... Bitten, it's gotta be different from what they have..." His voice rumbled with the deep promise of a snarl, though he still only spoke his words in a whisper. "If they start up with all of that testing crap, I'm getting the hell out of here." A long, sloped muzzle with a mouth of pointed teeth slowly appeared within the darkness, but somehow, the kitten was not afraid. "And you, you're coming with me... The two of us, birds of a feather... Just orphans in the cold; we have to stick together."

The kitten looked up upon the narrow visage of a canine, yet he still crept forward into the room, within the swirling scents of smoke and strong medicinal herbs, until he reached a closer spot at Snow's side. His work shirt had torn beneath the sudden influx of such coarse, sandy fur, which was banded with a much darker shade of brown, though it was still utterly blond in nature. His eyes, suddenly so rich of gold, yet they only peered blankly at the distance, while his pointed teeth gripped at the end of a lit cigarette almost tenderly, and he just kept puffing at the thick herbal air.

"Fuck." Snow soon raked a clawed hand through the fur on his forehead, before he shivered once, twice, and then reached up to rip his shirt even further apart, just enough to let him breathe again. "Haven't been like this in... Weeks, kiddo... I'm sorry."

The kitten merely settled himself right beside one of Snow's longer paws, where his shoes had long since fallen off, along with most of his socks.

"You're not even afraid." Snow winced when his waistline lurched to join in with the slow shift, gathering itself so many into thick corded muscles and pale white fur. He quickly unbuckled his belt, placing the scarf aside, somewhere that it wouldn't be touched. "Just a little kitten... And you aren't even scared of a damn monster."

The kitten gently batted at one of the curved claws that was sticking out through the fabric of a sock.

"Maybe I smell the same as before." Snow lifted his padded fingertips to adjust the cigarette against his teeth, before he blew out a thick gust of smoke. "Or maybe the weed's just clogged up your nose... Maybe you feel it too." He slowly leaned to the side, landing with a dull thump against the wall beside his bed. "What a weird pair we make, huh?"

Keen golden eyes peered up at the windowpanes. He watched the rain, so very fast and frigid, gazing at the way it froze for a mere instant before swiftly melting back down. "Frost." Snow suddenly smiled, and his teeth began to glimmer beneath the low light of the lit cigarette. "Frost..." He lifted the little kitten against his own fuzzy chest, and he slowly closed his eyes when it purred.

Lightning felt such warmth in her skin, the gentle grip of soft fingertips against her own, so much that she almost wanted to smile from it. Fang was walking slightly ahead, leading the way on through the glimmering sleet, yet even with the heavy sounds of the rain, the world itself almost felt silent around them. They could smell the wind and the salty air of the cold ocean, and off in the distance, a low, blaring foghorn called to the ships still out at the sea, warning them of the misty shoreline.

"Ever think about going on a boat ride?" Fang smirked from beneath the slim hood of her jacket, and she felt the slightest urge to call back at the echoing horn, perhaps reminding her of a lycan howl. "Or, just imagine... The four of us, out at sea."

Lightning wrinkled her nose at the thought of it. "I'd rather have that cabin in the woods."

Fang glanced over at Lightning with a smile. "Who says we can't have a house near the shore? Then we could get a boat and go fishing for marlin..."

"Marlin?" Lightning almost smiled as well. "I think you're getting ahead of yourself... Have you ever fished in the sea?"

Fang shook her head. "Nah, but I've caught things from rivers, and my dad taught me how to cast a line in the lake." She gently squeezed Lightning's hand. "Caught us a huge pike once... That's a fight I'll never forget."

Lightning looked down over the distant ocean waves, before she squeezed Fang's hand as well. "Is pike good to eat?"

"Of course." Fang listened to the way that her shoes sounded against the rainy pavement, just a soft crunch of water with so many flecks of scattered pebbles. "It's easier to cook one over an open fire, but you can also dig out a hole in the ground and fill it with embers, then wrap the fish up in tin foil, it bakes all nice in there."

"Tin foil." Lightning thought back to the various stories that Fang had once told her, specifically those about the trading posts; she'd often said that her family would stop there to sell and trade their gathered goods, from furs and bones to dried medicinal plants, all manner of natural wares. "Did the cabin have an oven?"

Fang nodded. "Mum would bake bread and hard biscuits for traveling, sometimes pastries." She peered off into the distance for a while, before she spoke in a different tone than before, something soft and quiet. "Did your mom teach you how to cook?"

Lightning kept silent for a very long while. "Yeah."

Fang squeezed her hand again. "I know she loved you."

Lightning paused in mid-stride, prompting Fang to stop as well. They stood there beneath the rain, within the harsh, frigid air that blew in from beyond the coast, hand in hand, waiting silently.

"That's what mothers do." Fang listened to the various people who walked right on past them, humans of the city, and she leaned in to whisper her next few words. "They look after those they love, protecting them, teaching them... And they'd die for them." She reached out to hold Lightning's other hand. "That's how I know she loved you."

Lightning's voice sounded a bit more breathless than she might've liked. "She died of a sickness... People in the home, they just started getting sick."

"Light." Fang watched the rain as it fell all around them, pattering down against the curve of Lightning's jacket hood. "I know it's cruel; nature doesn't love us any more than-" She paused, for the footsteps around her still echoed so close, and her voice would surely be overheard, even if they were all hurrying about in the rain. "All we've got in life is each other... But it doesn't mean that the ones we've lost didn't love us too." Fang held both of Lightning's hands so tightly, and she smiled when Lightning squeezed back again. "And I know for a fact that she loved you."

Lightning spoke in a way that Fang could scarcely even hear. "Sometimes it doesn't feel like she's really gone... But then I remember." She stared out at the swiftly falling rain, and her eyes slipped halfway shut. "What's done is done."

"And we'll live on for her." Fang held a strength to her tone, almost an urgency, though it was far from harsh or insistent. "Her and your dad, both of 'em... The four of us, we'll all live on for them."

"I told you, that sort of spell just doesn't work-" Serah cringed when a tiny pixel sprite on the computer screen went so gray and motionless, before it twitched again only once. "See, you got yourself killed..."

Vanille just rolled her eyes and reloaded the game. "They shouldn't let you make a magic character if the dragons are immune to magic!" She made a soft grumbling sound, before she clicked the mouse to move her character somewhere else on the map. "The physical mage attack is just way too low damage..."

"Maybe you can hire someone at the inn, there?" Serah was about to point out a certain town on the map, but her phone suddenly buzzed from atop the desk. "Just a minute, don't go after any more monsters."

Vanille sighed. She kept directing her character around the little town, searching for something that might give her the slightest bit of an edge in combat.

Serah looked down at the message on her phone, before a tiny frown crossed her face.

Sorry for texting so late. Just wondering if you might have any advice on how to calm down?

"Oh..." Serah nodded to herself, before she stood up from her chair beside the desk. "I'll be right back."

Vanille didn't glance away from the roving monsters that kept lurking around the outskirts of the virtual town. "Okay."

Serah slowly walked through the hall, moving into her own room, where she sat down on the edge of her bed. "Poor Snow..." She tapped in a message, before she peered up at the hazy flecks of rain upon her window.

A reply appeared after a moment or two. Nah, my voice is a little scratchy right now, not a good idea to talk. I tried taking a nap after it started, but everything still feels really tense.

Serah tried not to frown again. Have you tried eating something?

I had dinner before it happened.

Serah almost rolled her eyes. Have a small snack, or drink some water, it always helps me calm down. And take deep breaths, breathing in through your nose and then out from your mouth. She wished that she could have been there to say it out loud to him. And just remember that you're safe there, okay? And if you're ever not safe, if you need help... You just have to ask us, we'll be there.

And within the darkness of the rain, many long, silent moments passed before Snow replied again. Thanks, Serah. There was another long pause, though much shorter than the last. You're one of a kind, you know that?

Serah felt the slightest hint of something warm creeping its way through her face, and she slowly tapped out her response. Just trying my best.

Snow replied almost immediately. I've never had a friend like you before.

Serah suddenly closed her eyes, trying to hold back that trembly little smile on her face. Another message buzzed in, but she didn't see it for more than a moment or two, not when it felt like her heart was about to jump right out and fly away through her bedroom window, no matter if it was closed.

And Serah, if you ever need help over there, you just give me a call, okay?

I will. As she tapped the screen of the phone, Serah slowly stood up again. Thank you, Snow. We'll still be seeing you this Sunday, right?

Right. :)

With a soft smile, Serah walked over to approach the hallway again, though she paused when she heard a short sound of frustration; perhaps Vanille was going after the dragon again? She'd already told her not to try it without backup... While Serah pondered if it would even be worth it to try and convince Vanille into restarting the game with a different type of character, she caught hold of another sound, something that echoed near the other end of the hallway. Had Vanille left the television on?

She walked slowly, almost warily, but Serah soon relaxed when she realized that it was indeed just as she'd suspected. With a soft sigh of relief, she moved to sit down on the sofa for a moment, but what she saw upon the television screen, it almost felt as if her heart was suddenly burning.

"We've received no confirmed reports of casualties, but a number of ambulances and medical personnel have already-"

Serah almost wanted to cover her ears in her hands, but she slowly began to grit her teeth, listening to the words of the news reporter, one who was standing out in the rain.

"Witnesses have since stated that the ordeal began when an unknown suspect brandished a small firearm, shouting obscenities at those who had apparently started to confront the protesters at city hall, as well as firing seemingly at random." The reporter was standing in front of a rather regal walkway, but the building behind her was illuminated with the red and blue lights of police cars, and a rather massive area had been sectioned off with yellow tape. "It is unknown at this time if the main protesting force, or even the suspect at large, if such individuals truly belong to those who've begun to identify themselves as the CLR, but we hope that more information will present itself as the case moves forward."

The screen suddenly changed to the wide image of a newsroom, though the reporter's camera feed still remained visible near the edge of the picture.

A newscaster spoke up from behind a rather sleek desk. "While the Gapra police force has declined to comment further until the culprit has been found and detained, we've just received notification from none other than Cid Raines himself, of Eden..." She waited until the screen had changed to just an image of herself and a live feed from somewhere else entirely, a room with only a single person at his desk. "Senator Raines, you've gone on record praising the civility and 'peaceful' outlook that the CLR has since kept... What are your own views on the incident in Gapra, this evening?"

Cid spoke in the calmest tone of voice that Serah had ever heard, yet the mere sound of it almost sent a prickle down her spine.

"My views..?" He peered at the camera as if he could see right through it. "Gapra has always been heralded as a haven for those seeking the beauty of nature and a life free of violence, and the fact that such safety has since been threatened is reason enough to reconsider one's own views." He slowly folded his fingertips together, gloved in thin white silk. "Our fellow citizens are under threat of a violation upon their very rights... And one's rights are tantamount to living peacefully among each other."

The newscaster looked as if she'd wrangled with such elusive wordplay before. "And your personal views on the incident, Senator?"

Cid didn't reply for a moment or two. "I believe that it was likely an act of desperation, but I simply do not have enough information to judge." His eyes turned frigid for a split moment in time. "Besides mere speculation, of course..."

The newscaster didn't return the icy gaze, but her jaw did tighten ever so slightly. "Do you believe that the aggressor may have been afflicted with lycanthropy?"

"What I believe does not impact the truth of the matter." Cid slowly leaned to the side, though he still looked right into the camera. "The truth, my friend, will eventually see this matter on its rightful course... And as I have said before on many occasions, both citizens and lycanthropic citizens should face due penalty when the law is broken due to their actions."

A wry smile crossed the newscaster's face. "And the law that deigns the procedural removal of any afflicted citizen to be justified..?"

"Removal." Cid closed his eyes with just the slightest hint of a smirk on his lips. "What a sanitary word for murder."

"Strange, it's hardly even freezing when it hits." Fang held her hand out to catch a small droplet of the sleet, watching the way that it melted down against the warmth of her skin. "Looks like a snowflake, but it falls just like a raindrop."

"The ground's still too warm, so is the air." Lightning stepped over a small puddle in the sidewalk. "It's just not cold enough to fully freeze."

"Hm." Fang pulled her jacket a bit tighter against herself, and she fought the urge to shiver. "Could've fooled me." She reached down into her pocket for a stick of gum, though she suddenly frowned when her fingers touched upon an empty packet. "Shit."

Lightning looked back over her shoulder. "What?"

"Out of gum." Fang sighed, before she reached over to hold Lightning's hand again. "Think any stores are still open tonight?"

"There's a little corner shop near home." Lightning gave her a tiny smile. "The woman who owns it, it's a family business... She used to take the time to talk with me whenever I'd scrape up enough to buy dinner there."

Fang quirked a single eyebrow at that. "Dinner from a corner store?"

"They sell sandwiches and clean water." Lightning looked down at the rain puddles beneath her feet. "Better than drinking from the ground."

Fang glanced around at the sidewalk, though the two of them had become rather alone in the later hours of the night, especially with the oncoming weather. "How far are we from home?"

"A little more than a minute or two." Lightning pointed at a nearby junction in the streets. "One left turn, the store is just at the end of the next block." She slowly looked up into the falling sleet, and a bit of frost touched down upon her nose, though she brushed it away before it could even start to melt. "They'll be closing soon; we'd better hurry."

Fang smiled at the quickening pace that Lightning took, yet she followed it in stride, moving on as swiftly as she could. "You're a real sweetheart, you know that?"

Lightning glanced back down at where their hands were still linked. "Why is that?"

"It's just a pack of gum, but you're willing to hurry for it." Fang ran her thumb against the soft curve of Lightning's palm. "It's the little things, you know..."

