Blinding flash of light.

Smoke and lightning.

Gunshots and sparks flying everywhere.

Storm clouds

A piercing scream.

A loud roar.

Fiery beast.

Wild eyes…

Lightning woke with a start. Her skin felt clammy and her hair was matted to her head with sweat. That dream… She had had it before. Hadn't she? She ran her hand over her face and turned around to hug the pillow. She didn't want to go to school. It only took one day for the rumors to thoroughly spread through the teen circuit about what happened in the back room of the Vestige. She hadn't spoken to Snow or Hope since the incident, but technically all three of them were punished, so that made sense. She had only seen her father for a brief while yesterday, but even then he avoided eye contact and refused to speak to her. She had messed up. Bad.

She tried to squirm her way back under the covers, but was stopped by something very unfamiliar. She froze. Was that the smell of bacon cooking? It couldn't be. Lightning slowly climbed out of bed and began to get dressed. When she descended the stairs and walked into the kitchen, she couldn't believe her eyes. "Serah?" The kitchen table had been set, and the younger sister had already cooked bacon, eggs, and biscuits for the two. "You woke up early?"

Serah turned from the counter, where she was pouring herself a glass of juice. She smiled softly at Lightning. "Yeah. I figured today would only get worse. Might as well start it off nice while we have the power to."

"Thanks." Lightning took a seat at the table and started poking at her eggs. She looked back up towards her sister. She looked drained. An outsider might think that she had been the Farron girl who was arrested for the fiasco at the Vestige. Lightning couldn't help but feel bad about it. Although Serah had no immediate hand in it, she had been thrust into this whole ordeal too. Her best friend, crush, neighbor, sister, and father were all involved… all the people she felt closest to.

"Only get worse, huh? Heh. You know, before today you had me worried," Lightning began in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood. Serah looked at her questioningly. "For awhile, I actually thought we had an optimist in the family."

It worked. Serah chuckled lightly and averted her eyes to the ground. "Haha, yeah. Wouldn't want that."

Lightning smiled faintly and began to eat. After a few quiet moments, Serah's phone buzzed. "Snow wants to know if we need a ride today."

Lightning shook her head. She knew that she needed to talk to Snow, but she didn't want to do it with Serah around. "We'll have time today. I'd rather we walked."

Serah nodded in understanding and texted Snow back. They finished breakfast and Lightning began to put the dishes away. As she stood at the sink, she felt a soft pair of arms encircle her from behind and squeeze. Light's body went rigid out of instinct but slowly relaxed into the hug. Maybe they did need an optimist in the family. She didn't want the rest of the day to be a downhill spiral.

The walk to school didn't take as long as Lightning had hoped it would. There was still a bit of time to spare before the first bell rang when they stepped across the lot and onto the school lawn. She noticed an immediate difference in the atmosphere. Today, almost everyone was staring at her. Her body slightly tensed as her eyes slowly scanned over the faces of those she passed. Serah reached for his sister's hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze.

"Yoooo, Lightninnnnnggggg," a skinny blonde haired boy in an oversized hoodie and beanie approached the two. He reached out an open hand to grab Lightning's free one and gave it a squeeze. "Way to fight back against 'the man'."

Lightning stared at the boy in total confusion. The boy's companions, who had walked up after him, nodded and added comments of agreement, some reaching out to pat her on the shoulder as she continued to walk past.

"Lightning!" Two girls appeared in front of the sisters, causing them to abruptly stop in mid-step. "That was so awesome what you did at the Vestige! Taking out two cops before peacefully turning yourself in in the name of broader liberal education?! Can we run a story on you in the school paper?"

"Uh… sure?"

One of the girls squealed and grabbed the other girl's hand, dashing off. Lightning looked down at her younger sibling, a perplexed look across her face. "Serah, what's going on?" She then leaned in closer to apprehensively ask in a much lower voice, "You didn't drink any water out the faucet this morning, did you?"

Serah just responded with a wide-eyed look to show that she was just as flabbergasted as Lightning. She had expected there to be some buzz about the incident, but she hadn't expected this. "I don't know."

"Hey! Lightning!" Both of the sisters looked up again. This time the voice came from one of the senior boys, Blake Thompson, star of the football team. He gave Lightning a head nod and grinned. "Heard what you did. That was hot."

