[Slightly longer chapter.]

"Says here..." Light muttered as she pulled out her phone from her jacket pocket, hiking her backpack up on her shoulder a bit higher, "Vanille is staying at the Langham Hotel, a few minutes from here." She turned to the two men behind her, both of which with two other men with them, handling their bags and suitcases since they got off the plane ride to New Zealand. When the rosette saw that Snow and Hope had lackeys to carry around what they were too lazy to carry themselves ("You have arms, don't you?"), she couldn't help but roll her eyes and saunter off the terminal in a huff, pulling her own rolling suitcase along with her.

Hope was the first to speak up after Light, a look of slight shock on his features, "The Langham? That place is over two thousand dollars!"

"She's a model, I think she has enough money to toss around," The young woman replied, beginning to walk towards the escalator that would take them to the first floor of the airport. "Villiers, you'll get left behind wandering around like that."

The blond scoffed, "I'm not your little brother anymore, sis, if anything, you're my younger sibling—"

"In this universe," her cyan orbs narrowed slightly, testing his tease, "But back home, who was it that almost gave you two black eyes in ultimate frisbee?"

Immediately, Snow's confidence retailed and shrunk back into its shell with a nervous laugh, remembering all too well that fateful game of ultimate frisbee between Lightning and Fang and himself and Sazh. Of course, Sazh might not have been the best choice to have on a frisbee team, not when he was up against two (unfortunately and quite unfairly) athletic women that could easily knock him out with just one punch to the gut. Perhaps they went easy on the old man, but he remembered Fang "accidentally" nicking him on the nose with the frisbee one turn, while Lightning "coincidentally" aimed for his eyes. Sazh didn't leave the match with much injury besides a sore knee and some sweat.

The silver-haired man to her left asked with a slightly amused tone, "Are you two always like this?"

"When she's not trying to kill me, yeah, we're pretty cool," The giant slung his arm over her shoulder, to which she shrugged off with a scoff and a roll of her eyes, "Right, sis?"

"Funny, you two don't look alike." Hope's sea green eyes switched between the blond and rosette, noting the big differences— obvious different hair colors, slightly different skin palettes, very different heights and builds, and not to mention contrasting personalities— however both seemed to contain a hidden stubbornness within them, put under the right circumstances, the young man was sure the two could bond on many things. From the sounds of it, they already have, with the talk of ultimate frisbee and paintball fights, all of which ending rather violently.

"I'm not his sister," Lightning found herself saying for the umpteenth time in her lifetime as they reached the bottom floor, their lackeys struggling to keep up with their fast pace, "He just calls me 'sis' out of stubbornness and the fact that he's marrying my sister."

"He's engaged?"

"Hard to believe, I know."

"You should have seen Light's face when she found out! I wish I had gotten a picture. 'Worst birthday ev—' ACK!"

"Ignore him for the rest of the ride, Hope."

"No problem..."

"Snow, face it, we're lost." Hope stated as he looked out the window to the empty road ahead of them for the thousandth time, Light doing the same for her own window as the silver-haired man ran a hand through his locks, "I knew we should have gotten a cab."

"Cab! Are you doubting my driving skills, junior?" The former baseball player pursed his lips as he kept the rental car at a paced speed, attempting to find an exit to the road they had somehow gotten themselves into. It had been at least four hours since they left the airport, and after losing a rock, paper, scissors match, Snow had been declared driver of the day. Which, unfortunately for them, meant that they would be driving in circles for at least two hours, then completely lost for the next two, due to his incredibly crappy sense of direction that he kept to himself.

Checking her phone, the former soldier sighed, mumbling, "No signal. We're stuck out in Etro knows where."

Hope didn't even have the ability to question Light on her mention of this "Etro", for his energy and patience were both wearing dangerously thin. Perhaps he should have driven, that way he could simply use the GPS on his top of the line phone, then get them to the Langham in no time flat. They probably would have been eating by now, at a four star restaurant, Light could be wearing an elegant dress that suited her and himself a clean suit, with fresh steak and chilled vegetables, maybe with a bit of wine of the side and for dessert—

His train of thought (or rather, daydreaming) were abruptly stopped when the window to the back seat of the rental car suddenly collapsed, glass shards flying at him and nearly nicking his expensive face and clothes. Quick to shield himself from the sudden danger, he had time to shout, "Was that a bullet?!"

"Get down!" Light ordered in reply, ducking under the dashboard of the front of the car as Snow nearly swerved off the road, Hope barely having time to duck down himself before nearly receiving a possible concussion. "Snow, step up the gas!"