Lightning glanced away, as if to hide her face behind the fabric of her hood. "Chewing just helps keep us calm, and gum is good for it."

"It's more than that." Fang smirked to herself, but she just kept walking along in the rain. "Don't pretend you aren't good to me."

Lightning scoffed under her breath. "And here I thought you were just a masochist."

Fang stepped forward to reach under the hood of Lightning's jacket, swiftly ruffling her hair. "You're never cruel to me, don't pretend you are..." She kept holding on to Lightning's hand, even when her other one tried to bat her own hand away, the one that was mussing up that soft pink hair. "You should be proud of being so sweet, you hear me?"

Lightning fought back a rather sour look on her face. She quickly darted out with her free hand to tousle up a bit of Fang's own hair, though it was much more difficult when it naturally looked quite wild, almost wolfish in nature.

"Ah, can't do much to this mane, sorry." Fang smirked with all of her teeth, and she even reached up to fluff back a few of the dark locks with her fingertips. "Like my hair, do you?"

Lightning rolled her eyes. "It is impressive." She started to smooth down her own rosy tresses, pushing them back beneath the hood of her jacket. "Just don't mess mine up again when we're in public..."

"Right, right." Fang chuckled low in her throat. "But I kinda like it when you look wild."

Lightning tugged her hood down a bit further. "Like I just got out of bed?"

"Maybe a bed of leaves." Fang kept smiling, and she followed after Lightning down that long, rainy sidewalk, beneath the pale glow of the streetlamps. "Or a bed of snowflakes..." She tipped her chin to look up at the sky. "If it ever snows, that is."

"It will." Lightning turned the corner, and she soon glanced at a small storefront on the opposite end of the road, all the way down the street. "Just give it time."

"Not much time left before Yuletide." Fang yawned, which made her breath turn to mist in the chilly air. "We'll just have to hope for it, I guess."

Lightning glanced both ways before she started to cross the street, making sure that Fang had followed after her. The corner store almost seemed aglow beneath the darkness and the sleet, which made the tall windows glimmer with so many frosty little water drops, like a mirror glazed with ice.

"Hm..." Fang smiled at the sight of several magazine racks near the front of the store, though she could hardly even see them through the foggy window panes. "If we weren't still reading through my birthday book, I might take a peek at some of those."

Lightning nearly rolled her eyes at that. It was no small secret to her that back in the days when they traveled together, that whenever their younger companions were both fast asleep, that Fang would retrieve a certain bit of reading material from a concealed part of her personal traveling bag. While it was often just a book or a magazine that she'd saved up for, either purchased or traded, it was just as often something that she wouldn't let Lightning see, not even a single word or picture... At least until she had turned thirteen. And even then, Fang would often clear her throat and swiftly turn to another page, choosing to read aloud in order to keep certain details hidden.

"You and your trashy novels..." Lightning hid another smirk behind her jacket hood. "Hate to break it to you, but they don't sell any of that here, not even in the magazines."

"Shame." Fang smiled as Lightning held the door open for her. "I was hoping to get a few chemistry lessons."

Lightning turned to give her a look that was just as cold as the rain. "Keep that up, and the only chemistry you'll be seeing is in the kitchen." She looked over to nod at the cashier in greeting, making sure that her expression wasn't still so harsh.

"Ouch..." Fang smirked again, and she walked over to browse one of the aisles, gazing at all of the colorful goods. "Baking cookies again?"

Lightning scoffed almost silently. "You wish." She followed after Fang, though she did spare a brief glance at the magazine displays. "Aren't you supposed to be looking for gum?"

"I am." Fang paused before a counter that held several different things, including a stack of boxed cookies. "You think they keep it near the register?"

"Yeah." Lightning turned to lead the way. "Come on, I'm ready to crawl right to sleep when we get home."

Fang followed after her, and she soon knelt down to pick out a flavor of gum from beside the front counter. "You still like spearmint, right?"

"Yeah." Lightning smiled softly at the little old lady who sat behind the counter; while she had never learned her first or last name, nor given her own, she'd often stopped at the little corner store to speak with the old woman for far longer than she would with most strangers. "Pretty cold out there tonight."

The elderly lady moved to set her newspaper down near the cash register. "Oh yes... The rain starts to freeze around this time of year." She adjusted her slim glasses with a soft, quiet sigh on her lips. "I do wish it was easier to get around in the snow, but it always looks so beautiful from here."

Lightning nodded without a sound.

Fang stood up again with a package of gum in her hand. "Evening, ma'am."

The old woman smiled at her. "Oh, a new face around here..?"

Lightning glanced back at Fang. "Old friend of mine."

Fang reached into her pants pocket for her wallet, before she set a single bill down upon the counter, along with the package of gum. "Nice little place you've got here."

The little old lady smiled at her, and she began to ring up the pack of gum. "That's nice of you to say, I'm just afraid that I might have to downsize my stock next year..." Her wrinkled fingers still tapped at the register with pinpoint accuracy. "Too many new stores around here, I just can't compete with them at my age."

Lightning tried her best not to frown. "You know I'll still buy whatever I can from here."

"That's very nice of you." The old woman smiled at her. "One of my favorite customers..." She placed the pack of gum into a small paper bag, which was printed with the flowery little emblem of the shop. "Do come again, and try to stay out of the rain! No good from getting soaked down to the bone like that, you'll just catch yourself a nasty chill."

Fang nodded as she accepted the bag. "Thank you kindly..."

It was a brief walk back towards the front of the store, and Lightning held the door open again, but she only spoke once they had reached the street that led on towards the apartments, where the glow of the streetlights shimmered a bit less brightly than before.

"I don't even know her name." Lightning felt the cold raindrops pattering down upon her jacket, and every breath she took smelled frosty and crisp. "Back before we had the apartment, I wandered in there once... I must've looked scruffy, because she made me take one of those sandwiches in the wall refrigerators, wouldn't even let me pay for it."

Fang reached over to hold Lightning's hand again. "Nice of her."

Lightning looked down at her feet. "Do you think... People like that, do you think they'd do the same things if they knew..?" There was no one else around the sidewalk at that hour of the night, yet Lightning still spoke in a low murmur. "It almost feels like a lie."

"It's not lying if it keeps us from getting killed." Fang's upper lip curled at the mere thought of it, even if she still felt rather comforted by the kindly demeanor of the little old woman. "I mean, it's lying, but I wouldn't count it as a sin."

Lightning kept silent for a very long while. "I'm glad you're here with me."

Fang squeezed her hand once more, before they both moved to approach the rainy little crosswalk, towards the path that would lead them home.

Serah glanced up when she heard the low rumble of keys in the door. "Light..." She looked back over at the television screen, and she swiftly decided that it was probably better to turn it off for the time being. If Lightning happened to be coming home in good spirits, then there was no use in bringing her down with the news.

Footsteps soon echoed quietly into the front hall, before Fang appeared from behind the narrow archway. "Hey, Serah."

"Hey..." Serah moved to stand up from the couch, but Fang was already moving off into the other hall. "Did you guys have a nice time?"

Fang paused to smile at her. "We did." That keen glimmer in her eyes, it wasn't quite wary, but the way that her lip twitched spoke of something quite different, something that spoke louder than she could ever say: 'I know you hid something just now, but don't even bother denying it; I won't chase after your secrets.'

Yet Serah held her ground. Damn that damn crafty nose, she thought to herself, and damn her own scent for betraying just a hint of nervousness. "Rainy out there, isn't it?"

"Yup..." Fang smiled again when Lightning wandered in from the kitchen, already divested of her jacket and purse. "Light looks pretty sleepy from it."

Lightning merely nodded. "Just a long day today." She covered a soft yawn with the back of her wrist, before she moved over to accept a gentle hug from Serah. "Everything okay while we were gone?"

Serah cursed herself for hesitating. "Um... A just couple things."

Lightning physically tensed from that strange little tone in Serah's voice, and she slowly leaned back from the hug.

"The first one isn't so serious..." Serah fought the urge to fidget. "You can ask Vanille about it, she said she'd tell you, but on the news tonight..." She tried to keep herself utterly still beneath not only one, but two inquisitive gazes. "Something happened at those protests today." Serah took a very deep breath, before she glanced back at the living room. "There, uh... Maybe you can look it up, but it wasn't a lycan attack."

A long silence drifted between them. "Should we be worried?" Lightning almost looked as if she was about to go into the living room to try and catch another news broadcast, if only there weren't such shadows beneath her eyes, nor a slight shade of exhaustion in her voice. "Just summarize it for us."

"Someone fired a gun..." Serah spoke in less than a murmur. "People were being taken away in ambulances, but they didn't say anything about actual lycans."

"Alright." Lightning exhaled, almost a sigh, before she turned to face the hallway. "If you want to keep watching, I'd appreciate knowing what else they might figure out."

Serah nodded. "Okay." She almost froze under Fang's next gaze, until she realized that it was one of pride, not scrutiny, and she suddenly went very still when Fang hugged her.

"You're a good kid." Fang smelled of fresh rain and the chilly ocean air, but she also held the scents of the forest, so dark and deep and comforting. "You know that, right?"

Serah slowly hugged Fang back. "Thanks..."

"Just relax, Serah." Fang reached up to pat the back of her head. "Light and I will never snap at you for the truth, okay?"

"Okay." Serah relaxed even further. "Light gets news updates on her phone, but I wasn't sure if she'd turned them off while you guys were out..."

"She probably did." Fang smiled when she leaned back from the hug, before she gently tapped at Serah's forehead. "Well, I'm off to bed soon... You should get some rest, too."

Serah nodded, watching as Fang turned to follow after where Lightning had gone. "I will."

And in the hallway, it sounded as if the water was already running in the bathroom sink. Fang smiled softly to herself, before she leaned back against the wall to focus on her inner thoughts. It used to be that Serah would always hide away the things that truly frightened her, even if she could never really conceal her scent. But perhaps the way towards bravery wasn't confronting it headlong, as Fang had once thought it might be. She'd never tried to push Serah's limits, of course, for there were some things that did much more harm than good, but a long, knowing look often brought those little things out into the open, even if they were mostly utterly innocuous. Serah used to startle at the slightest sound in the woodlands, as if she was utterly convinced that something out there in the night was going to hunt her down and hurt her, and either Fang or Lightning would have stand watch for a while, at least until Serah quietly shivered herself back to sleep.

The sound of a toothbrush echoed against a small plastic cup, and Lightning soon stepped out from the bathroom. "All yours."

Fang nodded, before she walked inside to retrieve her own toothbrush. She dabbed it with water and a bit of minty paste, yet she found that her mind was wandering right back towards Serah.

That poor little girl, Fang thought, even though it seemed like she'd toughened up considerably since then. There had been nothing else they could really do for it back in those days, besides being there to comfort her. Serah was many things, but her most useful traits often appeared where they were least expected; while something as tiny as a snapping twig would send her into a silent state of dread, she'd hardly ever react outwardly to the sound of a gunshot or rapidly approaching footfalls. No, she didn't seem to panic whenever they were attacked, likely because she knew exactly what gunfire meant, but a hidden presence in the woods, that could be anything at all, and it seemed as if Serah feared the unknown much more than anything of the opposite nature.

And Fang she wandered back into the hall, towards the far side of the apartment, Lightning's voice drew her away from her inner musings. "You can't kill those with regular spells." A slight pause drifted within the sound of the rain. "Yeah, it's hidden right under the inn."

Fang slowly approached the open doorway of Lightning's room. When she caught sight of the pair of them beside the computer, she merely smiled, before she then wandered on to sit down against the edge of Lightning's bed.

"It's a warlock covenant, you'll need special spells for a mage to be able to kill dragons." Lightning was resting her forearms against the back of the desk chair, gazing down at the computer screen. "Curses, specifically."

"How do you know so much about this?" Vanille tipped her chin back to look up at Lightning. "Serah said you only play these when you can't sleep at night."

Lightning smirked at the computer screen. "True, but when I do, I go all the way..." She pointed at a certain shadowy character within the inn cellar. "That's the dark magic tutor; I just hope you've collected enough money to buy hex spells."

Vanille almost whimpered. "How long does that take?"

Lightning just shrugged, before she stepped away to sit down on the edge of the bed, reaching down to untie her shoes. She looked over at Fang for a moment, who had already gotten herself out of her sneakers and was laying down on the other side of the bed, gazing out at the raindrops on the window panes.

"This is just too much work for one stupid dragon..." Vanille tried not to pout, for the price it would take to learn hexes seemed utterly monumental. "How did you ever get this stuff, Light?"

Lightning tossed her socks away into a laundry bin. "I didn't, I just looked it up in the guide." She looked over at her leather crafting tools, the specialized knives, tweezers, spools, and bottled chemicals, which were resting on the other end of the desk. "I don't usually have enough time for games, but I'll help you tomorrow if I can."

"Okay." Vanille soon exited the game and turned the chair around to face them. "Did you guys have fun tonight?"

"Of course." Fang was reading the back cover of a certain novel, the very same one that she'd gotten for her birthday. "You ready for Yuletide shopping tomorrow?"

"Yeah!" Vanille smiled brightly. "So soon already..."

"We're only around a week away." Lightning picked up Fang's shoes to place them near the doorway, where she set her own sneakers down as well. "And Saturday is as good as any other time... It might be crowded, but it's all the better to go unnoticed." She knew that the two of them might not want to think about such things, especially not so close to a holiday, but her own concerns for their safety didn't pause for any reason. "Safer to go in pairs... Less chance that anyone might recognize us."

"We won't all go together?" Vanille started to frown at that, but she tried her best not to let the sadness tinge her voice as well. "We haven't all been outside for something in... I can't even remember."