"What?" Lightning asked in a purely disbelieving tone. She suddenly felt her hand being yanked and she was dragged across the school lawn, constantly surrounded by murmurs and whispers.

"Serah, what the hell?!" Lightning rasped when they finally came to a stop and her sister released her hand.

"Lightning? Do you understand what's happening?"

Lightning looked back at her with uncomprehending eyes that demanded for her own question to be answered before answering the one that was given to her. Serah rolled her eyes and sighed, grabbing both of Lightning's hands in her own. "You're becoming popular! It's like you're the new 'it' girl on campus!"

Lightning's brow furrowed. She didn't respond to Serah but seemed to be thinking about all the attention she had gotten when they first arrived. As they stood there, she could still hear some of the conversations on the lawn that seemed to be revolving around her.

I heard she took out like three cops.

Her daddy had to bail her out, and of course she got off scot-free.

I knew she was badass, but that was totally badass!

She helped clue the police in about the Pulsians trying to steal secrets about Cocoon.

"Farron!" A familiar voice boomed from across the lawn. Lightning's head shot up, breaking her from her silent reverie. The whole yard simultaneously hushed as Gadot jogged up to the two sisters. "Ugh… this is just perfect." Lightning groaned to herself, casting Gadot an unwelcome look.

Nevertheless, he smiled at her on his approach and bent over to mock-catch his breath. "I've been looking for you. Have you seen Snow? I think those 'ten tasers' and bottle of tear gas he took the face has him brain damaged. He was almost thinking of pulling the plug on the house party we're planning on throwing soon."

Lightning stared at Gadot with a wary expression. They never talked like this. They rarely talked ever if they weren't arguing. "No… I haven't seen him. His aunt and uncle will let him throw a party?"

"Farron, since when does any adult know about our parties? But this one's going to be extra special. Wanna know why?"

Lightning could really care less, but she took the bait anyway. "Why?"

"Because for this one," Gadot lowered his head and leaned in close to Lightning as if he were telling her a precious secret, "we're going to let you control the invites."

Although Gadot had made a show about telling Lightning this in confidence, he had still spoken in a loud, resonating voice. Everyone around them started to murmur. "So?" Gadot asked. "Know of any people off the bat you want me to scribble on the list?"

Lightning looked down at Serah, who lightly smiled and squeezed her hands. She turned back to Gadot. Did this have anything to do with Serah's newfound popularity theory? "No one in particular."

"Ahh. The whole Vestige thing been bugging you, huh? I know how rumors can sometimes be a bit of a bitch. How about this? Me and the guys will make the list as usual, but if anyone makes you uncomfortable with this whole Vestige mess, let us know and we'll make sure they never get past the front door. Deal?"

Lightning's tense shoulders loosened a bit once she realized what was happening. He was trying to help give her some relief from all the unwanted attention. "Deal," she agreed.

The crowd near her on the lawn slowly started to drift away, probably searching for a place out of earshot to continue their gossip. Lightning couldn't say that she was upset to see most of them go. She glanced back up at Gadot. "I'm guessing this means I owe you, huh?" She had tried masking the sound of gratitude in her voice, but she knew he could tell how thankful she was.

"Hahaha, well you won't. Once you come to our party, that is."

"What?" Gratitude GONE.

"Some guys from North Bodhum Magnet are trying to throw something the same day as us. They're holding out on announcing the date and everything til they hear ours. So to make sure they don't outdo us or anything, we need something that'll attract more people to our party. Something, or let's say someone, new. Something exciting. Something… hot." He gave her a carnal grin on saying that last word. "Hi, Lightning."

Lightning shuddered before casting him a disgusted glare. "So you're using me to—"

"And as an act of good faith," Gadot didn't wait for her to finish her berating before swinging his book bag around and fishing for some papers in it, "I brought you the answers to Palmer's packet. Figured you'd need these."

Lightning froze. She had forgotten all about the packet from the Vestige. As if it had a mind of its own, her hand slowly reached forward to take sheets from Gadot.

"Uh, uh, uh," Gadot quickly pulled the papers out of her reach. "You're coming to the party, right?"

