Wolf-lions and Role Reversals

"Look at that!" Fang did her best not to wince as Vanille shouted and grabbed her by the arm. The younger woman yanked her over to the window and pointed wildly out of it like a little kid. "Come on, you're not looking! Look!"

"Fine, I'm looking, I'm looking, just hang on a minute," Fang grumbled.

"See!" Vanille crowed. "It's really something isn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I guess it is." Fang had to admit that the view out the window really was something special. She'd heard an awful lot about Cosmo Canyon, but she'd never actually had the chance to see it before. Right now the train was bustling its way across a bridge that overlooked a broad, deep river that wound right through the middle of the canyon. The canyon itself was all red-brown rock with tall, steep sides, and jagged crags and peaks. In the early morning sun, the river shone brightly blue like a long, winding necklace of jewels against the harsher colours of the rock.

"We've got to take a look around when the train stops off," Vanille said. "Who knows when we'll be headed back this way?"

Fang sighed. "Look, the train will only be stopping for a few hours, so we can't get too far." She glanced sideways at Sazh and his family. "Besides, we can't exactly go looking for trouble with them around."

Vanille scowled, although the expression was more funny that threatening. "I wasn't going to go looking for trouble. But we have to try and see those wolf-lion things."

"That is looking for trouble." Fang rolled her eyes. "Those wolf-lion things aren't exactly little and I doubt they'll like you poking them too much." Vanille tried to look innocent, but Fang wasn't about to have any of it. "Yes, I know what you're like, missy, so don't give me that innocent look. I'll look away for one second and you'll be off trying to get one of those things to play with you and it might go well for a bit, but then something will happen and it'll be me who has to pry it off you."

"Aw, come on, it won't end up like that." Vanille pouted again and Fang had to force herself to look away. The younger woman really knew how to play things up, what with those big green eyes of hers and that drooping lower lip. It disgusted Fang that she still couldn't really say no to the younger woman, even now. Looking to maybe foist Vanille off on someone else, she looked Sazh's way – the old man had no problems telling either of them no – but he took one look at Vanille and just grinned before he turned away. Fang grimaced. Trust the old man to abandon her at a time like this.

"Yes, it will end up like that," Fang said finally. "Remember that time you thought it'd be good to try and hitch a ride on a bison?" Vanille winced. "They ended up stampeding and it was up to me to drag you out of there in one piece. Sazh almost had a heart attack."

Vanille frowned. "Well, we were little kids then. I'm much more grown up now." She pouted some more. "And they must have some tame ones in town."

"The answer is still no." Fang felt a little too proud of herself for being able ato hold Vanille off. That feeling lasted for all of a few seconds.

"Well, what about the volcano?" Vanille asked. "They call it the Cosmo Candle or something. How about we go see that?"

Fang made the mistake of looking back over at Vanille and immediately wished she hadn't. Vanille just looked so gosh darn hopeful. But, honestly, she wanted to see a volcano? One that had a nasty tendency of blowing up at the least convenient time possible. Never mind the fact that it was on the opposite side of the canyon. "We are not going to see the volcano. It's too far." Vanille looked absolutely pitiful and Fang sighed. "Well, I suppose we could go find a spyglass or something and take a look at it from a distance. We should be able to see it from the town." Vanille instantly cheered up. "But that's it, okay."

Vanille smiled sunnily and threw her arms around Fang. "You're the best!"

Fang hugged the other woman back and tried to ignore the smirk that Sazh sent her way. Damn, he really didn't miss a trick did he?

Another half hour later, the train pulled to a stop at the Cosmo Canyon train station. It was a cosy looking sort of place, with the faded well-worn look to it that most places between big cities had. Still, it was pretty well kept, being a major stop between Midgar Town and Eden City. The only real problem was just how dusty everything was. It was horrible, actually, and Fang had to tie a handkerchief up in front of her face to stop some of the dust, an action that the others quickly copied.

Dajh, of course, loved having a handkerchief about his face. In fact, Fang had a pretty big feeling that he might end up following in his father's footsteps and doing a bit of bounty hunting, but that was only if Sazh and Lahna let him. Sazh knew well enough the dangers of that kind of life, and Fang wouldn't be surprised if he wanted none of that for his son. Lahna, on the other hand, had it pretty clear in her head that Dajh was going to become a doctor. How exactly, Lahna was so sure the little boy was going to make it as a doctor, Fang wasn't sure, but she wasn't about to ask either.

