VII.

The next day, Fang couldn't bring herself to even get out of bed. She just lay there, staring at the wall, with Vanille nestled behind her. She barely cried anymore, having exhausted all of her tears crying herself to sleep the night before; instead she just stared blankly at an imperfection in the plaster, half expecting her mother to burst in and scream at her for being too touchy with Vanille.

But she never came.

Fang couldn't go back to her father's house, as being surrounded by things that reminded her of him would no doubt cause her to hope that he was still alive, when she was all too aware that there was only a slim chance that he survived. And perhaps it was terrible, to believe the worst had happened, but what else could she do? If Fang convinced herself that Orin was still alive out there somewhere, then every single day he didn't return it would break her just a little bit further; break her until she was completely shattered, and there was nothing left.

False hope, in the end, was far crueler than pessimism.

Vanille's lips covered the large tattoo on her right forearm, gently kissing her as she held her against her chest. "You made him proud, y'know," she told her softly, fingertips gently tracing the lines on her skin that marked her as a Huntress. "Your mum too, even though she never really said much about it. But I remember the look on her face when you passed your Trials, y'know? And she was… she was really happy for you, Fang. Really, really happy."

Fang took a shuddered inhale of breath, her eyes falling closed for a moment as she breathed, "I've barely spoken to her in years, Van; however she once felt about me, I doubt it was like that when she died."

"She loved you," Vanille argued softly, but Fang just shrugged as she exhaled a long sigh.

"Maybe. But there's still a part of me that's bitter that she basically told me I couldn't be happy, solely because she was. She's dead… and a part of me is still angry about it. That's so fucked up."

Vanille pursed her lips, gently resting them against her shoulder for a moment. "I just don't think she understood," she said finally, quietly. "No one did, really; 'cept your dad. Are you mad at everyone else too?"

"No one else knew."

"But if they did?"

Fang pursed her lips, lightly chewing on the inside of her cheek. "They're not my mum," she said finally. "Mums are supposed to love and support you, yeah? Want you to be happy and shit. Mine didn't."

"Neither did mine," Vanille reminded her, letting her know that she wasn't alone in how bitter and angry she felt about that. "But I know she still loves me. She just… she doesn't understand, and that's not her fault. Sometimes people see too much of their own worlds to be able to see other people's."

At the mention of Nymira, Fang's eyes turned towards the door. "We shouldn't be like this," she told Vanille, noting the position they were in. "All up in one another's shit. If she comes in, we're screwed, and I can't handle somethin' like that; not right now."

"I'm not leaving you."

"I'm not sayin' go anywhere, I'm just—"

"No," Vanille responded strongly, causing Fang's brow to rise in surprise as she turned in her arms to look at her. Vanille swallowed. "We're not… we don't have anything tying us together like that anymore," she said softly, unable to say out loud that because Lelani was dead, they couldn't be taken as sisters any longer. "So I'm tying us together in a different way, and I don't care what she says. You're mine, Fang; and you're sad right now, and I'm not going to leave you. I'm never, ever leaving you."

The conviction in her voice struck something inside of Fang and, in feeling incredibly grateful for her, she leaned up and gently pressed their lips together. And it wasn't anything more than that, barely a step above chaste, but it made Vanille smile all the same as she touched her face and looked down at her. And it was there that they stayed for quite a long while, just wrapped in one another's embrace, until Nymira did finally rap gently on her daughter's bedroom door before coming in.

She stopped short at the position they were in, but Vanille just glanced at her mother as she made a point to wrap her arms tighter around Fang's form, holding the woman to her chest as she warned her, "Mum, don't." Her fingers weaved in darkened locks then, practically cradling Fang's head protectively as she awaited her mother's reaction.

But Nymira just sighed softly. Her eyes were reddened and splotchy; she looked like she had been crying for days on end. "I won't," she promised softly, sounding much too exhausted to argue right now anyway. And perhaps it was only because she knew that with Lelani gone that the two girls in the bed could no longer be technically considered sisters, or maybe she was just so thankful that Fang had brought her daughter back alive that she didn't want to seem ungrateful by separating them, but either way, Nymira didn't seem to be in the right frame of mind to go against anything right now. "I just… wanted to know if either of you wanted some tea."

