The sea air was crisp, fresh, and a bit salty, which was definitely something Fang could admire. Her flip flops practically dug themselves straight into the burning sand, each step was starting to get on her nerves. Having sand between her toes wasn't making this brisk walk to the ice cream stand enjoyable. Fang kept to herself, admiring the small children making sand castles with their buckets, and families, all enjoying each others company. She'd be lying if she said it didn't make her feel a bit jealous. The only 'family' she had ever known was Vanille, but they were more than family now. She didn't like to dwell on it much, however sometimes she wished they were still in her life, so that maybe they could make sand castles together, or enjoy each others company
She made a mental note to ask Vanille to build a sand castle with her when they returned to the beach again. Her eyes wondered back to Serah, who had still said nothing this whole time, oddly. She shrugged it off and found herself waiting in line for the ice cream now. Her lips formed a smile when she noticed two small girls skipping off together each having a vanilla and chocolate cone. It reminded her so much of her and Vanille when they were kids. Fang would always get vanilla and Vanille would get chocolate. Her memory had played the moment through her mind again, and she lost focus of the world around her for a single moment.
"Hey, Fang. What flavor do you want?"
Fang snapped out of her fond memory and looked down at Serah.
"I want vanilla...get a chocolate cone for Vanille."
While Serah was ordering, Fang's eyes wondered off again. They led her to a little boy who was crying his eyes out. She looked over her shoulder to see Serah still busy, and decided to see what was wrong with the lad. Fang approached the boy and got down on a knee to be at better eye level with him.
"Hey, why ya crying?"
"I-I...I can't find my mom."
The small boy choked on his own tears, and wiped at them furiously at the same time. This reminded her so much of Vanille, she was always a cry baby as a kid. She couldn't help, but want to help this boy.
"Well, let's find her then."
Fang scooped the boy up in her arms, and placed him on her shoulders. She grinned up at the small boy and gave him a thumbs up.
"Do you see her anywhere?"
The boy took a moment to recollect to himself, wiping away all the waters to unclog his vision. The extra height of Fang definitely helped in this situation, he was able to spot his mother a long distance away wondering around. He pointed her out, as soon as she came into view.
"She's over there in the blue shirt!"
"I see her. She looks really worried."
Fang held onto the boy's ankles tightly and dashed towards the woman chasing her down in the damp sand. All while the boy was shouting out to his mom who didn't seem to hear any of his cries. Feeling the boy's desperation, she began to sprint at top speed, eventually grabbing onto the woman's shoulder.
"I found your son."
She removed the child from her shoulders and placed him directly into the arms of his worried mother.
"Thank you so much! How can I repay you?"
"No, I couldn't take a reward. Don't worry about it."
"Your such a good person. Thanks again!"
"Anytime."
Fang turned the opposite direction and began the tread back through the damp sand, towards Serah. She decided to take her time in order to catch her breath and slowed her pace to a walk. The tide was coming in now, splashing over her feet as she walked forward. The water gave her a chill that went from her toes all throughout her entire body, she felt herself shivering. Not wanting to be cold anymore, the raven head moved back into the burning hot sand. She had to deal with the sand between her toes again, but it was better than being cold she had to admit. Her hands found themselves inside of her shorts pockets, as she trudged on.
It took a moment for her to realize she had run quite a long way, for the ice cream stand was completely out of eye shot. She felt her motivation for returning in a short amount of time, slowly,slipping away. The only reason she could think of to run back was just in case Vanille was getting worried. Fang felt she really didn't have a reason to worry, well that is if Serah saw her helping the boy that is. She had hoped that she had, she just wanted to enjoy her walk now and take in the scenery.
A seagull flew over head, landing into a massive group of the same species all squawking over something. Fang peeked over to see them all attacking a left behind ice cream cone, a kid had probably dropped it, she thought. Once again she had been brought back into the past, by yet another situation. The birds had reminded her of her old home, Oerba. Crows had always lined the telephone poles in that town, always lurking for scraps of food. When she had extra bread she would throw it beneath the telephone pole, and watch them swoop down by the masses fighting over it. Her and Vanille would do it as a past time on some days when they were off from school. Damn, she was really starting to miss that girl now.