"So, where to?" Sazh asked. "We got a few hours to kill. Anything you guys want to see?"

Vanille grinned and opened her mouth to speak, but Fang gave her a look. "Umm… I was talking to Fang and she said that maybe we could go get a spyglass or something and take a look at the volcano." She pointed out toward the opposite end of town. The volcano was actually visible, a stout spire of rock with a thin plume of smoke at the top. There was also the occasional flash of something else there, maybe lightning from all the smoke and ash, or maybe lava.

Sazh paused for a moment and then nodded. "That doesn't sound too bad, actually." He lifted one hand to shield his eyes from the sun. "You know, I stopped off here myself once, a while back." What he meant, of course, was before he'd met Fang and Vanille, back during his early days as a bounty hunter. "There's a fellow out here who might be able to give us a hand with that well, if he's still around, anyway. Last I saw him, he was pretty old, and it's been quite a spell since then."

Lahna looked at Sazh out of the corner of her eye and Fang grinned as the man actually flinched. "He isn't one of those folks is he?"

Fang smirked. Although Lahna had accepted Sazh's past as a bounty hunter and didn't really hold it against him, she didn't take too kindly to certain people from his past turning up. Like the time a bordello owner had rocked up claiming that she owed Sazh a couple of favours. Lahna hadn't taken very well to that and it had taken both Fang and Vanille to pin Lahna down before she either took a gun or a knife to Sazh, which was a good thing too, because at that time Dajh hadn't even been born yet, and Fang happened to like the kid. It wasn't so much that the other woman had been a bordello owner that got Lahna steamed up – out West just about everybody knew at least one bordello owner – it was that the other woman had the gall to cosy up to Sazh right in front of her.

Sazh shivered but shook his head. "No, honey. Matter of the fact, he's a quite a learned fellow, does a lot of work studying the stars and all that. I suppose you could call him an astronomer. He also does a lot of work on the volcano too, when it's playing up and making it hard to see the sky."

Lahna looked quite pleased at that. "Well then, where does he live?"

Sazh pointed to a building out near the edge of town. It was a tall one and up on a pretty decently sized hill too. It was odd looking, as well, like a big cylinder with a dome on top. Vaguely, Fang remembered something she'd read once and realised what the building had to be. It had to be an observatory. She smiled. If she was remembering right, observatories had great big spyglasses inside – telescopes – and had all sorts of machines inside to move things around. Vanille would definitely have fun poking around and it wasn't too likely that she'd run into any of those wolf-lion things there.

"Let's get going then," Fang said.

The group made their way over to the observatory at a meandering sort of pace. But once Dajh found out where they were going, he'd just about broken into a run and it had taken a firm word and an even firmer look from Lahna to slow him down. Chirpy had helped some too. Apparently the little chocobo wasn't too keen on being jostled around too much. Along the way, Fang kept an eye out for good saloons and other places to eat, not only because she was starting to get a bit hungry, but also because she wanted to eat a hot meal. Sure, Lahna had brought some food along and the older woman was a real good cook, but nothing replaced a nice hot meal.

They reached the bottom of the hill where the observatory was and Fang chuckled as Vanille and Dajh started a race for the top. Of course, if she'd wanted, Vanille could have beaten Dajh up there easily. Sure, Vanille could be a little clumsy sometimes, but she was good on her feet when it mattered and Dajh was still just a little kid. But rather than win, Vanille was careful to slow her pace just enough for Dajh to keep up and when Fang glanced off to the side, she saw that there was a gentle sort of smile on Lahna's face as Dajh scrambled into the lead. Up on the boy's shoulder, Chirpy was making all kinds of encouraging noises.

"Reminds me of when you two were little," Sazh remarked.

Fang looked over at him with a curious look. "That so? I can't remember you letting us win at anything, old man."

"Old man?" Sazh chuckled. "Remember that shooting contest we had when you were twelve." Fang nodded. "Remember how badly you beat me?"

Fang grinned. "Yeah, I beat you so…" she trailed off as she took in the smirk on Sazh's face. Wait… now that she thought about it… She might be as good a shot as Sazh now, and most likely quicker on the draw too, but back then… back then he'd been damn fast, just as fast as anybody she'd ever seen, and definitely the best person she'd ever seen with a gun in each hand, not just flashy, but effective too. Add to that the fact that she'd been some twelve year old kid who was just learning and… "You let me win!" she growled. "I can't believe you!"