Vanille looked down at Fang, waiting for her to answer. It took a long moment, but in the end Fang realized she couldn't just hold herself up in her girlfriend's bedroom all day, and so she finally said, "…Fine;" voice hoarse and broken from her own crippling emotions. Vanille smiled at her softly though, and gently kissed her shoulder before she led her out into the common area of the house.

They sat side by side on the couch as Nymira busied herself in the open kitchen, getting the kettle off one of the burners. As she poured the hot liquid into the glass, she spoke, her voice sounding tired and broken, "Your father knew… didn't he?"

And Fang, knowing exactly what she was speaking of, didn't have the effort right then to lie to her. "…Yes." Because in the end, what did it matter now?

Nymira swallowed, nodding a little as her voice broke her throat. "When the demon came, your mother and I were so… we were so terrified that we would never see either of you again. But he told us not to worry, that no matter what, you would keep each other safe. Orin was so… adamant of the fact that neither of you would come to any harm, despite the fact that neither of you were even supposed to be with one another at the time. We thought he was just trying to have hope so that he wouldn't be consumed with the same fear that we were, but you always had been, weren't you? You'd always been together, behind our backs. For… for years now."

Vanille swallowed, looking a little guilty from how that sounded out loud. "We just wanted to be happy, Mumma," she whispered, tangling her fingers in Fang's hand as she held it firmly. "We didn't want to lie, but we didn't know what else to do."

Nymira's lips pursed into a thin line, her brow crinkling with emotion as she picked up the two mugs from off the counter. "Doesn't matter much now, does it?" she breathed sadly, her eyes beginning to water again before she forced herself to take a shuddered inhale of breath, trying to calm herself down as she turned to bring them their beverages.

But once she placed them on the small table in front of the two girls, something seemed to break inside of her and she released a shuddered sob as she bent down before them. "Please don't—please don't leave," she begged, tears running down her face, the sentence so unexpected that both girls looked like they couldn't understand where that was coming from. "You both are—you're all I have left and I couldn't bear it, I couldn't…!"

"What?" Vanille asked, her brow crinkling. "Mum, we aren't—we're not going anywhere," she tried to assure her, but Nymira was just shattering in front of them, too consumed with her grief and her fear.

"We were just trying to do what we thought was best," she tried to explain, wiping another fallen tear off her cheek. "We didn't think it was healthy because of… because of the way you were raised, but maybe we were wrong; maybe we screwed everything up, and I'm so, so sorry for doing this to you both. I'm so sorry, please don't go…!"

"Nymira, we're not goin' anywhere, okay?" Fang tried, but the woman was just shaking her head and covering her face with her hands.

"I loved your mother, she was—she was everything to me, but we were selfish," Nymira breathed sadly, moving her hands to look at Fang apologetically. "I wouldn't blame you, if you left; if you wanted to make a life together somewhere where you wouldn't be judged but please, please—"

"Mum… Mumma, stop it," Vanille begged, her voice cracking with emotion as she took her mother's hands in her own. "We're not leaving, okay? Cross our hearts. But we're not… we're not hiding anymore either. The world rained fire and I'm not—" But she stopped for a moment, trying to get a hold of her own emotions as she took a deep breath and told Nymira strongly, "If this is the end, then I'm spending it with her. I don't care what anyone else says. I love her. I'll love her 'til the end of the world."

But Vanille lost the battle with her emotions then, and suddenly she looked so much like a little girl again as she kind of shrunk into herself and said with a tiny voice, sounding so unsure and scared, "Will you—are you… ashamed of me?"

Because maybe they shouldn't have grown to love each other like that, not with how they grew up, but it happened all the same. There was no changing that; not anymore.

"No," Nymira responded strongly, holding her daughter's hands tighter. "No, honey; of course not. I'm so sorry I told you that you didn't know what love was; that was cruel and thoughtless of me. Sometimes, when you're an adult, you forget what it was like to be young. But honestly… it's not all that different, and I'm sorry for diminishing your feelings. I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you."

She swallowed then, trying to force a tiny smile in her daughter's direction as she finished, "Besides… if anyone is so damned concerned about how you both feel about one another, then they really don't have their priorities straight, do they? Because we're at… we're at war now; that's the only thing anyone should be worrying about, because this isn't—it isn't over. It's so very far from it."

