Finally, this chapter took me a million years to write, through that may have someting to do with the fact that it's nearly 11 thousand words (I have no idea how in the world it got that long)
I also got really bad writers block through some parts of it and my dad's USB decided to go into non existence so this story got trapped in my school laptop that has a firewall on fanfiction (I'm currently hyjacking both my friends laptop and her USB)
Originally I was gonna tell you that I doubted you'd be getting another one this long for a long time but then I reliased that I love long chapters and have an inability to write short stories, so as this story progresses I think you might actually be getting quite a few chapters like this one.
If you don't notice it, through you probably will, I'm trying to make all the Vanille fans out there to go and kill Rosch (This is a flashback chapter, so she'd be in it). I'm aware that what I just said is techically physically impossible.
One last thing, I need to tell you that my friend, whose stories I apparently have to promote has changed her name to Oerbayunfang.
Well that's that I guess, so on to the story.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Final Fantasy, if I did I would be a hell of a lot richer that I am.
Lost in memories
Laying wide awake, Fang rested on her bed well resigned to the knowledge that any sleep that found her tonight wouldn't be restful. Crawling into a ball and wrapping her arms tightly around her leg she sighed. It seemed that no matter how many years passed the memories refused to blur, leaving every second of them clear in her mind.
"Vanille" she breathed into the silent room.
Tears formed on the rims of her eyes but she tried her best to keep them from falling. Tightening her hold on her leg, memories of the angelic girl engulfed her. Her 'sister', one of the few people in the world that she had truly trusted, long gone but sorely missed.
And oh goddess and how she missed her.
Losing her hopeless fight with the tears that threated to fall, they began to flow down her cheeks in a steady flow and she sobbed into her pillow, knowing all too well what MIA meant when it came to cocoon. Its agents were taught to kill themselves if ever caught by the enemy or whenever they were in circumstances that played against the corporation. Fang had lost many close friends such circumstances. So it was simple, cocoons agents didn't go MIA, they went KIA, the only way for one of their agents to be labelled as MIA was if they had fallen to occurrences made by cocoon themselves. Namely, if an agent had spoken out against the corporation, to cocoon, that registered enough reason for punishment of the severest measures. Cocoon would never stand for agents they thought untrustworthy, it was the reason that the success rate of a defection was so low. They were nigh impossible to even think of doing let alone achieving ; it was serve them or die, that or the torture chamber.
A shiver ran down Fang's spine at the thought of that place, making her clutch her left leg absentmindedly. That place had been hell on earth and as much as the thought hurt her, she would of rather Vanille die than ever step foot in that place. Releasing the tight hold of left leg, she stretched both legs out and rolled onto her back, the moonlight flowing in from the window making shadows play across her face.
Despite knowing that a good sleep was a highly unlikely possibility for her tonight, Fang closed her eyes and decided to risk it. It was a long time before anything that resembled sleep over took her and when it did it was filled with memories.
Memories of herself, of Vanille, their life before Cocoon and their life with it.
...:...
Fang woke up to the sound of agonised screams coming from outside her window. lurching into a sitting position on her bed she was suddenly hit with the repugnant scent of smoke wafting in from the window and it became all too clear to her what the cause of the screaming was.
Jumping out of bed she ran to the bed adjacent to her own and shook the younger girl who slept in it awake. "Vanille! Vanille! Wake up there's a fire, you need to get up!" she said urgently, trying to keep the fear she felt out of her voice.
"Fang?" a small voice questioned.
"Yeah it's me, now you need to get up, please."
"Why." the tired voice continued to question.
"I already told you, there's a fire we need to get out of here." Fang reinstated with urgency.
Sleepily climbing out of the bed the small girl moved around the room groggily, before questioning the older girl "Where's Lissa?" referring to one of the care takers in the orphanage.
"I don't know." Fang answered truthfully hurrying the young girl out of the room.
Nodding, Vanille followed Fang through the buildings hallway and down flights of stairs in direction the door that would lead them outside. Landing at the bottom of the last flight of stairs, the two came into the very first room of the house where a pair of double doors stood marking the entrance. Moving towards it Fang halted before it, clasping both of the metal handles in her hands and pushing on them with all her might, swinging them both outwards. Not in any ways a small task for someone no older than five.
What met their sights beyond the opened doors was not one that they had imagined in their wildest nightmares.
Their village was on fire, houses alight, with flames decorating their roofs, eating their way in to the interiors, paths blocked by blazing wood that had broken off from decimated houses and on to the roads. The village in its entirety was burning to the ground before their very eyes.
A terrified scream tore itself from Vanille's throat but Fang didn't move to make a single sound, holding on to silence as her eyes scanned over the monstrous inferno in shock. Never before had she seen anything so horrific in her life, she wished she would never have to.
Recovering a sufficient amount so that she was able to compose herself to a degree, Vanille grabbed onto on Fang's nightgown and tugged on it so as to draw the attention of the older girl away from the fire "Fang, Fang what happened?" the little girl questioned, scared out of her mind of the situation they'd been caught up in.
Snapping out of the shocked daze that had her eyes locked onto the flames that were drawing ever closer, Fang felt her Vanille's hand, telling her in an overwrought voice while she begun to pull her along with her away from the orphanage "I don't know."
She didn't have an inkling as to what had happened here, the chance of a fire starting when she had gone to sleep that night had been nigh improbable, the weather was cold and it wasn't even near fire season. The only sure thing she knew at the moment was that she had to get Vanille and herself out of the place and fast.
Moving past burning building after burning building Fang's eyes searched around for any living soul, but she had no such luck. She couldn't discern anybody or anything in the inferno, only the villagers screams reached her ears but she was too scared to approach the deteriorating buildings to see if there were people inside who clung onto life despite the dire circumstances
Fang passed the homes of her friends only to find them deathly silent and still, a sight that brought on a terrified whimper out of Vanille. Wrapping her arm around the small girl, she held her close. Feeling genuinely sorry for her, three years olds where not meant to witness things like this, but then how was she much different.
Looking back on this night years from now, Fang would realise that they had slipped through the fire with so much ease for a reason, one she would take many years for her see in clear light.
Reaching the end of the rows of houses, Fang and Vanille made their way to the top of a hill that overlooked the town. Once at the top, the two girls turned to face their home, watching as the fires continued to lay waste to what had been up to tonight a flourishing village
"Fang?" Vanille piped up.
"Hm." Fang sounded, tilting her head to look into Vanille's face.
"Where everyone?" the younger girl questioned her, utterly naïve of the answer.
Problem was, Fang wasn't, she knew all too well where everyone was, they were still in those houses, burning to death if the fire hadn't already put an end to them. Shaking her head she pulled Vanille further away from the sight and answered with a lie "I don't know."
They took shelter that night a while away from the village in an old abandoned hut that stood by a smooth flowing river. Fang laid the tired Vanille on a bed that sat in the corner of the cramped room before falling to the floor herself. After what she'd just seen she wasn't too sure if she'd be sleeping tonight.
Leaning her back against the bed Fang thanked the goddess that Vanille had fallen asleep the moment her head had hit the pillow as there was no way in heaven and hell that she'd ever want to let the kid see the tears that she'd cry tonight. Lifting her hands to her head she cradled it in her palms; gaze transfixed to the floor with eyes wide open. tears slid down her face in pairs and hit the floor beneath her, making splash marks on the aging wood.
It was a long time til her tears began to cease, but when they did, Fang took her hands away from her head and raised her gaze from the floor to the thatched roof. There wasn't thing she could do, she knew that, was had happened had happened, there was no changing it. But no matter how many times Fang told herself that tears were useless, there were always some threatening to fall over the boundary of her eyes.