Sazh laughed. "You were twelve and you were getting so frustrated about never being able to beat me. I figured I could stand to lose one if it would get your spirits up, keep you motivated." He shot her a sly look. "Besides, you just looked so pathetic pouting every time I beat you. I figure that's where Vanille learned to pout from."

Fang would have gone over to clout Sazh over the head – Lahna wasn't looking – but then she heard a startled shout come from the top of the stairs where Vanille and Dajh were. In a flash, she was moving, taking the steps two at a time as she raced up to see what trouble the pair had gotten into and if necessary to start shooting people. Just behind her were Sazh and Lahna, the former with one hand already on the pistol at his side. Sazh might be a tad slower now than he had been in his younger days, but she'd bet every gil she owned that he could still clear the holster mighty fast is Dajh were in trouble.

What she found at the top of the stairs was not what she expected. Vanille and Dajh were crouched next to some big red thing and they were petting it like it was, well, like it was a pet and not a wolf-lion the size of a small bison. Staring, she could finally understand why people called them wolf-lions. The thing was mostly red, but with orange in some parts along its belly, but there was a definite lion-like look to it. On the other hand, there was also something about the way it moved, and the sounds that it was making that was pretty wolf-like.

"Vanille," Fang asked, voice strained and ready to shoot. "Why are you petting that thing?"

Vanille looked over, still petting the animal. "Well, it was a little surprising when we saw him, and he does look a little scary, but…" She scratched under the wolf-lion's chin and Fang had the urge to rub her eyes. Had it actually just nuzzled back into Vanille's hand? "As you can see, he's right friendly."

A moment later, Fang was even more convinced that somewhere along the line, she must have slipped on the stairs and bumped her head, because Dajh had just climbed up onto the animal's back and rather than throwing him off and taking a bite out of him, the wolf-lion actually let the boy hop on and ride it as it padded over toward Fang. As the wolf-lion ambled over, Fang was suddenly very glad she'd chosen to wear pants. Even though both she and Vanille were in disguise with wigs to hide their hair, the other woman had gone with a cheerful sundress. Pants were better in Fang's mind because they made it easier to run or kick people and they also made it a lot easier to reach for her guns. Right now, she wasn't sure whether she should run, kick the wolf-lion or maybe go for her gun.

"Well, I'll be," Sazh said from behind Fang. "I can't believe it. This critter is still hanging around."

Fang shot Sazh a disbelieving look as the dark-skinned man walked over to the wolf-lion and patted the big animal on the head. The wolf-lion barked a greeting and Sazh grinned like the two were old friends. He gave Fang a wry look. "Don't worry about this fellow. He's about as friendly as they come." He put a hand up to steady Dajh as the boy bounced around. "And Dajh, try to stay still or you'll fall off and crack your head on the ground."

For her part, Lahna seemed a mite reluctant to approach the wolf-lion. It was, well, big and it looked pretty scary, even with Dajh riding on its back, what with its tail lashing the air, seemingly without it even realising it. But Sazh just grinned and pulled her over and before Lahna could say anything, he had her put one hand on the wolf-lion's back.

"See," Sazh said as Lahna slowly ran her hand up and down the animal's back. "He's friendly."

Fang sighed. "You couldn't have maybe told us about this beforehand?" She wasn't really annoyed, not when Vanille looked so happy to be able to actually play around with a wolf-lion, but really, Sazh could have warned them so she didn't feel like she was about to have to fight to the death against an animal that looked like it ate people her size for breakfast.

"Must have slipped my mind," Sazh said amiably. "Now, let's pop in and see if that friend of mine is still about."

"Does this guy have a name?" Vanille asked as she petted the wolf-lion again. It seemed to have taken a liking to her, because it looked content to let her run her fingers through its hair.

"Give me a second," Sazh said as he thought things over. "His name is Nanashi or something… wait… yes, I remember now. He's called Nanaki."

"Nanaki, huh?" Vanille grinned. "Well, that's a good name."

"Anyway," Sazh said, pointing to the door of the observatory, which was open a fraction. "Let's head inside and see if we can't find my old friend."

Inside the observatory, Fang watched with amusement as Vanille oohed and aahed over everything. There were bits of machinery everywhere, from the great gears and pulleys that controlled the telescope's direction, to what looked to be models of the stars and planets.

"So, where is this friend of yours?" Lahna asked.

