Hmmm. This one was so much easier for me to write, I think I'm back into the swing of things again now, but then again I'm playing the game through again! It will only be the fourth time :D, either that or its because there is less action and more fluff!

Thanks again to all of you reviewers!

I just realised that I didn't put a disclaimer on this one at the beginning, so here it is. Fourteen chapters late!

I do not own the characters from Final Fantasy XIII i just borrow them for your enjoyment and my writing addiction!

Enjoy!

Xx

The atmosphere was too silent for her liking as they both walked slowly into the clearing where their friends had stopped. It made her forget, momentarily, that her eyes were red and puffy from crying and that she ached everywhere. It seemed, as she looked around that their companions had been waiting for them. Everyone was sat in a half relaxed manor, together.

Finding everybody's gaze one by one, she applied a small smile. Trying to forget the talk she had just received from Fang, every time she thought about what the older woman had said, the guilt would come and the tears would well up. She wanted nothing more than to be hugged and for someone to tell her it was alright.

The only persons gaze she didn't find was Lightning's. She avoided that one, she couldn't face it. Not yet anyway. It was bad enough explaining to Fang why she had lied, it seemed impossible to do the same with the pink haired soldier. So she resisted the thought of looking up into the woman's baby blues as she was the first to speak.

"Are you guys alright?" Lightning stood up as she spoke, and moved to meet the two Pulsians.

Fang nodded her answer yet Vanille stayed still, her eyes averted to the floor.

"Eidolon." Fang answered, "I'm surprised you didn't hear us, we were loud enough" She spoke in a low tone, the tiredness in her voice showing.

Lightning looked to the others sheepishly, not wanting the two women to know they had seen the whole thing.

"Na, you know what were like Fang" Snow answered quickly, rubbing the top of his head. He grinned half awkwardly as she looked at him in a strange way.

"If we had have heard, we would have helped" Hope spoke up, he too stretched and rose to his feet.

"Didn't need much help to be honest" Fang half lied. "Vanille took care of him, didn't cha?" She looked down at the young redhead, half expecting a smile and her agreeing. Vanille however didn't answer. The lump that had caught in her throat would give her feelings away if she tried to speak, so she stayed silent.

"Anyway, you guys must be tired, I'll go get some firewood and we should stay here for the night" Lightning volunteered, they had all seen how tough the fight had been. Fang and Vanille would need to rest up if they were to continue on at such a fast pace. She went to move forward when a small voice stopped her.

"I'll go" Vanille said slowly. She needed some space, she couldn't handle it, not right now. Her body was screaming in protest, trying to let her know she was too tired but she didn't listen. Lightning opened her mouth to argue but the young girl had already walked quickly off. Instead she raised an eyebrow in Fang's direction. Perhaps things hadn't gone so well between the two of them.

"Sorry Light, I think she's a little down. I'll go with her" Fang spoke slowly, she knew Vanille was upset, and if they had been on cocoon she would have left her to get some space, but out here, she didn't like the thought of Vanille being by herself. They had already had too many close calls.

"I'll go" Lightning said quickly, "You get some rest, you must be tired"

Fang looked startled, was Lightning volunteering to go and speak to someone who was emotionally unstable? It wasn't like her at all.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine" Lightning added, "I'll be back soon, you guys can set up camp" Fang looked as if she wanted to argue, but then stopped herself. Maybe it was for the best. Vanille would be safe with Lightning and it might do her some good to get a breather from everything that was going on.

"Thanks" she said, turning to go and sit with the others.

Vanille wasn't particularly interested in looking for firewood. She was just wandering, trying to put distance in between her and the others. She hated them seeing her like this. She was supposed to be irrepressibly cheerful, yet try as she might she couldn't even fake it and make it look real anymore. She was thinking back to a few hours ago and Fang's words were circling her head.

"You knew Ragnarok was the name of destruction"

She had been looking for an excuse, a way out of telling Fang the truth. It wasn't like she didn't want her to know, she just didn't want her to feel the pain of knowing how many people she hurt. Yet Fang seemed to be more angry than upset.

"That's no reason to lie to me, you think that's what I want? You of all people!"

For a minute, she had been scared. Fang had never hit her in the past, never even motioned as if she was going to. Yet she had stood in front of her, fist curled into a ball and poised in anger. She knew her own pathetic little whimper would have done no good so she simply closed her eyes and waited for the punch to land. It wasn't as if she would have tried to avoid it, if Fang needed a way to take it out, who was she to stand In the way?

Yet it never came, in a way she though the light pat to the head was worse. It meant she was being forgiven. Forgiven for something, which in her eyes. Was unforgivable. That's when the tears had welled up and she had looked back into Fang's deep blue eyes. She couldn't keep the walls up. The persona was gone, and all she could do was sob as Fang pulled her into a tight hug.

"You should've shouted, screamed I wouldn't have cared" she yelled out loud, her voice echoing round the lifeless planet, tears splashing down her face.

"Its all my fault! All of it, and sorry isn't good enough, I know. Its. All. My. Fault!"

She sunk to her knees desperately, ignoring the stinging sensation that laced across them as her grazes came into contact with the soil. She ignored the throbbing in her wrist, which had, seemingly gotten worse. Emotionally, she felt numb. She just let the tears roll down her cheeks, needing a way of letting go of her feelings.

This she couldn't face later, this was for the here and now.