Suppressing a whimper, Fang crawled into a ball, thinking dreadful thoughts she didn't want to think.
Her friends were dead, their families along with them, how many more had died alongside them? Had any others gotten out alive like her and Vanille?
Tears repeatedly threatened to fall but she refused to let them, she had to be strong now, she couldn't let Vanille see her like this.
Laying down and resting her head on the hard floor Fang let herself fall into a fitful sleep, one that was filled the first of many nightmares that would stalk sleeping hours for many years to come.
...:...
When Fang awoke, it was to the sound of unfamiliar voices emanating from outside the hut. Lifting her body, that had grown stiff and slightly sore from sleeping upon the hard floor, up off the ground she walked to the window and peered outside.
There were people there, weird looking people who were dressed in funny looking garments, or at least as Fang perceived them.
They didn't resemble the people who of her village, there were so many differences that Fang could spot just by examining at them for this short amount of time, though of course her people were tribesman. Isolated from the rest of the world by a vast ocean; so that the people that inhabited her island weren't like the rest of the world. Others had told Fang stories of the advanced civilisations in which people lived beyond her island, but these were thing her people had no interest in; they preferred and enjoyed the simple life they lived here in Oerba.
Gazing back towards the people outside the window Fang tried to listen in on what they were saying but found herself blocked by a language barrier, the words being spoken were unintelligible to her. Watching the men's conversation come to an end Fang saw that they were heading towards the hut in which her and Vanille sheltered.
Not knowing whether to be wary of them or not, Fang crept over to where Vanille lay sleeping and shook her awake, warning her "Villy there are strange men over there."
Opening her eyes sleepily in response to Fang's voice, Vanille sat up slowly and questioned her "Wah?"
Before Fang could form an answer though the men had already opened the door with a resounding creak and entered the small hut. Speaking among themselves in that same language that Fang couldn't make head nor tail of, a solitary person broke away from the group and took a couple of steps towards her and Vanille.
Fang saw that the person in question was a girl, she was young too, maybe only ten years her senior and beautiful in her own opinion, with golden brown hair and dark eyes. Coming close enough so that she could kneel down before Fang, the young girl spoke to Fang in her own Oerban tongue.
"Hey little girl." she said before gesturing to the area outside the window "Did you come from the village other there?"
Nodding slowly Fang pulled a quizzical face, but the girl ignored it and continued on "What's your name?"
"Fang." she answered slowly still unsure whether trusting these people was a good idea.
"Mine's Jihl." the girl replied back, flashing Fang a quick smile that revealed her shockingly white teeth "What about the girl behind you?" she added on with a gesture to Vanille.
"She's Vanille." Fang informed her.
"What a pretty name" Jihl mused as she got up off the ground and walked back so that she came to stand with the group of men again. Twisting around so that she faced the small girls she announced to the two of them "We're from the corporation of Cocoon."
In the years after this moment, Fang would come to realise that telling those people their names had been the worst thing she'd ever done.
...:...
Three years later
The gun fell from Fang's hands in exhaustion and she fell to her knees, no longer having the strength to hold her body up, only for a man by her side to yell at her to stand back up and pick up the gun. Breathing out harshly, and biting back the retort she felt at the edge of her lips, Fang she willed herself bring herself back to her feet and reach for the gun that lay on the ground no too far from her and raise it to face the target in front of her.
The three years since Cocoon had picked up both her and Vanille up could described as nothing but hell, they'd been brought across the wide ocean that had separated Oerba from the rest of the world, taught English and had been trained to use a number of firearms, bladed weapons and more. They were told that they were to become agents of cocoon and in a nutshell that meant that they were to become two of the many people who worked in the shadows to do Cocoon's dirty work. Fang hated the thought of it, she had never liked cocoon for taking them away from Oerba, true it was not like they had anything left for them there, with the village in ruins and everyone they knew killed in the inferno, but Oerba was a place so special to her that it couldn't be described in words and it'd been so much nicer than the place Cocoon had brought them.
The mere action of bringing them here left Fang mistrustful of them; she had no idea why cocoon had been there in the first place and why they even bothered in taking her and Vanille with them. Their excuses never satisfied her like they did Vanille, Fang thought as she levelled her tired arms up with the target and shot off a round of bullets.
Slowly releasing a breath, her mind succumbed to the thought that at least this got her away from school. She found it odd, but it was beyond her how she could loathe school so much when she hadn't even spent a year there and had lived in a tribal village so what passed for school there didn't exactly resemble the system that every kid would passed through in this country.
She thanked the goddess when the man observing her training told her that she'd done enough for today and let her stop. Breathing out a sign of relief, Fang handed the gun that had been emptied of bullets to him and forced her fatigued body keep from giving out on her so that it could at least get her out of the room. They'd worked her to the bone today and she was practically ready to drop to the ground, something she did indeed proceed to do when she reached her room and closed the door behind her.
"Finally." Fang breathed out from her position on the floor.
The action caught the attention of a slight figure that lay stretched out on Fang's bed, and sitting up so that she could spy Fang on the floor Vanille exclaimed "Fang!" as she jumped off the bed and ran over to the girl who still lay on the ground by the door. Not ready for the hug Vanille engulfed her with, Fang jumped startled as Vanille wrapped her arms around her before returning the gesture.
"Hey." she said weakly "How long you been here?"
"Since I finished training an hour ago."
"An hour ago." Fang complained, once more spoken in that tired sounding voice "You even started training two hours after to me, why do you get it easier than me, I feel like I'm about to drop dead."
"Don't complain Fang I'm two years younger than you, they can't push me like they do you."
"Ahh." Fang breathed into the air "I'm gonna go to sleep kay." she stated suddenly.
"Umhmm, kay." Vanille said letting go of her friend, shyly letting her eyes fall to the floor for a second before questioning "Um, Fang?"
"Yeah." Fang muttered sleepily"
"Can I sleep here tonight?"
"What? Why?" Fang asked, curious.
"No reason." Vanille answered quietly.
"You're aware that means it's something." Fang informed her as pushed her tired self off the hard floor and walked at a slow pace towards the bed in the centre of the room.
Despite her last sentence, Fang knew all too well that Vanille wasn't going to tell her why she didn't want to leave her room. Moving over to lie on her bed she told Vanille "Sure but don't wake me up"
Nodding Vanille jumped up on Fang's bed with her and snuggled in closer to Fang, soon falling asleep next to the older girl.
Much like with their names, Fang would come to regret never making Vanille tell her what had been bothering her that night, and for the many similar nights to come.
...:...
Two years later
Creeping across the hall darkened by nights limited resources of light and sticking to the wall and its many shadows, Fang crept ever closer to her goal.
She had been ordered by cocoon to kill a Pulsian agent who had put a cork in their plots one too many times for his own good lately. He was code named Jackson and over the past few months he'd become a household name to the corporation of cocoon, all for the wrong reasons. Fang herself had come face to face with the man twice before she'd been ordered with this mission; he was a man many years older than her, in his twenties if Fang guessed right. 'Jackson' though , the first time he'd lied eyes on her had made the almost fatal mistake of viewing her as nothing but a little girl, a mistake that had cost many, many people their lives before him.
At no older than ten years of age, Fang was a highly trained Cocoon agent skilled in the art of murder; she was a prodigy among her fellow agents and not one to be underestimated. Needless to say, the next time Jackson met her he hadn't taken her so lightly.
But this time luck was not on his side, an agent of cocoon had badly injured him in the field and he had been subsequently bedridden due to his severe injuries. All she had to do was sneak into his room and slit his throat. A task not as easy said as done, as Pulse's agents had surveillance on them 24-7 when inside Pulsian safe houses.