Nymira covered her face then, the reality of war washing over her as she breathed, "Fuck," into her hands, seemingly having nothing else but swears to express herself, when once she rarely ever said such things, at least in front of them. "Fuck," she repeated, another tear sliding down her cheek as she looked at the two girls on the couch. "l'Cie will be chosen soon," she told them; a reality neither girl wanted to face, as they knew they were both in the age range to be candidates. "You both need to be prepared if… if you get that honor…"

The way Nymira said it though, it didn't sound like she thought it was an honor at all. They were supposed to – believe that it was a huge honor to be chosen, that is – because l'Cie were practically sacred amongst their people. However, in the end, it was still nothing more than a death sentence, and everyone knew that. And so Vanille immediately paled, looking at Fang in fear because out of the both of them, they both knew that Fang was a more likely candidate, being a Huntress and all. Or, at least, that was what they assumed; in the end, it had been so long since l'Cie were chosen that neither of them really knew the requirements. All they knew was that if they were chosen, then the priests would come for them. That was it.

"Train her," Nymira begged, looking at Fang desperately. "Please. She—she doesn't know how to fight, and if you… if either of you…" Another tear slid down her cheek then, and she wiped it away, trying to be strong, because Gran Pulse needed champions now; they needed l'Cie to save them. In the end, they all knew they had to look at the bigger picture, no matter how frightening it may seem. "Eternal crystal is better than becoming cie'th," she breathed, trying to justify it, yet sounding as though she hated herself for doing so. "Please make her ready… just in case."

"It won't be us," Vanille tried to assure her, because right then she needed to hope that it wouldn't be; it might be the only way to stay sane. It might be the only way she wouldn't be afraid. "There's so many… other people in the world, right? People who would be better for it. The fal'Cie doesn't want us. We're… we're nobody."

Fang swallowed hard. She wanted to believe Vanille, but how could she, when she was one of the clans most revered Hunters? Maybe in the end she wouldn't be l'Cie material, but she definitely wasn't a nobody. Right then though, she wished she was. Still, the last thing she was going to do was leave Vanille defenseless during a time of war, and so she still promised Nymira in a soft voice, "I will. I'll train her, I promise. Just… just in case."

"Fang…" Vanille tried, because she probably didn't want to face the harsh reality of it, but the brunette just shook her head.

"Your mum's right. We don't—no one knows, y'know? How or why l'Cie are really chosen. I'm not leavin' you defenseless; I won't."

Vanille swallowed, but after looking at her for a long while, finally nodded her head in acknowledgement that this was something she had to do. So they trained; nearly every day for a month, waiting for the sky to open up again and fire to rain down on them from the viper's nest, but it never came. It was as though for some reason, Cocoon had purposely provoked them, and was now waiting for them to retaliate. But they hadn't yet, and that infuriated Fang.

Her fist hit the side of the house as she looked up at the nest above them, shouting furiously, "Why the fuck haven't we ripped it out of the damn sky yet?!" It was a question she knew Vanille didn't actually have an answer to, but every day that passed and nothing happened, the worse Fang got.

Her father still hadn't come home, and while a large part of her never expected him to, there was still that small light of hope that shone inside of her regardless of how often she told herself that she needed to let it go. But no one that had left that day had returned; including not her only her father but Galain as well – amongst countless others – and so they never had a definitive answer. Perhaps they never would, and Fang tried to force herself to face the reality that so many people she once cared about were now dead, even though the little girl inside of her who just wanted her dad continued to make her cry herself to sleep every night, praying that maybe, just this once, she was wrong.

She wasn't fucking wrong though, and that broke her. Anger was easier to deal with though, and so the Huntress raged because it was the only thing that she could pretend made her feel better; feel less out of control, less like a damned victim of circumstance and tragedy.

Vanille pursed her lips as she looked at her, not really knowing how to make it better. Still, she tried with, "Maybe… maybe the right people haven't been chosen yet."

"Clearly, since nothing's fuckin' happened," Fang snapped back, running a frustrated hand through her hair. "What the hell is the point of makin' l'Cie if they're not even gonna use them?"

Because they had; the priests had come for only two people in their clan thus far, but the process had begun. And yet, still, nothing changed. Was everyone such shit at completing their Focus? Because maybe Anima needed a better fucking screening process or something; obviously whoever had been chosen either weren't good enough, or weren't even being used yet. What were the fal'Cies doing, stockpiling?