Sazh shrugged. "The place looks decent, so he must still be around." He patted Nanaki on the head. "Why don't you show us where he is, boy?"

The wolf-lion seemed to understand, because it led them through the observatory to a big balcony that overlooked the town and faced out toward the volcano. It was a good view, especially with the sun shining brightly on everything, so it took Fang a moment to notice that they weren't alone.

There was an old, old man sitting off to one side of the balcony. He had a spyglass pointed at the volcano and he hadn't seemed to notice that they were there yet. But, honestly, the old man was old. He was completely bald and hunched over and Fang couldn't help but wince as he slowly, painfully reached up to adjust the spyglass.

In the end it was Nanaki who went over to the old man and nudged him, a task made a little awkward by the fact that Dajh was still on the wolf-lion's back. The old man nearly dropped the spyglass before he gathered himself and turned. Then his face lit up with surprise as he peered through thick glasses at Sazh.

"Is that you… Sazh Katzroy?" the old man asked before he let loose a wheezing sort of laugh. "Ho ho hoo, it really is you." Moving with a groan, the old man shifted his gaze to first Lahna and then Dajh. "And it looks like you've got a wife and son now too."

Sazh laughed. "It's been a while Bugenhagen. I'm glad to see you're still hanging around."

Bugenhagen laughed. "Hah! I won't die so easily. There's still too much for me to learn, after all." He coughed. "So, what brings you here today after all these years?"

Sazh pointed at the group. "Like you said, those two are my wife and son, Lahna and Dajh." He glanced over at Fang and Vanille. Fang met his gaze and nodded and he nodded back. Bugenhagen was a sharp man, it would probably be a good idea to avoid using their real names. "These two are my friends." He pointed at Fang and Vanille. "The short one's Penelo and the tall one's Fran." He grinned. "Anyway, we were wondering if we could borrow a spyglass of yours and maybe take a look at the volcano. Penelo probably wants to take a look around the observatory too, since we'll only be here for a couple of hours."

"I suppose I could lend you a spyglass and I'm fine with your friend taking a look at the observatory." Bugenhagen laughed. "It's always nice to see a young lady interested in the work that I do." He looked over to a table set out on the balcony. "And while the young folks are looking around at everything, why don't you fill me in on things, Sazh? You don't visit nearly enough."

Sazh smiled at the old man. "Yes, that sounds pretty good." He glanced at Fang, Vanille, and Dajh. "You young folks can stay here. Just holler if there's trouble."

"I doubt they can get up to too much trouble," Bugenhagen said. "And if they do run into any trouble, Nanaki is with them."

Much to Fang's surprise the wolf-lion actually nodded at Bugenhagen's comment and she got the feeling that the wolf-lion was a great deal smarter than she'd first thought. That image was spoiled a moment later though, when Dajh gave a little whoop and kicked his heels to try and spur the wolf-lion on like a chocobo. Thankfully, the big animal took things good naturedly, and merely ambled over to the railing of the balcony so that Dajh could look over at the town and volcano.

They ended up spending the next hour or so at the observatory. Fang, Vanille, and Dajh all took turns with the spyglass. Lahna stayed with them a while, but after a quick glance at the volcano, she went over to chat with Bugenhagen. For all that the old man was mighty odd, he had a quick wit and seemed to know a lot about just about anything. He and Sazh laughed a lot as they talked over old times, and Fang found herself wondering just what else Sazh hadn't told her and Vanille about his past. Nanaki stayed with them, the wolf-lion seemingly at ease as it watched them with one keen eye.

The volcano was really something, even from a distance, and Fang decided that maybe once she and Vanille had finished with Cocoon, they might head back this way. Through the spyglass, she could see that the smoke didn't just come from the top of the volcano. Instead, the smoke came from a whole lot of holes in the ground all along the slopes of the volcano. There were also cracks were lava could be seen and a slow, steady stream of it trickled down from the summit. There were other places too, where the lava had cooled down and formed strange, twisted shapes that jutted awkwardly into the air.

Later, once they'd all had a good long look at the volcano, they wandered back inside to look at the machines that moved the telescope. While she didn't have half the mind for machines that Vanille did, she could admire the kind of skill it took to design and build the machines, as well as the resolve it took to keep them in good order. Sazh came in and had a look too, and Bugenhagen took a few minutes to explain everything, much to Vanille's delight.