"Sunday, Vanille." Fang set her book down and beckoned with one of her hands, and she smiled when Vanille walked over to lean down and hug her so tightly. "Don't forget about Sunday... Gotta teach that friend of Serah's how to be a respectable lycan, eh?"

Vanille giggled against one of Fang's shoulders. "Snow was really funny."

"He does seem nice." Fang stroked her hand against Vanille's hair, remembering the way it felt whenever she did so just to calm her down, even not so long ago, those nights when the tears would all return at once. "Now, go get some sleep so you won't feel like a zombie while we get our shopping done, alright?"

Vanille nodded, before she hugged Fang even tighter, and then she leaned away to hop down from the edge of the bed. "Okay... Night Fang." She skipped on over to hug Lightning too, near the doorway. "Night Light!"

And as she hugged her back, Lightning reached up to gently brush her fingertips against the top of Vanille head. "Sleep well, Vanille."

Fang watched the way that Vanille skipped on out again, before she looked back at Lightning, who had since wandered over to turn off the computer and push the desk chair back into place.

"I don't like the sound of what Serah said." Lightning stepped over to close the door, and she slowly leaned against it, gazing back at the opposite wall. "Gunshots..."

"C'mere." Fang sat up against the bed sheets. "She said the news didn't say anything about lycans."

"It's still a rarity." Lightning slowly moved towards the bed again, but she paused to remove a set of pajamas from the dresser, as well as some for Fang, the pair that she had been given for her birthday. "And lycan or not, those protests are still about the blood testing..." She chewed at her bottom lip for a brief moment, before she moved to sit down on the bed and unfold her own nightclothes, placing Fang's set upon the sheets between them. "Which means that lycans are in the spotlight."

"But we did just fine this evening..." Fang tugged off her own shirt from over her shoulders, and she reached back around to unfasten her bra. "Didn't look like the news traveled much."

Lightning had already gotten her flannel nightshirt on, though she paused when she felt a soft, gentle touch upon the back of her neck. "Fang..."

"If we sniff out any danger tomorrow, we'll head right back home, okay?" Fang slowly wrapped her arms around Lightning's bare waist, so smooth and warm, not yet covered in her flannel bottoms. "But it's nearly Yuletide... We can't stop living our own lives just because someone's making a fuss out there."

Lightning felt a warm breath brush across the nape of her neck, and she slowly relaxed when Fang pressed another kiss to her skin, coaxing a small sound of agreement from her throat.

"Want me to read out loud again tonight?" Fang moved to murmur her words against one of Lightning's shoulders. "I think you fell asleep right before we got to the good part."

Lightning nodded. She slowly leaned away to tug her flannel pajamas over her feet and legs, before she looked over at what Fang was wearing. A soft violet hue made the fabric look so silky and smooth, like the waves of the ocean before sunrise; Lightning knew that Fang often found herself in the midst of the deep dreams, and that she'd wake up as a lycan of over eight feet in height, not to mention far more muscular in bulk, which was never very kind to the clothes she was wearing. But those, a set that Lightning had found in a little shop specializing in robes and comfortable sleepwear, she'd first been drawn to the fact that it was only held together by a length of loose silken string at the neck and the upper waist, a balance between modesty and what would happen if Fang was to suddenly change forms, enough to simply push the garb aside without even damaging the fabric.

"I had a lot of fun tonight..." Fang already started to settle herself down against one of the pillows, where she gave Lightning a lazy wink. "What do you think of that little tunnel I dug?"

"It looks secure." Lightning stood up for a moment to turn off the switch for the overhead lights, leaving only the bedside lamp to keep the room illuminated. "It's good that you made it near the water, in case if we ever need to hide our scent."

"The rain might help, too." Fang yawned almost silently, before she hummed when Lightning moved to snuggle in beside her. "But when it snows..."

Lightning closed her eyes, thinking of the way that the winter world grew so very silent in so many ways, a sword with double edges. In a blank slate, in the snowfall, scents could be tracked without distraction, like a single line of dark ink on a sheet of pure white paper, but they could also be swept away by the harsh winds or covered up in even more snow, and sniffing the cold air for long enough could make one's nose feel numb and painful. They'd been tracked by dogs before, animals employed by those who hunted their kind. While such creatures were easy enough to scare off with a roar or a rough scratch to the nose, many brave animals had met their end by backing either Fang or Lightning into a corner, forced between the choice of being continually hounded down or ending the threat right then and there. But the thought of what Fang had said, of lycans in radio collars... A slight prickle ran down Lightning's spine, but she stifled it by cuddling even closer.

"Now, where were we?" Fang had already picked up the book again, and she was slowly thumbing her way through the pages to find the one that she'd marked with a stray scrap of paper. "They were searching for that ancient tome, I know that much..."

Lightning didn't open her eyes, but she slowly nodded against Fang's neck.

"There... Just tell me if this sounds too familiar." Fang paused upon a certain page, before she spoke in a much different tone than before, the same sort of voice she always used when she was reading aloud. "The fen wolf, Fenrisulfr, either Fenris or Fenrir in the common tongue, was said to haunt these very marshlands ever since breaking free of Gleipnir." Fang smiled at the page. "It seemed fitting, as our own quarried tome was known as the 'Mountain Root', likely named after one of those strange, fabled components of Gleipnir."

Lightning opened her eyes for just a moment. It was the name of two books, in truth, the book that the characters were searching for, and the very novel that Fang was reading from.

"The various bowman of our party ranged the land from east to west, scouting out the marshes for any hints of danger, but none could tell if the deep water pits were even passable; there was simply too much pond scum and thick floral growth within an unusual season of bloom, though when I spoke to Sylvan of such things, he merely shrugged off the strange winter flora as a blessing from his own eastern gods."

"Sylvan." Lightning tried to remember which chapter that character had been introduced in. "I like that name."

Fang paused to look away from the page. "It's got a bit of historical meaning." She let the book rest beneath her chin, before she curled one of her arms under and around Lightning's waist, holding her even closer. "Like the book says... Far in the east, there used to be a whole pantheon of gods and mythology, but most of it was lost long before either Gran Pulse or Cocoon came to be." Fang still held the book in one hand, while she gently hugged Lightning with her other. "The Sylvan race, which was the same as the human name for 'forest', they were supposed to be these little tree nymphs... But they were a lot more like fae spirits than just stupid pests in the undergrowth."

Lightning took a moment to try and remember something that Serah had once taught her about the very same region of history. "Is this related to the god Sylvanus?"

"Exactly." Fang gently patted at Lightning's arm. "Paid attention to your history, haven't you?"

Lightning shook her head. "Serah just likes talking about whatever she learns."

"Hm." Fang looked back at the cover of the book. "My mum always loved stories like this... Stuff about the old gods, the ways they'd get along with the lesser deities, maybe even a few magic creatures." She lifted the book back up again, before she began to read out loud. "And when the cold winds swept right back in from the west, we began our march over the frozen pits, crossing those long, ice marked rivers that flowed as slowly as molten rock. Two of the oxen were lost upon the first day, for all manner of venomous beasts live their own lives beneath that dark, murky liquid, and even in the chill of winter, they will not stop preying upon those who dare to cross even the shallowest of channels."

Lightning closed her eyes again, and she listened closely.

"The mules brayed loudly in the night, calling out to each other, though the oxen did not bellow or snort. I suppose they were wise not to do so, even if it might have kept the marsh creatures at bay, for the sound itself might have revealed our true numbers. We still lost more than a mere pittance of mules, but it was not to the beasts of the midnight hours, no... It was to the hunger of the marsh itself." Fang paused to turn the page. "On that day, it was as if the world itself had opened up beneath them, even in what looked to be the very safest place to cross... A jagged maw suddenly creaked apart as they screeched and struggled, but they were suddenly lost within a mere instant, gone from this world to the jaws of a massive lindworm."

Lightning opened her eyes to look at the eager expression Fang's face.

"We drew swords upon the creature, calling out in challenge; it would not steal so many of our beasts of burden, all carrying such precious supplies, at least not without forfeiting its own life." Fang's eyes seemed to glimmer with excitement. "One of the wagons cracked from so far, far beneath, and those deadly teeth suddenly plunged up again into the depths of so many bags of grain, sapping our food supplies right out from under our watch, where it trickled back down into the murky maw of the great worm. There was a sound unlike any other, perhaps akin to the screeching of steel upon steel, of crossed swords, and the beast suddenly shuddered as if in true pain. I do not recall feeling particularly courageous as I sank my blade down against the softer flesh beside one of those wretched, venomous teeth, but my companions would later sing that I had drawn first blood of that battle... And that the honor of facing the beast, the draconic horror of a worm, that it fell to me to see it slain, or at least sent back towards the depths of hell, or Niflhel, as the locals called it, from whence it likely came."

And with that, Lightning slowly closed her eyes again, before she faded off into slumber.

"...Silly girl." Fang spoke in less than a whisper. "Falls asleep on me before I even get to finish a page or two." She reached up to stroke her fingertips through Lightning's hair, soothing her even further. "Is it something about my voice?"

Lightning didn't even stir.

"Sleep well, Light." Fang let her own gaze drift for just a moment, before she gently closed the book. She moved to set it down against the nightstand, where she reached up to switch off the lamp light. "See you in the morning." She soon settled back down again to hold Lightning close, whispering wordless little nothings against her skin, so very breathy and soft. "...Love you."

His pawprints lingered for only a brief instant, just a hazy outline of slush in the puddles of the road, where he walked within the form of a wolf for the first time in several weeks.

It was just far too cold outside, he told himself, enough to need his thick winter pelt, which was already starting to gain back a bit of luster. His injuries, though they still ached, they were all nearly healed, and only the most stubborn of wounds refused to stop scabbing up, but it were mostly hidden by his longer coat, beneath pale silver and a few bands of darker gray. He looked for all the world like a wolf again, walking there with a long, fluffy pelt. Yet he still needed to stay low, not to draw any attention from those who walked among the brightly lit streets, traveling beneath wreaths of vibrant holly and long, colorful banners, beside trees that glowed like so many pinpricked stars.

Another holiday, Hope realized, and he began to briefly remember his own younger days, just a mere child in the midst of a grand celebration. He remembered those gifts given to each other beneath a luminous tree, the way his parents used to- Hope suddenly growled, so long and low, and his hackles lifted with those long tufts of banded fur. It would not do to think about them, not when he swore that he could still taste the blood of a murderer...

He moved to retreat down the darker alleyways, far from the lights of the main streets, where he started to paw through a stray trashcan, likely overturned by a raccoon. The rain kept dripping down and dropping against his fur, but Hope merely sought out a wrapped box of scarcely-eaten cheeses, which he swiftly tore open and scarfed right down without even pausing to savor the taste. Why in the world would someone ever throw away something so good? The elegant box almost looked exotic, all wrapped up in delicate red and green ribbons, and it carried the scents of more than just a few humans, likely passed from hand to hand until it had reached the proper recipient. No matter, their foolish little loss was his own gain, and he soon walked away from the trash bin with a rather wonderful feeling in his stomach, as if his strength was truly returning again.

The wounds had drained his energy away, lingering there like the very same trauma that still plagued his every thought, though he soon found that wandering around as a wolf could suppress his human feelings. Wolves would also grieve for those they'd lost, searching for them by the course of mournful howls and low whimpers, though some would instead go utterly silent and still, as if the loss had knocked the very life out of them as well. But Hope could do neither of those. If he called out in mourning, he would soon be discovered and killed. If he merely slumped against the ground and refused to move, he would, again, be discovered and then possibly killed, if his true nature was revealed.

While it seemed as if his pursuers were effectively blinded by the loss of their own lycan, with the way the city had all but grown utterly fearsome at the mere mistake he'd made, Hope knew that to stop moving was to die, and to die was to negate the sacrifice his mother had made, even if it meant he might just see her again, if there was indeed an afterlife.

He did pause to rest, though it could not be for long. A stray stack of wooden boxes kept the rain at bay, yet the chill in the air crept in past even the thickest coats of fur. Hope shivered, curling up so that he could tuck his nose down beneath the fluffy tip of his tail. His ears twitched, and his stomach grumbled somewhat appreciatively from his recent meal. It had been the same lately, so much good discarded food, likely unwanted gifts from those who had been long since estranged, or perhaps from well-meaning relatives, those who didn't know that their presents would not be a good fit.

Hope mumbled against the fuzzy hairs of his tail. At least for a while he'd eat well, unless the sound of gunshots echoed out into the city yet again. He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter, before he slowly began to doze off into sleep.

A light rain still drizzled by the time Lightning woke, though she didn't open her eyes for a while, not when her head was still tucked there beneath Fang's chin, all nuzzled up against her warm neck. She could feel the gentle breaths within her elegant throat, and a steady heartbeat pulsed against her own ear. There was such beauty to the rhythm of a body, Lightning decided, something primal and utterly calming, as if they were both close enough to truly understand each other on some level they had never touched before. She knew, perhaps by instinct, that it was something truly voiceless.

Fang was resting against her side, with her dark hair fanned out against the pillows. Some of it tickled at Lightning's nose, but she merely reached up to brush the stray strands away. She felt the softness of those rich brown locks, nearly black in hue, and they almost felt like silk between her fingertips.

"Mhm..." Fang yawned for a good long moment, and her teeth clicked quietly once she closed her mouth again. "Light?"

"Just go back to sleep." Lightning slowly threaded her fingertips through the tangled maze of Fang's hair. "It's still early."

"Hm." Fang adjusted her arms, one of which was draped around Lightning's waist, while the other she'd since splayed against the pillow, resting her upper arm beneath Lightning's neck. "Yuletide shopping today..."

Lightning tried not to sigh. "Too early."