"You don't… remember the prophecy?" Vanille asked, sounding a little surprised. Fang's brow furrowed though, as that clearly did not ring any bells for her. "We learned it in school," Vanille tried to remind her. "This guy, he was… a messenger of some kind, I think? He said that after the War of Transgression, that the beast Ragnarok would be the one to bring down Cocoon."

Fang rolled her eyes. "You know it's just a crackpot theory someone once had; there's been a shit ton about how our war with the vipers would inevitably go. Doesn't mean it's gonna happen." Still, it did seem to fit; the prophecy mentioned two girls from the far north being the ones to bring the nest down from the sky, and the two people who were chosen by the priests had been girls. Regardless, it could just be a coincidence.

Vanille just shrugged a little though, before rolling her ankle and clasping her hands behind her back before she pointed out, "Maybe, but people are still calling the war that."

"That wasn't a fucking war," Fang responded furiously, shaking her head before she looked up at the nest in the sky and told her, "that was a massacre." Because all they had were dead bodies and destroyed homes; they hadn't even made a dent in that damn thing in the sky yet. Cocoon hadn't suffered loss like they had.

Her jaw clenched then, fury boiling in the pit of her stomach before she said something she knew she probably shouldn't. "A part of me hopes I'm chosen," she admitted, even though she wanted it for all the wrong reasons; even though she knew it was something people didn't come back from. She refused to acknowledge that part at the moment though; she was just angry, and she just wanted them all dead. "I'd tear that thing right out of the fuckin' sky; Ragnarok or not. I don't care!"

"Fang, no!" Vanille exclaimed fearfully, rushing to cover the girl's mouth; like she was afraid from this far away from the temple, Anima could still hear them. "Please don't—please don't ever wish for things like that…" she begged softly, looking up at her with a frightened gaze. "I know you're mad. I know they… that they took everything from you, but please don't—don't let them take you from me too…"

Vanille looked like she was on the verge of tears, and it caused the brunette's heart to clench in her chest. "Shit," Fang swore lightly, not wanting to upset her. She was just… she was so fucking angry, all the time now, and she just couldn't—she didn't know how to deal with it. She touched her girlfriend's face though, gently resting her forehead against hers as she apologized, "I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean it. I don't… I never want to leave you, you know that. I just… I hate them, Vanille. I fuckin' hate them…"

"I know," Vanille breathed, looking up into her eyes as she cradled the hand on her cheek with her own hand. It was a rather intimate gesture, and it caused the few people who were around them to blatantly stare. The two girls tried to ignore them though, refusing to keep hiding behind closed doors when they weren't even doing anything wrong by being with one another. Even if they might have been once, which was a big if, after what had happened, they were no longer sisters; at least not in the traditional sense.

An emotional sense was a different story though; Fang believed she would always think of Vanille as not only her sister, but her lover and her best friend for the rest of her life. The same blood might not run through their veins, but they shared the same soul. Vanille was everything to her, all of those things and more, and that was too good a thing to have to ruin by being ashamed of it. Screw what other people thought; they were wrong anyway.

Most people kept their opinions to themselves about it though, save the few disgusted looks thrown in their directions, or whispers behind their hands. In the end, they all had more important things to worry about than the questionable relationship between two former quasi-sisters in their clan. However, of course someone chose that moment to finally speak up as they were passing by; which Fang would have been surprised by, considering the distance people generally put between themselves and the rather unorthodox situation, but when she looked up to see who it was, she wasn't shocked by who she was greeted by.

"Defecting sister-fucker," Jex muttered as he passed by the two of them, looking at Fang like she was something vile; something to be ashamed of. Generally him and Fang didn't speak much, despite both of them being Hunters now, as once she joined their ranks they both seemed to subscribe to the theory of personal space and staying the hell away from people you didn't like. However, with only a few of them left in Oerba, that didn't seem to work out as well as it used to.

Fang pulled away from Vanille then, her expression masking over with hatred as she asked, "The fuck did you just say to me?"

