Lightning, Hope, and Snow anxiously stood in front of the huge, arched door that would open into the primarch's chambers.

"Do you think the alpha team already took him down?" Snow asked as he eyed the ornate designs that had been molded into the huge door panels.

"Use your head," Lightning hissed. "Would we even be in this predicament if the alpha team already took down the primarch?"

"That's a good point."

"Ugh… okay. On the count of three. One… Two…"

Lightning and Snow barreled forward, using their shoulders to thrust open the giant doors that stood between them and the head of the Sanctum.

"Whoa," Snow gasped, causing Lightning to quickly look up and around the chamber.

The room was huge. And beautiful. The floor was made out of different types of exotic stones that formed a mosaic picture in the room's center. The entire round room was lined with pillars, in sets of twos, and the domed ceiling was high enough that Lightning thought that it was at least three stories away. Directly ahead of the teens was a red carpet that ran to a pack of steps in the back of the room… a pack of steps that led up to a higher platform with a wide golden chair that seated an old, stern-faced man. Surrounding the old man on both sides, in long lines that covered a good portion of the back wall, was a heavy squadron of PSICOM soldiers.

"Are you sure he's a fal'Cie?" Snow whispered in Lightning's ear while Lightning just stood and stared at the man who sat across from her on his throne. His glare, which was accentuated by the deep wrinkles on his face and his piercing blue eyes, was hard and unforgiving, but Lightning's glare was much of the same. "I don't think a fal'Cie would need bodyguards."

"It's kind of late to be questioning it all now," Lightning muttered back.

"Guards." The Primarch never tore his gaze away from the teens in his doorway as he spoke. ""If you please."

"Find cover!"

Lightning snatched Hope and lunged for the nearest pillar while Snow curled into a sentinel position and rolled behind a set of pillars in the opposite direction.

"WE NEED TO—" Lightning tried to yell directives at Hope, but the incessant gunfire was too loud. "WE NEED TO—SCREW THIS!" Being more fueled by annoyance than anything else, Lightning used both hands to build a powerful lightning spell. She peeked from behind the pillar just long enough to spot a good target area before letting it rip. A loud crack sounded through the room as the lightning struck near a group of PSICOM soldiers, hitting the area so powerfully that it tore straight through the floor, creating a huge crack in the back of the room.

A portion of the gunfire immediately ceased, giving Lightning enough time to bend over and grab Hope's shoulder. "We need to get to the primarch, but we can't be an easy target for the soldiers either, alright? You remember that game of tag we used to play when training?"

Hope vigorously nodded.

"We're Team Health. Either you stick near me or Snow, or you stay on the outskirts. They're Team Sickness. Dysley is the weakest link."

Hope vigorously nodded again.

"Now can you—"

A heavy explosion from Snow's side of the room caused the two l'Cie to momentarily stumble and lose their footing. She didn't know what he was doing over there, but whatever it was, it was definitely attracting the soldiers' attention.

"Hope," she continued, keeping a wary eye about for any solider that may be trying to sneak up on them while she was giving directives. "Can you give me enough cover so I can get to their weak link?"

"Yeah," Hope's head bobbled up and down once more.

"Good. Let's do it."

Hope took a deep breath and lifted his hands so that they were level with his chest, palms facing the ceiling. Lightning would first feel the beginnings of the powerful spell from the light chill that brushed her skin, causing goose bumps to prickle her flesh. Then, suddenly, a mysterious wind rapidly picked up and began swirling throughout the room. In a matter of seconds, what had first started out as a cold, whistling wind had almost immediately transformed into a roaring blizzard that was raging in the middle of the chamber.

Lightning peeked from behind the pillar to gape at the marvel that was sweeping up PSICOM soldiers left and right. Hope was so young, it was sometimes easy for them to forget that he had always shown the most aptitude for using elemental magic… but she couldn't be thinking about this right now. This was her chance.

She hopped out from behind the pillar and yanked her blade from its case. She held it at a readied position by her side and broke out into a sprint towards the stairs at the back of the room.

"ENOUGH!"

Lightning skidded to a stop to stare at Primarch Dysley, who was now standing at his throne with his hands raised above his head.

In a quick, powerful motion, he pushed his uplifted hands down. All around the room, PSICOM soldiers dropped to the floor like flies. Instantaneously, Hope's blizzard also fizzled out so that it was no longer a powerful storm but just a tiny puff of air kicking up the lighter pieces of snow left on the floor.