Picking up the pace, her slow walk transitioned into a light jog hoping to get back her original location much faster now. The sand flew up behind her like dust kicked up during the dust bowl. She had a good feeling Serah, would no longer be waiting for her, Vanille and Snow had probably left the restaurant by now too. The hotel seemed the like the most probable place that they would be located at by now. They were probably worried by now, and Vanille was most likely waiting desperately for her return. This thought alone drove her much more than before and her light jog became a full paced run. The scenery flew by in short blurs, her eyes remained fixated on the hotel building in the distance the whole time. Maybe a little too fixated, THUMP! She flew backwards landing on her butt, glancing up at the individual she had hit.
The individual was a girl about her age with dark brown hair pulled up into a bun at the top of her head. She wore a purple bikini top with extremely short shorts that really didn't cover much of anything. Something about her looked familiar almost as if Fang had seen her around school before. She wasn't quite certain about this information though. The girl looked down at Fang with an obvious blush on her face which caused Fang to raise an eyebrow.
"Hey you alright?" The girl held out her hand which Fang gladly took, and stood back onto her feet.
"Yeah. Are you? Sorry that I hit you I was in a rush. Still am,really.
"Don't worry about it. I know your in a rush, but what's your name? My name is Lebreau."
"I'm Fang. Sorry we can't talk more."
"I have a feeling I'll see you around, Fang."
"Yeah, maybe. Well see ya!"
With that Fang took off towards her hotel building again. A smirk enveloped Lebreau's innocent looking face. She had definitely seen Fang before, practicing after school in kendo. She had always admired her, but never had a chance to talk to her,or even learn her name. She herself was captain of the volleyball team, and had hoped Fang would know who she was by now. Now that they had spoken it would be much easier to get the object of her affection to be hers. She watched Fang run towards the hotel called 'Bodhum Inn' and took note of where she staying. She thought that inviting Fang to join her in a friendly game of volleyball tomorrow was definitely a good way to get to know her, and flirt.
================-111111-
Fang walked into the lobby, out of breath and sweaty. Her eyes scanned the room for her friends, hoping to see them waiting for her, but nothing. She remembered she still had the key card to her and Vanille's room, so Vanille couldn't be there. What if Vanille was in Serah's room? Damn why hadn't she brought her cell phone? Then she remembered the front desk usually allowed guests to use the phone. She went up to the desk to see nobody working there, and felt her frustration shoot up. She was about to leave when she noticed a bell on the desk and tapped it over and over to the point of annoying anyone in close proximity. A man made his way over to the desk with annoyed look plastered on his face, and he gave Fang a dirty look.
"What is it you need mam?" His tone reeked in anger.
"I wanna use the phone."
His hands fell below the desk, picking up the desk phone and thumping it onto the counter. He gave Fang another dirty look and exited the room. Fang couldn't help, but chuckle at the bloke and dialed her girlfriend's number. The phone did nothing, but ring and ring. Fang's ears picked up when she heard Vanille's voice on the line.
"Hi! You've reached Vanill-"
"Argh! Voice mail!" She slammed down the phone on the receiver and began to dial the number once more.
"Serves you right!"
The man from earlier stuck his tongue out at Fang and walked out the front door of the hotel. The guy's shift must of ended, but is that really a reason to treat customer's like shit? Fang wasn't even angered by this, shockingly. She actually found the guy's comment kinda funny. Despite being a bit of a bastard he was indeed a comical bloke. Fang typed in the last few digits of her girlfriend's number, ring, ring, ring.
"Hi! You've reached Vanille. I'm not near the phone now, so please leave me a message! I promise I'll call you back." Beeeeep.
"Vanille, it's me. I'm here in the hotel lobby waiting for you. You might be here already, or maybe your off somewhere with Snow or Serah. Either way call me. I'm going to our room now. Call me back, or just knock. I'll let you in."
She placed the phone back on the receiver, and sighed. Once she got to the room she'd call Snow, or Serah to tell her where they were. One of them had to answer right? While waiting for the elevator to make it's way down to the first floor, Fang's eyes wondered around the lobby. It was pretty empty for a weekend. A sound binged and the elevator's doors opened revealing nobody inside the doors. Fang stepped inside and pressed the '5' button. The doors shut after a moment and the elevator began to make its ascension. The senior's arms folded and she pressed her weight against the elevator's wall. The elevator was a pretty fancy one for an inn. The inside was all black granite, with a gold rail for people to hang onto. A mirror was built into the floor which was probably not a lucky thing for some female visitors. Bing! The door's opened and Fang made her way down the hall.