"I know, I know..." Fang hummed when Lightning nuzzled back in against her neck. "Been meaning to ask you something."

Lightning wrapped her other arm around Fang's back, hugging her close. "Ask."

"Do we have an average price in mind for presents?" Fang hugged Lightning as well, and her gaze wavered slightly, though only because it couldn't be seen. "There's something I want to get for you."

Lightning stirred a bit, as if to try and look up at Fang. "I suppose asking what it is would get me nowhere."

Fang hummed again. "It's gotta be a surprise, Light... No fun if it isn't." She looked over at the wooden dresser near the door, where she could see a pair of slim winter gloves resting against the countertop. "It might be a little pricey."

Lightning kept dozing away for a moment, before she slowly shrugged her shoulders. "You've been bringing in half of our income, Fang; if you want to spend some of it, you've got a right to do so."

"You make it sound so businesslike..." Fang spoke with a wry tone to her voice, but she still reached up to gently tickle the back of Lightning's neck; in truth, she'd already placed a down payment on the purchase in question, for Lightning had given her a payment card that was attached to her bank account, allowing her to withdraw cash from it. "Gotta let things loose once in a while."

Lightning didn't even care enough to grumble at her.

"But you're right, it is pretty damn early..." Fang yawned again, before she stretched her right arm up into the air, while her left one remained tucked against the pillow, near Lightning's neck. "Morning, Light."

"Morning." Lightning's voice was less than a low whisper. "Let's just get a little more sleep."

"Sure, love." Fang stroked her fingertips down and across Lightning's shoulders, stroking her through the thin flannel fabric. "We'll have fun today... Just you wait."

And from beneath the warm crook of her chin, Lightning gently kissed at the softest curve of Fang's neck.

A strange sort of glimmer took the city by storm, no matter if the din of voices reached so far into the air; protests marched on despite the holiday season, with harsh breaths frosting out within the frigid air, shouts calling off into the earliest hours of the day, though the only red hue that shone was for the banners of a long-awaited Yuletide.

Vanille nearly gasped at the sight of it; the bustling main plaza of downtown Gapra, decorated with more colorful lights than she had ever seen before, all patterned in rich golds and silvers, reds and greens, and though there wasn't even much more than a puddle of rain on the ground, the lack of snowfall did nothing to detract from the glamour.

Lightning was still sipping at a cup of something from her breakfast trip to a local coffee shop, some sort of warm white chocolate cocoa. "We'll meet up with Serah and Fang after an hour or so..." She tucked her phone back into her pocket. "Where first?"

Vanille felt as if her eyes had been forever widened by the sight of the holiday fare. "Oh... Maybe we could just wander around?" She turned to smile at Lightning, at the way she still looked so stoic even within the presence of tall evergreen trees draped in delicate sparkling lights, in a world of little holograms that danced around in slow circles among the falling digital snow, and beneath long banners that still flapped so cheerfully in the frosty wind, heralding the holiday itself. "I'm sure we'll find something before long."

Lightning nodded. "Just lead the way."

Vanille almost paused at the sound of that. Lightning wanted her to lead the way? Wouldn't it be better the other way around? Vanille slowly nibbled the inside of her cheek, before she picked a direction at random, following the natural flow of the crowds, of the hundreds of holiday shoppers. It wasn't often that she was the one to choose which way to go, not that she truly minded; if she ever wanted to look at something or go somewhere, she'd merely point it out to one of her older companions and they'd go sniff around to see if there was anything dangerous about it.

"Let's just hope we don't go home to an empty bank account." Lightning always seemed a bit grumpy if she didn't have something productive to do in the morning, at least until she woke up all the way. "We'll get enough to make it a nice time... But remember, if you see something you aren't sure about, just wait and see if something better turns up; we have all day to look."

Vanille nodded with a rather warm smile on her face. "Don't worry Light, I'll be careful." She skipped over the little cracks in the brick sidewalk, glancing around at all of the glimmering storefronts and open carts of holiday goods. "What sort of stuff do you think you'll get for everyone?"

"I'm not sure yet." Lightning paused among the bustling crowds when she caught sight of a rather unusual hologram; it was a tiny white reindeer that pranced around in wide circles upon the window of a nearby shop. "But I'll find something before long."

Vanille looked back over her shoulder to make sure that Lightning was still keeping up through the crowds, before she giggled under her breath. "See something back there?"

Lightning shook her head. "They're just getting good at making those..." She gestured at a different hologram, one of a snowman who was waving at the crowds from atop a small metal platform, which likely had the image generator hidden inside. "They were a lot less realistic back when I was a kid."

Vanille almost wanted to reach out and feel the sharp chill of the cheerful snowman, even if it was all just a clever little illusion, light and color mixed up together to create a moving, breathing image, mere fantasy come to life. "You're not that old, Lightning."

Lightning just sipped at her drink, gazing right through the jolly little hologram. "...Sometimes it feels like I am."

"Oh, these are nice..." Serah was browsing through a small display case of different bracelets, most of which were made out of silky ribbons and glass beads. "Light's not usually one for this sort of thing, but Vanille might like them."

Fang glanced down at her own necklace, at the lovely little stone that Vanille herself had carved into a vaguely sharp shape, perhaps a tooth, for the purpose of her namesake. "Hmm."

"You okay?" Serah looked up from the bracelets and baubles, along with several other trinkets made out of soft leather or cloth. "Fang?"

Fang slowly drew herself back to attention. "Yeah, sorry." She glanced back at Serah. "What's up?"

"You were just spacing out a little..." Serah walked over to stand beside Fang again. "Do you want to look somewhere else?"

Fang was not usually one to hesitate, but she took a brief moment just to consider the idea that had already been floating around in her head for several weeks. "Would you mind if I went off alone for a minute or two? I'll meet you right back here."

"Oh." Serah began to smirk a little. "Something for Light..?"

Fang narrowed her eyes with a wry smirk of her own. "Get your mind out of the gutter, you." She gently ruffled Serah's hair, before she walked over to approach the doorway of the little boutique. "It's nothing like that... Not at all."

Serah merely smiled. She moved back to browse through some of little leather bracelets, though she had a feeling that Lightning could already make something of the same type of material, perhaps with an even better carving.

Fang soon listened to the sound of soft metal bells as the door swung open and shut again. She made a beeline for the very place that she had wandered into so many weeks ago, when she'd felt like she might just drop dead if she didn't get a certain concept out of her mind. She must have looked inside a hundred other places, but it was within that little shop there in the plaza, a place that had held a rather unique scent... She could smell it, even then, as she approached the wide glassy windows with such sparkling goods behind them. No lycan could ever hide their scent from one of their own, not without moving through water or masking it with something pungent, but even a douse of perfume couldn't fool Fang's tireless nose.

Yet as she made her way through the doorway, into a place that smelled of fine metal and polishing chemicals, her fellow lycanthrope didn't look quite as concerned to see her as before, not when she'd made it clear that she was no threat to anyone else who was peaceful. The woman stood at a rather short height, even shorter when she sat behind the counter, where she was rather busy tagging merchandise with identification clips.

"How is it?" Fang had no need to bother with formalities, not when they were two of the same kind, far free from human conventions. "Will it be done by Yuletide?"

The woman looked up at her from beneath a slim pair of glasses, and she spoke slightly louder than a whisper. "Custom work is often quite difficult..."

Fang set her elbows down against the counter. "How far along is it?" She nearly sighed at the sight of the identification tags. "Listen... Is there any way I could get you to keep working on mine instead?"

The woman gave her a rather belabored look.

"I'll make it worth your while." Fang glanced around at the other customers, as well as the various employees, but none of them seemed to pay much attention to the two hidden wolves in their midst. "Come on, anyone out there been giving you trouble, something I could take care of..?" She kept her voice down to a low murmur. "Or could we sweeten the deal? A little bonus for your own Yuletide?"

The woman's gaze turned sharp, yet not in an aggressive way; lycans often spoke in such tones of sharpness, almost like a faint maw of grinning teeth, though she didn't seem to be smiling, either. "Sweetened? I'll only ask this... Who is it for? Are you just a middleman?" Her eyes darted off to the side when a fellow employee walked behind the counter, and she brought her voice down even quieter than before. "Someone you care about?"

Fang's gaze went very, very distant, almost wistful. "More than anything."

"Then I'll put as much time into it as I can." The other lycan looked back down at the plastic tags, before she spoke in a voice more befitting of a craftsman to a customer, enough that their words could be overhead if needed. "Come see us again before Yuletide, ma'am, you won't be disappointed."

Fang tapped at the counter with a rather appreciative smirk. "You won't be, either."

It felt as if the morning passed by in a blur, and Lightning found herself carrying a small number of colorful bags, which she soon placed down against a bench near the edge of the indoor food court. She sat beside them with a sigh; Saturdays were always quite tough. She was still used to working on the house, not wandering around in a shopping plaza, and Vanille's sunny demeanor could drain away her energy just as easily as a workday, almost as if she'd had to run along at full speed just to keep up with her.

"We could go get a table." Vanille moved to set down her own shopping bags as well. "You think Fang and Serah are here yet?"

Lightning looked out over the various tables, before she reached into her pocket to retrieve her phone. "I'll ask."

Vanille sat down on the bench beside her. "Busy weekend, isn't it? We've still got Sunday, too."

And as she tapped in a message to Serah, a small smile crossed Lightning's face. It had indeed been too long since they'd all hunted together, several years, to be more precise. And even the fact that they'd have an apprentice along, Lightning knew it likely wouldn't detract from the experience; she'd simply tell him to observe the first hunt, and then if they spent a long enough time tracking down a second animal, she might just let him join in.

"Everything always feels so busy before Yuletide." Vanille slowly swung her feet back and forth. "It's just weird getting so many presents... I remember the stuff you and Fang used to get for us."

Lightning lowered her phone back down against her lap, and she looked out over the crowded little food court, though she was gazing at nothing in particular. "We did whatever we could."

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that." Vanille grinned at her. "It was always real fun, you know? It made the day feel special..." She turned to glance at the tables as well, yet she found herself looking more towards the wide glass of the windows, where not a single speck of snow had fallen yet. "I just hope it feels more wintery soon."

"'Wintery'?" Lightning smiled softly. "You just want to play around in the snow, don't you?"

Vanille giggled. "Who doesn't?! It's like magic when it falls, the whole world just... Changes." She pressed her fingertips together and then quickly opened them again. "Poof, like a magic trick."

Lightning nodded without speaking.

"It snowed on the mountains in Gran Pulse." Vanille peered out at the crowds, listening to how so many voices and sounds all blended together, from the clatter of trays to sizzling food behind the counters, even the bells of those who stood in the corners of the massive room, collecting coins for charity. "I'd never been so far up in the air before... When I looked down, it felt like I could see everything." She kept her hands upon her lap, but she slowly folded them, remembering how her front nails and dewclaws had gripped upon the rocky mountainsides. "The jungle was so warm, but then up there, out on the top... It felt like a whole different world."

Lightning glanced down when her phone buzzed against her knee. "Maybe you and Fang can show me someday."

Vanille's eyes widened slightly.

"Serah says they'll be over here in a minute..." Lightning stood up with her shopping bags in hand, and she began to wander off towards a table that stood in the more vacant part of the food court. "Let's get a place to sit."

Vanille tried not to hesitate, but when she felt a wide, warm smile cross her lips, she skipped up to her feet as well, carrying each of her red and green bags in either hand.

A bit of sunlight trickled down through the alleyways, but Hope didn't open his eyes to see it. His legs ached from so many days of wandering, and a chill wind had woken him up from a somewhat restful sleep, yet he merely growled to himself and curled up even tighter.

His mother wouldn't be there when he woke, not like the days when he'd fall asleep in a fresh snowfall, only to wake and see her watching the starlight, calling to the sky from afar. She'd once told him never to howl if he didn't need to, so her own voice had sounded so low, soft, and nearly silent... Just like a song.

Too many times he'd fallen headlong into the trap of thinking that she'd be there again, that he'd open his eyes to see a pale silver lycan in the snow, but he found only the damp asphalt and scraps of old cardboard boxes. And the part of him that still held a sharp sense of pride, it wanted to snarl and roar at those shadows from afar, those humans, nearly same as those who'd struck her down. He'd healed by then, hadn't he? He could go out and track down the ones who'd killed her, he could hunt them, follow them all in silence until he could just get close enough to strike...

A deep, lingering growl shook right through his lungs, and he bore his slender teeth against the fading sunlight. He'd heard both the whispers and shouts, the call for blood to be taken from every citizen in Gapra, and how some people were already leaving before it could even happen. If the wolf within his mind had been wiser, he himself would have been long gone by then, but his sense of injustice burned far brighter than fear. Or perhaps, as he should say, the wolf didn't care for fear. The human did.

Hope knew that they'd not dally with the needles this time, ones for testing his blood or otherwise, and the part of him that was truly human wished for nothing more than to shy away and hide, to keep himself alive, even if the wolf paced relentlessly back and forth, back and forth again, willing for him to lunge out and howl.

He kept his eyes shut tight. His upper lip curled further, before it slowly faded back against his teeth. When the rumbling sound of noisy cars and distant voices reached a sudden stilling point, if only for a moment, he almost thought that he could hear her music again.

Darkness fell upon the woodlands, yet Lightning only watched them from her window, listening to the sounds of a restless wind. She spared a quick glance to the side, where Fang was busy with wrapping up something on her desk.

"Hey, I told you..." Fang swatted at the air in Lightning's general direction. "No looking! Don't make me kick you out of your own room."

Lightning just rolled her eyes and glanced away. "Vanille's the one who'll kick you out of here; she wants to keep fighting dragons."

