Fang woke, gasping for breath. Another vision, of course.
It seemed a lifetime ago she had received her first, though she knew it was but four summers ago.
They varied at times, in place, in time. But they always involved her and that mysterious rose haired woman.
Recently though, they all seemed to end in fire.
It mattered not if her visions took place in the woods or by the sea. Whether they were in silent ruins nor bustling cities.
Flame and smoke awaited her at the end of these visions. So vibrant and vivid she could almost taste the soot in the back of her throat.
Sighing, Fang eased herself out of bed. Despite the village seer's insistence that they would ease with time, the visions seemed to stubbornly grow in strength.
Squaring her shoulders, she settled on a course of action. She would seek out Vanille. The Dia were always said to be a clan of seers, diviners and mystics. Her sister would know what to do, she would help her.
Stepping out into the streets of Oerba, she exhaled, her breath turning to steam against the crisp air.
She walked the familiar roads of her youth, eventually making her way onto more recent paths and boroughs. As she did so, she subconsciously made note of the various ways her people would greet her. Children and those she could call her peers greeted her with a cheery wave, while those who remembered the clan best under her Father's guiding hand merely greeted her with a stoic nod.
Eventually, she found herself at the door of her sister's hut. Knocking twice, she waited for a while, looking around at the state of the town around her, she winced.
Taking in the remnants of the Ballad and Nsu clans had caused their town to expand at an unexpected rate. They didn't have the materials to continue construction at this rate.
They needed lumber, and lots of it.
But where were they to find such large trees in the frozen hills of Pulse?
The door opened and Fang immediately felt a warm embrace as arms wrapped around her.
"Fang!" Vanille cheered, "What are you doing in the cold? Come in!"
Without a moment's pause, Fang felt herself being dragged into the hut, the fire crackling at the back of the dwelling immediately working to remove the chill from her bones.
"Can I get you something to drink?" Vanille asked. Fang shrugged, still preoccupied with both her vision and the logistics of expanding Oerba.
"Suit yourself." the redhead sat down opposite Fang, a mug of tea in hand. "Not that I don't appreciate your company, Fang, but what are you doing here so early in the morning? It isn't like you to wake up before noon."
Fang snorted, "Quite a flattering picture you paint of me." she said, smirking. "But your observation is astute as always, I came here for a reason."
Vanille studied Fang from her spot in the hut, silent as she scrutinized the taller woman with her eyes.
"It's the visions, isn't it?" she asked softly, Fang lowered her head.
"Yeah." she sighed, when Vanille did not continue, she spoke again. "They're getting more vivid, more violent."
Tapping one finger to the side of her cheek pensively, Vanille grinned cheekily.
"Alright then, tell me about your visions." she said, splaying her hands to either side of her. "Maybe there's something your blustery Yun mind missed!"
Fang chuckled, "Alright then, let's see if the Dia are as in tune with the gods as they say."
And so they spoke, the sun was high in the sky and warming the frigid lands of Oerba by the time Fang had finished relaying to Vanille everything she deemed significant about the dreams.
It was hours later still when Vanille had exhausted her questions and theories.
"So, what do you think?" Fang asked, eyebrow raised. She would never admit it to anyone, but to have her visions, a part of her so intimate and secret, laid bare for another to see caused her no small amount of discomfort.
Vanille hummed thoughtfully.
"I'm not sure, Fang." she said, brows furrowed in concentration, "Visions gifted by the gods aren't meant to be easily understood."
The taller woman sighed, she had expected as much, but it disheartened her to hear it spoken so plainly.
"However," Vanille's voice caused the other woman to raise her head sharply. "What I can gather is this; someday soon, maybe in a week, maybe in a month, you'll find yourself at the site of a great change. I don't know what that change will be, but what you find there will determine the course of your destiny."
Fang swallowed, she had gathered that much from her abstract dreams?
"And the other woman?" she forced out, internally grimacing at how hoarse her voice sounded.
Vanille shook her head, "It's too soon to say anything for sure, but your fates are intertwined, that much is certain. Whether it's as allies or enemies, it's hard to say.".
The rest of Fangs day was, regretfully, not nearly as enlightening or interesting. The expeditions she had sent east to search for a reliable source of materials had returned empty handed, not that she expected them to return with much. Pulse was an unforgiving world, there was no escaping that.
As she listened to the village elders discuss amongst each other, she couldn't help but recall a tale from her youth.
She had been only six winters old when her mother had told her the tale by the hearth of their hut.
The Cataclysm, when the gods of Pulse clashed with the gods of Cocoon.
It had started, her mother had said, when the Usurper, Bhunivelze, slew his own mother, Mwynn in a bid for power.