"You got it!" With a gloved hand, he grabbed the shifter and thrusted it forward, the car gaining a new level of speed as more bullets were shot and dented into the car's exterior, Light's window shattering soon after Hope's. The director scrambled to get down, however attempted to get a look at who or what was attacking them in the middle of no where, vaguely spotting a beat up, worn out Camero behind their Honda, gaining speed just as fast as they were and catching up quickly.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Lightning dared to sling her seatbelt off her waist and stuck her head out the now shattered window, trying to get a better look at their pursuers. Dodging several bullets on her way back into the safety of the car, she regretted not attempting to look for a suitable weapon back in Germany when she had the chance; her pocketknife was not the best item to aim and throw at a vehicle moving at eighty miles per hour on a open road. Perhaps her beloved gunblade would have been of use to her right about now—!

Snow glanced at the rear view mirror, the worn vehicle close on their tail and continuing to fire at them, and just as he was about to make a rash move to try to outrun them, the road beneath them suddenly began to get very bumpy, and after a realization of what happened and a loud curse from Lightning, their speed began decreasing at a rapid pace— a broken bottle had been (possibly thrown) on the road and had obviously busted one of their tires. He sure was going to need to pay back the rental company for their car after this little road trip.

The trio exchanged worried and angry glances, the anger mostly from Lightning, while the worry was supplied by both men of the group, each person breaking out into a cold sweat as the members of the car behind them slowed to a stop. Their car doors popped open, four men emerging with masks only half covering their faces, leaving their eyes exposed and each were wearing a type of uniform, similar yet retaining its independence and differences from each other. Needless to say, they looked to be of a larger group that seemed dangerous.

"We could try and run," Snow offered once he got a gander at the men approaching from behind through the rear-view mirror.

"No, they're armed, we're not." The rosette next to him replied, refusing to look behind her at the men. Hope and Snow knew she was right, so they left any attempts to escape within their heads as they quite possibly face their very death before their eyes.

One of the men kicked at Light's door, surely adding to the dents on the exterior of the car, and stooped down to the level of the window to peek at the honestly did not look very dangerous, simply a man of business and possible boredom in Light's eyes. His blond hair and hazel eyes along with his red bandana also helped the fact that he really didn't seem to pose a threat, "A bit late to be out on the roads, dont'cha think?"

"We could say the same for you," the rosette replied coolly, not flinching under his gaze. Hope attempted to make himself transparent in the backseat as Snow remained calm with Light. "Also a bit dangerous to be using those toys on the road."

The man chuckled slightly, muffled slightly by his mask, however his accent remained thick, "Well, thing is, sweetheart, we run these parts 'round here. Ain't anyone who wanders these roads at night without wantin' to start a fight. But," one glance towards the panicking Hope Estheim in the back seat told him enough, "you blokes don't look like you're wantin' a fight."

"Well, thanks, officer," Snow chimed in at that moment, flashing a grin in the blond's direction, "We'll be on our way, now."

The two men that had left the Camero behind them appeared on the opposite side of the car, defeating any purpose of escape or a quick getaway. Lightning inwardly groaned and Snow narrowed his eyes in their direction, not liking the looks of this situation any better. The man sighed lightly and replied, "Sorry, kids. But the boss'll wanna see the likes of you."

After being kindly escorted to a deeper, more sketchy part of the area they were in, complete with drug vendors selling their wares, children continuing to play on the streets while cars zoomed past, cats zipping around in search of food and shelter, and not to mention the incredible amount of gunshots heard in the distance, the trio had successfully lost their rental car and ended up before the door to the office of their famous boss, whoever it was who had the nerve to control the roads of a public area. Of course, Lightning was seething, albeit silently, as they were ushered before the door to the office. How were they ever going to get close to Vanille at this rate? If they don't get killed first, for this "boss" sounded like a cold-blooded killer from the way Adonis, the name of the blond who had quite politely asked them to exit their vehicle and come with his men, talked about him with his bandit members.

"This is all your fault," Hope hissed to Snow, who had been— not surprisingly— calm about this situation thus far. The blond idiot didn't know danger when it stared him in the face, so of course he wouldn't worry about the gravity of this. Light did admire that, however, about him. "If you hadn't gotten us lost...!"

"Hey, it's not my fault these idiots think they can own a certain part of town," The taller of the three whispered back, to which Hope rolled his eyes. "Besides, this boss is all talk, you'll see."