Lightning's jaw tightened. Gadot was toying with her Saturday freedom as well as her sanity. "I'll probably still be punished when you guys throw it."

"Well, actually," Serah piped up from behind, "Dad usually works later nights on the weekends. If you were to sneak out and go to the party, he'd probably never even know."

Lightning shot Serah a look that had, "Traitor," written all over it. Serah smirked in reply. The elder sister let out a defeated breath before looking back to Gadot. "Okay. I'll go to your party."

"That's the spirit," Gadot said as he handed her the papers. "It was nice doing business with you. Both of you." He smiled at Lightning one last time and nodded at Serah before taking his leave.

Lightning watched him go. She was still a little bit in shock over what had just happened. "Well," She heard Serah say breathe to her. "This semester is going to be fun."

Vanille struggled to pull some of the books out of her crammed locker. She had never been known for being orderly and with the morning she had been having, she was regretting not having taken the time to at least sort her locker out earlier. One of her binders was stuck in an awkward, wedged position underneath two heavy books she had checked out of the library. She let out an exasperated sigh and dropped her bag to the floor to grasp the binder with both hands and try to pull it out.

Nothing.

She gritted her teeth and gripped the binder again. With all the strength she could muster, she yanked at the stubborn thing. This time it flew straight backwards out of the locker and across the hall, spitting out papers in every which direction as it did so. Laughter broke out all through the hall and she cursed under her breath.

She slowly turned and bent over to start picking up some of the stray papers. She tried to ignore most of the comments and whispers that were said from the students who walked past.

"Clumsy Pulsian…"

"Isn't she still supposed to be in jail?"

"Ha. No wonder they got caught."

Vanille kept her eyes to the floor as she gathered her papers. She crawled forward across the hall, looking to grab her binder to stash them in. She reached out her fingers and right before they could touch the book, a shoe shot out from beside her and kicked it away.

Vanille quickly looked up with hurt eyes. "Oops." A heavy boy in a purple shirt and green jeans said, not looking sorry at all. "It was in the way." More laughter filled the hallway. The boy gave Vanille a smug smirk and continued walking down the hall, kicking the binder once more to make it go further when he had reached it again.

Vanille looked down glumly at the papers that she clenched in her hands. Her eyes started to burn and she fought against letting her lip tremble and her face contort in that depressed frown that usually led to oncoming tears. Usually, she could take a little bullying; she'd just let the insults and rude behavior roll off of her like water on wax paper. But today was different. She already had so much weighing down on her; she just didn't have the willpower to deal with it today.

"Vanille?"

The girl was so busy trying to drown out the sounds of whispers and laughter that she didn't even hear the friendly voice that had said her name. She just wanted to go home. Not back home to the reservation, but HOME home.

"Vanille." A large, gloved hand rested gently on her shoulder. She turned to meet the concerned blue eyes of Snow, who was now kneeling next to her. Standing behind him with a pair of books clutched to her chest was a brunette girl who she recognized as Lebreau, someone Fang would sometimes chat with.

Fang...

"Vanille, are you okay?" Snow reached down to gently grab the redhead's shoulders and pull her up.

Lebreau looked down the hall at the mess of stray papers. Her expression switched from one of slight curiosity to one of deep sympathy. "Aw, honey… I'll go get those for you." Before Vanille could protest, Lebreau was already walking down the hall, bending over to pick up papers.

"Vanille," Snow brought her attention back to him. "What happened? Was someone messing with you?"

Vanille just shook her head and looked down. Snow's eyes never left the girl. He could tell that she was lying. Her demeanor showed it all, if her silence didn't it. But as Snow watched her, he wasn't even sure if bullying was the problem. The usually chipper redhead just looked… miserable. There were bags under her tired looking eyes and she was wearing a slightly oversized long-sleeved shirt (instead of one of her usual bright halter tops) with one her mini-skirts. Snow didn't want to push her though. He remembered how bad he had physically felt after leaving the drunk-tank on Saturday. He had no idea what Vanille might have gone through or how long it was taking her to recover. "How's Fang?" he asked instead.

"Fang's still not feeling too well. She couldn't come to school today."