Jex stopped, pursing his lips in anger before he nodded his head towards her in challenge and said, "You heard me." Taking a step forward, he continued, "Awfully fuckin' convenient, wasn't it, that you weren't around when the demon came? Probably ran off with your slut of a sister; hid somewhere while the world came fallin' down on our bloody heads. Heard you two came back with each other; don't pretend that was just a coincidence, cause ain't none of us here that damn stupid."

Fang's eyes flashed, and in an instant her fist was wrapped in the fabric of Jex's shirt as she practically manhandled him against the side of the house. Vanille shouted something at her; probably to let him go, to not let this turn violent, but Fang couldn't hear her. All she could hear was how royally pissed off she was.

"I was out on a bloody hunt you cock-mouthed little piss-ant!" Fang shouted, furious that he thought she had defected. She would never. "And everyone knew it, so don't give me this shit; I was too fuckin' far away to get back here in time, so yeah I went after Vanille instead. She, at least, I knew I could save; I'm not gonna bloody apologize for that."

"But what about you, huh?" Fang snarled, her hands being pushed off by Jex in a furious rage. Still, she kept him trapped there, right in his face. "Where the fuck were you, when everyone else stepped up to try to fight that thing? Cowering in a little hole, wetting your damned pants? Why the fuck are you still here, when so many people I care about are dead!?"

"If we had all left, the village would have starved!" Jex tried to rationalize, which was true, as they had very little grain, and fruits and vegetables were mainly imported from other clans, but Fang just scoffed in his face, not believing for a second that he would have been willing to leave with the rest of them… to fight and die with them. He'd always been a coward.

"Yeah, and I bet you were number fuckin' one on the signup sheet to stay behind weren't you?" Fang sneered, her eyes scanning his face judgmentally. "You've always been bloody useless and you know it; barely passed your Trials, always bringing back the least out of the rest of us. So don't ever fuckin' come at me like I'm the Hunter this clan should be ashamed of, when we both know that even when I fuck my 'sister', I still hold more respect than someone like you."

Jex's eyes flashed then, and the punch Fang had been anticipating since the beginning of this little conversation was finally thrown. Vanille shouted something unintelligible and another Hunter ran towards them to intervene rather quickly, but Fang didn't much care; she was just so… she was so angry and hurt and all she wanted to do was tear the bloody world apart and yeah, Jex was a good place to start. Due to the tragedy that had befallen them, emotions were running high everywhere, and their fight was hardly the first in the village to break out. Still, given her position in the clan, she should have known better; they both should have. After it was through, one of the Elders bluntly told them that they had embarrassed themselves and embarrassed their people and they both slunk away afterwards, thoroughly ashamed of themselves and their actions.

Honestly, Fang didn't even know what she was doing anymore; she just wanted to destroy everything that she touched.

Which was proven with a blinding clarity as while she was sparring with Vanille one day, her fist ended up brutally colliding with the redhead's face. Fang was supposed to be pulling her punches substantially so as to not end up hurting her, but the longer the spar went on the more worked up she got and the never-ending aggression that she had been trying to keep locked inside of her ever since that incident with Jex just seemed to explode outwards, causing her to hit the other girl with much more force than she had originally intended.

"Shit!" Fang exclaimed, instantly filled with a terrible sense of guilt and apology as she knelt down next to the other girl, who ended up being sprawled on the ground after the force of the blow. "Shit, Vanille; are you okay? I'm so sorry!"

"It's—I'm fine," Vanille tried to assure her, holding her hand over her face as she allowed Fang to help her into a seated position. "I should have ducked; I'm usually faster than you."

But when she pulled her hand away from her face both girls saw that it was covered in blood, the punch having given her a bloody nose. "Fuck," Fang swore, feeling absolutely horrible about what she had done. "Here, look up like this, yeah? And pinch it; that way the blood won't run down your face. We need to get you inside."

She helped her up then, despite Vanille's protests that she was fine – that she could survive a bit of blood – and led her back into the house. Regardless of if she could survive it or not, it shouldn't have happened in the first place and Fang knew she had to make it right. She loved Vanille; the last thing she wanted to do was hurt her in any way, and she hated herself in that moment for doing so, even if it was only accidental.

She just—sometimes, she felt like she was losing control, and she didn't know what to do. She hated being so fucking angry all the time, but how else would someone feel when both of their parents were lost in an attack that had yet to even have a retaliation? They deserved vengeance, retribution, whatever the hell you wanna call it, and yet Cocoon just sat there up in the sky, completely untouched.