Finally though, the time came for them to head off. They were all starting to feel a little hungry and while Bugenhagen offered them lunch, a quick look around made it pretty clear that he didn't have nearly enough food, especially for people like Dajh and Vanille who could eat their own body weight and then some. So, with a promise to drop by the next time they passed through, the group headed back down into town to grab a bite to eat.

"He was a little bit odd, wasn't he?" Vanille asked.

Sazh laughed. "Bugenhagen might be odd, but he's a good man, one of the best I've known." He grinned. "He hasn't changed a bit though and I'm glad about that. I just hope he picks up an apprentice or something, because it'd be a damn shame if all that learning of his got lost."

"That wolf-lion of his, where did he come from?" Fang asked. Even though they'd left, she couldn't shake the impression that the wolf-lion was a great deal brighter than any animal had a right to be. Heck, she was pretty sure that it had laughed at some of Vanille's jokes.

"Nanaki?" Sazh pursed his lips. "Bugenhagen found him when he was little. If I remember right, his parents were killed by some folks passing through, probably for sport, and that left Nanaki all alone. He's been living with Bugenhagen ever since, which is good I suppose. Bugenhagen's old now, but with Nanaki around, the old man doesn't have to worry about anyone giving him trouble." He chuckled. "Nanaki's pretty bright too. Last time I was here, Bugenhagen had him running errands."

"Errands?" Fang raised one brow.

"Yeah. You see, everyone around here knows about Nanaki and the big fellow's pretty friendly when you get right down to it. So when Bugenhagen needs something from town, he just tells Nanaki where he wants him to go and ties a list and some money to his collar. The shopkeepers around here just read the list, hitch whatever is on it up to Nanaki and there you go." Sazh smiled. "It's just like the old man to come up with something like that."

Fang could only nod. "That's one smart wolf-lion."

Dajh tugged on Sazh's sleeve. "What's for lunch?"

Fang grinned. It seemed like the little boy's empty stomach had finally gotten him thinking about something other than how sad it was that Nanaki couldn't come with them to Eden City. Somehow, Fang doubted city folks would be quite so understanding when it came to the wolf-lion.

"There was a nice looking place near the station," Fang said. "I figured we could go there."

"Was it a respectable looking place?" Lahna asked.

Fang knew what Lahna really meant: was it the kind of place that looked like it could break into a gunfight at any moment. "It was fine, Lahna. Besides, I wouldn't take Dajh into any place rough." Of course she had taken Vanille to places that were plenty rough before. Sometimes, the red head just wanted to go looking for trouble, and where better to pick a fight than where all the riff raff gathered?

As it turned out, Fang was right on the money and if she'd been in a less sporting mood, she'd have gloated some at Lahna. The saloon was right next to the train station and was cheerily lit with big windows and good furniture. The crowd there was pretty good too, mostly regular townsfolk along with a decent smattering of folks from the train. Sure, there was card game going down near the back, but the players seemed right friendly with one another and there wasn't a gun in sight. The bar up near the front was well kept too, and the bartender was a young cleanly shaven fellow. All in all, Fang thought, it was the sort of place that even Lahna couldn't fault.

They got a table near the middle of the room and it wasn't long before someone came round to take their order. Fang wasn't the least bit surprised when Vanille ordered much more food than someone her size should be able to eat. Once their food came, Fang took a few moments to look over the crowd. It was an old habit, but one that had saved her life many times before. She saw Sazh was doing it too and the pair of them shared a grin. Her gaze paused for a moment as she caught sight of a silver-haired boy and two people who had to be his parents. She recognised them from somewhere. Yes, they'd on the train, as well.

"Can you really finish all of that?" Sazh asked Vanille as he stared at the food set out in front of her.

Fang smirked. "Remember back when it was just the three of us on the road? We had to go hunting every day just to keep that stomach of hers full."

Vanille growled. "It's not my fault I eat a lot, Fang. I'm a growing girl."

"A growing, girl? Vanille, I think you're just about done growing." Fang glanced over at Dajh who was doing a pretty good impression of a whale, just about inhaling his food despite the disapproving look on his mother's face. "Dajh there though still has some growing to do."

"Stop being mean," Vanille grumbled as she reached over to try and steal some food off Fang's plate, only for the brunette to slap her hand away. "Come on, if you're not going to eat your food, then give it to me."

Fang was about to reply when the swinging doors of the saloon burst open. She turned around, took one look at the people coming in and was tempted to bang her head on the table. Was this some kind of joke?