Snow simply nodded as Lebreau returned with Vanille's binder and a handful of papers. "Would you like us to walk you to class?" Snow asked. Lebreau nodded in support.

"No, thanks. I've got it," Vanille said softly. She quickly grabbed up her knapsack, closed her locker, and speed walked down the hall, leaving the two other students behind her.

"Lightning Farron."

Gadot looked away from the vending machine that he was currently shaking and towards the voice that had approached him. A skinny girl with blue eyes, short blonde hair, and a thin nose was marching straight towards him. He let out a tired breath. It was Alyssa Zaidelle, the class president and a professional nagger. "I'd love to talk with you, Lyss, but as you can see, I'm kinda dealin' with a hostage situation over here."

"Well, as you can see, I'm kind of dealing with a situation of my own, too. Lightning Farron. Lightning Farron. That's all I've been hearing all day. Who is Lightning Farron?" Alyssa crossed her arms in front of Gadot and shifted her weight to one hip.

"If you've been hearing her name everywhere, why can't you ask who she is somewhere else? Anywhere else?" Gadot tilted his head, trying to study the angle at which his chips were being held captive by the claw that had not fully released it.

"No, I can't because everyone else didn't give her improvisation rights to their party list." Alyssa's eyebrows narrowed on the boy. "Is she one of your little…?" She made a crude gesture with her fingers.

"Wha…" Gadot turned his head away from the vending machine to see what Alyssa was talking about. His eyebrows shot up in surprise on seeing what she was doing. "No! If you must know, she's your neighbor. She lives like two houses down from you. And I mean, she's hot and all but, uh… Maybe I just wanted to give her some slack. She doesn't exactly like, well… people, I guess. The party thing was just a way of helping each other out." Gadot slammed his shoulder against the machine, causing a loud sound of collision followed by the little PLINK of his chip bag falling. He smiled victoriously at the bag before shooting Alyssa a suspicious look of his own. "Why are you so interested?"

"Some new girl appears—"

"She's been your neighbor for like ten years."

"—and just becomes popular all of a sudden, without even trying, during the year that I'm supposed to be a shoe-in for homecoming princess? Everyone knows that whoever wins homecoming princess is guaranteed to win queen senior year, and NO ONE deserves it for this school more than me."

"Awww, leave the girl alone. Lightning's not even into all that." Gadot made a shooing motion and opened his bag of chips. Alyssa ignored him. She seemed to be completely lost in her own thoughts now.

"Women…" Gadot sighed under his breath before walking away, leaving a contemplative Alyssa behind him.

Snow slid into the doorway of the chemistry lab with only seconds to spare before the bell rang. He smiled proudly at his feat and puffed out his chest. "Well now that you're here, Mr. Villiers, would you mind taking a seat?" the teacher sitting on a stool at the front of the room asked.

"Oh. Uh, yes, ma'am."

"And please take that rag off of your head. Have some respect for the classroom."

"Yes, ma'am." Snow reached up and slowly dragged the skullcap from his head.

"Oh…" The teacher's voice hung low and the rest of the class silently laughed. Whoever had been in charge of cutting Snow's hair for drug testing had done a pretty liberal job. They had cut most of the hair on his sides, leaving a huge blonde mane at the top that was bordered by thin curtains of hair at the bottom. "You know what, Mr. Villiers? I'll let it slide for the time being."

"Thank you, ma'am," Snow said, securing the cap back on his head and ignoring the snickers from mostly everyone else.

His eyes roamed the lab tables for a free seat and landed on an empty stool next to Lightning. Usually he would never even attempt to sit next to the girl. He knew that she had little patience when it came to him and most of the times when they were paired to work together on something, she became very 'hitty'. But there was no escaping the moment now. He felt somewhat obligated to talk to her today considering the events of the weekend. That and she was motioning for him to take the seat beside her, something that she never did. Snow didn't even want to think of the consequences if he denied, so he navigated his way through the room and sat on the tiny stool next to her.

It only took the teacher a few minutes to briefly go over the instructions for the day's lab. She then let her students begin, sitting at her own lab table to play on her computer.

"Snow."

"Neighbor."

Lightning gave him a long look and reached up towards a shelf to grab a clean beaker. "So what kind of punishment did you get?"

