A door off its hinges in an ancient castle can say little. It is old and dilapidated, so it shouldn't be a surprise to see a door discarded on the floor right? Well... if it's a jail cell bar door and it has a hinge that you know from past experience was strong and still was the last time you passed it by... it's more frightening than anything else.

So it's a probable cause of Hope shaking in his boots. But there were plenty of other causes. For example, the excessive amount of crystal dust, the rapid movements in the shadows, the many ominous noises; which included paralyzing, dying Cie'th screams followed by silence; and the fact that he could hear Fang shrieking. He had never heard a more enraged sound in his life. Which was why he was scared for his life now, especially when he made out "HOPE!" and felt the rushed stomping of something charging towards him.

"Stay away!", he shouted, calling a flame to his fingertips. It brightened up the area in front of him, allowing him to see the grisly face of a Cie'th staring him down.

He staggered back in fright, about to unleash his ember when the Cie'th roughly snatched his hand and pulled him up off the ground by his wrist, the fire sputtering out along with Hope's yelp. He kicked out towards the Cie'th and flailed, but the Cie'th was immense and burly so it was like trying to break down a tree with bare hands.

"Let me go!", he squirreled furiously, hanging off the Cie'th's arm like it was a monkey bar. "Can't do that kid.", it said in a masculine voice that matched its muscular build, "We need to go stop Fang." "Where did you think I was going?", he snit, glaring at the Cie'th's face. "Oh... sorry kid!", the Cie'th lowered him to the ground and he snapped his arm back with a huff.

"You're the l'Cie right?", the Cie'th asked; whether it had a cracked skull, oblivious, or just not very bright was uncertain. "I'd think that this-", Hope flashed his branded wrist, "-and this-", he looked pissed as he held up his other hand with the mutation, "And the fact that I'm the only relatively human thing in here other than Lightning gave it away." "Right, right.", the Cie'th's nonexistent eyebrows furrowed at Hope's snide reply.

"And you-", Hope stopped as he analyzed the Cie'th next to him. His eyes slowly widened in realization and the Cie'th gave him a puzzled look. He backed away and stammered, "You-you're that Cie'th!" "The big strong one you just met?", it said in a gaudy tone and pose. "No, you're that one... I've got to go, leave me alone.", he hurried off, recognizing the large Cie'th and not wanting to cause trouble.

"Hey kid-" It started to speak when Lightning walked up behind him and stated, "Leave him. He's the type who delves into his emotions too much." It jumped and said, "Oh, hey Sis! Long time no see!" Her nose twitched in agitation, "I'm not your sister. Leave both of us alone at that." "Awww... what happened to those rules of yours?", it went to put its arm affectionately around her shoulder but she threw it off, retorting, "Don't let personal affairs cloud your judgement. Rule three." "Okay fine," it rolled its eyes.

"Make your move like I told you after he's made his move," she said, eyes scanning the corridor and stopping at Hope's back. "You really think that it'll have to come to that?", the Cie'th looked downcast, its tone lowering. "You know it will," she said as she walked forward gravely, hand placed on her gun blade's handle.

Hope placed his ear into the door to the Cie'th Stone hall, listening inside to hear deathly screeches and shattering. He flung the door open, seeing a sight he hadn't expected.

Fang was smashing Vanille's stone.

"What are you doing?" He shouted, rushing up to stop her. Fang turned and slammed him in the side in one swift movement, sending him falling down on to the floor, "Stay back!" She turned back to Vanille's beat up stone, which had gashes and cracks in it from Fang's assault, and continued to slam her monstrous hand into it. The stone thrashing in the air from the force of Fang's strong blows.

He lunged up and clung to her arm as she raised her arm high in the air to strike the stone again. "Stop it Fang!", he urged, clinging on for dear life and bracing himself as she inevitably raised him up off the ground by her arm. "Why? Just so you can betray us again? Just so we can stay in our regrets and woes forever? I'm so sick of that, and you took away my only hope!", she yelled, flinging her arm out to the side and causing him to fly off and crash into a wall.

He yelped slightly as tremors shook through him, landing to the ground with a thud. He struggled to get up, shaking slightly as he got on his knees, "Fang don't do that! Vanille can still be saved if you don't-" "Don't what? Let you live?", she turned and shot him the most hateful glare he had seen in his life. Cold rushed through his veins at the icy sight and he froze as she came charging for him, "Maybe if you did die, someone else could come and save us!"

