Hey, guys.
Feel like I own you an apology. For being late and all, y'know. I won't lie, okay; I got only two reviews for my last chapter and felt like shit. Seriously considered stop writing this, and going back to Hopurais. If you want me to continue, do tell. I do think I'll finish this, but I wouldn't in the first place if it weren't for Morrisey. You go and thank him, not me.
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PS: Read, leave a review, and go play Birth By Sleep. In that order.
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Disclaimer: Don't own Square, but I will someday! Just guess 'these things take time'.
Chapter 6 ~ These Things Take Time
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"Ha, I knew I'd find you snoozing somewhere! You never change, y' know."
Fang slowly opened her eyes at the high pitched voice of her red headed companion, who was bent over her body sprawled on the ground. The warrior raised a hand to her eyes to shield them from the sun and used the other one to bring herself to a sitting position.
"What you doing here?", she asked, sleep still clinging to her voice. Vanille sat down with her back to the older woman for support, and replied cheerfully, ignoring her friend's condition.
"Light told me to get you up. She's pretty annoyed, by the way; did you talk to her?"
"In a way… Where are the others?", Fang replied, trying mindlessly to change subject; not that she wanted to keep secrets from her best friend, but she wasn't up to all the mind blowing enthusiasm so early in the morning.
"They're arguing as to where we are going next", Vanille informed, and Fang could feel the worry on her friend's voice. "Or where we have been going for the whole time…"
"So what have they decided on?," the sleepy woman asked while leaning her weight on Vanille's back, her head resting on the redhead's shoulder.
"Nothing." Silence engulfed them suddenly; the only sound audible was that of calm waters. Vanille shifted uncomfortably behind Fang's back before asking shyly and almost afraid, playing the younger sister so perfectly well.
"You think we're lost?"
Fang pondered over this a little, all the bright water reflection from the waterfalls finally washing her sleepiness away. She gazed at the sky, poker faced, and then answered; her voice gone with the wind almost before she even spoke.
"I dunno. But we need to find our way soon; sure hope Light's got a plan…"
"And if she doesn't?" Vanille countered, all of her optimism a million miles from there. Fang turned her head sideways and glances at the younger girl, genuinely taken aback by the fear and doubt in her voice.
"Remember how we always used to skip our bed time and go stargazing, and then we couldn't find our way back on our own?"
"What does that have to do with anything, Fang?" Vanille asked exasperated, moving her hands around to make her point even though Fang couldn't see them.
"Everything. Remember how we got back?"
Vanille let out a sigh and put down her fight, knowing it was useless to go against her when she had something in her mind. The redheaded then mirrored the other woman's image and rested her head against Fang's shoulders.
"We used to… climb on trees?" she asked herself, doubting the sanity of her own memories. "What for?"
"Ha, and I thought my memories were bad!" Fang laughed at her before getting up from her friend's back. The black haired woman put a hand on her waist and the other at her neck, stretching her whole body like a lazy cat. "Come on, let's go back up Light before they mutiny her…"
Vanille obediently followed her older companion until they came into sight of the camp and the apparent rebellion that was going on. Lightning and Snow both had their bodies inclined towards one another, a look of ultimate defiance strong on both their expressions. The soldier had grabbed the blond man by the collar of his coat and looked literally only a few seconds away from murder.
"We can't keep going like this, Lightning!" the man groaned, perhaps using her assigned name for the first time ever. "We'll never find Serah this way!"
"Don't you dare say her name." she closed her eyes little at this, all menacing and icy. "She wouldn't be caught up in this if it weren't for you, you stupid hero!"
"Well, at least I stood by her side when she needed me!" Snow shouted loud and clear. "What about you?"
They stared at each other briefly, and Fang took the opportunity to take a few steps forward in their direction. Lightning let go of his coat and turned her head to the ground, letting her bangles cover her eyes and making her look deep in thought. The warrior smirked to herself, knowing too well what was about to go next.
"Light?" Snow reached out his hand temptingly, deeply concerned he might have crossed the line that marked their mutual understanding. He was close enough to brush his massive hand against her hair before he was hit by one of the strongest right hooks of his entire life.
