A/N: Oh boy … I'm such an idiot for letting you guys wait _ I'm really sorry about that. I'm kinda having a block on this story, and time is also not my friend … anyways, I hope you enjoy this next chapter!
Huge shout-out and many thanks to mooncanvas for a great review and many helpful tips =)
Disclaimer: I do not own the game, Final Fantasy XIII, or the characters used in this story! They all belong to Square Enix.
Storm Driven
a Final Fantasy XIII Fanfiction. (slightly) OOC, (slightly) AU, Lanille
Beginning the Journey
I carefully step out of the cave again after quite a long night. A slight breeze tickles my nose and the sunlight is stinging in my eyes. I scan the area around the cave, looking and listening for any threat. The coast seems clear.
"What are you standing around for?" a cheerful voice asks me, which belongs to no one else than the redhead named Vanille, who I saved yesterday. She skips ahead of me, a smile on her face. How can she still run around that easily, even though she almost got killed, not even a day ago?
I settle for an answer: "I … don't know the direction." and cross my arms. The girl giggles. "Right!" she exclaims and looks around. I don't really understand her attitude. Why is she so … happy all the time? Doesn't she have a worry in her life? Vanille points into a direction. I look there, seeing a little hill in the far distance. "Let's go this way!" she says and simply starts walking. I shake my head but follow her nevertheless.
We silently walk towards the little hill, side by side. I always look around for fiends and monsters, but to my luck there are none. I still don't understand how she can run around this world with absolutely no protection.
"So … how long have you been a soldier?" the girl named Vanille asks me, curiously. I look at her from the corner of my eyes and simply reply: "Three years."
"I see … and how old are you, if you're a soldier for three years now?" another question from her. I sigh. Why should I tell her – a stranger – how old I am? Why does she care anyways? Why does she ask so many question? "That's not of importance." I coolly reply, but it only gets me a protest: "But now I'm curious! You look so young but you're already a soldier for three years! Please, tell me?"
I roll my eyes and decide to tell her, in order to keep her quiet: "Twenty-one." She seems satisfied at my reply and continues talking: "Cool! You're as old as my friend, Fang! And only two years older than I am!"
I only nod in acknowledgement. I decide to change the topic and ask something more important: "Do you know where she is? This Fang person?"
The redhead taps her chin with her index finger, obviously thinking. "We hid close to our village, right after we fled. But we said we'll go and get help from other villages. So she's either looking for me or going to the next village."
Again I nod, simply in acknowledgement. Now it's Vanille's turn to sigh and she notices: "You're not a very talkative person, are you?" She sounds a little disappointed. I don't know why but I feel a little guilty for … not being talkative. I shrug the feeling off, though. Why would I even feel guilty? I reply: "I try to stay focused." Her expression stays blank at that comment.
We finally arrived on top of the little hill. The younger girl looks around the area again. I do the same. We came from a rather wide open area and right behind the hill there's another open area, but there are rocks around. Quite large boulders. Behind one of them I can make out smoke. "Is that a village there?" I ask, pointing out to the spot I just found.
Vanille shakes her head, though. "Not that I know. But we should take a look!" she tells me and starts walking again. I reach out my hand to hold her back. "Hey …" I say to get her attention. She turns around to look at me with a small smile, but questioningly. Something's been bugging me all this time and I ask: "Do you actually know where we're going?"
Her look turns a little innocently as she answers: "Well, not really … since I didn't see in which direction we ran away from the village and I also didn't know the cave we were in. I just went up this hill to orientate myself."
Hmm … at least she doesn't just run around blindly. "Let's go." I then order and we start walking towards the boulder, behind which the smoke seems to rise.
I press myself up against the large rock, motioning for Vanille to do the same. She looks a little skeptical and asks: "What if there are only people from my village?" I roll my eyes at this. "What if it's someone or something else?" I ask her in return. She ducks her head a little but seems to understand what I'm trying to tell her and mirrors my actions. Good.
I slowly walk to the side of the boulder and take a careful look around the corner. Shit! I immediately hide again behind it. "What is it?" Vanille asks, a little louder than I want her to. I put a finger to my lips, motioning her to be quiet. I then whisper: "It's the camp I came from!"
Her eyes lighten up a bit and she asks: "We could still try to convince them?"
"Where is Sergeant Farron?!" I suddenly hear a loud voice. My eyes widen as I recognize the voice. It is Lieutenant Amodar … and he sounds really angry. I press myself even harder against the boulder. "Isn't your name- " I put my hand over her mouth to shut her up and continue listening.