Through her sobbing, she neglected to hear footsteps approach her from behind, they would have been hard for a silent person to hear. Lightning walked with her usual grace and perfect poise, just a little slower than usual. So she was startled when a surprisingly soft hand landed lightly on her shoulder.

Jumping forward she scrambled to her feet, alarmed to begin with. Then her heartbeat slowed enough for her to hear Lightning's voice, softer than she had ever heard it.

"Vanille?"

She shivered, she had never heard such a caring tone from the usually hard woman. Then again, she hadn't planned on breaking down in front of her either. It wasn't intentional, she didn't expect anyone to follow her.

Lightning was looking down at her gently, the young girl in front of her was broken, unstable. Yet still intriguing. She thought if it had been anyone else she was trying to console she would have run screaming as far as she could get. That was something Serah had been good at, not her.

Yet she couldn't seem to tear herself away from the heartbreaking sight of the young l'Cie before her.

"What is it?" she didn't want to push, and she was fully aware that words would probably be no good to her yet. Vanille needed familiarity, someone to tell her everything would be okay. She could see this because she was so like Serah. So alike, yet so different.

She felt entirely different towards the young girl than she did her sister, in fact she wasn't yet sure what she was feeling. Protective, yes, but not in a way that an older sibling would protect a younger one. It was something she had never felt before, so she couldn't categorize it just yet.

The younger girl had sunk back to her knees when she had noticed she wasn't in any danger, and Lightning let her instincts kick in. Kneeling down beside her, she allowed herself to become slightly closer to her. Hoping her prescience would have a calming affect. She re-placed her hand on the young girls shoulder, offering a little support.

She knew what would happen next, it seemed Vanille always seemed to hug people when she was upset, so she was ready for when the young girl threw herself into her arms. She tensed up immediately, after all. It was unnatural for her to be comfortable with close contact. Gingerly she raised her arms and wrapped them around the girls small frame, returning the hug. She still didn't speak, she didn't think she needed to. It seemed, for the moment that this was all Vanille really needed.

Vanille was sobbing harder now, into the older woman's shoulder, it was almost as if she hadn't noticed it was Lightning that she was holding onto for dear life, yet in a way her prescience was soothing. More so perhaps, than Fangs would be. It felt strange, to be nestled against the soldier instead. Strange, yet surprisingly warm.

They stayed this way until the sobs subsided, then Lightning loosened the contact, inviting Vanille to let go. She did, very reluctantly.

"What happened?" Lightning said carefully. It was worse than treading on broken glass, she felt the need to be so careful.

Vanille didn't answer straight away, she needed to choose her words carefully. She wasn't sure she was strong enough to come clean to Lightning just yet.

"We were arguing" she said, rather bluntly, wanting to avoid the details as much as she could.

"What about"

"Nothing really" she said quickly.

'Tsk' Lightning though 'Didn't seem that way to me'

She didn't ask, she just continued.

"Then what?"

"Hecaton, my Eidolon appeared. I guess it was because I was angry"

"It usually is" Lightning replied, "I was angry when Odin appeared" she looked away thoughtfully.

"Then we fought" she paused for a minute, giving too many details about the fight would give everything away. "It was just like the other ones I guess"

"Hmmm" Lightning of course knew she was lying, she had been silently observing the whole thing. It had been tougher than any of the fights so far.

She turned her attentions to Vanille's knees, she hadn't tried to heal them, she had just left them as they were. She moved to do it for her when Vanille got hastily to her feet.

"Aren't you going to heal those?" Lightning said, her voice quizzical. It was almost as if the young girl was punishing herself.

Vanille shook her head.

"There just grazes, they'll be fine."

"That's ridiculous, why live with it if you don't have to? Let me." It was more of an order, so Vanille stood silently while Lightning once again used her magic to heal the cuts.

"Better?" she asked when she was finished. Vanille nodded once again. She looked away from Lightning's gaze and moved away from the soldier. She was stopped however, by a searing pain across her wrist, Lightning had grabbed hold of her arm in exactly the same place Fang had earlier, stopping her from moving away. She couldn't help but yelp and pull her arm back.

Lightning moved back as if she had been burned.

"What's wrong?" she asked quickly. Her face turning to concern, much like Fangs had.

"Nothing, you just caught me off guard." she lied back, rubbing her wrist slightly. It was beginning to really hurt.

"Vanille?" she could see the tears returning as the young girl looked down at the ground, she looked truly dejected. Her head was hung low and her shoulders slouched down. Her poise screamed out unhappiness, yet she seemed unwilling to let Lightning know why.

"Its nothing" she turned her back on the soldier, ashamed that the tears were coming once again. She heard Lightning move behind her and she shut her eyes as tight as she could get them, trying to block out the world around her. It was hard however, when she felt Lightning's hand cover her own, warmth spread through her wrist and through her body and she realised that her wrist no longer hurt, Lightning had healed it.

Turning around she buried her head back into the woman's shoulder. Lightning allowed it and stood for a moment in silence before gently turning the young girl and walking them slowly back towards camp. She had hoped talking it out with Fang would have helped the young l'Cie, yet it seemed her assumptions were incorrect. Her secrets ran deeper than she had initially thought and it would take some time before she was ready to tell them. Lightning didn't mind, she was ready for it when she did.

But for now, as they walked across the now silent planet it didn't matter. Not until she was ready to share them.

A.N.

Well I hoped you enjoyed this one, I'll lighten the mood a little in the next chapter I promise : )

Thanks for reading!