"Okay," Lightning could hear Snow saying in a tiny voice from somewhere behind her. "Maybe he is a fal'Cie."

"And maybe you," the primarch had a stony stare fixed on the teens as he began taking slow and deliberate steps down from his throne, "are l'Cie who are quite horrible at fulfilling your focus. Where is my Ragnarok?"

"Your what?" Lightning retorted in a low voice.

"You heard me," Dysley ground back, continuing his slow trek down the stairs. "Where is my Ragnarok? Your focus was to deliver me my monster."

"She—They have names. And they're not 'your monster'," Lightning sharply responded. "And—wait. Deliver them to you? You weren't the fal'Cie who changed us. You can't be."

"You humans…" Dysley groaned in disdain. "We rule, protect, and provide for you for centuries yet you do not believe fal'Cie are capable of making deals with one another? You see, Anima and I have similar goals. We both wish to be reunited with The Maker. We all do. Anima was to find me the perfect Ragnarok, and in turn, I would ensure its transformation."

"Uhhh…" Snow buzzed. "The Maker?"

"Yes. The Maker. The great creator. The one supreme being…"

Lightning tensed as Dysley finally stepped foot onto the stone floor, not too far from where her lightning spell had created its huge crack. She wasn't fully convinced that the primarch slash fal'Cie was merely content with giving them an informational lesson on the reasons behind why he chose to ruin their lives. He had to have something else up his sleeve.

"…who used to reside on this world with us… but one dark day, our Maker disappeared. It is believed that our dear Maker is now trapped behind the door to the afterlife. Opening the door wide enough to free The Maker would require a great number of… volunteers."

"You mean sacrifices," Lightning corrected, garnering an intrigued glare from Dysley. "That's why you want to destroy Cocoon? To kill enough people to open a door that might not exist to free a god that might not even be there?"

Whatever look of mild interest that Dysley had previously worn on his face towards Lightning was quickly replaced by an evident look of contempt. "Do you know how it feels?" he growled. "Being left by something so divine to be stuck in a world with such greedy and lowly creatures such as humans? It is insulting! And if it weren't for The Maker binding me in service to this damned world, I would distinguish you all myself!"

"Well if you're that keen to meet your maker…" a voice called from the other end of the room.

"Fang?" Lightning's head spun in the voices direction, finding Fang just in time to see a bright bulb of light shoot out of her hand and into Primarch Dysley's startled chest.

"…then have at it!"

Another bulb flew into the primarch's chest, sending him tumbling backwards. Then another. And another. And another until the Primarch was lying, splayed and motionless on the ground, and Fang was standing above him with her hand still pointed at his chest.

"Fang…" Lightning breathed again, jogging up to stand behind the Gran Pulsian who was still standing, stiff as a board, above the fallen Primarch and giving him a tough stare. "Fang, what the hell?!"

"Huh?" Fang finally diverted her attention from the downed fal'Cie when she felt a hard shove to her shoulder. "You really need to work on your thanking skills."

"Thanking skills?!" Lightning nearly exploded. "Thanking you for what? Almost giving me a heart attack? You went dark! I thought something happened to you! And then when Vanille showed us your cuff—"

Fang softly sighed and reached out to place her hands on Lightning's upper arms. "And everything's okay now." She soothingly rubbed her hands up and down Light's arms. "We got him. It's over. Did Vanille get to the portals?"

"I'm not sure. I left her with Sazh—who by the way, as a father-like figures go, could use some work."

"Oh, you don't want me to get me started on father figures…" Fang mumbled. "What about you? Where's your armor… wait."

Fang stopped talking and looked to the ground. She swore that beneath her feet, she could feel a subtle vibration that hadn't been there before.

"Anyone else feel that?"

The other three l'Cie paused to look at the ground as well. Hope lifted his head back up and opened his mouth to speak, but was immediately cut off by the loud sound of crumpling stone.

"Get back!" Snow yelled, yanking Hope back by his hands while Lightning and Fang each darted away from the crack in the floor, previously made by Lightning, that was now beginning to widen, swallowing the primarch's body in the process.