Especially the good agents.
Making sure to keep control of her breathing in this hostile environment, Fang's mind kept its attention on how if she stuffed this up she certainly wasn't coming out of it unscathed, so she needed to concentrate.
Keeping to the wall Fang reached a corner and peered around it cautiously. Scanning over what was visible; Fang sought out any human activity in the area. Seeing that the coast was clear she tiptoed forward and on to the next hallway.
Fang's time in the safe house went on like that for a while before it's mundaneness was interrupted by the appearance of an unmarked door, and having memorised the layout of this building from a map a Cocoon spy had supplied her with before setting off on this mission, Fang knew that the contents of the room was an electronics system that was a master control of many of the security cameras in the decorated this place, though not all of them. So even if she turned off the cameras that could be controlled through this room she still had to be careful.
Opening the door silently, the man that sat on a chair inside the room observing the cameras didn't notice her until it was too late, and in seconds his throat bore a deep cut that would soon end his life. Hiding him as best as she could in the corner, Fang walked up to the equipment laid out on the desk. Very carefully choosing specific camera's she turned them off. Without the hindrance of these cameras it would be indefinitely easier to move through the safe house and get into Jacksons room.
All that was left was to take care of now were guards and stray agents in the hallways, but they were nothing but small fry.
Stepping back into the cold hall walls once more, Fang trod ever closer to Jackson's room, with anyone who tried to bare her way quickly struck down by her trusty knife and left in the dust. It was all too soon that Fang found herself in front of her victim-to-be's door. Picking the locks that decorated the door's surface were a cinch compared to what it'd took to get here and soon enough all the locks clicked open.
Entering the silent room, Fang closed the door behind her and approached the man on the bed. He was a sad sight compared to what she'd seen of him before this moment.
His left arm was broken and he had a number of bruises and lacerations trailing down his body on all sides, she smiled to herself at the sight of him knowing all too well who would have caused him these injures.
"Nabaat." she whispered to herself.
Fang had seen similar injuries to Jackson's on many of her victims and prisoners she'd captured. Coming to stand at the foot of Jackson's bed, the man startled her by speaking to her though she'd thought him asleep.
"It's nice to see you again little girl." he rasped.
Failing to keep herself from gasping, Fang bit her lip to bring her emotions under check and raised her eyes to meet his own, telling him "Can't say the same about you."
"Heh figured as much, that Nabaat though, she is gifted with weaponry, she's a person I had wished never to find myself fighting." he mused.
"Looks like you failed at that."
"Guess so." he replied.
Tightly griping the handle of the knife she held in her hands Fang walked to the side of his bed so that she stood by his head.
Raising the knife so as to cut His throat Fang was made to halt her attempt by a question.
"Why do you work for cocoon girl?" Jackson asked her, a strange sense of curiosity melding in with his meek voice.
"Huh."
"Why do you work for them?" Jackson questioned her again.
"I don't know." Fang answered him in all truth. Because when it got down to it; that was a question she'd been asking herself for years, only to always come up with no answer.
The man in the bed raised his eyebrow at that "How come." he probed.
She shrugged "They picked me and my friend up five years ago, after our village burned down, we're worked for them ever since."
Half closing his eyes he lifted them to the ceiling "That so."
Raising the knife again Fang laid the blade against Jackson's neck.
"What's your name girl, I wish to know the name of my killer." he said suddenly.
Contemplating whether or not to tell him Fang decided on saying "My name's Fang."
"Hm." was the only sound she got out of him.
Applying more pressure to the knife Jackson uttered his last words "You know Fang, Cocoon were probably the ones who burned down your village."
That was the night Fang started to hate Cocoon to the core.
...:...
Three years later
Holding one hand out to help up the girl on the ground, Fang pulled Vanille up and onto her feet.
Dusting herself off Vanille apologised "Sorry bout that Fang."
"It's okay villy." Fang responded.
Standing up straight, Vanille followed along behind Fang through the halls of the main building; they had been called here urgently to fulfil a mission that was important to the safety of Cocoon. A single Pulsian agent had broken into the headquarters in the early hours of the morning and stolen highly important documents that held information on Cocoon that they had to stop Pulse getting no matter what the costs.
So to put simply, Fang and Vanille had been ordered to assassinate the agent and anyone who'd got their hands on said documents.
Despite the corner the agent had pushed Cocoon into Fang couldn't help but admire them, whoever they were, for what they'd done. Breaking into a cocoon headquarters where they knew full well that they'll be killed on sight, took guts, a lot of guts.
Walking through threshold of the briefing room, both girls stepped inside and greeted who they found within "Why hello you two." Fang said cheekily earning a frown from Rosch who crossed arms and looked as if he was about to tell her off , but was denied the chance by Nabaat.
"Don't let her get to you Yaag, she's just being herself."
"Yes Yaag dear listen to your wife." Fang teased, making sure to apply the smirk that she knew made his blood boil every time he sighted it.
"That's enough Fang, I'd stop before you truly get on his bad side." Nabaat snapped, though Fang had a strong feeling she'd done so just because she didn't like being called Rosch's wife.
Fang held her silence after that and let Nabaat fill them in on the details of the mission to come. As the minutes ticked by Fang felt Vanille tense up more and more beside her, and she had enough of a brain to know that it had nothing to do with what Nabaat was saying.
Rosch had been eyeing her for minutes on end, Vanille herself was trying to ignore his lingering gaze but such was a failing battle.
Once Nabaat was done with the briefing her eyes flashed venomously to Rosch, though the man never noticed her eye lock onto him, as they were still locked wholly on Vanille. Coughing loudly into the room to get his attention Nabaat glared at him with poison in her gaze.
Rosch though only straightened up and unhooked his eyes from Vanille's form and created an air about him that suggested that nothing had happened. Getting back to business, he turned to face the two girls in front of him he told them.
"Jihl with be coming with you on this mission as well." he informed them "Is there anything you wish to say before you leave?"
Fang nodded "Yeah just one thing."
"Yes." the face he pulled insinuated that he already knew what she was going to say.
"Stop looking at Vanille like you want to fuck her." Fang spat at him viciously. And with that she left the room, making sure to keep Vanille close to her side, and with Nabaat soon following afterwards.
Stopping at the doorway, Nabaat stood still with her back to Rosch, letting Fang and Vanille walk away from the room without her. Laying her hands down on the doorframe she spoke to Rosch one last time before leaving "I'd listen to her if you don't want to get mauled to pieces"
...:...
Luckily for them the agent who had broken into cocoon headquarters hadn't yet returned to their own HQ, they had apparently been injured in the act of escaping and had returned to the nearest safe house, their physical state making the full trip impossible. The documents that had been stolen had been locked inside a safe until executives from Pulse came to pick them up.
So disguised, Fang, Vanille and Jihl snuck into the safe house that housed both the agent and the documents and used information they'd gotten from one of Cocoon's spies to locate where they were both situated.
They crept through the safe house with ease that bordered on unsettling. Moving from wall to wall to elude security camera's that decorated the halls, the girls swept through the corridors silent as humanly possible.
Boredom dominating Fang's mind, she risked the chance of being heard to Speak to Jihl in an effort to make it cease. And of course being herself, it was of the most unrelated topics to their current situation "Hey Jihl, being as bored as I am right now, how is it like being married to you know who?"
Jihl scoffed "Who else but you would ask that sort of thing right now and as you should already know I'm severely tempted to gut that bastard every time I see him, so no, I'm not enjoying being married to him. Why did I have to be forced into that by cocoon in the first place? And better yet why didn't I put up more of a fight to stop them from doing so."