Logically, Fang knew that Gran Pulse's army was mostly ground-based, as for some reason, they never really fathomed an aerial attack. In the end, everyone seemed far more concerned with their lands getting invaded by the vipers; stolen from them as they wiped out its true inhabitants and took their home as their own once the unstable environment perched in the sky inevitably came tumbling down.

Did Gran Pulse even have any war vessels that could fly? Fang didn't know, but she was infuriated that it was taking this damn long for them to build them, or for the fal'Cie to choose competent l'Cie that could finally give Cocoon what was coming to them.

She hated just sitting here and doing nothing, despite knowing full-well that if she was chosen to actually do something, that there was a slim chance that she'd be coming home. That she'd be coming back… to Oerba, to—to Vanille. Fang didn't want that, but a part of her understood that some things were just more important. Still, she wasn't about to go off half-cocked and offer herself to the fal'Cie, because in reality, what could she do, really? She might be a lot of things, but l'Cie material was not one of them.

"I'm sorry," Fang apologized for the umpteenth time once she had Vanille on the couch, a rag in her hand to help soak up the blood. Vanille took it from her and pressed it to her nose as she continued to put pressure on it, her words coming out a little muffled as she spoke.

"Looks worse than it is, Fang; s'okay."

"Doesn't matter; I should have more control over myself. There's no fucking excuse for hittin' you like that."

"You're sad," Vanille responded softly, looking at the woman across from her sympathetically. "You're sad and you're scared and you don't know what to do, so you get angry instead, and sometimes you don't know what to do with that either; it's okay."

"No, no it's—it's fucking not okay, Vanille," Fang responded strongly, feeling her throat tighten around her words. Trust Vanille to know what was really going on with her without her having to say a word, but still; that didn't mean that it was a viable excuse for losing control, even momentarily. "None of this is… it's not fucking okay at all. We're bloody sitting here in… in ruins, and I have to train you in combat when you shouldn't—I don't want you to be a part of this, Vanille; I don't. I can't…"

Her voice hitched in her throat then, the reality of what they were doing washing over her as tears stung the back of her eyes and Fang continued, her voice coming out angry and blameful despite the sorrow in her expression, "I can't have you be another casualty of this war. I can't, I just fuckin' can't…!"

"Fang…" Vanille tried softly, biting gently on her lower lip before she pulled the rag from her face, momentarily checking to see if she was still bleeding. It didn't seem like it. And yet instead of cleaning off her face, she put down the rag before grasping her girlfriend's hands in her own, trying to garner her full attention as she requested, "Look at me."

Fang's eyes met hers then, her lips pursed in a thin line as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Vanille's face still had blood on it, but it seemed the girl couldn't care much for that in that moment as she reached out and touched her lover's face, her palm warm against the brunette's skin. "I'm not going anywhere," she told her, sounding so assured of that that Fang desperately wanted to believe her. And then the girl smiled, this reassuring gesture that was both gentle yet strong, as Vanille continued, "And even if I do, then it's okay, cause I know you'll go with me."

"Vanille, that's not—that's not how it works…" Fang countered softly, because despite her foolish, momentary thoughts of offering herself up to the fal'Cie, that wasn't how l'Cie were chosen. The priests came to you, not the other way around. And if they didn't come for both of them…

"It doesn't matter," Vanille told her, still giving her a gentle smile as her thumb brushed the corner of Fang's eye, wiping away the first sign of a tear before it could fall. "We're forever, you and me; the whole universe knows it, so the fal'Cie must know it too. We're not meant to be kept apart, so if… if one of us gets chosen, then the other's gotta too, y'know? Cause Ragnarok, it's made up of two people, so wouldn't it make sense if it was made up of two people who shared a heart?"

Despite the frightening thought of them being the ones to become such an instrument for destruction, an incredible warmth filled Fang's chest at the girl's words, and she took Vanille's hand in her own as she placed it against her lips, kissing each finger in turn as she looked at her. "You are my heart," the Huntress told her passionately, needing her to know that, despite anything else that may happen. She wasn't certain if Vanille was just trying to make her feel better, or if she really believed with her all her heart that the world would never be able to truly separate them, but in that moment, it didn't matter. "You're my everything, yeah? Forever and always, love. I bloody swear to you."