"Nothing heavy. This isn't exactly the worst thing that I've been sent to the drunk tank for." Snow gave Lightning an awkward smile as she lined up a slew of bottles on the table in front of them. "Let me guess, Colonel put the hammer down on you?"

Lightning released an audible breath and poured a liquid into the beaker. "I guess you can say that." She nodded in the direction of the Bunsen burner to signal Snow to set it up.

Snow simply nodded. He had talked to Serah over the weekend and she had already told him about the silent treatment that their father was putting Lightning through. Serah believed that their dad knew that Lightning would punish herself far worse than he could as long as he kept making her feel guilty about it. According to Serah, their dad wasn't even home most of the day to even effectively take most of her privileges away. He wouldn't say anything though. He valued the feeling in his arm way too much to let her take it away by punching him.

"I hear Hope's been getting it bad, too. His dad's gone berserk. He's been talking with the principal and threatening to register him in classes at a 'more wholesome' school."

"Hmph. More like a Pulsian-free school," Lightning scoffed. She slowly placed the beaker on the counter and let her eyes fall down on the table.

Snow could feel the mood slightly shift after that last statement. He rubbed the back of his neck, as he usually did when he was nervous and softly cleared his throat. "You, uh, haven't talked to Fang lately, have you?"

Lightning's eyes darted up to meet Snow's. The intensity behind them was almost enough to make him fall off his stool. The girl must've noticed how off-balanced she made him because her eyes softened a bit afterwards. They still kept an angry edge to them though. "She's your friend. Have you talked to her?"

Snow subconsciously scooted his stool further away from the pink-haired girl. "Sorry, just asking. You two didn't seem like enemies, or anything, the other day. But, uh, no. I saw Vanille in the hall. She looked bummed; said Fang wasn't feeling too good, so she stayed home."

"Well, makes sense." She was clocked in the head by the butt of a grown man's gun. "She wasn't in history today either," Lightning admitted. The raven-haired girl had made it her business to sit behind Lightning every day in that class since their exchange in the parking lot. The seat had been noticeably empty today. Once again, the image of Fang's body lying motionless on the floor flicked across her mind.

While Lightning silently thought to herself, Snow continued with the lab. After a moment, the pink-haired girl looked up to see Snow getting ready to pour a chemical that had not been mentioned in the instructions into one of the cylinders. "What are you doing?"

Lightning immediately snatched his wrist in a tight grasp to stop him. Snow closed his eyes and prematurely winced, expecting some sort of slap or punch to gut to accompany it, but it never came. He opened a cautious eye to peep at her. She was holding his wrist in the air. The long sleeve of his jacket had been pulled down by gravity, revealing his bare forearm. Lightning's eyes were glued to the strange marking that was tattooed it. "So you do have one too…" she spoke softly, releasing him.

"Oh, uh, yeah. The police brand."

"Police brand?" Lightning was still eyeing his forearm skeptically.

"Yeah. When they found us at the Vestige, they must've given us these police brands. That way, if we escaped before they could put us into custody, everybody would know that we were fugitives from the law. It'll probably wear off in a few days." Snow licked his forearm then started rubbing at the mark vigorously.

"Ew, stop that." Lightning snatched Snow's rubbing arm to still it and moved it away from the mark. "My dad is on the force and I've never heard of a police brand."

"Your dad works for PSICOM. He doesn't do all the local stuff like Guardian Corps. They probably have different ways."

Lightning huffed. "I just highly disbelieve that we were marked by police." Her hand idly rose to hover over the intimate area where she had been branded.

"They have the technology for it. All they have to do is pull back a simple piece of clothing and—"

"It couldn't have been the police, okay!" Lightning exclaimed, pounding her fist on the table. At the exact moment, a small cloud of fire erupted on the table, sending both teens jumping backward.

"Holy— whoa!" Snow yelled.

"Farron! Villiers! What's going on over there?"

"Nothing, ma'am!" Snow called back. His breathing had quickened and he wiped his head with the back of his hand. "Bunsen burner must be on crack or something…"

Lightning stared at the Bunsen burner as well, albeit more dubiously. Snow had never set it up. It wasn't hooked to the gas pipe. What the hell had just happened? The gas wasn't even turned on. Her whole body felt warm from all the excitement, but she shifted her gaze back to Snow before repeating in a calmer but still defiant manner, "It couldn't have been the GC."