Fang shrugged "You probably realised that it'd be a losing battle straight from the get go, they have too much control over our lives for us to bluntly go against their will. But hey look at the bright side, all they want out of you is for you two to have a baby and to keep up the happily married façade so that people on the outside don't try chasing after Rosch"
"Your just trying to get on my nerves and I know it, you know well enough that it's the baby thing that annoys me the most, fuck that façade bull crap." Jihl snapped at Fang barely raising her voice above a whisper.
"I'm fully aware, but the baby thing does stop cocoon from having to bring in more kids to be trained as agents, babies born to Cocoon agents are trained to be what their parents were."
"That just annoys me more" Jihl told the girl beside her firmly "I don't want any more kids pulled into this, least of all my own."
"Hypocrite." Fang slipped in, a slight piece of emotion mixed in with the word which nature's was unidentifiable.
"Hey, I didn't know how bad cocoon was back when they brought you in; I was only with them for a year before hand." Jihl said in her defence.
"I know, I know, just saying."
Falling distinctly silent for a time long enough to make Fang curious of as to why, Jihl spoke to Fang without making the littlest of effort to turn her head to face her "Um Fang?"
"Yeah?" Fang inquired, still curious.
"I can feel Vanille boring her eyes into my back." Jihl answered monotonously.
Looking backwards to spy the younger girl Fang replied to Jihl, in tone that suggested that she found it humorous "Doesn't like you much don't she?"
Jihl nodded squirming under Vanille's intense gaze "Has quite the glare for an 11 year old don't she?"
"Hm." Fang sounded, suppressing a laugh that would neither do her good when it came to what Jihl would do if she let it out or what would happen if she brought attention to herself in an environment where she was less then welcome.
They continued to move through the safe house with that same ease, which as time passed was becoming more and more eerie. Despite the conversation she held with Jihl, Fang sensed anxiety consuming at her, making her heart beat faster and faster by the minute. The last time she had been in a safe house, there had been a hell of a lot more security than what they faced today.
Coming upon a heavily locked door, Fang sensed that they had located their target, a feeling which was reaffirmed for her by Jihl quietly whispering in her ear "If what our spy's told us is right, that's where the agent is- kill everyone inside."
Nodding Fang closed the distant between herself and the door and picked the locks with infinite skill.
"And you two?" Fang asked her before heading inside.
"We're going to hunt down that safe." Jihl informed her.
Fang nodded again, knowing that she'd been made to go after the agent because despite for them being known for their battle prowess, Jihl especially, both of them were not the best when it came to stomaching killings.
Slipping inside the room Fang kept to the walls, the dim light of the interior concealing her body in darkness. Scanning over the room with her eyes, she counted seven people, eight if you included a person lying unconscious on a bed placed in the middle of the room.
Taking out her gun from a hoister hidden within her jacket, Fang lifted the barrel to meet the men surrounding the bed and fired, taking out all seven before they could even locate her.
Moving forwards to the bed, Fang failed to hold in a gasp at the sight of the agent that lay on upon it. The agent who had broken into the Cocoon headquarters was a young girl, no older than fifteen just like Fang. If the fact that she had broken into cocoon's headquarters singlehandedly had already amazed her then that feeling had just been times tenfold.
Fang couldn't get anywhere close to a Pulsian headquarters, even with all her skill such a feat had been but a dream within a dream.
Raising the gun she levelled it with the girl and aimed it at her head, it would a shame to end the girl's life right here but orders were orders, there was no disobeying them no matter what the circumstances.
In the beginnings of pushing the trigger Fang felt a shape pain tear through her right cheek. Taking a moment to register what had just occurred she saw that in front of her the girl in the bed was wide awake, albeit weak looking and with a knife in her hands. A knife she'd used to rip a deep cut down Fang's cheek.
Fangs hand went to her cut cheek as it flared up in pain. So the girl hadn't been unconscious after all she thought with a smirk "Well hello there sunshine."
"Hn." the girl rasped, hand snapping up to grip a place on her chest where she'd obviously been hurt, it looked like a stab wound to Fang, but she couldn't still be conscious if the wound was that bad could she?
Watching as the girl began to ready the knife again Fang's mind chose a bad time to drift away to focus on certain, others thing about what lay in front of her.
God the girl was was beautiful, with icy blue eyes and blonde-pink hair.
In her trance Fang almost didn't dodge the next swipe the girl sent her way, jumping back she raised her gun again and tried to push she trigger but found herself lacking the will to fulfil the action. As she stalled the girl gave a pained cough that spluttered specs of blood onto the sheet covered and the like on the bed and clutched her chest, obviously in extreme pain.
Observing her, Fang lowered her gun and stared at the girl, she was considerably more hurt than she'd initially thought "Hey you okay?" she asked.
She only received a stare in return.
In what she knew was a bad choice she approached the girl only for in the next instance her right eye to be gone, with a jagged wound trailing up from her right cheek to her eyebrow. Obviously the girl had just been waiting for her to get close enough so she could attack her again.
Clutching her eye Fang bit back a scream, stumbling back from the bed she fell to the ground
"Bitch." she muttered.
The girl on the bed lied back down and her grip on her chest loosened, as obvious as it had been that she was only trying to lure Fang closer, it was also obvious that the pain that she had been feeling wasn't something she'd created for show. Before unconsciousness took her away, she muttered to Fang barely above a whisper "Your own fault."
Clutching her eye, Fang felt hot trails of blood gliding down her face, and thanks to the outright jaggedness of the cut that was its source, it was enormous amount of blood. In no time she felt herself blacking out, struggling to stay conscious Fang failed in keeping her body upright and slowly it sunk to the floor.
The last thing that reached her ears was the sound of the door opening behind her "Shit."
...:...
Waking up hours later Fang saw that she was lying in a bed. Confused, she looked around the room only to be more confused by how she'd come to be back in the Cocoon headquarters "Wah?" she voiced in puzzlement.
From the corner of her eyes, Fang saw a stir of movement from beside the bed she lay in and turning her head to see what it was, she realised that it was movement made by Vanille who sat next to her.
"Vanille?"
"Yeah." the younger girl said with a nod.
"What happened?" Fang asked looking around the room in curiosity, the only answer her mind could give her to anything she asked it was that the right side of her face stung like all hell and was covered in a bandage.
Vanille let out a breath before answering "They knew we were coming."
"How?" Fang asked.
"I have no idea, but me and Jihl got in big trouble back there, we got most of the documents but we were forced to leave some of them behind, escaping that place was more important."
Dipping her head Fang queried "And what about me?"
"When we went back to where we left you, you were unconscious." Vanille responded, biting down on her lip for a second, she asked "What happened to you Fang?"
"That damn agent wasn't asleep that's what." Fang wasn't in any circumstances going to tell Vanille that she'd actually been dumb enough to walk up to the girl.
"You should really be more careful Fang." Vanille scolded in response.
"I know, I know." Fang muttered, but a sudden spark of remembrance made her ask "Wait what happened to the agent, did you kill her?"
"No, it was either kill her or save you."
"Ah." Fang sounded while rolling onto her back and sighing "Just asking, but what became of my eye exactly?"
"Well if you haven't noticed already, that agent kind of killed it." Vanille said jokingly.
"Ahh, so out an eye am I?" Fang joked along with her, knowing that most other people wouldn't dream of joking around while placed in a situation like the one she was in.
"For now." Vanille replied.
"For now?"
"Rosch says the scientist want to try something." Vanille cleared up.
"You know that never really means anything good right?"
"It's not as bad as it sounds; we're talking about robotic parts here, like a robotic eye in your example." Vanille explained some more.
"Hmm, and they want to use me as a proto type?" Fang inquired.
