Hello again readers, here is the eighth chapter for you all.

This chapter marks the first time I've written a chapter for one of my stories twice in a roll, because till now I've always gone in a loop while writing them. I hope giving you two chapters in a row somewhat apologises for me not updating in so long.

Just a warning though, my beta hasn't really been up to betaing lately so this chapter has been proof read by my sister who isn't as good as spotting grammar mistakes as my beta is, so there may be one or two mistakes that she may of missed in the chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own final fantasy XIII, Square Enix does.

Unexpected

Laying her head down on the cold wooden surface of the window pane, Fang stared up at the drab grey sky laden with dully coloured clouds that moved sluggishly across what would have been in other circumstances a blue expanse.

A couple of days had come and gone since Nicola had stepped foot in her apartment and the symptoms of her sickness had disappeared one after the other until none of them continued to plague her.

Pulse had ordered her to get back to her usual duties revolving around this mission, and having no longer any excuse to do otherwise, that's just what Fang would be made to do. Though wholeheartedly, Fang felt like keeping Topaz at arm's length right now, as of late the girl had been too informed of her problems then she would have liked. And that left Fang open to the paranoid feeling that she might divulge some of what she knew to her friends, something Fang equally wholeheartedly didn't want to happen. She would prefer it if as little as possible people became privy to the true magnitude of her problems, as keeping the existence of them to herself had never been conceivable from the start.

Lifting her chin off the window pane, Fang shifted her position from where she sat on her bed and uncrossed her legs. In a manner opposite of elegant, she slid her body around from facing the wall to the open space on the left side of her bed where it became possible for her to get off the bed all together. Standing up from the wooden structure she walked over to a pile of what could have very well been rubble from the state Fang had left the assorted pieces of clothing and what not in. From the pile she picked up a black leather jacket and slid her arms into it with a lithe action.

Nataliah had texted her a couple of minutes ago to inform her that the car was parked just around the bend from the apartment complex, but she hadn't bothered go to it just yet. If she didn't feel that inclined to meet with the girl right now then why should she hurry, she'd take as much time as she wanted to collect her things, Nataliah always arrived some time before it was really a need to head off anyway.

Before Fang walked out the door, she made sure to pick up the black shoulder bag she always took with her whenever she had to go to the school and swung it onto her shoulder. Fixing up the jacket so that it sat right, Fang approached the door and reached out a hand to clasp the doorknob, giving it a rough twist to the left and opening it.

Stepping into the hallway, she walked in the directions of the elevator at a slow pace, intending to make the time Nataliah had to wait for her all the longer.

...:...

Swinging her bag onto her back, Topaz walked out of her room and into the hallway of the exceedingly tidy apartment. Anna wasn't there at the moment and had left her to get herself to the bus stop by herself, though that didn't bother her too much as the bus stop was only a block or two away. What mattered more to her was exactly where Anna had gotten herself off to, she hadn't spoken a single word of where she was going, she'd said nothing to her then the notification that she was leaving. But as to where that was Topaz had no idea.

Ending the train of thought, Topaz walked to the kitchen to see what she could find to have as her lunch. There wasn't much to eat considering it was the end of the week and Anna always went shopping at the start of the week, but it was enough to get together something decent to eat. Placing the food in her bag, she replaced the bag on her back and headed to the door. Doing a mental double check that she had everything for the day, she pulled the door open and let herself out into the hallway. Locking the door behind, she dropped the key into her pocket and began to walk down the hallway.

The wait for the elevators was unusually long and she was near giving up the wait and seriously thinking of taking the stairs when the two shining doors glided open in front of her. Walking inside the metal structure, Topaz pressed the button for the ground floor and waited once more as the elevator lowered one floor after the other until it came to an eventual stop as it met the ground floor.

Door sliding open, Topaz walked away from the elevator and in the direction of the automatic doors at the apartment buildings entrance. Feeling the rush of cold wind hit her as she stepped outside, Topaz breathed in the fresh morning air and continued on to her bus stop.