"I know, silly," Vanille responded, giggling a little like Fang was being foolish for having to reiterate something like that as she gently encouraged the woman towards her. "So stop being scared, okay? Everything will work out how it's supposed to; you'll see." She smiled again, and it seemed to be infectious as she gently pressed their lips together, holding Fang close to her.

Vanille once said that she felt safe in Fang's arms; because she was bigger, because she was strong… because she could envelop her and keep her protected. But in the end, it was Fang who derived comfort from it just as often despite the girl's size, because it wasn't a physical safety that she needed from her, it was emotional. And Vanille, she was… she was very good at making the world seem so much brighter than it was; so much less scary than its current horrors made it.

"You taste like blood," Fang told her through kisses, chuckling a little at the horrified look that crossed her girlfriend's face at those words. But it was all over her upper lip from when her nose had been gushing, and Fang's mouth covered that spot as she cleaned her off in a way that made Vanille squeal.

"Ew, no, Fang; let me get it off!"

Fang laughed, but allowed Vanille to pull away to at least wipe off what she could with the back of her hand. "Not sayin' I hated it," she mentioned, which made Vanille wrinkle her nose. "What? Not like I'd actively go around lickin' off other people's or anything; just sayin' I don't mind yours, is all."

"You're gross," Vanille told her, like she was chiding a small child before she moved the back of her hand, looking at her girlfriend as she asked, "Is it all gone now?" Fang smirked, but licked her thumb before gently wiping off the last of it on the girl's skin before nodding that yes, it was gone now.

Vanille bit her bottom lip softly before she took Fang's hand in hers, tangling their fingers together before gently coaxing their linked hands down to her lap. "You're going to bring back something just for us from your next hunt, right? So I can cook you something special for your birthday?"

While the thought made Fang smile softly, she shook her head and told her, "Vanille, you don't have to—"

"But I want to," Vanille interrupted; her voice strong, like it was important to her. And while usually birthdays for them weren't the biggest deal in the world, Fang realized why this one might be; Vanille wasn't certain how many they would have left together. It was such an incredibly depressing thought, but Vanille wouldn't let it consume the woman in front of her as she brought their linked hands up to her lips, kissing the back of Fang's hand. "I mean, twenty one seems… important, doesn't it?"

"Not any more than twenty did," Fang responded, because she couldn't really see how Vanille could find something important in such an age; the only one that truly mattered to her was sixteen, as it was when she was considered of age and was able to participate in the Trials to become a Huntress. What was twenty one, really?

Nothing, save what Vanille needed it to be, apparently.

But Vanille shook her head. "No, it's special; I can feel it," she told her, conviction in her voice. Perhaps in the end though, she only wished it was special to give her a reason to make a big deal out of it. This clearly seemed important to her. "Okay? So just bring me back something I can cook; whatever you want."

And so despite not believing the birthday was a big deal herself, Fang eventually relented with a nod, because it was far more important to her to give Vanille a reason to smile. If the girl needed this, to try to find some normality in their shitty situation, to try to give Fang something special just in case something terrible was to happen later on, then she would let her. Maybe, in the end, she needed this just as much as Vanille did anyway.

It couldn't hurt, at the very least.

But when the time came to return to the village with her spoils from her last hunt, instead of being greeted by Vanille, she was confronted by the sight of Nymira, who was barreling towards her at top speed whilst desperately screaming her name. Fang's heart immediately went into her throat as she quickly dismounted from her chocobo, her feet hitting the sand just as Nymira crossed the last of the distance between them. The woman's face was etched in distress, tears were sticking to her cheeks, and quiet suddenly, Fang felt like she couldn't breathe.

"Vanille—where's Vanille?!" Fang demanded, her voice choking up in her throat around the question, because she knew there would only be one reason why Nymira would act this way, and it was entirely centered around her daughter's wellbeing.

Nymira's hand clasped around Fang's forearm as she steadied herself and struggled for breath, practically gasping out, "They—they took her…!"

"Who?" Fang exclaimed; angrily, fearfully. "Nymira, what the fuck happened? Where is she; how long ago was this?!"