"Yep."
"Huh, do I get a choice in this?" Fang asked, propping herself up on her elbow
"That's what I was told."
"Hmmm." Fang contemplated what she'd just been informed for a time; but it didn't take her long to agree "Sure why not, there's not much I can do with a busted eye."
Vanille just shrugged and got up "Guess so." walking to the door she told Fang "Oh and by the way Nabaat wants to speak with you." her last sentence she'd said with clear distaste in her voice.
The distaste was what prompted Fang to ask "Vanille, why do you hate Jihl so much?"
Vanille shrugged again "Just do." And with that she walked out of the room.
After the first instance of when her eye had been gouged out, there were many others that followed that the scientists took to with fervour to use her as their prototype for their inventions, something that would in the end earn Fang the name "Iron Maiden" among the agents of Cocoon and Pulse.
...:...
The second injury she suffered was the shattering of the bones in her lower right arm beyond repair; the injury decimating all the nerves in the vicinity of the bone. The inside of said arm had been replaced with cybertronic prototypes of the Cocoon scientists.
The third had been her other eye, gone much like the right one but differed in how the eye that now rested in her right eye socket was a prototype, while her newer left one was perfection.
Her forth were her fingers on her right hand, cut off by a crazed Pulse agent, all fingers were now robotic.
Her fifth and last while she served cocoon had been her left shoulder and the top of her arm, crushed under the weight of stray machinery.
All those injuries she'd sustained over two years, from thirteen years old to fifteen years old.
The year she'd turned fifteen had been the last she spent with Cocoon.
...:...
Two years later
Rubbing her sore shoulder Fang complained to Jihl "You know I might have completed that mission if Cocoon took better care of their machinery; it was sheer luck that my head didn't get crushed when that damn thing fell."
"Stop whining, it's your fault your shoulder got crushed, you're the embodiment of bad luck sometimes you know."
"So I noticed." Fang replied brushing her fingers over her shoulder again.
Exhaling Jihl turned to walk out the door "Oh and by the way Fang as much as the scientist love using you as their little test subject, please try to be more careful."
"Yeah, yeah." Fang muttered, knowing that that was probably an impossible task for her.
"Hm." Jihl sounded before walking out the door, totally not convinced that Fang would do as she said.
Leaning up against the wall Fang sighed, she was tired of all the missions Cocoon was sending her on lately, who cares if she was one of their best agent, even she needed a break sometime. Bringing herself away from the wall she followed Jihl's lead and walked out of the room.
She was in dire need of some sleep.
...:...
In the midst of dreaming Fang felt herself being shaken awake by a hand placed on her shoulder. Eyes fluttering open she found Vanille standing over her, slightly perplexed she turned to look the girl in the face and asked "What, why'd you wake me up?"
"Nabaat wants to talk to you." she answered with disdain.
"Why?" Fang questioned
Vanille shrugged and made to walk out the door but Fang stopped her.
"Villy?"
"Hm."
"I know I've asked this before, but why do you hate Jihl?" she asked without quite knowing why.
Vanille didn't answer; she just shrugged again and walked out the door.
Sighing, Fang rolled over and got off the bed cursing the fact that Vanille had to wake her up just when she'd been having a good dream. Stepping across the tiled floor she walked out the door and began strolling down the halls towards Jihl's room.
Approaching Jihl's door she knocked on it and let herself in, closing the door behind her with a loud thud. The suddenness of the noise and her appearance startling the women inside.
"Why so surprised I thought you wanted to see me." Fang teased.
"Ah sorry, when Vanille told me you were asleep I half thought you wouldn't come." Jihl stated weekly.
Fang rose and eyebrow at Jihl, taking in the women's figure, she found that something about her just didn't seem herself for some reason. Curious Fang asked her "What's up Jihl?"
Jihl didn't do anything for a time, except pass Fang an odd look, but eventually that inactivity ended and she mumbled words too quiet to be audibly as she walked closer to a desk of drawers and silently pulled out a number of pages of paperwork "I'll be in trouble if they knew I took this." she said.
That sparked Fangs curiosity as to what was the content of those papers. Holding out her hand to take them off Jihl as they were passed to her, her mind was taken years back, to a man with a knife at his throat speaking his last words.
Jackson.
He'd said that Cocoon were probably the ones who burnt down her and Vanille's village and oh how right he'd been.
Reading what these papers said made Fang's hate of Cocoon flare up tenfold. They were a description of a project taken out years ago, one set in Oerba. They destroyed multiple settlements and camps in search of new recruits, taking nothing more than a couple of kids out of all the thousands they'd killed.
Stunned speechless the papers slid from her hands and floated gradually to the floor. Her body went rigid as the true magnitude of what she had read began to sink in.
"Fang?" Jihl asked quietly "Are you alright?" knowing that there was only one answer to that question and it wasn't a positive one.
Jihl watched as Fang's knees gave way beneath her and she fell to the floor in a kneeling position.
Bringing a hand to her mouth Fang let out a muffled sound and tears began to form along the rim of her eyes. The realisation that Cocoon actually had it in them to destroy village upon village just for a handful of recruits was too much to bear.
In her current state she barely noticed Jihl kneel down beside her and wrap her arms around her shoulders, whispering comforting words in her ear. Fang remained like that for some time before she somehow managed to get out "Did you know anything about this?"
Jihl shook her head "No." she said firmly "My parents were archaeologists working in Oerba, when they died of disease Cocoon picked me up, they stayed in Oerba for a year after that before coming back here, I had no idea what they were really doing."
Fang believed her "Have you told Vanille any of this?"
"No, she won't stay in my presence for a second; she didn't give me the chance when I tried."
Fang nodded, laying into Jihl's embrace, returning it slightly "Why did you show me this?"
Jihl didn't answer for a while after that; staying silent she contemplated what she would answer. Leaning in closer to Fang she whispered in her ear "Cocoon needs to fall Fang."
Pulling away from the embrace abruptly Fang questioned her "What?"
Jihl's face didn't falter "This is just one example Fang, there are more, much, much more, each one a reason enough to send cocoon into the depths of hell"
"But what do you mean by this?" Fang asked her, her saddened state distorting the usual sound of her voice.
"Escape, go to Pulse." Jihl pushed on.
"But you know what happens to agents who try to defect."
"Yes but if you don't try you'll be trapped in this place forever."
"But-"
"No buts." Jihl cut her off sternly.
Holding her tongue for no more than a moment, Fang proceeded to ask her "What about you and Vanille?"
Jihl smiled at her, but it carried a sad emotion with it "We could never in all our dreams manage to ever hold a candle to you; we'd never stand a chance."
"Vanille will hate you for this."
"For endangering you maybe but you know yourself that she hates the work Cocoon makes you do."
"How is Pulse any different?"
"You'd be surprised Fang, you'll be surprised."
Fang did nothing but stare at Jihl for a long time after that contemplating all of what she had said. Breaking her gaze with Jihl and looking down Fang posed her a final question "Why me?"
"Because I know that you will do anything to make cocoon fall from its seat in the sky, to save the people of this world from their tyranny."
Fang eyes lifted back up to Jihl brown orbs a little taken aback by her words. Getting up off the floor with Jihl following suit, they stood face to face, looking in to Jihl's determined gaze Fang quietly asked her "So what do you plan to do?"
"Get in contact with a Pulsian spy; send word back to Pulse of a defection."
Fang nodded again "Vanille with kill us both for this you know."
"Why?" Jihl questioned her.
"Because I'd be leaving her alone." Fang replied.
"She'll understand Fang, I already told you that it doesn't take a genius to realise that she hates the work you do here."
Fang nodded once again "I want to tell Vanille this myself, okay."