"Well, if it wasn't the GC, then who was?"

There was a quick moment where Snow may have actually been waiting for answer. Then both of their eyes met and knew what each other was thinking. They simultaneously looked back down at the lab table. "Well…" Lightning breathed. Goosebumps formed along her spine as she recalled the fear she had felt on seeing that mechanical creature crawl out from the domed base. "Maybe it was the GC."

It was the end of the day, and Vanille was once again at her locker. She heaved a big breath of relief. She was ready to get back to the reservation. She balanced a couple of books in one hand while she crammed a few papers back into her locker with the other.

SMACK!

The books tumbled from their balancing place on her arm and fell to the floor. "Oops." Vanille glanced up. The same boy with the purple shirt from earlier was walking past with one of his friends. He had the same smug grin on his face. "They were in the way again." The boy laughed, dapping off his friend.

Vanille stared at the books that lay on the floor. Her hands started shaking, but not in fear or sadness. This was definitely anger. Before she could think or tell her body to stop, she had reached to roughly grab the boy's arm before he could walk away.

"What?" The boy turned and looked at her threateningly.

Vanille didn't really know what. She wanted to hurt him. Hurt him the same way he had hurt her. She wanted to make him feel sad, and humiliated, and sick the same way that he had made her feel when he kicked her binder down the hallway earlier that day. She couldn't tell if it was anger, hate, or what, but a strange feeling had built up in her chest and felt as if it were flowing through her body and to her hands. She wanted to hurt him so much but had no idea how.

COUGH! COUGH!

The boy's arm pulled out of her grip. He bent over and covered his mouth. COUGH! COUGH!

Vanille's slowly took a couple steps back from the boy while his friend bent next to him. The boy's face had nearly turned green. "Dude? Dude, you okay?"

The boy vomited on his friend's shoes is response. Vanille took this as her chance to leave. She briskly took off down the hall with her things. As she walked she could hear the boy groaning and his friend cursing. She recognized the look on that boy's face. It was the same way that Fang looked when she had gotten sick with food poisoning that one time. Vanille didn't slow down until she had exited the school and reached the bus stop. She took a deep breath and stared at her hands. That feeling she had had earlier… it was gone. And she knew she had felt something, something akin to a transfer of energy passing through her to the boy. She couldn't have… could she?

Vanille walked up the dirt path through the trees that led to the heart of the reservation, the clearing where many of the living trailers were positioned. Her mind was clouded with so many thoughts that she didn't greet most of her neighbors as she bee-lined straight to her trailer.

"Oi! Vanille!"

Vanille stopped and turned. Yaschas Bron Dane, a boy not too much older than Fang who lived on the reservation as well, jogged up from behind her. He was a pretty tall boy, very lean and muscular, with the same tanned skin tone as Fang. He had hazelish-golden eyes under bushy eyebrows and black, somewhat spiky, hair. A couple of intricate woven-looking bands were tattooed around his left bicep. He had an easy smile on his face that slowly fell as he got closer and noticed how perturbed Vanille looked. "Whoa, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she nodded, unconvincingly. If anything came out of Vanille's mouth that wasn't practically sung, anyone could tell that something was wrong.

Dane nodded, but didn't push. He knew that Vanille and Fang sometimes had rough days since integrating that public Cocoonian school. Yes, he hated life most of the time back when he had to take classes at Gran Pulse Charter, a school placed on the edge of the reservation whose curriculum seemed to be made purposely to tell the Gran Pulse children how much better Cocoonians were than them, but at least there was no discrimination amongst the students. "Okay. Well, when's Fang getting home? I haven't seen the car all weekend and I think she had it last. Willow's been buggin' me about driving her to the bloody movies all week. Somethin' or the other about that one actor who makes her forget she has arthritis."

"Oh." They had forgotten all about the car. Vanille hoped that it was still parked at the Vestige. "I'll ask her about it when I get inside."

Dane's eyebrows shot up. "She didn't go to school? Funny, I didn't see her around at all today."

"She wasn't feeling well."