"Who does she think she is?! She had an important order! If you find her, tell her to see me in my tent. I am very disappointed!" I hear the lieutenant's voice again. I sigh. Let him be disappointed. I did the right thing so far! I whisper: "Not a good idea. We should find your people first."
I remove my hand from her mouth and she nods. "Then let's head to the village. I can orientate myself there and we can go find the others!" she suggests. I nod, but warn her: "But we need to stay hidden. If the soldiers find us … we're both dead."
ooo
"This is awful … the whole town … it's infested with monsters … " the younger girl says in a sad voice, looking at her village from afar. The only thing we can see are the fiends running around the village, looking for shelter and food. I feel bad for her. She lost her home, just like that. And probably friends and even part of her family.
"Hey … " I say in a calm voice, trying to comfort her with this simple word. She might still be a stranger, but I can at least try to cheer her up a bit, right? Nobody deserves to lose his home. Plus, I liked her more when she was laughing, to be honest. Now she just looks defeated. Poor kid …
"Where do we have to go now?" I ask her, to change the subject. It's no use dwelling over what happened anyways. She looks at me, with watery eyes, and I feel sorry for actually trying to change the subject so quickly. I should put those emotions aside … it's just another mission, nothing more.
"Uhm … this way … " she replies, in a sad voice, matching her expression. I frown. Or maybe I shouldn't be so … cold? I don't know … she seems sad, maybe I should comfort her some more? We start walking again, avoiding the village. I just hope the beasts don't smell us …
Vanille walks a little in front of me, her shoulders hanging limply and she's facing the ground. Great, now I feel sorry and guilty. I feel like I made her even feel even worse. I should really stop with this protective … I don't even know what it is. It's making me weak. I should focus!
Suddenly I hear something from behind a rock. A rock that is right beside us. It was only a very quiet sound, but I'm sure something moved behind it. I look at the younger girl to see if she also heard something, but she's still walking her sad walk. I frown. Maybe I hear too much.
But then suddenly a large, wolf-like creatures jumps out from behind the rock and leaps onto the girl in front of me. I knew it! It knocks Vanille over and she falls right on her wounded arm. She whimpers as this probably hurt. The blood in my veins starts boiling and I take my gunblade in its sword form. The gun would make too much noise. I lunge forward at the beast and slash its side, then stab it into its back. A moment later it lies dead on the ground before me. I sigh … that was close …
I turn back to face the redhead. She's still sitting on the ground, holding her wound, her face grimacing in pain. I kneel down in front of her, asking: "Are you okay?" I wonder why I always ask this question. Of course she's not okay, Lightning! She's in pain! Her emerald eyes soon find mine again and she replies: "I'm fine. It just frightened me." and she even forces herself to smile. Why is she trying to be so brave? It's a good thing, though, I guess.
Suddenly her eyes widen. Pain? Fear? She points out behind me and exclaims: "Watch out!" My blade still in my hand and my ears listening anxiously for the fiend, I can locate it. I barely turn around and stab the creature right into its heart. I pull the blade out of its limp body and scan the area some more. "We should get out of here. There might be more of them." I suggest.
The girl only nods as a reply. Her look is still sad, and now she looks frightened as well. I get up from my kneeling position and wait for her to also stand up. But she doesn't. She keeps facing the ground. What is she waiting for? We should seriously get away from this creature-infested village. I cross my arms impatiently. Maybe she hurt her leg or so? I decide to ask: "Can you get up?"
I don't receive an answer. She still stares at the ground. I wait a few more seconds and then stretch out my hand. Maybe she needs help and just doesn't want to ask? At least she lifts her head and looks at my hand. This time I wait patiently for her to take it, which she finally does, and I help her up. I ask her, one more time: "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah … like I said … it was a little frightening." she looks up at me and smiles again. Maybe … she shouldn't eat everything up in herself. But who am I to judge? "Let's go!" she now orders and starts walking. I cross my arms again. I'm not sure if I like those sudden changes in her attitude … she's not honest with herself …
ooo
A while has passed, and all we did was walk. We're away from the camp, and away from the village. The sun is high in the sky and it's getting really hot. From what I realized those past few weeks, here on Pulse, it gets really hot and they have quite the humidity down here. It seemed unbearable at times. No wonder Vanille isn't wearing much.
The last ten minutes I always saw Vanille holding or touching her wound. Not to mention she has a rather uncomfortable look on her face. I finally decide to ask: "How's your injury?" She looks at me again, looking a little surprised.