Jihl nodded "Of course."
Letting Fang walk pass her and open the door to let herself out of the room, Jihl watched as the girl disappeared from sight. Left alone in the room she proceeded to pick up the papers Fang had previously dropped and placed them back in the draw she'd originally took them out of and locked them in with a resounding click.
Running her hands through her long brown hair Jihl sighed to herself "Let's just pray to Etro that this works." as she voiced the words, the syllables echoed continuously off the walls, but never out into the halls beyond.
...:...
Walking along the hallways of the safe house they currently preoccupied, Fang searched for Vanille. She found it odd but she hadn't found her in her room where she usually stayed. Looking in to every opened door she passed Fang began to tire of the search to find her friend. It wasn't like she'd stop, no way in hell she'd be doing that any time soon but it was usually hell of a lot easier to find the younger girl.
After another few minutes of looking Fang stopped in her tracks, she thought she'd just head Vanille's voice but that couldn't be right. The girl certainly wasn't in the hall and the only room in the area was Rosch's-
Oh holyshitfire.
The image of Rosch constantly leering at Vanille whenever they were in close quarters flashed through her mind and Fang could of very well have teleported up to his door at the speed she went. Pressing her ear to the door, Fang tried to discern the sounds of what was happening inside.
Her stomach dropped when she heard Vanille's screams.
Banging on the door with all her strength she twisted the Knob that she knew would be locked. Screeching her lungs off she yelled "Rosch open this door bastard!"
Fang boiled over when she heard the sound of his laughter float through the doors the metal frame. Banging on the door again, Fang repeated herself only to be met again by the sounds of his laughter and Vanille's ever growing screams. Slamming her shoulder against the door in attempt to make the damn thing budge she growled in aggravation.
"Damn it!" She muttered resting her hands against the door.
Pushing the door with her shoulder again the action once again proved utterly useless. Slamming her hands down on the door again, the sound of Vanille calling out for her met her ears and she snapped.
But just for a second a memory broke through her rage, a memory of how her and Vanille use to break into locked rooms when they were younger. Taking in the memory, Fang's gaze lingered down to the knob that was only inches away from her left hand.
It wasn't the sort of knob that she was use to but it should still work.
Latching on to it with her right and mostly artificial arm she twisted it hard, it wasn't the traditional way of doing things but the result was the same. The knob burst right off, ripped from the door. Pulling out the small piece of metal that connected both the outside and the inside knobs, Fang persevered to once again slam her shoulder against the door, which with any form of lock that came from the knob gone, opened with the powerful shove.
The scene inside the room made Fang swear that she'd see to it that Rosch suffered a slow and painful death someday, hopefully sooner than later.
He'd forced Vanille back onto the bed and was tearing at her clothes; his hand covering her mouth, probably to hinder anymore attempts to scream out. Vanille eyes widened when she saw Fang break through the door but Rosch himself had become too entangled on what he was doing to notice her.
Walking up behind the man Fang tapped his shoulder and said deceivingly gently "Hey"
His whole body freezing up, Rosch turned his head back to face the girl behind him, but she only met his sights for a second before she grabbed a lamp from his bedside table and smashed it over his head knocking him senseless.
He fell to the side still as death, his hold on Vanille relinquished. Free of his grasp Vanille jumped off the bed and embraced Fang tightly. Holding the shaking girl in her arms Fang offered her words of reassurance while she slowly led her out of the room.
Bringing the still shaking girl out of Rosch's room she led her down the silent halls and down the path to her own room. Once she got there, Fang sat Vanille down on the bed and placed an arm around her shoulder reassuringly, letting the girl snuggle up closer to her. With her head on the crook of Fang's arm Vanille began to cry, tears ran down her cheeks as she clung ever tighter to Fang who in return held her closer as well.
The way Vanille was acting right now reminded Fang all too painfully of ways she had in the past, she cringed at the thought but all the same she had to ask her "That wasn't the first time that happened was it Vanille?" even while saying it Fang already knew the answer.
Beside her Vanille went rigid, the slow nod she gave her making Fang's heart sink all the lower. Hugging the girl even closer again Fang asked "Why didn't you tell me?" it was hard to keep the tears out of her voice.
Vanille's breath hitched in her throat as she continued to cry but she still managed to say "H…he said that if I ever told anyone that he'd, that he'd…" she spluttered to a stop as more tears fell down her cheeks, and a overwhelming sense of fear emanated from her.
Encouraging her to go on Fang whispered "That he'd what Vanille?
Looking back up to meet Fang gaze, the pain in her eyes was simply more than Fang could bear "That he'd kill you."
That made what ever more words that wished to pass her lips die and fade away, the worst thing being, that Fang knew beyond everything else that Rosch would have meant every word of that threat. Given the chance, he would go forward with what his words spoke of.
Lowering her head Fang bit her lip, realising that saving Vanille from him had probably sealed her fate. It didn't matter how it happened, all that Rosch would care about was that now, she knew.
"Vanille"
The girl met her eyes "what?"
"Saving you from him, that… that sealed my fate didn't it?" It wasn't a question.
Vanille bit her lip, tilting her head downwards, though she didn't answer Fang, the action said enough.
Sighing Fang said barely above a whisper "Just great." shaking her head in partial anger she fell back on the bed, laying her head upon her pillow, closing her eyes "Vanille" she spoke up after a period of silence "just saying but I don't think you'll have to worry about me much longer."
"Huh?"
Gnawing on her lip again Fang lifted herself back up and whispered into Vanille's ear "Jihl wants me to defect."
Vanille tensed at the words but she didn't seem shocked by them.
Curious Fang asked "You don't seem surprised, how come?"
Pulling a face, Vanille mumbled in response "Me and Jihl, we're talked about this before."
"What?! I thought you couldn't even stand being near Jihl let alone talk to her and why haven't you told me any of this?" Fang inquired.
Vanille lowered her head "I was afraid you would consider it."
"Why?" Fang asked even though she already had a pretty good idea of the answer.
"Because it's dangerous, I don't want you to get hurt."
Fang scoffed "I think I might get worse if I stay here." she said referring to Rosch.
Vanille shook her head "But what if he doesn't try to hurt you-"
"You know he will!" Fang shot back fiercely.
Vanille stopped with the words still half way to her lips, Fang was right, they both knew that Rosch wouldn't risk anything tarnishing his reputation, even if it meant damaging Cocoon's offensive.
Vanille lowered her head again and offered a meagre "But Fang,"
"No buts, I want to do this, I can't stay here at cocoon."
"What about me-"
"I know that I'll be leaving you alone but you know as well as I do that you'd never survive if you tried to defect."
Defeated Vanille turned away from Fang but she held her tongue for only a moment "Why can't you stay at cocoon?" The words were spoken barely above a whisper but from Fang's position they were as clear as day.
Biting her lip, Fang leaned in so that her mouth was inches from Vanille's ear "Cocoon had a project in Oerba, one that was used to recruit new kids." she stopped there; from the look on Vanille's face Fang could guess that she knew where she was going with this "They would observe and pick out certain kids who had the talents they wanted in their agents, and then they would destroy any evidence that those kids existed." Fang gave a slight twist of her head so that it was facing the door "E.g. by setting their villages on fire, killing their families and friends and just about everyone who knew them; anyone missed would just think the kids died with the others."
"Oh god no." Vanille whispered distraughtly, shaking her head in shock she mumbling almost incoherently "They wouldn't, they couldn't, that's just so heartless."
Fang reached over and patted Vanille on the shoulder "I know."
The younger girl stopped shaking her head and turned to Fang "But all our friends, the people we considered family, they were all killed, just for us, how could anyone do such a thing?"