It wasn't long before she rounded the cornered to the street that housed her bus stop, where she only managed to walk a few steps before Lebreau latched onto her suddenly from behind. Failing to hold in a yelp she jumped in fright at the girl's abrupt appearance, doing her best to shake her off, something which Lebreau didn't seem all too keen on letting her do. Topaz yelled at her in frustration "Lebreau for the love of the goddess with you get off me"

Giggling to herself, Lebreau released the hold she had on Topaz, "Sorry, but I get the funniest reactions out of you, it was too tempting."

Pouting, Topaz complained "Too you, it isn't to me when you pull stunts like that."

"I think your reactions have already taught me that Topaz, so I don't think what you have to say to me will make me stop anytime soon."

Pouting again, Topaz turned on her heel and began walking closer to the bus stop and away from her friend. Behind her she could hear Lebreau speak words of apology that were, unfortunately for the girl, too filled with laughter for Topaz to believe them. Watching in the corner of her eye as Lebreau caught up to her, a smile snuck its way onto her face.

"I'm really sorry Topaz, honest!" Lebreau whined beside her.

"Try saying it with a straight face and maybe I'll believe you." Topaz told her with a badly hidden laugh in her voice, but soon she found herself unable to hold in giggles and she started laughing along with her friend.

Laughing between themselves, Topaz and Lebreau pulled up alongside the bus stop. There were a number of other kids waiting there for the bus that was yet to come but being some of the less than liked members of the school they made sure to stay out of their way. While waiting, the two of them held a conversation with foundations of complete and utter nonsense, something that became apparent to the kids around them when a certain word of two from it reached their ears, making them turn their heads to the two girls in sheer confusion at what they were hearing.

The going of the minutes soon found the bus stopping by them to pick them up and take them to school. Waiting as a group of other students clambered on to the bus before her, an oddity caught Topaz's eye and made her stop before she took another step forward.

From the alleyway right by the bus stop a small dark shape shot out and darted across her path before slipping under the bus and out of sight.

Partially ignoring the sight, Topaz walked forward and stepped up onto the bus. It was only as she sat down and took her seat next to Lebreau did her mind make sense of what it had just seen moments ago.

It was a black cat.

...:...

Ignoring Nataliah had become a norm to Fang over the past few days, and today proved no different. The entire drive to the school passed in near complete silence, without her speaking a word. She could feel Nataliah staring at her throughout the whole thing, but the emotion that pushed the girl to such actions was one that Fang couldn't quite decipher.

When the car pulled up into a parking space within the vicinity of the school, Fang opened the car door and got out without a semblance of a goodbye to any of the vehicle's occupants. And she was determined to walk away from it and on towards the looming structure of the school gates with nary a glance behind her.

There were considerably less students than usual around and within the refines of the school, with it being the last day before the holidays and most students finding no reason in going to school with most of the topics they had been doing in class already finished, but some still came. Not that it really mattered to Fang any, she just cared that it meant less students to bother her than usual.

She sought out a place for a brief moment of solitary before Serah and her friends inevitably saw her and made their best attempt to bring her into a conversation when she walked through the gates. Through lately it had really begun to sink in for them that that was becoming an increasingly hard task to achieve.

But to her own bad luck, it wasn't long before they did find her and attempt to do exactly what she'd thought they would, but it was equally as short a time that the bell rang across the school premises signalling that it was time for roll call.

In the end she ended up spending both of her first periods being hampered by Serah and Lebreau to talk with them about subjects she had little or no interest in, but she made it obvious to them that she wasn't in the mood and would prefer to spend the class silent.

By the time the recess bell rang she was already fed up with the people around her, and wanted nothing else than some time to herself.

Sitting down amongst the group of trees that they always sat by to keep the other students at distance, Fang lay herself down on the dry grass that was withering away in the heat of the sun. It wasn't quite summer yet, but it had been rather hot over the past few days, and the grass hadn't been in good condition beforehand anyway.

Across from her she sensed the others sitting down, she supposed they were talking to her, throwing a couple of sentences and that her way every now and then, but her mind wasn't necessarily focused on her current area, so their words may well of been the wind blowing casually past her ears. Her gaze was directed at the luminescent blue sky, that had seemingly cleared up since the its drab appearance that it had had in the morning, but there were still some clouds misplaced along its expanse. There was nothing in particular that she thought of at length, one thing would dance through her mind only to slide away and be replaced by another.