Three silver-haired men were standing there, all of them dressed in black. Two of them were fairly slender, but the third man was powerfully built, was all muscle, really. All of them, however, were armed, one with a rifle, the big man with a shotgun and the man who looked to be their leader with double barrelled pistol of some kind.

"Nobody move," one of the slender men shouted. "This is a hold up."

Honestly, Fang thought, out of all the places in the world that these fools could have picked to hold up, they had to go and pick this saloon. As the other patrons froze in a mix of fear and surprise, Fang sent Sazh a sharp look. He met her gaze for a moment, glanced over at the men, and then shook his head. His message was clear: don't do anything yet.

She was tempted to argue, but she could see his point. All three of the men were armed and already had their guns out. With this many people in the room, there were bound to be casualties if they tried anything out of the blue. Fang might be a bandit, but she did have her principles.

"Listen folks, because I'm going to be telling you how this is going to go," one of the silver haired men said. "The name's Kadaj and my brothers and I are going to be taking all of your money and valuables. You do just as we say and you'll leave here with your lives. You make a fuss, you make trouble, and we will start shooting and we will be shooting to kill."

There was silence from the other patrons at that and Fang wracked her mind for information. Kadaj – the name sounded familiar but she couldn't quite place it. And then she remembered. A few years back when she and Vanille had first really started making a name for themselves, there had been another outlaw with one heck of a reputation. He'd gone by the name of Sephiroth and he'd been accused of just about every kind of crime there was. Murder, robbery, hell, some people had even said he'd eaten children. Now, Fang had actually tangled with the fellow once, and while that had been a hell of a fight – one that a bunch of marshals had cut short before they could settle things up properly – he hadn't seemed like the kind of person to go around eating children. The murder and the robbery though, she could believe.

Last she'd heard of him, he'd changed his ways to go chasing after some waitress who'd saved his life after a couple of marshals nearly put him down. Anyway, Sephiroth had brothers and she'd heard somewhere along the line that they'd formed a gang of their own. One of them, she remembered, had been named Kadaj and just looking at these three, the family resemblance was plenty obvious. If they were even half as dangerous as Sephiroth then they'd be quite a handful.

"Heh," the big one said as he began to go around the room with a bag, collecting up money and valuables. "This is easy pickings." He laughed. "It won't be long till we're the talk of the West. That Bahamut Bandit hasn't got a thing on us."

"Quiet, Loz," Kadaj said. "Just worry about the job." He glanced over at the other man who held a rifle. "Yazoo, keep an eye out on everyone. If anyone moves, shoot them. Mother won't be pleased if we mess this up. She hasn't been happy at all since brother left to go chasing after that damn waitress."

Well, so those rumours were true? Fang grimaced as she saw Vanille tense. Clearly, her partner was not happy about not getting a mention and she shot Vanille a pleading look to try and settle the red head down. Sure, Fang had no intention of getting robbed, but she needed to wait for just the right moment to make her move. Besides, if she tried anything and Dajh got hurt then Lahna would tan her hide and then some.

As the big fellow continued to make his way around the room, Fang took another quick look around. Yazoo was holding his rifle pretty confidently, and she had no doubt that he knew just how to use it. If it had been a fair contest, with both of them looking to take aim and fire together, she'd have bet on herself to clear the holster first and put him down, but with her gun still in its holster and his rifle already primed and ready it would be a close run thing. With Dajh and Lahna right next to her, not mention everyone else around it was just too risky. Kadaj was a problem too. He stood right by the door to make sure no one could enter or leave. If only someone could set up a distraction.

Loz stopped right in front of them, or rather, right in front of Vanille. Then, to Fang's dismay, he stopped to take a closer look.

"Well, well, well, aren't you a pretty little thing?" Loz said as he reached down to tilt Vanille's chin up.

Fang nearly growled. In her pretty white sundress and her blonde wig, Vanille really was quite a picture, but there was something to be said about looking and not touching. As Loz leaned in closer, she had to clench her fists to keep herself from reaching out across the table and slapping the fool silly.

"Enough, Loz," Kadaj said. "We can't stay here too long. Just grab their things."

Loz grunted and glared back at Kadaj. "Fine."

That little moment that Loz spent looking at Kadaj was all that Vanille needed. She might be only half his size, but Fang knew that Vanille could fight twice as dirty as anyone else. The red head reached up and grabbed Loz by the collar of his coat and yanked him down. At the same time, she tilted her head just so and drove up to catch him with one of the meanest looking head butts that Fang had ever seen.