She stopped at room '535' and slid her keycard into the slot. She heard it unlock and opened door, walking inside. Her eyes wondered around the room, searching for her cell phone.
"Damn, where did I put that phone?"
As if on cue, she heard a loud melody playing underneath a large amount of clothes. She kicked the clothes pile in half and pulled her phone out from underneath a shirt. Quickly she flipped open the phone and placed it next to ear.
"Hello?"
"Fang! I got your message. Why did you run away from Serah?"
"I didn't run away from her...geez. I was helping a little boy find his mom."
"Aww. That's so sweet!"
"He was crying a river. It reminded me of you along time ago."
"Yeah. I was quite the cry baby huh?"
"Still are."
"Fang!"
"Whoops. So, where are you?"
"We're at the grocery store. Snow insisted him and Serah get some groceries instead of eating out every meal. I told them I wanted to stay and wait for you, but they didn't want me getting kidnapped."
"Well I'm glad you went with them then. If you got kidnapped I don't know what I'd do."
"I'm fine. Don't worry Fang. They're checking out right now. I should be back at our hotel soon."
"How soon is soon?"
"Thirty minutes to an hour."
"Guess I'll just watch TV then."
"Sorry! I know you hate waiting."
"It's ok. See ya soon."
"I love you, Fang."
"Love ya too."
"Bye!"
"Bye."
Fang snapped the phone shut and placed it on the nightstand. She climbed into the king sized beg, and reached for the remote. She clicked the on button and flipped through the channel finding nothing of interest. This was definitely going to be a long, long wait. She clicked the off button on the remote and snuggled into the layers of sheets. Her eyelids grew heavy and she found herself dozing off, probably tired from all the running. Her head nuzzled into the pillow, as she slipped into the world of dreams.
A loud knock boomed inside the room and Fang's eyes shot open. She had wrapped herself in many sheets during her sleep and didn't bother unwrapping them. She looked like a caterpillar that was going through metamorphosis. She manged to hop to the door and let her girlfriend in. Vanille looked her up and down and blinked.
"Having fun?"
"What? They're comfy I love sheets."
Vanille began to unwrap Fang anyways and Fang just watched lazily. The sheets fell to the floor, and Vanille tossed them onto the large bed.
"Fang your a butterfly now!" Vanille said with a large smile.
"I don't think I can fly though."
"I bet you could find a way to."
"Heh. Well it's not like I have a dragon to fly on, or something like that."
"That would be so cool!"
"Wouldn't it? Shame I don't have one."
"Fang are we going to do anything else today?"
"Yeah! Let's go build a sand castle together. Just the two of us."
"A sand castle? Why?"
"Doesn't it sound fun? I saw a family building one earlier, and wanted to try it."
"It does. Good thing I brought a bucket!"
"Really?"
"Yeah! I bought one at the store the other day before the prom just in case they were having a sand castle competition."
"Good job."
"Let me go get it."
Vanille walked back into the bathroom and returned with the pale and shovel. Why she had that in her suitcase? The world may never know.
"You ready to go, Fang?"
"Yeah! Let's do it!"
====================================-000000000000000000
The two held hands while walking down the street. The stopped in front of a small two-story beach house because Vanille had seen something glistening in the sand. Fang continued to hold her hand while she dug through the semi-deep sand. Lebreau opened her window and looked downwards to see her biggest crush...who was holding hands with another girl besides her! Unacceptable! She suddenly felt absolutely consumed by jealousy and hatred. She refused to allow Fang to have another girlfriend that wasn't her. She was going to get rid of that girl right here and now, easily. She searched around her room looking for something that would put the chick out of her misery. She spotted a small house plant in a glass pot. If this hit her on the head from this height she'd surely end up in the hospital. Lebreau placed the plant on the window sill right above Vanille's head and gave it a small push before ducking infront of the window, so Fang wouldn't see. Fang looked up in time to see the pot falling.
"Vanille!"
She pushed her girlfriend out of the way and felt something hard and heavy make contact with her skull.
"FANG!"