"Cocoon could." Fang answered solemnly, and it was true, there was nothing Cocoon wouldn't do if it meant an upper hand on Pulse. Murder was nothing to them.
Vanille's hand rose to her mouth, her gaze portraying the disgust that she felt "I guess that just really shows how low cocoon's willing to go for power." hand dropping just below her chin but still held in the air, Vanille swerved back to face Fang again, and breathed out hastily "But what would happen to this world if Cocoon got full control, I mean people already struggle just to live day to day."
Fang nodded and despite the circumstances smirked "Then we just can't let them get that can we?"
Vanille nodded gently as well and gave a small smile in return to Fang "Guess so."
Suddenly Fang snaked her arm around Vanille and pulled her close again, whispering in her "Will you be ok without me villy?"
"Yeah."
Pulling away from the embrace Fang shot out "I call bullshit."
Despite the topic, the suddenness of the swear nearly made Vanille laugh but she bit her lip to stop the sound coming out. "Uh-"was all she managed to get out before Fang interrupted her.
"Rosch has been raping you; you'd have to be an idiot to think him of all people would stop doing that anytime soon, I'm not leaving here without knowing that you have some kind of protection from him."
Vanille pulled away from their embrace entirely and twisted her head to face the door again and gave a silent nod "So what do you have in mind?"
Fang chewed on the side of her lip, though it didn't seem like she was trying to think of something, so the action confused Vanille greatly.
"What?" she asked Fang hesitantly.
A small smirk crossed her face before she said tentatively "It kinda depends, are you willing to put up with Jihl if you really have to?"
Vanille gave a loud sigh; of course, it just had to be Nabaat didn't it "Maybe." she answered.
"It's gonna have to be a definite, she's the only one that holds anything over Rosch, she's the only person here who could keep you safe from him, and one of the few who has the heart to help you at all."
Vanille sighed again but this time a lot softer than the first one "I've got no choice in this haven't I?"
"That you haven't." Fang said in a slightly cheerier tone letting a smile fall across her face.
"What about you then?" Vanille queried dangling her legs off the edge of Fang's bed.
"Hm?"
"What about you, how's this all this gonna start?" she asked again.
"Hmm, Jihl says she going to get in contact with a Pulse spy and get them to send word back of a defection."
"Stop you from getting shot on sight I guess."
Fang gave a quick nod "Yes that probably would be a good thing; it'd kinda be shit if you got killed by the people you were trying defect to."
"Hm."
As the minutes ticked by one by one, the both of them kept up a conversation, nothing that really mattered, just friendly chatter. As it was clear in both their minds that this was probably going to be one of the last times that they would be able to talk like this, whether Fang made it to Pulse or not.
By the time the conversation started to die down they had both worked the way up to the top of Fang's bed and were lying down side by side.
"One last thing Fang." Vanille asked suddenly.
"Hm?"
"Did Nabaat ever know anything about what happened to Oerba? Just so I know I can actually trust the person looking out for me."
"No." Fang answered "She was recruited after her parents died of disease; I'm guessing that they just used her as a translator."
"Hmmm." Vanille hummed softly "Fang." she spoke up.
"Yes?"
"Do think that maybe, just maybe, Cocoon may have had something to do with her parent's deaths, I mean they have a million and one types of poisons down at the labs, who knows what else they could have, it's just a little strange in a way that someone fluent in Oerban just falls into their hands like that."
Fang continued to stare at the ceiling, seriously considering the possibility. Twisting her head so that she faced Vanille she spoke in a hushed tone "You know what maybe they did, hell, maybe this happens everywhere and perhaps the incidents that happened in Oerba were simply ones of millions.
"Maybe" Vanille uttered, it didn't seem that it was beyond Cocoon to do such a thing, at least not anymore.
They lay in silence for a time until Vanille spoke up again "I'm sleeping here tonight."
Fang smiled bitter sweetly "I already knew that."
As Vanille moved closer to Fang and snuggled into her side her mind was suddenly taken back seven years as she remembered a time when Vanille had said a very similar thing to her and she was struck with the thought, just how long had things been going on between her and Rosch?
...:...
Considerably later that night, Jihl stood against the door frame of Fang's room looking in on the scene in front of her. Seeing the sight of Vanille and Fang lying together on the bed had saddened her in a way, it hurt her to know that she'd play a big part in separating them from each other. They were so like sisters, they even referred to each other as such; the fact that there was no blood relation between them meant nothing.
Walking away from the doorway she continued on down the hall, she'd tracked down one of Pulse's spies and was intent on talking with him as soon as possible. If she let this drag out to long the word of a planned defection could leak out and when things like that happened upon gossipy agents ears they would spread like wild fire across the agents and would inevitably reach the executives ears as well.
After passing through many halls and by a countless number of rooms, Jihl came to a stop in front of the one she had set off intending to find. Twisting the door handle she was surprised to find it wasn't locked. Pushing the door inwards she found the person she was looking for. As he became aware of her presence in the room he lifted his head to meet Jihl's gaze. In an almost questioning tone she spoke one word into the otherwise silent room.
"Cid?"
...:...
Walking cautiously through the halls, Fang made her way towards a courtyard that she'd promised to meet Vanille at earlier this morning. The safe house they were currently staying at was, at least if you were looking at it from the outside, a resort. It was set up in a square with a courtyard in its middle; the insides had been renovated to drastic proportions when Cocoon had bought it off its previous owners, e.g. it was fitted shooting ranges, martial arts studio's and security to the teeth, that sort of thing. The public were always told that places like this were reserved for Cocoon employees, which of course they thought meant executives and the like, but more than not it was the agent who preferred the safe houses and the HQs preferred by the top dogs.
The public was so damn ignorant, though even as the thought hit Fang she couldn't help but wonder if maybe, that was better than knowing the truth in this situation.
While Fang's mind was preoccupied, a single hand snuck out from the shadows and covered her mouth, pulling her with it back into the shadows. Fang's first instinct was to fight against it but she soon stopped as a familiar voice rang out "Hey Fang stop it, it's only me,"
Recognising the voice she stopped her struggling and blew out a sign of relief "Oh thank Etro it's only you Cid, I thought you were Rosch."
Curious at her words Cid asked "Apart from the obvious, how come that's so bad?"
"Let's just say we aren't really getting along lately."
"Translation?"
"He wants to kill me."
Cid made a long whistling sound before saying "Jeez Fang what you do to manage that?"
"Not much actually."
"Again, translation."
Pulling closer to him suddenly Fang whispered into his right ear "I didn't tell you this but I stopped him from raping Vanille."
"What!?" Cid whispered incredulously "And he wants to kill you for just that?"
"Yep, guess he doesn't want anything damaging his reputation, through god knows he's done enough to have that happen already, he's just good at hiding it."
"Are we done talking about Rosch now?"
"Yeah," tilting her head to the side Fang asked curiously "Why exactly do you want to talk to me anyway, also while I'm on the subject, why did you pull me over here?"
"Jihl tells me you want to defect." he answered suddenly.
Turning serious, Fang asked him, while already knowing the answer "So you're the spy then?"
Cid nodded, an action Fang repeated saying "I never really took you for the Cocoon type, guess I was right."
"That you were."
Speaking up again, Cid leaned his back against the wall "So, what brings you to that decision may I ask?"
Leaning up against wall next to him Fang replied "Truth be told, I wasn't really even the one that made the decision in a way, Jihl and Vanille have been talking about it behind my back for quite a while, I just agreed to it."
"If that's your reason to do this, you'd never even make it to Pulse."
She laughed at that statement, a cold sound "Oh trust me; I've got enough reasons to do this, enough to even take Cocoon to the ground."