After that, everything happened in a flash. Loz's shotgun clattered to the ground as he let loose a strangled cry and brought both hands up to his face. In that same instant, Yazoo brought his rifle around, ready to drill a bullet right through Vanille's heart, but Fang was already in motion. Sitting down, she was in no position to go for her pistol. Instead, she flung her glass of water at Yazoo. It hit him squarely in the chest and his gun jerked up and his shot went high.

That left Kadaj, and the leader of the three brothers whipped around, his pistol locked on Fang. But Sazh shoved to his feet faster than Fang could remember him moving in years. For just a moment, he wasn't Sazh the crotchety father who made a living fixing up sewing machines, he was Sazh Katzroy, bounty hunter. His eyes flashed darkly and even as Kadaj tensed to shoot, Sazh's pistol was free and already firing. The silver haired man spun and blood bloomed across the shoulder of his coat as his gun clattered to the ground. He reached for his other gun and Sazh fired again, shooting it right out of his hands, before a third shot hit Kadaj in the leg and dropped him to the ground. The look on Sazh's face was cold, real cold, and Fang was suddenly certain that if Lahna and Dajh weren't around, Sazh would've killed the other man with his first shot.

By this time, Yazoo had managed to recover and Fang stumbled out of her chair and leapt toward him. She slapped the rifle out of his hands, but he was quick to swing out with a punch. He caught her with a punch across the cheek, but she managed to jerk away at the last moment, and that took the sting out of the blow. She replied with a hook across the jaw that had him stumbling back into the counter and he reached back for a bottle and swung wildly with it. She ducked and the bottle sailed wide, smashing into a table as it slipped out of his hands.

With a growl, she drove one knee up into his stomach, dimly aware of the sound of breaking furniture as Vanille tore things up with Loz. Yazoo doubled over but managed to grab at her feet and the two of them tumbled to the ground. Fang rolled as he punched at her head and slammed an elbow up into his jaw. The blow snapped his head back and she managed to slip one leg between them and push. He flew back into the bar and lay there, stunned, and as he tried to find his feet again, she marched up to him and knocked him out with a vicious kick to the chin.

Turning, she saw something that would have made her laugh if things hadn't been so serious. Vanille had somehow found her way onto Loz's back and by the looks of things she was doing her level best to strangle him. She had one forearm around his throat and her other arm braced against it to try and tighten the choke. But Loz was big, really big, and Vanille couldn't seem to get the leverage to choke him. Sazh couldn't get a shot off either, because of how close Vanille was, and Fang could hear him shouting at the red head to let go so that he could shoot him.

That was when Loz somehow reached up and back and wrenched Vanille off his back and hurled her at Sazh. The two went down in a tangle of limbs and Loz took one look at Kadaj and Yazoo and then made a break for the door. Fang lunged after him, knowing that with the distance between them, she wouldn't catch him. And the whole time everyone else just stood there, too scared or shocked to do anything. Figures, they wouldn't think of actually helping.

And that was when the silver haired boy she'd noticed earlier did the strangest thing. Ignoring the warning looks from his parents, he took one little step forward and then stuck out his foot. It wasn't all that much, but it did plenty. Loz tripped over the outstretched foot and went down. But the boy wasn't done yet. Like he'd done it before, he reached over for a chair and swung it full force into Loz's back. The big man cried out, but didn't go down, but it did slow him down enough for Fang to reach him and when she hit him, she made sure to hit him hard enough to put him down for quite a spell. It was only when Loz hit the ground unconscious that some semblance of normalcy returned to the saloon.

"That was some good work there, kid," Fang said with a grin as she ruffled the boy's silver hair with one hand. He frowned and tried to bat her hand away.

"I'm not a kid," the boy said. "And I figured that I should help, especially since no one else was doing anything." He actually looked a little bashful. "It just didn't seem right to leave all of it to you and your friends."

Fang's grin widened. "I have to ask though, you been in a bar fight before, kid? That thing you did with the chair is just about the first thing people learn to do in a bar fight."

The boy grimaced. "I might have."

Well, Fang hadn't actually expected him to say yes, but then again she and Vanille hadn't been all that old when they'd gotten into their first bar fight. They'd won too, although Sazh had helped out a little. "What's your name, kid?"