The door itself was intimidating to the silver-haired director. Leave it to shy, sheltered Hope to get himself into this bandit business and shootings, not knitting and smooth jazz. He wasn't about that life, of course not. The only upside to this whole ordeal was the chance to meet Lightning; possibly the first woman that he had ever actually taken the time to actually talk to. Perhaps it was her strong personality, or the distance she puts herself between others, or the fact that she is constantly blowing this one strand of hair from her eyes that he wishes he could just reach over and brush it away for her— either way, he decided to stick around simply to find out if she was telling the truth about the whole "old friends" thing. It was interesting how both Snow and Lightning held a familiar aura around them, and just as they go off on their rangers about violent paintball fights and deadly frisbee games, very slowly, he begins to remember certain things about each of them; Lightning told him to call her "Light", something he had already known, Snow claims he can easily carry him and possibly throw him if he wanted to, and vaguely, he remembers actually being carried by him once, however he does not remember being thrown— on purpose.

Adonis was surprisingly calm about confronting his boss; they assumed everyone was afraid of this killer, including the workers themselves. Without knocking, he simply opened the door to the office and called out, "Boss, these are the blokes who were hangin' around on our turf. Ya wanted to see 'em, right?"

The rosette let out a small gasp, and, not surprisingly, so did Snow.

"Fang?" The two said in unison, taking a few steps towards the figure behind the desk of the office, who seemed to be completely comfortable with their legs perched up on what looked to be expensive red wood (specifically noticed by Hope), their casual clothes consisting of a black cropped top, dark blue sash that started over her left shoulder and ran over her right leg towards her brown boots, and as both expected, she retained most of the same style jewelry that she originally had back on Cocoon. This Fang was identical to the original Fang they both remembered.

Dark, wavy brown hair, bronze skin, a tattoo running up her left shoulder and a small but noticeable beauty mark under her right eye; the only shocking thing to Hope was that the "boss" was a woman and not a man after all. And a quite attractive one at that, he noted, as she brought her legs down and stood to full face the trio. Her expression remained slightly sour, however held a small expression of curiosity, "Now how the hell do you blokes know my name? Not everyone 'round here is exactly on familiar terms with the boss."

Light was the first to reply, "Fang— Oerba Yun Fang, that's your full name, isn't it?"
Her green eyes narrowed, "Wanna tell me how ya know?"

"You have to remember us," The blond added, pulling Hope forward to stand with them, "Hope, Lightning, and Snow. Any of that ring a bell?"

The former soldier was glad that Fang kept her accent, hearing her speak was actually quite calming once in a while, when she wasn't making a new joke about your sister and brother-in-law possibly going at it after dark, or making fun of your hair color. However, she could sense that Fang was growing suspicious about them, by the way that she narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, both Snow and Lightning knew they were close to getting a beating. "Not a bit. Have I done anything to you before? Though, I have to admit that I would probably remember if we had met before— those hair colors are quite the spectacle."

"So...you don't remember Vanille?"

"Vanille Dia? That model?" the lack of emotion shown when she said Vanille's name was a bit of a stab to Snow and Light. They were closer than family, those two, something everyone of the group often admired and envied. Out of the corner of her eye, the rosette could swear she could have seen a bit of perk of Hope's attention when Vanille's name was mentioned, and she remembered: those two also had something of a friendship that she envied as well. "Why in hell would I know her?"

It was beginning to become a habit to immediately know how to explain the story of their l'cie journey and their lives before this for Lightning. And, of course, Snow would add in his bits of information to her explanation, often of which were completely unnecessary ("I'm pretty sure you and Vanille had something going on besides being friends—"). Hope listened again, and as the second time hearing it, the story made a bit more sense to him. Some parts he can easily recall, yet for others it was a blank page that needed to be filled in completely with the memory. Nonetheless, the director was glad to begin to remember everything, it was sure to please Lightning and Snow.

"Fang, you need to come with us," Light firmly reasoned after explaining, "It's the only way you'll remember who you really are, because you're not a bad guy. You're not a killer."

"You don't know who or what I am, Lightning," The bronze-skinned woman replied just as firmly and with an added tone of annoyance under her words. They knew they were in trouble, and with the way she was practically fuming over Light's statement, Hope was tempted to simply blot from the room and accepting the fact that he will possibly never get that date with Lightning.

With a nod to Adonis and the other men guarding the door, Fang gave the order, "Lock 'em up."

Immediately, the armed men grabbed the trio, despite their obvious struggles and attempts of kicking from Lightning, and began to yank them away from the office, Adonis trailing behind them. One last look at Fang told Lightning that this was not the last time that she would see her— and that fact scared her just a little bit for the first time since she woke up in New York that morning.

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