Fang kept working away with the wrapping paper and a bit of tape. "Dragons can wait, Yuletide won't... Think we could cook up some venison for it, maybe some elk? If we catch something, that is."

"For Yuletide dinner?" Lightning glanced out at the forest again. "I don't see why not; it should still be fresh by then."

"Then I'll try to pick up something special for it beforehand, maybe something to glaze it." Fang picked up a narrow box from one of the shopping bags, which she placed against a sheet of shiny foil paper. "Did you have fun today?"

Lightning fought the urge to look back at Fang. "Yeah."

"Just 'yeah'?" Fang turned in the desk chair to peer at the look on Lightning's face, something that ranged between calm contentment and a whole different matter entirely; there was a certain spark in her eyes, almost comparable to a patient, yet eager puppy who just kept gazing out at the world beyond, one who knew exactly what was out there waiting for her. "Or do you think you'll have more fun tomorrow?"

Lightning couldn't hide the slight twitch of her mouth, and though there were no sharpened canines between her lips, Fang knew that it would only be a matter of time before they'd both seeking out their chosen quarry, true predators at heart.

"I'll take that as a yes." Fang felt a slight bit of mirth in her heart, as if something was bubbling up inside, something that almost felt like joy. Could it truly be happening so soon? Could that very same haze that had taken her partner so very tightly into its grip, could it really be lifting away? "...I'm glad you're coming out there with us."

Lightning still didn't answer, but Fang caught a subtle flash of emotion in her eyes, which still remained fixed upon the window, perhaps to keep her from seeing what was on the desk, or perhaps it was also to keep watch over the distant woodlands. Fang knew that those deep instincts could all come rushing back all at once, drawing forth the wolf in a mix of utter diligence and protectiveness, a soldier from a mere civilian.

Fang curled a bit of ribbon against the edge of a pair of scissors. "Been a while since we hunted together, hasn't it?"

"Weeks." Lightning watched as the first few hints of moonlight began to appear on the horizon, filtering deep within the trees. "Too long."

Fang looked over at her again, and what she saw made her pause. Lightning was hardly ever one to show too much of what she was feeling, likely a survival trait picked up from having to navigate frightening situations, but there were some things that she just couldn't hide. And somehow, less than what she saw, Fang felt it, just like the way she'd once felt as if Lightning was unlike anyone else she'd ever met before. There was just something to the look in her eyes, the side of her that glimmered right through the fog of what she'd grown to become over so many lonely years. Fang felt it as if it was a sharp gale of wind before a steady rainfall, strong enough that she swore she could practicality smell it. In the back of her mind, she knew that it was a spirit gift.

She'd always been able to sense things, yet it was often more of a physical sense; if danger was approaching, she would sometimes get a feeling deep inside before any of her other senses could pick up on it, and while the same could be said for all lycans, Fang knew that her own abilities were especially keen. It was something different for everyone; Vanille could often hide her true emotions away from her own mind, stifling the wolf until she wanted it to appear, while Serah easily picked up on the nature of those they encountered, enough to save her family from more than a trap or two, but Lightning? For her, Fang wasn't entirely sure. She was strong, of course, and far faster than any lycan Fang had ever met, but the spirit gifts always seemed to manifest in a less bodily way.

"We've just got to let you live it up for a bit." Fang smiled at the way Lightning glanced at her, still avoiding the sight of the desk. "Seriously, Light... Every wolf needs to hunt."

She almost expected to hear those same three words again, the same denial of her inner self. Yet when Lightning merely looked back at the window once more, Fang felt her own expectations shrivel like a young leaf in the deadening chills of winter, which was somehow not as uncomfortable as it sounded.

"I suppose they do." Lightning stepped down from her chair as smoothly as a sheet of silk, before she walked over to rest against the edge of the bed. "We'll just have to see."

Beneath the light of a midday sun, Snow glanced at the directions on his phone for what was perhaps the hundredth time. Serah had told him to bring along a tarp in the trunk of his car, as well as something to hold his clothing in, which his eyes had promptly widened at, at least until he remembered what she really meant.

They'd spoken of it over dessert back on Thanksgiving; Fang had brought the topic up again, gently coaxing Lightning into making an actual agreement for the exchange, and now, near the height of the holiday season, they were all going to meet him a good distance beyond the city limits of Gapra, out in the wilderness of western Cocoon. And as Snow looked up at the city checkpoint, he wondered if it would always be so easy to leave and return as he pleased. Though he supposed that it was pointless to think about such things, for they would either happen or they wouldn't, with nothing that a single lycan could ever to do change it.

He drove out along the roads that reached off towards the suburbs, and then even beyond that, near the highway that led to the far east, but he didn't turn in that direction. No, he was moving south, towards the wide forests that speckled the great grasslands beside the sea, where Serah and her family would already be waiting for him.

And as Serah had written, it was a rather distinct landmark, all things considered. A sharp pillar of rock stood near the two mile turnpike sign beside the road, where Snow turned to drive out along on the grass. If he parked behind the rock, then his car would likely be well-hidden from sight, at least to those who weren't really looking for anything out of the norm. Snow did his best to conceal the vehicle there, before he moved to turn the engine off, taking just a moment to breathe.

It was really happening. He slowly closed his eyes, before he drew in a very deep breath. He'd really made friends with another lycan, and now her family... They were going to teach him how to be true to his other nature. He took another deep breath, but it nearly caught right in his throat when something loud suddenly dropped against the roof of his car with a sharp, resounding thump.

Snow kept perfectly still for just a moment, before he carefully moved to open up the car door, enough to step out and look at whatever had fallen up there... Only they clearly hadn't fallen.

"Hi!" Her fur was such a deep orange in hue, nearly red, and her long winter coat almost seemed to flutter along in the wind. "I wanted to see if you were here yet."

"Vanille..." Snow immediately recognized her scent. "Why are you up there?"

Vanille flicked one of her ears to the side. "It's a lot easier to keep watch from up high." She turned to gesture at the tall rock with the point of her nose, before she leapt up to scrabble against the stony surface, climbing on up towards the top. "You should try it!"

Snow almost laughed at the sight of her, at how swiftly she managed to reach the very heights of the mighty boulder. "Yeah, maybe in a bit..."

"Oh, that's right." Vanille peered down at him from the edge of the rock. "We usually just find a spot in the woods to change... Bring your bag along, and just make sure you can track your scent back to it." She wagged her tail back and forth. "Light's already checking things out in the forest, Fang and Serah are just on the edge of the field." Vanille moved to sit upright, resting her hind limbs against the rock while her front paws gripped at the edge. "Just walk back out of the woods when you're done, okay? I'll show you where they are."

"Okay..." Snow eyed the top of his car, silently praying that it hadn't been scratched or dented. "Might not be a great idea to jump on that; you could slip and get hurt."

Vanille just wagged her tail again. "Don't worry, I won't!"

"Alright then..." Snow went to retrieve a small gym bag from the trunk, before he locked up the car with his remote key. "I'll be right back."

The world was utterly alive with pathways of scent, invisible trails in the woodlands that wound up and down and then back up again, over the tall ridges and dips in the ground. She was a mere blur of white, a speck of winter in the woods, and her nose drew in as much breath as she could possibly hold, tracking down whatever quarry she might find.

A faint scent of elk crossed near the edges of the forest, but Lightning knew that they needed something else to begin with, something smaller. She paused to sniff at a different sort of scent, the urine marking of a lynx near the base of a tree, but that sort of predator didn't matter very much to a lycan, nor a wolf.

Lightning lifted her head to feel for the direction of the breeze; it was far better to stay downwind, for a single scent of herself would send any prey animals into high alert. She soon moved on at a brisk pace, trotting silently against the damp, mossy earth, though she made sure to rub her shoulders against certain trees and rocks, just to give Fang a clear trail to follow.

She truly hadn't tracked anything like this in weeks, for a tiny vole was a mere pittance when compared to a larger creature, enough to make her blood run hot and send her heart dancing wildly against her chest. It began with just a steady trickle of adrenaline, a little something to make everything inside her feel sharper, honing her senses down to the land itself, to the pathways that stretched so far into the wilderness, off towards the true land of beasts.

Lightning knew that there was some part of herself that relished the thought of becoming fully wild, of living out there with Fang and the rest of her family, even if such a thing meant other sacrifices. No more conveniences, not truly, no cakes for birthdays or breakfasts for dinner, no grocery stores, shopping malls, no cozy diners or tiny corner stores. Perhaps a trading post or two, if they were lucky, but that was all there would be for miles. And miles they would likely go, ranging a territory that stretched far and wide, enough to drive off or ambush any threats that appeared, but yet again, at a cost.

She held no illusions about what such a future would mean. It would be peaceful, perhaps, and they'd all grow old and gray together in happiness, fading away once their days came to an end. There would be four less lycans in the world, a happy, yet forgotten legacy.

Lightning pinned her ears back at the mere thought of that. She might not have ever felt a desire for children of her own, but her own mother had spoken of their own bloodline as something to keep strong, to protect, and the image of it dying off without anyone left to carry it on... Such a thought put a sour taste into her mouth. Their family could not be lost in such a way, not when the world might grow to someday accept their kind, perhaps enough to let them prosper, for in most areas of Cocoon, lycans were rarer than wild wolves.

And with those thoughts came a certain idea, just a tiny little concept. Perhaps it might not even come true, but Lightning realized that with her own current situation with Fang, that if in the future, if they were living off of the land, so far away from anyone, that they wouldn't be able to raise another young lycan like they'd done with both Serah and Vanille. Surrogate mothers, both of them, yet it had only happened by the way of a preexisting bloodline, or in Fang's case, luck. And Lightning's idea? Well, perhaps Serah would someday want to have children. Though Lightning knew for a fact that she would not even bring the idea up with Serah anytime soon, for in her own opinion, it was far, far too early for her little sister to be thinking of such things, not when she was in the process of attending college courses, but someday, perhaps it might just be considerable.

Yet there were other things to think about, to chase down across the land. Lightning put away her concerns of legacies and bloodlines, for she had a hunt to begin.

Her ears perked high at a certain sound on the breeze, and Lightning slowly opened her mouth, revealing those eager, deadly teeth.

If it was even a possible thing, Serah looked exactly as Snow had expected. She stood there with the same demeanor as her human form, slim and graceful, perhaps a little shy at first, but that was only because they'd never really known each other as lycans, not truly.

He almost felt at a loss. He just stood there while Vanille ran on ahead, if only to gaze at the way that the three of them all greeted one another, truly a family group. Fang would nip at Vanille's ears if she got a little bit too rambunctious, while Serah merely wagged her tail back and forth, yet when those soft golden eyes turned to peer at Snow, her tail suddenly stilled, before it slowly wagged once again.

Most of Snow's fur was rather the same shade as his hair, like soft sunlight on a pale wheat field, though his belly fur was just as white and spotless as his namesake. His shoulders, though, he had darker bands of color there and upon his upper back, which held a bit of a stripe against his spine, and the backs of both of his ears had that same dark hue, growing even darker as his fur reached the very top point.

"Glad you could make it." Fang was in the process of wrestling Vanille away from trying to nip back at her ears, perhaps in playful retaliation. "Light's already out looking for a scent... I had a quick sniff too, just to make sure we're alone out here." She looked Snow over, as if to see whether or not she approved of him, though she soon whistled quietly through her teeth. "You could take a bull elk down on your own, couldn't you?"

"Uh... You think so?" Snow wondered for a moment if there was often much of a size difference between male and female lycans, at least while they stood in smaller forms, for he was indeed quite large compared to the three of them. "Can't say I've ever gone up against an elk." He slowly sat down on his hind limbs, just so he didn't seem quite as imposing.

"Then you're in luck..." Fang batted at Vanille's face with one of her paws, keeping her away from biting at her ears. "Smelled a whole herd out here when I went hunting a while back; Light's probably already on the trail." She snarled rather playfully, and she suddenly flipped right over on her side when Vanille launched against her at full force, rolling and snapping at each other in the grass.

Serah wagged her tail at the sight of them. "They just get a little rambunctious sometimes..."

Snow almost thought to smile, and he opened his mouth slightly to covey it. "So... It's not weird for lycans to play around like that?"

"Oh, only if you don't know each other like they do." Serah gestured at the two of them with a small flick her tail. "They've known each other even longer than Light and I... We all met up back when we were pretty young, and we knew most of the etiquette already." She slowly walked closer towards Snow. "Here, I'll teach you."

Snow practically froze when Serah moved to sniff at the air beside his cheek, and he held his breath when she turned her own head to the side, not daring to do the same as she'd done.

"It's okay, it's like a handshake." Serah lifted a paw somewhat towards her face. "It works the same way; just sniff quickly if you don't know someone very well, or a few seconds if you do."

And as Snow quietly steeled himself to try and do so, he realized that his fur had been standing up on end, revealing the darker bands near his shoulders and neck. He exhaled, before he moved to silently sniff at Serah's cheek for just a moment, and then he leaned away.

"That's it, not so difficult..." Serah wagged her tail a bit quicker than before. "See, we'll teach you these things."

Fang called out from where she was wrestling around with Vanille. "Just don't go sniffing at anyone's ass!" She yelped out a loud laugh when Vanille's teeth caught against the fluff of her neck. "Doesn't matter if wolves do it... Light's right about one thing; we're not wolves, not like that!"

Serah likely would have blushed if she'd been in her human form. "Right, don't do anything like that." She sat down against the grass, before she sniffed again, though it was probably just to test the breeze. "We should get out of the field, guys... It's not safe."