Cid raised an eyebrow, asking the women by his side "And what would that be Fang?"
Turning her head to look him in the eye she whispered "Cocoon set my village on fire, killed all my friends and all the people I considered family, just to get their hands on me and Vanille."
"So your one of them." He muttered, utterly not surprised by her admittance.
"Huh."
"It's common for Cocoon to commit murders upon murders just for one or two agents, nothing's really beyond them." Cid divulged to her.
Fang stayed silent for a second before stating "Vanille was right then."
"She guessed that?"
"Yeah." she answered with a nod.
Dipping his head once, Cid whispered in Fang's ear effectively ending the conversation "Meet me outside the safe house at 11 o'clock sharp." with a small laugh he added "Baby doll with be waiting."
"Who?"
"You'll see." He finished before walking back out into the hall and disappearing down its length.
"That soon?" Fang whispered to herself before doing like Cid and walking back into the hall, now she really wanted to get to Vanille, their meeting in the courtyard could very well be the last she'd get to see of her for a long time. She hated the thought of separating from Vanille, the girl she viewed as her sister and the only thing she had left of her life before Cocoon other than the knowledge of the Oerban language. Walking down the hall, she trode down the path she had intended to take before Cid had interrupted her.
Coming to the door that led to the courtyard Fang raised her hand and waved to Vanille who was already waiting for her outside, she couldn't help but let a sad smile cross her face.
Sweet Etro she'd miss this girl.
...:...
As the afternoon rolled by, Fang found herself standing in front of Jihl's room, raising her hand, she knocked upon the door and heard the women inside called out in response to it "Come in."
Opening the door and stepping inside, Jihl lifted her head to meet Fang's eyes "Ah Fang, I was wondering when you'll be coming by."
Fang gave her a quick nod saying "You work fast don't you?"
Knowing that she was talking about the defection Jihl replied "Yeah, guess I do, but you know yourself that it's never good to leave put off a defection for too long, the faster it's done the better, least someone catches word of it."
"Yeah." Fang answered her eyes directed at the tiled floors, without raising them to meet Jihl's, she voiced "Can I ask something of you Jihl, before I go?"
"Of course." Jihl replied.
Taking a moment to speak again Fang said "Please, look after Vanille for me."
Jihl thought the words a little strange "I was planning to, you didn't have to ask."
Fang shook her head "That's not really what I mean, I-" she hesitated for a second "The other day, when you told me you wanted me to defect, I found Rosch trying to rape her."
That stopped Jihl in her tracks "What?" she asked in an almost monotone voice, disbelieving.
"You heard what I said and he's done it plenty of times before."
A seething rage burst forth from behind Jihl's eyes, the fact that the man she was married to, albeit forcefully, had raped Vanille was enough to push her off the edge "Fang may I ask something of you too?"
"Yeah?"
"See to it that that son of a bitch gets mauled to death." She said with venom enveloping her tone.
Fang gave a dark chuckle "Remember you telling him that a few years back but I was already planning on it."
"Nice to know," Jihl said smiling darkly.
Walking over to her, Fang sat down on Jihl's bed and leaned back on her hands.
"But enough of plotting to kill Rosch for one night."
"Wasn't aware that was possible." Jihl said jokingly, walking to sit on the bed herself.
"It isn't but there were other things I came here for."
Tilting her head to look up to Fang's face Jihl asked.
"To say goodbye then?"
"Hm, course."
Grabbing to top of Jihl's top Fang pulled her into a passionate kiss and pushed her back on the bed
...:...
Startled by the sound of an alarm Fang twisted off her bed and picked up her phone, resisting the urge to throw it at the wall just to shut up the annoying tune coming from it. Looking at it, she read the words 11 o'clock pm and let out a sigh.
It was now or never.
Slipping down the halls relatively unnoticed Fang made her way to one of the side entrances; she'd have no chance getting out of the front one at this time of night. Keeping to the shadows she snuck up on the guards that were in front of the door and hit them firmly on the back of their heads, resulting in them both falling to the ground unconscious. Silently thanking that the robotic parts in her body screwed over just about any machinery she came into contact with made the security cameras all but useless on her Fang slipped through the side door she started walking down a small path that trailed away horizontally from the safe house until she was met with a familiar voice.
"Nice to see you made it out fine Fang."
Twisted around to meet Cid's gaze, the man flashed an amused smile and pointed to a spot directly ahead of her, the action caught Fangs attention and made her turn towards where he was indicating.
Leaning against a lamp post to the front of her was a girl around the same age as her- a strikingly familiar girl.
Raising a hand to her right eye in memory she uttered the words "You."
She was met with the sound 'hm.' as a response as the girl pushed off of the poll and walked closer to them.
Fang heard the sound of Cid's laughter as he told her "This is baby doll Fang, she's our protection."
"Call me that again and I'll cut your balls off." came the sharp response from the girl.
"Sweet pea then."
"Then I'll add your dick too."
Cid shrugged the threats off and turned back to Fang "This is lolly pop Fang."
Fang bit her lip to stop herself from laughing as she watched the scene in front of her, dear Etro that girl could death stare. Meeting Cid's gaze she said with misplaced laughter in her voice "Of course Cid, our protection just had to be the girl that gouged my eye out two years ago didn't it?"
"What?" he said in surprise, turning to face the girl in front of them he asked her "Why'd you gouge her eye out?"
Answering evenly, the girl replied to the question with a shrug "She tried to shoot me in the head while I was incapacitated, she deserved it."
"Oh." was the response he gave, shaking his head quickly he turned back to Fang and said "Fang stop trying not to laugh and let's get going, this is going to be a long night." He finished with a sigh.
Fang gave him a quick nod saying "Kay, kay." Twisting her head to face the girl in front of her she asked her "Hey sunshine, what's your real name anyway?"
"None of your business." Was the curt reply.
Fang shrugged it off and turned to Cid one last time before saying "let's get going then Cid."
With the conversation ended, the three of them continued on their path towards the east side of town where the headquarters of Pulse resided. Knowing all too well that when cocoon found Fang missing as well as the two unconscious guards, this night would turn into hell.
...:...
Present time
The sun light drifting in from the window and onto her back woke Fang up from her slumber.
Twisting around slightly so that she lay with her face to the roof, she stared up at the ceiling of her room. She almost regretted letting herself fall asleep, while some of her memories couldn't actually be considered bad, it hurt to have to see the memories of people that no longer existed in her life.
"Vanille." she spoke into the silent room, letting a tear fall down the side of her face, she always wondered what had happened to her.
The knowledge that she was MIA wasn't much to go on considering this was Cocoon you were talking about. Sighing she sat up straight and swang her legs over the edge of her bed.
Pinching the bridge of her nose she uttered "God I hate my life."
She lost Vanille and gained Light only to lose her mere months afterwards. Now all she had was Serah but Serah didn't know anything about her other than her name and fake one at that, she didn't know Fang, she only knew Atla.
But what could Fang say to that, while she had known Serah somewhat, the girl had never divulged much information of herself to her, she knew more of topaz than she did Serah.
Sighing again Fang lifted herself off the bed; knowing if she kept Nataliah waiting too long she'd be getting an earful later. Picking up everything she needed for the day she approached the door, opened it and closed it behind her.
Hope you enjoyed that chapter.
I even made my sister who is my proof reader, go WTF at some points there, and she knows how my mind works making it very easy for her to predict things in my stories.
On an unrelated note, throughout this entire authors note I've had stuck in my head the time my brother yelled out "God damn it I don't have enough cheese pizza" while referring to his cp points when charging his crystarium.
Anyway please review, I'd be oh so grateful if you did.