"Huh…" Dane's voice trailed. His face looked slightly worried as he slowly looked from Vanille to the trailer that she shared with her more rambunctious counterpart. "Well, if ya need anythin', let me know."

Vanille nodded and continued to her trailer.

None of the lights were turned on when she entered. To her immediate left was the sink and stove, followed by a closet and the bathroom. Hidden behind the open bathroom door was a small bunk bed that had been built into the trailer's side. Exactly opposite of where she stood was the kitchen table and benches. To her right was a small sofa, and positioned across from the sofa, in a corner, was a tiny TV. Past the sofa was a curtain that separated the rest of the trailer from the bedroom area. Vanille silently closed the door behind her and slid the curtain open.

It was much darker in this part of the trailer. The big bed that she shared with her best friend looked like a mess of covers, but Vanille could make out one of the bigger lumps in the covers that was scooted all the way against the wall on the opposite side of the bed from the entrance. Vanille quietly took off her shoes and slid beneath the covers, inching forward until she was pressed against the familiar wall of Fang's back. She closed her eyes and curled into a ball, still nuzzling into the older girl's back. She then slid a hand under Fang's arm in order to hug her around the stomach.

She hadn't been sure if Fang was awake until she felt the Yun girl move her hand so that her arm was covering Vanille's and pressing it closer to her body. They stayed like this for a while until Fang broke the silence. "Rough day at school?" Her voice was soft and raspy, not much louder than a whisper. "You didn't bump your bruises too much today, did you?" Fang's hand gently rubbed up her bruised arm that had been covered by one of Fang's long-sleeved shirts.

Vanille slowly opened her eyes. She was surprised by the blurriness and had to blink a few times to clear her vision. She hadn't noticed that she had been crying, but Fang must've felt the moisture on her back. It was then that she realized she had been slightly trembling as well.

"A little," she answered. "And no, the bruises didn't bother me. I just missed you." Her eyes roved from Fang's back to her shoulder, landing for a short period on the bandage that was wrapped around her upper arm. It was bad enough that someone had marked them with some sort of brand, but then Fang had gotten injured again when the guards dragged her out of her cell to fight that silver lobo.

Fang released an audible breath. "I should've gone today. I knew it was gonna be rough, and I can't protect you from bed."

"Hey," Vanille's voice softened. "We promised to protect each other, remember? I haven't been doing a good job of protecting you, either."

Vanille dug her hand below Fang's stomach and pulled upwards, slowly rolling the girl over to face her. Fang complied without a fuss. Vanille's breath almost stopped when looking over Fang's naturally beautiful face and she had to fight to hold back more tears. The upper left side of Fang's face was swollen with a big gash across the temple. Her eye was almost swollen shut as well, with the only visible part of the eye actually being a tiny, red slit.

Fang eyebrows slightly furrowed in shame and she avoided eye contact. Vanille felt as if her heart were breaking. She reached out to gently cup Fang's face. The face that had now become a blatant sign of how much Vanille couldn't protect her friend. It was all her fault. She had convinced Fang that it would be a good idea to break into the Vestige in the first place, and now Fang would be forever scarred by the event. She wished there was a way she could've prevented it. She wished there was a way she could heal her friend…

"Ahhh." A light green glow emanated from her hand. Vanille stared in bewilderment at it. Fang's eyes rose upward, confused by the strange light as well; her features twisted into one of puzzlement mixed with a bit of fear, but neither girl moved.

Vanille felt her mouth slightly drop open. A cool, tingling feeling was running from her chest through her arms, almost similar to the feeling she had earlier today in the hallway with the boy. When the feeling had ebbed and disappeared, so did the green glow. Her hand, still gently cupping Fang's face, was trembling. Her eyes quickly jumped to look at her best friend, not knowing how to explain.

Vanille gasped. Fang was staring back at her with a panicky expression. Both of her eyes were widened in fear and surprise, on a beautifully flawless face. Vanille mindlessly ran her hand up and down the side of the raven-haired girl's perfect face, barely believing what she was seeing. "You're… You're healed."

Fang just stared at her. "You have… You can do stuff too?"

Vanille looked at Fang questioningly, partly not knowing how to respond and partly asking, "You did something like this, too?"

"Van… what's happening to us?"