Both Fang and Vanille began to slow down from biting and whacking their paws at each other, before they both stood up to shake out the dry grass from their fur, still trying to nip at each other's ears all the while, at least until Fang simply walked away.

"Right, off we go." Fang yawned as she trotted on into the woods, and even when Vanille tried to bite at the end of her tail, she simply ignored it in favor of moving beneath the trees. "Time to find Light... And you, Mister Jack Frost, you're gonna hang back on this first one to watch us at the job."

Snow almost chuckled. "'Jack Frost'... Almost feels like a coincidence." He looked over at Serah, who had also started to follow after Fang s well. "I think I finally came up for a name for our feline friend."

Serah quirked her ears expectantly.

"Frost, he's all gray and white like frost in a late winter..." Snow looked down at himself. "I know it's cliche to give a pet a name like your own-"

"No, it works." Serah nodded at him, though she had to hurry to keep up with Fang. "The poor little thing hasn't had a name all this time..."

Snow almost smiled to himself. "I don't think he minds it."

Vanille spoke up with a giggle in her voice. "I liked the pictures you took!"

Snow wagged his tail at her. "He's a photogenic one, isn't he?"

"Okay, kids..." Fang suddenly paused atop a small ridge in the earth, where she lifted her ears up high to signal for them to pay attention. "Chatting on a walk is all well and good, but once we get closer to Lightning, we've gotta be quiet just in case she's tracking something down." She looked between the three of them, before her gaze slowly settled on Snow. "I know you don't know how we communicate in silent situations, but the golden rule is to just follow my lead and to stop whatever you're doing when I raise my ears at you." Fang lowered them again, then raised them up to show Snow exactly what it looked like. "It can also mean that I'm curious about something, but if I make eye contact with you, it means stop and pay attention."

"Alright." Snow sat down on the ground. "What else can you teach me?"

Fang shook her head. "I think that's about all you need for right now; you'll be watching at first, not hunting." She looked over at Serah. "You still know your ins and outs of a chase, don't you?"

Serah rolled her eyes. "I'm not that rusty..."

"Glad to hear it." Fang flicked her tail back and forth. "Right then, just follow behind me, but when I go like this..." She suddenly walked off to the side, then she lifted up the very point of her tail, just a slight curl. "No more talking when that happens; it either means there's prey ahead, or if we've got bad luck today, that I've spotted danger, which means we've gotta be quiet."

Vanille tried not to fidget or run on ahead. "Light's probably already caught something by now!"

"Alright, alright." Fang moved to slide herself down over the ridge, before she leapt out again to trot on all four paws, moving almost silently against the damp dirt. "Off we go, just stay close."

They moved on along the forest trails, the natural pathways that had once formed by ancient rivers and mighty glacial flow, over inclines and slopes that were home to so many different trees, an utter army of towering flora. Snow glanced around at them all, and he sniffed deeply at the earthen air, as if to try and recognize every scent he smelled, though his fellow lycans held most of his attention.

It was quick work to navigate the woods, and Fang soon slowed to a walk, before she slowly began to curl her tail. Snow paused just a few paces behind her, while Vanille and Serah lowered themselves as they crept ahead, carefully flanking Fang's approach from either side. There was a small sound, something so soft and distant, but as they crept along like mere specters through the undergrowth, a true ghost soon made itself known.

Lightning had cornered a doe. The beast stared her down with wide, unblinking eyes, and each gust of heavy breath snorted into a mist around those flared nostrils, though the creature did not run. An instinct, perhaps, or the knowledge that wolves scarcely ever attacked from the front, for doing so would likely result in a broken nose or a kick to wherever it hurt most, the face or chest, perhaps right in the jaw itself. An injured mouth could consume no food, and a wolf without food would inevitably die. But, Snow thought to himself, they weren't truly wolves.

Still, Lightning hesitated, standing there in such utter contrast to the woods. It was no small wonder that she'd snuck up upon the creature in such bare conditions, for with her pale fur, she stuck out like a sore thumb, a pure white upon such dark browns and grays. If there had been any snowfall, it would have been a whole different story, and as Fang slowly approached from behind the shivering doe, Lightning lifted her ears up and looked the creature straight in the eye.

It could not run. Running meant death, and fear would kill it far swifter than any leap it could take. Wolves relied on such fear, upon sending a herd of animals into an utter frenzy, that was when they struck. It could not run, not when Lightning had fixed herself right between the only open space and a massive thicket of brambles, where a few shriveled green leaves still lingered, perhaps the final mistake that the doe ever made.

But the beast was still gambling, Snow knew that much, the doe knew it couldn't run, but it also knew that Lightning couldn't attack it headlong without risking an injury. A waiting game, sheer patience against hunger and fear, two iron wills locked together in a silent duel, for the doe's bet was placed upon the chance that Lightning was a lone wolf, that there would be no pack to arrive and outweigh the odds in her favor, even if such assumptions would swiftly be shattered by a rushing lunge from behind.

And they ran.

Fang leapt out with a force that Snow had never seen; her feet kicked against the ground like a springboard, as if she could suddenly fly, and her teeth had locked themselves down upon a soft tuft of blooded fur before Snow could even realize what was happening.

And just like that, he stood alone there in the undergrowth, while a clamor of dry leaves and brambles suddenly echoed out from afar. Snow blinked once, before he took off after them.

Fang had struck true, but the wild, panicked doe had wrenched itself free by way of a lost patch of fur and flesh, and it practically bowled out over Lightning in desperation to flee, though such action left it wide open to the pair of them racing behind. Snow could see them off in the distance, Fang leading the charge, yet Lightning kept a few paces behind, though for what reason Snow did not yet know.

It was strangely silent beneath the rumble of blood in his ears and his pounding heartbeat, for the crack of dry branches and the whoosh of dead leaves stood in sheer contrast to the cold, hollow forest, where no birds sang, nor did any insects chirp. There was only the wind, the sound of frantic hoofbeats, and the ragged panting of wolves.

And as it truly began, the swiftness of the chase slowly leveled out into something that Snow could actually track; Fang kept up at the doe's heels, while Lightning stayed a bit beyond her, and the sounds that Vanille and Serah made seemed to echo out from everywhere all at once, some sort of natural subterfuge. The snap of a branch, the thick rustle of a low shrub, it all resounded and grew as Fang kept hounding the doe down into turn after turn, leap after leap over huge fallen logs and dips in the terrain, until one finally stretched deep enough for a sure closure.

"Light!" Fang roared her words against the rush of air at her jaws. "Now!"

And Snow, for his somewhat lack of 'snowy' fur, finally realized why she had called herself Lightning.

It was as if they had all been at a crawl, as if nothing else existed until that very moment; she was a sudden arrow in the wind, a pale white bullet with grasping teeth, and Snow watched the way that her claws reached out as she leapt herself off into the air, grasping at that fuzzy hide, before her massive jaws struck true.

They toppled away into the slope, down, down, down, rolling over and over again, and Lightning yelped so sharply when something seemed to strike against her back, perhaps a stray boulder, but she immediately latched her teeth back down into the flesh of the doe, even as it thrashed and struggled against her.

And then, all Snow could see was a blinding haze of fallen leaves, a hoof or two, and then suddenly a blur of deep orange and a shock of light beige, before three wolves had entered the fray, and then finally, with a deep crack of flesh and bone, a fourth saw fit to end it.

Lightning, with her muzzle soaked in blood, began to slowly lean away from the twitching doe, until she sank down to catch her breath again.

"You okay?" Fang's voice was just as hoarse and breathless. "You got hit..."

"Just a little." Lightning took a long moment just to breathe both in and out, before she craned her head around to lick at a shallow wound in her shoulder. "Didn't see the rock."

"Hm..." Fang gently nosed her way past Lightning's face to inspect the bleeding cut. "Better rest a while."

"Oh, Light!" Serah finished making sure the doe had indeed been felled by Fang's crushing bite to the throat, before she quickly walked up to Lightning's side. "Does it hurt?"

Lightning shook her head. "Adrenaline's still strong." Her voice sounded a bit winded, but she didn't protest when Serah pressed her forehead against her uninjured shoulder. "I'm okay, go have a bite to eat."

"But you're bleeding." Serah sat down beside her. "Looked like you fell pretty hard..."

Lightning exhaled, still breathing deep. "I've had worse."

Fang spoke up from where she'd been sniffing at the fallen doe. "It's a hunting wound, you're supposed to be proud of those." She opened her mouth just a bit to smile at them all, especially Vanille, who had immediately gone off to survey the surrounding area; a recent kill made a great amount of noise, and they couldn't truly relax to eat unless they'd made sure there were no nearby threats. "Anything there, Vanille?"

"Doesn't look like it." Vanille had climbed up a halfway fallen tree to examine the terrain around them, which stood near the base of the forested hill, the very same one that the doe had toppled down from. "I think we're good."

"That's good... Good job." Fang seemed to slow down for the first time since the hunt had finished, and she moved in to nip at the deep wound that she'd made at the deer's throat. "I'd say we should skin this, but I left my knife back with my stuff... We might get an elk skin later, at least." She turned back to look at Snow. "Ever tried raw venison?"

Snow slowly shook his head. "I don't think I've ever had deer before."

"Then you're in for a treat." Fang leaned forward again to rip and gnaw at the bleeding throat, and she didn't even pause when Vanille started to bite one of the back haunches. "Look at this, Snow."

Snow did as Fang asked, though he spared at glance at where Lightning had since shooed Serah away, who moved to join in with the kill as well.

"Nothing to really 'teach' about this part..." Fang bit back on the throat, dragging at the jugular, which oozed and weeped with so much dark, streaming blood. "Just grab what you can and then spit the fur back out." She did so just then, shaking it away from her mouth as she swallowed a bit of raw flesh. "Like eating a fuzzy steak, just without your hands."

Serah glanced back at Snow. "This, uh... It tastes a whole lot better while we're like this. Not human." She sniffed at the front limbs of the deer, though she looked over at Fang once more, watching the way that she walked over to inspect Lightning's wound again. "Like Fang said, you just pull the meat off, or crack the bones later on... That's all there really is to it."

Snow almost chuckled when Vanille suddenly ripped back at the flesh of the hind flank, though he did feel a slight swell of unease at the sight of such bloodshed; it wasn't as if he hadn't seen it before, but for such a seemingly innocent young woman... She sure had a way of quickly making the most out of a kill.

"You okay, Vanille?" Serah soon spoke between bits of fur and torn deerskin. "You must be really hungry to go right into it like that..."

"Yeah." Vanille's voice sounded a bit muffled from around the doe's ankle, which she kept tugging and wrestling with, until it finally came looser by the highest joint. "Snow, you gonna eat?"

Snow realized that he had just been staring at the fallen animal, and he slowly leaned in to sniff at the throat wound, before he took a small lick of the oozing blood. He paused again, for he realized that Serah was watching him, as if in anticipation. Was it something important? Should he be doing it differently?

"Is it good?" Serah spoke in a much softer tone, like a low whisper in the trees. "A lycan who's never had deer before... It's almost hard to imagine."

Snow slowly moved his mouth to bite at a patch of the raw flesh, before he tugged back, letting the sudden rush of instincts take control over his full strength. While that more primal part of him, the part that sometimes flared up and would only go quiet again if he somehow managed to calm himself, while it did indeed seem to have reached out to grasp at his very jaw, for some reason, Snow wasn't afraid. Serah was there, and Serah wasn't scared of the wolf; she was one. She wouldn't shy away from Snow's more feral side, not when she herself had already tucked down into her own share of the kill.

"It's good..." Snow breathed his words against a blooded throat, a throat that would breathe no more. "It's really, really good."

They moved out over the plains by late afternoon, carrying bags of clothes and supplies.

Lightning took point, as if to prove that her injury was of no hindrance to her ability to lead. She soon sniffed out the trail of the massive elk herd, where they all paused to ready themselves for a far larger hunt than before.

"Now, with elk..." Fang stood there with a satchel slung over her neck and shoulders, even though she was still within her wolflike from. "Sometimes it's easier to just go full lycan on them, scares them right into tripping over themselves, but then you run the risk with anyone watching the wildlife from afar..." She exhaled in slight annoyance. "Usually better for them to think we're just wolves."

Lightning licked off a bit of residual blood from her mouth, though her eyes still gleamed with the desire to hunt, for she was not quite sated on the flesh of the deer. She began to speak of such things with the rest of them, words that Snow tried his best to follow, but Fang kept insisting that only instinct would be best to guide him, not instructions on how to properly chase down an elk.

And when the time finally came, when Snow suddenly stood tall upon the peak of a grassy hill, gazing down over so many mighty creatures... He felt a stirring sensation so deep in his blood, something forgotten, or perhaps undiscovered up until that very moment in time. He looked over at Serah, at the warmth in her eyes, and he suddenly wished that he could do as many kindnesses to her as she had done for him, for teaching him what it meant to be a true lycan, at least at the most basic level.

There was something in her eyes that spoke of friendship, perhaps even kinship, and Snow knew that it had never burned brighter when he ran so swiftly beside her, chasing down those thunderous beasts, racing after the elk on the plains.

Lightning took the lead, though she soon fell in next to Fang. They sprinted tirelessly, as if hand in hand, running together, until their teeth finally stuck their mark, until the dust settled yet again in the wake of a massive, dusty crash, until Fang the chance to teach Snow how to skin an elk from the belly up towards the chest.

"You always want to get at the tenderloins, right in here..." Fang was using her hooked hunting knife, for she had since taken on her larger lycan form, using her hands to grip the handle of the blade and pull it up like a zipper against the elk's abdomen. "You can use the bones, too, for carving, or you can break them open for the marrow."