Despite being of the Cocoon pantheon, Mwynn was beloved by all in Pulse, and her death rallied both man and god alike to take arms in vengeance.
The ensuing war was said to have stained the grounds of Pulse with so much blood that life itself struggled to take root.
The fighting had ceased when the twin gods Etro and Ragnarok, born from Mwynn's undying love for all her children and dying wish to protect Pulse from Cocoon respectively, sacrificed themselves to seal the mortal world from the Unseen Realm, home of all gods.
This seal, it was said, was Valhalla, the Land after Death. Any who found their way there would find themselves allying with Etro and Ragnarok to forevermore keep the gods from influencing the mortal world more than they had done.
It was an odd story, not a tale one would typically tell their young children.
However Fang's mother had not been a typical, or traditional, woman. She had seen the brewing war long before her husband, and had wanted her daughter to be prepared for the day when she would have to walk this road with no one at her back.
Fang smiled softly, had her mother been granted visions like hers? It mattered little now, as they had failed to protect her if true.
Her attention was drawn to present affairs once more as an Elder, Hatu of the Gon clan, addressed her.
"Fang-rahi." he said, bowing his head slightly, "We must address this deficiency of materials with utmost urgency."
"True enough." Fang sighed, "The issue remains that Pulse is a frozen waste with nought in the way of wood nor steel."
"With all due respect, Fang-rahi" an elderly woman, Awa of the Hao clan, spoke. "Oerba has never had much in the form of resources, true enough, but the problem has only grown with each refugee clan we take in."
"I will not exile innocents to perish in the elements." Fang grit her teeth.
Sighing, she rubbed her forehead.
"It seems there is no other choice. I will lead a number of our warriors to Cocoon, to trade for materials we are in dire need of."
If the incessant babbling of the congregation had bothered her before, it infuriated her now. The Elders chattering away at whether or not such a decision was necessary, whether it was worth the risk, when a voice cut through the droning.
"Trade? Your father raised a coward of a daughter, Yun."
Fang fixed a glare towards the new voice, the oldest surviving member of the Clans that had emigrated from Paddra. Caius, of the Ballad clan.
"You speak out of turn, Ballad." she growled.
"And yet, had I not, you would have thrown yourself headfirst into danger."
The man walked into the center of the hut, he seemed to suck the heat of the room as he passed deeper and deeper into it.
He cast a disdainful eye at the other Elders, most of whom averted their gaze. Too intimidated to look him in the eye. Or too disgusted.
"Should we not be reclaiming what is rightfully ours from that nest of vipers?" he hissed, glaring at the brunette woman.
"Should we not tear at the hearts of the people, taking what is ours and avenging what was stolen from us?"
His voice was little more than a hateful whisper now, though it carried throughout the room still.
Fang folded her arms and stared. The man had a point, and he was persuasive, no doubt about it, Fang found it difficult to deny that his words had not left her blood boiling and her heart roaring for vengeance, were she younger, or perhaps even of a less important family, Fang had no doubt she would have pledged her spear to the man then and there.
He knew more than most what she had gone through, after all.
But things were different, Fang was the Chief of Oerba, she could not allow her heart to cloud her head.
"I would think that you of all people have seen enough blood shed to last a lifetime, Caius." she said softly, the other man's face twisted, contorted in pain.
"Too much Paddran blood," he whispered, before steeling his gaze again. "But not enough viper blood, never enough viper blood."
Fang stood, taking long, soft strides towards the man. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she stared deeply into his eyes.
Behind the stare of a callous warrior, hungry for blood, were the eyes of a grieving father, of one who had lost too much.
"I do this not to sully the lives lost in the attacks, but to protect the lives we have in our care today." her gaze softened, "I take no pleasure in dealing with the vipers either. I will trade only with the kingdoms of Bodhum and Palumpolum. I have heard that they were the ones that opposed the attacks on our people most."
Caius thought for a moment, then faced Fang again.
"If you go, my blade will be at your side." he said gravely. "I care not for the hollow words of a few vipers. But to protect you, the leader of our home... This I do to protect the lives we have in our care." he echoed, smiling faintly.
A/N
Well, that's the hardest part done.
This whole setup was actually the most recent addition to this AU. Everything else mostly I had some semblance of idea where I wanted to go with this story, but the setup to get Fang to venture out was the part I struggled with. I hope it turned out decently.
As you could probably tell, I'm taking more than a few creative liberties with the mythos of this AU. I'm hoping to introduce elements of the FNC universe in a framework that justifies their existence, which calls for more than a few changes.
But anyways, I am excited/nervous for this next bit, where we get to meet our favourite(?) pink haired warrior.