"Well, well, well…" A loud medley of different voices sang from out of the gaping hole that was still growing in the floor. "I am impressed you have resisted thus far, Ragnarok, for I surely believed the colonel and the mechanic would set the divine plan in motion."

"Who is that?!" Hope shouted to the group, but none of the older and equally bewildered teens could think of an answer to yell back.

"I am Orphan…" the voices responded. A bright light burst from the crack in the floor as a huge, wheel-like shape ascended from the hole in the stone.

The thing's base seemed to be that golden wheel with a number of different faces and upper body parts melded into it. "Da hell…" Fang mouthed to herself when all of the faces simultaneously turned to eye her down.

"…and now that I have found release, WE SHALL KNOW REDEMPTION!"

Fang just continued to stare slack-jawed at the monster, not sure of which face she should give her attention to.

"But you did not bring your other half," Orphan continued on. "Foolish choice. Your power will not be as strong."

"How would you know how strong I am?" Fang finally retorted when she got past the creepiness of so many eyes being on her.

"You are only as strong as your greatest weakness." A particularly large, purple face on Orphan's left side sinisterly smiled and lifted a pointy finger towards her. "And your weakness is quite obvious."

Before Fang could even try to comprehend what Orphan was saying, a purplish ball of energy shot out of the demi-god's finger and straight into Fang's stomach, sending her flying across the huge room.

"Don't you—" Lightning was halfway through lifting her hand to shoot a random spell out at Orphan when the purple hand that had previously shot Fang now aimed something much bigger at the ground, sending a giant shockwave pulsing in Snow, Hope, and Light's direction.

When the wave passed over Lightning, it immediately felt as if her limbs had grown heavy. Almost as if they had turned into stone. She tried to take a step forward, but instead stumbled to the floor. Her body was stiffening, and a searing pain was burning into her breast, right where her brand was located. In the background, she could hear Fang yelling. She sounded so far away…

Her legs now felt like cinderblocks. A cold, creeping feeling was worming its way through her stomach and there was such a heavy weight pushing against her chest that she couldn't breathe. He throat was dry and felt strained, as if she had been screaming. Had she been screaming? She didn't know. All she knew was that she didn't finish her focus. Why? Why hadn't she just finished her focus? She needed to… She needed to finish her focus…

Lightning lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the sun.

The sun?

She slowly lowered her hand and looked around.

She was standing in a bright, grassy field. Not too far ahead of her was a small pond that was partly lined by trees on one side, providing shade for—

"Serah." Lightning took a step forward. Sitting under the tree, tucked under the arm of Snow, was her little sister. Something definitely seemed different about her, but there was no doubt about it. That was definitely Serah. She and Snow were both smiling at each other and talking. On hearing Serah's name, Snow turned his head to face Lightning. Their eyes connected for a moment. Snow's brows crinkled, just a bit, as if he had just remembered something important, but the look immediately passed over and he turned all his attention back to Serah.

A loud, giddy giggle sounded from her right and Light immediately turned to spy a young boy with a puffy afro running across the field, apparently chasing after a tiny, yellow chocobo chick. Racing after the boy was the man she had seen in the primarch's gallery, Sazh. Her eyes followed the two as they ran a path that zigzagged through the grass before leading them up to the edge of the pond where two more familiar figures were standing.

Or at least, somewhat familiar figures.

The girl on the left was undeniably Vanille, but she seemed a bit different. She still wore her bright-colored hair in pigtails and her clothing choice was as skimpy as ever, but she just seemed… different. Taller, maybe? Tanner? A little bit more developed? No matter what the change was, she still knew it was Vanille, a claim that she could not positively make about the young man standing next to her.

"Hope?" She squinted her eyes to study the young man further.

It definitely seemed like Hope. He had the same silver hair. The same blue-green eyes. The same sheepish smile and the same tendency to rock back and forth on his heels when he was antsy.

But it couldn't be Hope. The young man was tall enough to tower over Vanille and he had to be well into his teen years… but now that she thought about…

She quickly turned her head to look over everyone else again.

Everyone looked different. Everyone looked older.

Lightning slightly jumped when a shadow appeared beside her, somewhat shielding the sun that had unmercifully been shining down on her. She turned her head and froze. Next to her, with her hands planted on her hips and her eyes staring off over the pond, was Fang. Just as with everyone else, Fang seemed different. Not just older… but more poised. Her posture was much straighter than usual, making her seem elegant in a way that Lightning had never thought before. Her hair looked to be longer, and especially wilder, and Lightning couldn't quite tell what it was that she was wearing… some flowy type of cloth outfit.