Recess passed by around her, her ears long having long ceased to pick up the sounds of the others calling out to her. She didn't eat, she wasn't all that sure why, but she just stayed where she was for all of the 40 minutes of the recess, unmoving and doing nothing.

The minutes ticked by one after the other, the allotted time given to the students as a break off classes becoming smaller and smaller. If she was any bit more aware of her surroundings, she may have felt the looks Serah and the rest sent her way, but as far away as she was, they were never even thought to exist.

When the recess bell rang at last the majority of the small group left, but Fang stalled her departure. She waited until the rest of them were gone, before lifting herself off the ground and following their lead. Brushing the strands of dry grass that had stuck themselves to the back of her skirt off the bright blue fabric, she grabbed hold of her bag that she had abandoned on the ground nearly an hour before and swung it onto her shoulder.

In the minutes following she decided not to go back to class, instead opting to stay out of the buildings and out in the open, albeit away from any wondering teacher's view. After giving the school a quick look over she found a small spot a little on the close side to the oval, a place that was lucky for her, away from immediate sight. To be exact it was at the back of the hospitality building, which front faced up to the school and its back faced the oval, or more specifically the fence that surrounded it. She sat down there and laid her back up against the closest surface, the expanse of brick that made up the building.

Closing her eyes, she listened to the slight wind as it flowed past her, feeling its gentle force caress her skin. Silence continued on for some time, but eventually the sound of footsteps broke what had been to Fang a relaxing difference from the perpetual mayhem that had been sitting through classes with the idiot's that attended this school.

At first she thought they may have been made by a teacher walking past, but that guess was quickly pushed aside when she picked up to the fact that the footsteps were steadily getting louder, meaning that whoever it was were walking towards her. But her position was a little too out of the way to be viewed from the places that the teachers walked through so she was next to sure that the owner of the footsteps was a student. Except that when the person in question drew close to her and spoke up, it was the last person she had thought it to be.

"Wouldn't happen to be able to ask what you're doing exactly Atla?"

Jolting forward in surprise, a movement that took her back away from the wall Fang twisted her head around to see the person who had spoken the words. Seeing with her own eyes that she had indeed guessed right as to whom the voice belonged to, she said to him.

"I could ask you the same thing."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Snow walked closer to her, closing what little distance lay between them and stopped by her side "Can't say I have much of an answer for you about that, guess I was just curious bout what was up with you today, so I decided once I realised you were not in class to go look for you."

Directing her eyes down to the ground, Fang resumed her position of laying her back against the brick wall that spanned across behind her. "That all? Figured it may have been a little more than just plain curiosity."

While Fang watched him sit down next to her out of the corner of her eye, he shot down her past words, stating "It wasn't just plan curiosity, there's more to it than that."

"Like what?" Fang interjected before he could finish his sentence.

"like what I know about you from what Topaz has told me, it may be curiosity I have about why you're so out of it today, but it was worry that made me want to go look for you. I could hardly believe what Topaz was telling me when she told just how bad you really were in the head but when I sit back and take a good look at you it's becoming clearer and clearer that what she told me is true. It blows my mind how we never noticed it before, you really had as going that you just didn't like talking much and that was all"

Fang snapped her eyes to him as he voiced the first sentence, but it took til the last word for Snow to sight the abruptly sparked anger that had burst into a flame behind her eyes. Momentarily too stunned to speak once he saw the look, he didn't manage to get in another word before Fang shot out fiercely.

"So I see blondie wasn't so much as inclined to keep my secrets a secret then?" Looks like she was right to feel paranoid.

Getting a grasp on his words again, snow quickly replied back to her with a hand gesture to his chest "Hey if you want to blame anyone for me knowing blame me, I'm the one that made her tell me!"

"I will then!" Fang retorted quickly with venom.

Slightly taken aback by the swift response, Snow bit down on his lip but powered through nonetheless "Going back to what Topaz told me, I got to ask you, but how did you get so bad, I mean how could you let yourself get so bad?"

"If you're going to ask me something like that then you're just naïve, I could give you a million answers to that one question, each of them enough reason for all of my problems. There are many things that could of happened to me in this shithole of a world to make me so fucked up."

Trying not to show his surprise at the answer, Snow shot back "Give me one then."