"The… priests," Nymira breathed, more tears leaking from her eyes as she looked up at Fang desperately; helplessly. "About a half-day ago; they—Fang, they took her; they took my baby, they took my baby girl…!" She dissolved into sobs then, unable to speak any longer as the fear for her daughter took ahold of her. Fang had to steady the woman before she completely collapsed on the ground, forced to become a rock for someone when she felt like she could barely breathe herself.

This couldn't be real; if either of them were to be chosen, it should have been her. She was the Huntress, she was the one with the real training; Vanille might be able to hold her own now, but it was only just barely. What the fuck was the fal'Cie thinking; what the hell was the logic in choosing someone like Vanille, when there were many other able-bodied villagers in Oerba? She was barely more than a child, and she just wasn't—she couldn't…

"No… no, fuck that," Fang exclaimed passionately, infuriated and terrified by this turn of events as she held Vanille's mother tighter to her form. "No, they can't have her!"

There had been a point once, where Fang assumed she would be able to look at the bigger picture; where the possibility of either of them becoming l'Cie frightened her, however knowing in the end that someone had to, and that if they were chosen, that they would become a part of something larger, something more important than themselves. But in that moment, when actually faced with the reality of it, Fang couldn't see the bigger picture any longer; all she could see was Vanille, and the fact that she had been taken from her.

"Fang, no; don't—you can't speak out against the fal'Cie," Nymira begged as she looked up at her, knowing nothing good could ever come from such a challenge. "It was… it was an honor that she was chosen; I know that, but…"

"Screw honor, she's not goin' at this alone; I'm not letting her!" Fang responded, not much caring who else in the damn village heard her sacrilege. Maybe they were supposed to rejoice in l'Cie being chosen, but no one really did; at the end of the day, if it was someone that they loved, they all cried for their loss behind closed doors. Fang just didn't much care what side of the door she was on right now; she had more important things to worry about than her image. "They're either letting me do this with her or I'm getting her the hell out of there; I don't bloody care which option at this point, but they ain't taking her from me!"

Nymira's hand pressed to her lips as she tried to stifle another sob, her watery eyes looking up at Fang as she tried to rationalize with her, despite the look in her eyes begging Fang to fix this, as she knew she personally could not. "Fang, they could— they could kill you… for interrupting the ceremony, for trying to take one of their chosen from them…"

"They can try," Fang responded, not at all phased by that imminent threat, when she knew that logically such a thing should terrify her. In that moment though, nothing else mattered save Vanille; everything else was just background noise. "I'll fuckin' slaughter them all and the damn fal'Cie, if it means keepin' her safe. They can't have her; not if they don't take me too. Either way, I'm protecting her."

Nymira swallowed hard, fearful for her, yet eventually nodded her consent for Fang to risk everything for her daughter. In the end, they both knew it was the only option anyway; there was no way Fang would ever stay home and just accept that something like this was happening. Fate, destiny… all that bloody rubbish; it didn't own them. They were their own people, and they would make their own damn choices in this world.

"Fang," Nymira pleaded one last time as the Huntress moved, intent on setting out right then. She was already a half day behind, after all; she couldn't waste time here. Nymira's hand was on her arm, and she squeezed it in gratitude as the other woman turned to face her. "If… if they won't have you," she began softly, so only the brunette could hear, "if you have to run… don't come back here. Don't send word to me; it's too great a risk. Just please… please take care of my daughter. That's all I ask; that's all that matters."

It struck Fang then the finality of all this; that whether she should succeed or fail, that Nymira knew that she would never see either of them again. However this played out, whether she and Vanille became l'Cie or they ran… this truly was the end of the road. They would either succeed and become eternal crystal, fail and become cie'th, or run and have to live the rest of the rest of their lives in hiding from the fal'Cie they defied; but either way, there was no coming back. She would most likely never see Nymira, or Oerba ever again.

The thought nearly made her legs collapse from under her.

But she had to be strong; she had to be strong for Vanille, for Nymira, for herself. At the end of the day, no one else could do this – no one else ever would – and Fang would be damned if she just sat back and allowed the fal'Cie to rip the love of her life away from her. That wasn't his choice to make, no matter what her people believed.

The fal'Cie did not own them, and no matter how this played out, at the end of the day Fang was damn certain that she was going to show him that. Because Vanille was her heart, her everything, and something like that wasn't something someone could just take from her.

Not now, not ever.

TBC…