Fang's head finally turned away from the pond to stare down at Lightning. Her previously serious facial expression softened as she looked down at the pinkette, and a slight, warm grin pulled at the corner of her lips.

Lightning's own lips began to curl up into a smile as well. There was something about the way Fang was looking at her, as if she couldn't believe that Lightning was actually there, that warmed Light's heart in an unexpected way.

Fang's hand slipped into Light's. Her grin widened as their fingers intertwined and Light could feel her smile opening as well.

Fang opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead, there was a bright flash of light that blotted out all of Lightning's vision until she couldn't see anything at all…

Lightning's eyes flew open and she took in a sudden gasp of air. "What…" she harshly breathed as she sat up. Her joints were stiff and her skin felt colder than a block of ice. Not too far away from her, Snow and Hope were also pulling themselves up into sitting positions, groaning the entire time.

"GIVE THEM BACK!" Fang's voice harshly cut through their haze.

Lightning looked up towards the front of the room where Fang was spastically jumping around and shooting ruin spells out of both of her hands at Orphan.

"GIVE HER—ahhhh!"

Suddenly, Fang dropped down to one knee.

"Oh, no." In an instant, Lightning was up on her feet, sprinting to the back of the room.

"Yessssss," Orphan was cooing, all of its faces smiling as it watched Fang tremble on the ground below. "Give in to the anger. Let it feed you."

"SHUT UP!" Lightning barked. She slid to stop in front of Fang, kneeling down in front of the girl so they were face to face. "Fang, we're back. See?" She tried to make eye contact but Fang's eyes didn't seem to be focusing on anything. They just erratically zipped around the room before tightly shutting.

"You are too late," Orphan's voices continued to sing behind her. "The anger is too strong. It has taken root in her heart. Redemption is at hand! It has all been set in motion!"

"CAN YOU JUST SHUT UP?!" Lightning spat again, only sparing Orphan a swift glance over her shoulder before focusing back on Fang.

"Fang." She gripped Fang's sweaty, trembling cheeks in her hands. Her skin was burning up and starting to take on a tougher, leathery feel. "Fang, listen to me. It's me. Lightbright. I'm okay. We're all ok—"

"RAHHHH!" Fang's eyes snapped open again and she aimlessly swiped at the air. Lightning leaned back in just enough time to dodge it, but was immediately back in front Fang, hands cupping her face again, afterwards.

"Fang, stop! Please!" Lightning bit her lip as her chest heaved quick, worried breaths. "Listen," she said, taking a chance and leaning in so that her head was nearly touching Fang's. "You can fight this. I know you can. Think of something calming, okay? Can you do that?"

A huge wave of relief washed over her when she felt Fang's head nodding along with her beneath her palms.

"Why must you continue to make such futile attempts to avoid fate?" Orphan was still questioning in the background. "The beast has already begun to transform."

"Just ignore him," Lightning instructed, keeping her eyes trained on Fang. "Think about, um, think about Gran Pulse. The grass, the cliffs, the wild multicolored chocobos…"

Lightning could feel Fang's body begin to tremble a bit less, although her skin was still nearly scorching to touch.

"…You know, I think I had a dream. Or something like it, just now. Just a few seconds ago. I think we were all on Gran Pulse. We were outside by this pond."

Fang nodded, rocking back and forth. Behind them, Lightning could hear Orphan lightly chuckling.

"And I mean everyone. Serah and Snow. Hope and Vanille. You and me. Even Sazh and his son. We looked older, like years older. And you and me, we were holding hands. And we looked happy. I felt… happy."

Fang's breathing started evening out into slower, calmer breaths.

"And when this is all done, we're heading straight to Gran Pulse. Together. I don't care if I miss a week or a month of school or if my dad gets angry. I just want to be where you are. Jumping off of cliffs, hunting, riding chocobos, and staring at the stars." Lightning took a hard swallow of her own before steadying herself and caressing Fang's cheek with her thumb. "Fang, I love you."