Swerving her gaze to face him speedily, she let a haunted laugh escape her lips "Someone tried to kill me." she answered him honestly, drawing out each syllable for emphasis.

Stunned to silence, Snow kept his eyes trained on Fang for over a minute before he found the ability to speak once more "What!?" he said in sheer disbelief.

Disregarding his surprise, Fang shrugged off the look he was giving and expanded on her original statement "Someone tried to kill me, nice and slowly too, and oh so agonizingly painfully. So Mister hero, is that enough reason for you I wonder? Enough to make my depression, paranoia and my horrendously horrible drug addiction that is slowly killing me seem somewhat with justification?"

"D-drug addiction?" Snow stuttered out, obviously not being aware of that one bit of information.

"Oh didn't blondie tell you about it?" Fang asked him, with an oddly placed gleeful tone "Good to see that she was at least partly good on keeping my secrets, but I'm surprised she didn't speak of it to you, I thought of all things that it would be a topic she would have divulged to you, as I was high off my mind when she came to my apartment."

Was it bad that she was enjoying messing with Snow as much as she was? It probably was, but it wasn't like she could give a shit.

Flashing him a smile that showed off the same gleeful feeling that her tone had portrayed, she added on "If you're wondering why exactly I have such a bad drug addition, I guess I just like the feeling of being, for lack of a better word, not there"

Fang was about of move from her spot and get up and walk away, leaving the stunned Snow behind with the information that his mind could hardly digest, but she was stopped when he clasped a hand around her forearm.

"Wait!"

"What?" she said with unintended malice.

"Why?" He asked her "Why resort to that? You should know that there are so much better ways to deal with things like this than that!"

"Hn." Letting what would seem to Snow a misplaced smirk onto her face, Fang answered him "You realise Snow that to my mind other ways to me means suicide and suicide alone, there is nothing else."

Still with his hand grasped around her arm, Snow shook his head "But can't you see that you have your whole life ahead of you? Why is it that that is all you think of, there is so much potential your life could have! Why even think of cutting it short while you're still so young!?"

Snapping her eyes to his fiercely, Fang spat at him viciously "If you think that then you are nothing but naïve, I stuck around you guys sheerly for the sake of a façade, you barely know me, you have no idea who I am or what my life is like, you have no right to tell me that!"

Opening his mouth to protest some more, Snow found that no words came to his lips preventing him from saying anything further.

Breaking off his grasp on her arm, Fang stood up angrily and stalked away, meaning to leave Snow behind her.

The words he forced out only managed to briefly halt her departure, "Isn't there anything you see in this life, anything you wish to do?"

Stopping her walk to think over his question, Fang answered him with something she had no doubt he would of think a dark joke, "You know what, I certainly wouldn't mind killing Rosch"

Taking up her stride once more, she was interrupted again by the irritating ring of her mobile phone from her jacket pocket. Cursing under her breathe at the interruption, she fished into her jacket for the phone, taking note that that precise ring had been the one Lebreau had programed into it when she had stolen it in boredom one day to signal herself texting Fang.

It was out of nothing more than curiosity that Fang picked up the phone, simply wanting to know why Lebreau would be texting her now when she was in class.

Needless to say, when she took hold of the phone and read the message, it wasn't what she had ever thought it would be, not in the least. Staring at the message unbelieving, whispers of thoughts in her mind reminded her of the times she had been told of a shadow agent of this case.

'Fang I would get over to D25 if I were you, times up for Serah's safety here, cocoons going for her'

My problem with rambling is going to stop me from saying anything about the content of this chapter.

The song Gee by south Korean group Girls generation came on while Fang and Snow's argument was taking place. I'm aware that there may be a lot of people out who have no idea who they are or what that song is, but to put it at an understatement, Gee would have to be one of the most sickeningly bubblegum pop songs I have every heard, so can't say it was very fitting for that moment.

Unrelated but D25 is my history classroom, I'm not overly sure why that it is having a cameo in this story, but in my head the classroom Lebreau and Serah were in looked like my history classroom, maybe a little smaller but my history classroom all the same. Though it also may have been my history classroom from last year, D23.

Not quite sure why I just told you that but I did.

Please review, I'd love you for it.