"It hurts … a little." she tells me. I frown. It shouldn't. "Can I see it?" I ask her. I'm sure I took good care of that wound. The younger girl nods and we stop shortly as she turns to reveal the bandages. My eyes widen a little at what I see. There's blood soaking through the white cloth. Not a good sign. "I better take a closer look at that." I say, looking around for a spot to sit down for a little while. I see a tree and decide that it's better than nothing. At least we have a little bit of shade beneath it. "Let's go over there."
She sits down right beneath the tree, leaning her back against it and I sit down at her left side. I carefully take down the bandages and take a look what's underneath. Oh great, more blood. It's bleeding again. I have to stop it. I take out some alcohol first for disinfection. I pour the liquid over a little cloth and warn her: "This might sting."
She nods and I press the fabric against the wound. Vanille scrunches her face in pain, but she doesn't make a sound. I can't help but smile a little. It reminds me of Serah and when she came home with a cut. Every time I disinfected my sister's wounds she would whine about how much it hurts. But the young redhead just keeps still.
Suddenly I feel her hand grasping my free one, and she squeezes it tightly. I don't pull it back, even though I'm not one for body contact. At the moment I don't mind, though. If it really makes her feel better … I then remove the cloth again, but my hand is still being held tightly by the other girl. For the next part I'll need both hands, though. "Uhm … I might need both hands to get the pressure bandage on." I say. Vanille immediately lets go and even blushes a little. "S-sorry … " she adds. I shrug and fix up her injury a second time. I should've changed it anyways. I hope that it won't bleed like this the next time, then she could let some air at it.
"Done." I say, the wound finally fixed up again. I look at my work one more time, and I'm satisfied with it, then I pack the remaining utilities into my bag again.
"Thank you." I hear the young redhead say and I look at her. She smiles, gratefully. I feel relieved all of a sudden. I don't even know why. Maybe it's the feeling of doing the right thing. "Don't sweat it." I simply reply and then also lean back against the tree. It's a weird looking tree, like all the others on Pulse I've seen so far. I reminds me of a palm tree, but instead of the mighty leaves on top, they look like closed flowers. It doesn't throw a large shadow, but it's enough for us.
After a few moments of silence I feel my stomach grumbling. Damn … I haven't eaten a thing since yesterday. And, of course, I didn't take anything with me from the camp. Does this mean I have to hunt? Maybe Vanille knows where we can get something to eat: "Are you hungry?"
The younger girl looks at me, eyebrows raised. "Yeah! What about you?" she asks in return. I cross my arms and reply: "A little bit." At this my stomach lets out a loud growl again and I feel my cheeks growing warm. Stupid stomach …
Vanille giggles at this and remarks: "Sure, a little bit." I just frown. She's making fun of me … "Tch … " is my only reply to this. But that makes the redhead frown in return. She sits up a little to properly face me, stems her hands in her hips and protests: "Oh, don't you be so grumpy all the time! Where's the fun in that?"
I just raise an eyebrow at her. "Who gave you the idea of me being 'fun'?" I ask her. I would never consider myself to be a fun person to hang out with. And I know my sister always complained that I should loosen up more or something. It's just not my way of living. She now also crosses her arms and replies in a confident voice: "You have this hard façade all the time, but I've seen a soft side as well, otherwise you wouldn't have agreed to help me, or fixed my wound, two times. So I'm sure you also have a fun side. And I'm gonna find it!"
I only shrug. "Good luck with that." I say. I don't know why but I feel a little intimidated by her. I shouldn't underestimate her. Maybe her childish attitude is also just a façade. I feel like she tries to read me like an open book, with success! It scares me a little, but it also makes her a little more interesting.
Vanille then gets up and looks up the tree. She points out to the top and tells me: "The fruits that are growing up there are delicious … if we can climb up and get them, of course." I also get up and look at the things she means. They are quite large, round fruits, and remind me of watermelons. I inspect them a little closer and have an idea how to get them down. I take my gunblade in its gun form and shoot the fruits down with one precise shot.
"Wow … nice shot! Very impressive!" she compliments me. I feel my chest swelling at the compliment. It was the reason I got into the Guardian Corps easily, Amodar loved me for my perfect aim. I can hardly suppress the smirk creeping up my face. "Thanks." I say, nevertheless.
I watch Vanille while she prepares the fruit for us two eat. What have I got myself into? I then look back into the direction we came from. Hmm … this is definitely going to be an interesting journey.
A/N: I know, it was kind of a filler, was it? I promise the next chapter will be better and I hope I get it done soon. Please leave your thoughts!