Fang exhaled one last huffy breath before her entire body stilled. Lightning's own breath caught in her throat as Fang's chin steadily rose so that her emerald green eyes were locked on Light's crystal blue ones. There was something wrong in them though. They looked sad… defeated. "So sorry…"

Lightning's heart immediately dropped. "What?" she could barely push out in a whisper, her eyes desperately searching Fang's face for some kind of clue as to what was going on.

"It is complete!" Orphan announced jubilantly from behind her. "The transformation has hit its final stage!"

"Ahh!" Fang cringed and her head dipped down again as another fit of shakes erupted through her body. Her tanned skin began to unnaturally glow, and it felt as if her skin was beginning to toughen.

"No, no, no, no." Lightning pulled at Fang's shoulder, trying to get her to face her again. "Fang, you can fight this!"

"Run." Fang blindly swatted at the hands that were pulling on her.

"No, I'm not—"

"RUN!" This time the command boomed out as a loud roar as Fang's head shot up to glare at Lightning through a pair of wide, feral eyes.

"Ugh!" Lightning huffed in surprise as a strong arm wrapped around her waist and hauled her away from where Fang was still glowing and kneeling on the ground. "Snow, let me go!" she yelled, banging her fist against the back of the shoulder that she was currently hoisted over. "Fang needs—"

"Fang isn't here anymore!" Snow snapped back. "We'd better—"

RAHHHHWWWWRRRRR!

A blindingly bright light, accompanied by a loud, pained cry that shifted into a mighty bellow erupted from the spot where Fang had been crouching.

RAHHHHHH!

Another great flash and the light was gone, but jumping out from what had once been its bright center was now a huge, blue creature with a fiery mane and a golden aura that surrounded its entire body.

"Yes! Yessss!" Orphan was chanting in approval as the creature zipped and glided around the room.

"Ah!"

Lightning tumbled to the floor after Snow seemingly tripped over his own feet and lost hold of the girl. There was a cold, stiff feeling that immediately shot up her spine when she hit the ground. "What the—"

"Light!" Hope's voice wailed worriedly from the edge of the room.

Lightning looked up from her spot on the floor and her eyes widened in shock. Hope was holding on to one of the pillars, but his arms weren't really his. They were clear. Like crystal.

"No…" Lightning groaned and turned to her side. Snow lay beside on her on the ground, trying to crawl forward but his legs had turned to crystal too. Near his waist was a powdery mist that steadily floating up his body, converting anything below it into clear stone.

Gritting her teeth and taking a deep breath, Lightning looked down at her own body. She had felt it before she had seen it. Half of her chest was already clear and sparkling. The same powdery mist that covered Snow was now hovering over her as well.

They brought Ragnarok to the fal'Cie.

They had completed their focus.

"HMPHH!"

Lightning turned her head and froze.

Not even an inch away from her face, staring dead at her with wild green eyes that resembled so much of the person that the creature had once been, was Ragnarok.

Lightning wanted to say something, maybe even run, but her crystallization was too far along. She couldn't do anything but stare back at the huge glowing creature that glared down at her, grunting and bearing its teeth. Its eyes stayed on Light's for what felt like a small eternity before scanning over the rest of her body, which must have been mostly crystal now.

"Grrrrrrrr…." Ragnarok made a deep bellowing sound before slowly turning its head to face Orphan.

With a loud roar, the creature then pounced in the same direction.

"What are you doing?!"

Lightning could hear Orphan shouting amidst the barks and roars of Ragnarok, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't turn her head. Her neck had already stiffened.

"STOP IT! YOUR FATE LIES WITHIN THE DESTRUCTION OF COCOON!"

Lightning's vision slowly began to blur as the crystallization process reached her face.

"YOU CANNOT DEFY FATE! YOU CANNOT—"

And all went quiet. And all went blank.

It started off with a little tickling feeling that prickled her skin. It was that same feeling you get in your leg after it has fallen asleep, but instead it was all over her body. Then there were a few muffled noises, like the vague sound of someone banging on something.

Then, all at once, it was everything.

"Ahhh!" Lightning hissed and coughed at the same time as her body instantly relaxed before flattening out against the stone floor. "Uhhh…"

Her head ached from all the noise. It sounded as if the world had gone crazy. In the distance she could hear sirens, screaming, what sounded like the crackling of fire, among other things. Beside her, Snow groaned while rolling over on his back and across the room, Lightning could catch Hope stumbling around out the corner of her eye. Talk about Vestige déjà vu…

"What's going…" she froze when her eyes lifted to the gaping hole that looked as if it had been ripped through the ceiling, "…on. Where's Fang?"

