Moving Forward, Moving On

"Faaaaaaaaang!" Vanille whined loudly, "Would you slow down please? My legs didn't get any longer while we were sleeping!" There was a hearty laugh in response.

"Your whining my name seems to have, though." Fang teased the other woman as she finally managed to catch up. The pouty face she was met with only sparked another laugh.

"Hey! Don't tease!" Came another whine, this time accompanied by a soft smack to Fang's arm.

"Alright, alright, we'll break for a bit." Receiving only a happy yelp in response, the taller of the two moved to a large fallen tree a few feet away and hopped up to sit on it. Vanille had found an equally large, mossy boulder to rest on. She wasted no time taking advantage of as much of the flat surface as possible, stretching out into a lying position.

While Fang had kept up her pace as they'd made their way through the wilderness, she felt fatigue creep up on her a lot faster than she'd remembered. It used to be Fang could last at full running speed for a lot longer; but she'd been walking briskly for a mere hour or two and already she felt her body growing heavy—she didn't even have the weight of her lance at her back. And While having slightly less stamina than herself, she noted that even Vanille could usually last a lot longer without having to rest.

"Fang?"

"Mmm?" Answered with a soft hum as she surveyed the surrounding area.

"How long do you think we were asleep this time?" Came the thought that'd been on Fang's mind since they'd woken up.

"Can't really tell." Fang admit, still glancing around, "I don't recognize anything. There are plants and land formations I've never seen before."

"Ah!" Vanille shot up suddenly, "I know! I've noticed some critters that I've never seen before either!" Fang nodded. She'd seen caught glimpses of them too. Gran Pulse was a vast land and she knew there was no way she or Vanille could possible know about every creature that existed; but the surrounding wildlife seemed completely foreign to the Gran Pulse she remembered.

Of course Fang had considered the idea that it'd been another hundred of years since they'd fallen asleep—it'd been that long last time. But something about the way the area had been altered; Fang couldn't ignore the feeling that the changes were not entirely natural and couldn't be explained with just the passing of time.

"Don't recognize any of this." Fang repeated quietly, shaking her head.

"Except for that." Vanille spoke again after a moment of silence, her hand raised up, finger pointed upward. Fang looked up to see the view of the sky—or it would have been if it weren't blocked by the large dead planet, laced in crystal. The small planet itself was as beautiful as she remembered while still living on Gran Pulse—before the whole incident with the Fal'cie had happened entirely—even if it was during a time where it was a common belief that nothing but Vipers lived there.

But the crystal pike that it looked as if it were impaled on, took away from the beauty of the memory in Fang's mind. What's more is that she felt as if it were her fault the planet now looked dead and broken.

Regardless, it was where she had decided it would be best to start looking for answers. Because it was, as her Gran Pulsian companion had said, the only real 'landmark' that was familiar to them. When they'd awakened, they had no idea where they were—they had no idea when they were. How long had they been frozen as crystal, locked in time? One thing they did know was that Cocoon was the last thing the saw before slipping into sleep, and it was the first thing they saw when they woke up.

There had been a minor debate about the decision of direction, however...

"-but why not head back towards Oerba? Maybe we can find-"

"Vanille, what could we possibly find at that graveyard? It was dead when we left it." Fang argued but paused when she realized the harshness in her voice. She immediately regret the choice of words when she saw a sad look cross her fellow Oerban's face, "Look, I want answers as much as you do. I miss Oerba as much as you do; but it's been who-know-how long and we're who-knows-where." She pointed to the huge round mass in the sky, "The only thing we know for sure is that that is Cocoon and it was the last place we were before waking up."

Vanille was quiet for a long moment, seemingly studying Fang's face. Shoulder's slumping, eyes falling to the ground, he nodded, "Okay."

"We'll go back to Oerba one day." Fang promised, pulling the smaller woman into a hug, "You can count on it." She gave Vanille a slightly forced smile before turning and walking towards the edge of the clearing in the direction that had been decided.

"And the others?" The question was so quiet, it barely reached Fang's ears. But it was enough for her to stop her dead in her tracks, and stop her heart for a split second. Cocoon may have been the last and first thing she saw before and after becoming crystal, but it was far from the last and first thing she'd been thinking about. The thoughts that flooded her mind the first few seconds while gasping for air were of strong flashes of crimson, soft waves of pink and brilliant blue orb. And what immediately followed was the the fear and realization of probably never see them again.

"One thing at a time." Was all Fang replied with before continuing into the wilderness.

"Alright! I'm recharged and ready to go" Fang found herself struggling for balance on her perch atop the fallen tree as Vanille's voice rang in her ears. Apparently the taller Gran Pulsian been deep enough in thought for it to have caused her to jump. She found the smaller woman bouncing on her toes atop the boulder she'd been resting on. Fang smiled at Vanille's unchanged ability to recover faster than anything else she'd come across in her life. Her absurdly long life, she added in her mind, letting out a small chuckle as jumped down from her own seat of rest. As she landed, she once again found herself losing her balance as ground beneath her feet shifted.

"What the-"

"Eek! Fang!" Vanille let out a yelp, slipping off the boulder as a large crack shot out from under it, causing it to sink quickly into the ground. Jumping and catching the other woman before she face planted into the still-shaky ground, Fang maneuvered them both away from the widening crack, keeping an eye out for any more. Then, as soon as it started, the shaking stopped. Confused and still on edge, Fang's protective hold on Vanille remained. Neither of them moved for what seemed like hours.

"Wh-What just happened?" Vanille broke the silence with the question that was on both of their minds.

"I have no idea," The taller of the two answered honestly, "But I think it's a sign we need to keep moving." There was no argument from Vanille as the both of them made their way away around the boulder now half buried in the ground. They skirted the edges, wary of any more unexpected movement from below. Fang's mind was racing again. Just like their strange surrounding, what had just happened was most certainly not something she'd ever remembered experiencing on Gran Pulse before. She'd been through a few mild earthquakes but they were long, drawn out-growing and fading gradually. This... tremor had barely lasted a few seconds, started and ended too abruptly to be natural. it also seemed— as the two of them continued on their way— that it had only affected and area of barely a few dozen feet from where they'd been resting. Too small, Fang thought, frowning.

As a few more minutes passed, Fang began to relax slightly. However, she was also reminded of how heavy her body felt, how sluggish her movements seemed—even after the break for rest. It was more than just the feeling one gets when they remain in one position for a long period of time; and when they finally move, their limbs feel locked in place. It felt like it did when one wakes up; already tired—as if not had enough sleep; as if woken up much earlier one was supposed to.

A/N:

Yey! More Fang and Vanille!
...and more broodiness =\