"Hey!" he cried, almost knocked down by the intensity of the blow and moved his hand back to check on his nose. "Whatever was that for?"
"For being an idiot", came her cold reply. There was still hurt in her eyes, Fang noticed, but she kept it all to herself. Hitting the life out of things never made her less miserable, only made her less frustrated."We're leaving now."
"But we still don't have nowhere to go!" Hope contested in a rather hopeless tone, failing to see reason in his mentor's stoic spirit. Vanille crossed her arms and suspiciously eyed Fang as the older woman put a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder and grinned confidently.
"Actually, we do.", she said and automatically attracted all the party's attention to her current speech, as if she was giving the directions of a water well in the middle of a desert.
"We need to get back to Cocoon, right? And if there's anything that can get us up there, it sure has to be on Oerba."
"And how do you suppose we'll find that?" Sazh intervened, clearly running out of patience for any more debating.
"We climb somewhere tall enough and look for it."
"But where would we-", the dark skinned man started when Vanille shouted in realization.
"Taejin's! We could go for Taejin's Tower!"
The party eyed her as if she had just grown balloons out of her head and went flying away, clearly not following the conversation anymore. Lightning rolled her eyes at Vanille's thrilled state of mind and turned to Fang, keeping her tone neutrally annoyed.
"What are you talking about?"
"If we turn back now, we'll only turn to Cie'th halfway and will do us no good. But wandering around aimlessly is pretty much the same", Fang explained, particularly to Lightning, even though she said it loud enough for the whole group to hear.
"I really think Oerba's our best shot, Light", Fang said in a slightly softer voice and met the other woman's eyes, clearly seeing the exhaustion that consumed their leader. Lightning broke their gaze and nodded once at the ground.
"Then Oerba it is. We'll follow your lead, Fang", she said in a very commanding tone, leaving no chance of argument for her companions. Lightning unnaturally fell to the back of their group while Vanille shared with the others the little she remembered about the place; joy clear in her high pitched voice.
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It didn't take them too much effort or time to get to their destination. Vanille was cheerfully leading the way as if she was leading the party to a perfect picnic spot. Fang stood by Lightning at the rear, followed close by Hope.
In despite of the crumbling look of the structures, and the crumbling state of the tower itself, the group managed to proceed upward with relative easiness. Someplace around the second and third tier, Hope had been called by Sazh to back him up on healing magic, making the the pair fall into an uncomfortable silence. Even thought Fang knew there was something, she also knew it was useless asking Lightning in front of the others, she would just have to wait.
Somewhere between the fourth and fifth floor they came to a stop, barred by a non-working elevator. "Come on! We haven't got all day", Snow complained and punched the wall fiercely in hopes of speeding up the process, which only made the tower emit a deep roar before dust began falling through the roof.
"Way to go, Hero…." Sazh mocked him drily, eyeing the ground. Large cracks appeared on the floor beneath them as the sound turned louder and louder, and then, as if on cue, the elevator platform arrived at their floor. The ground started snapped into pieces as they boarded the lift; Snow took Hope by the collar of his shirt and dragged him along, while Sazh and Vanille were trying to activating the control switch.
"Come on, Fang!", the red headed shouted at her Pulsian companion. Lightning and her were literally running for their lives down the corridor, despairingly trying to make their way into the platform. Fang felt her vision go into slow motion as she noticed the ground crumble under Lightning's feet just in front of her, her red cape swaying like a flag of distress.
Not measuring the consequences for them both, Fang instantly jumped after the soldier, grabbing a handful of Lightning's cape in the process and trying to get hold of something as they fell five floors down into nothing. Gathering all of her strength in one swift move, Fang threw Lightning's weight upwards and shielded her from the fall with her own body, closing her arms strongly around Lightning's form.
Fang could remember the sound of her lance breaking behind her back as they finally came to a halt, and she could taste the blood in her mouth and it felt like her whole back was made of broken bones. The weight of Lightning's body on top of her own was barely noticeable with all the pain cursing through her veins.
She lost conscious with the slight smell of strawberries that emanated from Lightning's hair.
Thanks!
That was for you guys and for myself. Hope you keep it with me!