He pleaded lamely, slowly backing into the wall on his hands and knees, "But... Fang.. what about everything..." "YOU DISREGARDED IT! YOU- YOU MONSTER!" She yelled back with so much force he squeaked and cowered back, raising his arms over his head. Fang's labored breathing and large shadow cast over him and her footsteps stopped a foot in front of him. He braced himself for the inevitable blow when she let out a blood curdling shriek, his blood freezing stagnant in his veins and left him paralyzed in a hunch.

"KEEEYAAAAAH!"

Hope's eardrums nearly popped and he let out a soft cry, plugging his ears and squeezing his face up. The scream suddenly quieted and he looked up.

The giant Cie'th stood over Fang, who was motionless on the floor. Hope scurried to her side past the other Cie'th like it wasn't there. He urgently called her name, but she made no movements. Her broken down Cie'th form lay like a cracked and nearly shattered glass sculpture. Hope's expression became that of a deer in the headlights, "Fang? Fang? Fang?" He snatched her 'hand' and and squeezed it, "Fang?"

He then noticed a definite crevice in her upper body where her head would normally be, a large crack leaving shards on the floor. "No!", he shouted, delicately reaching out to touch Fang's Cie'th 'eye'. The blood red eye was slowly fading, a testament to the dire situation. "Fang?", he yelled, eyes welling up and voice cracking. He placed his hand over the eye, just as it faded to black. "Fang?", he cried out with a choked and despaired voice.

Just then, the giant Cie'th hunched over and struck another blow to Fang's chest, the loud shattering noise twice as deafening to Hope's ears.

"What are you doing?", Hope pounced up and over Fang's body to the giant Cie'th, trying to tackle it but scratching himself on the sharp crystalline body instead. He jumped away immediately, all while shouting, "Are you trying to kill her?" The Cie'th went to open its mouth when a light shone from Fang, both of them turning their attention to her.

Fang's body was overcome by more lava like crystals that melted over her like a smooth rock. A goddess popped out from her empty eye socket and coiled itself around Fang's body. It shone bright then faded as the goddess painted an arc over the the top and then froze herself against the obsidian like surface, as if going to sleep.

When the light had faded completely, a Cie'th Stone lay on the ground. It was not yet levitating and its sheen was as dark as hell itself.

"NOO!", Hope shrieked like a dying Cie'th as he slumped onto his knees. His eyes glazed over, and his trembling almost had the water welling up in his tear ducts spilling out. "No!", he shouted softly, reaching out a quivering hand to touch the stone.

"Don't.", Lightning stepped in his way, blocking his view of the stone. He looked up, a tear overflowing from his welling eyes due to the movement. She watched the tear sluggishly make its way down the smooth surface of his cheek, then turned her attention to his pitiful green pupils. The lost look in his eyes was something she had seen before, a flash of powder blue and strawberry locks before her. She blinked and it was gone, Hope still heartbreakingly sniffling and staring up like a beggar child.

She sighed, raising a hand to her ear and curving some hair back behind it, "Come on. Let's leave her." Hope shook his head as he wiped his eyes on his gloved wrist, "No." Her eyebrows furrowed and she shot the giant Cie'th a look of annoyance. It's head flicked to Hope and it used arm movements, suggesting to talk nicer to the kid. She exhaled and looked back down at Hope, who was staring blankly at Fang's stone.

"Listen kid...", she began, Hope looking up, "Her stone's inactive at the moment. See how it hasn't lit up or levitated yet?", her head flicked at it and Hope had to agree, the stone was immobile and unlit.

"That means you can't do anything at the moment.", she shifted her weight to her other foot, "And crying over something you can do nothing about is a waste of time. Rule 4." Hope tilted his head to the side a little bit, "What was Rule 3?"

"Don't let personal affairs cloud your judgement.", she stated, grabbing Hope's arm. He allowed himself to be pulled up off the ground by her, eyes fixed unwaveringly on her face. She kept her gaze on her grip, studying it pensively like it had been over taken by some psychic power and was moving on its own. Once she realized he was up, she looked at his face and noticed him staring at her like he was almost in awe. She snit and threw his arm back to his side. She turned back to the door in the next fluid movement, her cape nearly lashing him in the face.

He blinked for a second, coming to the present and wondering when he started standing. He had paid so much attention to her angel face that it took him a second to realize she had grabbed his arm to pull him up. Not to help him up because of some other reason, just a casual helping hand. But... it felt like something else, something that he couldn't tack a name to. Could it have been..?

She called back at him, snapping him out of his pondering, "Get some rest tonight. We're going to start your training tomorrow." He nodded slowly, looking back at Fang's stone for a second, then the giant Cie'th, and finally hurrying after her, "Okay." He lightly raised his normal hand to where she had just grasped his other arm, making a perplexed face all the while.