Lightning merely rested beside them, watching out over the plains as Vanille scouted on ahead to make sure they were truly alone, though she still saw how Serah was helping to hold up one of the hind limbs of the elk with her teeth, near to where they'd opened the tarp. Only Fang had taken on her full lycan form; it was much safer that way, just in case anyone spotted them out in the open. Yet Lightning also noticed the way that Serah kept glancing at Snow, wagging her tail whenever he began to learn something new about the art of cleaning a kill... And something in Lightning's stomach began to twist. Even then, Snow still felt like such a stranger, but she knew she would just have to trust in Serah's judgment.

"Okay, now the golden rule..." Fang spoke those words once they were nearly finished, having packed up the elkskin and several packages of meat from the tarp into their traveling bags. "Never leave any sign of a kill left behind." She gave Snow a long, steady look right in the eyes. "Seriously, you ever wonder why they've been getting so worked up about those blood tests back in town? Leave no trace, and they won't be knocking on your door for it."

Lightning almost wanted to smile at that. At least Fang was still so diligent, so strong and keen, a nearly peerless hunter. Something almost felt as if it had grown alive inside her heart when she'd leapt on ahead, back there with the doe, something that stirred up and lingered within her mind when Fang had called for her, trusting her to take that first strike, synergized within such a rapid chase. And it wasn't as if hunting the elk hadn't been exciting, but the swiftness of a doe, matched with the raw, relentless persistence of a lycan pack... Pack. She slowly closed her eyes. They were being a pack, weren't they? And even with Snow, a true stranger at heart, she almost felt comfortable enough to call the rest of her family that, at least for the rest of the day.

And later on, in the evening, when they'd all retreated towards the woods to change back into human forms, donning clothes and carrying separate shares of the elk meat, when Lightning found herself resting in the back seat of a car, she felt something rather strange cross over her mind. Though it still seemed as if something had awakened inside of her, reaching out with such lithe, eager limbs to grasp at those first few rays of sunlight, the world around her had already grown so dark, and she almost found herself falling asleep.

But they were all still speaking together, often laughing while Snow drove them home, and something else that felt so odd slowly began to occur to Lightning. How long had it been since her blood raced in her veins like wildfire, since she'd raced across the land like her namesake, striking fear into the hearts of her prey? How many years had slipped by since she lived like a true lycan, a predator in the boundless wilds? The answer was floating somewhere inside a haze of faded adrenaline and the exhaustion of running so very far, and as she slowly leaned to the side, resting her head against Fang's shoulder, Lightning realized that she truly didn't care to know.

The days moved on in a slow blur of cold bitter winds and indoor work. The packaging department was indeed a bit more sheltered than the open harbor, and Lightning found that she could talk a lot more with Fang when she only had to tape boxes together and fill them with goods instead of hauling crates around across the docks.

"Poor Vanille..." Fang had taken a brief moment to gaze out from one of the windows of the packaging office. "She's gonna be heartbroken if it doesn't snow by Yuletide."

"I wouldn't give up yet." Lightning paused to tie up a parcel in a thick length of twine, before she placed it down inside a far bigger box. "Sometimes it doesn't snow until the eve, or even later than that... We'll just have to wait and see"

Fang made a small sound of disappointment in the back of her throat. "It's supposed to snow before then."

"I don't have much say in what mother nature chooses." Lightning rolled her eyes when Fang sighed in a more dramatic fashion. "Yeah, let me just turn on my magic weather machine..."

Fang slowly waggled her eyebrows at Lightning. "Gonna make it storm on us?"

Lightning just rolled her eyes again.

"Well, like you said..." As Fang started to sort through a pile of letters, she glanced somewhat wistfully at the window again, at the open, empty sky. "We'll just have to see."

It was on a certain night, a cold, dark night, it was while she was wrapped up in a blanket with a warm glass of mulled cider nearby, it was on that night, the very eve of Yuletide that Fang wrote out a letter of her own.

Mum and dad, hope you're both doing well.

I've been pretty good lately. If you haven't gotten my other letters, then this won't make much sense, but... The woman who I used to travel with, my other friend and I met up with her and her sister again. We found them somewhere near the sea, living here in a place of their own. Even if it was a little rocky at first, she's actually doing pretty well for herself, no matter what else she says about it.

Sometimes I wish you guys had told me more about what it's like to be in love. I know I wasn't really old enough back then to understand it, and that I took off before I could get there... Sometimes I just don't know what I'm really feeling inside. But sometimes I do. She just looks at me like there's no one else she'd rather be looking at, and I never want to be away from her when it happens. It sounds so damn cliche, I know, but it really does feel like that.

I just hope I'm doing the right thing tonight... What if she doesn't really feel the same way? We've been girlfriends in a more official way for a while now, but even before that, we were really, really close. I'll just have to trust myself, or 'trust my guts', like you guys used to say.

I wish I could put a return address on this, just in case you do get to read it, but you know how things are around here... My other companion and I, we actually went back to Gran Pulse for a while, but we didn't get nearly far east enough to run into where I used to live with you. We just missed our friends too much to stay there for long. Maybe I'll come back someday, and maybe you can meet the four of us. I love you guys. Even if I took off pretty quickly back then, I know now that there really was a reason... I needed to find them.

Again, I love you, and I'd put my name down if I could. I wish I could tell you their names, too. Happy Yuletide, even if this letter gets to you in spring, or next year, or the next after that... I hope you guys are having fun.

Fang drew a smiley face beside the final line, before she reached over for a deep sip of the mulled cider. "Love you guys..." She slowly folded up the stationary, a piece from the same set that she'd been given on her birthday, before she tucked it away into an envelope.

The hallway was all aglow with the light of the Yule tree, which was tucked right into the corner beside the couch. Presents had long since been nestled there beneath the evergreen boughs, wrapped up in colorful paper and ribbons. Near the window, Vanille had her nose pressed right up to the glass, as if in wait for the eventual snowfall, while Serah and Lightning seemed more than content to sit there on the sofa, watching a holiday movie on the little television.

"Hey." Fang sat down on the couch to pull on her shoes, before she nodded at nothing in particular. "I'll be back soon."

Lightning narrowed her eyes at the sound of that. "The eve of Yuletide, and you're going out..?"

"I won't be long, I just have a letter to send." Fang lowered her voice with a slight hum. "And there's one other present out there for you, Light, one that hasn't been finished until now."

Lightning didn't reply, for Serah had given Fang a rather sly look instead.

"Out of the gutter with you, missy!" Fang clicked her tongue at Serah in reprimand. "There's a couple presents over there that I could always hide away until you behave."

Serah stifled a giggle against the back of her wrist. "What if I sniffed them out?"

"Then I'd toss them in the woods..." Fang walked over to get her jacket from the coat rack. "Or I'd give them away to nice young ladies who don't assume the worst of their friends."

Serah just shrugged, glancing back over at the television.

But Lightning didn't turn her attention away from Fang, and she stood up to follow her, to speak with her in the front hall. "It's more dangerous out there at night." She spoke in a quieter tone, so much that neither Serah or Vanille would likely overhear her. "Is this really important?"

Fang slowly took one of Lightning's hands into her own, and she gently brushed across each of her knuckles with her fingertips. "More important than a whole lot of things."

"Just be careful then, keep an eye on yourself." Lightning leaned up to press a quick kiss against Fang's cheek. "And be back soon, like you said."

"I will." Fang reached up to stroke one of Lightning's cheeks with her thumb, before she kissed her as well, brief, yet not quite chaste, and she whispered so softly against her mouth. "Love you."

Lightning felt a sharp breath shiver right through her lungs; the world around her was so warm all of a sudden, yet Fang was about to roam away somewhere very cold. "...Love you."

"Won't be long." Fang kissed her once more upon the cheek. "I'll even ask the northern gods to make it snow for Vanille."

Lightning exhaled quietly, almost a laugh. "Good luck with that."

And Fang turned, smiling, before she unbolted the chain lock on the door, and then stepped out into the frigid winter night. Her footsteps echoed against the balcony, and then the stairs, before she felt her shoes touch down upon the pavement of the parking lot. Dark clouds loomed far up above, illuminated by the city lights, but not a single flake of white had yet fallen upon the ground, and there was still no sign that anything else would hasten the process.

Fang narrowed her eyes at the sky. "Come on... Just an inch or two, won't hurt to let it snow a little."

But the clouds remained utterly silent, so Fang wandered off into the streets, where she soon found a seat upon a city bus, journeying out on the lifeline of those who lived without vehicles of their own, until she reached a rather industrious post office. It was easy enough just to buy a stamp for the letter and write down the address, printing the name of a trading post that her first family used to frequent, though she still had no idea if her parents had ever gotten any of the other letters she'd once sent.

And with the envelope tucked away into a mail deposit, Fang ventured back towards the plazas of Gapra, beneath the sparkling lights of the Yuletide celebrations. She passed by the stores that had already closed up for the night, lonely little places with darkened displays and inactive holograms, until she finally reached the center of a certain little shop, one with only a single employee left for the night.

"Wasn't sure if you'd make it." Her fellow lycan pushed a small parcel across the counter even before Fang had approached. "I need to close up for the night... But here it is."

Fang reached into her jacket pocket for another envelope, as well as the small wallet that she'd once carved out of leather and woven with cloth. She soon had a rather large amount of paper bills in her hand, which she pushed down inside the spare envelope. "Happy Yuletide."

The other lycan nodded as she accepted the concealed bills. "I'd better not see you in here again, no refunds for freelance work."

"Ah." Fang laughed, just a sharp breath of air. "You won't... Count on it."

The hunting wound had already started to scab over, but it still throbbed far more than any scratch had a right to. Lightning winced when a soft, gentle touch brushed right over it with ointment, though she merely closed her eyes while the stinging sensation began to fade. It was so late in the night, far beyond the normal hours when they'd both be fast asleep, but Lightning had waited up for Fang to return.

"I knew you wouldn't want me to fuss over this in front of everyone..." Fang murmured an apology as she pressed a gauze bandage down against Lightning's wounded shoulder blade, securing it there with a bit of medical tape. "Doesn't stop me from worrying."

"It's already healing up." When the process was done, Lightning slowly rolled over so that she was resting on her side. "So, you sent your letter..."

"Yup." Fang soon settled down as well. She placed the ointment and bandage materials upon her bedside table, before she reached up to turn off the lamp light. "And I got you your present."

Lightning turned over in the dark, and she moved to cuddle up against Fang, fabric to fabric, skin to skin, until they'd intertwined their hands in between the both of them. "No hints about what it is?"

Fang slowly shook her head. "No hints."

"Hm..." Lightning closed her eyes, and she began to breathe slow and deep. "I suppose I'll have to wait for it, then."

Fang hummed as she pulled Lightning closer, hugging steadily around her chest. "Patience, love."

Lightning grumbled a bit, but she soon fell very still, almost enough to fade off into the realm of slumber.

Yet in time, Fang's voice was less than a murmur in the shadows. "Thank you."

Lightning opened her eyes again. "What..? What for?"

"For having us here." Fang nuzzled her face beside Lightning's forehead, against those rosy pink locks, breathing in the warm, natural scent of a fellow lycan. "For being so good to us."

And in the darkness, Lightning felt as though her own mouth had thinned into a somewhat amused line, before she snuck in a single, mirthful smile, hiding it there beside Fang's cheek.

A steady silence took hold of the morning air, but within the bounds of a certain apartment, one sound stood out above the rest. Lightning woke to it, to those soft, gentle breaths against the nape of her neck, and she let her eyes drift open to peer at the morning sun from the window, but instead of snowcapped trees and falling flakes of white, the world remained a rather steadfast blend of faded browns, of dull grays and evergreens.

Fang mumbled something in her sleep, before her arms began to gently squeeze around Lightning's waist, drawing her in for a rather drowsy cuddle.

"Damn." Lightning closed her eyes again, and she sighed at the clear lack of snowfall. "It really is a late winter..."

Fang stirred slightly in her dozing state. "Hmm?"

"Nothing." Lightning began to relax again, melding back into the sheer warmth of Fang's embrace, all snuggled up under the layers of blankets and sheets. "Just hasn't snowed yet."

It took a moment for Fang to wake up enough to answer coherently, and even then, her words were rather slurred with slumber. "Mother nature's a fickle bitch..."

Lightning would have rolled her eyes if she cared to spend the effort of opening them again. But no, not on a holiday, not when it seemed like if the two of them might actually get just a few more blessed hours of sleep before Vanille woke up and dragged everyone out to open presents.

Fang stirred again. "What time is it?"

"Too early." Lightning tried not to yawn, but the urge quickly overwhelmed her, and she slowly leaned in to hide her face against Fang's shoulder, cuddling there in search of her warmth. "I told Vanille, no earlier than six..."

"She'll be out there knocking on your door just as soon as it happens." Fang yawned as well, and she circled her arms back around Lightning's waist, just a gentle little grip. "Might as well try to wake up..."

Lightning shook her head. "Too early."

"The early bird catches the worm." Fang's nose began to wrinkle at the thought of a breakfast of worms, even if such things were often the only easy source of protein in more meager situations. "Or catches someone under the mistletoe..."

"We didn't hang any." Lightning slowly leaned back to press her forehead against Fang's upper cheek, where she kissed at her jawline for a long, quiet moment. "You really want to wake up?"

"Hm..." Fang smiled at the warmth of Lightning's mouth. "Maybe a few more kisses could convince me."

Lightning pecked at the height of Fang's cheekbone, before she whispered softly in her ear. "Sounds like a raw deal to me."

"Not the only thing that's feeling a little raw around here..." Fang's voice rumbled with a low hum. "No mercy for me, eh?"