"Hope," the boy said. "Hope Estheim."

"Well, Hope, that was some good work and you've got my thanks." Fang paused. Yes, it was probably best to not give her real name. "The name's Fran. Did you catch the train out here, because you look kind of familiar?"

Hope nodded and pointed back at the two adults who looked like his folks. The man, his father, Fang guessed, looked a bit embarrassed, whereas the woman looked sort of proud. "These are my folks. We're headed east to Eden City."

"That so?" Fang asked, fishing for a bit more information.

"Yes," the man behind Hope stepped forward. "My name's Bart and this is my wife, Nora." He looked at Fang speculatively. "You sure know how to handle yourself in a fight, Fran."

"Uh…" Fang couldn't exactly tell them that she was a bandit so… "Well, the fact is, I'm a bounty hunter. I've been doing work out West and figured I might head east for a spell, you know, rest up for a while."

A funny sort of look crossed Hope's face and then he broke out into a big smile. "I thought I recognised that friend of yours from somewhere!" He pointed at Sazh. "He's Sazh Katzroy isn't he?"

Fang frowned. Just how had the kid known that? "How'd you figure that?"

Nora laughed. "Our Hope here has an interest in the doings out West, mostly bandits, bounty hunters, sheriffs and the like."

Hope nodded. "Sazh Katzroy sure was something before he retired. He's still famous. Do you work with him?"

"Sort of," Fang didn't want to give too much away. "I met him a while back. So why are you lot headed over to Eden City?"

"Well," Bart said. "I figure there's no harm telling you, seeing as how you just saved us and all." In the background Fang could see Vanille handing everyone back their belongings as someone went to go fetch the local sheriff. "I run a store back West and I've been looking to set up a mail order business. See, there's lot of things you can't get back West, and I figured I might make a contract with a company or two in the east to have things delivered to folks in the West through me, maybe drum up business that way."

Fang nodded slowly. "That sounds like a fine idea. Who're you thinking of working with?"

Bart shrugged. "I had a meeting set up with some folks from Shinra, but I'll be talking to the folks from Cocoon too, seeing as they're just about the biggest company out West."

Well, Fang thought, wasn't that lucky. She leaned forward with a smirk. "Cocoon? Isn't that lovely. Mind telling me a bit more?"

X X X

Author's Notes

First of all, I neither own Final Fantasy, nor am I making any money off this.

I know it's been a while (relatively speaking) since I updated, but I wanted to take a bit of a break since I posted up the last chapter of Headed West. Real life has also been kicking me around for the past couple of weeks. All of that aside, I'm back writing again.

This chapter was something I needed to get out of the way, especially since Hope was the only one out of the main characters who hadn't been accounted for. I also wanted to have Fang and her group stop off somewhere, because the journey to Eden City is pretty long and Cosmo Canyon seemed like just the place to stop.

With regards to Nanaki (i.e., Red XIII), I really love the guy, but I couldn't think of a way of having him talk that wasn't utterly ridiculous in the context of the story. That said, he's plenty smart. Some of you might be wondering why I call him a wolf-lion, but really, that's what he looks like (i.e., lion-like but with a number of lupine characteristics). The three brothers were actually the original idea for this chapter, because I needed to find a way to get Hope and his family to meet Fang and the group and actually trust them. Interestingly, when I first started thinking about this chapter, my thoughts were centred on the saloon. It wasn't until I started actually writing that I decided to include the observatory. For those of you looking for subtle (and not so subtle hints) it isn't a coincidence that Sephiroth has given up his career of crime to go chasing after a certain waitress. No virtual cookies for guessing who that might be (she's already made her appearance in an earlier chapter of the story).

Anyway, now that all the characters are in place and headed toward the same place, things should be getting interesting. As an aside, while I was writing this chapter, I couldn't help but come up with a twisted version of a fairy tale involving a chibi-Yuffie, chibi-Vincent, and Nanaki. I might post it at some point, possibly as a side-story to this.

For those of you that are interested, Bugenhagen and Nanaki are both from FF VII, while the three brothers are from FF VII: AC. As for Penelo and Fran, they are two characters from FF XII. I actually chose to have Vanille and Fang use those names as pseudonyms because of how much Penelo's pose from FF XII reminds me of Vanille's from FF XIII (in fact, I'd swear they have the exact same pose…). That and Fran sounds kind of like Fang and both of them are pretty close to nature.

As always, I appreciate your feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.