"My brand."

Lightning looked up to see Hope pulling down at one of his gloves.

"My brand is gone. Guys, my brand is gone!"

BOOM!

The huge doors at the front of the primarch's chambers burst open before either of the older teens could respond. A crowd of men in PSICOM uniforms rushed through.

"Neutralize the room!" one soldier yelled before jogging over to where Snow and Lightning lay. He aimed the gun down so that it was pointing to a spot on the floor between their heads. "You two! Hands up!"

"Huh?" Lightning's eyes flicked to the lights on the soldier's shoulder pads.

Yellow. Not pink.

The alpha team never made it. The Cavalry had failed.

"Does anyone have eyes on Dysley?!" Another soldier yelled.

"I-I'm not sure," a third soldier chimed in. "Uhhh… somebody should come take a look at this."

Lightning's eyes followed a group of the soldiers as they darted across the room to peer into the wide crack that separated one side of the room from the other.

"Uh… that's not… is that a… a fal'Cie? We need a specialist for this. Rosch is en route to intensive care. Someone page Commander Nabaat."

"Got it."

"Hey!" The soldier with the gun pointed at Snow and Lightning called. "What do we do with the l'Cie? Are we thinking prison time or 'accidental' execution for resisting arrest?"

"Excuse me?" another commanding voice now joined into the conversation.

All heads turned to the doorway where Cid Raines was crossing the threshold into the room.

"That is not how we will treat the saviors of Cocoon."

"What?" both the PSICOM soldier and Snow echoed in unison.

"Soldier, please escort the l'Cie to the hallway. I have a group of men waiting to bring them to one of the safety zones. And do, be quick about it," Cid continued before walking past the teenagers towards the crack in the floor that seemed be drawing quite the crowd.

"Welp, you heard the interim Primarch," the soldier said, nudging Snow with his foot. "You too, Missy. Up and at 'em. All the good people around here who we should be protecting… and he's got us evacuating you all to the safety zones."

With a low mumble, Lightning begrudgingly climbed to her feet. Her eyes were locked on the hole in the ceiling the entire time.

Fang groaned and blinked her eyes a few times. "Mmmm…" she groaned again and focused her eyes upwards, but her vision was immediately blocked by a small, smiling face that hovered over her.

"Daddy! Daddy! She's awake! She's a—"

"Whoa there, Dahj," a more gravelly voice called, and the face was quickly lifted from over Fang and pulled away. "Give Fang some room to breath. Or blow fire. Or do whatever she does nowadays."

"Huh?" Fang pulled back her elbows to lift her shoulders up from the dirt and look around. "Whoa… uh…"

Her stomach back flipped when she sat up and instantly felt hundreds of eyes land on her. A huge mob of people was circling her, staring down at the spot she was lying in on the dusty ground.

"She's up?" she could faintly hear Vanille's voice asking from behind some of the other bodies in the swarm. And it only took a short moment before some of the people who were standing and gawking at her were being pushed out of the way, and Vanille came bursting through crowd.

"Fang." Vanille slowly, almost cautiously, stepped towards Fang and steadily took a knee beside her. "Fang, how are you feeling? Are you alright?"

"I—" Fang's eyes darted behind Vanille's head to glimpse the crowd of people who were still anxiously staring at her. "I, uh…" She now took the time to turn her head to take in her surroundings. "Are we on Gran Pulse?" She took in a deep breath. The smell was earthy. Authentically earthy. They had to be on Gran Pulse. Cocoon never smelled—

Her brows tightly creased when she looked up into the sky and she actually spotted the damned floating planet. It had been a long time since she had been able to look up at the sky and see the world as a whole, but she had never before seen it like this. There was a dark, smoky cloud that hovered above a huge, roughly clawed crater in the planets side. Twinges and strings of red glowed through amidst smoke, giving the planet the illusion that it was actually on fire. "What… what happened up there? Wait. How'd we get here?"

Vanille slightly narrowed her eyes at Fang, concern clearly written on her face as she tried to piece together what was going on. "Fang…" she began in soft voice, gingerly taking Fang's hands in her own, "What is the last thing you remember?"