"Only when you deserve it, when you don't run out on me in the middle of the night." Lightning leaned back again, and her tousled pink hair fanned out against the pillow, so rosy and soft with the scent of a recent shower. "Yuletide, huh?"

"Yuletide." Fang smiled as Lightning leaned in to kiss her again. "Good morning, Light..."

Lightning hummed so quietly against her mouth, though she went almost silent when Fang slowly began to deepen it. They often kissed in such a way, but hardly ever in the morning; it was more than easy to let the warm little flicks and caresses overpower their better judgment, though Fang took the pace more than slow, gently savoring the tiny sounds in the back of Lightning's throat, hitched there by stolen breaths and little nibbles against her bottom lip.

"A little early for this..." Lightning's tone sounded far more in agreement with her mouth than her own words, for it had grown rather low and husky, almost short of breath, yet it was still just as soft as those pale locks of hair. "We really should get out of bed."

"Thought it was too soon?" Fang moved to stroke of her hands up and down the curve of Lightning's spine, and she felt the soft little goosebumps that began to speckle across her skin. "Or are you eager to open up a few presents of yours?"

"Maybe I just want to make sure that Vanille doesn't pass out from anticipation." Lightning smiled with just the smallest hint of mischief in her eyes. "She's probably up and about already..."

Fang sighed in slight contentment, even when Lightning moved away to sit up against the pillow. "What about Serah?"

"She might even be awake too." Lightning yawned, just a silent little gesture, before she reached out to push the blankets away from herself. "If not, then we can get breakfast started."

"Shouldn't we do that after presents?" Fang sighed at the sudden lack of warmth at her side, though she didn't reach out to try and draw Lightning back towards the sheets. "Hm... But you are the boss."

Lightning nearly scowled at her. "I'm not the boss."

Fang smiled at that, before she sighed, and then hoisted herself up to sit upon the bed. "Whatever you say, boss."

As she turned to glance at the doorway, Lightning sounded as if she'd cussed something under her breath.

"Hey, it's gonna be fun." Fang leaned over to rest her chin against Lightning's shoulder, murmuring each word against her cheek. "I think you'll like what I got you..."

Lightning felt a deep shiver run down her spine when Fang kissed the curve of her jaw.

"First Yuletide we've had in a place like this." Fang hummed when Lightning reached back to tangle a hand through her thick mane of hair. "Let's make it special, yeah?"

"Yeah." Lightning turned to share a single, fleeting breath between them, and she felt the warmth of that beautiful mouth, the gentle touch of a clever tongue, darting almost playfully against her lips. "Fang..."

"Right, right." Fang yawned as she leaned back to clamber across the bed, where she stepped down upon the floor, just far enough to stretch her arms out above her head. "Off we go?"

They found Vanille fast asleep at the kitchen table; perhaps she'd woken up a few hours earlier in search of a morning snowfall, even if none such thing would appear.

"Hey, kiddo." With another yawn, Fang gently began to shake Vanille's shoulder. "Happy Yuletide."

Vanille mumbled something in her dozing state, but when Fang nudged her shoulder again, she slowly began to open her eyes. "Wha..?

"Good morning." Lightning had already started to heat two mugs of mulled cider in the microwave, and she'd since walked over to start up the oven for a long, steady day with their recent boon of elk meat. "Want to help me with this?"

Vanille soon roused herself to a more conscious state, where she promptly skipped over to peer out from the window.

"Sorry." Fang sat down at the table with a quiet sigh. "Just not in the cards this year."

"...It's okay." Vanille put on her very best smile, and she stepped over to help Lightning with the process of glazing the elk meat, readying it for nearly an entire day in almost the lowest heat of the oven. "We just have to spread it on, right?" It was an old recipe from Fang's own father, one that he used to use when he didn't have much time to tend to a meal for more than a single sitting, so he'd simply leave it there to cook all day and then come back later for a tasty dinner; though Lightning had later amended the recipe by taking the meat out halfway and placing it back into the refrigerator for a while, just to let the flavors enhance themselves in the glaze before she put it back inside the oven to cook again. "Oh, this smells really good..."

"Fang picked it up the other day-" Lightning swatted one of Vanille's hands away from a small glass jar, though she had already gotten out a slight dab of the honeyed glaze. "Don't stick your fingers in that!"

Vanille just giggled, and she hurried to taste the glaze before Lightning could even tell her to go wash it off.

"Hm. Think Serah's up yet?" Fang smiled when Lightning moved to give her one of the heated cider mugs. "Might just have to wait."

And they did wait, at least until the elk meat was securely inside of the oven to start cooking beneath the low heat. Serah appeared on her own, and while she looked more than a bit drowsy due to the early hour of the day, she merely smiled and hugged each of them, careful not to brush her hands against the wound on Lightning's shoulder blade.

And later on, there beneath the tiny tree, wrapped up in blankets and settled low beside the couch, it grew high time to hand out their gifts to one another.

Lightning smiled when both Serah and Vanille opened up the packages of thick winter pajamas, the very same kind that Fang had proven to be rather resistant to lycanthropic tendencies. Vanille giggled at the little designs on the pajamas she'd been given, cutesy cartoon characters with colorful designs, while Serah smiled when she saw the vibrant mix of swirls and abstract images on her own, like a painting placed upon the fabric.

"Ah, now look at this..." Fang nearly beamed at a box of orange chocolate candy, and she promptly opened it up to taste one. "This one's from you, Light?"

Lightning nodded. "I knew how you liked them, back then."

"Here then, this one." Fang handed over an unopened gift to Lightning. "Saw it the other day and thought of you."

Lightning soon peered down at a clear plastic case full of what looked like tiny jelly candies; they'd been cast into the shape of pink roses, with a delicate white frosting drizzled upon each of the edges. "It's actually... Really beautiful."

"Almost a shame to eat." Fang glanced up when Vanille handed her another new present, and she gave out a bit of the orange chocolate in return. "Let's see what this is." She soon grinned at a dark bottle of pomegranate syrup, perfect for pouring upon ice cream or as a component of salad dressing, or even as they'd done just a brief while before, for glazing meats. "Haven't tried much in the way of pomegranate, but this looks real good..."

Vanille smiled at her. "Maybe we can try it on elk next time."

"Sure can." Fang turned the bottle over to examine the writing on the back. "Just like molasses, eh?"

Serah had kept quiet for a long while, but when Lightning placed a gift into her hands, she smiled warmly as well. "What could be in this one..?" She held it up before her eyes; the present was something utterly flat, likely wrapped in much more paper than whatever it contained inside. "What is it, Light?"

"Open it." Lightning paused to take a small sip of her mulled cider, though a smile showed through her eyes when Serah carefully unwrapped the paper. "It's a promise."

"Oh..." Serah's eyes flicked back and forth over the written agreement. It stated in rather brief terms that the document was indeed worth a single promise in the future, a future when they might live under different conditions, under the rules of no landlord, when Lightning would be free to help Serah pick out a cat or a kitten of her own to adopt, though the terms also stated that the four of them must all be in good standing with the creature before anything could become official. "And here I thought it was a goldfish."

Lightning felt the first few hints of a laugh flickering inside her chest. "A very flat goldfish."

Serah smirked at that. "Fish sticks?"

Fang chuckled quietly at the both of them. They'd been going over gifts throughout the entire morning, and while there were still a few left to unwrap, Fang herself still had a certain something that was safely tucked away inside her jacket pocket, something that quickly made her stomach start to feel like it was wrapped up in knots. That damnable fluttering, she mused, for why was it always whenever she needed it most that her confidence ran so thin? She could usually ease her way right through almost anything, blunt, snarky and direct, but such an insincere approached seemed... Somehow not enough, at least for what she had in mind.

Vanille soon unwrapped a pair of thick winter gloves, courtesy of Lightning, always one for practicality. Would it be true then, that she'd appreciate a more practical approach? But that felt downright dishonest... Lightning wasn't threadbare when it came to her emotional matters, yet neither was she overly sappy, and that made for a difficult line to balance, easily tipped right over the edge by one slip up or another.

Fang slowly steeled herself; she knew that neither of them were lovesick teenagers anymore, those who'd followed after the first few hints of inner feelings towards whatever felt good between them. No, they had grown up since then, and Lightning had gone far beyond hinting at that point, at least by her own vague standards.

Do it now, Fang told herself, go and get it out of your jacket and give it to her like a damn lycan, not some whimpering coward. But no matter how many times she scolded herself for staying locked right where she was, she just didn't know if it was truly the right time or not.

Presents came and went, and Fang even opened a few more of them for herself, yet it was only when they were nearly finished that Vanille dared to glance at the windowsill. And just like that, she was gone.

"Vanille?" Serah almost sounded a bit startled. "Where are you going? Hey..." She stood up to follow after her, before a gasp caught her right there in her own throat, and she too hurried on out towards the front door.

"Hm." Fang slowly began to smirk, for she'd also caught the sight of a single snowflake resting upon the windowpane. "Think we waited long enough?"

Lightning gave her a rare smile, bright and almost unrestrained.

Fang nearly followed her right there and then, but she soon paused within the hallway to grab her jacket and pull it on, even when Lightning had already wandered out towards the balcony, where Vanille practicality squealed in delight and raced on down towards the stairwell.

"Don't trip..." Lightning's eyes widened when Vanille nearly slipped upon the fresh layer of powdery snow, but she seemed to catch herself halfway down the stairs. "Vanille!"

"I'm okay!" Vanille hit the ground running, and she quickly twirled herself around, gazing up into the falling snow. "It's here, Light!"

Lightning sighed almost silently, before she moved to rest her forearms against the balcony. "I can see that." She watched the way that Serah descended down the stairwell at much slower pace than Vanille, yet they both soon laughed and started to run after each other, racing all around in the gathering snow. "Just don't get in the way of anyone."

While the parking lot seemed rather empty and silent in the early noon, a few of their distant neighbors had also wandered outside to peer at the snowfall, some of which had children who called out and ran off to play upon the ground floor.

"About time it happened." Fang's voice drifted in from somewhere behind her, and Lightning almost shivered when a warm, soft kiss was pressed right against the curve of her neck. "Not gonna run around and dance with them?"

Lightning rolled her eyes at that, yet she couldn't even hope to hide her smile. "I think my dancing days still need a little more time."

"You look good." Fang moved to lean against the balcony as well, before she reached up to gently stroke Lightning's cheek. "You look... Alive. Vitalized."

Lightning felt the slightest bit of color paint her face, though she told herself that it was just from the chill.

"Seriously, Light, you needed the past week or so..." Fang let her voice drop to a whisper. "It's still a long road ahead of us, but at least we're moving together again."

"Together." Lightning smiled once more, and she turned to peer down at those who still raced all around to play within the winter winds, jumping about and tossing handfuls of snow. "We'll do this together."

With that said, Fang's eyes began to widen by the slightest degree. While Lightning wasn't looking, she knelt aside to gather up as many snowflakes as she could, and when she had managed to gain about a handful of the loose powder, Fang squeezed it all down into a vaguely rounded shape, before she reached for something else from inside her jacket pocket.

Yet when Lightning finally looked back over at Fang, she paused at the sudden sight of a pale, tiny heart made from snowflakes, held right there within the palm of Fang's hand.

"Happy Yuletide, Light." Fang slowly moved to place the little heart into Lightning's grip. "...You won't do it any harm if you look inside."

Lightning gave the clump of snow a look that Fang had rarely ever seen, a hint of genuine curiosity, perhaps confusion, at least until she began to gently pry the snow away, revealing what awaited within. And when she held it there, enough to feel the chill of the winter air against her skin, among those last few remnants of powdered frost...

It was a ring, a sturdy band forged of two twin metals. They were bound together, black titanium and pale steel, made into a single linked loop that swirled off to end in two faces... The faces of wolves, a pair of whom gazed out towards the same direction, but their faces only met each other from cheek to cheek, both facing opposite ends of the ring. The wolf with a paler hue, it had two little aquamarine crystals for eyes, while the darker beast held such small, glittering circles of deep jade, and indeed, it looked to be the very picture of Fang.

"You like it?" Fang's voice was far softer than Lightning had ever heard before. "This is... It can be whatever you want it to be." She slowly lifted something else from her coat pocket, and she pressed it down into Lightning's other palm, only for it to be revealed as different ring, one of an almost identical nature, merely inverted. "It can be just a gift between two girlfriends... Or a promise for more someday, or-"

"Something else." Lightning slipped the first ring against her own finger, before she reached out for Fang's hand, silently placing the other band upon one of her slender digits. "A different promise?"

Fang soon flexed her fingertips, feeling the bottom end of the band. It almost felt like a flat metal chain, a mechanism that could extend upon internal pressure; for instance, if she was to change into her most massive form right then and there, no matter how ridiculous it would be to do so on the balcony, the ring would not break apart, nor would it hurt her finger, no, it would merely adjust to fit itself with whatever width it needed to, at least within reason. She knew that Lightning's ring had been forged in the exact same flexible manner, a special request towards a fellow lycan...

But Lightning seemed far more occupied with leaning in to kiss her, so that lone thought went right out the window, or the open balcony, as it was. Fang suddenly exhaled, shivering from anything but the cold, and she reached up to stroke the soft curves of Lightning's cheekbones, holding her face from either side. The warmth of her mouth, those languid little breaths stolen between them, Fang's mind spun far faster than the snowflakes could fall, and she almost reached out to steady herself against the railing.

And even when Lightning finally broke away for a greater amount of air, she immediately leaned forward to rest their foreheads against each other. "...Happy Yuletide, Fang."

Fang wrapped her arms around Lightning's waist, before she slowly closed her eyes, smiling far brighter than she had smiled in so many, many weeks.